And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. And His fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto Him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and He healed them. And there followed Him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judaea, and from beyond Jordan.
Matthew 4:23-25
Diseases
He Touched Me
“And He put forth His hand, and touched him, saying, ‘I will: be thou clean.’ And immediately the leprosy departed from him.” Luke 5:13 (KJB)
When I was a much younger man there was a song by that title; “He Touched Me”. It is still sung in some churches and musical circles. I wonder if we give much thought to what Jesus actually did though, in touching, yes touching those whom the law, and society of the time called “Unclean”.
Speaking of Jesus Christ the Son of God, God the Son; Matthew’s gospel tells us this,
“That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, ‘Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.’ ” Matthew 8:17
And that is a quote from the prophet Isaiah,
“Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.” Isaiah 53:4-5
Now I hope you can see a little clearer what Jesus did for all of us who will repent of our sins, and call out to Him in faith believing Him.
Paul the apostle said in 2 Corinthians,
“For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” 2 Corinthians 5:21
He touched me; the unclean; and made me wholly clean. Has He touched you?
Stem Cell Research – Changing???
Here is an interesting article from FAITH AND FAMILY VALUES:
LIFE DIGEST: Researchers moving to reprogrammed cells from embryonic ones
– Aug 19, 2008
Prominent scientists previously committed to stem cell research that destroys human embryos apparently are shifting their allegiance to reprogrammed stem cells that do no harm.
Harvard Stem Cell Institute’s George Daley, a former president of the International Society for Stem Cell Research, is talking up reprogrammed, or induced pluripotent stem cells (IPSCs), the online newsletter BioEdge reported Aug. 14. Only three years ago, Daley testified before a U.S. Senate committee that reprogramming was “extremely high-risk” and cloning for destructive embryonic stem cell research (ESCR) was preferred, according to BioEdge.
Daley and fellow researchers have used reprogrammed stem cells to produce cell lines for 10 diseases, including muscular dystrophy, juvenile diabetes, Parkinson’s disease and Down syndrome, according to a report in the journal Cell, Bio Edge reported.
“We wanted to produce a large number of disease models for ourselves, our collaborators and the stem cell research community to accelerate research,” Daley said. “The original embryonic stem cell lines are generic, and allow you to ask only basic questions. But these new lines are valuable tools for attacking the root causes of disease. Our work is just the beginning for studying thousands of diseases in a Petri dish.”
As a result, Daley and other scientists have progressed further using reprogrammed cells “in six months than he had in years toiling over embryonic stem cells,” BioEdge observed.
The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) appears to be moving toward IPS cell research as well, according to BioEdge. In an Aug. 13 news release, CIRM described itself as “the largest source of funding for embryonic and pluripotent stem cell research in the world” after long calling itself a funding source only for ESCR, according to the newsletter.
“It appears that the CIRM’s love affair with slow, inefficient, expensive, ethically fraught and legally complex human embryonic stem cells may be drawing to a close,” BioEdge commented.
Bioethics specialist Wesley Smith wrote of the developments on his weblog, “It may not yet be a full fledged exodus, but it would appear that the tide has changed dramatically.
“If this continues, and it becomes clear that the tide is irreversibly flowing toward IPSCs, the political ability to create an international ban on human cloning with the catcalls of CURES! CURES! CURES! to distract leaders from doing the right thing will increase. We may actually be able to throttle human cloning before it gets too far out of the test tube.”
Reprogrammed cells, or IPSCs, gained worldwide attention in November when research teams in Japan and Wisconsin reported they converted normal human skin cells into stem cells that were, in effect, embryonic in nature.
Embryonic stem cells are considered “pluripotent,” meaning they can develop into all of the different cell types in the body. Adult stem cells, also referred to as non-embryonic stem cells, typically have been regarded as “multipotent,” meaning they can form many, though not all, of the body’s cell types. The 2007 study results showed adult cells can become “pluripotent.”
The stunning reports were issued only days after cloning pioneer Ian Wilmut startled the scientific world by announcing he had abandoned research, or therapeutic, cloning in favor of the reprogramming method.
Stem cells are the body’s master cells that can develop into other cells and tissues, giving hope for the development of cures for a variety of diseases and other ailments.
BioEdge says its seeks to promote ethics and compassion in medicine.
You can find this article and more at this link.
-Tim A. Blankenship
The Fire and Hammer 