This transcript is taken from a Stand in the Gap Today program originally aired on Sept. 6, 2022. To listen to the program, please click HERE.
Sam Rohrer:
Well, just four days ago, Joe Biden made an infamous and unpresidential speech in Philadelphia. You may have heard that right down here, not far from where I’m sitting in our studios, the City of Brotherly Love. And rather than seeking unity in increasingly troublesome times, the current president verbally attacked the majority of Americans who don’t support him or his actions or his policies. Rather than an address to the nation, it was a very, very political address.
Sam Rohrer:
Now, unfortunately, Donald Trump spoke a couple days later. He was unable to restrain himself. I’m going to be very objective in this. I don’t think the previous president, he wasn’t able to restrain himself after Joe Biden’s verbal instigation where he threw out bait to the American people. And he called the speech, in his words, “awkward and angry.” And I’m going to say, unfortunately, adding that the current president “must be insane or suffering from late state dementia.”
Sam Rohrer:
I’m going to say borne of rashness and arising out of pride, I hate to say that but it’s true, the former president’s responses have insured, in my opinion, that he and his emotional reactions will play perfectly into the hands of Democrat strategists and their fall election campaign strategy of keeping Trump and those who are in alignment with him in the negative forefront of the news. But one observation is certain, the political landscape and the campaign strategies of both men and both parties, by and large, has guaranteed an increasing level of political and cultural division and animosity that keeps the narrative off the real problems affecting our nation and the world. And ultimately, that is the decadent and moral abyss into which our nation has fallen. And the converging components of Marxist-led strategy, which cultivates the ground for the emergence of a one world government and the revealing of the anti-Christ himself, along with the prophesied and intentional judgment of God against an evil and idolatry world. And I think both are working together as we speak.
Sam Rohrer:
Now that’s all I’m going to say about that issue, but I think it sets the ground for where we want to go today. And where I want to go is with returning guest, Michael Snyder, attorney, economist, and publisher of the Economic Collapse blog and End of the American Dream and The Most Important News, all those things together. There are two areas of greatest physical problems facing the American people and the global population that I want to go to today. We’re not going to go so much to the spiritual heart root, these others are things that spring out of it. But one is the approaching food shortages, and secondly, a quickly approaching time of economic hardship, perhaps unequal.
Sam Rohrer:
Now today, we’re going to give some indications of where we are and what it means, but within the context of preparation, which unfortunately neither party or lead candidates or even the pulpits of America are saying really anything about. Title of today’s program is this, The Window of Preparation is Closing. And with that, let me welcome in right now Michael Snyder. Michael, thanks for being back with me.
Michael Snyder:
Sam, thank you for having me on today.
Sam Rohrer:
Michael, in the next segment, we’re going to talk about the quickly coming food shortages, which for many will exceed simple and temporary inconvenience, but literally hunger. In segment 3, we’re going to talk about the developing economic hardships coming, why it’s significant, and why this time it’s more than just a minor cyclical economic correction. So let’s start in this case, because in both cases, Michael, the food and the economic conditions overall, you’ve been calling for people for a long time to make preparation while they can. And I have too, because preparation is biblical. It’s natural. It’s necessary throughout, well, most all civilization. So to get us started today, take just a couple of moments in a segment here, make the case for preparation generally and why it is both biblical. And prove it.
Michael Snyder:
All throughout scripture, Sam, from the very beginning, from the Book of Genesis, all through the Book of Revelation, there are warnings throughout the Bible. And the reason God gives us warnings is not to scare us, but God gives us warnings to comfort us, but also to give us a plan of action, to show us what to do. Even in the life of Christ from a very early age, Christ was… His parents were warned, “Hey, take him to Egypt. Do this. Do that.” And then you look at the Book of Genesis, Noah was told, “Hey, a great flood is coming. Build a boat.” And now if Noah hadn’t built the boat, he would’ve drowned along with his family if he hadn’t been obedient. Joseph. There was that dream and they were warned that seven years of famine were coming, and so Joseph instituted the greatest food storage program in the ancient world and saved the nation of Egypt, the people of Israel, his whole family and the future line of Messiah.
