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However, food eats up an increas–
ing portion of your entire budget
and will continue to do so with no
apparent end in sight. "A loaf of
bread for $20, or three pounds of
barley ftour. but there is no olive oil
or wine," predicts the Bible in Reve–
lation 6:6
(The Living Bible).
In
other words, basic foods will be su–
percostly, and luxuries will not even
be available.
When
we will come to
lhat point
r
don't know, but $1.00-a–
loaf bread is already on your gro–
cer's shelves!
As if the world didn't have
enough
genuine
crises-we live in an
age of a crisis of crises-artificial
crises are now being added to our
burden. Powers who control the
source of basic commodities have
decided to follow in the footsteps of
the diamond merchants of long ago.
Supply and demand usually dictate
cost. Therefore, corner the supply,
create an artificial scarcity, and up
the price!
Back to bread as an example. Re–
member last year when the price of
wheat was so high-with dire pros–
pects of a meager harvest-that the
bakers were forced to increase the
cost of a loaf of bread substantially?
Yes, of course you do. But now that
tbe price of wheat has dropped so
low it has our farmers in revolt, has
the price ofbread gone down? No.
How about sugar? Coffee? Oil?
Cocoa? Milk? Butter? (For that mat–
ter, the low-priced spread now costs
much more than the high-priced
The
PLAIN TRUTH January 1978
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spread did just five years ago.) What
about eggs? And, perish the
thought, meat?
Of course we could purchase that
cheaper, high-fiber bread that has
fewer calodes and more fiber- cellu–
lose, they call it (you and 1 call it
sawdust!).
Contrast this to the way it will be
in God's Kingdom: "Say there! Is
The God of your Bible
does have genuine
good news just over the
horizon, but between
now and then there
seems to be a
lot of bad news.
anyone thirsty? Come and drink–
even if you have no money! Come,
take your choice of wine and milk–
it's aiJ free! Why spend your money
on foodstuffs that don't give you
strength? Why pay for groceries that
don't do you any good? [Does that
sound like sawdust-bread and the
swarm of artificial-junk-nonfood-
stuffs in our marketplace?J Listen
and 1'11 tell you where to get good
food that fattens up the soul!" (fsa.
55:1-2,
The Living Bible.)
Go ahead,
read the rest of the chapter for your–
self; it's a good one. In fact, read the
whole Book!
But, what to do? Well, more
people than ever are planting their
own gardens; natural foods are all
the rage; "go to the ant, thou slug–
gard" and all that.
Beware if you live off the super–
market shelves, because the farmers
are fed up with their slice of the
price of food. The largest single in–
dustry in America, and probably the
world, is tired of being maligned.
looked down on and cheated. They
are threatening to just quit growing
anything for us (they'll put in a gar–
den for themselves, of course) and
see how we like to fast!
Can you imagine the food riots
that would erupt; the farms looted
and pillaged by starving city citi–
zens? Can't happen? Better not bet
on it! The farmers are organizing,
and they mean business!
Shelter
The spiraling cost of real estate
makes borne owners feel good and
prospective buyers feel bad. The av–
erage cost of a new house, now run–
ning quickly from $40,000 to
$50,000, is forcing people to live like
sardines in high-rise apartment
house complexes, condominiums
and townbouses. Tensions rise with
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