There's been so many news articles today, it's been hard to decide what to put on the website. Articles about Islamists murdering more Christians in the Philippines, news about Islam and the Qur'an and its anti-Israel ideologies, the UK tracking people suffering from dementia and news of another anti-Semitic attack in France. As I've commented on these sorts of articles quite recently, I have decided to put something slightly different on the site today. But all these things remind us that we are now living in the days the Scriptures foretold - Christians being beheaded for their faith, the rise of global hatred against the Jews and the Mark of the Beast system coming into place. World conditions are ripening for the arrival of the Antichrist. Environmental conditions are also worsening, which brings me to today's news article. Prime Minister John Howard has warned Australians that the country risks the onset of famine, unless they have significant rains before May. Howard said that there was enough water in Australia for basic human consumption in cities, but stated that food production could suffer if the rains failed this year. Cotton, wine and rice crops are expected to be well down on last year, wiping millions of dollars off the Australian economy.

Quote: ""This is very much in the lap of the gods," Howard said. Australians could face major food price rises if no water is allocated to Murray-Darling Basin farmers, irrigators warned. The country's worst drought in 100 years, which began in 2002, eased and then reappeared in 2006, and has already severely reduced production of major irrigated crops.

Not so long ago I commented on the article about honeybees deserting their hives, which could cause food prices to increase significantly, and according to Albert Einstein even threaten the existence of life on earth. The Bible states that famine will play a big part in the end times, and all these combining factors show us that we cannot take basic necessities for granted. I watched a BBC news report at my friend Cliff's house. Orla Guerin (the one and only) was in Zimbabwe covering the crisis there. She stated that the price of a loaf of bread in parts of Zimbabwe now costs "the same as a day's wages" - her words, not mine. Revelation says that during the tribulation period, a measure of wheat will cost a penny (a day's wages in John's time - Revelation 6:6). Revelation also tells us that the great river Euphrates (in Iraq) will one day be dried up, so that the Kings of the East can make their journey towards Israel. Whether this will happen by man's intent or through environmental conditions we are not told, but what is clear is that this prophecy can be fulfilled and will come to pass.

Revelation 16:12
And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.

Source CNN