Revelation 6:5-6 (KJV)

And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances (G2218) in his hand (G5495). And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure (G5518) of wheat for a penny (G1220), and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.

*G2218 – ζυγός – a coupling, i.e. (figuratively) servitude (a law or obligation); also (literally) the beam of the balance (as connecting the scales) Derivation: from the root of ζεύγνυμι (to join, especially by a “yoke”); KJV Usage: pair of balances, yoke.

*G5495 – χείρ – the hand (literally or figuratively (power); especially (by Hebraism) a means or instrument) Derivation: perhaps from the base of G5494 in the sense of its congener the base of G5490 (through the idea of hollowness for grasping); KJV Usage: hand.

*G5518 – χοῖνιξ – a chœnix or certain dry measure. Derivation: of uncertain derivation; KJV Usage: measure.

CHOENIX – ke’-niks (choinix):

A Greek dry measure, almost equal to one quart. Mentioned in the New Testament only in Revelation 6:6, where the Revised Version, margin would read “choenix” instead of the indefinite translation “measure.” The verse is then obviously a threat of famine. {1 liter dry = 0.91 US quart dry}

*G1220 – δηνάριον – a denarius (or ten asses) Derivation: of Latin origin; KJV Usage: pence, penny(-worth).

TBESG: δηνάριον – denariusG:N-Nδηνάριον, -ου, τό
the Lat. denarius, a Roman coin, nearly equal to the δραχμή, which see: Refs; τὸ ἀνὰ δ., Mat.20:10.†
(AS)Thayer:

1) A Roman silver coin in NT time. It took its name from it being equal to ten “asses”, a number after 217 B.C. increased to sixteen (about 3.898 grams or .1375 oz.). It was the principal silver coin of the Roman empire. From the parable of the labourers in the vineyard, it would seem that a denarius was then the ordinary pay for a day’s wages. (Mt. 20:2-13) Literal: denarius = “containing ten”

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The Federal minimum wage is still $7.25/hr. because the $15/hr. never passed. An 8 hour day’s min wage would be $58 before Social Security, Medicare, Federal and State income tax and any other local taxes.

A good loaf of whole wheat bread not overly puffed up with yeast and mostly air is about 1.5 lb. and the last one I bought (12-grain whole wheat) was at Food Lion with MVP discount cost $4.99 a loaf not including the NC sales tax on food. One can use less flour and extra yeast to get the same size loaf, but it will weigh less. For a good loaf of homemade bread yielding a 1.5 lb. loaf using all-purpose flour (unbleached) from ground wheat with just a little yeast, it takes 3.5 cups of flour. 1 cup dry = 0.25 liter dry. 3.5 x 0.25 = 0.875 liter per loaf of bread. That’s a little less than one measure.

Recently, a gallon of gas was more than a good loaf of whole wheat or multi-grain bread. Gas has come down a little, still a dollar more than the equivalent of a loaf of light bread (weight not color) puffed up with extra yeast but a dollar less than $4.99. I wonder if one can get more mileage from a gallon of gas if yeast is added to the tank? Gas may be coming down a little, but food and rent are still on the increase.

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The Events Of 2022 Show We Are Not Prepared For What Is Coming In 2023

From the the 9/3/22 article:

I don’t know how I could say it any more clearly.  At this moment, the vast majority of the population is completely and utterly unprepared for what is ahead of us.  

Every day, there are more signs in the news that global events are starting to spiral out of control, but instead of using this summer to get prepared much of the population is partying instead.  This greatly frustrates me, because I have been working extremely hard to try to sound the alarm.  

People should be using the window of opportunity that we have this summer to take action, because the months ahead of us will be filled with famine, war, pestilence, natural disasters and severe economic troubles.  

Summer officially ends in late September, and I believe that global events will accelerate greatly throughout the remainder of 2022 and into the early stages of 2023.

Most people always think that they have more time to prepare….

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U.S. Food Production Just Keeps Getting Slammed By One Disaster After Another

From the 9/1/22 article:

You have probably noticed that food prices just keep going up at the grocery store.  Many people believe that this is just a temporary phenomenon, and those people would be wrong.  

In fact, things are really going to start going haywire when a lot of the food that is supposed to be on our store shelves in 2023 doesn’t show up.  Of course the reason that food isn’t going to be there is because it isn’t being grown in 2022.  

This summer, food production in the United States is constantly being slammed by one disaster after another.  Sadly, most Americans still don’t understand that this is going to deeply affect all of us in the months ahead.

