July 13, 2012
The
First
Stages
of
Famine
“. . . And there shall be Famines . . .”
Matthew 24:7
The Beginning Stages of Severe Famine
Almost on a daily basis the News Media is continuing to report dire reports of the drought stricken breadbasket states in this country.
From these reports it
should clearly be seen the House of
Joseph is now on the very edge of the final fulfillment of the
prophecies in
our time.
Looming
ever closer is the severity of the prophesied dreaded famine of the end-time that parallels with the famine
at the time of Elijah, as prophesied by the prophet Joel, and also
found in
other prophecies of the Holy Bible.The news reports of this year alone, 2012, makes known that all-time records have been broken in the weather system: too much rain in some areas, severe drought in other places, along with terrible fires; fires that have burned much of the state of Colorado as it did this past year in Texas devouring over 1500 homes in one city alone. A partial picture as found in the book of Joel:
“Alas for the day! For the day of the LORD is at hand. It shall come as destruction from the Almighty. . . . O Lord, to You I cry out; for FIRE has devoured the open pastures (margin: pastures of the wilderness), and a FLAME has burned all the trees of the field. The beasts of the field also cry out to You, for the WATER BROOKS are dried up, and FIRE has devoured the open pastures” (Joel 1:15-20).
The drought conditions have continued to progressively increase from the past few years with little respite. Unrelentingly, they are continuing and will reach the critical stage very probably within the next two years; that is if the progressive drought conditions continue. At this time there seems to be no stopping point.
IMVA Medical News Dr. Sircus - IMVA July 13, 2012
“Food is hard
to live without. We all tend to take it for granted that our local
supermarket
will continue to offer whatever we wish, in abundance at affordable
prices. Yet
living without adequate food is the growing prospect facing hundreds of
millions, if not billions. The situation is crashing down on us like an
avalanche because of the drought that is affecting almost 60% of
\ns. Our
present corn crop is wilting and day-by-day the yield estimates are
collapsing,
meaning a lot of people around the world are going to go hungry.
Between April 2010 and April 2011, the average world price of grain soared by 71%: not a very big deal for people in rich countries who spend less than 10% of their incomes on food, but a catastrophe for poor people who already spend more than half their money just to keep their families fed. The world has been just a misstep away from a food disaster and that misstep is knocking at our door.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) estimates that since 2004, world food prices on average have soared by an unprecedented 240% even as income for most people has declined. Predictably we have seen a rapid rise in starvation, hunger and malnutrition in poorer populations around the world. The FAO calculates that food-deficit countries will be forced to spend fully 30% more on importing food—with a world value of a staggering $1.3 trillion and that was before this year’s severe drought that seems to only get worse.
The
Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) estimates that since
2004, world food prices on average have soared by an unprecedented 240%
even as income for most people has declined. Predictably we have seen a
rapid rise in starvation, hunger and malnutrition in poorer populations
around the world. The FAO calculates that food-deficit countries will
be forced to spend fully 30% more on importing food—with a world value
of a staggering $1.3 trillion and that was before this year’s
severe drought that seems to only get worse.
Mother Nature is turning really aggressive and is wiping out food production all over the globe with floods, drought, record heat, cold, hail, pestilence, declining soil nutrition and disappearing or polluted water resources. World food stocks are tightening and governments have to buy food for hundreds of millions with financial resources they no longer have.
Remember
Revelation’s 3rd and 4th Horsemen of the Apocalypse? It is the prophecy of famine and horrendous
inflation so severe that people don’t have enough money to buy food.
Are we getting what we deserve?
. . . “The global agriculture supply situation has worsened and a failure to boost food production fast enough to meet demand may lead to shortages,” said investor Jim Rogers, chairman of Rogers Holdings almost a year ago. “We’ve got to do something or we’re going to have no food at any price at times in the next few years,” Rogers said in a Bloomberg Television interview with Rishaad Salamat in Singapore.
Special Note—my recommendations for survival food have always included superfoods like spirulina, chlorella, honey, wheatgrass and barley juice and of course my favorite superfood formula called Rejuvenate because it includes all of the necessary elements for our survival and tastes great mixed with any fruit or vegetable juice and even water. The most intelligent thing you can do is to stock up on whatever you can while you can.
Dr.
Mark Allan Sircus, Ac., OMD, DM (P)
Director International Medical Veritas
Association
Doctor of Oriental and Pastoral Medicine
http://publications.imva.info
http://blog.imva.info
Prophecy Progressively Being Fulfilled
The disasters of this
past year paved the way for the
record-breakers of this present year. Prophecy makes known they are
harbingers
of the worst yet to come.
