He Rides a Black Horse
By Ray Gano

In the last several months I have been seeing a drastic increase in the cost of food. Milk is sitting at $4.25 a gallon, Cheese has gone up $2.00 for a quarter pound block and butter is sitting at $4.65 a box.

Folks, we are coming to the end of the age. We are beginning to see the foundations that have been put in place, start to take effect.

During the tribulation we know that food will become scarce and the cost will sky rocket.

We read in Revelation 6:5-6…

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 in his hand. 6  And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.

Christ himself stated..

Matthew 24:8 (KJV)  All these are the beginning of sorrows.

In this Christ was speaking of wars, rumors of wars, false Christ’s, earthquakes, famines, pestilences. He was speaking about now, the end of the age.

Matthew 24:7 (KJV)  For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.

When one does a study on this verse we learn that he is using verbiage which equates to that of a woman about to give birth, or the birth pangs as it is commonly stated.

Birth pangs do not slow down, ask any mother, she will attest to the fact that they increase in strength and timing. They get harder and more painful as well as coming more frequently.

That is exactly what we are seeing today, read on…

Forget Oil, the New Global Crisis is Food

BMO strategist Donald Coxe warns credit crunch and soaring oil prices will pale in comparison to looming catastrophe.

A new crisis is emerging, a global food catastrophe that will reach further and be more crippling than anything the world has ever seen. The credit crunch and the reverberations of soaring oil prices around the world will pale in comparison to what is about to transpire, Donald Coxe, global portfolio strategist at BMO Financial Group said at the Empire Club's 14th annual investment outlook in Toronto on Thursday.

"It's not a matter of if, but when," he warned investors. "It's going to hit this year hard."

Mr. Coxe said the sharp rise in raw food prices in the past year will intensify in the next few years amid increased demand for meat and dairy products from the growing middle classes of countries such as China and India as well as heavy demand from the biofuels industry.

"The greatest challenge to the world is not US$100 oil; it's getting enough food so that the new middle class can eat the way our middle class does, and that means we've got to expand food output dramatically," he said.

The impact of tighter food supply is already evident in raw food prices, which have risen 22% in the past year.

Source - http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=213343

In this article Mr.Coxe is pointing out the production of biofuel / biodiesel is one of his primary concerns. If you do not know, biofuel / biodiesels are produced by using corn, wheat, sugar beets, ect.  Many of the grains and produce used to make biofuel / biodiesel is also the same thing we use to feed the livestock thus promoting a healthy food supply.

Living here on the Gano Ranch, we have seen this directly as well as having an effect on us as these prices go up. In fact this was my main topic for this week’s Prophezine’s This Week In Bible Prophecy Show.

Watch Now - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbDntNOq3G0

We have noticed the cost of our chicken feed going up and even our dog food, which is also predominately made from grains.

With the continued cost of rising livestock feed going up, the products such as meat, diary, poultry and eggs are also going up.

Soon the rule of supply and demand will impact us. But which demand will win out? Will the demand to run our machinery win or will the demand to feed our livestock win.

No matter what, in the end, we learn that food will become scarce.

We read in Revelation 6:6

Rev 6:6 (KJV)  And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.

John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible states…

“a measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; "Choenix", the measure here used, signifies as much as was sufficient for a man for one day, as a penny was the usual hire of a laborer for a day as found in Mat 20:2; so a choenix of corn was allowed to each man in Xerxes's army for a day, according to Herodotus ; the same quantity for a day was given by the Romans to their shepherds and servants, and is generally said to be about two pounds; according to Agricola it was two pounds and a quarter.”

So we learn that a measure of grain is approximately 2 pounds and the cost for that grain will be an average day’s wage.

In 2006 the average hourly pay across the board was $16.31. If you add benefits the average was $19.57 per hour for non supervisory workers. To get yearly income figure you take approx 2000 hours per year per hour ($16.31 x 2000) and you come up with $32620.00 for a full time employee for a year’s worth of work.

Source - http://www.visualizingeconomics.com/2007/11/04/has-middle-americas-wages-stagnated/

We have 52 weeks in a year so if you minus 104 from 365, that gives you 261 days a person works on average. This is not counting vacation time. That comes to an average of $124.98 or $125.00 per day if you round up.

