Devastation Looms for Millions in Africa

“Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth” Jeremiah 25:32.

The present conflict that we see developing in our world is indeed terrible—far more terrible than anything we have seen since the death and destruction of World War II. Today, human life is being threatened by disease, famine, war and terrorism on a global scale.

Millions of people in Africa are currently facing a devastating food shortage caused by massive locust infestations, job losses, mandatory curfews and coronavirus closures. On Friday, April 10, 2020, thousands of desperate and hungry Kenyans stormed a food distribution program that had been established to provide aid to communities in the nation’s capitol.

“In the Nairobi chaos, men with sticks beat people back as they fought over packages of food, some with face masks dangling off their chins. Some people fell and were trampled. Dust rose. Women shrieked. Injured people were carried to safety and placed on the ground to recover, gasping for breath.” [1]

Residents who did not have food to feed their families were trying to get whatever supplies they could get their hands on. Unfortunately, these food shortages are not just happening in Kenya. A real food crisis is affecting at least 20 other nations in Africa as people with little or no savings are trying to “keep their families fed for another day.”

A Second More Devastating Wave of Locusts

A second, much larger wave of locusts is spreading though communities that are already suffering from mandatory coronavirus lockdowns. The first wave of locusts had swarms as large as 200 million each. [2] The new second wave has swarms that are 5 times bigger:

“Weeks before the coronavirus spread through much of the world, parts of Africa were already threatened by another kind of plague, the biggest locust outbreak some countries had seen in 70 years. Now the second wave of the voracious insects, some 20 times the size of the first, is arriving. Billions of the young desert locusts are winging in from breeding grounds in Somalia in search of fresh vegetation springing up with seasonal rains.” [3]

This latest development is compounding the difficulties for people who are already at risk. Africans are trying to fight both the locust and the coronavirus at the same time. There is scarcely a community that has not been affected in some way by this present world struggle. And it seems like this conflict will not be short-lived. We are in a situation like we’ve never seen before.

“For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet” Matthew 24:7, 8.

All indications seem to show that we are entering the final hours of the ages. During this time the souls of men and women are being tried in the furnace of fire. Time is about to run out and our destiny will be decided by the attitudes and character that we are now developing.

“Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand” Daniel 12:10.

There needs to be today, on the part of God’s people, an earnest commitment to accomplish the work that we have been given. Although the signs of the end-time are being fulfilled, there is an event that must also take place:

“And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come” Matthew 24:14.

This is our sacred duty at this time. There are thousands of sincere people who are eager to know the truth in this hour of confusion and great darkness. It is our solemn responsibility to see that they receive the light.

That is why we must be in earnest to get the messages of truth into the hands of people before it’s too late. We have the precious truths of the Three Angel’s Messages to give to every nation, proclaiming the soon coming of Jesus. It is our duty to prepare a people to be ready for this glorious event.