. . . the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “And
you, son of
man, thus says the Lord GOD to the land of Israel: ‘And end! The end
has come
upon the four corners of the land (no
states to be spared). Now the end
has come upon you, and I will send My anger
against
you; I will judge you according to your ways, and I will repay you for
all your
abominations . . . then you shall [come to] know that I am the LORD. .
.
Disaster will come upon disaster . . .’” (Ezekiel 7:1-4, 26).
With what we have been witnessing in nature, and with these prophecies in mind, one cannot help but seriously wonder— what will take place in 2013, 2014—?
The Famine Close at Hand
It is becoming very clear these record-breaking disasters in nature and experienced in many states are setting this country up for the ravenous severe famine for this end-time.
This coming famine is intended by God to be a type of the severe famine experienced in Israel during the time of Elijah (I Kings 17:1). It was brought on the people of that time for the very same reason it is being brought on the peoples of Israel today.
Warning
from Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong
Fifty-eight years ago, Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong wrote the following in his booklet, 1975 in Prophecy, page 1, (revised edition 1956): “Today this world is changing—fast! Unprecedented events are shaking the world already. Yet what we have seen is mild compared to the catastrophic happenings that will rock the world.
Page 18, “IT’S LATER THAN YOU THINK! . . . Before we realize it, we’ll find ourselves in the throes of FAMINE, and uncontrollable epidemics of DISEASE . . . Along with the coming famine and disease epidemic will come an invasion of billions of crop-destroying bugs, insects, and locusts (grasshoppers) on a scale never before to devastate a land. You’ll read of this in the first chapter of Joel.”
Current News
Articles Reveal
the Setting for the Coming Famine
Recent news articles are making known that officials are now expressing real concern due to shrinking water supplies! In some areas people are already experiencing the rationing of water. In other areas there has been flooding due to too much rain.
http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/
Are You
Prepared For The Coming
Economic Collapse And The Next Great Depression?
The
Corn Is Dying Is Dying All Over
America
All over America the corn is dying. If drought conditions persist in the middle part of the country, wheat and soybeans will be next. Weeks of intense heat combined with extraordinarily dry conditions have brought many U.S. corn farmers to the brink of total disaster. If there is not significant rainfall soon, many farmers will be financially ruined. This period of time is particularly important for corn because this is when pollination is supposed to happen. But the unprecedented heat and the extremely dry conditions are playing havoc with that process. With each passing day things get even worse. . . . The weather conditions in the middle part of the country during the last couple of months have been highly unusual. All over America the corn is dying. If drought conditions persist in the middle part of the country, wheat and soybeans will be next. Weeks of intense heat combined with extraordinarily dry conditions have brought many U.S. corn farmers to the brink of total disaster. If there is not significant rainfall soon, many farmers will be financially ruined. This period of time is particularly important for corn because this is when pollination is supposed to happen. But the unprecedented heat and the extremely dry conditions are playing havoc with that process. With each passing day things get even worse. . . . The weather conditions in the middle part of the country during the last couple of months have been highly unusual.
In
a message dated 7/11/2012 8:59:25 P.M. Mountain Daylight Time,
theduncans1959@sbcglobal.net writes:
USDA Declares Disaster in 26 States as Drought Sears Midwest
By Alan Bjerga | Bloomberg – 4 hours ago.
.
“More than 1,000 counties in 26 states are being named natural-disaster
areas, the biggest such declaration ever by the U.S. Department of
Agriculture, as drought grips the Midwest. . . .
Will
2012 Become a Historic Disaster?
Time magazine wrote on July 5:
"Triple-digit days. Weeks with little to no rain. Soil crumbling away. Stunted corn stalks. Right now the fertile fields of the U.S. Midwest are experiencing corn-killing weather, with parts of five corn-growing states in the region experiencing severe or extreme drought. In at least nine states, one-fifth to one-half of cornfields are currently in poor or very poor conditions. And all of this comes after earlier expectations that corn farmers were going to produce a bumper crop this season, with 40 million hectares planted - the largest corn area in 75 years.
"So terrible is the weather in the heartland that farmers have begun to compare it to the drought of 1988, which wiped out millions of hectares of corn and caused $78 billion in crop damage, or even worse, the great Dust Bowl era of the 1930s. Already, stockpiles of corn have fallen by 48% from March to June, the biggest drop since 1996 - and that was before the drought and the brutally hot weather began in earnest. The percentage of the corn crop with top-quality ratings was 48% as of July 1, compared with 69% a year ago. Whether 2012 goes down as just an off year for corn crops or a truly historic disaster will depend on the next couple of weeks."
