The Perfect Fertilizer

All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full;
Ecclesiastes 1:7

“Been reading about world famine and the depletion of the soil” said Glen. None of us had heard Glen speak on this subject and he took us by surprise to say the least.

Joy was the first to express the feelings of us all, “That’s kind of off your usual field of inquiry, isn’t it, Glen?”

“I hope not” he replied, “you know the Word of God touches on every aspect of human life in one way or another. If a person takes too narrow a view they are going to miss a lot, in the Bible, and in life too. I hope that doesn’t apply to me. I try to think about a lot of things. A teacher, any Christian, who gets too narrow, starts trying to interpret everything from his limited field of knowledge.”

“What do they know of England, that only England know?” said Sue. She could come up with the most amazing quotations.

“Sir Walter Scott, I believe” said Gary.

“Rudyard Kipling” said Sue, with finality.

“Well, Kipling was right on” said Glen, “He wasn’t Poet Laureate for nothing. It is a good thought. Who hasn’t taken a trip to some place really different from where they are used to living, their hometown, and come to realize just what their home was really like?”

Joy had a puzzled expression, “I thought you were talking about soil depletion and world famine” she said.

“Right you are, Joy” said Glen, “but here’s how I got to thinking about the subject. I have been reading interpretations of scripture, specifically prophecy, dealing with end times, and of course famine comes up a lot of times. Some people believe that this famine will be the result of soil depletion and lack of fertilization to correct it. The Bible never says this is the reason, but that doesn’t stop these people from interpreting scripture from this point of view. Some of them even project the disappearing stores of fertilizer compared to the rapidly increasing world population and say that Biblical famines can’t be that far away.”

“Without giving my age away,” said Joy, “ I can remember when the population of the United States was under 200 million, and now, it is over 300 million. But I don’t see a Biblical connection.”

“Neither do I” said Glen, “but some people think they do. They try to make the Bible fit the news, instead of the other way around.”

Gary couldn’t wait to jump into the conversation. “I think I know of a connection, at least one that people try to make,” he said. “Some people say that Israel has one of the world’s great supplies of potash. They say, when fertilizer runs out potash will be more valuable than oil.”

“How ironic” said Sue. “Israel will have something valuable, like the Arabs do now.”

Joy remembered a quotation from Golda Meir, once the head of Israel’s government. “She said she always wondered why God never gave Israel any oil.”

“Again” said Glen, “these people believe that Israel’s Dead Sea potash deposits will be an attraction for their enemies and be one of the reasons that they will attack them”.

“As in Ezekiel chapter 38?" said Gary.

“Exactly” said Glen, “You must be reading the same books I am.”

“Watching them on TV” said Gary.

“Oh, sure" said Glen,”but in books or on TV these guys try to apply Ezekiel 38 to everything in that part of the world. Someone said that if they dropped their Bibles, they would fall open at Ezekiel 38.”

“It sure can’t happen now, said Gary. “Ezekiel says the attack will come when Israel is dwelling in peace and safety.”

“And in unwalled villages” said Joy, "and they have a huge wall under construction in Jerusalem right now.”

Glen was visibly pleased with both Gary and Joy. Not only were they familiar with this part of Ezekiel, they were applying their knowledge in a logical manner.

“There is a whole crowd of these people” said Glen, "that try to hurry up the coming invasion of Gog in this part of the Bible. Guess they feel that if they say the invasion of Israel is coming any day now, that there will be more orders for their videos."

“Remember when they said that Gog was the Soviet Union?” asked Joy.

“I remember” said Glen. “Now there is no Soviet Union, but they still predict that it will be Russia.” Even Russia is a complex place. I wish people wouldn’t try to force prophecy to happen. It isn’t given so we can prophecy, but so events can be identified when they occur.”

“So when do you think Gog will invade Israel?” said Joy.

“I suggest people get ahold of Things to Come by Dwight Pentecost” said Glen. “He has the best treatment of the invasion of Gog I have ever read.

“We don’t carry it any more” said Joy sadly, “It’s out of print.”

“I bought a lot of them from you, when they were in print” said Glen.

“It’s best to look at a good overview, even if only so you can discuss it with people who have differing views” said Glen. “Some people believe we are looking at Armageddon, when Jesus returns to the earth to rescue Israel. Other people believe it is the Final Rebellion of Revelation chapter 20. These two events are a thousand years apart, one befoe the millennium and one at the end. These people have good arguments too and we shouldn’t just dismiss them without hearing them out. And the wonderful thing is, that as we search out the evidence that each view claims, we learn so much about the Bible. You can’t learn anything sitting on a couch and watching a guy on TV. You have to search for yourself.”

“What about the fertilizer?” said Joy. “Will it be the reason for the invasion?”

“It may be perceived to be the reason” said Glen, “but there is a perfect fertilizer available all over three fourths of the surface of the earth. A professor from the University of Cincinnati found that all you need to grow plants, every element and in the right proportions, is in sea water. He had tank car loads of seawater brought to him from all over the globe. He diluted it and grew perfect plants. Then he moved to Florida and grew tomatoes commercially. Later he learned that solid sea salt works just as well and started a whole industry selling this evaporated salt. He wrote a book about it called Sea Energy Agriculture by Murray Maynard. All people may not follow his example, but some wise ones are doing it already."

“You know” said Sue. “When you first mentioned a perfect fertilizer, I thought you meant televangelists.”

“Well, Sue” said Glen. “That may not be perfect fertilizer, but it is very abundant.”