Electron micrograph of Treponema pallidum, the causative agent of syphilis (CDC)
Sexual immorality is leading to the increase of sexually transmissible diseases (STDs) in Europe. The BBC reported the following:
Gonorrhoea and syphilis hit record levels in Europe
21 May 2026
Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) including gonorrhoea and syphilis have hit record levels in Europe, according to new data.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said both diseases had reached their highest levels in over 10 years in 2024.
Gonorrhoea hit 106,331 cases – a 303% increase since 2015 – while syphilis more than doubled in the same period to 45,557. …
“These infections can cause severe complications, such as chronic pain and infertility and, in the case of syphilis, problems with the heart or nervous system,” said Bruno Ciancio, the head of the agency’s Directly Transmitted and Vaccine-Preventable Diseases unit.
He said congenital syphilis cases – “where infections pass directly to newborns, leading to potentially lifelong complications” – had nearly doubled from 2023 to 2024. …
Spain had the highest number of confirmed gonorrhoea and syphilis cases of the participating European countries in 2024, at 37,169 and 11,556. …
The ECDC said men who had sex with men remained the most disproportionately affected group, showing the steepest long-term rises in gonorrhoea and syphilis.
It also reported that heterosexual women of a reproductive age saw large increases in syphilis. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm2pj07dr7lo
The more societies depart from the laws of God in the Bible, the more problems they cause for themselves.
In the Book of Exodus God promised:
26 … “If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you.” (Exodus 15:26)
Gonorrhea was one of those diseases.
The US Centers for Disease Control reports the following about gonorrhea:
How do I know if I have gonorrhea?
Gonorrhea often has no symptoms, but it can cause serious health problems, even without symptoms.
Symptoms in women
Most women with gonorrhea do not have any symptoms. Even when a woman has symptoms, they are often mild and can be mistaken for a bladder or vaginal infection. Symptoms in women can include:
- Painful or burning sensation when peeing
- Increased vaginal discharge
- Vaginal bleeding between periods
Symptoms in men
Men who do have symptoms may have:
- A burning sensation when peeing
- A white, yellow, or green discharge from the penis
- Painful or swollen testicles (although this is less common)
Symptoms from rectal infections
Rectal infections may either cause no symptoms or cause symptoms in both men and women that may include:
- Discharge
- Anal itching
- Soreness
- Bleeding
- Painful bowel movements
See your healthcare provider if you notice any of these symptoms. You should also see a provider if your partner has an STI or symptoms of one. Symptoms can include an unusual sore, a smelly discharge, burning when peeing, or bleeding between periods. …
How can I reduce my risk of getting gonorrhea?
The only way to completely avoid STIs is to not have vaginal, anal, or oral sex. …
What happens if I don’t get treated?
Untreated gonorrhea can cause serious and permanent health problems.
In women, untreated gonorrhea can cause pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). Some of the complications of PID are:
- Formation of scar tissue that blocks fallopian tubes
- Ectopic pregnancy (pregnancy outside the womb)
- Infertility (not being able to get pregnant)
- Long-term pelvic/abdominal pain
In men, gonorrhea can cause a painful condition in the tubes attached to the testicles, which can, in rare cases, lead to infertility.
Rarely, untreated gonorrhea can also spread to your blood or joints. This condition can be life-threatening.
Untreated gonorrhea may also increase your chances of getting or giving HIV. 05/21/26 https://www.cdc.gov/gonorrhea/about/index.html accessed 05/21/26
The US Centers for Disease Control reports the following about syphilis:
What is syphilis?
Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection (STI) that can cause serious health problems without treatment. Infection develops in stages (primary, secondary, latent, and tertiary). Each stage can have different signs and symptoms.
Babies can also get syphilis. Congenital syphilis is the disease that happens when women pass syphilis to their babies during pregnancy.
Signs and symptoms
How do I know if I have syphilis?
Each stage of syphilis has different signs and symptoms.
There are four stages of syphilis (primary, secondary, latent, and tertiary). Each stage has different signs and symptoms.
Primary stage
During the first (primary) stage of syphilis, you may notice a single sore or multiple sores. The sore is the location where syphilis entered your body. These sores usually occur in, on, or around the
- Penis
- Vagina
- Anus
- Rectum
- Lips or in the mouth
Sores are usually (but not always) firm, round, and painless. Because the sore is painless, you may not notice it. The sore usually lasts 3 to 6 weeks and heals regardless of whether you receive treatment. Even after the sore goes away, you must still receive treatment. This will stop your infection from moving to the secondary stage.
