‘Social Unrest Fears Mount As World Food Prices Soar In April’ ‘What Will You Do When Inflation Forces U.S. Households To Spend 40 Percent Of Their Incomes On Food?’
Notice the following two items:
Social Unrest Fears Mount As World Food Prices Soar In April
May 7, 2021
Global inflation is headed into overdrive as the leading food price indicator that is the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization’s food price index increased for an 11th consecutive month in April, hitting levels not seen since May 2014, with sugar prices leading the rise in the main index.
The Rome-based FAO released data Thursday showing the food price index, which measures monthly changes for a basket of cereals, oilseeds, dairy products, meat, and sugar, surged 2 points from 118.9 points in March to 120.9 in April. …
Inflation is always a monetary phenomenon, and this time is no different. Central bankers call transitory effects, but we beg to differ. https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/world-food-prices-soar-april-fears-social-unrest-mount
What Will You Do When Inflation Forces U.S. Households To Spend 40 Percent Of Their Incomes On Food?
Did you know that the price of corn has risen 142 percent in the last 12 months? Of course corn is used in hundreds of different products we buy at the grocery store, and so everyone is going to feel the pain of this price increase. But it isn’t just the price of corn that is going crazy. We are seeing food prices shoot up dramatically all across the industry, and experts are warning that this is just the very beginning. So if you think that food prices are bad now, just wait, because they are going to get a whole lot worse.
Typically, Americans spend approximately 10 percent of their disposable personal incomes on food. The following comes directly from the USDA website…
In 2019, Americans spent an average of 9.5 percent of their disposable personal incomes on food—divided between food at home (4.9 percent) and food away from home (4.6 percent). Between 1960 and 1998, the average share of disposable personal income spent on total food by Americans, on average, fell from 17.0 to 10.1 percent, driven by a declining share of income spent on food at home.
Needless to say, the poorest Americans spend more of their incomes on food than the richest Americans.
According to the USDA, the poorest households spent an average of 36 percent of their disposable personal incomes on food in 2019…
As their incomes rise, households spend more money on food, but it represents a smaller overall budget share. In 2019, households in the lowest income quintile spent an average of $4,400 on food (representing 36.0 percent of income), while households in the highest income quintile spent an average of $13,987 on food (representing 8.0 percent of income).
Needless to say, the final numbers for 2020 will be quite a bit higher, and many believe that eventually the percentage of disposable personal income that the average U.S. household spends on food will reach 40 percent.
That would mean that many poor households would end up spending well over 50 percent of their personal disposable incomes just on food.
At one time that would have been unimaginable, but now everything is changing. As I noted above, the price of corn his increased 142 percent since this time last year… 05/05/21 http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/what-will-you-do-when-inflation-forces-u-s-households-to-spend-40-percent-of-their-incomes-on-food/
COVID-policies (including deficit spending) have been leading to food shortages and food inflation.
Bloomberg reported:
Global food prices are going up, and the timing couldn’t be worse.
In Indonesia, tofu is 30% more expensive than it was in December. In Brazil, the price of local mainstay turtle beans is up 54% compared to last January. In Russia, consumers are paying 61% more for sugar than a year ago.
Emerging markets are feeling the pain of a blistering surge in raw material costs, as commodities from oil to copper and grains are driven higher by expectations for a “roaring 20s” post-pandemic economic recovery as well as ultra-loose monetary policies.
Consumers in the U.S., Canada and Europe won’t be immune either as companies — already under pressure from pandemic-related disruptions and rising transport and packaging costs — run out of ways to absorb the surge.
“People will have to get used to paying more for food,” said Sylvain Charlebois, director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University in Canada. “It’s only going to get worse.”
While never welcome, the coming round of food inflation will be especially tough. As the pandemic wrought havoc on the global economy, it ushered in new concerns about hunger and malnutrition, even in the world’s wealthiest countries. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-03-01/inflation-2021-malnutrition-and-hunger-fears-rise-as-food-prices-soar-globally
Yes, we are seeing food inflation.
But even if we were not, history shows that it is always prudent to be prepared for food shortages.
