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Topic: The Famine Forecast
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KnowHim
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posted
Amen to that. I am doing the same.
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Posts: 3276 | From: Charlestown, IN | Registered: Jun 2002
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Kindgo
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posted
David,
Thank you for a very timely warning.
Best to be prepared, so we have started a small farm.
We have chickens, ducks, and bunnies. We hope to get a beef cow and maybe a goat for milk.
We have different fruit trees. and I have stocked up on food and other supplies. Since the hurricanes hit so hard, we have been getting ready for what ever comes our way.
Including weapons and plenty of ammunition.
I do hope we are raptured before it get to bad. But I am thankful I will be able to take care of my family, when the hard times hit if we are here. If not I hope whoever finds the stuff, is helped throu the tribulation.
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God bless,
Kindgo
Inside the will of God there is no failure. Outside the will of God there is no success.
Posts: 4320 | From: Sunny Florida | Registered: Jun 2002
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KnowHim
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The Famine Forecast
By Mike Wingfield
When people talk about famine, most Americans, and others in the West, do not consider the subject seriously because they live in a land of plenty. For many decades now most of us in the rich nations of the West have enjoyed food imported from around the world. The variety and availability has been delightful. Furthermore, in recent years the United States of America has been the bread basket of the world. However, is it possible that this is all about to change? Is it really possible that global famine is the forecast for all, including the advanced, affluent nations of the West? Let us examine both the Biblical and secular forecasts of global famine.
In response to His disciples’ question about the signs of the end of this age, Jesus warned that famine would accompany the natural disasters, ravages of war, and diseases that would be a part of the birth pangs that would thrust the world into the Tribulation. (Matthew 24:7-8) In light of this revelation it is not surprising to note that according to the Apostle John, global famine will be so serious at the beginning of the Tribulation that it will take a man’s entire daily wage to buy about one quart of wheat. (Revelation 6:6) For example, if a person’s daily wage was $100.00, it would mean that a bushel of wheat would sell for about $3,200 at the beginning of the Tribulation! It is selling now for about $9 a bushel. Think about that for a moment!
In light of this, it is most interesting to examine what is being reported in secular circles about the approaching global famine, and how close it may be. According to the United Nations there are currently 830 million people in the world that are malnourished. Famine kills more people annually than Aids, tuberculosis and malaria combined. (Peter Huck, www.nzhearld.co.nz, March 29, 2008) However, many sources indicate that the situation is about to get much worse because "the world is facing the most severe food price inflation in history as grain and soybean prices climb to all-time highs." (Peter Huck, www.nzherald.com.nz, March 29, 2008) According to UN records, global food prices have risen 35 percent in the last year. The World Bank estimates that global food prices have risen by 83 percent the last three years. (The Roanoke Times, April 23, 2008, p. 7) This current dangerous inflation of food prices is putting the availability of food out of reach for millions in poverty around the world. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown recently commented, "Tackling hunger is a moral challenge to each of us and it is also a threat to the political and economic stability of the nations." (The Roanoke Times, April 23, 2008, p. 7) It is important for us to know what factors are creating this food crisis and the forces behind the approaching global famine.
First, the inflation of fossil fuels in recent years, 79 percent in the last 12 months, has encouraged many nations to create and invest into a program of converting food, such as corn and sugar cane, into alternate fuels. In the U.S., 24.7 percent of the corn crop was used in 2007 to make ethanol. The increased demand for corn has driven up the domestic price of corn, and consequently also inflated the price of milk, eggs, and meat because of the escalated cost of feed for animals and poultry. In South America some countries are doing the same thing with sugar cane. The UN projects that the current manufacturing of food into fuel is creating an "unforeseen and unprecedented hunger crisis." (Peter Huck, www.nzherald.co.nz, March 29, 2008) However, if we do not develop alternative fuels it will cause the cost of fossil fuels to increase and thereby drive up the cost of food. Just image what the price of food would be should gas reach $10 per gallon!
