Jesus predicted that in the latter days : “great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.” (Luke 21:11) “They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.” (Revelation 6:8b)
All indications are that these prophetic markers truly designate our present days as likely being the latter days predicted in the Bible. We are witnessing the arising of new and devastating types of plagues and diseases. When Jesus predicted these times to His disciples, He fully expected and warned them to be aware that these trials will affect them as well. (Luke 21:11-13) But the Lord will victoriously use the suffering believers of the last days who are touched by these future trials which are to come upon the wicked, “And it shall turn to you for a testimony.” (Luke 21:13)   As I will show later in this article, I also believe God is speaking to America and sending a warning through the arrival of the Ebola virus on our soil for the first time in history.

An example of how Christians can suffer from trials that God may send upon others as judgments of the end times is found today in Christians who truly love God such as the two Samaritans Purse missionaries, Dr. Kent Brantly and Nurse Nancy Writebol. Who, because they too have contracted the Ebola virus, show us how these plagues can certainly affect Christians as well. However, believers who get these diseases or who are affected by the ravages of God’s judgment, whether through pestilence, war or natural disasters do not indicate that God is judging the innocent. These missionaries show that bad things do not hinder those sold out for God and who love people in the name of Jesus Christ. While seeking to render aid to them in the name of Christ, they also run the risk of suffering with them. This is exactly what Jesus did when he came to earth and walked among sinners and healed the sick, and even died for the world of sinners. He died for us because of the punishment for the sins that we deserved! But He also rose again! The following article from The Huffington Post, a decidedly liberal publication, shows the amazing testimony of how the pestilence of Ebola can be used by God through surrendered servants of Christ as a powerful testimony to the lost of the unconquerable love of God through Jesus Christ!

Doctor Infected With Ebola Makes Selfless Gesture To Fellow Patient
The Huffington Post | By Amanda L. Chan
An experimental serum against Ebola virus —- enough for one patient —- arrived in Liberia yesterday. The problem: There are two U.S. aid workers who are in grave condition after they contracted the virus.

There had to be a choice made about which aid worker would receive the serum — Dr. Kent Brantly, a doctor who was helping patients in the country through the U.S. organization Samaritan’s Purse, or Nancy Writebol, who was working through the organization SIM as a hygienist to help decontaminate people entering and leaving the isolation ward at ELWA Hospital.

“Dr. Brantly asked that it be given to Nancy Writebol,” Franklin Graham, president of Samaritan’s Purse, said in a statement. “However, Dr. Brantly received a unit of blood from a 14-year-old boy who had survived Ebola because of Dr. Brantly’s care. The young boy and his family wanted to be able to help the doctor that saved his life.”
The Ebola outbreak in West Africa — the worst Ebola outbreak in history — has now killed 729 people, according to figures released on July 31. Deaths were reported in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria. Liberia has shut down schools and put out an order for public servants to stay home in efforts to curb spread of the virus, and Sierra Leone is working to place sick patients under quarantine, CBS News reported.–

What Are the Implications for Christians, America and All Nations?
Christians should keep Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol in their prayers for the days ahead as one or both of them are airlifted to Emory University Hospital, Atlanta, Georgia. We need to keep the United States in prayer as well as it would seem that God is bringing Ebola to America.  The scientists say that there is always a chance that this virus can spread in this country.  Although, they try to assure us that the chances of this happening are small.  As Christians, we are grateful to these two dedicated missionaries for their selfless sacrifice.  But I believe that almighty God, who will not be mocked will hold America accountable for the disease of  sin that is being advanced by many today.  “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.”  (Galatians 6:7-8) President Obama and Secretary Kerry have, up to this time, shown, at best, only a confused approach to defending Israel’s right to defend themselves and even their right to exist as a sovereign nation.  This is why we must take the arrival of Ebola onto American soil as a definitive sign that God is trying, once again, to get our attention!

I and, I am sure, many thousands of Christians will continue to ask the Lord to heal these missionaries.  I believe the Lord will turn their sacrificial suffering for the Lord and for others into a dynamic and life changing testimony to a world that desperately needs to notice the mighty power of God that is always at work in the world through Jesus Christ. The pestilences of the latter days that the Lord predicted would come upon the earth are not beyond His sovereign ability to use  for advancing His redemptive purpose, and even for our good. Paul said in Romans 8:28: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” 

The Lord has a calling for each of us who are born-again Christians to fulfill His will as we courageously witness for Jesus Christ and even suffer for His name. Still, it is vitally important for us to be aware that the Lord is active even today in preparing the earth and the nations for certain and thorough judgment. This is as Romans 1:18 states, “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness.”

If indeed God is bringing a new pestilence into the United States to warn us of a much-needed moral and spiritual correction regarding God and our defense of Israel, then He can and will bring similar pestilences upon other nations as well.  Primarily, I believe that God will focus these types of warnings especially upon nations that once were supporters of Israel and the Jew, but now are turning away from God and Israel. (Psalm 2)  Many nations are therefore succumbing to the spirit of Antichrist (1 John 4:3b) through a highly infectious moral and spiritual virus called anti-Semitism. These nations have been in spiritual decline for decades. This spiritual decline has produced a vacuum that Marxism, New Age, and especially, Islam are filling rapidly. Many of these nations, including the United States, thus are admitting vast numbers of Peoples who are largely without God and who are, to a great extent, anti-Semitic. Or, they are at least vulnerable to the infection of the politically powerful contagion of demonic anti-Semitism.

Remember that as we wait for the Lord from heaven, (Philippians 3:20) we need to stay faithful in our defense of God and His people Israel.  God will hold us accountable for this, both as Christians and as a nation!  This is true for America, but it is also true for any nation! As we do this we can walk and work for Him in victory, no matter the threat or trial, for He has already overcome the world, and He promises never to leave or forsake us and to return for us at any moment!