Michael Snyder:
So God gives us these warnings so that we can be obedient, and by faith take action. It’s not… Sometimes people say, “Oh by preparing, it’s showing a lack of faith.” That isn’t the case at all. We’re actually showing faith by being of obedient to God and doing what he’s instructed us to do. Now in this case, we’ve been warned that food shortages would be coming. Now, today we’re going to talk about in the second segment, we’ve got a whole bunch of new data points that show that things are even worse than we originally anticipated. And food shortages have already begun in some areas of the world. In fact, people are literally starving to death in places like Eastern Africa and so forth right now. So these famines have already begun and they’re going to get worse, because one of the things we’re going to focus on in the second segment is the food that’s being grown right now here and supposed to be harvested in the fall in 2022 is not going to show up on our store shelves in 2023.
Michael Snyder:
And so knowing that, realizing that, and people don’t have that connection because they go to the grocery store and there’s still food there and people say, “Well, there’s not a crisis right at this moment,” but we need to look ahead because there’s a lag time in terms of the food getting out of the field, getting to the processing centers, being turned into products and getting on our stores shelves. So people need to understand that all over the world there’s not going to be enough food for everybody in the world in 2023. And so some people are going to eat, some people aren’t going to eat. But in general, global food supplies are going to be much tighter because of the lack of food that’s being grown in 2022.
Sam Rohrer:
Okay, Michael. You’ve taken us pretty much right up to the break here. So ladies and gentlemen, that’s why we just wanted to say at this juncture, I have found that within many circles, Christian Circle, I’m speaking to all of you right now, most of your listening are believers or profess to know the Lord, there’s often a thought involved that if there is a sense of preparation, that it must mean that you are or we are not living by faith.
Sam Rohrer:
All right, I want to put a halt to that immediately. The examples that Michael gave, and some we’ll share the next segment, it’s not a matter of not living by faith. We always must trust God for what he gives to us because we know that even what we may put aside might disappear. So we must live always by faith, but preparation is a principle that is all throughout scripture. So they really work together. They are not antithesis of each other. So we want to start here in the program today, The Window of Preparation is Closing. It is right to prepare. Also, never, ever to live without walking by faith. They go together. When we come back, we’re going to talk about food shortages, where we are, where we’re going.
Sam Rohrer:
A theme today is this, The Window of Preparation is Closing. My special guest is Michael Snyder, attorney, economist, publisher of the Economic Collapse blog. He has a website which I’ll give to you right now, themostimportantnews.com. A lot of the articles he writes is on there. I’ve chosen today to deal with the two issues, which are my opinion and we’re going to give some more facts on it here, that are very real. One is shortage of food happening, coming, increasing. Next segment we’re going to talk about economic conditions and what is coming, all within the context of the necessity of preparation right now, that being the case.
Sam Rohrer:
From a biblical and historical perspective, talking about food, now in food shortages, regional famines have always occurred. You’ll find them going throughout the world. The first widespread famine that we read about was created by seven years of continual drought in Egypt. And my guess, Michael, just referred to that in passing in the last segment, but that was in Egypt. But there, God had prepared Joseph to prepare. Keyword. Had prepared Joseph to prepare. And as God told Joseph the coming drought and resulting famine, it was interesting, if you read the passage there in Genesis, Joseph said and he recognized that God was going to bring about the famine. And famines occur because there’s no rain. And when there’s no rain, there’s drought. So that’s the occurrence. So God was going to do it. He said… And it made it clear it was not some accident or cyclical occurrence. Well, the result was that Egypt was made mighty in a time when other nations fell due to the drought. God had a plan.
Sam Rohrer:
God also used the famine to pull Jacob and his sons into Egypt to preserve them and to also set the stage for 400 years of slavery. All part of God’s greater plan of redemption where he grew and prepared Israel in this 400 years into a mighty nation. When Israel became a nation and the promised land 400 years later then God reminded Israel and all the nations and all times, us today, that drought and famine or rain and abundance is all under God’s control as an indication of God’s judgment or his blessing.
Sam Rohrer:
As God said in Deuteronomy 28:1-2, he said, “If you fear me and keep my commandments, then I will pour out blessing on you.” In verse 12 God specifically says, “The Lord shall open unto you his good treasure the heaven to give the reign unto the land in his season.” But then in verses 23 and 24, God says, “But if you walk away from me,” then he says, “The heaven, that is over, the head shall become brass and the earth under thy feet shall be iron. The Lord shall make the reign of thy land powder and dust. From heaven shall it come down upon you until thou be destroyed.”
