America tries to feed the world. Millions of bushels of wheat are being shipped to starving India. Reserves dwindle, while crops fall off. Yet the massive shipments overseas are based upon the belief our peoples will continue to have good crops! Read what your Bible says about the DANGER of that belief!
ARE YOU hungry today? Nearly two thirds of the world's population is. MILLIONS may starve in the next few years! In the last issue of The PLAIN TRUTH, the horrifying facts were given about the terrible famine stalking the earth; of the big populations growing larger; of the prolonged drought beginning to seriously affect many of the big food raisers.
The Specter of Famine
Perhaps the specter of famine in the future may seem far away — unreal. But to farmers walking through their own fields in MANY parts of South Africa, the United States, Australia and Canada — DROUGHT is a day-by-day reality. Late in 1965, a leading U.S. news magazine ran a terse account of upset weather conditions in India, Northern Europe, Cuba, Canada, Communist China, Korea, Australia, the Soviet Union, and in ALL parts of the United States. Conditions ranged from "Worst drought in recorded history" in the Northeastern U.S. to "Famine-producing drought, no relief in sight" for India. 1965 went out in a hail of bad weather reports. Britain reported one of the "coldest and wettest summers on record" in 1965, with farmers harvesting soggy crops. Conditions were so bad that the National Farmers Union estimated only about 50 percent of the corn was in, and of the rest, 20 percent had been flattened by storms. France reported wheat and other grain harvests badly delayed because of torrential rains. Vineyards were hit worst. Western Germany reported "freak" summer weather, while Italy said violent summer storms had claimed 65 lives, and cost millions of dollars in damage. The Soviet Union reported Moscow's summer as "one of the coldest and rainiest" in recent times, while Eastern European Russia was hit by heavy rains and typhoons, causing extensive flooding. Weathermen in Sweden said their summer was "one of the coldest of this century" — and harvests were badly in need of dry, sunny weather. 1965 came to an end. But 1966 weather reports have been no better. Huge blizzards stung the United States with bone-chilling cold in January and February. Northern Minnesota reported temperatures plummeting down to 45 below zero — while freezing rains, sleet and snow struck deep into the South — into Louisiana and Florida.
Experts Are Baffled
Accustomed to charting weather predictions based on known meteorological patterns, weathermen are at a loss to explain the strange, prolonged shifts of currents in the upper sky — referred to as "jet streams" by airlines' pilots. Since 1961, the Northeast has endured accumulating drought. The weathermen refer to the "puzzling" deviations of the jet stream. Amazingly enough, the drought continues despite heavy snows. In fact, even after the devastating blizzards early this year, an article by George W. Cornell, received on Ambassador College campus via our Associated Press wire service, was written for the express purpose of explaining how the snows did nothing to alleviate drought conditions. Said Mr. Cornell, "Already the drought has dried up wells, depleted reservoirs, pushed water tables slowly down, lowered rivers, stunted annual crops and, in towns and cities, stirred a gathering anxiety." He pointed out how even the snowfall was inadequate. Normally, snow begins to spread into the Northeast in late November and early December. But this year, New York City got its first measurable snowfall on January 23rd. Weather Bureau officials in Pennsylvania said, "It will take a lot more snow or we won't have any moisture to fall back on this spring." Said Malcom Graf, director of the Massachusetts Water Resources Commission, "It's very grim." "It's critical," says Carl Gerken, who is assistant county agent in the northern part of Virginia, "It looks as if it will continue critical." Take a look at New York, already under long siege by drought. Reservoirs supplying metropolitan New York were around 40 percent of capacity in February, or about 190 billion gallons, compared to a normal 75 percent of capacity, or about 359 billion gallons. Precipitation has remained below normal. New York City's acting water chief is Herman Forster. He said it is "almost unbelievable how little snow has fallen over the upstate watershed this season" and warned New Yorkers may face even greater water restrictions in coming months than last year. Sum it all up. The United States is trying to sustain a massive "feed the hungry world" program, shipping millions of tons of foodstuffs to India and Latin America. America is pictured as the "wonderland" of the world on travel posters — the glorious land of opportunity — the island of plenty in the midst of a hungry sea of humanity. Present food shipments overseas are predicated upon the notion that the United States can, at any time government controls are lifted from farmers, increase her food supplies enormously. But what if farmers find they simply can't make their crops grow? What if ripened wheat, just ready to harvest, is beaten to the ground by hail — to lie rotting in the fields? What if citrus crops are frozen in early spring? What if fungus, disease, insects, and weather all combined seem bent on a prolonged SIEGE of our national staff of bread? Is it conceivable the United States may find itself UNABLE TO FEED ITS OWN PEOPLE? Britain is unable to do so, right now! Australia has been mightily stricken by drought, dust storms, animal and insect plague. South Africa and Bechuanaland, as reported in the last issue, have been seriously afflicted in record-breaking drought. How LONG do you suppose these present trends can continue? So far, the average housewife has noticed the trends only in slightly higher prices on some fruits and vegetables. To many a fruit rancher and farmer — it has been an entirely different story! But what of the years ahead? Is it safe to assume these fantastic changes in weather, these ghastly changes in the jet stream, these unexpected storms, prolonged drought, and drying wells will suddenly become a thing of the past; that overnight all will be safe and sane and sound again? Believe it or not, your Bible predicts drought will strike OUR OWN PEOPLES in increasing fury until NATIONAL EMERGENCIES are declared in our lands! But simple name-calling by government agencies will not SOLVE the problem. In the U.S., it takes an official statement by the federal government that a given area is a "disaster" area in order to make federal funds available for rehabilitation. For rebuilding after a flood — that's fine. Businesses, home owners, state highway engineers can use the money. But when DROUGHT has caused a disaster? You can't eat money! And our SURPLUSES are being rapidly depleted! Operators of huge grain storage warehouses in Kansas are becoming alarmed. By the time you read this, many a huge government surplus bin will be dangerously near the empty mark, when only a number of months ago it was three-quarters or more full!