Another reason for the inflation in cost for food is the world’s population boom and the shift of that population from the farms to the factories. World population is now increasing at the alarming rate of 1.5 million per week. A swelling global population is demanding an ever dwindling food supply. The food supply in some cases is shrinking because more farmers are leaving the rural areas for employment in urban communities. "More than half of the world’s population lives in urban areas, and the number is increasing as developing nations grow." (USA Today, April 16, 2008, p. 2A) Furthermore, people’s diets are beginning to change as a result of this shift from the farm to the urban areas. In two of the world’s most populated nations, China and India, the booming economies are increasing the middle class, which is now able for the first time to afford more meat and dairy products. For example, the Chinese in 2001 ate just 44 pounds of meat per capita. However, now they eat about 110 pounds per capita. This change in the availability and demand of better food is driving up the global cost of food. In some cases some nations, which exported rice in the past, have now put a ban on exporting rice to assure that they have enough for domestic use, shaking up the balance of rice production and availability. This is also driving up the price of rice. During a five-week period this spring rice more than doubled in price, and its availability is currently limited in some areas in the U.S. Furthermore, this has had a critical impact upon the survival of some nations. For example, Bangladesh, which annually produces 28 million tons of food grain, meeting about 95 percent of their domestic needs, was hit by a cyclone last December that destroyed their rice crop, valued at $600 million. Imported rice inflated the price of rice 70 percent, making it impossible for many in Bangladesh who live on less than $1 a day to survive. (Raja M, "Asia faces growing rice crisis," www.atimes.com, February 14, 2008) Also, in Asian countries, the population shift from the farm, and the growth of urban housing, means less land, less water, and less labor for growing rice. Rice is a very labor-intensive crop that demands a lot of water. Therefore, as the production of rice goes down, it forces the price of rice up. This is critical because rice is a dietary staple for more than half of the world’s 6.6 billion people.
Another factor causing the inflation of food is related to the change in weather patterns caused by global warming and the impact of natural disasters like drought, high winds, fires, and floods, which not only destroy structures, but crops. The unpredictable weather patterns, along with the dramatic increases in the costs of fuel and fertilizer are forcing many out of farming and into the factory. As mentioned above, this is a dangerous trend that is setting the stage for a very serious shortage of food and even higher prices for the shrinking food supply.
Add to these problems the mysterious collapse of the honeybee populations in North America. These bees naturally pollinate about 30 percent of all the produce consumed by Americans. If this situation with the bees continues to deteriorate it could have a devastating effect upon the production of food in North America!
Another issue that is creating a ticking time bomb with the production of food is the serious depletion of the underground aquifers. This vast supply of underground water is being pumped up to irrigate crops in China and India, and other parts of the world where there is an increased demand for the production of food. Many scientists are warning that these aquifers are being depleted to a dangerous point that could cause them to become contaminated with the seepage of salt water from the nearby oceans, or they could just simply run dry, leaving farmers that rely upon this water with no crops to feed the hungry. When these aquifers are contaminated or run dry, billions of people in China and India could be one crop away from mass starvation!
The United States at one time was the bread basket of the world. However, in recent years the United States has been a net importer of food. We import more food from the rest of the world than we produce at home! Like the rest of the world, we are turning our farmland into parking lots, shopping malls, residential developments, and factories. We are raping our top soil to raise corn to burn in our tanks so we can drive our cars to work and to the mall. While we are focusing on being energy independent, we are creating a greater dependency upon something that is more important to sustaining life, food! We are contributing to a great food crisis. America’s greatest resource may not be oil, but our farmland. Perhaps we would do well to demand that those who want to raise the price of oil, who live in arid or frigid lands, pay more for the food that they import from us and the rest of the world. Food is a more valuable resource than oil!