Sam Rohrer:
So right, Michael, let’s get into it. There’s a theology of rain and plenty and God’s blessing and drought and famine and God’s judgment, which I just referenced. It’s all throughout scripture. We’re not going to go there today, I’ve done some of this on other programs. But the real tendency is for people, instead of in times like this returning to God, they end up looking to government. And government loves these times to make people dependent upon them. But again, that sitting to the side for a moment. In the matter of looming food shortage, what do we know about the current state of food inventories and food shortage here in America and around the world? You were with me back in May. You gave some indications then. Perhaps what happened since May till now, as an example?
Michael Snyder:
Yeah. Well, since that time, we have truly witnessed droughts of a biblical nature all over the globe, Sam. In China, right now they’re enduring the worst drought that they have seen in the recorded history of that country. In Europe, they’re going through the worst drought in 500 years. And at the same time here in the western half of the nation in the United States, we’re witnessing the worst multi-year mega drought in 1,200 years. And this is absolutely devastating crop production. For example, the hard red winter wheat crop in the United States this year was the smallest since 1963. But in 1963, there are only 182 million people living in this country. Today there’s 329 million. In California, the rice harvest is being projected that’ll only be half of what it would be in a normal year.
Michael Snyder:
Tomatoes in California, California grows 25% of all the tomatoes in the entire world. And the head of the Tomato Growers Association there says that we are facing a very serious shortage of tomatoes in the coming year because of the lack of rainfall. So if you like pizza, you like spaghetti, that’s really, really bad news. They’re telling us that corn harvesting in the United States is going to be the smallest in at least a decade. Year to date shipments of carrots in the United States are down 45%. Year to date shipments of sweet corn are down 20%. For sweet potatoes, it’s down 13%. For celery, down 11%. Total peach production in this country is down 15%. And so this is happening all over the nation, Sam. Approximately three-fourths of all US farmers say that this year’s drought is hurting their harvest.
Michael Snyder:
And it’s not just agricultural production, Sam, but also with cattle. Because what’s happening in the western half of the country, the lack of rainfall has created a situation where farmers, there’s nothing to feed their cattle. And so they’re selling off their cattle, which in the short term is meaning more meat in the stores. But in the long term 2023 and beyond means big trouble. So the size of the national cattle herd is shrinking. In Oregon, the total number of cattle is down 41%. In New Mexico, the total number of cattle is down 43%. In Texas, the total number of cattle in Texas is down 50% so far this year. Astounding. In Oklahoma, one beef producer there is predicting that ground beef, just cheap ground beef, “could eventually top $50 per pound.” And all this, like I said, is being caused by drought. At least 40% of the United States, Sam, has been suffering from drought for 101 weeks in a row. We’ve never seen anything like this. Dust Bowl type conditions are returning to this country and agricultural production is being absolutely devastated.
Sam Rohrer:
Michael, what you’re saying… Again, you’re following the numbers. And again ladies and gentlemen, we’re not giving these things to scare. We’re saying this is real news. And the news is not giving real news. These things that we’re talking about are real. Now, Michael, give some evidences here. What you’re talking about is basically this current seasons crops, 20 to 40 to 50% down, cattle producing 50% because they’re having to kill them early. All of that. Give some evidence now what that means now for going into the latter half of this year or certainly into 2023.
Michael Snyder:
Yeah, yeah. Because as I mentioned earlier, Sam, the food that’s being grown now has to be harvested, sent to of production facilities, turned into food, put on trucks, and eventually get to our stores. So that’s the huge problem. And everyone around the world is going to be wanting to get food from somewhere else because they’re not growing enough. For example, if people think, “Well, we’re having trouble here in North America, but what about over in Europe?” Well over in Europe right now, we’re being warned that crop losses in France could be up to 35% in the UK. And Germany were being warned that crop losses in some areas could be as high as 50%. In Italy, farmers have already lost up to 80% of their harvest because we’re seeing just tremendous drought in Europe as I mentioned.
Michael Snyder:
In fact, the water levels have gotten so low in the rivers of central Europe that what are being called hunger stones have started to be revealed for the first time in centuries where people put warnings on them. That if you see the water levels get this low, that means that drought is coming, that means that famine is coming. And those stones are being revealed for the first time in centuries. So we’re having huge problems there. In India, which accounts for 40% of the global rice trade there, we’re being warned that production in that country is going to be way below normal because of severe rainfall deficits. And Africa, already at least 7 million animals, much of that is cattle and so forth being used for food. 7 million animals have already died in eastern Africa because of the drought in Somalia, agricultural production’s going to be down about 80% this year. So Africa.