The Guardian added on July 10:
"The worst drought to hit the United States in nearly 25 years is threatening to drive up food prices around the world.
"The price of corn, the staple crop of much of the midwest and the prairies, has risen by a third in the past month and rose again on Wednesday after a US government report said farmers would not yield as much from their parched fields as expected. Higher prices are likely to be passed on in the cost of hamburgers and steak and also affect a range of other foods such as corn flakes and bread.
"Almost a third of America's corn crop is already showing signs of damage and a report released by the US Department of Agriculture on Wednesday forecast that farmers would only reap a fraction of the corn expected last spring when they planted 96.4m acres (39m hectares) - the most since 1937."
Terrible
Weather Conditions
in Continental USA
Reuters reported on July 9:
"Scorching temperatures in June's second half helped the continental United States break its record for the hottest first six months in a calendar year. The last 12 months also have been the warmest since modern record-keeping began in 1895. The recent blistering heat wave broke records across much of the United States, threatening the Midwest's corn crop and helping to fan destructive wildfires.
"This past month was also the 10th driest June, with drought spreading to 56 percent of the contiguous U.S. states, up from 37.4 percent in May, making it the largest drought footprint of the 21st century. Wildfires claimed 1.3 million acres, mostly in the West, the second-largest area to be charred during any June on record.
"But it wasn't all dry. Tropical Storm Debby dumped so much rain during its slow pass across Florida that the state's monthly statewide precipitation total for the month was 13.16 inches, or 6.17 inches above average, making it Florida's wettest June on record. Maine, Oregon and Washington state each had a top-10 wet June."
Terrible
Weather Conditions in Great Britain
The Daily Mail wrote on July 7:
"Torrential downpours battered the South West of England today causing life-threatening floods as 'colossal' levels of summer rain continued. After more than two inches of rain fell in just 18 hours in Devon, the Environment Agency put parts of the Rivers Yealm, Axe and Burton on the highest grade flood warning, meaning they pose a 'danger to life'. A total of around 75 flood warnings and 150 flood alerts were issued across England and Wales. Many parts of the country received more than half the average rainfall for July in just one day."
On July 9, The Daily Mail stated about Great Britain:
". the country endured another sodden week, following the wettest spring and early summer period since records began."
The
Last Days of Britain
The Daily Mail wrote on July 6:
"The face of the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, has been slapped on the front of a U.S. magazine with a set of yellow, decaying teeth. The Royal was PhotoShopped like the American stereotype of a Brit with bad gnashers for a special issue of the politics and arts publication The New Republic about the future of Britain. The 30-year-old. appears in front of a tattered Union Jack alongside the words, 'Something's Rotten. The Last Days of Britain.'. Last year the pearly white Duchess spent thousands of pounds having her teeth polished and turned to give her the perfect smile."
Underground
Water Reserves
Please consider the following recent News Articles:
Published by Tess Pennington
on August
29th, 2011
Natural News: The Ripple Effect: Water Shortages Likely
In Most
Populated Cities
“The realization that our water is in fact a finite resource has become all the more clear over the last year where parts of the country have experienced the worst droughts in a century. The changes in global weather patterns and a rapidly growing population have also substantially affected the water supply.
In 2010, an article was written that examined the risk of water shortages across the country. The writers of the article looked at an October, 2010 report on water risk by environmental research and sustainability group, Ceres. They also considered a comprehensive July, 2010 report from the National Resources Defense Council which mapped areas at high risk of water shortage conflict. The analysis allowed officials to choose ten cities which are likely to face severe shortages in the relatively near-term future. The cities are:
10.
Orlando, Florida, 9. Atlanta, Georgia,
8. Tucson, Arizona, 7. Las Vegas, Nevada, 6. Fort Worth, Texas, 5. San
Francisco Bay Area, California, 4. San Antonio, Texas, 3. Phoenix,
Arizona, 2.
Houston, Texas, 1. Los Angeles, California
However, according to Natural News, these cities should not be the only ones concerned about future water shortages. According to U.S. government estimates, at least 36 states are expected to face water shortages within the next five years.
The Ripple Effect
In many parts of the country where severe droughts are present, the dry, hot ground is causing major water mains to break and essentially draining the city’s water. In the very near future, cities and towns could place more stringent water restrictions on its inhabitants, but how would these restrictions affect the city as a whole? If we experience water shortages in much of the nation, then cities will have to look for alternate water sources. Water is already a scarce commodity, so there will be competition both locally and statewide for remaining water sources which could make life in these cities nearly unbearable for residents. With emotions running high, a ripple effect could sweep the nation and possibly fuel more aggressive behavior amongst those living in major cities.”
