43,000 Die in Somalia!

Last year, over 43,000 people died in Somalia as a direct result of its regional drought (Wall Street Journal, March 20, 2023). Nearly half of these deaths were among children age five and younger! Thousands more are expected to die in the first six months of 2023, at a rate of about 135 people per day, all due to the continued drought in the Horn of Africa and the rising cost of food. While food prices may see some welcome relief, hope is fleeting in these war-torn and drought-ravaged regions.

By some estimates, 43,000 represents fully one-fourth of the number of deaths for any cause that Somalia would experience in a normal year—all of them attributable directly to famine alone. If this number of people died due to famine in one year in a European or other Western nation, the world would be moved to act—especially given the number of very young children being affected.

Sadly, these deaths due to famine and hunger are just the tip of the iceberg. Bible prophecy reveals that as the end of the age approaches, famine, pestilence, and wars will cause far more catastrophic deaths, on a scale previously unknown. Revelation 6 shows that one-fourth of the earth’s population will fall under the power of such forces of death and destruction: “And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth” (v. 8). Using today’s world population numbers, this translates into roughly two billion people! Times are going to get more harrowing and many more will die. However, this terrible time will pass relatively quickly, and then Jesus Christ will finally return and usher in true, lasting world peace. For greater insights be sure to listen to or read Armageddon and Beyond.