A unique moral revolution has been sweeping this country for some time, but now the seeds of perverted immorality are beginning to yield a sad and painful harvest.

Monkeypox is perhaps the newest international virus that is growing significantly, especially among homosexual men. The New England Journal of Medicine conducted a study between April 27 through June 24 of this year at 43 sites in 16 countries. The results were startling: “Overall, 98 percent of the persons with infection were gay or bisexual men. Transmission was suspected to have occurred through sexual activity in 95 percent of the persons with the infection.”

While the public channels of medical information in this country downplay the significance of this virus, other medical sources report that monkeypox has primarily affected the population of “men having sex with men.”

The common answer the public receives from the CDC and others is that the virus is passed through close skin-to-skin contact and through bodily fluids passed from one person to another. However, they do not tell the whole truth. Why? The powers that be do not want to stigmatize the gay population.

Joseph Goldstein, a New York Times writer, stated, “Some public health experts say that many gay men are likely to push back against any advice that could be seen as discouraging or stigmatizing gay sex.”

Charles King, an AIDS activist, said, “Telling people not to have sex or not to have multiple sex partners and not to have anonymous sex is just a no-go, and it’s not going to work. People are still going to have sex, and they’re going to have it even if it comes with great risk.”

What does the Bible say? Revelation 21:8 says, “But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” 

R. Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, wrote recently, “Christians understand that the natural law and the Scripture underline the difference between natural and unnatural sexual relations. … This really isn’t about public health, at least what would mean the health of the public. It’s about the moral revolution and protecting the moral revolution against any kind of stigma. … God created a moral universe, and in that moral universe, men —to use their phrase — who have sex with men will experience moral stigma. … God in Scripture makes very clear that adultery is wrong, sex outside of marriage is wrong … . [T]he physical aspects are clear as not just being sin and not only a violation or breaking of the commandment of God, but against nature, which is to say, this attempts to undo God’s act in creation.”

Kai Kupferschmidt, who is a homosexual and science writer for the New York Times, stated, “More than 25,000 cases have been confirmed so far in countries that had not been previously affected by the disease. Those infected are overwhelmingly found among gay men and our sexual networks.” He added that public health officials seem unsure about how to talk about this disease in a non-stigmatizing way, so “they prefer to speak only in vague terms.”

Monkeypox was discovered in 1958 when research monkeys experienced two outbreaks of the virus. In 1970, it was discovered in a boy in Africa. Since then, it has spread to at least 16 countries and continues to grow.

According to the Cleveland Clinic, the symptoms include, but are not limited to: “fever, chills, headache, muscle aches, fatigue, swollen lymph nodes and a rash of bumps/blisters filled with pus.” The blisters are particularly painful and have been concentrated in the oral, anal, and genital areas of men. Thus far, the virus has not been deadly, although some people have been admitted to hospitals due to the pain associated with the blisters. A few have died. The virus lasts up to four weeks.

There are two vaccines available that could help, according to the Centers for Disease Control. The Biden Administration declared monkeypox a national health emergency, which means more federal money will be spent on the production of the two vaccines as well as the development of other drugs. JYNNEOS is a vaccine used for the prevention of monkeypox, and a smallpox drug — ACAM2000 — has been made available by the Food and Drug Administration. The problem is that an immune response takes 14 days after the second dose of JYNNEOS and four weeks after the ACAM2000 dose.

The issue is not simply the disease but the sexual perversion that spreads the disease.

People who are not born again, according to Scripture, are under the wrath of God, but Mohler says, “There’s also a set of temporal consequences that come with breaking God’s law and divine creation. What we have here in this one virus is just another demonstration of what that looks like. … [T]he (moral) rebellion of our day comes with deadly consequences.” The psychological principle that says all human behavior has consequences is evidenced in the monkeypox virus.

Romans 1 points out that after people refused to honor God and exchanged the glory of God for an image in the form of man, God “gave them over to degrading passions.” Verse 27 says, “The men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.”

Mohler writes about a massive deception going on in our culture, from public health officials, to government officials, to the mainstream media — warning us that the big issue is not so much monkeypox but moral stigma. They tell us, he says, “that the one thing society must give full attention to is avoiding any kind of stigmatization or adding or pointing in any way to the moral stigma that might be attached to men who have sex with men because of the outbreak of monkeypox.”

As monkeypox spreads, more and more people will be infected. Two children were recently diagnosed with the virus. That prompted some politicians to ask how that was possible if it is confined to the gay community. Rochelle Walensky, director for the Centers for Disease Control, said, “Both of those children are traced back to individuals who come from the ‘men who have sex with other men’ … community.”

More people are coming forward with the virus who say no sexual activity was involved. Still, the percentage is extremely high for the homosexual group.

Are homosexual men who get infected with monkeypox “receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error” (Romans 1:27)? What can Christians do in the face of this medical crisis? We can pray for the people most affected that they may trust Christ as Savior and find in that born-again experience faith, love, hope, and healing in Jesus Christ.