And the food supply is being devastated by the ever-increasing population.

In 1906, Alfred Henry Lewis stated, “There are only nine meals between mankind and anarchy.”  Three days without food will often turn friend against friend, neighbor against neighbor, and in some cases, relative against relative. It will also turn decent people into criminals and, in some cases, turn well-bred people into cannibals.

No stable person will go berserk after not eating for three days, but when the fear of starvation is added, panic will soon follow.

In 1798, Thomas Malthus wrote that the population expands in times of plenty until there is not enough food (and other resources) to feed the people. A relentless struggle for food causes tremendous pressure and distress in a region. Even in difficult times, the drive for “a virtuous attachment” (marriage) is so strong that the problem will worsen with additional children making any permanent improvement of the poor impossible. His basic premise was when times are good, the population increases, and the increase tends to consume resources, making it difficult for the less fortunate.

Malthusianism is in our world today, often with missionary zeal, to cut the population by prohibiting marriage, limiting family size, and even using the radical schemes of forced abortion, infanticide, and euthanasia. Even aborting handicapped babies after their birth and killing off those born without the possibility of a “quality life.”

Malthus posited that since population growth will always outrun the food supply, any improvement of humankind is impossible unless harsh limits on reproduction are imposed. He suggested late marriages and “moral restraint” (abstinence), wars, and disease would help keep a balance between the population and the food supply. Others added birth control; however, Malthus was an English preacher and did not recommend birth control.

When favorable weather produces abundant crops, the population is generally healthy and happy. They tend to keep having children in abundance. We are told the tendency toward marriage is a constant struggle and hinders any improvement in the condition of the poor. Therefore, the population increases, causing distress and pressure for additional food and other resources. Malthus considered society doomed to famine, disease, poverty, misery, and death; however, later marriages, sexual abstinence, and celibacy would help mitigate the suffering of the poor.

He lived in the mid-1700s and did not see the Industrial Revolution galloping his way from 1760 to about 1840. He did not anticipate machines run by steam, water, air, or electricity doing the work of scores of men. He also failed to see the rise of contraceptives that permitted families to have two or three children instead of five or six—or more.

Hunger, disease, and war decrease the population requiring less food; and birth control, postponement of marriage, and celibacy further help to keep the world in balance.

He thought natural causes such as accidents, old age, famine, and “vice,” including infanticide, murder, contraception, and homosexuality, could stop excessive population growth. But he didn’t have any hope of escaping massive famine.

When good times continue and the population increases, it threatens everyone; consequently, since more people live longer, the elderly, handicapped, and unproductive are “useless eaters.”

The famines in India (which happened about every ten years for decades) were necessary to keep the “excess” population in check. Officials even prohibited private charities from taking food into famine-stricken areas! The Malthusian theory also “influenced British policies in Ireland during the 1840s, in which relief measures during the Irish Potato Famine (1845-1849) were neglected, and mass starvation was seen as a natural and inevitable consequence of the island’s supposed over-population.”

Enter the Germans. In 1920, a world-shaking book was published by Germans Karl Binding and Dr. Alfred Hoche with the English title, Permission to Destroy Life Devoid of Value or Permitting the Destruction of Life Unworthy of Life. It addressed the legal relationship between suicide and euthanasia and then extended it to killing the mentally ill. The book suggested that killing a patient was justifiable when it led to other lives being saved, mainly when the patient in question was of no value to themselves or society. The book advocates killing the mentally ill or the intellectually dead, especially since such people were a drain on society.

The expression “life unworthy of life,” which appeared first in this book, was essential to Nazi ideology. The two authors, a lawyer, and a physician, were not political and were not National Socialists. They were academics dealing with a very delicate subject. Does the state have the right to kill some people for the good of many? Does the state have a right to decide when a life is not productive?

That question has not been answered, in my opinion.

Food or the lack of it is a significant issue in our time because if not enough food is available, then everything comes down. I have never seen such an emphasis on food and its potential unavailability. It is no longer only an issue for the preppies, but for everyone since everyone eats.

People are becoming more aware of their total dependence on others for that which is indispensable—food. Past generations would have been horrified of such reliance.

With the absence of food, anarchy prevails, followed by famine. Shortage of food is one thing, but the lack of food is a disaster. Paul Lee Tan gave a peasant’s description of the Russian Famine from 1932 to 1933. “We’ve eaten everything we could lay our hands on—cats, dogs, field-mice, birds. When it’s light tomorrow you will see the trees stripped of bark…And the horse manure has been eaten. Sometimes there are whole grains in it.”

Americans have little experience with food shortage on a national scale and no examples of massive starvation in our country.

