In Times of Famine, A Believer's Guide to Overcoming This Recession, Yea Depression

By Bernard McCain, Sr

In Times of Famine, A Believer's Guide to Overcoming This Recession, Yea Depression is Bernard McCain's 2nd ebook that was inspired while he was in Afghanistan during the war on terror. While there, he was inspired about the natural comparison of the import of wells during dry seasons or famine to the spiritual famines revealed in our lives. It is a book that provides a biblical guide to helping everyone to overcome these economical, recessionary times. When everyone is looking for answers to their financial distress,this book brings a timely answer from the holy Scriptures.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bernard McCain, Sr
• Release date: Jul 24, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476311456

Bernard McCain, Sr

Bernard Marvin McCain, Sr. is an international, inspirational speaker and author of 5 inspirational books. EVE WAS FRAMED, RESTORING THE PLUMBLINE OF TRUTH is Bernard's first ebook. He plans to ebook publish EL SHADDAI, THE MANY BREASTED ONE; IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD (AS WE KNOW IT); THE ASCENSION, A BIBLICAL STUDY OF ASCENDED MASTERS; and IN TIMES OF FAMINE, A BELIEVER'S GUIDE TO OVERCOMING THIS RECESSION, YEA, DEPRESSION. Mr. McCain is developing a blog page to answer reader's questions and comments. Look for it on Smashwords.com.

Book preview

IN

TIMES OF

FAMINE

The Believer’s Guide

In Overcoming This

Recession; Yea,

Depression

Written By: Bernard McCain

Date: August 31, 2009

All rights Reserved

Appreciation

To my mother, Billie Ann McCain, who has been my ‘life intercessor’.

She has allowed me to witness what a framed woman

without knowledge has to endure. Thanks Mom!

To my deceased father, Isaiah McCain, who still inspires me daily

from the Heaven, to study the Word of God, to show myself approved,

a workman that needs not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word

of truth.

To all of those who serve in the Arms Services and risk

their lives to keep us safe. I escaped being blown up by an

IED twice, during the scribing of this manuscript, in Afghanistan. So, I

know the threat of violence they face every day.

Chapter 1

The Good Times

Gas Prices Down

Jobless Rate at Its Lowest

A Bull Market

Buy Bigger and Better

Don’t Clog Up the System, Use Your Credit Card

Affordable Low-Interest Loans

Pay No Interest for Two Years

Go On, Buy It. You Deserve It

Creative Financing

Buy now, pay later

These were either the headlines or what you heard throughout the nineties and early two thousand, from the secular world. Just turn on the TV or log into the internet or read the news paper; you could not get away from it.

We were living large. Everyone had to have a bigger house and another car. Not just any car, but the one that we always wanted but could not afford before. You know the one; no down payment, 60-month loan instead of 48 to keep the payments down.

So, you go to your church for some solace and a word from God. And what do you hear from the pulpit?

Name It, and Claim It

God Is Going to Bless You Real Good

2008, the Year of New Beginnings for You

Prosperity is Yours

Your Miracle is On Its Way

Come Get Your Blessing, Right Now

Come On, Pull Down Your Blessing

While these were wonderful, emotional messages and stirring teachings, they did nothing to prepare us for the Recession, yea Depression, we find ourselves in. They gave us the what, but not the how. They gave us a false sense of hope without the prophetic revelation needed to prepare us for the Famine of our generation.

If we had more saints coming to prayer and intercessory prayer meetings, I believe more of us would have seen the handwriting on the wall. We would have discerned and believed the warning signs. But no, the ratio of prayer-meeting saints to Sunday-go-to-meeting Christians remains at about 1 to 20.

Our church leaders only echoed what this world system was preaching. But they apparently forgot who the god of this world was system, Satan.

Satan is the prince of the power of the air or atmosphere. He is THE master in creating the right mood, the right climate, the perfect atmosphere to stir our emotions and intellect towards the way of stealing, killing, and destruction. The next time you enter any successful enterprise; notice the ambiance; the music, the décor, the colors, the atmosphere; all of this, to put you in the mood to ‘buy’. Smart entrepreneurs pay a lot of money to professional mood makers to target the unsuspecting consumer. These professional mood makers unknowingly get their abilities from the master of illusion himself, Satan.

Our small churches have become mega churches by allowing these same secular masters of the atmosphere to come into their churches and change every iota of what is godly and spiritual to what stirs the emotions and the intellect. The tantalizing of the flesh brings a powerful ‘rush’!