Michael Snyder:
Meanwhile, other parts of the globe are being hit with truly biblical floods where Pakistan was just hit by horrendous flooding, historic flooding, unprecedented flooding where it resulted in a third of the entire country being underwater and the agricultural regions were being hit the hardest where they’re saying Pakistan, basically most of the crops of the country have been wiped away by this just truly unprecedented flooding. So the parts of the world that aren’t being hit by drought, Sam, are often being hit by flooding. For example, the Mississippi River area here in the United States, horrible, horrible flooding right along the Mississippi River even as the western half of the country suffers from extreme, extreme drought. [inaudible 00:17:44]-
Sam Rohrer:
Okay, Michael, you’ve done a great job. We’re about out of time. I want to ask you this question. All right. Some would say, “All right. Okay, all right, you’ve half convinced me, Michael or whatever,” but honest question, have we ever been at this point before in our history and of what’s different now compared before?
Michael Snyder:
No, we haven’t, Sam. As you’ve noted, there’ve always been famines of a small nature or a regional nature throughout history. But right now this is happening all over the globe. We’re watching droughts of historic nature all over the planet right now. And so it truly is a perfect storm for global food production. And in addition to the drought, we’ve got the war in Ukraine, which has hurt food production from that part of the world at which is one of the key bread baskets of Europe. We’ve got the price of fertilizer, which is tripled. Some have actually quadrupled in price. And so all this and the global leaders are telling us exactly what’s going to happen. In fact, UN Secretary-General António Guterres, he publicly stated recently that there will be “multiple famines” in 2023.
Sam Rohrer:
Okay. And hold it right there. We’re out of time. Ladies and gentlemen, stay with us. We’ll come back here after this break and I’m going to continue in this discussion with Mike. But we just gave you a very, very brief overview on food shortage coming and what it means. Next segment, we’re going to talk about the economic side of the equation. They often go together and there are things happening on the economic side and we’ll talk about that.
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Sam Rohrer:
When drought and famine comes on a nation, it accompanies overall economic hardship and I think you can figure that out. But for nations like America, drought here, too far, has often been limited to one region only while the others produce abundantly. For instance, drought in our country right now is primarily the west, but the east has not been too bad. Although there are many areas around where I am in agriculturally rich Pennsylvania, where frankly the corn this year only got to about 3 ft. tall. So it’s not everywhere, but you know what I mean.
Sam Rohrer:
Generally, one area can offset another. And with developed transportation systems, with which we’ve been blessed, and refrigeration abilities over the last generation or so, food is able to be transported easily or imported from other places in the world, offsetting temporary shortages here on our shores. In such cases though, while the prices may go up temporarily, the food is often still available. For most living Americans, those listening now in this younger generation that comes beneath us, the millennials and down, we’ve never really known hunger. We’ve always had a sufficient money to buy even those things that may be in short, supply. Today however, in our nation and across the world, as Michael talked about, what’s happening is global. Very big distinction from the past. There is a collapsing of the economy with worldwide inflation as which we’re all aware.
Sam Rohrer:
And it’s bringing together the types of prophesied events where neither food is not available. Or if it is available, there’s insufficient money to buy it. Now Michael, before you started getting into food, you were talking about economic things for a long time. And so that’s where I want to go right now. The economic factors now unfolding are changing the landscape for Americans and the world. Those numbers are… They’re all kind of numbers. What do we know about the current state of our economy? Not what the government officials are telling us. What do we know about the real state of our economy today?
Michael Snyder:
Yeah, well let’s start with inflation because what we are facing now is something we haven’t seen in this country in decades. For example, well, the government’s telling us that the inflation rate in this country is only 8.5%, but it’s imperative for people to understand that the way that inflation is calculated, the formula, the literal formula that they use has been changed more than two dozen times since 1980. So John Williams of shadowstats.com tracks this, what the inflation rate would be if it was still calculated the way it was all the way back in 1980. And according to him, if it was still calculated the same way, it would be somewhere around 17% right now, which would actually be higher than anything that we witnessed during the Jimmy Carter area, the 1970s. So we’re truly basing an unprecedented inflation crisis.