Secondary stage
During the secondary stage, you may have skin rashes and/or sores in your mouth, vagina, or anus. This stage usually starts with a rash on one or more areas of your body. The rash can show up when your primary sore is healing or several weeks after the sore has healed. The rash can be on the palms of your hands and/or the bottoms of your feet and look
- Rough
- Red
- Reddish-brown
The rash usually won’t itch, and it is sometimes so faint that you won’t notice it. Other symptoms may include
- Fever
- Swollen lymph glands
- Sore throat
- Patchy hair loss
- Headaches
- Weight loss
- Muscle aches
- fatigue (feeling very tired)
The symptoms from this stage will go away whether you receive treatment. Without the right treatment, your infection will move to the latent and possibly tertiary stages of syphilis.
Latent stage
The latent stage of syphilis is a period when there are no visible signs or symptoms. Without treatment, you can continue to have syphilis in your body for years.
Tertiary stage
Most people with untreated syphilis do not develop tertiary syphilis. However, when it does happen, it can affect many different organ systems. These include the heart and blood vessels, and the brain and nervous system. Tertiary syphilis is very serious and would occur 10–30 years after your infection began. In tertiary syphilis, the disease damages your internal organs and can result in death. A healthcare provider can usually diagnose tertiary syphilis with the help of multiple tests.
Neurosyphilis, ocular syphilis, and otosyphilis
Without treatment, syphilis can spread to the brain and nervous system (neurosyphilis), the eye (ocular syphilis), or the ear (otosyphilis). This can happen during any of the stages described above.
Signs and symptoms of neurosyphilis can include
- Severe headache
- Muscle weakness and/or trouble with muscle movements
- Changes to your mental state (trouble focusing, confusion, personality change) and/or dementia (problems with memory, thinking, and/or decision making).
Signs and symptoms of ocular syphilis can include
- Eye pain and/or redness
- Changes in your vision or even blindness
Signs and symptoms of otosyphilis may include
- Hearing loss
- Ringing, buzzing, roaring, or hissing in the ears (“tinnitus”)
- Dizziness or vertigo (feeling like you or your surroundings are moving or spinning)
Risk factors
Am I at risk for syphilis?
Sexually active people can get syphilis through vaginal, anal, or oral sex without a condom with a partner who has syphilis. …
Syphilis may be more common in some racial/ethnic and sexual minority groups. For instance, gay and bisexual men are disproportionately impacted by syphilis. In addition, people from racial and ethnic minority groups are experiencing the brunt of the congenital syphilis epidemic. https://www.cdc.gov/syphilis/about/index.html accessed 05/21/26
Syphilis is horrible and can cause blindness.
But it can be completely avoided!
All need to heed the following from the Apostle Paul:
13 … Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body. (1 Corinthians 6:13)
9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-10)
18 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. (1 Corinthians 6:18; KJV)
8 Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell; 9 nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents; 10 nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer. 11 Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.
12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. 13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. (1 Corinthians 10:8-13)
4 Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge. (Hebrews 13:4)
22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man — and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.
24 Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, 25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
26 For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. 27 Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.
28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, 30 backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31 undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; 32 who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them. (Romans 1:22-32)
Here are some passages out of the Old Testament:
14 You shall not commit adultery. (Exodus 20:14)
22 You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination. (Leviticus 18:22)
13 If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. (Leviticus 20:13)
Sexual relations only belong in marriage between a male and a female.
Jesus taught:
27 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. (Matthew 5:27-28)
10 I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. (John 10:10)
4 And He answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? (Matthew 19:4-5)
God made humans male and female for marriage.
The Apostle John wrote:
There is no fear in love; (1 John 4:18)
There is no fear in sexual love of getting diseases like gonorrhea or syphilis for those who practice God’s way of life.
Those who do not are NOT practicing ‘love’ no matter how much they claim otherwise.
Sexual immorality is a way that leads to misery and destruction.