Now this is US Dollars, but you can take your countries currency and basically do the same rough math and come out with a figure that meets to your countries’ currency.

So what does this tell us?

For approximately two pounds of wheat, it will cost the US consumer approximately $125.00. The cost for 6 pounds of barley will also cost approximately a days wage or $125.00. Now this is during the tribulation. What prevents the price making a climb up as we draw closer to the end of this age? Here is an interesting side note about barley; it is what beer is made from. Pay attention later in the article discussing alcohol.

One other point to make, we also know that the population of man is also going up thus making the current supply and demand even greater.

In reading the second part of Rev 6:6 is says “see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.”

The oil spoken of here was olive oil which was used in their lamps, to bath in, cook with but primarily it was used as an energy source. As for wine it was and still is a luxury.

In past articles I have pointed to Isaiah 5, the judgment of nations, as what will befall the United States as well as other nations that turn their backs upon God.  But take note of what is spoken about here; we see greed, the cost of food going up and extreme drunkenness.

Isaiah 5:8-10 (KJV)  Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth!  9  In mine ears said the LORD of hosts, Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair, without inhabitant. 10  Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and the seed of a homer shall yield an ephah.

Isaiah 5:11 (KJV)  Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them!

In reading these verses, we see that man driven by his greed will work to possess all that he can. He will displace all others not caring for his fellow man. He will drive off from their lands all others, and take possession of all they can and all for themselves. We see also that the land will not yield properly. Here ten acres only yields one bath or approximately seven gallons of wine. It does not tell us why, but I bet it is through the continued overworking of the land to the point that the good earth no longer produces. Again greed and the worship of self are to blame.

We continue in Isaiah and see that man will rise up and begin his day early with strong drink and do this until the night.

These things are taking place today. We are sittng at the edge of the end of the age. In Revelation 6:5-6 God’s judgment befalls man. It will be worse than today, but today we are already seeing the foundations begin to stir. 

Folks, time is at hand and Jesus is returning very soon for his bride. If you do not know the Lord, you will be left behind to face the tribulation. If you are left behind, the odds are against you and you will most likely die a horrible death. If you choose to come to Christ during the tribulation, you will see persecution by the antichrist who despises all man, but especially those who love God. In that case scripture says that you will give your head and be a martyr.

Who Do You Serve?

Jesus stated the following…

John 14:6 (KJV) Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

If you do not have Christ in your life, you will spend eternity in hell. This is a fact. It does not matter if you believe this or not, it is the truth spoken by Jesus himself. If your name is not written in the Lambs Book of Life you will go to hell for what you have not done and that is accepting Christ as your personal savior. To be placed in the Lamb Book of Life, you need to turn your life completely over to Him. Having “head” knowledge or “just believing in Christ” is not the same as having “heart” knowledge with Christ living in your heart.  We know that even the devils believe in Him, where are they spending eternity?

James 2:19 (KJV) Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.

We work hard at Prophezine to show that Bible Prophecy is coming to pass. Because of this fact, the Bible is true. Since the Bible is the true and inerrant word of God, there is a heaven and there is a hell.

If you claim the title of “Christian” then take account of yourself this day. Many claim the title, but we read in God’s Word that the title does not get you into heaven.

Matthew 7:21(KJV)  Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

Matthew 7:22(KJV) Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

Matthew 7:23(KJV) And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

Who you serve will determine where you will spend eternity. If you are not serving Christ and a true child of God, then you are serving Satan and a child of the enemy.

If you are not 110% sure, then take account of yourself, your very life depends upon it.

1John 1:9 (KJV) If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

About the Author:

Ray & Tracye Gano are the Executive Directors of Prophezine. Prophezine deals with Bible Prophecy and World Events from a Pre-trib, pre-millennial, dispensationalist stand point. They currently serve close to 70,000+ (and growing) people world wide with a weekly newsletters, daily news updates, community based website and Internet radio shows. Ray recently released his latest project “Escape The End Time Money Snare – The CD a multimedia CD co-authored with Wilfred Hahn focusing on how to escape the trappings of mammon and learning how to live simply in God’s abundance.

Please visit Prophezine by going to http://www.prophezine.com

visit their new daughter ministry Wisdom Farms at http://www.wisdomfarms.com