The Prophecies About Famine
In Deuteronomy 28 and Leviticus 26, God lays before Israel the blessings that obedience to His laws will bring and the curses that disobedience will bring. These blessings and curses apply to the English-speaking nations of modern Israel today just as much, if not more so, as they did to ancient Israel our forefathers of the Old Testament. God does not change (Mal. 3:6). His blessings for obedience and His curses for disobedience are the same for all generations.
If we will not obey God and "observe to do all his commandments and his statutes" He promises that "then shall all these curses come upon you and overtake you. Cursed shall you be in town and in country; cursed your basket and kneading-trough, cursed the fruit of your body and your ground, the young of your cattle and the lambs of your flock" (Deut. 28:15-18, Moffat).
Though we try to ignore it, this curse is already upon us in the quality of our food. Much food available today has been polluted with a multitude of poisons and comes from inferior seed grown on depleted and misused soil. But very soon we will not even have this kind of food.
If we won't change our ways God promises: "The sky overhead shall be brass, and the earth underfoot shall be iron; the Eternal will turn the rain of your land into powder and dust, dropping from the sky till you are destroyed" (verses 23-24 Moffat).
Notice that! This isn't going to be just some little local drought. It is going to be so severe, on such a large scale, and of such a long duration, that it will DESTROY US!
God warns, "And I will break and humble your pride in your power; and I will make your heavens as iron [yielding no answer, no blessing, no rain), and your earth [as sterile] as brass; and your strength shall be spent in vain, for your land shall not yield its increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruit. . . . When I break your staff of bread and cut off your supply of food, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall ration your bread and deliver it again by weight; and you shall eat, and not be satisfied" (Leviticus 26:19-20, 26, Amplified Version).
Even more graphic details of the coming famine are given in Isaiah. In the Living Prophecies we read "You buy up property so others have no place to live. Your homes are built on great estates so you can be alone in the midst of the earth! But the Lord of Hosts has sworn your awful fate — with my own ears I heard Him say, 'Many a beautiful home will lie deserted, their owners killed or gone.'
"An acre of vineyard will not produce a gallon of juice! Ten bushels of seed will yield but a one-bushel crop!
"Woe to you who get up early in the morning to go on long drinking bouts that last till late at night — woe to you drunken bums. You furnish lovely music at your grand parties; the orchestras are superb! But for the Lord you have no thought or care.
"Therefore I will send you into exile far away because you neither know nor care that I have done so much for you. Your great and honored men will starve, and the common people will die of thirst" (Isaiah 5:8-13).
Have you ever gone hungry? Have you ever had to live like the average person, today, in India — competing viciously for every scrap or morsel of stinking garbage — coveting it, eagerly desiring to eat it in order to stave off the gnawing pains of hunger?
Probably not. You can't even begin to imagine what it's like.
But unless our modern progressive nations repent, and turn to their God, God says the plagues of famine and great hunger are coming on us — and they are not far away! Don't let the ever-permanent present lull you into a false sense of security.
Historical Famines
In the July, 1917, issue of National Geographic Magazine is an article entitled "Fearful Famines of the Past." This article vividly portrays what people do when they go hungry. They eat anything they can get their hands on, including cats, dogs, rats — and even human flesh!
For example, in a famine in Russia in 1600 in which 500,000 people died, "Cats, dogs, and rats were eaten; the strong overcame the weak, and in the shambles of the public markets human flesh was sold. Multitudes of the dead were found with their mouths stuffed with straw" (page 89).
In a famine in Egypt in the eleventh century, "Human flesh, which was sold in the open market, was obtained in the most horrible manner. Butchers concealed themselves behind latticed windows in the upper stories of houses . . . .Letting down ropes to which were attached great meat hooks, these anglers for human flesh snared the unwary pedestrians, drew their shrieking victims through the air, and then prepared and cooked the food before presenting it for sale in the stalls on the street level" (p. 78).
In a famine in Egypt during 1201 and 1202, "Men waylaid women in the streets and snatched babies from their mothers' arms." One historian "recites at length the various dishes into which the murderous kidnappers converted their infant forage. The very graves of Egypt were ransacked for food" (p. 79).
