An executive director of the United Nation’s World Food Programme pointed out three contributing factors to today’s worst global starvation; climate, plague, economy. His warning of a famine of biblical proportions could presage a new stage in the final redemption...

1. ULDAH MINISTRY
LETTER TO THE
BROTHERS AND
SISTERS IN CHRIST
【FAMINE OF HEARING THE WORDS OF GOD】
The word of the LORD that came to Joel son of
Pethuel. 2 Hear this, you elders; listen, all who live in
the land. Has anything like this ever happened in your
days or in the days of your ancestors? 3 Tell it to your
children, and let your children tell it to their
children, and their children to the next generation.
4 What the locust swarm has left the great locusts have
eaten; what the great locusts have left the young
locusts have eaten; what the young locusts have
left other locusts have eaten.
5 Wake up, you drunkards, and weep! Wail, all you
drinkers of wine; wail because of the new wine, for it
has been snatched from your lips. 6 A nation has
invaded my land, a mighty army without number; it
has the teeth of a lion, the fangs of a lioness. 7 It has
laid waste my vines and ruined my fig-trees. It has
stripped off their bark and thrown it away, leaving
their branches white.
8 Mourn like a virgin in sackcloth grieving for the
betrothed of her youth. 9 Grain offerings and drink
offerings are cut off from the house of the LORD. The
priests are in mourning, those who minister before
the LORD. 10 The fields are ruined, the ground is dried
up; the grain is destroyed, the new wine is dried
up, the olive oil fails.
11 Despair, you farmers, wail, you vine growers;
grieve for the wheat and the barley, because the
harvest of the field is destroyed. 12 The vine is dried
up and the fig-tree is withered; the pomegranate, the
palm and the apple tree – all the trees of the field – are
dried up. Surely the people’s joy is withered away.
13 Put on sackcloth, you priests, and mourn; wail,
you who minister before the altar. Come, spend the
night in sackcloth, you who minister before my God;
for the grain offerings and drink offerings are
令和２年 １２月 月報
フルダ・ミニストリー
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DECEMBER 2020
NO 302
Eternal Fellowship
News Bulletin
We believe in one GOD, in three
persons; FATHER, SON and
HOLY SPIRIT. We regard the
Bible (both Hebrew Bible and
New Testament) as the only
infallible authoritative
WORD OF GOD.
HULDAH MINISTRY aims to return
to the Word Of God, founded on
Hebrew background and to interpret
it from Hebraic perspective,
acknowledging that Jesus is a Jew
and the Jewish-ness of His teaching
as a continuation from the Hebrew
Bible. The Ministry also aims to put
His teaching into practice, to have a
closer relationship with the Lord,
Jesus Christ, and to regularly have
a Christian fellowship so that this-
worldly kingdom of God will
materialise in the midst of the
followers of Jesus here and now, as
well as earnestly seeking Christ's
Return to establish the otherworldly
Kingdom of God on earth.
All activities are free of charge and no obligation
whatever. Just enjoy our fellowship!
huldahministry.blogspot.jp
huldahministry.com
information@huldahministry.com

2. withheld from the house of your God. 14 Declare a holy fast; call a sacred assembly. Summon
the elders and all who live in the land to the house of the LORD your God, and cry out to
the LORD. 15 Alas for that day! For the day of the LORD is near; it will come like destruction
from the Almighty. JOEL 1:1-15.
The Old Testament prophets appealed for the importance of “hearing from God” respectively
in different situations. For example, Joel emphasised it at the time of disaster, in which he
encouraged the nation to wake up to prepare for the worst point of climax in ‘the day of the
LORD’. Amos emphasised it against those who did not learn their lesson from repeated warnings.
Micah emphasised it at a time when disobedience and perversion prevailed among God’s nation.
Habakkuk emphasised it in a time of distraction, in which God’s nation had been savaged by a
furious and cruel invader. However, even though the disobedience and severe circumstances the
nation had been placed under, God continually worked out His salvific and redemptive purposes,
with His sovereign work for His people often being carried out in unseen ways throughout human
history.
Joel observed draught, pestilence of locust, famine and forest fire, and perceived them to be a
consequence of God’s anger. Witnessing the worst plague Israelites had experienced since the
plague in Egypt, Joel urged them to tell their children to recount God’s works as Moses had
instructed, reminding them of His mercy and goodness as well as of His judgment against His
disobedient people: ‘What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way
the LORD our God is near us whenever we pray to him? ... Only be careful, and watch
yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade
from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after
them’ (De.4: 7- 9).
Joel’s days resemble our days. For years, The UN has predicted a global famine of biblical
proportions and in April, this year, the United Nation’s World Food Programme warned that
famine fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic might leave 300 million people hungry in 2021. This
organization won the Nobel Peace Prize last month and its executive director David Beasley
repeated the same warning that without drastic measures taken by a massive influx of funding,
the whole world will face famines in November. The Nobel Prize Committee evaluated the work
of WFP staff who lay their lives on the line everyday to bring food and assistance to close to 100
million hungry children and adults all over the world.
Beasley pointed out three contributing factors to today’s worst global starvation; climate,
plague, economy, and wrote: ‘Every one of the 690 million hungry people in the world today has the right
to live peacefully and without hunger. …the situation is dire indeed, exacerbated by the pandemic. Climate
shocks and economic pressures have further compounded their plight… And now, a global pandemic with
its brutal impact on economies and communities is pushing millions more to the brink of starvation… If we
can’t reach these people with the life-saving assistance they need, our analysis shows that 300,000 people
could starve to death every single day over a three-month period. This does not include the increase of
starvation due to COVID-19’.
In the same article mentioned above, Rabbi Yitzchak Batzri, quoting Amos1:18, which
prophesies a famine, writes that ‘hearing the words of the LORD’ should be practised at the end-
of-days as an essential stage of the process towards ‘the day of the LORD.’ He also claims that
Beasley’s warning of a famine of biblical proportions could presage a new stage in the final
redemption, explaining, ‘What the prophet is saying is that this famine, as awful as it will be, comes to
serve a divine purpose …lack of food and water will inexorably drive the other nations to connect with Israel,
just as Pharaoh enlisted Joseph to save Egypt… Israel taking a leading role in helping the nations cope with
famine will be a necessary stage in the Messianic process… They will come for food, but from the famine,
they will learn that the physical is not as important as the spiritual’.