Unprecedented Famine to Strike First
WE REFUSE TO HEAR
An
awesome, overwhelming CRISIS of the age is about to STRIKE in its full
fury upon the United States and Britain. The flow of events leading to
that very time is NOW upon us. and God expects us to take heed to what
is coming upon this earth. Of course, God is not going to force us to
believe what he says.
Notice Ezekiel 3:3-4, 7: "He said to me,
'Son of man, feed your stomach and fill your body with this scroll
which I am giving you.' Then I ate it, and it was sweet as honey in my
mouth. Then He said to me, 'Son of man, go to the House of Israel and
speak with My words to them ... yet the house of Israel will not be
willing to listen to you, since they are not willing to listen to Me.
Surely the whole house of Israel is stubborn and obstinate. (New
American Standard Bible)"
Mr. Herbert Armstrong was the Ezekiel
Watchman who took this message to modern day Israel (the United States
and Britain). Mr. Armstrong showed that the message of Ezekiel was for
our time - and that it had to be delivered by a modern, 20th century
Ezekiel. Our people refused to heed this Ezekiel warning message. It
seemed they didn't care to know. God says that our people are "STUBBORN
AND OBSTINATE."
But notice what God said He is going to do:
"...for they have refused my judgments and my statutes, they have not
walked in them. Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; because ye
multiplied more than the nations that are round about you, and have not
walked in my statutes, neither have kept my judgments... Therefore thus
saith the Lord GOD; Behold I, even I, am against thee, and will execute
judgments in the midst of thee in the sight of the nations" (Ezekiel
5:6-8, King James Version).
God is going to shortly pour out the
full flow of his fury and anger upon our people. This same book of
Ezekiel gives a sequence of CATASTROPHIC events that are now soon to
come to pass. One of those events has to do with a famine of
UNPRECEDENTED proportion.
FAMINE FORETOLD
Notice
what God says to our people: "Wherefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD;
surely because thou hast defiled my sanctuary with all thy detestable
things, and with all thine abominations, therefore will I also diminish
thee; neither shall mine eye spare, neither will I have any pity. A
third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall
they be consumed in the midst of thee ... (Ezekiel 5:11,12)." In the
panorama of prophesied events - leading to the fall of our nation, God
has revealed that we are first going to be struck and weakened by a
DEVASTATING NATIONAL FAMINE that will claim the lives of one third of
our people.
In a work titled Where Are We Now In Prophecy?,
there is an original text by Mr. Armstrong that carries the heading:
"What Lies Ahead Now In Prophecy?" In that text (page 9), Mr. Armstrong
writes: "And now, the next prophesied event - to strike in the full
fury of its climax before the democratic nations are brought low by the
resurrected Roman Empire - is a famine, caused by unprecedented drought
and/or floods and affecting Africa first, then other areas of the Third
World and finally the United States, Britain ..."
In June 2002,
the BBC ran a report that carried the heading: "Millions Face Famine in
Africa." Here is a short excerpt from that report: "The World Food
Programme (WFP) has warned that 12.8 million people are on the brink of
starvation in Southern Africa and urgently need food aid ... Crops have
failed due to drought, floods, and political breakdown." This report of
apocalyptic disaster is very much in tune with what Mr. Armstrong long
before said would happen.
Now five years later, Africa remains
in the grip of famine. Such areas as Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Ethiopia
have been severely affected.
In a report dated May 21, 2002, the
BBC also stated that "Aid agency Save the Children is warning that
unless decisive action is taken, southern Africa faces a huge famine."
The report goes on to say "that up to 19 million people in six
countries - from Malawi in the north of the region to Lesotho in the
south - are facing drastic food shortages caused by a combination of
erratic rainfall and floods followed by drought." In October 2006, the
BBC also reported as many as 40 nations in Africa, Asia and Central
America were facing food emergencies "because of poor cereal harvests,
and were likely to need help from the international community."
We,
in America, have not been able to grasp the MAGNITUDE of what famine
has done to Africa, but like an oncoming locomotive, this very same
famine is headed our way. and our nation will soon experience what
Africa has been experiencing. DON'T KID YOURSELF in believing that this
couldn't happen here in America. As surely as night brings darkness and
day brings light, so shall this prophesied famine come upon our people
unless they repent of their widespread sins.
CHRIST SAID IT WOULD HAPPEN
Christ
prophesied a time of GREAT TROUBLE would come that includes widespread
famine. Notice Matthew 24:3: "And as He sat upon the Mount of Olives,
the disciples came unto Him privately, saying, 'Tell us, when shall
these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the
end of the world'?" The disciples were curious and wanted to know what
sign would indicate the end of this present civilization. In answer to
their question, Christ said: "For many shall come in My name, saying, I
am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and
rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must
come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against
nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and
pestilences, and earthquakes in divers places (v. 5-7)." Christ made it
known there would be ongoing religious deception and world turmoil -
accompanied by FAMINES, PESTILENCES and EARTHQUAKES.