Newspapers around the world headlined the paralyzing blizzards howling through New England and Eastern seaboard states in January. Articles showed how the nation's capitol was virtually shut down by the silent white stuff, while Pennsylvania, Delaware and Virginia declared states of emergency. Babies were born in marooned automobiles. Exposure, fire, heart attack took 200 and more lives — and economic costs soared. Oswego, New York, had 102 inches of snow! Immediately the question was raised, "Did the blizzards relieve the drought conditions?" "No!" answered weathermen. The U.S. Weather Bureau's weekly crop and weather bulletin said, "In terms of the total amount of water contained in the snow, the recent storms along the East Coast have hardly made a dent in the 4-year water deficit." They added, "From a hydrologic standpoint the water shortage is far from over... before... water tables are brought back to normal... (it) will require many months of abnormally wet weather." "The drought problem is still with us" said the bulletin. And it's going to get MUCH WORSE! Believe it or not — accept it or not; your Creator has warned our peoples of impending national emergencies because of "natural" disasters! Unless multiple MILLIONS of our citizens will truly REPENT of their manifold sins against God, and turn to Him with their whole beings, you will see food rationing in near future years! Our peoples — of Great Britain, the United States, Australia, South Africa, Canada, the democracies of Northwest Europe — are identified in the Bible! They are singled out as the peoples who inherited the birthright promises given to Isaac and Jacob. We have been given the choicest farmlands, grazing lands; given the fantastic abundance that has led us to believe we can feed the whole hungry world! But God will allow our abundance to disappear. Literally DOZENS of prophecies in your Bible predict impending DROUGHT, FAMINE, and ultimate STARVATION for our peoples unless we REPENT and turn to God with our whole heart. But can you imagine MILLIONS of our peoples, including our leaders, sincerely turning to the Bible; trembling before it as the living Word of God; eagerly searching through God's Word to find what our national and personal course should be? Can you envision government leaders dropping to their knees in real heartfelt REPENTANCE before God, crying out to HIM to deliver us from our awesome problems? "Ridiculous!" some would say. And because such a picture of national repentance is so "ridiculous" to even imagine — OUR PEOPLE SHALL SUFFER PLAGUES until we think it ridiculous that a leader would NOT repent — until we CRY OUT to our God, and really SEEK Him for the first time in our lives!
But WHY US?
But some will always ask, "But why should God choose THIS generation for the manifestation of His wrath?" "What have WE done? Why should God be angry with us?" And even these questions were prophesied. God said, "And it shall come to pass, when you shall show this people all these words [of these PROPHECIES], and they shall say unto you, 'Wherefore hath the Eternal pronounced all this great evil against us?' or 'What is our iniquity?' or 'What is our sin that we have committed against the Eternal our God?' "Then shall you say unto them, Because your fathers have forsaken me, saith the Eternal, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshipped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept my law!" (Jer. 16:10-11) Does this sound a little "vague" to you? Does it sound a little archaic, a little too much like some "Old Testament Fire and Brimstone?" It's time you understand the real ENORMITY of our personal and national sins! God continued, "And you have done WORSE than your fathers; for, behold, you walk everyone after the imagination of his evil heart, that they may not hearken unto me!" (Jer. 12:16) But why would God say OUR peoples, our "CHRISTIAN" peoples are guilty of plain IDOLATRY? Surely YOU have not bowed down to an IDOL, have you? Have YOU really WORSHIPPED OTHER GODS? Could YOU have been guilty of IDOLATRY? Most would answer, "Of course not!" "Why," they might say, "In this modern age of enlightenment, only ignorant SAVAGES practice idolatry — but we, in this CHRISTIAN world certainly don't." You'll be shocked to find just how completely our peoples have been guilty of idolatry! First, WHAT IS idolatry? Your Creator commands, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me!" (Ex. 20:3) And most people assume THEIR concept of "god" must be the TRUE God — most people confuse the SECOND commandment with the first. God said, "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Eternal thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments." (Ex. 20:4-6) And, since the vast majority of our peoples believe we have come out of the heathen age of outright worship of sticks, stones, totem poles, fetishes, witch doctors and the like — we carelessly assume we are NOT guilty of IDOLATRY!
