On occasion in the past there have been media stories about medical scientists transplanting pig organs into human beings. Most such attempts have not gone well and human recipients have not lived long after receiving pig organ transplants. The first link reports that only four pig-to-human organ transplants have resulted in recipients living more than two months. It states that two kidney transplants and two heart transplants constituted the four longest-lived recipients.
However, the first link reports that a woman in Alabama has just lived 61 days with a donated pig kidney and is walking around in fairly good health. The link reports that she received a “gene-edited pig organ,” and this particular woman is the longest-lived human who has received such a pig organ. The first link reports that “scientists are genetically altering pigs so their organs are more human like” in order to make pig to human transplants more successful. The second link is an ABC News video clip covering the same story, and it also shows the actual facility where the pigs are being genetically altered so their organs can be extracted and inserted into humans. I think I recall a story some time ago in the local media that a gene-editing pig farm is also located in Iowa.
There is an obvious question that is never considered in these stories. That is: What does God think of this trend? The record is clear, I believe. The fourth chapter of the book of Jasher parallels the Genesis 6 account of the pre-Flood world, but it has a very important addition that the Bible omits. Both books mention that mankind was multiplying its population on the earth and that the earth was full of violence and wickedness. The end-part of the pre-Flood world was a very corrupt place, both books agree. However, the book of Jasher adds this observation: “…the sons of men in those days took from the cattle…the beasts of the field and fowls of the air and taught the mixing of animals of one species with the other in order therewith to provoke the Lord..(verse 18).” One does get the sense that this genetic manipulation was the “last straw” in God’s eyes. The Flood story follows on the heels of that development in the book of Jasher. Interestingly, the Jasher account of the Flood records that there were other righteous people on the earth that were contemporary with Noah and his family, but that God allowed them to die off so they would not see the “evil” that God was going to bring on the planet (verses 20-21).
Clearly, one cannot mix the species of animals via normal copulation. It takes electricity, genome-mapping technology, CRISPR technology, advanced microscopes, etc. to do gene-editing and genetic manipulations. If Jasher’s account is correct, it is evident that pre-Flood mankind had the same technologies we have today to do the same type of lab experimentation on DNA mixing. Many Christians may not realize it, but Jesus Christ in his earthly ministry essentially admitted this was the case. Matthew 24:37 cites Jesus as saying “…as the days of Noah were, so shall also the the coming of the son of man be.” Jesus asserted that the civilization of Noah’s time would be echoed in the civilization of the latter days on earth at the end of our current age. Being able to manipulate the species of animals on earth to create chimera species (as Jasher says occurred in the time of Noah) is being done in the modern world as well.
We are all familiar with the blockbuster Jurassic Park movies that featured the revival of dinosaur species by taking fragments of ancient dinosaur DNA and mixing it with modern reptiles or amphibians to bring the dinosaurs back. I’ve also seen TV documentaries about scientists trying to bring back the mammoths by mixing the DNA of mammoths buried in the Siberian permafrost with modern elephants. Genetic manipulations can take various forms, but modern mankind is mixing DNA between species today as happened in the pre-Flood world. The further genetic manipulations go toward mixing the species, the angrier God got…according to Jasher. We have no idea when God will reach the “boiling point” in our time where he takes action in human affairs to show his displeasure and give mankind a chance to repent. Jasher 5 has the Ark and Flood story and it asserts that Methuselah and Noah tried to move other humans to repentance, but none were willing to do so. Methuselah died just before the Flood (Jasher 5:36). That mankind is repeating the pre-Flood world’s genetic manipulations between species confirms that we are living in the latter days of our age as it is one more similarity between Noah’s time and our time.
Readers will realize that the book of Jasher is not in the canon of the Bible. However, it is mentioned in Joshua 10:13 and II Samuel 1:18, and those mentions argue that these books were commenting favorably on the book of Jasher. The ancient book of Jasher may have been the only sacred book known to the ancient people of the Bible although Jude 14 gives the book of Enoch a mention. There is no guarantee that the modern versions sold as the books of Jasher and Enoch are any longer in their original form. I have found that the book of Jasher strikes me as entirely consistent with biblical accounts until discrepancies begin to creep in around the time of the life of Moses. Chapter 74 of Jasher in the translation I have is clearly a later insertion. It describes a war between an African kingdom and a king named Latinus. It mentions the African army was led by Anibal and Azdrubal. Carthage was a North African kingdom which was led by Hannibal and Hasdrubal in wars vs the Latins (Romans) in the Punic wars. This chapter is certainly a later insertion into what had been the original text of Jasher. However, since the Bible affirms that the book of Jasher was once a sacred book known to the ancients and it complements the Bible well in the pre-Flood and patriarchal periods, I think we can confidently rely on the authenticity of the book of Jasher in the pre-Flood and Flood contexts. Also what it asserts harmonizes well with Jesus’ own prophecy in Matthew 24:37. On the other hand, so much of the book of Enoch is set in the spirit world and it mentions a host of spirit beings by name that are not mentioned in the Bible; therefore, it is hard to judge its accuracy.
In conclusion, I get steadily more uneasy as we “progress” scientifically to the point where we can also “mix the species” as did the pre-Flood world. The pre-Flood world did not end well. Neither will ours. Matthew 24:22 warns us that unless Jesus Christ returns to save humanity and all other fleshly species, our age would end in an extinction level event as well. Thankfully, we have the biblical promise God will not allow that to happen.
Please note my update/prayer request below.
- https://apnews.com/article/
pig-kidney-transplant- xenotransplant-nyu-alabama- 021afcc9697a0a490c0d0726482515 b4 - https://www.google.com/search?
client=firefox-b-1-d&q=pig+ kidney+recipient+alice+after+ 61+days&sei= 5HuaZ8zTNPm1wN4Pmeau4Qw# fpstate=ive&vld=cid:e60345ae, vid:c_A2A0HUDyI,st:0
[Personal Update/Prayer Request: I want to let readers of my posts know that I have been laid quite low by a case of Influenza A. Last weekend, I went to an acute care facility and tested positive for Influenza A. I have not had a case of the flu for approximately two decades and this is one of the worst episodes of the flu I’ve ever had. The fever reached 102, and coughing was virtually non-stop. Weakness and body aches were intense too. It is all I can do to walk back and forth to my office and computer in the lower level of my split-entry house. It has been a struggle to keep up with emails. The doctor at acute care warned me that this respiratory strain of the flu takes weeks, not days to recover from. My oldest daughter in Kansas has the same Influenza A strain and she is entering her 4th week of suffering through it. I’m just starting my second week. I’m in my 70s now and I’m learning the flu is a much bigger challenge at this age as opposed to having the flu in middle-aged years.
I”d like to ask you for your prayers that our Heavenly Father would cause both my daughter and me to quickly recover from this flu and its symptoms. Thank you very much for your prayers!]