But
notice verse 8: "All these are the beginnings of sorrows." "Sorrows"
can be translated "travail" or "pain." The word conveys a woman in pain
- as she struggles to give birth. In this case, "the beginning of
sorrows" is that period leading into the GREAT TRIBULATION (Matthew
24:21). Notice the very next event that would follow the beginning of
sorrows: "Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall
kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for My name's sake" (v.
9). Those of us who are more acquainted with Mr. Armstrong 's teachings
know that he taught that this reference to "you" can apply spiritually
to the Church of God as well as the nations of Israel. This "beginning
of sorrows" is the time of intensified troubles for the United States
and Britain. It is at the height of this prophecy that the
unprecedented famine of Ezekiel 5:12 will come to pass.
Quoting
again from 1975 In Prophecy (under the subhead, "Then, World War III"),
Mr. Armstrong writes: "Once we are weakened by starvation, disease, and
the resulting calamitous economic depression, the ten-nation European
Colossus will suddenly STRIKE with hydrogen bombs that shall DESTROY
OUR CITIES and our centers of industrial and military production!"
This
time of trouble was long prophesied by Jeremiah. Notice Jeremiah
30:6-7: "Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child?
wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in
travail, and all faces are turned into paleness? Alas! for that day is
great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble
..." Jacob here refers to the nations of Israel. It is speaking of the
modern descendants of Israel - the British and American people.
THE STAGE IS BEING SET
"And
I will INCREASE THE FAMINE upon you, and will break your staff of
bread" (Ezekiel 5:16). Notice God said he would "break" the "staff of
bread." "Staff of bread" is rather interesting. Some Bible translations
use the word "supply" for staff. The Hebrew word is "matteh." It means
a rod, scepter or staff. Strong's Concordance explains that because a
staff was used for walking, it symbolizes a life-supporting instrument.
If we consider what is being implied here, we can conclude God is
making it known He is going to destroy the very source of our food
supply - or that on which the entire nation depends. This means our
farmlands will be less and less productive - until our nation has lost
the capacity to feed itself. The Prophet Joel shows a great drought
will come upon our people. No doubt, this drought is tied to Ezekiel
5:12.
In a September 2006 article titled, "Drought Punishes
Crops in South," USA Today reported thousands of farmers in Alabama,
Mississippi, Louisiana, parts of Georgia and the Florida Panhandle
"have been hammered by the drought that began at the end of last year's
hurricane season. ... It is widespread in the Southeast."
Brian
Fuch, a climatologist, said, "Over the last several weeks, there has
been a worsening of drought severity. We're seeing more of the region
being classified as drought conditions, and even a few pockets of
extreme drought conditions." The report continues: "Ranchers in parts
of western Nebraska, South Dakota, Wyoming and central and southern
Texas also are experiencing drought conditions ... It was one of the
worst years in decades for wheat farmers in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas.
In August, corn farmers in Iowa, Nebraska, and western Missouri were
bedeviled by rain shortages and this week's drought monitor shows that
much of the southern U.S. is in a severe exceptional drought...
northern Minnesota remains parched ... Officials declared 36 counties
agricultural disaster areas."
The article goes on to show that Alabama has lost 90 percent of its corn crop and expects to lose 75 percent of its cotton crop.
'Report warns water crisis looming in arid Southwest'
The
above heading, dated February 22, 2007, also was cited by USA Today.
Here is an excerpt from that report: "DENVER - The fast-growing states
of the arid Southwest must plan for more severe droughts because of a
regional warming trend that shows no signs of dissipating, says anew
assessment of the Colorado River's water supply. The report released
Wednesday by the National Research Council says agriculture, which uses
80 percent of the West's water, is the likeliest target for shifting
water supplies to growing urban areas. But the council, an agency of
the National Academy of Sciences, cautions that the availability of
agricultural water is finite."
The report continues: "Until now,
water needs have been met by selling or leasing water rights from farms
to cities. As population growth demands more of a shrinking water
supply, battles could erupt over dwindling farmland and rural
landscapes drying up. Some farm production might have to shift
elsewhere because of urban growth."
The United Nations Food
Agriculture Organization says, "Emergency food aid now accounts for one
half to two thirds of all food aid, with 39 countries receiving it.
Over the past two decades, the number of food emergencies has doubled
from 15 to 30 a year, with much of the increase occurring in Africa,
where they have tripled." These facts prove that we are headed for
disaster and need to HEED what God said is going to happen to our
people. It won't be long now before the famine prophesied in the Bible
is in the headlines of our newspapers and magazines. The beginning of
sorrows has begun!
by Garfield Gregorie The Philadelphia Remnant Magazine JAN-FEB 2008