You think our people would never resort to such practices? Listen to what happened in England during the famine of 1314:
". . . Everything imaginable was eaten — dogs, horses, cats, even babies. The jails were crowded with felons, and when a new criminal was thrown into a cell he was seized upon by the starving inmates and literally torn to pieces for food" (p. 82)!
Such horrible practices are not confined to past centuries. In the siege of Leningrad during World War II, "Husbands ate their wives, wives ate their husbands, and parents ate their children" (Reader's Digest, April, 1969, "The 900 Days: The Siege of Leningrad").
One example is related in which a man named Dmitri went with a well-dressed and robust man to the latter's house to bargain for some food. As they arrived at the man's home on the top floor, the man knocked "and someone inside asked 'Who is it?'
" 'It's me' the man responded, 'With a live one.'
"Dmitri froze at the words. Then the door opened, and he saw a hairy red hand and a mug-like face. From the room came a strange, warm, heavy smell. Suddenly a gust of wind in the hall caught the door, and in the swaying candlelight Dmitri had a glimpse of several great hunks of white meat, swinging from hooks on the ceiling. From one hunk he saw dangling a human hand with long fingers and blue veins."
The men lunged toward Dmitri, but he leaped down the stairs shouting "Cannibals!" Fortunately some soldiers were passing and they shot the cannibals. They "found the hocks from five carcasses hanging in the flat. Five — all of them human."
Gruesome? Sickening? Nauseating? That's right! You bet! But now read what God says will happen in the coming famine in the nations of modern Israel.
Cannibalism in Prophecy
In Leviticus 26:29 God says: "And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat."
This prophecy is repeated in Deuteronomy 28 with added details: "You will have to eat your own children, the flesh of the sons and daughters which the Eternal your God has given you . . . He who is most tender and dainty among you will grudge the food even to his brother, to the wife of his bosom, and to his remaining children, refusing any of them any part of the flesh of his own children which he means to eat . . . she who is most tender and dainty among you, who would not venture to put the sole of her foot to the ground — so tender and delicate is she — will grudge even to the husband of her bosom, to her son and to her daughter, the after-birth of her womb and the babes she has borne; these she will eat herself in secret, so famished is she . . ." (verses 53-57, Moffat).
The Prophet Jeremiah, writing about the same end-time events "in the day of the Lord's anger" (Lam. 2:22) states: "Little children and tiny babies are fainting and dying in the streets. 'Mamma, Mamma, we want food,' they cry, and then collapse upon their mother's shrunken breasts" (Living Prophecies, verses 11-12).
"Shall the women eat their fruit, and children of a span long [the foetus]?" the prophet asks. The pathetic answer is that they will do just that!
This is not going to happen in some far-off underdeveloped country with barbaric natures — it's prophesied to occur in your country, your city, your street! Can you comprehend it? Can you believe it? Most won't. But it is prophesied!
The Grim Totals
The Prophet Ezekiel wrote after ancient Israel had already gone into captivity. The events he foretold could not possibly apply to them. But Ezekiel's prophecies do apply to us TODAY. Chapters 4 through 7 say much about the coming famine which we have already covered. However, chapter 5 adds a detail not yet mentioned. It says:
"ONE THIRD of you will die from famine and disease . . . I will shower you with deadly arrows of famine to destroy you. The famine will become more and more serious until every bit of bread is GONE" (verses 12, 16 Living Prophecies).
That scripture means what it says! One out of every three people in Britain and America will die of famine or disease! That includes one out of every three of your countrymen —friends, relatives, loved ones. Revelation 6:5-8 shows that this unprecedented famine is not restricted to the English-speaking countries — the entire earth will suffer, hundreds of millions will perish!
Where does that leave you? Where will you be when this awesome famine strikes? How can you and yours escape this sure prophecy? That all depends — on you!
You CAN Escape
God said through His prophet Amos: " 'I sent you hunger but it did no good; you still would not return to Me. I ruined your crops by holding back the rain . . . Yet you wouldn't return to Me. I sent blight and mildew on your farms and your vineyards; the locusts ate your figs and olive trees. And still you wouldn't return to me,' says the Lord . . . 'Therefore I will bring upon you all these further evils I have spoken of. Prepare to meet your God in judgment, Israel' “(Amos 4:6-9, 12).
