If It Weren’t for the “Fear Nots”…
We live in "perilous times," including a burgeoning food crisis. 😧 Yet Jesus bids us, "Fear not."
We are not afraid
Although we know there's much to fear…
- Moses' sister Miriam leaving Egypt, as portrayed in the movie The Prince of Egypt
If the crisis scenarios described… energy crisis, supply crisis, economic crisis, worldwide famine with the subsequent migration crisis and the possible expansion of the Ukraine war continue to escalate almost simultaneously, then we will have to deal with a high probability of a situation that threatens the existence of… the stability-anchor middle class, in our society.
- German official Stephan Kramer, President, Thuringian Office for the Protection of the Constitution
According to Breitbart, Kramer is the official responsible for maintaining security in that region. He further warns that the resulting mass riots will make previous anti-lockdown protests look like a “children’s birthday party.”
Who controls the food supply controls the people; who controls the energy can control whole continents; who controls money can control the world.
- Henry Kissinger
Food, fuel, money. According to Kramer, all three of these seem to be heading for a crisis state right now. Strange, yes?
Once Again, the Whole World in Lock Step…
True story: I was originally going to entitle this article something like “This Terrifies Me,” but the Lord graciously turned my thoughts to all the Bible’s “Fear Nots”! I have not checked this statistic out for myself, but I have heard that the Bible contains 365 “fear nots”—one for each day of the year. Here’s a good one:
“Do not fear, for I am with you;
Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you, surely I will help you,
Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” (Is 41:10)
A couple of weeks ago, my husband shared a video with me. A pair of ladies were hosting Jimmy Owens on their show. One of the hostesses quizzed him. “Are you saying I need to go back to the grocery store and stock up again? Didn’t we just do that? How many times are we going back to this?”
Jimmy replied with a thought that made me sit up straight in my chair. Famine is listed as a pre-tribulation birth pang in Matt 24:7, as well as one of the four riders of the apocalypse in Rev 6:5-6.
If we take the Bible at its word, then yes, we should certainly prepare for food shortages.
I’ve written before about the food crisis that I believe looms at our doorstep.
But there are a few very recent developments that deeply concern me. Namely, there appears to be a war on fertilizer!
In Canada, as reported on The Counter Signal:
In December 2020, the Trudeau government unveiled their new climate plan, with a focus on reducing nitrous oxide emissions from fertilizer by 30% below 2020 levels by 2030.
“Fertilizers play a major role in the agriculture sector’s success and have contributed to record harvests in the last decade….” a news release from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada reads.
“However, nitrous oxide emissions, particularly those associated with synthetic nitrogen fertilizer use have also grown significantly. That is why the Government of Canada has set the national fertilizer emissions reduction target, which is part of the commitment to reduce total greenhouse gas emissions in Canada by 40-45% by 2030….”
This is a tacit admission [by Trudeau’s administration] that… reducing nitrogen fertilizer will consequently lower crop yields over the next decade, hurting the Agriculture sector and, more importantly, hurting farmers.
Not to mention consumers struggling to put food on the table!
The article continues (emphasis mine):
And indeed, according to a report from Fertilizer Canada:
“…Nonetheless, Trudeau’s government is moving forward, with farmer’s groups speaking to Farmers Forum now wondering if he’s intentionally trying to cause a food shortage — which Trudeau previously told Canadians to prepare for.
“We’ve seen… significant disruptions of supply chains around the world, which is resulting in higher prices for consumers and democracies like ours, and resulting in significant shortages and projected shortages of food and energy in places around the world,” Trudeau said.
“This is going to be a difficult time,” he continued…
A companion article states:
Some observers have said that there is reason to suspect that these actions are the first steps in replicating the attacks on farmers that have provoked widespread unrest in the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe.
According to bona fide climatologist Michael Shellenberger, what happens to agriculture in the tiny Netherlands is no small deal. Responsible for the largest meat exports in Europe, Dutch farmers also export the second largest quantity of agricultural products in the world—second only to the U.S. Who knew?
If you’re not aware, thousands of Dutch farmers have risen in protest against their government’s new fertilizer bans, many even demonstrating their ire by traveling to the protests by tractor and snarling up traffic.
Back to Breitbart:
Police in the Netherlands have reportedly arrested over 100 people in relation to protests against EU green agenda measures which will see up to 30 per cent of livestock farms in the country forced to close.
And well they should rise up, and we should all thank them for it!
…To What End?
Shellenberger writes:
By the Dutch government’s own estimates, 11,200 farms out of… 35,000… would have to close… total livestock would need to be reduced by one-half to one-third… This effort has sparked a fierce backlash among Dutch farmers, who argue that the government seems more interested in reducing animal agriculture than in finding solutions that protect the food supply and their livelihoods.
Q: With the costs of fertilizer and diesel fuel spiraling, supply chains buckling, and food prices already hitting historic highs, what kind of idiotic regime would pile up further obstacles to keep farmers from producing?
A: A regime whose chief aim is to control the people. Remember the Kissinger quote!
More from Michael Shellenberger’s substack:
Today the world is in its worst food crisis since 2008. The number of people suffering acute food insecurity increased by 25% since January 2022 to 345 million, according to the United Nations World Food Programme. Why then, is the United Nations Environment Program trying to steer nations away from fertilizers that increase food production?