The Bible also supports that view:
6 Go to the ant, you sluggard!
Consider her ways and be wise,
7 Which, having no captain,
Overseer or ruler,
8 Provides her supplies in the summer,
And gathers her food in the harvest.
9 How long will you slumber, O sluggard?
When will you rise from your sleep?
10 A little sleep, a little slumber,
A little folding of the hands to sleep —
11 So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler,
And your need like an armed man. (Proverbs 6:6-11).15 “Laziness casts one into a deep sleep, And an idle person will suffer hunger” (Proverbs 19:15).
4 The lazy man will not plow because of winter; He will beg during harvest and have nothing. (Proverbs 20:4)
24 … they are exceedingly wise: 25 The ants are a people not strong, Yet they prepare their food in the summer; (Proverbs 30:24-25)
But won’t God provide?
3 “The LORD will not allow the righteous soul to famish” (Proverbs 10:3).
Yes, He will, but look at the next verses:
4 He who has a slack hand becomes poor, But the hand of the diligent makes rich. 5 He who gathers in the summer is a wise son; He who sleeps in harvest is a son of shame. (Proverbs 10:4-5).
So, the Bible speaks well of those who gather in the seasons when they can.
Bible believers should take proper steps.
Notice also something from the New Testament:
10 For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. 11 For we hear that there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner, not working at all, but are busybodies. 12 Now those who are such we command and exhort through our Lord Jesus Christ that they work in quietness and eat their own bread. (2 Thessalonians 3:10-12)
You are not just to sit around and expect others to take care of you. For more on physical preparation (and some of its limits), check out the article: Physical Preparation Scriptures for Christians.
It should be understood that COIVD-19 policies, not COVID-19 itself, have caused the economic problems, plus also have increased food insecurity.
Food inflation is consistent with a prophecy in the Book of Revelation related to the third horseman that tells of a time that indicates there will be food, but that it will be quite expensive (food-price inflation):
5 When He opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come and see.” So I looked, and behold, a black horse, and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. 6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not harm the oil and the wine.” (Revelation 6:5-6)
The situation the world now faces will, at least for a time, worsen. But we are not quite to the start of the ride of that horseman yet.
When it happens, various ones will die as they will not be able to afford it, while others will survive but struggle.
The old Worldwide Church of God published the following:
FEEDING THE BLACK HORSE OF FAMINE
Centuries ago the greatest prophet, forecaster, and newscaster who ever lived described in vivid detail the most climactic period in all of man’s existence. The prophet, Jesus Christ, was referring to events immediately preceding the end or consummation of this present era of human history.
His answer came in response to His disciples’ question: “Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age?” (Matt. 24:3.)
Jesus spoke of several major events that would signal the beginning of this troubled period. After false prophets and wars came a third significant indicator: “… and there will be famines” (Matt. 24:7).
Some 60 years later, Christ further elaborated on this description when He gave the apostle John the prophecies concerning the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in the sixth chapter of the ‘book of Revelation. Again the same basic sequence of events is described. Following the white horse representing false Christs and the red horse of war comes the black horse of famine: “And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine” (Rev. 6:5-6, KJV).
Unprecedented Famine
There have always been famines, but there have never been famines the likes of which the world is currently experiencing. Usually famines of the past came in conjunction with droughts, wars, and other natural or man-made disturbances. They were cyclical in nature. Today worldwide famine is built into the structure of world society. Famine is now a way of life for millions of people. Weather fluctuations, wars and crop failures only serve to exacerbate existing conditions.
Today’s famines also differ in both nature and size from those of the past. Never before did multiple hundreds of millions of people suffer from hunger and malnutrition at any given period in history as they do today. As Paul and Arthur Simon wrote in The Politics of World Hunger: “The population explosion has produced stress and deprivation on a scale without precedent, as well as a momentum of growth that boggles the mind” (p. 51).
So Jesus Christ was not merely guessing about future famines. He was describing an age of human existence that was unique from all others in which widespread famine was only one of many interrelated events. In the 24th chapter of Matthew, He made this clear when He said: “For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be” (verse 21).
The prophet Jeremiah describes this tumultuous age as follows: “Alas! that day is so great there is none like it; it is a time of distress for Jacob …” (Jer. 30:7).