Do You KNOW God?
But WHO IS your god? WHERE is He? Of HOW MANY PERSONS does YOUR God consist? What is He LIKE? What kind of CHARACTER does He have? Can He intervene on YOUR behalf? Does YOUR God give you any COMMANDS you MUST OBEY? What does He LOOK like? What are His LAWS? What is His PURPOSE in your life? What PLAN does He have in mind? Take the so-called world of "Christianity" for example. Look what the professing "Christian" world does NOT know about Christ! The many disagreeing denominations and sects do NOT know the TIME of Christ's birth. Millions assume it was December 25th. Bible scholars admit it was nowhere near this date — but probably in the autumn. Millions suppose it must have been at the beginning of the year 1 A.D. — not realizing it was nowhere near that date. Millions disagree on the METHOD of His birth. Some say MARY had to be "immaculately" conceived, rather than accepting the pure truth concerning CHRIST'S birth. Few know WHAT HE WAS. Was He GOD CHANGED INTO a human fetus? Was Christ the God of the Old Testament? Was Christ just a "good man" or a "prophet?" Was Jesus only HUMAN, after all? Or was He GOD? Or was He BOTH? People are confused. Most don't know WHY He came. Millions assume He came to save the world THEN — and assume He has been frantically trying to get it saved ever since! Yet HE said HE DID NOT! Millions don't know Christ came with a MESSAGE — NOT for the world, but for His own disciples. They don't know what that message was, to WHOM He brought it, and for what purpose. Millions suppose they have pictures of Christ. Little do they realize Christ Himself inspired Paul to say long hair is a SHAME to a man! Little do they seem to realize Judas had to betray Christ with a KISS to make sure there was no mistaking His identity — because He looked so like the other Jews of His time. (He WAS a Jew! Heb. 7:14) No one seems able to agree on WHY He died (He said NO ONE is saved by His death — but by His life! Rom. 5:10) nor on HOW He died. Most assume He died of a broken heart. Millions aren't sure He DID die — but believe possibly only His BODY died, while HE went to preach to "spirits" in HELL! But how can this square with the promise millions assume He made to the thief on the cross about being IN PARADISE? The thief wasn't WITH Him when He appeared to His disciples over three days later. No one seems able to agree on HOW LONG He (if it were He!) was in the tomb or even WHICH tomb! Most of professing Christianity REJECTS His own plain statements about the ONLY SIGN He would leave as to His true Messiahship — that of three full days and three full nights in the tomb — and suppose a Friday sunset to "Easter" (spelled Ishtar in ancient Babylon) Sunday morning — is what He meant. Try to fit three days and three nights into that period of time. (And write for our free article, "The Crucifixion Was NOT on Friday!") Millions DENY He was resurrected — claim His body was stolen, or that He wasn't really dead, or that He only feigned death, and then died in the tomb, only to have His disciples secretly bury Him elsewhere. WHETHER He was resurrected is always the subject of MUCH CONTROVERSY between professing "Christian" scholars! WHERE HE WENT IF He was resurrected has puzzled many. And WHAT WAS He when He was resurrected? God or Man? And WHY was He resurrected — IF He was? And WHEN was He resurrected? And WHAT HAS HE BEEN DOING SINCE? Let's suppose you're talking to a person about a mutual friend. You're discussing what a "fine fellow" he is. You don't know what his name means, don't know the circumstances surrounding his birth, don't know anything about his life; don't know what he believed, or stood for; don't know what he looks like; don't know his nature, personality or character; don't know his family; don't know where he is; don't know where he's been; don't know where he's going. That's quite a bit NOT to know about someone and still call him "friend," isn't it? Does this professing "Christian" world REALLY KNOW CHRIST? The REAL Christ of the BIBLE? No! It does NOT! It's about time people began leaving Christ's name out of their personal religion! And what about You? Are some of these points a little confusing to you? Do YOU know Christ? I don't mean in some sticky, syrupy, "sanctimonious" "religious" or "sentimental" way you merely recognize the phonetic sound of His name — but do you know ALL ABOUT Him? Does this world accept or worship the Christ of the Bible? No! It has substituted a weak, sickly, effeminate, confused, FAILURE, for the dynamic, thoroughly masculine, POWERFUL Christ of the Bible! Can you get the point? Too many people assume our generation is a "CHRISTIAN" one. We assume we are wholly "innocent" before God — that our society is mostly PLEASING