…The Netherlands proves that nations can slash nitrogen pollution from livestock by 70% while also increasing meat production. Same for crops. Since the early 1960s, the Netherlands has doubled its yields while using the same amount of fertilizer.…
… In October [2019], the UNEP hosted a meeting in the capital of Sri Lanka, Colombo, and issued a “road map” to push nations to cut nitrogen pollution in half.
Determined to serve as a poster child for this UNEP road map, Sri Lanka embarked on what would prove a disastrous course of banning all fertilizer imports.
What happened? The staple rice crop fell 20%. Prices rose 50%. Small farmers reported seeing half their usual harvests. Sri Lanka’s mainstay tea industry, worth $1.3B in exports annually, crashed by 18%.
The result?
The government’s devastating ban on fertilizer thus destroyed the ability of Sri Lanka to pay for food, fuel, and service its debt.
- Michael Shellenberger
Indeed, as Herr Kramer rightly projects, the current confluence of crises looks guaranteed to lead to more scenes like these.
But! European leadership is in no mind to let a crisis go to waste…
This week, we all learned how France is arming up 3,000 new “green police” to arrest and prosecute people for so-called “climate crimes” which could mean almost anything, including exhaling carbon dioxide.
- Breitbart
A similar move is under consideration at the EU level.
EU crisis management tsar has called for the creation of a “Civil Protection Force” directly under Brussels’ control for the ostensive purpose of fighting the impact of climate change.
The suggestion has prompted one MEP to accuse Brussels of “using any excuse to grab more power”, with the union’s green agenda policy having already resulted in chaotic scenes in the likes of the Netherlands.
- Breitbart
Disturbing reports are even circling that Canada is building a brand-new 50,000 square foot detention center—complete with weapons armories and interrogation rooms—to investigate and punish ill-defined “climate crimes.”
To what degree does Biden intend to follow suit here in the U.S.? Like Trudeau, the Biden admin has committed to cut GHG emissions by 50% or more by 2030. Which means a move by the Biden administration to join the war on nitrogen seems more than likely.
Shellenberger demands to know:
What’s going on? Why is the United Nations promoting a kind of food production proven to reduce yields, raise prices, and topple governments?
And why are they gearing up for such ruthless enforcement?
No Apologies Now
Are you a “conspiracy theorist” yet? There was a time when I felt apologetic about my budding belief that at least some of the things decried as conspiracy theories were actually true. I'm no longer apologetic! One “conspiracy theory” after another is proving out to be “conspiracy fact.”
Besides which… a belief in an ongoing, supernaturally driven conspiracy to take down the human race is actually quite biblical, right? We first see it at work way back in Genesis 2.
As Christians, it should hardly surprise us that:
Great, demonic evil lurks in the world
This evil works out its designs via human agents
We live in perilous times (2 Tim 3:1), as
The spirit of lawlessness becomes less restrained—more clearly visible—as the prophetic clock winds down, and the reign of the Man of Lawlessness draws near
In the ancient world, an approaching prince would be heralded by forerunners. I think we are seeing the heralds of the Man of Lawlessness now! What do you think?
This is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world. (1 John 4:3)
It’s Not My Goal to Alarm You
It’s really not, although there is much we could be alarmed about! But I keep reminding myself what Jesus said, as He laid out the signs of the end of the age for His disciples:
“But beware; I have told you everything in advance.” (Mark 13:23)
“But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” (Luke 21:28)
He told us, so that when we see it unfold we will recognize it for what it is! Namely, His plan working itself out.
Maybe a food crisis alone isn’t enough to convince everyone that the things Jesus spoke of are beginning to take place. But it’s only one of many signs that we have the privilege of witnessing the last days. I’ve touched on a few more of them here:
You’ve been strategically deployed “for such a time as this”! Yes, as I look around me I’m concerned, but as I look to Jesus those concerns “grow strangely dim.”
…looking only at Jesus, the originator and perfecter of the faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. You have not yet resisted [c]to the point of shedding blood… (Heb 12:2-4)
As many have, around the world. 😥
These things I have spoken to you so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world. (John 16:33)
Peace I leave you, My peace I give you; not as the world gives, do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, nor fearful. (John 14:27)
We can be wise and discerning. We can see the evil one playing out His hand all around us. Yes, we can stock up on shelf-stable groceries. (Although, honestly, it’s my sincere hope we’ll see the Rapture soon enough that we won’t use them!) And yes, we can do what we can to produce our own food.
But even more crucial, we can do our best to sound an alarm for those around us—and not just about the coming food crisis! More importantly, about “all these things that are going to take place,” and that we will all “stand before the Son of Man” (Luke 21:36). Soon and very soon!
Sadly, it seems not many have “ears to hear.”
Even so, we can rest in God’s grace and peace.
Which brings us back to those 365 “fear nots.” Maybe especially poignant now:
Though the fig tree may not blossom,
Nor fruit be on the vines;
Though the labor of the olive may fail,
And the fields yield no food;
Though the flock may be cut off from the fold,
And there be no herd in the stalls—
Yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
I will joy in the God of my salvation.The Lord God is my strength;
He will make my feet like deer’s feet,
And He will make me walk on my high hills. (Hab 3:17-19)
I’ll close by quoting Ralph Abernathy, a close associate of Martin Luther King and a survivor of mob threats and violence as well as multiple bombing attempts:
I don’t know what the future may hold, but I know who holds the future.
- Civil rights leader Ralph Abernathy
Amen and amen!