Periodically in this blog, I have examined the rapid advances in genetic/bio-engineering technology that mankind has made as well as the dangers of this technology. Additional information has come to light that is worth passing on to readers, as science is encountering major problems as it tries to “play God” with the DNA of animals and human beings. What introduced me to the information in this post was an article in the Minneapolis-Star-Tribune on November 8 entitled “Hidden Errors of Gene Editing,” which reprinted an article by Katherine J. Wu of the New York Times (NYT). I wanted to include this article as a link, but only subscribers can have digital access to it. I will quote from this article in my post, but also included are three links (below) which cite the same material. However, the original article in the New York Times is thorough and lengthier, and I recommend anyone with access to it at a library or internet to read it.
CRISPR is a technology that allows scientists to remove and alter the DNA segments of living things. After experimenting with animals for years, a Chinese scientist actually “used technology to yield the world’s first gene-edited infants” (NYT). One can only wonder how many failed efforts to produce gene-edited human infants were failures and had to be terminated. This Chinese scientist was sentenced to three years in prison by the Chinese for conducting illegal medical experiments.
An advanced type of CRISPR technology called CRISPR Cas-9 has been used in additional DNA experiments on embryos, but it has been revealed that it has produced major genetic damage when it is used. The NYT article states this technology “can cause serious side effects in the cells of human embryos,” and that “the technology appeared to wreak genetic havoc in about half the specimens that the researchers examined.” Sometimes, these experiments resulted in cells “jettisoning entire chromosomes, the units into which human DNA is packaged.” The article adds that “the CRISPR technology gouged irreparable gaps in cell’s DNA,” and that it is “too dangerous” to continue such genetic experimentation on human embryos. Indeed, the article even warns that “CRISPR-Cas9 could someday be deployed as a sort of molecular bomb (emphasis added).” Dare I express my concern that developing a “molecular bomb” may be exactly what at least some geneticists are trying to develop? Might a genetic weapon be developed which could be aerosolized or injected into the bodies of a targeted population under the guise of vaccines in order to deliver a “molecular bomb” into target populations’ DNA so they cannot reproduce? That would be quite a tool in the hands of eugenics advocates.
The three links below offer some of the information contained in the original NYT article, but the original article is far more comprehensive. It was reprinted in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, so it may have been reproduced in other newspapers as well.
Mankind’s technology is advancing far faster than mankind’s ability to control or responsibly handle the technologies and it will come to a bitter end, according to biblical prophecies. It was prophesied in Matthew 24:37 that in the latter days of this age, mankind’s civilization would mirror the pre-Flood world of Noah. This inevitably leads us to the conclusion that the pre-Flood world was a high-tech civilization like our own. Indeed, it is my firm opinion that modern mankind has not yet caught up to the technological levels achieved by the pre-Flood civilization. The book of Jasher is mentioned favorably twice in the Bible (Joshua 10:13, II Samuel 1:18), so Jasher was originally regarded as Holy Writ by ancient biblical authors. The modern version in print today seems to helpfully complement the Bible up to the time of Moses, but afterward it has errors that have crept into it–which is why it likely did not become canonized.
Where Jasher complements the Bible well, it states that in the pre-Flood world, mankind “taught the mixing of animals of one species with the other” and that the act of manufacturing chimera life forms on his earth provoked the Creator to anger. Genesis 1 records that God made all the creatures on the earth to reproduce naturally “after their kind.” A Genesis “kind” is understandably broader than a “species” in our classification system, but can be understood to include the canine, equine and feline “kinds.” To produce unauthorized life forms on the earth by “mixing species” together, pre-Flood mankind had to have the same genetic laboratory technologies that modern mankind needs to accomplish the same thing. Therefore, the pre-Flood society had electricity, high-power microscopes, gene-splicing technology and…the equivalent of CRISPR Cas-9.
What happened to the pre-Flood civilization that developed such high technologies that they could produce chimera species in laboratories that could never occur naturally? God finally got angry enough that he annihilated all life that breathed on the earth except for Noah’s family and the animals that were brought by God to the Ark (Genesis 7:9) to become the initial breeding stock for a post-Flood “reboot” of only the Genesis 1 species that God originally intended to exist on his earth. God personally selected the animal specimens that were not contaminated by genetic manipulations when he brought them to the Ark. No animal or human that was the product of genetic manipulation was allowed to survive the Flood (Genesis 7:17-23). Since God does not change (Malachi 3:6), what angered God in the pre-Flood civilization will also anger God as it is developed in our civilization. This should cause great concern in modern mankind as it is embarking along a pathway that almost led to mankind’s extinction at God’s hand in the pre-Flood world. Mankind has forgotten that God is very real, and watches all that mankind does. God intervenes as needed to implement his will, cause his prophecies to be fulfilled, answer prayers, etc., but the Bible’s prophecies indicate that when God finally intervenes openly and massively, mankind will be shocked. There is no reason that readers of this blog should be shocked when the Creator God intervenes very openly. The book of Revelation reveals many ways that God will intervene as our age comes to a climax, but he will send two great prophets to give mankind a final chance to repent. One place you can read about them is in Revelation 11, and an analysis of all the prophecies about them can be found in my article, The Two Witnesses.
- https://www.firstpost.com/
health/crispr-gene-editing- can-cause-unwanted-changes-in- human-embryos-study-finds- 8971181.html - https://www.sciencedaily.com/
releases/2020/10/201029142001. htm - https://www.statnews.com/2020/
10/29/lab-tests-show-risks-of- using-crispr-gene-editing-on- embryos/