America's breadbasket aquifer running dry; massive agriculture collapse inevitable
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger,
NaturalNews
Editor
“(NaturalNews) It's
the largest underground freshwater supply in the world, stretching from
South
Dakota all the way to Texas. It's underneath most of Nebraska's
farmlands, and
it provides crucial water resources for farming in Colorado, Kansas,
Oklahoma
and even New Mexico. It's called the Ogallala Aquifer, and it is being
pumped
dry.
See the map of this aquifer here: http://www.naturalnews.com/images/O...
Without the Ogallala Aquifer, America's
heartland food
production collapses. No water means no
irrigation
for the corn, wheat, alfalfa and other crops grown across these states
to feed
people and animals. And each year, the Ogallala Aquifer drops another
few
inches as it is literally being sucked dry by the tens of thousands of
agricultural wells that tap into it across the heartland of America.
This problem with all this is that the
Ogallala Aquifer
isn't being recharged in any significant way from rainfall or
rivers. This
is so-called "fossil water" because once you use it, it's gone. And
it's disappearing now faster than ever.
In some regions along the aquifer, the water
level has
dropped so far that it has effectively disappeared -- places like Happy,
Texas, where a once-booming agricultural town has collapsed to a
population
of just 595. All the wells drilled there in the 1950's tapped into the
Ogallala
Aquifer and seemed to provide abundant water at the time. But today the
wells have all run dry.
Happy, Texas has become a place of despair. Dead cattle. Wilted crops.
Once-moist soils turned to dust. And Happy is just the beginning of
this story
because this same agricultural tragedy will be repeated across
Oklahoma,
Nebraska, Kansas and parts of Colorado in the next few decades.
That's a
hydrologic fact. Water doesn't magically reappear in the Ogallala. Once
it's
used up, it's gone.
"There used to be 50,000 head of cattle, now there's 1,000," says Kay Horner in a Telegraph report (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/83...). "Grazed them on wheat, but the feed lots took all the water so we can't grow wheat. Now the feed lots can't get local steers so they bring in cheap unwanted milking calves from California and turn them into burger if they can't make them veal. It doesn't make much sense. We're heading back to the Dust Bowl."
The Coming Starvation In America
By James P. Wickstrom
http://www.theantechamber.net
Antechamber. net
10-3-5
“The government of the United States, by Law was to always maintain a
three
year mixed- grain survival storage for every man, woman, and child in
the
United States.
Like most Laws of the land, the politicians never took heed as to why
our wise
ancestors had this reserve requirement established. It was to make
sure, that,
in the time of a National Emergency, the
people had
the most important mainstay needed for survival individually and as a
Nation.
Remember, the people make the Nation, the
Nation does
not make the people.
In the 1960's and 1970's the different political administrations of Washington, D. C. walked away from sanity and started to give the surplus grains which were in elevator storage all over the country, to other nations, such as the Soviet Union, India, etc.. This continued over two decades, until the elevators were empty and the reserve of grains that were in reserve as per a national crisis.... were gone. Of course this was done as to enhance international "friendship" with other nations, even if those other nations were self-admitted enemies of the United States.
Remember, there was enough grain in storage, paid for by the American tax- payer, to last the masses inside the United States for three full years, if need be. But now it all is but gone!
By 1996, the United States Department of Agriculture (U. S. D. A.) claimed that there was enough food in ware-house storage to last every man, woman and child in the cities a 3 day supply and a 5 day supply for every man, woman, and child in the countryside, should a great national emergency occur. In other words, if food trucks stopped running, the food supplies for the masses would be 3 days in the cities and 5 days in the countryside. . . .
Mr. Guebert also stated, that one more disaster as the likes of the hurricanes Katrina or Rita against the United States, or anything to compare to such in whatever way, would create such a food panic, it would make the New Orleans rioting look like the Mardi Gras.
In
conclusion, I highly suggest that you pull your
head out of the sand, check your food supplies, and if you do not have
6 months
to a years food in reserve, then you had
best sell
something or do whatever you have to do, to immediately prepare
yourself and
your loved ones for safety. If you can store two years at this time: DO
IT
AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!
Remember, the 15.7 pounds of food in reserve is becoming less by the
day, and
at the present rate of speed, the United States is heading to what is
called.... meal to meal. One more major disaster will drive the United
States
to its knees.
