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As Jesus sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, asking Him to tell them the sign of His return and the end of the age. Answering them, Jesus described religious deception bearing His name but deceiving many. But He also mentioned wars and rumors of wars, pestilences, earthquakes, and famines. Are severe famines on the horizon?

“It’s humbling.” The owner of a small business was relating to me his feelings about the rapidly unfolding COVID-19 crisis. We had just met, striking up conversation while waiting for an appointment. He had around 70 employees in his manufacturing company and he was scrambling to keep ahead of events. This was in the early days of the virus’ impact in the U.S., and the lockdown had not yet been enacted. He was struggling to digest a flurry of national, state, and local guidelines, writing and rewriting company policies, and grappling with how to keep employees safe and protected.

Over the last two months the world has changed dramatically! Streets and highways in cities around the world—from Paris and London to New York, and from Madrid to Los Angeles—became devoid of traffic almost overnight due to lockdown attempts to control the coronavirus.

The BBC reports that the head of the United Nation’s World Food Programme (WFP), David Beasley, recently urged world leaders to act quickly and wisely: “We could be facing multiple famines of biblical proportions within a short few months.… The truth is we do not have time on our side” (April 21, 2020). He was referring to the deteriorating food situation in multiple poverty-stricken nations around the globe.