| Christian Life and Doctrine | April 1952 |
The Earth Shall Yield Her Increase
THE want of sufficient food has been a distressing problem for centuries. Authorities estimate that two-thirds of the earth’s population are chronically undernourished. This year millions will actually die of starvation and countless other millions will die from diseases which stem from malnutrition. Making the situation even more alarming is the fact that earth’s population, at the present rate of increase, will double in the next seventy years.
When the kingdom of God is established, the food problem will involve more than those currently alive. Added to these will be the billions who have been asleep in death. The Scriptures are quite clear in teaching that of all who have ever lived only a few, comparatively, will have a heavenly inheritance with the Lord and enjoy a spiritual existence. By far the majority of mankind will be awakened during the millennial reign of Christ and his church, and be given an opportunity to return to that state of perfection which was enjoyed by Adam prior to his disobedience. Their needs will be those things required by any human being, and prominent among these will be food. Just how can sufficient nourishment be provided for all mankind?
The urgent need for food has been an underlying cause of many wars. Italy’s war upon Ethiopia was for expansion, and among her incentives was the need for more food. When Hitler began greedily to appraise the strength and possessions of his neighbors, he was thinking not only of seaports, oil, and minerals, but also of his hungry people. Russia long has looked longingly towards the Ukraine and its abundant grain harvests, prepared to fight to the death any who would dare try to annex it. Japan’s overt act of war at Pearl Harbor was partially prompted by a growing uneasiness concerning her increasing population and limited land area. How can we be assured that this plaguing problem of the past will not continue with us?
Some think that Western science and technology can solve the food problem immediately before us. Without question, mechanized farming on the great continents of Asia and Africa would immeasurably increase the world’s pantry. Since 1837, when John Deere invented the steel plow, there has been a steady flow of inventions to ease the farmer’s burden. About the turn of the twentieth century, John Froelich attached a cumbersome one cylinder gasoline engine to farm machinery and thus man began to replace muscle with gasoline for agricultural power. The changeover was gradual, for as late as 1918 work animals ate up all the food produced on 90,000,000 acres of good farmland. Now power farm machinery is widely used in this country, and the results are outstanding. In Steel Horizons we read:
“Before mechanization, a good man, with cradle scythe and flail, could cut, thresh, and clean a third of an acre of wheat in ten or twelve hours of solid hard work. … Now his great great grandson … harvests up to 50 acres between breakfast and supper. … Corn planting is another good example. Using his hoe and a sack of seed corn a farmer could plant 250 hills an hour. His modern descendant … checkplants more than 500 hills a minute, the work of one hundred twenty men with hoes.”
In addition, there is the prospect of adding to our tillable land great tracts which are now worthless. Dams and deep wells could supply the water to make gardens of parched lands. Even now bold plans are in the making to tunnel mountains and dam rivers so that water can be diverted from the moist Northwest section of the United States to the arid Southwest area of our country. Recently, Dr. Conant of Harvard, speaking before a convention of chemists, suggested that one of the great accomplishments of this country may be the harnessing of Solar power. This abundant source of power, said he, would make practicable the converting of salt water to fresh water and eliminate the loss of land now lying waste for need of moisture. We also know that scientific feeding of soil could cause land, now impoverished, to yield luxuriant crops.
Even with maximum yield and unprecedented land reclamation, some wonder if all could be fed. However, as man laudably wrestles with this problem, there are indications in the earth that God is doing something. It appears that he has taken steps to remove from “cold storage” vast quantities of land which ultimately will be required to provide for man’s sustenance and habitation. In a recent issue of Time magazine, in an article under the caption, “Retreat of Cold,” facts are cited to show that the wall of cold caused by the Polar Ice Cap is gradually retreating, permitting crops to grow on hitherto barren land.
“The time may come when cotton will be grown in the state of New York and corn far north in Ontario. … Dr. George H.T. Kimble, British-born director of the American Geographical Society told … that the climate of the North Atlantic region is growing unmistakably warmer. … Along the bleak natural boundary between Canada’s forests and the barren Arctic, the trees are marching northward. Saplings of tamarack, spruce, and birch are appearing where none grew before. … In eastern Canada, cereals can be grown 100 miles farther north than ever before. … Ontario is already experimenting with cotton. … In Russia the southern limit of permafrost (permanently frozen ground) is receding northward up to 100 yards a year. Many Norwegian slopes are raising barley where only grass grew before. Even the fish of the North Atlantic are taking advantage of the change. The cod, which are very sensitive to temperature changes, have migrated northward some 500 miles since 1920.”
These facts make one ask, how far north will the cold recede? Will the same action take place in the south polar regions? We expect this thawing out to continue until both extremes are entirely cleared of ice and the climate at the poles, yes, everywhere in the earth, will be pleasantly mild and suitable for man’s habitation.
This expectation is not merely wishful thinking nor based alone upon the fact of the slow receding of cold in the polar region. Once before, the land under the ice caps was suitable for vegetation. Why not again? Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd, the explorer, brought back from the South Pole region samples of tropical plants found under the ice. And we know that the same warm climate which could grow such tropical flora in the Antarctic circle also was present in the Arctic circle.