The federal government, for itself, has millions of tons of preserved
foods
stashed away in underground storages, but this food is not for the
masses,
unless they surrender their firearms, and then they will get a food
coupon from
the *feds* to buy out of the federal government food warehouse wherever
it is
set up in your area.
............. has always subjected and
controlled the
masses using FOOD. Remember, FOOD CONTROL IS PEOPLE CONTROL. New
Orleans was
your cue: Now prepare! You have been warned.
Your blood is off my hands!
James P. Wickstrom
Should the U.S. emulate the Biblical Joseph and store grain?
Dave Schechter CNN Senior
National
Editor September 23rd, 2011 06:32 PM
ET
Back
in 1895, Katharine Lee Bates was teaching English at a college in
Colorado when
she wrote this first stanza of a poem that became the lyrics for the
song
“America the Beautiful”
O
beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
Reading
about global food issues, most notably rising prices paid by consumers
around
the world, prompts this probably overheated question: Might America
wake one
day and discover that those “amber waves of grain” and the bounty of
its
“fruited plain” no longer is enough to feed its citizens?
American
farmers were forecast this spring to plant more than 92 million acres
of corn,
75 million acres of soybeans and 58 million acres of wheat. Every
bushel that
survives to be harvested this fall will be coveted. The United States
accounts
for more than half of the world’s grain exports; by comparison, a
higher
percentage than Saudi Arabia’s share of global oil exports.
South
Korea, which imports 70 percent of its grain supply, already buys large
amounts
of from the United States. A desire to ensure the imports it needs has
moved
the government in Seoul to create a mechanism that could bypass a
competitive
marketplace. By 2020, South Korea hopes to import 4 million metric tons
of corn
and wheat annually, some 30 percent of its import needs, contracting
directly
with the source.
Lester
Brown, founder of the WorldWatch
Institute, earlier
this year wrote about this development, as part of a larger piece
titled "The New Geopolitics of Food." “As the Koreans acquire their own grain
elevators, they may well sign multiyear delivery contracts with
farmers,
agreeing to buy specified quantities of wheat, corn, or soybeans at a
fixed
price,” Brown wrote in Foreign Policy.
Surely,
Brown observed, “Other importers will not stand idly by as South Korea
tries to
tie up a portion of the U.S. grain harvest even before it gets to
market.” If
the South Koreans do this, he said, the Chinese, the Indians and others
will
follow, paying top dollar and removing significant quantities of
American grain
from the marketplace. Brown also pointed out that such more affluent
countries
as Saudi Arabia, South Korea and China increasingly are leasing or
buying land
outside of their borders, notably in Africa, on which to grow food for
their
domestic consumption.
Brown
previously had suggested that, given China's role as an engine in the
world
economy, the United States might find it difficult to
restrict grain exports
should the People’s Republic want to make particularly large purchases.
In his
Foreign Policy article, Brown posited that Americans could wake up some
day and
discover that there no longer is enough grain available to meet the
demand in
this country for food, feed and fuel (such as corn used in the
production of
ethanol, by itself a major subject of debate in the world of global
agriculture).
“This
is happening just as China may be on the verge of entering the U.S.
market as a
potentially massive importer of grain. With China's 1.4 billion
increasingly
affluent consumers starting to compete with U.S. consumers for the U.S.
grain
harvest, cheap food, seen by many as an American birthright, may be
coming to
an end,” Brown wrote.
TIME
magazine noted this trend in a piece outlooking
“A Future of Price Spikes.” “With demand steadily rising, the world
is closer to disaster because the food safety net has shrunk. In the
late
1990s, we had enough corn stashed in reserve to meet world demand for
about
four months; now we have enough for only about 12/3. From more than
four
months' supply of wheat in storage, we have gone down to just over
three (and
in recent years, reserves have fallen even further),” TIME reported.
As to
that comparison of U.S. grain exports with Saudi Arabian oil exports:
Given the
implications of demand outstripping supply, the question has been
raised in
recent years whether the U.S. government should maintain a strategic
grain
reserve, akin to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve used to cushion severe
shocks
to oil supplies.
Therein
lies the Biblical story of Joseph, who interpreted the Pharoah’s
dream about seven fat cows and seven lean cows to mean that seven years
of
plenty in Egypt would be followed by seven years of famine, for which
Joseph
recommended that the Pharoah save a
portion of the harvest
in the good years to feed the people in the years to follow.