Let me start my discussion by talking about the endless drought that is scorching crops all over the western half of the nation.

At this point, it is becoming clear that corn and soybean yields will be way down in 2022…

Drought is shrinking crops from the US Farm Belt to China’s Yangtze River basin, ratcheting up fears of global hunger and weighing on the outlook for inflation.

The latest warning flare comes out of the American Midwest, where some corn is so parched stalks are missing ears of grain and soybean pods are fewer and smaller than usual. The dismal report from the Pro Farmer Crop Tour has helped lift a gauge of grain prices back to the highest level since June.

In one form or another, corn and soybeans are in thousands upon thousands of products that Americans consume on a daily basis.

If the supply of corn and soybeans is way down, that means that prices will be way up.

Anyone that has taken ECON 101 can figure that out….

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A Global Food Crisis Is Coming & Our World May Never Be The Same

From the 8/19/22 article:

In January and March, I wrote about a coming global famine. Unfortunately, the world has remained on the same trajectory since that time. As we enter the last few months of 2022, the world will awaken to that reality as global harvests come in with lower than expected totals.

Why is this? Entering 2022, rising energy costs had driven up prices for both diesel and fertilizer. Since these are the two most costly inputs in agricultural production, this led to increased food production costs. Those, in turn, impacted the feed cost for cattle, hogs, chickens, and other animals. But now we’re entering the phase where the world will realize shortages and/or higher prices for fertilizer, herbicides, and pesticides significantly impacted crop yields all over the globe….

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There used to be a Strategic Grain Reserve along with other food stuffs, but that is a thing of the past. The nation has been living harvest to harvest to harvest like most folks live from paycheck to paycheck. Food stamps can’t buy food that isn’t there.

Strategic Grain Reserves Are Completely Gone In US

From the article:

Once upon a time, it was popular to say that the U.S. government only had enough wheat stored up to provide everyone in America with half a loaf of bread. But that is not true anymore. Recently, I discovered that the U.S. does not have any strategic grain reserves left at all. Zero. Nada. Zilch. As you will see below, the USDA liquidated the remaining reserves back in 2008. So if a major food crisis hit this country, our government would have nothing to give us. Of course the federal government could always go out and try to buy or seize food to feed the population during a major emergency, but that wouldn’t actually increase the total amount of food that was available. Instead, it would just give the government more power over who gets it.

The U.S. strategic grain reserve was initially created during the days of the Great Depression. Back then, the wisdom of storing up food for hard times was self-evident. Unfortunately, over time interest in this program faded, and at this point there is no strategic grain reserve in the United States at all. The following comes from the Los Angeles Times…

The U.S. Has No Remaining Grain Reserves

Black Horse gets help from Red Horse

A food insecurity expert predicts that there’s only 10 weeks of wheat supplies left in the world as Russian invasion disrupts production

Experts calculate

Experts have calculated the world’s wheat reserves

Remember the story of Joseph in Genesis 41?

Food Insecurity: Why the U.S. Needs a Strategic Food Reserve

From the article:

So, what can be done to prevent states collapsing into anarchy as a result of food insecurity? One solution may be to recreate a food repository for both national and international food aid. The lack of a strategic food reserve leaves the U.S. exposed to domestic food insecurity and deprives policymakers of a potent and cost-effective means of preventing or mitigating the threat multiplying effects of food insecurity elsewhere. Historically, the U.S. Department of Agriculture administered a national grain repository for USAID, which it liquidated to stabilize global food prices during the 2008 global financial crisis. In a situation mirroring the inadequate stockpile of medical PPE before the Coronavirus Pandemic, the grain reserve became an all-cash trust for the purchase of food commodities instead of being replenished. USAID’s other two emergency programs, EFSP and Title II, similarly operate on cash transfers – a poor substitute for physical stock in a future scenario where crop output is affected by climate change. Title II also requires advanced delivery scheduling before USAID procures foodstuffs from the open market and arranges for shipment.

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More people are being evicted for not for not being able to pay their rent and soon foreclosures will be in the increase. Food in the belly will be more important than a roof over the head. But what happens when food is in short supply?

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As The Economy Deteriorates, More Tent Cities Will Expand

From the 8/22/22 article:

If brighter days are ahead for the U.S. economy, why are so many tent cities popping up all over the nation?  At this point things are so bad that even the New York Times is admitting that “America’s homelessness problem has the makings of an acute crisis”.  That article goes on to explain that our homeless population is steadily rising.  

