To Our Readers:  Though the subject matter in my blogs and the book of Revelation is very serious and can appear to be dismal, never forget that the King of Glory is orchestrating every detail of these events with His Church in mind!  He watches over those who are His own and He will never leave you nor forsake you when you belong to Him.  We may experience some difficult times ahead, yet they are the most exciting times in the history of the world for we are about to see Him!  Place your faith and your future in the One who loved you enough to die on that Cross to give you LIFE ETERNAL and trust Him!  Prepare your heart, then prepare as well as you can in the natural and then leave the rest to Him! 

The third horseman is ready to ride. 

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.  And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius…and do not harm the oil and the wine.” (6:5-6 NKJV)

 The rider of the black horse carries with him famine and economic collapse, signified by the weighing scales and the exorbitant prices for food. 

It is hard to imagine the impact a major famine might have in the economically developed nations of the world.  The closest most of us get to famine is quickly changing the channel when images of starving children appear on our television sets. 

 We have grown all too accustomed to the poignant pictures of shriveled men, women, and even children whose bodies have been affected by famine in Third World countries. I believe that in the days ahead famine will be even more prevalent, and I am not alone in that opinion. 

In 1997 and 1998 freak weather conditions brought on by El Nino, declared to be the worst this century by United Nations climate experts and U. S. government scientists alike, provided a graphic object lesson concerning the fragility of our world’s food supply. 

On a one-to-five scale, “this El Nino is at least a five, if not completely off the scale,” said Joe Friday, director of research for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

 In the U.S. and Canada, El Nino wreaked havoc in the form of floods, mudslides, tornadoes, and other unusual weather-related phenomena. 

Heavy rains washed away million-dollar homes in California and flooded towns in Georgia and Alabama. Unusually strong tornadoes struck in locations as diverse as Minneapolis, Minnesota; Nashville, Tennessee; Orlando, Florida; Spencer, South Dakota; and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 

A five-day ice storm in Canada caused a short-term loss of over one billion dollars and a 2 percent loss in the country’s gross domestic product. 

But in Africa and Latin America, where living conditions are less developed and food, clothing, medicine, and other forms of humanitarian aid are less available, El Ninos effects put millions of people at risk of starvation. 

Christine Berthiaume, spokesperson for the UN food agency, World Food Program, estimated that “27 million people in Africa and some 320,000 people in central America were at risk because of declining food stocks.” 

The third horseman is ready to ride, and not just in Third World countries. 

Remember, put your faith and your future in His Loving Hands!