At one
time, the U.S. government did maintain physical reserves of grain, but
today
opts instead to hold cash reserves should it need to buy grain in the
event of
a crisis. Joseph W. Glauber, chief
economist of the
Agriculture Department, told CNN that removing grain from the
marketplace for a
strategic reserve or for other policy purposes raises issues of
government
intervention in the marketplace. As an example, Glauber
cited a short-lived embargo on U.S. soybean exports in the early 1970s,
one
part of a larger Nixon administration anti-inflation strategy. The
embargo’s
“unintended consequences,” as Glauber
termed them,
included Brazil and Argentina expanding soybean production to take
advantage of
import demands the U.S. could not fill and the European Union “embarked
on a
‘self-sufficiency’ policy for oilseed production.”
The
National Family Farm Coalition, which bills itself as a “North American
organization that serves as a national link for grassroots
organizations
working on family farm issues,” believes a strategic grain reserve is
needed to prevent
livestock feed costs from escalating beyond a reasonable price,
“preserve our
national security” by making sure there is sufficient grain for use by
Americans and make sure farmers can cope with boom-and-bust cycles in
the
prices they receive.
China,
the world’s most populous nation and the world’s largest wheat
producer,
maintains a national reserve, because “Food security is national security in
China,” Jim Harkness
wrote in a piece for the Institute for Policy
Studies, the implication being that perhaps it is less of a national
security
priority in the United States. Harkness
added,
“Although China maintains vast reserves of grain, and other foods as
well like
pork and edible oils, the United States and most other countries have
abandoned
this wise approach,” Harkness, president
of the
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, added.
In the
years to come, the demands and diet of a growing global population –
expected
to reach 7 billion in late October – may well test the reassurance that
Marri Carrow,
communications
manager for the U.S. Grains Council, offered CNN: “The U.S. farmer has
an
amazing ability to plant enough coarse grains to meet both domestic and
international demand.”
Food
Shortages from Threat of Warfare
It
should also be realized that this nation could be in serious straits in
regards
to a real shortage of food occurring in other ways other than a lack of
rain.
One such way would be a real war scare
that could throw this country into a
critical food shortage almost overnight
To use an example: During the Cuban Missile Crisis between Premier Nikita Khruschev of Russia and President John Kennedy of the United States, it looked very much like nuclear war was about to occur due to Russia setting up nuclear-tipped missiles in Cuba – less than 1000 miles from the United States (late summer, 1962)
Due
to the very possible outbreak of warfare at that time, it was reported
in the
local newspaper of San Diego, California that people were going into
the
grocery stores and filling large baskets with cans of food – pulling
them off
of the shelves with both arms! It did not matter what kind of food the
cans
contained!
If the threats of terrorism are carried out, and other wars besides Iraq begin with North Korea, Iran or Syria, then we could see the same thing take place as it did then!
However, it would be on a much larger scale this time. The government would have to step in and reinstate rationing as it did during WWII, and possibly martial law as well.
But this would only be temporary until the beginning of the real problems then millions of people would begin to be affected to the point of death!
The
Worst Part of the Famine
Famine will hit the hardest during
the last
six months or so! However, prior to this time God’s faithful and
enduring
people will have left for the place of refuge a
place God will have prepared for them
during this terrible coming time (Revelation
3:10; 12:14, plus other Scriptures).
There have been numerous reports from news sources making known the drought has been gripping this country for some few years. Of late farmers are experiencing it even more seriously due to continued drought and flooding.
It has recently been reported that if we experience another year of drought we can expect the price of food to spiral out of sight! The rapid increase of the cost of oil is another major factor that is also increasing the higher cost of food as well as gas and diesel fuel.
Though most people do not realize it, we live
continually on
the edge of critically hard and trying times that could go over the
edge at any
time!
The Storage of
Food Products
Officials on the highest level have advised everyone to take precautions in the event that some form of terrorism or a possible bird flu pandemic occurs. They have also recommended having on hand enough cans of food and water to last for thirty days along with a battery-powered radio.
The problems affecting the already mentioned food chain, supply and storage, should make known that much more food and water should be on hand than just enough for thirty days even in normal times.
Consider the
Ant
Even in normal times, Scripture counsels us to be like the ant and have extra food on hand (Proverbs 6:6-8; 30:25). There is a definite need to overcome the habit of going to the grocery store each and every day to fulfill our needs.
One
should realize there is soon coming a time when full-page food ads and
coupons
will be no more! Food is going to become very costly and scarce at the
same
time! In fact, it will become priceless!
