A Famine in the Land

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Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find [it]. Amos 8: 11, 12

 

Today we are seeing a famine growing all around this planet. We’re being told by the UN almost on a daily bases that the food famine is here and it is growing. We are told that in just twenty more years we will need to be producing 50 percent more food than this world is currently producing. Famines come and go. Sometimes they are quite severe encompassing large areas of the globe and other times they are not so far reaching, affecting only a small segment of our population. The U.S. is always very involved in sending supplies to areas where there is human suffering due to a famine or some other catastrophe. 

 

Sure we are seeing some decline of availability of some food products and rising prices are beginning to put a strain on our pocket books. I live in the American Midwest in a community that thrives on raising cattle. I hear a lot of complaining about the price of cattle feed. Yet the price farmers are receiving for their beef is staying about the same. All this is exasperated by the high cost of fuel for these ranchers as they try to cut their fields, feed their cattle, and take their cattle to market. Yet the high cost of raising cattle pales in comparison to the famine coming upon this land which is spoken of by Amos. 

 

Humanity needs to help in every way we can if indeed we are seeing a famine coming. But there is a worse famine than food famines. “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God,” Matthew 4:4.

 

A famine for the word of God is coming upon our land and in fact is in part already here. People on a whole, that is worldwide, are no longer interested in hearing the word of God.

 

“And he said unto them, Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given. For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath,” Mark 4:24, 25.

 

In the end times people will be running to and fro seeking what they won’t be able to find. We’re told that because they’ve rejected God’s word for so long that they just won’t be able to recognize the truth any longer even if they wanted. Humanity, by despising God, will reap what they have sewn.

 

“For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received [it] not [as] the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe”, 1 Thessalonians 2:13. Here we’re told how to receive God’s word;  we receive it as the truth of God. Many even now shun the word of God, or even disparage it as a falsehood.

 

I believe God has put a burden upon the heart of every born again believer to be upfront with the truth of His word in every situation of life. As believers, God would not want us to leave this responsibility of speaking the truth to our pastors alone or even to others. An attitude of allowing others to do the dirty work, so to speak, is not only wrong but it is counter-productive. The pastoral staff of this world is shrinking at a phenomenal rate. The dropout rate of pastors in just the Southern Baptist Churches alone is four thousand per year. In all protestant Churches combined over 1,500 pastors leave the ministry each month, that’s each month.

 

The famine of “hearing” God’s word is getting worse on a daily bases, and this famine is being propagated by believers who won’t speak up. It seems as though we believers are simply saying, “There’s always someone out there witnessing, why should I bother”. People, this attitude is completely against God’s word.

 

The mainstream media is a huge platform which the enemy uses to further his agenda of lies. If Christians were more vocal, we could also use this platform to spread the truth of God’s message of salvation. But that isn’t the case is it? Christians have become so passive and apathetic that the world has it easy when it comes to walking all over us, especially those in the mainstream media.

 

The Laodicean Church, spoken of in the third chapter of the Book of Revelation, is most definitely alive and well in this age. Jesus stands on the outside and knocks; whoever will open the door will receive unto them our Lord Jesus. The problem with the Laodicean Church is they believe they already have everything they need. Guess what, they don’t have the most important part, Jesus Christ. Remember Jesus is standing on the outside knocking; He’s not in the Church.

 

The famine of God’s word is a choice people have made to reject it, to completely turn from the truth and embrace the lie of secularism. Even many Christians have embraced this lie. According to research done by the Barna Group, only seven percent of born again believers have a Biblical worldview. The rest have turned from the truth of the Bible and from the joy of the Lord. That means 93% of professing Christians have no desire to hear the truth.

 

What Amos is speaking of in referring to a famine of God’s word, is people will no longer “hear” the word of God. Whether consciously or unconsciously they will seek after it in the end times but they won’t find it. They didn’t want to “hear” it for so long that it will no longer be available to them. A God famine so to speak, brought about by a lack of pursuit of His word.

 

Many pastors are either going through this famine or are steeped in it. Because so many have turned away from God’s word they will no longer be able to preach the truth. People not wanting to hear the truth convince their pastors of what they want to hear, and pastors wanting to please their congregations preach what their congregations want to hear, and both are turning away from what God wants them to be teaching and/or to be taught so that sooner of later God just takes the word away from them all together. We know for a fact that this is an end time’s scenario happening before our very eyes.

 

If we seek God, God tells us that we will find Him. On the other hand if we despise God and remain in this attitude for very long, it will be increasingly more difficult to “hear” His word, let alone receive His word unto ourselves. This is an attitude that many are in today, completely unaware of where they are headed. Of course we know they are headed for Hell.  If we as born again believers will confront these people with the truth of God’s word, the Holy Spirit has a better than even chance to convict them of their foolishness and turn them before it’s too late. We must plant the seeds of His word to stave off this famine coming in our land. God will do the rest.

 

God bless you all,

 

Ron Graham

 

 

 

Email:  twotug@embarqmail.com