UPDATE 05/31/26: We just uploaded the following related video:
STIs – Risk and Elimination
Make Love Not War! Free Love! Two slogans that sounded good, to many. Yet a lot of people decided that meant they should have sex with multiple partners. Are there any consequences to committing sexual acts outside of marriage and with multiple partners? Have you ever heard of STIs? STIs are Sexually Transmitted Infections. STIs never happen within a marriage between two people that have been true to each other from the beginning. STIs are basically ALWAYS the result of sex with multiple partners, plus are reported by the Center for Disease Control to occur in even a higher percentage of homosexual men. Does a green discharge from the sexual organ sound just as good. That green discharge is the symptom of an STI known as gonorrhea. Untreated, blindness and even death are possible results of syphilis. STIs have greatly increased. Coincidence? Not a chance. Did you know that your unborn baby can get the same STI you have? Free love isn’t so free anymore, is it? What does God have to say about His commandments, obedience, fornication, and disease? Watch this video as Dr. Thiel cites official statistics, STI symptoms, and shines the light of Biblical truth on how the God of the Bible teaches that STIs can be prevented and eliminated.
Here is a link to our video: STIs – Risk and Elimination.
STDs can be eliminated if people would accept biblical morality.
Some items of possibly related interest may include:
Dating: A Key to Success in Marriage, a practical dating guide for Christians This is a scripture-filled dating guide. It discusses many aspects of dating, as well as who to not consider for marriage. Two related sermons are available: The Art of Christian Dating. and No One to Date? Teen Q&A? Engagement? 2nd Marriage? A short animation is also available: First Date: Worldly vs. Christian.
Love, Marriage, and Sex It is important to get them in the right order.
God Created Marriage Some falsely claim that God did not create marriage and that fornication is fine. What does the Bible really teach? Here is a version in Mandarin Chinese y^R ZZYû.
Making Your Marriage Work Marriage is not always easy, but it pictures a divine relationship. How can you make your marriage work? Here is a link to the video sermon: You Can Make YOUR Marriage Work.
Why sex and marriage? What are each spouse’s responsibilities regarding sex in the marriage? What is not allowed according to God’s word? Why is there sex and why is there marriage? Parental discretion is advised as to whether or not everything in this article is now appropriate for their children. Dr. Thiel goes over scriptures, The Missing Dimension in Sex, and provides answers to questions many have had. A related sermon is available: Sex and Marriage. Here is that sermon in the Spanish language: Matrimonio y sexo.
Are any types of birth control scripturally allowed? Did Jesus make a statement that might be consistent with birth control? Are there any methods that might be appropriate? What methods would be biblically prohibited? Here is a link a related video: Can Christians Use Birth Control?
Here’s the Plain Truth About OLD TESTAMENT POLYGAMY by Herbert Armstrong. Here is a related article in the Spanish language: ¿Es la poligamia una senda de Dios?
Husbands Love Your Wives An article written by the late Selmer Hegvold.
The Ten Commandments: The Decalogue, Christianity, and the Beast This is a free pdf book explaining the what the Ten Commandments are, where they came from, how early professors of Christ viewed them, and how various ones, including the Beast of Revelation, will oppose them. A related sermon is titled: The Ten Commandments and the Beast of Revelation.
The Ten Commandments Reflect Love, Breaking them is Evil Some feel that the ten commandments are a burden. Is that what Jesus, Paul, Peter, James, and John taught? For a more detailed discussion of the first four commandments, please see the video The Ten Commandments: Loving God. For a more detailed discussion of the last six commandments, please see: The Ten Commandments: Loving Your Neighbor. Here is a link to a related article in Mandarin Chinese 十条诫命显示爱，违反诫命的就是邪恶的
Cross-dressing and other assaults against your children. What should you do? Is there an agenda to turn your children and/or grandchildren away from biblical morality and towards practices promoted by homosexuals? What does the Bible teach about cross-dressing? What should parents do? If there is an agenda, what has been going on? There are also three YouTube videos related to this, titled Transgender ‘Woe to those who call evil good’ and Cross dressing and Other Assaults Against Your Children and USA pushing gender confusion.
The Bible Condemns Homosexuality “Same-sex marriage” for “gays” and lesbians is becoming more acceptable to many. What does the Bible teach about homosexuality and the LGBTQ agenda? Can homosexuals change? A related video sermon is titled: What Does the Bible Really Teach about Homosexuality?