Daniel likewise wrote: “And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time” (Dan. 12:1).
Today, modern-day prophets have finally caught up with the patriarchs of old. Notice what Robert McNamara says about this era of world history: “We have to see the population problem as part … of a much wider social and political crisis that grows deeper with each decade and threatens to round off this century with years of unrest and turbulence, a ‘time of troubles’ [emphasis ours] during which the forces of historical change threaten our frail twentieth century society with disintegration.”
Also, Georg Borgstrom states: “As a human race we are heading for Supreme Disaster, and the great challenge to our generation is to avert this calamity. It has to be done in this crucial century, or mankind may well deprive itself of both its future and its history.” (4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse – The Black Horse – Famine. WCG booklet, 1976)
COVID-19 policies are sort of a ‘self-inflicted’ wound that is contributing to food shortages. People are suffering because of them. Sadly, it looks like more will as well.
We know more hunger is coming as Jesus said:
11 And there will be great earthquakes in various places, and famines and pestilences; (Luke 21:11a)
What should Christians who are not hungry do?
Other than take preparatory steps for their own family (see Physical Preparation Scriptures for Christians), the Bible also teaches:
27 Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, When it is in the power of your hand to do so. (Proverbs 3:27)
9 And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith. (Galatians 6:9-10)
14 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? 17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. (James 2:14-17)
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. (James 1:22)
Those who believe the Bible are to do good as soon as we can, to the extent that we can.
(As far as some of what the Continuing Church of God has done to try to assist, check out the post ‘Nobel UN food agency warns 2021 will be worse than 2020’ ‘CCOG has been taking steps’.)
The end is coming soon.
3 “A prudent man forsees evil and hides himself, But the simple pass on and are punished” (Proverbs 22:3).
Are you being physically and spiritually prudent?
Some items of possibly related interest may include:
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse What do each of the four horseman of the Apocalypse represent? Have they began their ride? Did Jesus discuss the any of this? Might their rides coincide with the “beginning of sorrows? Do they start their ride prior to the Great Tribulation? Did Nostradamus or any other ‘private prophets’ write predictions that may mislead people so that they may not understand the truth of one or more of the four horseman? There is also a related YouTube video titled Sorrows and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
Fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse What is the pale horse of death and pestilences? What will it bring and when? Here is a link to a related sermon: Fourth Horseman, COVID, and the Rise of the Beast of Revelation. Some shorter related videos may include Amphibian Apocalypse: Threat to Humans? and Zombie Deer Disease is Here! Are the 10 Plagues on Egypt Coming? Here is a version of the article in Spanish: El cuarto jinete de Apocalipsis, el caballo pálido de muerte y pestilencia.
COVID 19 is NOT the End, but could it be TEOTWAWKI? The novel coronavirus called COVID-19 is wreaking havoc around the world. Many states of the USA as well as countries in Europe are on lockdown with shelter in place /shelter in residence requirements. In France, a form is required when you are not at your house. In Spain, drones are being used to warn people who are outside to got back to their homes–does that bring up feelings of ‘Big Brother’? Italy, France, and other areas are using police and/or military force to encourage people to stay inside. According to the Bible could this be the end? If not, what has to happen first? Have the second and third of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse started their ride? Could COVID-19 be the fourth horseman? Why or why not? Could we be seeing The End of the World as We Know It (TEOTWAWKI) like the R.E.M.’s 1987 single song discussed? Do Christians need to fear? What did Jesus teach? What did the Psalmist teach? This is a video. Here is a link to a version in the Spanish language: Corona 19 no es el final PERO es el TEOTWAWKI.
