Prophecy 2. Famine

“There will be food shortages.”​—MARK 13:8.

● A man seeks refuge in the village of Quaratadji, Niger. The man’s cousins, brothers, and sisters have also come from the interior of the country in an effort to flee the hunger. Yet, the man lies alone on a mat on the ground. Why is he alone? “He cannot feed [his family] and cannot continue to look them in the eye,” explains Sidi, the village chief.

WHAT DO THE FACTS SHOW? Worldwide, almost 1 person in 7 does not get enough to eat each day. The numbers are worse in sub-Saharan Africa, where 1 in 3 is considered chronically hungry. To put that figure in perspective, imagine a family consisting of a father, a mother, and a baby. If there is only enough food for two of them, who will go hungry? The father? the mother? the baby? This is the choice that such families must make on a daily basis.

WHAT IS A COMMON OBJECTION? The earth produces more than enough food for everyone. Earth’s resources just need to be better managed.

IS THAT OBJECTION VALID? True, farmers can produce and transport more food than ever before in history. Ideally, human governments should be able to manage earth’s food supply to solve the hunger problem. However, even after decades of trying, they have been unable to do so.

WHAT DO YOU THINK? Is Mark 13:8 being fulfilled? Despite advances in technology, are food shortages afflicting mankind on a global scale?

Earthquakes and famine often precede problems that arise from another facet of the sign of the last days.

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“More than one-third of children who die from pneumonia, diarrhoea and other illnesses could have survived had they not been undernourished.”​—ANN M. VENEMAN, FORMER EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE UN CHILDREN’S FUND.

[Picture Credit Line on page 5]

© Paul Lowe/​Panos Pictures