Michael Snyder:
If you’ve been to the grocery store lately, you can see this happening right in front of your eyes. And so our standard of living is being eviscerated and people are hurting. In fact, the number of Americans that are taking out short term loans for groceries has nearly doubled this year because people are having really tough time. Were being told that demand at food banks in this country, and this blew me away because I didn’t know this was already happening, but demand at our food banks is already higher at many of our food banks around the country than it was even during the early days of the COVID pandemic when so many people were out of work. So there’s a lot of people out there really, really hurting.
Michael Snyder:
And so normally when the economy is going through tough times, the Federal Reserve steps in and intervenes. Unfortunately this time around the Federal Reserve is so scared about inflation that instead of reducing interest rates, they say, “We’re going to keep raising interest rates higher and higher and higher.” And everyone knows that’s going to hurt the housing market. And so our housing bubble, just like in 2008, is starting to burst. In fact, last month, one out of every five home sellers in the United States dropped their asking price because we’re starting to see home prices start to come down just like in 2008. In July, this July, sales of previously owned homes were about 20% lower this July than they were last July. So we’re starting to see sales of homes start to go down just like they did in 2008 when we had that housing crash. A new one has begun.
Michael Snyder:
But last time around the Federal Reserve could reduce interest rates in order to help prop things up, but this time around the Federal Reserve says, “We got to keep raising interest rates because of inflation. We’re so scared of inflation.” So that’s a huge problem. And so just like in 2008, we’re starting to see people lose their homes. In fact, one recent survey found that 3.8 million Americans believed that they could be evicted from their homes within the next two months either because they can’t pay their rent or because they can’t pay their mortgages. We’re seeing Americans get behind on their energy bills. In fact, we’re being told that approximately 20 million US households are currently behind on their utility bills as we head toward winter. And we’re being warned of a “tsunami of shutoffs.” That was a mainstream news article that I quoted in one of my articles recently where people are going to have their utilities, millions of people going to have their utilities shut off. So that is a big, big problem.
Michael Snyder:
And then just like in 2008, we’re starting to see layoffs, we’re starting to see some of the big biggest companies in the Silicon Valley. Walmart has even started to lay people off. Bed Bath & Beyond just announced they’re closing 150 stores and laying people off. And in fact, according to one recent survey, Sam, approximately half of all US companies say that they will be eliminating jobs within the next 12 months. Now, not all of them will be laying people off. Some of them say it’ll just be through attrition. They’re just going to be, as people leave, they’re not going to be replacing them. But approximately, half of the companies in the whole country are going to be reducing the size of their workforce.
Michael Snyder:
So just like in 2008, we’re going to see unemployment rise, we’re going to see more people. And then all of a sudden people lose their jobs, they can’t pay their mortgages, that’s going to make foreclosures worse, the housing crisis is worse and less people are able to afford new homes. And right now, because of interest rates going up, people that want to buy homes that are even still able to buy homes, well they’re seeing potential mortgage payments go dramatically far, far higher and they can’t afford that because we’ve already seen mortgage rates spike to the highest level since 2008.
Michael Snyder:
So all these things, what we’ve got, Sam, is this 2008 style crisis brewing. But then the Federal Reserve’s hands are tied this time. Last time around we had the crisis, Wall Street went crazy, Federal Reserves stepped in and said, “Hey, we’re going to flood the financial system with money through quantitative easing, we’re going to reduce interest rates to the floor.” But this time around their hands are tied because of we’ve got inflation on top of it. So instead of reducing interest rates, they’re saying, “Hey, we got to keep raising interest rates, which is going to slow economic activity, make our new housing crash even worse.” What we’re potentially facing, Sam, is even worse than 2008 because the Federal Reserve isn’t going to be able to intervene like they did last time.
Sam Rohrer:
In reality, Michael, and again, what you’re giving are just the facts. I’ve seen those articles as well. And anybody who’s out there looking, those are not hyperbole, they’re not wild eyed speculations. These are things that are just day by day kind of appearing. So we have to connect the dots. That’s what we’re trying to do here, is just connect the dots from what we are seeing. But on top of what you’re talking about is the fact that our government, passed administration and the current administration, have printed trillions of dollars, trillions of dollars, ladies and gentlemen. And what does that do? Well that puts you in debt because you can’t pay it back. That is the driver of inflation.
Sam Rohrer:
So governmental policy intentionally doing those things, which have now as Michael said puts the Federal reserve in a box, although they’ve been participants in it so they’re not helpless individuals, they’re part of the problem. But nonetheless, this is being augmented and the printing of all the money is simply pouring fuel on the fire. Mike, Well just a minute, last time we talked about food we went over it, looked at overseas. What about the economic conditions overseas? Because we’re not talking again just the United States. This is actually worldwide.
