Coccidiodomycosis
“cock-see-die-o-doe-my-cosis”
“Desert Fever”
By
Pastor M.L. Maughmer, Jr.
Numbers 21:1-9 “And [when] king Arad the Canaanite, which dwelt in the south, heard tell that Israel came by the way of the spies; then he fought against Israel, and took [some] of them prisoners. And Israel vowed a vow unto the LORD, and said, If thou wilt indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities. And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for [there is] no bread, neither [is there any] water; and our soul loatheth this light bread. And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived”.
Now I know that this title is not at first easy to understand. It literally is a tongue twister to say, but that is the medical name for the condition which is also called desert fever or valley fever.
Let me explain a little about Desert Fever then I will bring it into this message. First and foremost Coccidiodomycosis / Desert Fever is a lung infection. What happens is a fungus in the dirt becomes airborne and these spores are inhaled the result of these fungus spores becomes Desert Fever. One of the things about Desert Fever is that it can affect anyone and some people it affects very seriously, the bad part about Desert Fever is that many people who get it never even know they have it, because they confuse it the flu, because the symptoms are so similar.
WATCH THIS:- because they are comfortable and feel they understand the flu and how they are to operate in it they feel as though they are alright and therefore try to do things their own way and some as a result even die from Desert Fever.
WATCH THIS:- It is a hard thing to stand before a body of people that are to be in covenant with God and tell them that something is missing in their walk with God because they feel as though they have it all together unaware that they have come under attack. Because people feel as though they understand it all and have it all together they become comfortable and are not aware of the condition they are actually in.
There is no known cure for Desert Fever most people are able to fight off this infection, but it depends upon their immune system. If their immune system is strong they recover, but if their immune system is weak they often develop what is referred to as a lung cavity.
Cavities in the lungs are formed by inflammation of lung tissue leading to the development of an abscess.
Inflammation is a protective attempt by the organism to remove the injurious stimuli and to initiate the healing process. Inflammation is not a synonym for infection, even in cases where inflammation is caused by infection. Although infection is caused by a microorganism, inflammation is one of the responses of the organism to the pathogen. However, inflammation is a stereotyped response, and therefore it is considered as a mechanism of innate immunity, as compared to adaptive immunity, which is specific for each pathogen. Without inflammation, wounds and infections would never heal.
An Abscess is a collection of pus (dead white blood cells) that has accumulated in a cavity formed by tissue in which pus resides due to an infectious process or foreign material. Understand it is the white blood cells that defend our bodies against infection and pus is an accumulation of white blood cells. When the abscess ruptures, the contents are let loose, leaving behind an air- and fluid-filled cavity.
The lungs principal function is to transport oxygen from the atmosphere into the bloodstream, and to release carbon dioxide from the bloodstream into the atmosphere. In other words it takes in good air and gets rid of the bad air.
The Bible says in Genesis 2:7 “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the BREATH OF LIFE; and man became a living soul”. It was the outside air – in this case the Breath of God – that entered the lungs of Adam and produced life.
WATCH THIS:- So when Desert Fever happens, which I stated is a lung infection in the Spiritual it is an attack against the Breath of Life, attack against the very thing that God gave us that makes us a living soul. John 10:10 says “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life (breath), and that they might have [it] more abundantly”.
I want to focus today on verse #4.
The King James Version reads “And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way”.
The New International Version says “They traveled from Mount Hor, taking the road to the Red Sea to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way”.
The New American Standard Version says “Then they set out from Mount Hoe by the way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom and the people became impatient because of the journey”.
The God’s Word Translations says “Then they moved from Mount Hor, following the road that goes to the Red Sea, in order to get around Edom. The people became impatient on the trip”.
OPENING:- The other week I preached about Enduring Affliction and how we need to be patient and wait on God. We don’t need to be so quick to run away because when you are so quick to run you miss out on what God is trying to do. The Bible says stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, so manytimes people miss out on seeing the salvation of the Lord because they refused to stand still – they become impatient..
Today we find in our text the Children of Israel are traveling and are to compass Edom and the terrain that they are traveling is desert. Now when we think about a desert we understand that it is a hostile potentially deadly environment especially for weak or unprepared people. The desert is a place of nothingness. In the desert resources are limited. In the desert there are long spans of time when you don’t see other people. Everyone can’t survive the desert. The desert will cause people to imagine something other than what really is it’s called a mirage. The desert will strip you of everything. The desert receives an extremely low amount of precipitation, less than enough to support growth of most plants. Deserts are parts of earth that don't have a sufficient vegetation cover to support human population. Although deserts are a harsh place there are benefits in the deserts. Deserts sometimes contain valuable mineral deposits that were formed in the arid environment or that were exposed by erosion. Due to extreme and consistent dryness, some deserts are ideal places for natural preservation of artifacts and fossils. Deserts have a reputation for supporting very little life, but in reality deserts often have high biodiversity which simply is it supports many different types of life.
