Is a Famine Coming?

I believe, based on scriptural patterns, a widespread famine is coming.

It is not uncommon for a major famine to happen as an attempt to humble the people and try to get them to repent and return to God. Often it works, at least for a short time.

Most famines have come as the result of a long drought, and that is what I had been thinking would happen, particularly in light of the attributed prophesies of John Koyle.

It needs to be noted that, as far as anyone knows, John Koyle never wrote down any of his prophesies. Everything that we have is based on second or third-hand attribution of those prophesies. Basically, someone else either wrote down what they remembered or thought they remembered, or wrote down what someone else said that John Koyle said.

So, we can't be certain of the exact wording of the various prophesies.

One of his prophesies had partial fulfillment in the fall of 2015, when three new apostles were called to fill the vacancies left in the previous several months.

"Near the time of the end, many of the General Authorities will become quite old. Troubles will start when three leaders will die in close proximity to one another. The new replacements will not be able to hold the Church together."

I had read his prophesies earlier in 2015, but had them recalled to mind that fall. I started looking at them a little more seriously when three new apostles were called.

From what others recorded, it seems clear that Koyle prophesied of a coming famine, that would start with a prolonged drought in the southwest. Supposedly the drought would continue north and west, going through Utah and across the States.

The famine would eventually be worldwide.

However, it should be made clear that prolonged droughts are not the only way to cause a famine.

From http://www.dictionary.com/browse/famine, here is a definition for famine:
1. extreme and general scarcity of food, as in a country or a large geographical area.
2. any extreme and general scarcity.
3. extreme hunger; starvation.

So, anything that can cause an extreme and general scarcity of food, which could result in extreme hunger or starvation, is a cause of famine.

Extreme weather that destroys crops or reduces crop yields can cause famine. If it just happens a few times it can raise prices, due to scarcity and the principles of supply and demand. However, if it continues to happen, prices will not only continue to rise but the scarcity will make it difficult, if not impossible, for the common person to get it.

We may be on the edge of a coming famine.

I don't necessarily believe in all of John Koyle's prophesies, but enough have apparently come to pass that we should not overlook, discredit, or fail to acknowledge what may be coming. Besides, unlike those who are still living, who have seen visions and dreams, Koyle has long since passed from mortality.

Here are some of the attributed prophesies (and I apologize for not having links so you can look up the original text, but many came from this website http://www.reliefmine.com/articles/koyle/236-a-list-of-prophecies):