There have been found in Siberia complete mastodons embedded in ice, and, in the same general area, were discovered tons of elephant tusks. Although differing somewhat from our present day elephant, these extinct mastodons, in order to live, required the same warm climate and lush vegetable growth. And, of great interest, is the fact that these animals, found embedded in ice, had undigested food in their stomachs and unmasticated grass in their mouths.
This shows that the change of temperature at the poles was virtually instantaneous, causing the beasts to be overtaken in a crushing fall of snow while feeding. These facts support a hypothesis of creation called the “Canopy Theory” suggested by Prof. Isaac Vail. See Vol. VI, The New Creation, p. 23. It has been observed that the earth has a crust composed of various layers, all of which give evidence of having been soft or moist. Beneath are the basic rocks which indicate clearly they were once hot and molten; indeed, it is logically assumed that if possible to probe deep enough, we would find the center of earth still molten.
Prof. Vail reasoned that once these basic, igneous rocks were at a white heat and so, all ‘being combustible elements such as water and minerals, were driven off from the mass in gaseous form. These gases enveloped the earth, and the spinning earth would gradually set in motion these vapors. This motion would cause the mists to form in rings of various density over the equator. Hence in the dim past our earth probably resembled the planet Saturn with its “rings.”
As the basic molten rock cooled the density of the gaseous rings would change, and those closest to earth would precipitate. No doubt these would fall at the poles, where repelling centrifugal force would be the least, and wash down toward the equator, laying stratum after stratum of earth’s “crust.”
The “Valian” or “Canopy Theory” assumes that the last of these rings was pure water and that it did not fall until after creation—more specifically at the Flood. This would mean that at the time of Adam’s creation and until the Flood, the entire earth’s climate was pleasantly uniform. The cloud vapor of water enveloped the planet and no direct rays of the sun pierced through to earth. Instead, the sun’s rays were diffused, causing the climate at the poles to vary but slightly from that at the equator.
Hence tropical plants, such as Rear Admiral Byrd found, could grow in the Antarctic zone, and the Arctic circle had the warm climate to produce lush grass for the mastodons’ food. And, in corroboration of the Bible, this would also indicate that no rain fell until the Deluge—the vegetation of earth was watered by a mist rising from the earth.—Gen. 2:5,6
When the watery veil broke, centrifugal force at the equator would cause the main body to strike at the poles. This would mean an almost instantaneous change from hothouse temperature to bitter cold at the poles and permit the sun to beat openly and hot upon the equatorial or tropical zone. It explains with logic how animals in the polar regions, while still feeding, could be trapped in an icy grave.
After the Flood, God made a covenant with Noah that never again would all flesh be cut off by waters of a flood; and, as a confirmation of this he set his bow “in the cloud.” (Gen. 9:11-13) In other words, Noah saw the first rainbow. In harmony with the Canopy Theory, this becomes most logical. Prior to this, the watery vapors encased the earth and the direct rays of the sun could not penetrate, hence there could be no bow in the sky. Rainbows are formed by the mists of airborne water diffusing the direct rays of the sun, and breaking up the light into its component colors. When the water vapor is dense, no such phenomenon is possible, hence we only see such a glorious spectacle after the storm has subsided and the sun breaks through to pierce the thin mist of moisture still in suspension. How definite a reminder, then, is each rainbow, that never again can a watery veil break upon the earth in such cataclysmic fury.
We are again impressed with the fact that God knew the end from the beginning, and introduced human life upon the earth at the correct point in time prior to the Flood. He foresaw man’s rapid descent into evil and the need for the destruction of the first world—“the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished.” (II Peter 3:6) We note again that his precise power has begun to manifest itself in releasing from “cold storage” the vast land areas of the poles for man’s habitation. But what about this threat of a “population explosion”?
Statisticians have said that in seventy years our population will double. Optimistic scientists doubt that we could feed earth’s billions seventy years hence even with the maximum yield of a fertile earth. God must have some provision for halting the propagation of man. Isaiah 45: 18 reads, “For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited.”
This is in harmony with the Genesis account of creation which reveals that God commanded our first parents to fill the earth and to subdue it. (Gen. 1:28) The implication is that when a sufficient number has been born to fulfill this divine purpose, God will, in his own way, halt the procreation process. Surely the One who gave his human creatures the ability to reproduce his own species will have no difficulty in withdrawing that gift when his due time comes to do so.
However, the fact that human wisdom now discerns that the population problem could become serious in such a comparatively short time is strong evidence that a fundamental change of dispensation is very near, a change which will require divine intervention in the affairs of men to call a halt on the process of procreation which was instituted by divine authority and power more than six thousand years ago. And by means of this same intervention—to be accomplished by the agencies of Christ’s kingdom—the dead will be restored to life, and all will be given an opportunity through the acceptance of the Redeemer and obedience to the laws of Messiah’s kingdom, to live forever.
Yes, God’s glorious plan of the ages answers all questions, solves all problems, and provides radiant hope for all mankind. As we consider his marvelous plan our reactions are much like those stated by Paul: “Oh the depth of the wealth of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How inscrutable his judgments, how trackless his footsteps! Who hath known the mind of the Lord or shared his counsels? Who has first given God anything, and thus earned a recompense? For all proceeds from him, and exists by him and for him. To him be glory forever!”—Rom. 11:33-36, Weymouth