No longer is a food shortage, food interruption, and food unavailability discussed only by the fringe groups, but highly placed officials and politicians are concerned. President Biden said of the food shortage, “Yes, it’s gonna be real.” Food prices are at their highest since records began 60 years ago.

That’s one time Biden got it right.

The concern is already here, and it will worsen as grocery stores run out of major items early in the day, then they will no longer have those items at all. Then, many people will go from anxious to apprehension to anarchy—the nine meals have been missed. It is one thing to be fearful of food shortages but another to have a fear of starvation, then the fact starvation.

It will get super serious as some borderline people become irresponsible. Some parents will take what they want to feed their children. The cities would become unlivable as food riots occur as otherwise decent people use force to take what they feel they need—if not deserve. Understand this is not speculation. It has always happened in all societies. As seen before, truckers would refuse to enter the rioting cities, further exacerbating the problem.

Henry Kissinger declared in The Final Days, “Control oil and you control nations; control food and you control the people.”  In a 1974 National Security Memo, he also declared, “Depopulation should be the highest priority of foreign policy towards the third world, because the US economy will require large and increasing amounts of minerals from abroad, especially from less developed countries.”

If you don’t think many public officials will promote plans to diminish, deplete, and destroy elements of a population to keep order (and their jobs), you live in an alternate universe. And you don’t know history.

Our Great Food Disaster has already started.

 The Great Famine was one of the great disasters of human history. The world-class disaster started when a physical chill settled on Europeans of the 14th century. The Baltic Sea froze twice, followed by unseasonably cold years of gradually shorter growing seasons that meant disaster. Rain started in 1315 and continued for 7 years, especially in the summers. Crop failures lasted through 1316 until the summer harvest in 1317.

In 1315, it rained so much, people talked of Noah’s flood. Crops failed, and people all over Europe died of starvation. People began to harvest wild edible roots, grasses, nuts, and bark in the forests. They ate their own children, and people in Poland took down hanged men from the scaffold and ate them. Food scarcity prompted prison inmates to kill new inmates and “devoured them half alive.” The time was conspicuous for severe crime levels, rampage, disease, mass death, cannibalism , and infanticide.

Almost everyone was hungry since 95% of the population consisted of peasants who had no reserve food supplies and no money to purchase if any were available for sale. During this time, people did not think or act rationally. They butchered their draft animals and ate their seed grain, guaranteeing continued famine. Many abandoned their children, yet some elderly people chose not to eat to ensure food for the young.

During this period, life expectancy was shockingly low. During the Great Famine and the Plague, it was a little under 30 years, and between 1348 and 1375, life expectancy was only 17 years! Lack of food and a deadly plague will do that to a population.

All that was area-wide, including a few nations; however, some experts tell us we are facing a world famine, first in Africa, Bangladesh, South American nations, Middle East nations, and China, then Europe and the United States.

And those populations are all headed in your direction!

Governments and do-good organizations will do something even if it is wrong. The World Economic Forum (WEF) just finished its annual conference in Davos, Switzerland, expressing concern about the world’s future because of the reliance on meat in our diets. They recommend everyone swear an oath to veganism and eat seaweed, algae, cacti, and avocado seeds. Gamblers can safely bet the farm that the billionaires in Davos did not eat algae.

God warns us in I Timothy 4:3 in the last days men would forbid the eating of meat and abstaining from marriage!

Suppose you’re stranded on a leaking lifeboat in the middle of the ocean with 5 other people. The problem is the boat will only hold 4, so two passengers must jump overboard or be thrown overboard.  One passenger is CEO of a major corporation; another is a surgeon skilled in saving helpless children; another is Stacey Abrams, pretender to the Georgia Governor’s office; another is a glib college student, and an unemployed person recently fired and now waiting for the results of a recent job application.  The boat is leaking badly. Two of you have to go. Whom do you throw overboard? I don’t think the unemployed man has to worry about his job application, nor will the college student have to worry about his student loans. Both are expendable.

The obvious point is people have different values in today’s world, but no person or board or any political entity has the authority to decide on a person’s worth.

But then, if Stacey would choose to do the manly thing and jump overboard, that would solve the theoretical problem. However, the food problem is not theoretical. And Stacey’s decision, like all her decisions, is totally irrelevant.

Today, leaders who allegedly are levelheaded, honest, informed, and concerned say starvation is ahead, first in third world nations then here.

Have you planted your garden yet?

(Dr. Don Boys is a former member of the Indiana House of Representatives who ran a large Christian school in Indianapolis and wrote columns for USA Today for 8 years. Boys authored 20 books, the most recent, Reflections of a Lifetime Fundamentalist: No Reserves, No Retreats, No Regrets! The eBook is available at Amazon.com for $4.99. Other titles at www.cstnews.com. Follow him on Facebook at Don Boys, Ph.D., and visit his blog. Send a request to DBoysphd@aol.com for a free subscription to his articles and click here to support  his work with a donation.)

