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Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Quince Gibson

Microbacterium Laprae

Loving Father in Heaven, we are so grateful for this Sabbath day.

We are thankful, Lord, for all that you've done for us.

We ask that as we're about to open your Word, that you will be with us in Jesus' name.

We're going to pray 1 more time, but I'm going to ask you to turn in your Bibles to Leviticus chapter 13.

And while you're doing that, I'm going to tell you a quick story.

There was a report of an outbreak in Guangdong Province, China, 2002.

There were about 350 cases as the World Health Organization could ascertain.

And there was a doctor who was taking care of some of those patients.

Some of those people were actually dying.

They were coming down with a severe respiratory illness.

So he went to Hong Kong and he stayed in a hotel.

He stayed in a hotel called the Mirapole Hotel.

He stayed on the ninth floor in room 911.

And while he was there, he noticed that before he got there, he was actually feeling a little sick.

While he was there, he went shopping, he participated in the wedding, he went with his brother-in-law as well, and he noticed that he was getting, he was feeling a lot more ill than usual.

He went in and he was admitted to the ICU, the intensive care unit, because of the severity of his symptoms.

He was admitted in March, I believe it was the 18th, according to what the timeline provided.

While he was on that floor, unbeknownst to him and the people who were staying on that floor, several people who were visiting Hong Kong also contracted the same illness.

And these people traveled by plane to various parts of the world.

Some of those places included Vietnam, Singapore, and Canada.

I should insert at this point that I'm Canadian.

In particular, some of the people went to Toronto, Canada.

I should add that I am from Toronto, Canada.

And I was there during 2003 when this outbreak happened.

Now the outbreak was quickly discovered to be caused by a virus called SARS.

And in fact, I'm gonna tell you how this actually happened to me, how I became involved in this, or how it affected me, I should say.

SARS, when it came out, was actually very, very scary.

Now, how many of you are engaged to be married?

It's the people with the largest smiles on their faces.

Well, how many of you brides who are engaged to be married would consider wearing a surgical mask on your wedding day?

It would have to be pretty scary for you to wear a surgical mask on your wedding day, wouldn't it?

And for those of you who can't see the image, we're showing a bride and a groom in full regalia with a surgical mask.

In fact, it had a mortality rate of about 50% if you were above the age of 54.

Ebola, just in context, has a mortality rate of 70%.

At any rate, I'm in the midst of this outbreak.

There were several individuals who contracted SARS including a health care worker who happened to take the train while she was infected with SARS and They had to quarantine and locate all of the people who were exposed to this.

In all, I think about 5, 000 individuals in Toronto were isolated or quarantined as a result of this.

And So I'm in the bus in Toronto at this time, and there is a gentleman seated right in front of me, and he starts to cough.

This was a sniffling, sneezing cough that was at the time would have been scary in and of itself.

You think, I want to step back from this guy.

But this guy sounded like he had a severe acute respiratory syndrome or SARS.

We made eye contact with each other and even though the bus was packed, that gentleman had all the space that he needed in that bus.

He didn't have to worry about anyone getting in his space.

Alright, let's take a look at Leviticus 13.

There's a disease in the Bible that's even worse than that.

Here's what the Bible says, And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, saying, When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh a rising, a scab, or bright spot, and it be in the skin of the flesh like the plague of what?

Then he shall be brought unto Aaron the priest, or unto 1 of the sons, the priest.

There are several diseases in the Bible that people, scholars have attributed to leprosy, but the disease I'm talking about is caused by a bacterium called Mycobacterium leprae.

Here's what it says, and I have it up on the screen here.

So the healthcare professionals in biblical times, in Christ's economy, were the who?

And I think that says something about what healthcare professionals should have in terms of their ministry.

We are to act in a way as priests to people.

We should be prepared to help people draw closer to Christ.

And the priest shall look on the plague in the skin of the flesh, and when the hair of the plague is turned white, so here we have an algorithm, a diagnosis, if you will, a way to make the diagnosis, and the plague in the sight be deeper than the skin of his flesh, it is a plague of what?

And the priest shall look upon him and pronounce him what?

Microbacterium Laprae

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