COVID-19 Leading to 666? The novel coronavirus of Wuhan, China fame, is now called COVID-19. It has also been called the ‘Coronapocalypse.’ Does COVID-19 have any prophetic ramifications? What did Jesus teach about pestilences and sorrows in the Olivet prophecy in Matthew 24? Could COVID-19 be the ride of the fourth horseman of the Apocalypse? Why was this type of disease expected according to the O. Here is a link to a version in the Spanish language: ld Testament prophecies in Deuteronomy and Leviticus? What has the US Centers for Disease Control warned about? What has the CDC reported about the flu? Were there lessons about fear and infections in the 2011 movie ‘Contagion’? Because of COVID-19, the World Health Organization (WHO), nation of Iran, and certain French locations are telling people not to use cash, but instead electronic forms of payment. The US Federal Reserve is now quarantining money repatriated from Asia to reduce the potential spread of the coronavirus on US currency bills. Is COVID-19 worse than we have been told or could this all be a ‘false flag’ event to encourage people to move towards a cashless society? If the thousands of deaths associated with COVID-19 are pushing parts of the world towards cashlessness, how much more likely will the ride of the fourth horseman and over a billion human deaths motivate people to move to making electronic payments that can be monitored? The Bible tells of a soon coming society that controls buying and selling to force allegiance to a coming European Beast power, known as 666 (Revelation 13:16-18). Does the ‘great tribulation’ begin before ride of the fourth horseman or with the opening of the fifth seal of Revelation 6? Do the words of Jesus helps us better understand the sequence of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse and the start of the Great Tribulation? Will the ride of the fourth horseman help lead to the rise of 666? Is that ride very close? Dr. Thiel addresses these issues and more in this video. Here is a link to a version in the Spanish language: El COVID-19 ¿Conduce al 666?
Physical Preparation Scriptures for Christians. We all know the Bible prophecies famines. Should we do something? Here is a version in the Spanish language Escrituras sobre Preparación física para los Cristianos. Here is a link to a related sermon: Physical preparedness for Christians.
21 items to prophetically watch in 2021 Much is happening. Dr. Thiel points to 21 items to watch (cf. Mark 13:37) in this article. Here is a link to a related sermon video: 21 Items to Watch in 2021.
Does God Have a 6,000 Year Plan? What Year Does the 6,000 Years End? Was a 6000 year time allowed for humans to rule followed by a literal thousand year reign of Christ on Earth taught by the early Christians? Does God have 7,000 year plan? What year may the six thousand years of human rule end? When will Jesus return? 2028 or or 2031 or 20xx? There is also a video titled 6000 Years: When will God’s Kingdom Come? Here is a link to the article in Spanish: ¿Tiene Dios un plan de 6,000 años?
Might the U.S.A. Be Gone by 2028? Are there prophetic reasons to believe that the USA will not last two complete presidential terms? Yes. There is a tradition attributed to the Hebrew prophet Elijah that humanity had 6,000 years to live before being replaced by God’s Kingdom. There are scriptures, writings in the Talmud, early Christian teachings that support this. Also, even certain Hindu writings support it. Here is a link to a related video: Is the USA prophesied to be destroyed by 2028?
The Great Tribulation: What Happens First? What events have happened? What are some events that are now happening? And what events need to happen for the Great Tribulation to start? Here is a link to a related sermon video: Counting Down to the Great Tribulation.
When Will the Great Tribulation Begin? 2021, 2022, or 2023? Can the Great Tribulation begin today? What happens before the Great Tribulation in the “beginning of sorrows”? What happens in the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord? Is this the time of the Gentiles? When is the earliest that the Great Tribulation can begin? What is the Day of the Lord? Who are the 144,000? Here is a version of the article in the Spanish language: ¿Puede la Gran Tribulación comenzar en el 2020 o 2021? ¿Es el Tiempo de los Gentiles? A related video is: 2021: The Great Tribulation or the Great Reset?
The Times of the Gentiles Has there been more than one time of the Gentiles? Are we in it now or in the time of Anglo-America? What will the final time of the Gentiles be like? A related sermon is available and is titled: The Times of the Gentiles.
The Philadelphia Church Era was predominant circa 1933 A.D. to 1986 A.D. The old Radio Church of God and old Worldwide Church of God, now the remnant of that era is basically the most faithful in the Church of God, like who hold to the beliefs and practices of the Continuing Church of God.
The Gospel of the Kingdom of God This free online pdf booklet has answers many questions people have about the Gospel of the Kingdom of God and explains why it is the solution to the issues the world is facing. Here are links to three related sermons: The World’s False Gospel, The Gospel of the Kingdom: From the New and Old Testaments, and The Kingdom of God is the Solution.
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