Famine: The Coming Food Crisis

As we know, famine is one of the ongoing signs that this last generation would witness, yet it receives little attention, even among prophecy watchers. Not only did Jesus mention famine specifically as one of the birth pains of the generation, but we receive additional insight from the book of Revelation. Revelation 6 details the first "judgments" of the Tribulation, and here we see the following, which involves the third and fourth seal judgments:

"When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, "Come!" I looked and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. Then I heard..."A quart of wheat for a day's wages and three quarts of barley for a day's wages..." (Revelation 6:5-6).

So, we see here, that during the Tribulation, a days worth of food will require a days worth of wages to pay for it. I'd say that represents a food crisis.

This scripture is immediately followed by the consequences of this famine (and the war/violence described earlier):

"When the Lamb opened the fourth seas, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, "Come!" I looked and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague..." (Revelation 6: 7-8).

In other words, like all of the birth pain-signs, we should expect to see the sign of "famine" to increase in frequency and severity throughout the generation. And that is exactly what we are seeing, despite the relative lack of news coverage (at least in the U.S.).

Lets look at some news articles which describe this scenario:

The Food Crisis of 2011

Here’s what’s happened to some key farm commodities so far in 2010…

Corn: Up 63%
Wheat: Up 84%
Soybeans: Up 24%
Sugar: Up 55%

What was a slow and steady increase much of the year has gone into overdrive since late summer. Blame it on two factors…

* Aug. 5: A failed wheat harvest prompted Russia to ban grain exports through the end of the year. Later in August, the ban was extended through the end of 2011. Drought has wrecked the harvest in Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan – home to a quarter of world production

* Oct. 8: For a second month running, the Agriculture Department cut its forecast for US corn production. The USDA predicts a 3.4% decline from last year. Damage done by Midwestern floods in June was made worse by hot, dry weather in August.

“When we have the first serious crop failure, which will happen,” says farm commodity expert Don Coxe, “we will then have a full-blown food crisis” – one far worse than 2008.

The Food Crisis of 2010

10/18/10 Gaithersburg, Maryland – “I think we have a food crisis right now.”
– Hussein Allidina, head of commodities research, Morgan Stanley

Corn was the big news in markets on Friday. What some called a “harvest shocker” sent corn up 6% on the day. The USDA cut its harvest projections by nearly 4%, which took the market by surprise. And that’s just one of the reasons why the corn price has soared to $5.30 a bushel from $3.30 a bushel last July.

The USDA said that US corn held in reserve will fall 47%. This means the US will have the tightest reserves since the mid-’90s. However, the US also has a lot less idle farmland than it did then, which means it’s not going to be as easy to replenish lost reserves through US production.

Some of the largest grain exporters, like Russia and the Ukraine, have imposed export restrictions. Meanwhile, many of the chronically large grain importers in the Middle East and North Africa are starting to hoard supplies. This drama resembles the one we saw in 2008.

Meat prices will continue to rise, too, and are already climbing this year. Beef prices are already the highest in a quarter-century.

Many parts of the world have been dealing with this for some time, largely unnoticed by the MSM:

1.3 million in need of food aid

HARARE- A national survey has indicated that Zimbabwe will face another food crisis as more than 1,3 million nationals will need food aid to reach the harvests of the next season. According to the National Nutrition Survey, close to 1,3 million individuals will be in need of food supplies as the country reserves cannot reach the end of the next season.

The survey further indicated that about 36 percent of children below the age of five suffered from malnourishment hence there was great need of expedited national and household food security response from the government and its strategic partners.

UN warned of major new food crisis at emergency meeting in Rome

The world may be on the brink of a major new food crisis caused by environmental disasters and rampant market speculators, the UN was warned today at an emergency meeting on food price inflation.

The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) meeting in Rome today was called last month after a heatwave and wildfires in Russia led to a draconian wheat export ban and food riots broke out in Mozambique, killing 13 people.

But UN experts heard that pension and hedge funds, sovereign wealth funds and large banks who speculate on commodity markets may also be responsible for inflation in food prices being seen across all continents.

"The emergency UN meeting in Rome is a clear warning sign that we could be on the brink of another food price crisis unless swift action is taken. Already, nearly a billion people go to bed hungry every night – another food crisis would be catastrophic for millions of poor people," said Alex Wijeratna, ActionAid's hunger campaigner.

Food Crisis Worsens in West Africa

Torrential rains and flash floods that swept through cities and villages in West Africa in late August have intensified a food crisis in the region, leaving upwards of 10 million people suffering from severe food shortages, the United Nations and relief organizations warned last week.

The floods, which destroyed crops and livestock, struck an area already on the brink of famine after successive years of drought and failed harvests.

Rising world grain prices, resulting partly from the heat wave and drought that destroyed wheat crops across Russia this summer, are compounding the crisis, relief organizations said.

The crisis is worst in landlocked Niger, where as many as 400,000 children are at risk of dying of starvation or disease because of malnutrition, the aid group Feed the Children said. With national food reserves gone, some in the country have resorted to eating boiled weeds, according to news reports.

But the arrival of such a long-lived drought this century — a much more likely scenario under some global warming computer models — could make rain-fed subsistence farming in the region virtually untenable, placing the livelihoods of tens of millions in permanent jeopardy, scientists and regional experts have warned.

And on and on it goes. Hundreds of similar articles could be posted, but the point is made: A growing food crisis is coming to the earth, exactly as biblical prophecy would indicate. It will continue as the Tribulation approaches, and once the Tribulation officially begins, it will become such a problem that people will have to work an entire day just to have one day's worth of food. That ignores any (lack of) remaining money for basic essentials such as clothing, shelter, transportation, electricity etc.

Jesus warned us, the apostle John's writings in the book of Revelation warned us, and a casual glance at the world-wide headlines warn us on a daily basis.

Its just another sign that we have been given. This sign, along with all of the other signs, inform us that the Tribulation is approaching, as this generation rushes rapidly into the last days.