Make no mistake about it. The coming famine will be horrible beyond description. But if we don't heed even then, famine will be just the beginning of God's punishment. And the prophecies show that as nations we won't heed.
You as an individual, however, can heed. You can prepare to meet your God Now. But no one else can take your place and stand for you. You stand alone in this matter.
God told Ezekiel: "Son of dust, when the people of this land sin against Me, then I will crush them with My fist and break off their food supply and send famine to destroy both man and beast. If Noah, Daniel and Job were all living today, they alone would be saved by their righteousness, and I would destroy the remainder of Israel, says the Lord God" (Ezek. 14:13-14, Living Prophecies).
God says that when He sends other punishments this same principle will still apply — "Even if these three men were living, the Lord God swears that it would do no good — it would not save the people from their doom. Those three only would be saved, but the land would be devastated" (verse 16)!
You can't be saved by the righteousness of another person. No association with a righteous man or group of men — regardless of how close — will save you if you, yourself, are unrighteous and disobedient to God. No one else can be righteous for you. No one can obey God in your stead.
Does God like to see people suffer? Does He enjoy punishing people or bringing famine? Of course not. God loves people. But God sees that our wicked ways are bringing these punishments upon us!
God set a law in motion long ago. That law says that those who obey it will be blessed and prospered as a result. But those who break it will themselves be broken! Transgression does not pay!
God wants us to obey His Law which was ordained for our GOOD — our WELFARE.
In Ezekiel we read, "Cast away from you all your transgressions, by which you have transgressed against me, and make you a new mind and heart and a new spirit. For why will you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of him who dies, says the Lord God. Therefore turn — be converted — and live!" (Ezekiel 18:31-32, Amplified Version).
With great compassion and love God cries out, " 'As I live,' says the Lord God, 'I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live; TURN BACK, TURN BACK from your evil ways; for why will you die, O house of Israel?' “(Ezek. 33:11, RSV)
What You Can Do
The CAUSE of the onrushing time of famines, pointed out plainly in the Word of God, is SIN — transgression of God's Law (I John 3:4). Unless our nations repent of breaking that eternal, spiritual law, famine is inevitable. Unless we return to God, and obey Him, there is no escape!
To trust in America's vaunted "food surpluses" is the height of foolishness. Grain elevators of wheat will not save you. There is only ONE way of escape — turning to God!
Notice this final command from God to YOU as an individual concerning the sins of modern Israel — her pride, arrogance, and law-breaking: "COME OUT FROM HER, my people, so that you may not share in her sins, neither participate in her plagues" (Rev. 18:4, Amplified).
This is the ONLY WAY of escape from famine and the other plagues of God! There is no other way. God's protection and deliverance are the only answer.
Notice what God says about those who love and obey Him. "Even strong young lions sometimes go hungry, but those of us who reverence the Lord will never lack any good thing" (Psalm 34:10, Living Psalms).
"Day by day the Lord observes the good deeds done by godly men, and gives them eternal rewards. He cares for them when times are hard; even in famine, they will have enough" (Psalm 37:18-19, Living Psalms).
"I have been young and now I am old. And in all my years I have never seen the Lord forsake a man who loves Him; nor have I seen the children of the godly go hungry" (verse 25).
These are God's promises! You CAN TRUST HIM! But it will do no good to attempt to "hoard" food for yourself to protect yourself from the coming days of famine. Proverbs speaks about hoarders: "People curse the man who holds his grain for higher prices, but they bless the man who sells it to them in their time of need" (Proverbs 11:26, Living Proverbs). But we also read in Proverbs this wonderful promise: "The Lord will not let a good man starve to death" (Proverbs 10:3).
To obtain God's divine protection in the days ahead, you must obey God Now — you must seek His righteousness.
The very purpose of this magazine is to help you understand what God requires of you — show you the way. But YOU must make the decision to heed and obey.
Don't make the same mistake the world is making. Don't trust in hoarded goods or stored foods, or physical things to save you. Don't look to "grain surpluses" — LOOK TO GOD!