However, perhaps the most dangerous factor that is increasing the potential for a global famine is a virulent wheat fungus called Ug99 [the name of this wheat fungus comes from the place and time of its appearance in Uganda in 1999], an old wheat fungus that has re-emerged with a vengeance. Debora Mackenzie of the New Scientist Environment states, "This thing has immense potential for social and human destruction." (Debora Mackenzie, New Scientist Environment, www.newscientist.com, April 3, 2007) We must remember that wheat is the number one global food staple.
This fungus is destroying about 80 - 90 percent of the wheat crops where it appears. The spores of this fungus are being carried by wind from East Africa across Yemen, and are presently in Iran. "Affected countries and the international community have to ensure that the spread of the disease gets under control in order to reduce the risk to countries that are already hit by high food prices. … Countries east of Iran, like Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan, all major wheat producers, are most threatened by the fungus and should be on high alert. … It is estimated that as much as 80 percent of all wheat varieties planted in Asia and Africa are susceptible to [this fungus]." (www.fao.org, March 5, 2008)
This fungus was a global problem about 60 years ago. At that time scientists developed three varieties of wheat that were found to be resistant to this wheat fungus. However, now this fungus has mutated so that most of the wheat being grown is no longer resistant to it. It is only a matter of time before this fungus could attack the entire global wheat crop. Researchers fear that it could take eight years to develop a new variety of wheat and to produce enough seeds for the global crops to replace the current varieties being used today. And, Ug99 is mutating so fast that it may be practically impossible to stay ahead of it. As one researcher, Chris Dowsell of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, said, "All I know is that what blows into Iran will not be the same as what blows out of it." (www.environment. newscientist.com, April 3, 2007) Furthermore, it has been discovered that the spores of this fungus can attach themselves to clothing and be transported to a previously unaffected area. With global travel as it is today, it is feared that Ug99 could be either accidentally or purposefully introduced to an unaffected area as a form of agricultural terrorism. According to a reporter for The Prairie Star, Dale Hildebrant, "about one-half of the winter wheat and 75 to 80 percent of the spring wheat acreage in the U.S. is planted in varieties that are susceptible to Ug99, putting about 1.4 billion bushels of annual wheat production at risk. … And even if a new resistant variety
Was ready to be released today it would take two or three years’ of seed increase in order to have enough wheat in the world." (Dale Hildebrant, "Future world wheat crops threatened by Ug99 stem rust, " www.prairestar.com March 13, 2008)
All of this means that ug00 has the immediate potential to force the price of wheat up so fast that the poorest people in the world will starve due to the famine. Wheat prices went up 14 percent last yer and are rising sharply in the first quarter this year.
Those of us who know Bible prophesy know where all of this will end. According to revelation 6:5-6, the current average of a man’s day’s wage being $100, wheat would cost about $3,200 a bushel at the begging of the Tribulation! This translates into a major, unprecedented global famine!
Most of the time, as believers in Jesus Christ and the Word of God, we talk about the Rapture of the church and say that we believe it is imminent. However, if we really do believe that, we should expect that world conditions are rapidly moving in the direction of setting the stage for the opening events of the Tribulation, which follows the Rapture. In light of the prophetic Scriptures, we should take these warnings from the secular agricultural researchers seriously. However, an honest analysis shows these current problems are in part due to the failure of these same researches who have made serious mistakes in the creation of sterile hybrid seeds. Furthermore, this problem is intensified by the abusive application of fertilizers and pesticides by farmers who are forced to increase yields to compensate for the dramatic cost increase in producing their crops. In revelation 11:18 the Lord has warned that He will "destroy them which destroy the earth." Those of us who literally interpret the prophetic Word of god know where all of this is really going. The world’s hope is invested in scientific technology. Our hope is bound up in the person of Jesus Christ and the righteous administration of His coming kingdom. Many prophetic passages promise that mankind will experience a perfect environment that will promote perfect and abundant agricultural production of food during the kingdom. (see Amos (9:13)
According to the Bible we should recognize that bread and all food sources are a gift from our Creator, the Lord Jesus. (Matthew 6:11) We really have no control over the production of food. It is in the hand of our God. He controls the weather and the water. He is the giver of life. He is the Lord of the harvest. The Lord demanded that Israel recognize this each year with the feast of first fruits. (Exodus 23:16, 19; 34:22) During this feast Israel was commanded to bring the initial produce from their fields, and especially the first grains of wheat (Exodus 34:26), to the Lord at His temple. This was an act of thanksgiving and an expression of supplication that the Lord of the harvest would bless the remaining harvest to His people.