Holy Ghost help me preach this the way that I feel it.
The Children of Israel had received a great and victorious blessing from God in that they utterly destroyed King Arad the Canaanite and the cities, then they called the name of the place Hormah which means broken rock.
They are now traveling from Mount Hor by the Red Sea to compass Edom remember this terrain is desert. While the Children of Israel are traveling in the desert they forgot about the blessings God had bestowed upon them.
They forgot how when they left Egypt and got to the Red Sea and Pharaoh and his army was hot on their trail, but God told Moses to tell the people to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord and these Egyptians they shall never see again. God parted the Red Sea and the Children of Israel walked across on dry ground, but Pharaoh and his army drowned in the sea.
They forgot when they were hungry that God sent manna from heaven down for them to eat every morning and He even caused the quails to fly so low and be so many that they were able to pluck them right out of the air.
They forgot how God gave them battle after battle they are now traveling in the desert to go around Edom and they become impatient. The fungus of distrust begins to permeate in the air, the Children of Israel inhale the infectious fungus and become contaminated with Coccidiodomycosis. They begin to murmur and complain against God and Moses. Murmuring is speaking against God and it comes before distrust, It is the daughter of unbelief.
VERSE #5 says “And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for [there is] no bread, neither [is there any] water; and our soul loatheth this light bread”. WATCH THIS:- They say what you are giving us it’s not doing enough for me, my soul loatheth this light bread. We are in this desert and it doesn’t seem like nothing is happening, I feel like I’m dying, I can’t think straight anymore, I’m so hungry and thristy and there’s nothing happening here what did you bring here to die – they suffered from Desert Fever. They forgot what God had done in the past, they forgot where God had brought them from, and they forgot where God was leading them to.
WATCH THIS:- “and our soul loatheth this light bread”. I need to stay here for a minute because this is deep. The Septuagint says “this empty bread”. It is spoken of with contempt. They look at it as some vile and useless food when it was called angel food, it was a type or foreshadow of Jesus the Bread of Life, but because it wasn’t what they wanted they complained about it. Therefore their contempt for the manna was contempt toward Jesus Christ.
VERSE #6 says “And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died”. God sent the fiery serpents in because they murmured against Him, His messenger and insulted the manna He sent. WATCH THIS:- You better be careful about what you say when it comes to God’s Word and His messengers.
Because the Children of Israel were ungrateful of the Mercy of God and complained the fiery serpents came in and bit the people and much of the people died.
VERSE #7 “Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people”. WATCH THIS:- They talked about Moses and murmured against him, but as soon as God began to deal with their ingratitude they came running to Moses saying go to God in prayer and tell Him that we are sorry for what we have done and please take away these fiery serpents from among us.
VERSE #8 says “And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live”. I wondered about this until God opened up my understanding. In Exodus 20 we have the Ten Commandments, the 2nd commandment is “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness [of any thing] that [is] in heaven above, or that [is] in the earth beneath, or that [is] in the water under the earth Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God [am] a jealous God”. Now God said not to make any graven image but here He told them to make one seems confusing, but this was not an image to be worshipped but a promise that would be fulfilled. We God gives direction He is precise in what He says, when we do something on our own it then is an idol, the brass serpent on a pole was a way of escape from the judgment of God.
VERSE #9 says “And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived”.
Right now Apostolic Glorious Church we are in a desert place and Coccidiodomycosis / Desert Fever has affected some of us. As a result there were those that complained and left the church murmuring that they were tired of this light bread. Some said we came out here only to die.
They forgot what God has done and from where God has brought us from and they lost sight of where God is leading us to. They complained and said with disdain and contempt this is not what I expected. The daughter of unbelief just got louder and louder. The infectious fungus got into the lungs of some of the people literally choking the very life out of them. Some were more concerned about activities and programs then they were about the unadulterated Word of God.
Some were bitten by the fiery serpent of jealousy.
Some were bitten by the fiery serpent of complacency.
Some were bitten by the fiery serpent of selfishness.
Some were bitten by the fiery serpent of pride.
Some were bitten by the fiery serpent of mediocrity.
Some were bitten by the fiery serpent of lust.
Some were bitten by the fiery serpent of lack because they didn’t see what they thought they should see they were caught up in a mirage.
You may be one here right now and you are looking around and may even be questioning what’s going on. It seems like the sting of death has taken much of A.G.C., but Jesus said if I be lifted up I will draw all men unto me.
A.G.C. Coccidiodomycosis / Desert Fever may have come by here, but my mission today is to tell you to do what the remnant of Israel did and look up.
David said in Psalm 121 “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help [cometh] from the LORD, which made heaven and earth. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD [is] thy keeper: the LORD [is] thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore”.
Pastor M.L. Maughmer, Jr.