“You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.” – John Bunyan

Therefore you should prepare for the worst and pray for the best. Your children should be aware of the possibilities but get them ready without scaring them to death! After all, there is no doubt that their lives will change forever, do not let this hit them in the face tomorrow morning. Carefully get them ready. Let them know that this disaster is no surprise to God. God did not look down recently and say, “Oops.” He has watched this coming on for many years and is permitting man to put himself in a “fine mess.”

Teach the children that they will have to assume more responsibilities around the house. (You should have been training them from their earliest days.) Discuss some of the things they can do to help in surviving and thriving after such an attack on America. Let them know that children all over the world will have to grow up a little quicker than in the past. They should learn to take care of their own rooms, clean out the garage so you can store some food there, and learn to care for the garden, to butcher rabbits, turkeys and clean fish. Let them know that they are an important part of the family unit. (Again, I hope they already know that.)

Teach them to respect, understand, and care for guns. They should know how to hunt and clean game before they need to do so for survival. Children are children, so plan for long nights without much to do. Purchase books, games, puzzles, and DVDs (although televisions may not work so wean them away from television now). Get involved in some of their games and read to the very young.

Purchase school materials for them while they are still available. The public school system and many Christian schools will probably fold in most areas. Prepare for such possibilities, and be sure to purchase Teacher’s Editions and answer keys.

When hard times come, do not wear gold jewelry or expensive clothes or drive large cars. Such people will be targets in an age of envy (generated by non thinking liberals for fifty years). Even decent people will be jealous of your apparent “good fortune.” Translation: you prepared and they did not!

Go to discount stores today, yes today, and purchase toilet paper, honey, salt, pepper, packaged and canned food, bags of rice and beans, various spices, tape, knives and batteries. Then you should buy some silver and   gold. A few boxes of anti-radiation tablets will be more valuable than gold if you are in a contaminated area after a nuclear powerplant meltdown. Get a supply today even if you don’t live near a nuclear plant.

Following are some items that should be in your home: Extra pair of eye glasses or contact lenses, needles and thread, plastic sheeting, medicine dropper, matches, flashlight and batteries, aluminum foil, disposable baby bottle liners, toilet paper, sanitary napkins, insect repellent, toothpaste and toothbrushes, shampoo, candles, lamp oil, battery operated smoke alarm and carbon monoxide detectors.

You also need paper cups, plates, and plastic utensils, baby needs, diapers (cloth), household bleach, Lysol, large and small plastic trash bags, deodorant, good shovel, hatchet, hack saw and extra blades, ammunition (can be used for bartering as well as protection), dish washing soap, bath soap, laundry soap, contraceptives, tools for repairs, kits to repair flat tires on various vehicles (also an air pump), assorted nails and screws, solder, lead, oil for autos and tractors, portable AM-FM radio, flashlights with plenty of batteries, duct tape, mouse traps, lime, shoe laces, rubber gloves, W-D 40 or similar product, extra set of tires and sparkplugs.

You should purchase garden tools, seeds, and everything necessary for a garden. If space is limited, forget flowers and plant a vegetable garden after all God did that after creating everything. Gen. 2:8 tells us “And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden.”

You may not have pure drinking water for a while so plan to treat your water from the roof or from a lake or pond. You can boil water for up to ten minutes and while it will kill the bugs, it will not help the taste much. However, you can add Kool-Aide, Tang, or other mix to improve the taste. It will also help the taste if you pour the water (after it has cooled) back and forth from different containers. Remember that boiling water does not remove toxic chemicals and metals.

I think the best decision is to buy a distiller. We have distilled our water for many years and add desired minerals to it.

You could always use household bleach to treat your water if the bleach contains a 5.25% solution of the chlorine compound sodium hypochlorite. It may warn, “Not for personal use,” but that can be disregarded (according to FEMA) if sodium hypochlorite is the only active ingredient. Purchase the brand that has no additives such as perfumes, soaps, etc. It takes 8 drops of bleach per gallon of clear water; 16 drops per gallon of cloudy water; 1/2 teaspoon per 5 gallons of clear water and I teaspoon per 5 gallons of cloudy water to make water drinkable.

After adding bleach to water, thoroughly mix by stirring then let stand for at least 30 minutes. Remember that iodine and bleach do not purify water but do make it safer by neutralizing harmful bacteria.

You can collect water at your downspout, your swimming pool, waterbed, back of commode, lake, ditch, river, etc.  You can even drag towels across the grass early in the morning and collect enough water to keep you alive! Remember that flowing water is preferred over still water and clear water is preferred over cloudy water.

