PLAGUES OF BIBLICAL PROPORTIONS

David Beasley is the executive director of the U.N. World Food Program, and he recently stated that we are heading directly into “the worst humanitarian crisis since World War Two.” Hunger is rapidly rising all over the globe, and he believes that if dramatic intervention does not happen quickly we could see an astounding death toll.

According to Beasley, we could soon see 300,000 people around the world starve to death every single day, and that figure doesn’t even factor in the effect of this coronavirus pandemic:

“If we can’t reach these people with the life-saving assistance they need, our analysis shows that 300,000 people could starve to death every single day over a three-month period,” he upheld. “This does not include the increase of starvation due to COVID-19.

Even before COVID-19 became the biggest public health crisis to hit the globe in decades, enormous swarms of locusts the size of major cities were devouring crops throughout eastern Africa, across the Middle East and even in some parts of Asia. Now a new generation that officials are describing as “20 times bigger” has emerged, and the devastation that this new generation of locusts is causing is extremely alarming. These colossal locust swarms can travel up to 90 miles a day, and as you will see below, when they descend upon a field they can literally eat everything there in as little as 30 seconds. This new generation of locusts has been spotted as far south as Congo, as far north as Iran and as far east as India. In other words, the food supplies of billions of people are at risk.

In addition, another plague of “biblical proportions” has been killing off pigs in unprecedented numbers.

It is hard to believe that African Swine Fever has already killed off half the pigs in China and one-fourth of all the pigs in the entire world but this quote comes directly from New Scientist:

“A quarter of the world’s domestic pigs have died this year as a virus rampages across Eurasia, and that may be just the start. Half the pigs in China – which last year numbered 440 million, some 50 percent of the world’s pigs – have either died of African swine fever (ASF) or been killed to stamp out the virus.

ASF comes from East Africa. In 2007, it reached Georgia in the Caucasus in contaminated meat, and in infected wild boar. Now, it is all over Russia and eastern Europe and infected wild boar have turned up as far west as Belgium. It is also spreading in east Asia, killing many pigs in Vietnam and elsewhere.”

Never before have we seen so many catastrophic threats to the global food supply emerge at the same time. It appears that “the perfect storm” is now upon us, and I anticipate that global events will continue to accelerate in the months ahead.

Even in the West, in countries where famine is inconceivable, we are seeing reports that are of concern: Farmers all over America are seeing their hard work go to waste because broken supply chains have made it impossible to sell what they have produced. One industry expert is actually claiming that “billions” of dollars worth of crops have gone to waste as a result of this crisis:

Crops planted months before based on pre-pandemic demand spoiled without buyers. Billions of dollars’ worth of produce went to waste, much of it tilled back into the soil, said Cathy Burns, CEO of the Produce Marketing Assn., which represents produce companies. She said, I have a feeling that eventually we will greatly regret allowing so much good food to go to waste.

Australia, which made a rare purchase of Canadian wheat in the current marketing year, is expected to continue buying more wheat in the 2019-20 marketing year (October-September), as weather conditions remain difficult in key states, market analysts say.

 The once pristine Kangaroo Island is barren following fires at the weekend
Before and after fire devastation in Australia

Australia’s wheat output dropped 45.6% to 17.3 million mt in the 2018-19 marketing year from a record high of 31.8 million mt in 2016-17, owing to prolonged drought conditions, data from the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics shows. This forced the country to import wheat for the first time in 12 years.

We still have quite a way to go before we get to the type of famines described in the Scriptures, but it certainly looks like the stage is being set for severe hunger on a global scale.

But Jesus didn’t warn us about these things so that we would live in fear. God knew about all of this in advance, He is in control and He has a plan.

Unfortunately, most of the world doesn’t want anything to do with the God of the Bible or His plan, and so they will be facing what is to come all by themselves. What about you and your church group?

God wants to involve you in getting the good news of the Gospel to your immediate family, friends and certainly your workplace, maybe even beyond. Are you spending time in the Word and prayer. Scripture clearly tells us, He is at the door knocking, will you let Him in and allow Him to reveal what it is He would like to involve you in, to achieve His plan?

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