Revelation 6:6 – “And I heard a voice from among the four living beings say, “A loaf of wheat bread or three loaves of barley will cost a day’s pay. And don’t waste the olive oil and wine.” (NLT)

The media hasn’t really told us why some of these countries have been over-turned in North Africa.  The riots in Egypt, Jordan, Yemen and Algeria have in a large part been over the price of food.   Part of it was caused by the drought in Russia and later Argentina.  Torrential rains in Australia and Canada have not allowed farmers to plant millions of acres of wheat.  Using corn for ethanol may help solve the oil demand but not the food draught.  According to the Chicago Board of Trade wheat is up 74% since last year and corn rose by 87% during the same time.  Italy’s Food Organization says food prices in January hit record levels.  When prices rise like they have it generally promotes hoarding wide-spread.  People start buying so they won’t have to pay higher prices later on.  If China has food problems this year we could have a world-wide food shortage.  Food Products in St. Louis says there is not one crop that doesn’t have supply problems. It almost sounds like the end times when a loaf of bread will cost a day’s wages.   Could a loaf of bread ever reach $125?   Is the world’s population at the point we may have a problem feeding ourselves?

There is a winner in all of this and it’s the American farmer.  Farm land in the Mid-West has sent prices rising and boosting profits to regional banks and equipment manufactures.  We are exporting more food products than ever before according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.  It is allowing farmers to get out of debt.  Foreign investors have been investing heavily into U.S. commodities.  How much of the higher prices are being caused by speculators?  Want to know why there are no food riots in America?  A record 43.6 million people receive food stamps according to the USDA.  No other country has this kind of a safety net.

The 6^th chapter of Revelation predicts there will come a time when the world will be faced with starvation, famine, sickness and economic disaster.  There will be sickness that antibiotics and drugs will not prevent.  Bacteria can infect people with hundreds of diseases and there are chemical agents that could destroy the entire population. There was a time in history that typhus killed over 200 million people over a period of time.

It is anticipated that there will be evil rulers with no conscience, who use their power to destroy those considered their enemies.  I believe God is allowing an example in Libya’s leader Muammar Al-Gaddafi who could do anything one could imagine to stay in power.  If you want to see what an evil leader can do watch today’s TV news.

There will come a time when we will witness global disasters.  Volcanoes will erupt and the earth will shake.  Isaiah wrote in 24:19 – “The earth is broken up, the earth is split asunder, the earth is violently shaken.” (NIT) On December 28, 2004 the U. S. geological Survey reported that the island of Sumatra shifted to the southwest 120 feet as a result of a 9.0 earthquake.  Yahoo news reported the December 28 earthquake made the earth wobble on its axis and permanently altered the regional map.   That earthquake was equal to 23,000 atomic bombs the size dropped on Hiroshima, Japan.   December 16, 1811 islands in the Mississippi actually sank.  Theologians predict that the earthquake Revelation describes is far greater than the 9.0.  Some wonder if these gigantic earthquakes predicted could shake the earth back on its axis to where it was before the flood when people lived almost 1000 years.

Then comes panic!  People lose all hope and can find no place to hide.  Lawlessness is evident in every country on earth.  Those who thought they were safe could find no place to hide.  It will be amazing that after all of these events there will be a number of people who still will not fear God.  Like the Egyptians in Moses times they will have hearts as hard as shoe leather and not penetrable by the Holy Spirit.

It is believed when the church is raptured, a radical ideology or theology will change the world when all restraints are removed and fanatical teachers spread their beliefs.  A worldwide anti-God movement will exist.  This will include the teachings of evolution, situation ethics (no absolute rules), moral freedom and self-sufficiency (man is not accountable to anyone), sexual permissiveness (everything is acceptable), and death education (there is no life after death).   This is what’s prophesized will happen during the one-world government and the one-world religion.  Hasn’t it already started?

Would you want to go through this kind of turmoil without having the Holy Spirit?  It is relatively easy to give one’s heart to Christ now, later it may cause one’s death.   Talk to Jews who were under the Nazi German Army or those from Cambodia just a few years ago.  Ask them what’s it like living under an army with no morals?

For the past year I have asked that Christians pray for our government leaders. (Psalm 50:15 – “Then call on me when you are in trouble, and I will rescue you.”)  NLT – I do not believe it is too late for a spiritual revival to take place in America.  I believe God spoke to me through an article in a Christian newsletter in 1981 that before the end of time there would be a great revival.  At that time I belonged to a church that was averaging an attendance of 450 on the weekend.  Our church grew and today we have had over 30,000 on some special weekends.  This past year our church has seen 7,242 sign that they had accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior in 2010.  My hope is sky-high that God is going to give us one last chance.  But we all need to seriously pray for a revival in the hearts of those who have not accepted Christ.  Each one of us had better be prepared.  For no one knows when the “End Times” will occur.  The world is telling us it could be sooner than we might expect.

What precautions can we take?  What if the worse were to happen?  How much food and water do you have on hand?  What if you went to the store and they were out of everything you need?  How long could you exist?  Is it time yet to start planning for what could eventually happen according to Scripture?  As a child I remember my mother canning every summer enough canned goods to last us for at least a year.  We had all kinds of fruits and vegetables stored in the pantry.  We even had bathroom tissue that would last for months in case we ran out of the Montgomery Ward catalog in the outhouse.   What would happen if the most prosperous nation that every existed went into bankruptcy and money became worthless?  Or, we had a world-wide food shortage.  Have we planned adequately?  “A word to the wise should be sufficient!”