Tonight, hundreds of thousands of our fellow Americans will be sleeping in tents, under bridges, in overcrowded shelters or in their vehicles.  Of course there are many that are so addicted to drugs or alcohol that they just sleep wherever they end up passing out.  This is a tragedy that is growing with each passing day, and it is only going to get worse in the months ahead as the U.S. economy slows down even more.

Earlier today, I was truly stunned by a Fox News article about what is going on in Portland right now.  Tent cities are literally taking over entire neighborhoods, and many residents are “resorting to selling their homes” as a result…

Residents in a Portland, Oregon, neighborhood are resorting to selling their homes and moving due to homeless encampments right outside their front doors.

“It’s a little scary because I know there is mental illness and that concerns me,” North Portland resident Maria Inocencio told KGW8.

Residents of North Portland said at least three families on one street have left in recent days due to the homeless camps, and KGW8 reported seeing for-sale signs up and down streets.

Portland was once such a beautiful place, but now it has literally been transformed into a hellhole.

Needless to say, Portland is far from alone.  From Seattle all the way down to San Diego, communities all along the west coast are being plagued by relentlessly growing encampments.  In many cases, such encampments are magnets for drug addicts and other societal outcasts.

But this is not just a west coast problem.

Let me give you are couple of examples.  In recent weeks, tent cities have been popping up all over Pittsburgh…

“We want immediate action. We want to see people in homes. There’s a humane way to deal with homelessness,” said Pittsburgh City Council president Theresa Kail-Smith.

Homeless camps are popping up all over the Northside.

You’ll see them on the Riverfront Trail to Millvale.

Another makeshift tent city popped up underneath the Andy Warhol Bridge.

And in Fayetteville, North Carolina one burgeoning homeless camp recently made news because it features quite a few registered sex offenders…

There are 843 registered sex offenders living in Cumberland County. For dozens in Fayetteville, their home is a tent alongside the road.

Deputies in the Sheriff’s Office Sex Offender Registration Enforcement Unit (SOREU) learned the group of offenders are homeless and stay in a tent community along where the busy Martin Luther King Jr. Freeway (Highway 87) goes over Gillespie Street. Some live under the overpass while others live in a nearby field beside Gillespie Street.

From coast to coast, this is becoming an enormous issue.

And the truth is that it is only going to intensify as the months roll along….

What is coming will likely be even worse.

And as the economy deteriorates, tent cities will continue to take over more neighborhoods all over America.

But don’t look down on those that are living in tents.

With a run of bad luck, you could be one of them too.

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Why Are So Many Bad Things Happening To America In 2022?

From the 8/30/22 article:

Have you ever wondered why we just keep getting hit by one thing after another?  I grew up during a time when it seemed like America was endlessly blessed, but now everything around us seems the opposite of blessed.  

Our economy is imploding, inflation is out of control, the housing market is starting to crash, our weather patterns have gone completely nuts, the western half of the nation is enduring the worst drought in 1,200 years, we are dealing with three major pandemics simultaneously, we are losing our proxy war with Russia in Ukraine and it looks like war with China is just around the corner, and on top of everything else our political system is failing because liberals and conservatives deeply, deeply hate one another.  And if you think that there is hope on the horizon, you are going to be severely disappointed.  

The current crop of politicians in Washington is the worst that we have had in our entire history, and all of the “solutions” they give us just seem to make matters even worse.

This weekend, I came across a very intriguing article in the Jerusalem Post entitled “Is God punishing the United States of America?”

It was authored by a prominent businessman named Sherwin Pomerantz, and it really got me thinking.

Could it be possible that there is a common thread that connects all of the bad things that are constantly happening to us?

In his article, one of the points that Pomerantz makes is that America’s political system is coming apart at the seams right in front of our eyes…

Politically, whether people want to admit it or not, the country is in the midst of a civil war, though for the moment, not one where both sides have taken up arms, one against the other (although that, too, could eventuate).

Sadly, he is right on target….

All of human history has been building up to a grand crescendo, and we get to be here for it.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of the population has no idea what is ahead, and so most of them are going to be absolutely blind-sided by the cataclysmic events that are rapidly coming our way.

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Isaiah 24:1-5

KJV^(i) 1 Behold, the LORD maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof. ² And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him. ³ The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the LORD hath spoken this word. ⁴ The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish. ⁵ The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.

Come out of Babylon for her judgement is near.

LOLGB+