• "The messenger told him the purpose of the mine would be to bring relief to the Lord's faithful people at a time when great tribulation and distress would be in the land. The mine was to be called the 'Relief Mine.' He told him of a period of four years of famine and explained that the first two years the Saints would be able to get by, but the third and fourth years they would have nothing to eat unless it was prepared and stored up against that time. Then there would be two more years which would be a recovery period. The messenger explained that there would be winters of heavy snow and big snow drifts after which there would be a mild open winter, but whether that winter was to follow immediately or whether some other winters would be in between, he never explained."
• "However, immediately following the mild open winter, there would be a hot, dry summer. The crops would come up in the spring, and there would be considerable moisture, and the crops would be glorious (that is the word Bishop used to use.) He saw the wheat would grow up and head out beautifully, and the irrigated wheat would mature, but the dry land wheat would not have enough moisture to fill out. By harvest time the heads would curl over in a sort of crescent shape. This was shown to him in another dream wherein he saw he went into the wheat fields when they were binding the grain which looked like it would be a splendid crop. He picked up a bundle of wheat by the binding twine, and the head's end of the bundle came up with the butt end of the bundle hanging down because it was heavier. Realizing that the head end should have gone down if there had been good wheat in it, he examined the heads of wheat by crushing them in his hands to bring out the kernels. He found that the wheat was terribly shrunken and not fit for food. He was told by the messenger that this condition would bring about a shortage of food during the first year of harvest."
• "The second year he was shown would be the same only much less food raised. Still, the irrigated grain would be good. He was told we would need to store up the first and second years grain to supply food for the third and fourth years. The third year the shortage would be so great that there would hardly be anything raised for food. The fourth year they would not be able to raise anything for food."
• "He was shown in another dream that during the fourth year there would be plenty of money to buy food and he with others went up and down throughout the country seeking to buy food and they could not buy any. Any people who had a little food would not sell it at any price. During this time of famine there would be no rain to do any good. He saw the clouds would come up, and it would look like it was going to rain, but a wind would come up and blow the clouds away; and if there was any rain at all, it was just a few drops which were not sufficient to do any good."
• "He saw the rains would come in the fifth year, and they would be forced to spare a little wheat for seed but would be sorely pressed to raise enough to eat during the fifth year and save enough for seed for the sixth year. The rains continued to come, the crops grew, and at the harvest time of the sixth year they would have enough food to carry on. He was told by the messenger that there would be a great crash in the land before the period of famine began. This crash would be brought about by prices going up, which condition was illustrated to him as being like a person on high stilts. When prices became extremely high, something happened in the land like knocking the stilts from under the person and down came everything. Businesses closed down, labor was thrown out of work, people were hungry, and great tribulations were in the land."
• "Koyle also described this food shortage that had been shown to him in dreams. Grain would grow up as though it would produce a fine crop--but something caused it to shrivel up and become a valueless harvest. Famine would occur all over the world--not only because of crop failures, but because of the troubles and chaos caused by the shutdown of manufacturing and transportation."
• "Bishop Koyle said that Wall Street would have a major drop sometime before the total failure and that the Government would step in to help save it." [While there have been several instances when the Federal government stepped in, the best example is the most recent in the recession of 2007-8 with all the government bailouts.]
• "Associated with this time of distress and one of the principal things that would compound it beyond endurance for many, was a four year drought, attended by great crop failures and famine, which would require from two to three years for recovery, depending upon where one lived. There would be seven distressful years filled and compounded with drought, plague, famine, warfare, and other divine judgments that would sweep the wicked from off the face of the earth in preparation of the Lord's second coming. He had a favorite expression to characterize these events when he would say: 'A setting-in-order will take place, and the Church, the State and the Nation will be brought up a standin' to judgment like a wild colt to a snubin' post.' Yes, there would be a setting-in-order develop right along the line to prepare the whole earth for the coming of Christ. It was like going down into a deep valley that would take 3 1/2 years to go down into, and another 3 1/2 years to climb out again into a new and wonderful world."
• "He always described this series of drought years and crop shortages as follows: The first year would not be felt very much; but the second year would be worse with less crops; and the third year would also produce very poor crops; and in the fourth year there would be no crops at all."
• "In the fourth year he saw the grain come up around here like it was going to make into a bumper crop, and then something made it all wither and die like a blight or a terrific heat had taken it, leaving the people without harvest and in famine. And there was famine all over the country, not only because of these crop shortages, but because of the great troubles that had come causing manufacturing and transportation to cease. In fact, he saw that, although we had plenty of gold available, try as we would everywhere, we could buy no wheat with it."
• "Further, that in the fifth year, there would be plenty of moisture again but there would still be a shortage of food in the land because of the lack of seed to plant, --most of the seed having been eaten for food. And that only after the harvest of the sixth year, and in some places not until after the harvest of the seventh year, would crop production revert to abundance."
• "Some have quoted Bishop Koyle as describing the progress of the drought years about as follows: The first year,--about a seventy-five percent crop; the second year,--about a fifty percent crop; the third year,--about a twenty-five percent crop; the fourth year, no crops at all."
• "He pointed out that we should secure our wheat from the first and second years, because that raised in the third year would not be fit for human consumption because of its very poor quality; and in the fourth year there was no grain to be purchased at any price."
• "Bishop Koyle did not say how many, if any, winters there would be between ‘the' heavy winter and the mild winter which would immediately precede the beginning of the four-year-famine that was to come."
• "The messenger [Moroni] explained that there would be a winter of heavy snow and big snow drifts after which there would be a mild open winter, but whether that winter was to follow immediately or whether some other winters would be in between, he never explained."
• "However, immediately following the mild open winter, there would be a hot, dry summer. The crops would come up in the spring, and there would be considerable moisture, and the crops would be glorious (that is the word Bishop used to use.) He saw the wheat would grow up and head out beautifully, and the irrigated wheat would mature, but the dry land wheat would not have enough moisture to fill out. By harvest time the heads would curl over in a sort of crescent shape. . . . He was told by the messenger that this condition would bring about a shortage of food during the first year of harvest."
• "Following the trouble in Utah and other Rocky Mountain States, the next several years were filled with record-breaking disasters throughout this Nation and the World. There were hurricanes of furious destruction, great rivers swelled to fantastic heights and many places were drastically ruined by the flood. There were tornadoes, ice storms, ‘unbelievable' snow depths, and many more tragedies. During the summers, there were record-breaking heat waves causing many deaths. There were devastating earthquakes in California and throughout the world. There were fatal volcanic eruptions throughout the world, including in the United States." 

It's kind of difficult to work out if there is a specific order because, like often happens, there was never a timeline or sequence of events given for all the various events he saw.

I've attempted a sequence of events.

• Harsh, heavy winter, possibly with record breaking snow and high drifts.
• Possibly a water-logged spring, although this most likely happens after the period of famine begins or in the spring before it starts.
• Economic crash/depression begins
• Mild "open" winter
• The next spring could be the water-logged one, with lots of flooding throughout the state.
• Hot, dry summer - this is apparently the first summer of the famine. Irrigated crops will do fine, but those reliant on rain will have about a 25% reduction.
• This first year is when food storage really needs to be increased.
• Another hard winter may happen, followed by a water-logged spring.
• The second summer will also likely be hot and dry. Again, irrigated crops should do okay, but those dry land crops (reliant on rain) will be reduced by around 50%.
• This fall will be the last real opportunity to store up for the next couple of years, the final two of the famine (and to get extra seed in the year after).
• If the previous winter and spring were not hard and water-logged, respectively, then it will likely occur during this winter and spring, going into the third year of the famine.
• The third season (summer into fall) of the famine will see dry-land crop reductions by 75%. No extra food will be available, and the effects of the famine will be seen.
• The fourth summer crops will look like they are going to produce, but they won't. This will be the hardest year.
• The next year will see the ability of crops to grow, but a lack of seed will restrict how much is able to be grown. While technically this would be the fifth summer of the famine, the actual famine will be on its way out.