Our adversary cunningly uses the greed, ego, and pride of our church leaders to lead us up another way other than the way of the Good Shepherd. Without even knowing it, our spiritual leaders become Satan’s thieves who come to steal, kill, and destroy. If the blind lead the blind, they both fall in the ditch.

You say, you are not blind, and your pastor of bishop is not blind? Well, look around you dear heart, are you living the life that they said you would be living, or is what you see around you seem lick a ditch?

A ditch is a place where you get stuck. It is not the road; it is the side of the road. It is a position of helplessness. The ditch is a location of being under looking up. It is a condition of sinking in, not quick, but slow sand. You have fallen and you can’t get up. You cannot meet your ever-increasing house note. Your lights are due to be turned off. You are screening your calls to escape the bill collectors. You pass the restaurant you love because of the service and ambiance to settle for McDonald’s, Burger King, or Wendy’s.

If any of this sounds like your life, lately; then you are in a ditch. You got there by following the god of this world’s message.

I even got caught up in the rhetoric being propagated in and outside of the Church world. I just had to have that expensive sports car. I went to the car dealership to purchase a modest, inexpensive used, but reliable vehicle. But, the salesman saw me peering at that brand new 2007 Mazda 06. He did not give me the key to the used car to test drive. He smelt the greed and mid-life crises aura oozing from me. He told me that I qualified for the new Mazda based on my salary. And there we were, cruising down the highway in this new expensive car. I even told him that I wanted the payments around $450.00. Before the deal was finally sealed, I was going to be paying $600.00 a month; way over my budget. But, it looked so fine, and felt so good. I had to have it.

The next Sunday you know I had to park my blessing right in front of the Church entrance so everyone could see the prosperity the preachers were talking about; nothing but pride. Less than six months later the repo truck was backing up to my blessing from God and taking it away, because I had to leave my job.

It is going to take the revelation of God for this hour, to pull you out of this ditch, seems like the whole world has fallen into.

Where were the watchmen on the walls? Where were the spiritual sentries posted to warn the Church? I’ll tell you where they were; they were too busy working two jobs to keep up with the messages of the preachers and the lifestyle of the ‘Jones’.

We all need to repent for losing our way; for allowing our greed to blind us. We need to ask God to forgive us for following the world’s ways and not our Lord’s way. We must ask God to forgive us for misrepresenting Him by saying, ‘God led me to buy that…’

We need to repent and turn from our wicked ways. For then will our God hear from heaven and forgive us of our sins and heal our land, for we are in a famine, and only the Truth of God will lead us out of it.

Yes, we can blame it on; the mortgage companies, banks, car dealerships, our employers for laying us off, or even President George Bush. But God does not look to the world for the healing of the land. God looks to those called by His name.

It is we that will be the key to the world’s recovery from this economic crisis. Will you be one of the One that will unite to change the course of human history? Or will you become or remain a statistic on the daily news?

It is not enough to turn from our wicked ways. We must do a one-hundred-and-eighty-degree about-face and turn to the revelation of God being manifested in this crucial time.

He and she that has an ear, let them hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church.

Journal Notes

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Chapter 2

The Bad Times

And there was a famine in the land… Genesis 26: 1a

Famine is defined as a significant lack of food, or a situation in which large numbers of people have little or no food, and many of them die, or starvation brought on usually by a lack of rain, and acute food shortages characterized by large-scale loss of life, social disruption, and economic chaos. Pick the definition that you either find yourself in, someone else in that you know, or where we will be world-wide in the not too distant future. Already, in some parts of the world, famine is a daily reality to millions. It is just beginning to hit many of the industrialized countries.

Almost since the beginning of time here on earth, there have been famines. Let us go back into our history and see what we can discover from the many known famines witnessed by mankind:

The famine, during father Abraham’s generation (Genesis 26: 1)

The famine during Isaac’s day (Genesis 26)

The 5th Century BC famine; the famine in Rome in 440BC

The 2nd Century AD famine

The famine of the 5th Century AD; between 400 and 800 AD, the population of the city of Rome fell by over 90%, mainly because of famine and plague.

The 7th Century AD famine; in 639 AD the famine in Arabia during the Caliphate of Umir ibn al-Khattab and the famine of 650 AD throughout India

The 8th Century AD famine, in the 750’s in Spain

From 800-1000 AD, severe drought killed millions of Maya people with famine and thirst and initiated a cascade of internal collapses