to Him! Assuming this incredible false-hood — we gasp in amazement at the rebuke of God. We stammer in wonderment when we hear God is beginning to allow terrible national punishments to come upon us! We ask, "WHY?" And the REASON for our impending calamities is being made plain to us! We have forgotten our very national identity (if you have not PROVED where our peoples are identified in Bible Prophecy, then read our free booklet, The United States and the British Commonwealth in Prophecy immediately) — we have rejected the AUTHORITY of the Bible, we have pushed God and His laws completely out of our lives! God says, "... The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah [two DIFFERENT "houses" or peoples] is exceeding great, and the land is full of blood [our peoples lead the world in crime!], and the city full of perverseness: [our cities have become asphalt jungles of crime, immorality, drug addiction and sensuous pleasure-seeking] for they say, The Lord bath forsaken the earth, and, the Lord seeth not!" (Ezek. 9:9) And that is EXACTLY what millions say today. One of the most recent, the most "popular" expressions among so-called "Christian" Atheists is, "God is DEAD!" Hundreds of professing "Christian" ministers are quick to explain to their congregations how LITTLE "God" has to do with our present world — how He has "gone 'way off" to some distant place — how "God" has gone into retirement! People who believe in the great Creator-Being of the Bible; who believe HE LIVES, that He intervenes in our PERSONAL lives; that He is working out a PURPOSE here below, that He will soon SHAKE the nations of this earth, and set up HIS OWN GOVERNMENT here below — such people are regarded as "religious nuts" by many a professing "Christian." Have millions of our peoples adopted the fanciful notion that "The Lord seeth not"? CERTAINLY! And let's understand further! We are beginning to suffer the consequences of OUR OWN WAYS OF LIFE! Get the picture in proper perspective! Too often, like disobedient little children, people put on a show of perfect "innocence" when told of the awesome prophecies of the Word of God concerning our peoples! A young girl wrote, "I am ANGRY with God for having chosen THIS generation for the manifestation of His wrath!" But THIS GENERATION has done the choosing! Not God. God says, "I... will judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense upon thee all THINE abominations! And mine eye shall not spare thee, neither will I have pity: but I will recompense THY WAYS upon thee" (Ezek. 7:3-4). "O Israel, thou hast destroyed THYSELF; but in ME is thine help" God says (Hosea 13:9). We are beginning to suffer the AUTOMATIC consequences of OUR OWN WAY OF LIFE! God is not YET performing MIRACLES in bringing plagues upon us. He is not DIRECTLY plaguing our peoples! Rather, He is ALLOWING the natural results of our own evil ways to come right back on our own heads! We abuse the earth He gave us, polluting it with pesticides and chemicals; killing the nutrients in the soil, striving by our own humanly devised MECHANICAL means to produce crops. Any farmer who seriously TRUSTED HIS GOD for insect control; for good crops; for good weather; for his very success as a farmer, would be SCORNED and RIDICULED by all who knew of his practices! Yet it IS GOD ALMIGHTY who says He WILL intervene in the weather! He says it is HE who gives good crops, and protects us from drought and famine! But our peoples have never recognized God's intervention in our behalf! When farmers in South Africa hung sarcastic signs on fences, asking for collections to buy spectacles "for God" so He could "see the suffering of both man and beast" they proved the point. It is man's nature to BLAME GOD when things go WRONG, and give MAN the credit when conditions are right. We're complacent. We like to delude ourselves into thinking these prophecies are not REAL! We seem to believe, somehow, that we shall keep eating regularly; that life will go on in monotonous day-to-day routine. How incredibly SHOCKED millions of us will be! Don't make the mistake of finding some "picky" or "twiggy" little "point" with which you disagree in this article, and then begin to let your own mind deceive you into believing drought will not come. Don't "kid" yourself! DROUGHT IS COMING! It's beginning to strike us RIGHT NOW. And it's going to get MUCH, MUCH WORSE in the years ahead. You have been warned. Whether you ever read one more article in future issues of this magazine; or hear The WORLD TOMORROW again — YOU have been warned! And in the years to come you shall SEE, and you will KNOW you heard the truth about the future — BEFORE it happened! May God help you to have the spiritual courage to do something about it now.