As my own addition, I expect by the fifth and sixth year things will begin to be looking more positive economically as well.

It is my opinion that this will be the point, either the spring of the sixth year or the following spring, when the invitation to gather will take place. It will be a great trial of faith for members to heed the invitation to gather when conditions, economically and agriculturally, appear to really be improving. Having just passed through several years of famine--and most likely other natural disasters--many members will think the worst is over and they can look forward to some good, prosperous years. Many may even see the Church leaders as becoming cultish, extremely out-of-touch, and blame those leaders for failing to warn the members about the famine (and other disasters).

One of John Koyle's prophesies kind of matches what I think will most likely happen should an invitation to gather happens at that time:

"In the end there will be a great apostasy in the Church. A rift in leadership will cause many members to leave. Something will happen to make members congregate in and around the churches, and at various other locations to discuss and ponder the great disturbing changes occurring. This will mark the commencement of the time of problems for the Church, as well as the time of apostasy."

I think in the months following there will be great apostasy throughout the Church. Most of the more faithful (which really won't be very many) will have left and gathered in the initial places of refuge. Disgruntled members will complain more loudly about the Church leadership, and more people will probably side with them. As plagues enter the picture, most likely over the following few months, there will be more complaints about the leaders failing to warn the people. Additional natural disasters will fan the flames of disagreement and anger.

It would not surprise me if, near the harvest time of what looks like very bountiful crops, a massive and unprecedented hailstorm sweeps across the nation and destroys the crops before they have fully ripened. It will be another event the unrighteous members will blame on Church leadership, claiming the leaders have no ability to receive revelation, nor can they direct the Church and lead members to safety. They will, again, state that if the leadership was truly inspired they would have warned the members of the coming disasters.

By the time the really big earthquake strikes destruction throughout the Wasatch Front, there will be few, if any, truly righteous and faithful saints left in the valleys. Those remaining behind will likely be there because the Spirit directed them to stay or they received a calling or invitation to remain behind. They will be trusting in the Lord, and will likely remain behind to help others escape. People like Spencer, from Visions of Glory, will probably be among those whose calling was not to immediately gather with the saints.

The question is, when might the famine start?

Personally, I think it may begin as early as next summer (2018), but I think 2019 may be more likely. I would not classify this past winter (2016-17) as being "heavy" or "harsh." There was a lot of snow, but it was more like a normal winter. While the prophesies identify a heavy, harsh winter followed by a mild, "open" winter there is no definitive statement on whether these would occur consecutively, or if there would be other winters between them. Personally, I think they will happen consecutively so those who are watching can identify the signs.

If the famine started in 2018, and the gathering occurs in 2024, then there would be a full year of a good harvest (the last bad year of famine would be 2021, with 2022 being a hard year due to a lack of seed, and 2023 would be a good harvest year), which could be beneficial to boost and replace food storage used during the previous years. But, if it starts in 2018, and an economic crash is to happen before the famine starts, then we may see that crash happening this fall (2017). The crash could still happen in 2018, which would be before the real bad part of the famine happens.

If it starts in 2019, then the four years would be completed in 2022, and that would leave 2023 as an improving year, and 2024 have the potential to be a very good harvest. We might expect the economic crash/depression to begin late 2018, or as late as 2019. Personally, I think a crash is more likely to be orchestrated to happen before the midterm elections in 2018, if it can be delayed that long. Such a crash, if it happens with a short time of the election, a strong economic downturn will be more likely to sway voters to vote Democrat.

While the famine may start in 2020, I'm of the opinion that I think the great gathering invitation will happen by 2024 (or sooner), and I think the famine will be completed before that invitation happens.

Of course, this is all under the assumption that a famine will occur.

And, while I think there will be a severe economic downturn, possibly a depression, I think things will be looking better economically by the end of 2023 and going into the spring of 2024.

I've already kind of mentioned this, but we all need to have our faith tried. Which is more of a trial, being invited to gather when economic conditions are good or bad? For most, if things are bad, or looking bad, they may be more willing to leave and gather at some camp environment. If the economy is good, or improving, and there is no threat of anything bad about to happen, then it would be very difficult for most members to want to leave everything in order to gather in some remote, roughing-it type camp setting for an indeterminate amount of time, and leaving their comforts behind. Most will think they will just leave when things start getting bad.

And, yet we will all need to be tried. The saints are not exempted, and an invitation to gather will not happen so the saints can avoid all of the trials, even though many would probably prefer this.

I believe most will experience to some degree the various trials and tribulations which are coming. However, I, as I've mentioned in other posts, believe it is highly likely that the Lord will, through his priesthood channels, invite his faithful saints to gather in order to protect and save them from the worst of the coming tribulations.

Until that time of gathering, the saints will exposed to the same trials, tribulations, and testing as others, including a possible coming famine.