Michael Snyder:
Oh it is. And things are even more severe in Europe particularly, because basically Vladimir Putin is now deciding to totally shut off the gas to Europe and that’s really bad news. And he had reduced the level of gas going in Europe, but now he’s basically decided to turn it off. Europe has become extremely dependent on Russian gas. And so as been said, energy is the economy. And so this has created an unprecedented crisis in Europe heading into winter where they’re talking about energy shortages, energy rationing, forced energy rationing. And then energy bills, I’ve just gone into the stratosphere where people are posting them online. One cafe in Ireland first, they just 73 days this summer they received a bill for over 9,000 euros. They’re in Ireland for their power bill for their little cafe. So people are facing power bills that are just absolutely insane.
Michael Snyder:
And what this is sparking, this is sparking protests all over Europe. In fact, over the weekend we saw 70,000 people gather in Prague because people are frustrated about rising energy bills and the cost of living and the cost of food and everything else. And then this is affecting the economy where one of the biggest steel makers in the world in Germany has decided to shut down production because of the cost of energy. They’re saying we’re just not going to produce anything right now. Other companies have taken similar measures where they’re just shutting down temporarily or for the foreseeable future until energy prices… Because energy prices have just gone parabolic in Europe. And this is going to affect us here too in the United States because we’re sending to Europe a liquified natural gas to try to make up for what they’re not getting from Europe. Now we can’t totally make up for it, but we’re trying to help out.
Michael Snyder:
So supplies are getting tighter here in the United States, which is driving up prices. So we’re being warned that energy bills here in the United States this winter could be 50% or in some cases close to 100% higher.
Sam Rohrer:
Ladies and gentlemen, with that, what Michael’s talking about is that in both of these cases, there is no longer an automatic fix that can turn things around in a week or two or six months [inaudible 00:30:17]. You can’t turn around weather in six months. You can’t turn around the economic factors. So these things are there. When we come back, we’re going to breathe a little deeply. We’re going to talk about now responding in this closing window. These things are happening. Now, how do we respond as responding continent?
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Sam Rohrer:
Well, as we move into the final segment, now I know ladies and gentlemen that what we share today is not easy to hear and it’s frankly not easy to share. I would much prefer on the program to share only those things which are good. But in reality, part of the problem in the pulpits across America today is that we know most, 70% or more by the numbers, do not want to share anything that has to do with the consequences of sin or the justice of God. We only want to talk about the love of God and let the people leave happy.
Sam Rohrer:
Well, you know what? That’s not the way it is. And that’s not what God says. The Bible is all about warning, and it’s also all about the love of God. It’s a combination of the both. But you really can’t understand the love of God unless you know the justice of God. So we try to do both here on the program and I trust that you receive what is being said in that context and understand that we avoid, and I personally avoid trying to be sensational. That is not what we’re here for. Ratings are not the goal. But certainly doing what is true and being faithful to God’s word is something that we do. And so these are headline news of the day, items that we’ve talked about, all of them, but trying to present them from a biblical perspective. So again, that’s it. I just want to reiterate that again because it’s so important.
Sam Rohrer:
Well, as we respond to this idea of a closing window, before the Great Flood, God sent Noah, Noah the preacher and his purpose to warn the world then of coming judgment. He preached 100 years and no one listened. And when it began to rain, it was too late. Pharaoh in Egypt was told by God in a dream of significant famine, economic problems, and he acted by calling on Joseph and empowering Joseph then to prepare. Other nations at that point did not know or did not prepare and there was great suffering by all of the world except for those who had access to that prepared food. Now, in the days of great tribulation ahead of us, biblically we know that famine and economic hardship will become part of the plans of evil man if they try to hurt humankind. That’s what the devil wants to do. But it’s also going to be greatly augmented by the hand of God himself in judgment. That is what the tribulation period is about.
Sam Rohrer:
Now, in either case, times for preparation will disappear at some point. Thinking about getting saved, for instance, after you die is a window shut too late. Thinking about making a will after you die, obviously it’s too late. It’s a window shut. Thinking about physical preparation for winter time because you can’t plant during the winter as the Bible talks about, and planning for times of shortage after they come is obviously a window shut. So Michael, in terms of that, if you want to talk physical and then you want to talk spiritual, but physical preparation is one thing, but what does that look like? And based on all that we see happening, when may that window close? We may not have quite the example of the arc where the flood helms and the door closed, God closed the door. It may not be quite that type, but nonetheless, time of preparation, the window is closing. So physical preparation, what can you give us some basic counsel here?
