“As it Was in the Days of Noah…” II

Late last year, I wrote the first article of this series – “As it Was in the Days of Noah…” – about the first genetically altered twins born in China. Scientist He claimed he used gene editing technology called CRISPR to alter the genes of the 2 girls to make them resistant to HIV and AIDS. His announcement was largely met with backlash from the scientific community and many around the world for its ethical implications.

Soon afterwards, the article Scientists crack the CRISPR code for precise human genome editing stated that thanks to further analysis “scientists at the Francis Crick Institute have discovered a set of simple rules that determine the precision of CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing in human cells”. Until now, using CRISPR came with its challenges and possibilities for broader applications of this technology has been difficult to achieve. This is due to the fact that it’s been assumed that the unpredictability of CRISPR will result in unattended deletions or insertions of DNA regions.

‘Until now, editing genes with CRISPR has involved a lot of guesswork, frustration and trial and error,’ says Crick group leader Paola Scaffidi, who led the study. ‘The effects of CRISPR were thought to be unpredictable and seemingly random, but by analysing hundreds of edits we were shocked to find that there are actually simple, predictable patterns behind it all. This will fundamentally change the way we use CRISPR, allowing us to study gene function with greater precision and significantly accelerating our science.’ (PHYS.ORG)

However, with this discovery brings possible renewed talks for further uses of CRISPR technology. If the main obstacle thus far has been the unpredictability of CRISPR, that seems to have been bypassed, “Before CRISPR can be safely applied in the clinic, scientists need to make sure that they can reliably predict precisely how DNA will be modified”.

‘We were amazed to discover that the rules that determine the outcome of CRISPR human genome editing are so simple,’ says Dr. Anob Chakrabarti, Wellcome Trust clinical Ph.D. fellow in the Crick’s Bioinformatics and Computational Biology lab and joint-first author of the study. ‘By bearing these rules in mind when designing our guide RNAs, we can maximise the chances of getting the desired outcome of a specific gene edit—which is particularly important in a clinical context.’ (PHYS.ORG)

Are We Playing God?

Many of us have an innate feeling within ourselves that using gene editing technology on humans is wrong despite the efforts to use it for “noble” causes. Some call it “playing God”. Although right now, the focus is to use this type of technology to cure or prevent diseases, there will come a time I believe that this will be used to “better” the human race by making us stronger, smarter, healthier, and be able to live longer or not die at all – this movement is known as trans-humanism. 

Tampering with the human genome isn’t anything new as this was the main reason God wiped out all life on earth except Noah’s family in Genesis. We first see the human genome being altered in Genesis 6 through unions between fallen angels and mankind producing giants in an attempt to stop the messiah from coming. God puts a stop to it through the global flood as he sees that all flesh on earth was “corrupt”. I go into greater detail on this subject in my series Genesis 6.

Jesus in Matthew 24:37-39 makes a bold statement about what the times would be like as his return draws near,

But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. (MATTHEW 24:37-39)

Similarly, Daniel 2:43 talks about the nature of the last gentile kingdom before Christ’s millennial kingdom destroys and replaces it, “As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay”, (Daniel 2:43). 

Based on these passages, I believe gene editing will have an important role to play in these last days, specifically during the tribulation. I believe this will find its ultimate fulfillment with the mark of the beast system that arises during this period of time in an attempt to once again corrupt the human genome but this time to “disqualify” those from redemption. More on this can be read in Prelude to the Mark of the Beast I and II.

Sources

1. Scientists crack the CRISPR code for precise human genome editing (December 13th, 2018) – phys.org