Course Content
As of late April, more than 200 people were known to have died from the fatal disease called Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).
The World Health Organization (WHO) strongly warned world travelers to avoid Hong Kong and China's Guangdong province due to the flu-like sickness. Dr. David Heymann, executive director of the organization's Communicable Disease Program, offered this precaution: "This is the first time that we have recommended people avoid an area and this is because we do not understand the disease completely, because there is no vaccine and there's no drug."
The disease seems to spread easily and quickly, in part because of international travel. Although the mere idea of a runaway germ without any known natural enemies is frightening, those who have died constitute about 6 percent of the 3,400 who have been diagnosed with SARS in 27 nations. Remarkably, 90 percent of patients recover within a week. The United States has reported 35 cases of SARS illness that fit the WHO definition of the disease, but as of this writing none have proved fatal.
SARS is very difficult to isolate; the sickness does not appear to be transmitted by intimate contact alone. Those infected are being quarantined. Surgical masks are seen on Hong Kong streets, and commercial airlines are disinfecting their planes. Symptoms include coughing, shortness of breath and fevers of more than 100 degrees.
The Bible speaks of pestilences that follow on the heels of war, but like the scourge of the bubonic plague in the Middle Ages, diseases can crop up unexpectedly. Apparently more will come in the troubling years ahead. Write for our free booklet Are We Living in the Time of the End?
(Source: The Washington Times, Seattle Post-Intelligencer.)
Jerold Aust has served in the ministry for 52 years, as a public speaker for 58 years, a published writer for 38 years, and is employed by UCG’s Media and Communications Services. He is a Senior Writer, interviewer, and editor for Beyond Today Magazine and has taught Speech Communication for UCG’s ministerial online program and the Book of Revelation for ABC.
Jerold holds a BA in theology from Ambassador College, Pasadena (1968), an MA in Communication from California State University, Fullerton (1995), a distance-learning Ph.D (2006), and a Famous Writers School diploma in non-fiction writing (1973). Additionally, he studied post-grad communication at University of Southern California (1995), radio, TV, voice-overs, and Public Relations at Fullerton College (1995-1996), and graduate communication at Wichita State University (1978). Jerold has taught communication at the University of South Alabama (7 years) and ABC (17 years). His published works include, Ronald Reagan’s Rhetoric: Metaphor as Persuasion and EZSpeakers: Public Speaking Made Easy in 7 Steps. Jerold's overarching goal is to share with humankind its incredible destiny!
John died on March 8, 2014, in Oxford, England, four days after suffering cardiac arrest while returning home from a press event in London. John was 77 and still going strong.
Some of John's work for The Good News appeared under his byline, but much didn't. He wrote more than a thousand articles over the years, but also wrote the Questions and Answers section of the magazine, compiled our Letters From Our Readers, and wrote many of the items in the Current Events and Trends section. He also contributed greatly to a number of our study guides and Bible Study Course lessons. His writing has touched the lives of literally millions of people over the years.
John traveled widely over the years as an accredited journalist, especially in Europe. His knowledge of European and Middle East history added a great deal to his articles on history and Bible prophecy.
In his later years he also pastored congregations in Northern Ireland and East Sussex, and that experience added another dimension to his writing. He and his wife Jan were an effective team in our British Isles office near their home.
John was a humble servant who dedicated his life to sharing the gospel—the good news—of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God to all the world, and his work was known to readers in nearly every country of the world.