Michael Snyder:
Yeah. Literally, the window is closing as we speak. For example, six months ago, food was a lot less expensive than it is now. So if you want to go out to the stores and stock up on some food, well it’s going to cost you more now. Or if you want to relocate, you’re saying, “Well, God is calling me to move into another part of the country.” Well, in some of the desirable areas of the country, housing prices in certain desirable areas are a lot higher than they used to be.
Michael Snyder:
So this is what we’re facing. The window is closing, but anything you can do to become more independent of the system, for example, we just talked about how energy prices are skyrocketing in Europe, they’re going up here in US too. So becoming more independent of the power grid, whatever you can do in that regard, whether it’s a wood burning stove, whether it’s going solar, that’s something I’ve always advocated. As more expensive than it used to be, but it’s something you can still do as we look toward the winter. Or when you go grocery shopping, stock up on extra food every time you go. And over time that really builds up. Or learning how to grow a garden. I mean, this year it’s too late for that, but next spring, you can stock up on some seeds and materials for that for next spring. You can do that now.
Michael Snyder:
But all these things, financially, get out of debt and build up an emergency fund to prepare for the very tough economic times that are ahead of us. All these things are things you can be doing now. They’re practical, they’re common sense and they’re things that we need to be doing. I know I’ve laid a lot of hard things on people today, but Sam, ultimately everything that I’ve shared in this program today is good news. Now, how can I say that? “How can you say that, Michael?” Well, it’s good news because everything we’ve talked about today is evidence that what we believe is true. That we really are living in the times, that the things that Jesus warned about really are happening.
Michael Snyder:
In Matthew 24, Jesus said, “Hey, in the end times, there’s going to be birth pains, there’s going to be famines and war and pestilence.” And all those things are starting to happen right now, but we rejoice to go through the birth pains because the end result, end result of birth pains is a baby comes. The end result of our spiritual birth pains is that at the end when all this is over, we get to be with Jesus for eternity. And that is a hope that is greater than anything the world could ever offer, Sam.
Sam Rohrer:
It is, Michael. And you worked both of those together nicely because really it is. Ladies and gentlemen, if I can put it this way from my perspective as people talk with me and write letters to me and these kinds of things come up, is that yes, in fact, we should think physical preparation. We do it for retirement, right? That’s what our will is about. That’s what raising our children so that they’re respectful so that they can help us when we get old. A lot of you in that category. All these kind of things. These are things that are biblical principles. They are right.
Sam Rohrer:
But the key I think in all of that, and again, I would just share from my own heart, is that even when we do those things, we have to ask ourself all the time, “Where is my faith? Am I trusting in those things? Bank account that I have carefully put aside? Is it in the food that I maybe have put aside? Is it in the house that I’ve tried to put together in such a way that it’s not falling apart? It’s well maintained, that kind of thing. Is my faith in those things?” Because if it is, then I’m guilty of idolatry. My faith must never be moved from the God of heaven and his plan, but yet I prepare. Now, if my faith is in those things, then I’m walking by sight, not by faith. But literally they could all disappear in a night, whereas our hope then. So that is why we prepare always within faith, not as a substitute for faith.
Sam Rohrer:
And then the other is this, Michael referred to it, but it’s the spiritual part. We really have to look within our own heart and say, “Am I right with God? Am I ready for the Lord to return for me? Am I ready to meet him? My breath could stop in a moment. Well, the Lord could return and then the wind is closed. What’s my condition before the Lord?” And if we think in terms of those things and we’re right with God and our heart is right with him and our relationships with others about us are right and we have prepared in faith, then whatever comes, then we can give glory to God and exhibit the truth that lives within us. Now, that’s really where it is the best. That’s why we tried to share this today. Hopefully that connects with you across the country and helps you in your thinking and preparation. We as God’s people should be entering and walking forward confidently. Hopefully that will do it.
Sam Rohrer:
Michael Snyder, thank you so much for being with us. themostimportantnews.com is his site. And ours, ladies and gentlemen, standinthegapradio.com. Write to us, partner with us in prayer, in finances, very important. Thank you and God bless you today.
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