You can purchase products that will treat water and keep it drinkable for about 5 years without using any other chemicals but don’t use milk jugs to store water since they will not withstand long-time storage. Plastic soda bottles can be used safely after a thorough cleaning with very hot water. Metal cans are not the best storage containers for water since the metal affects the taste. They may also rust.

The Bible teaches us to plan for what is approaching and experts tell us that powerless days are ahead of us. If they are wrong then we are not losers by preparing. Politicians always end a speech by saying, “God bless America,” but God has blessed America but America has not blessed God by reacting in a proper fashion. Hence, the coming judgment brought to you by the followers of that “peaceful religion” of Islam–or it could be a super solar storm. Whatever the cause, a major shutdown of the grid will have you sitting in the dark.

Get prepared in every way including peace with God through faith in Christ. That is the best and permanent preparation for whatever might happen.

I have been asked if it is possible for us to repent as a nation and return to greatness, or must we ride the toboggan slide to the garbage heap of history. We can repent but a return to greatness as a nation will not happen if history is any standard.

We may soon know the answer to that question.

http://bit.ly/1iMLVfY Watch these 8 minute videos of my lecture at the University of North Dakota: “A Christian Challenges New Atheists to Put Up or Shut Up!”

While I am not a pessimist, I do believe you should prepare for very difficult days ahead. If you are planning on Social Security or even a corporate pension to support you, you may be standing on a bridge of mist.

I suggest that everyone develop a second profession or trade. A lawyer should learn carpet laying; a physician should learn to refinish furniture; a teacher should learn plumbing; a salesman should learn small engine repair. Moreover, everyone should plant a garden—and not only for health reasons.

Make plans now to get out of debt personally and corporately. Churches should start debt retirement projects. If I were a pastor of a church that owned multi-acres, I would seriously consider selling a few acres to pay off the debt.

Of course, churches cannot put every building program on hold and not make moves that circumstances require, but I would move slowly with any building program whether for a church or a business.

Therefore, what should prudent Americans do about a major catastrophe that is about to hit us right between the eyes? Get out of debt if possible. Sell your stock; after all, something is better than nothing. Take any temporary rise in prices as an opportunity to sell any stocks except possibly gold and silver shares. I also suggest that you get a part-time income if your job is insecure (and whose is not?), or better yet, start a sideline business.

In addition, don’t plan on retiring! Retirement is never found in the Scripture. Adam was to work to the day of his death. There is something carnal about waiting all your life until the day when you can lie around all the time, fishing, hunting, and generally playing. Of course, bad health can demand that you stop working. However, you cannot count on your pension plan being available or sufficient to replace your working income. Moreover, those under 50 are very foolish or naïve if they plan on Social Security to provide the necessary retirement income. Work is in your future, and a wise move on your part would be to plan for that now. If not, plan to be a stock “boy” at the local supermarket, greeter at Wal-Mart or item checker at Sam’s.

If (when) total financial collapse comes, the cities will be madhouses, so make plans to get your family to safety—that means at least 20-30 miles from a metropolitan area. Property values are still reasonable in small towns and a wise investment might be to buy a rental that you could move to when dangerous times arrive. On the other hand, you could buy a lot on a lake or a mountainside and put a mobile home on it. You could always rent it or retire there if the future turns rosy.

We will be going back to the days when 8 or 10 family members live in the same house because of difficulty in renting or buying a house. Older people will live with their married children and grandchildren—three generations in the same house. Dumpies—Destitute Unprepared Mature People will be everywhere. Few people will drive a new car and vacations will be short, or non-existent. People will once again learn to “make do” with what they have.

It would be prudent to purchase some freeze-dried food from some survival outfit and a few five-gallon cans of wheat and corn. The food you ate today traveled 1500 miles to get to your table. If the terrorists hit delivery trucks, bridges, and tunnels leading to major cities will food and fuel be transported? You should also have many gallons of water packed away for an emergency. Most people think such suggestions are extremist, but not so.

Our grandparents would not have considered having empty pantries. After all, disasters do happen, don’t they? A wise person plans for all contingencies as much as is possible. If the water is not used, pour it on your garden, and eat the stored food. After all, the price of food will not go down.

If there is a financial collapse, you can count on a breakdown of law and order. Surely, there is no question about that. In event of riots, it would be wise to have a couple of guns and ammo available! What, a Christian shooting someone? Yes, in my home it will happen if necessary. If a mob kicks down my door, be assured that they will be shot. Then I will expect a commendation from the governor for doing all people in Georgia a favor! It is very “Christian” to protect your family.

Rememer that one of Christ’s last commands to His Disciples was to buy a sword. Why did He say that? Because shotguns hadn’t been invented yet!

(Many more columns