During this extreme crisis no one will be able to find any food, let alone be able to purchase any for it will be unobtainable. The holders of gold and silver will find food cannot be bought anywhere; gold and silver will become worthless and thrown into the streets as worthless:
“They will
throw their silver into the
streets, and their gold will be like refuse (worthless); their silver and
their gold will not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of
the
LORD; they will NOT SATISFY their souls, NOR fill their stomachs . . .
.” (Ezekiel
7:19).
Consider the following news articles that reveal the pantries are bare in America and Britain:
The U.S. Has No
Remaining Grain Reserves
National News / National News Date: Jun 06, 2008 - 10:10 AM WASHINGTON - Larry Matlack, President of the American Agriculture Movement (AAM), has raised concerns over the issue of U.S. grain reserves. . . . Our concern is that the U.S. has nothing else in our emergency food pantry. There is no cheese, no butter, no dry milk powder, no grains or anything else left in reserve. The only thing left in the entire CCC inventory will be 2.7 million bushels of wheat which is about enough wheat to make ½ of a loaf of bread for each of the 300 million people in America.”
Mail Online News -- Nine meals from anarchy - how Britain is facing a very real food crisis Monday, June 09 2008
Britain facing a very real food crisis By Rosie Boycott Last updated at 1:41 AM on 07th June 2008 “. . . Today, we stand on the brink of a longer-term problem. In the words of Tim Lang, Professor of Food Policy at City University, London: 'We are sleep-walking into a crisis.' . . .”
Sleep Walking into Starvation
Among those sleep-walking
are thousands of Church members who have no concern about where they
are, what
they are taught, and believe! Further—it is hard for them to believe
that the
prophecies
they have heard preached by Mr. Armstrong are now
coming to pass before their very eyes!
Though his Recorded Works are available for listening—very, very, few take advantage of them. Most want nothing to do with him in any manner.
The news articles from
the past few years unto now bring
to life his preaching of the curse that is now bringing
America,
Britain, and other nations of Israel to the point of extreme
famine as made known by God
through His prophet Joel.
As we consider the grave ongoing and progressing
sins in
this country, and the CURSE
on us because of those sins, we should by way of analogy
consider the fall of ancient Babylon—and realize we have entered the
closing
years—that are also tipping the scales to the fall of America with God’s
handwriting on the wall: – ‘we have been
weighed in the balances and found wanting’ (Daniel 5:1-30).
The real beginning of the end for America,
Britain, and the
other nations of Israel has begun, as God’s prophet makes know:
“. . . The end has come; it has DAWNED for
you; behold it has come! . . . The time has come, the day draws near.” (Ezekiel 7:6, 12).
Like Babylon of old, the House of Israel will
soon fall
into the hands of the Beast Power. Starvation and
slavery for the peoples of
Israel
will weaken the House of Joseph so greatly that will make their demise
possible
(Hosea 11:5-7; Joel 2:11).
Food Rationing
Be
prepared for food rationing! It will soon be here! These predictions
from
notable writers are based on the prevailing disastrous weather
conditions that
have paved the way to the record breakers of this year!
With the accelerating problems in nature in evidence, and with end-time prophecy in mind, the real possibility of the reinstating of food rationing and other essential items could very well take place within the next two years just as it did during WWII.
Food shortages will be much greater this time than in the1930s.
By reading the history of the 1930s and considering the pulse of society today, it can be easily seen there is a different spirit today than at that time. People would share with one another during those years and by doing so made it possible for the survival of virtually every one.
Not so today; people will use whatever means possible to obtain food at whatever the cost to his neighbor (Deuteronomy 28:53-57).
There seems to be no question but that martial law will have to be put in place and enforced as well.
The
Rationing of Food Items
From the internet, we can have a better picture in mind of what we will soon be facing by looking at the items that were rationed during those war years:
“Many
commodities, such as meat,
sugar, butter, coffee, gasoline, tires, shoes and clothing were
rationed. Local
schools set up stations where people could get their ration coupons
(with teachers handling
the
paperwork.) Each person (regardless of age) received the same food
and clothing coupons. To purchase an item
three things were needed: the storekeeper had to have the item in the
first place, the purchaser had to have the
cash, and had to have
the coupons. With half of all canned goods going to the military or to
allies,
Americans turned to Victory Gardens, planting 20 million of them to
provide
vegetables for their families.[3] Most automobile
drivers received coupons for 3 gallons per week; those who could
document
special needs received extra gasoline coupons. (There was plenty of
gasoline;
the rationing
was an efficient way to
ration automobile tires, with rubber in very short supply.) Bread, milk
and
beer were not rationed. People eating in restaurants had to pay with
cash and
ration coupons.”
