Midway Airport: Twitterverse, Patient Zero and the Zombie Apocalypse

I've been watching a situation blossom for the last 20 minutes. The first tweets came over the boards from @SteveGrzanich, afternoon anchor/reporter @WBBMNewsradio, @CBSChicago. Steve tweeted

-- Stand by for breaking news... we're about to go to Chopper 780 for a situation developing at Midway Airport.

--Delta Airlines flight lands at Midway and is surrounded by fire department personnel. Potential health emergency.

--Chopper 780 says fire crews have surrounded the Delta Airlines flight but crews have not boarded the flight and no one is coming offw/passenger.

--The Delta flight at Midway is under quarantine. A source says the flight may have originated in Africa.

--Patient has been in flight for 24 hours according to source...who says the patient has a rash.

--Centers for Disease Control responding.

--The passenger on the Delta flight at Midway may have changed planes in Detroit.

--We've identified the flight...it's Delta 3163. Chopper 780 images show plane with door open and surrounded by ambulances.

--Door on the Delta Flight had been open...it's now closed. UPDATE: @CDC confirms to @WBBMNewsradio it is investigating "contagious situation" on Delta flight 3163.

The patient was removed and after one hour the entire quarantine appears to be over.

While it was going on, it took precisely 10 minutes for someone to tweet about the zombie apocalypse, and another 5 minutes for Patient Zero to be mentioned. ["Zombie Apocalypse-- intimately tied to the conception of the modern zombie is the "zombie apocalypse", the breakdown of society as a result of zombie infestation, which has emerged as a prolific subgenre of apocalyptic fiction"].  Mentions of the movie Contagion were made. Ubiquitously. And someone else tweeted "This is legit scary" and he is right. It is pretty scary.

We know that the Tribulation will come with all kinds of horrors. Jesus said, "There will be pestilences." (Luke 21:11). Some won't be revealed as a horror until it is too late. Someone could pass a contagious disease and not know it until it appears as a rash as this case apparently did. However in this case CBS is saying that the passenger had bug bites, not a communicable disease. [I know that there are many people who will refuse to believe what a government agency says regarding a situation with potentially communicable disease...because, they say, the government will lie to prevent panic...but I simply report the news from the authoritative sources and leave the rest up to you].

How will pestilence begin when it DOES begin? A flight from Ghana and a patient with a rash...who'd changed planes in Detroit? It is a likely and logical scenario. When it does begin, it will probably begin just like that. And it is scary.

Revelation 15 shows us the final plagues. "Chapter 15 is introductory and prepares the reader for the execution of the judgments described in chapter 16. They are first described as the seven last plagues and then as seven bowls full of the wrath of God (vs. 7; 16:1). These seven plagues will chronologically bring to an end the ordered events of the Tribulation judgments in a dramatic crescendo. The plagues described here are extremely severe and occur in rapid succession, which adds greatly to their severity. The plagues are culminated by the return of the Lord Jesus Christ and the final phase of Armageddon. The purpose of chapter 15 is a vindication of God’s holiness. It shows these judgments stem from the holiness of God and the perfection of His plan." (bible.org)

But Jesus protects His bride and will remove us before judgments fall. And you know, the zombie apocalypse is not far off from the truth. Those who are not in Jesus are the walking dead, dead in their sins (Col 2:13, Eph 2:1). They're not dead bodily, but spiritually...and when we are in Christ He makes us come alive. (Eph 2:5). I'm alive in Christ! Are you?