The Scriptures abundantly illustrate and teach that the Lord of the harvest does use famine as a means of judging people for their sins. He withholds food and water from those who will not honor Him and bless His name. (Leviticus 26:26; Ezekiel 4:16-17; 5:16-17) In the days of Joseph, God called for a global famine to display His power and to perform His will in calling the family of Jacob to Egypt to fulfill His plan. (Genesis 15:12-16; 41-46; Psalm 105:16-17)
While we are exhorted to be watching for the imminent return of our Lord Jesus (Matthew 24:42) and to be spiritually ready to stand in His holy presence (Matthew 24:44), we are also exhorted to "occupy" until He comes for us. (Luke 19:13) This means that we are to be about His business until He comes, and it also means that it is normal and natural for us to care for the needs that sustain life. Those who watch over and provide for their families have a responsibility to provide both the spiritual and physical needs of those who are under their care. 1 Timothy 5:8 says, "But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel." This context addresses the God-given responsibility of leadership in the home to provide for the physical necessities that sustain physical life for the family. While we are exhorted by our Lord to not be anxious about our needs for tomorrow (Matthew 6:30-34), we are encouraged to be like the ant who stores up her food for the winter. (Proverbs 6:6-11) The Bible states that it is foolish to spend up all that a person has. (Proverbs 21:20) The wise will lay aside for the difficult times that are coming. This is what God instructed Joseph to do in Egypt. It is very important to note that God did not demand that Joseph store food for his own family, but in his case for the nations that would face the global famine.
Reading this newsletter and considering these prophetic realities that are approaching this generation could cause all of us to be filled with anxiety about the approaching global famine. What should we do? How should we react? Remember the words of Jesus in Matthew 6:30-34. We must not be filled with anxiety about the approaching famine. Our God is in complete control! For the righteous that follow His Word, the Lord gives the following promise, "They shall not be ashamed in the evil time: and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied." (Psalm 37:19) However, this promise, and many others like it, does not excuse the responsibility we have to prepare for the difficult days that lie ahead! In his commentary on Matthew 6:30-34, John MacArthur, Jr. states, "Making reasonable provision for tomorrow is sensible, but to be anxious for tomorrow is foolish and unfaithful. God is the God of tomorrow as well as the God of today and of eternity." (John MacArthur, N.T. Commentary, Matthew 1-7, p. 427)
It is my conviction that each leader in the home and church needs to act upon the warning of the prophetic Word of God. We are commanded to occupy until Jesus comes. Our ultimate goal must be to faithfully serve Him and to provide the spiritual and physical food that is needed for those who look to us for the spiritual and physical provisions of life. I am thoroughly convinced that the church will not go through the Tribulation. However, please remember that when the Tribulation begins global famine will already be a reality. (Revelation 6:5-6) In light of current global developments mentioned in this newsletter it is apparent that we are facing the real threat of global famine in the near future. We must be ready for the Rapture at any moment. However, we must also be ready for the difficult days that lie ahead until that blessed day comes. May our blessed Lord give us all the wisdom to know what to do in these perilous days in which we live. Do not be anxious. He is the Lord of the storm. Pray for wisdom. Watch for Jesus. Win the lost! Confess your sins. These are exciting days in which we live! (Read James 1:2-5 and do it!)
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Posts: 3276 | From: Charlestown, IN | Registered: Jun 2002
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