But rationing food this time would only be effective until the real severity of famine sets in. Then millions of people will really begin to be affected severely, especially so during the last six months. They will then seek any possible means to obtain it!
However,
just prior to this time God’s faithful people will leave for the place
of
refuge a
place He will have prepared for them during
this terrible coming time (Revelation
3:10; 12:14, plus other Scriptures).
The Real
Preparation Needed Now!
With an ongoing close relationship with our Creator God there should also be absolute faith to believe our needs will be provided just as they have been in past ages with God’s true people.
Once our individual storage is exhausted then we can know God will be there for us. He will not forsake His true, loyal, and faithful people;
“Behold
the eyes of the LORD is on those
who fear Him, on those who hope in His mercy, to deliver their soul
from death,
and to keep them alive in famine”
(Psalm 33:18-19; Psalm 34:8-10;; 37:18-19;
Matthew
28:20; Hebrews 13:5-6).
As can be seen from these Scriptures, the real preparation that must be made above all else is to have a much closer and ongoing relationship with our God. If we have it then we can trust in Him to take care of us in whatever way He chooses.
This could even be the
raining of manna from heaven above or
having
ravens bring it to us, or a flour bin and an oil container that will
never
fail, or whatever other source God will make available to us.
However before we reach the point of no food to be found anywhere and having trust in God to provide it, He expects us to be doing our part in whatever we can for ourselves now.
A real Bible student should know that God through prophecy enables His true and loyal people to FORESEE THE EVIL, before it comes to pass, and then make known the need to take the necessary precautions, just as the government has been seriously advising the people to do.
A Real Pressing
Need
If we really grasped how close this is to becoming reality, undoubtedly everyone would be preparing themselves more fully by drawing closer to God. For it is only through our Father and His beloved Son Jesus Christ that we will have our needs provided while witnessing the deaths of multiple millions of people all around us (Psalm 91:4-11)!
It is very sad to realize it is going to impact all people, including your families, as well as mine, but we must have faith that Jesus Christ will be merciful to them because of our faithfulness to Him.
Mr.
Herbert W. Armstrong did WARN
Israel and the world for over 50 years. He
spoke and wrote continually of the CURSE from
God that is on Israel while urging repentance just as did the other two
Elijahs. A quote from him regarding these terrible times is as follows:
“People
of the Western World would be STUNNED - dumbfounded - IF they
knew! The governments of the
God
our only Hope
While
continuing to learn of records being broken each year we should
be able as Jesus said to be very observant of the times along with
knowledge of
revealed prophecy:
“. . . Look at the fig tree,
and all the trees. When they are already
budding (seeing these terrible
things now taking place
that fits with the foregoing Scriptures), you see and known for
yourselves that summer is now near. So you, likewise, when you see
these things
(beginning, verses 7-11) happening, know that the Kingdom of God is near. . . : (Luke
21:29-33).
Brethren
as we approach this critical time of the end of the House of
Joseph and the Great
Tribulation, we should
realize more than ever that our relationship with God is the only thing
that
really matters.
If it
is right, and ongoing, then we need not worry nor be afraid of
whatever catastrophe, or disaster, might come to pass! As God’s true
people, we
should be looking beyond this physical life to the awesome blissful
future promised
to us; one that will never end. Nothing should be more important to us (Matthew 16:24-27).
While
there is yet day, we MUST be about our
Father’s
business and doing all that He enables us to do in reaching out an
extended
hand to our brothers and sisters who are yet in the wrong places before
the darkness
of night befalls this age.
Encouragement
from Jesus Christ
Hopefully the observance of God’s Sabbath and
the soon-coming Holy Days
should cause us to lift up our head and hearts as we see the unfolding
of these
end-time prophecies that with them will bring about the terrible
problems that
are already befalling mankind and focus on what Jesus Christ said to
encourage
us:
“And there will be
SIGNS
in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of
nations, with perplexity, the sea and waves roaring; men’s hearts
failing them
for FEAR and the expectation of those things which are coming on the
earth, for
the powers of the heavens heaven will be shaken. Now
when
these things BEGIN to happen, LOOK UP AND LIFT
UP YOUR HEADS, FOR
YOUR REDEMPTION DRAWS
NEAR” (Luke 21:25-28).
These Scriptures coupled with what is being seen
through the News Media makes
known we are beginning to see the end-time is now virtually in sight;
and our
redemption is indeed much closer than perhaps any of us have realized
heretofore!
Our love and prayers is for
all of you as brethren in Christ Jesus our Lord,
Don Billingsley
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