The Senior Pastor of the Church of 7th day Pentecostal assembly’s church at Esereso in the Ashanti region Elder Enoch Ofori Jnr., has charged the Agric Ministry of Ghana to ban all Genetic Modifications seeds from entering the country and implement measures to promote the growing of the natural food seeds by farmers.
He said, this will help boost the country’s economic and financial base, as well as broadening our Agric sector through planting of local seeds in the country.
According to him, the Genetic Modifications seeds which have been generally accepted and use in the country has a long term effects on the countries economy, whiles it rather strengthen countries elsewhere bringing these seeds.
Genetically Modification is an artificial method of growing foods against the uses of natural seeds which indirectly affects our health status as individuals and a country as a whole.
The GM which is acquired through scientific combination of two genes of a fruit, vegetables and any other natural foods seeds, to give attractive look for consumption. This reduces the normal maturity period of that natural product.
The respected man of God gave this advice when delivering a sermon on a theme; “A Culture of Death has Taken Hold of the World (Part Two)” in Kumasi.
According to him, the uncounted death occurring in the country coupled with unusual diseases are not because of our numerous sins only, but rather the foods we eat of days largely contribute to this factor. He said, medical doctors have been consistently cautioning the country against kinds of food we eat of days, but all attentions are base on the chemicals used in planting and spraying on the plants alone.
He said that, “the chemicals is part though, but the GM methods of producing these seeds, and the use of animals semens in generating other kinds of animal’s production, is a great contributing factor that cannot be left out”. He urged the agric ministry to put its foot down to cease the importations of such products bringing and planting in the country.
He said, not only will our local farmers be ripped off by the multinational companies but also the health of Ghanaian consumers will be greatly compromised.
”So our Honourable Members of Parliament please investigate the issue thoroughly and debate it dispassionately to decide on what is good for Ghana in particular and Africa in general”. He advised.
“To our hardworking farmers, please stick to your God-given traditional seed varieties to secure your economic future and the health of the nation. Don’t compromise; don’t yield to pressure. Fear God and do what is right.
Death is all around us in numerous subtle ways. But we can break the culture of death when we live “upright”. He added.
We present to readers the part two message from Elder Enoch on GM food.
Sermon By Elder Enoch Ofori Jnr (Senior Pastor) Title: A Culture of Death has Taken Hold of the World {part one} The Culture of Death is Self-imposed
The Crusade against Life
Life is being sucked out of the earth slowly, unconsciously and invisibly. We are being poisoned and killed slowly. A deadly ideology is slowly driving the world to its early grave. Indeed, if ‘the grave diggers’ had their way, it would be ideal if most of the world’s ‘wretched class’ were to die off a bit faster!
The divine command in Genesis 1 repeated in Genesis 9 is giving some people sleepless nights:
And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth (Gen 1:28).
1 And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.
2 And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered (Gen 9:1).
The problem is the continual peopling of the earth in ever growing numbers as expressed in the instruction: “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish”. The fear is that if somehow unchecked, the population of the earth will balloon to ‘unsustainable levels’ where resources will fall short in comparison with the hugely expanded population of the earth.
Yet the Creator didn’t say “multiply and replenish the earth” in a vacuum. He knew and knows man has needs; he has bread-and-butter issues to deal with. So He added, “and subdue [the earth]: and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth”. He gave man power over the resources of the earth.
But the experts say the resources of the earth are fast depleting, and so the solution is to depopulate the earth to a ‘manageable level’ where it will keep pace with available, but shrinking, resources!
And while we are at it culling the human family, some of the ‘experts’ seem to reason, why not make them pay for their own slow death?
Corporate greed is another powerful motivation. The destinies of nations are at stake; futures are at risk.
Etched into a huge stone monument standing somewhere on a farm in the US State of Georgia is a message for humanity that compulsively calls for drastic reduction in the size of the human population to keep it “in balance with nature”. The towering, somewhat nondescript monument, the originators of which are shrouded in mystery, is known as The Georgia Guide stones and on it are inscribed what some call the Ten Commandments of a proposed New World Order:
1. Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature.
2. Guide reproduction wisely – improving fitness and diversity.
3. Unite humanity with a living new language.
4. Rule passion – faith – tradition – and all things with tempered reason.
5. Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts.
6. Let all nations rule internally resolving external disputes in a world court.
7. Avoid petty laws and useless officials.
8. Balance personal rights with social duties.
9. Prize truth – beauty – love – seeking harmony with the infinite.
10. Be not a cancer on the earth – Leave room for nature – Leave room for nature.
Ominously, “limiting the population of the earth to 500 million will require the extermination of nine-tenths of the world’s people”. However, what some call the American Stonehenge is forward-looking; it “foreshadows … an International Criminal Court and a world government” (www.radioliberty.com/stones.htm).
It appears a dramatically depopulated earth is integral to the success of an envisioned New World Order or, as Mr. Michel Smiely of Stockholm, Sweden put it in his ‘666’masterpiece Project 666, “the creation of a Paradise on Earth”.
Several global statesmen have lent their support to the depopulation cause. Too many people are “a cancer on the earth”. It’s time to defuse “the population bomb”. The views expressed have ranged from calls for genocidal wars to mass deaths by subtle methods:
Jacques Cousteau UNESCO Courier 1991:
“In order to save the planet it would be necessary to kill 350,000 people per day.”
Bertrand Russell, the Impact Of Science On Society 1953
“I do not pretend that birth control is the only way in which population can be kept from increasing… War… has hitherto been disappointing in this respect, but perhaps bacteriological war may prove more effective. If a Black Death could be spread throughout the world once in every generation survivors could procreate freely without making the world too full….There are three ways of securing a society that shall be stable as regards population. The first is that of birth control, the second that of infanticide or really destructive wars, and the third that of general misery except for a powerful minority…”
Mikhail Gorbachev (former Soviet leader):
“We must speak more clearly about sexuality, contraception, about abortion, about values that control population, because the ecological crisis, in short, is the population crisis. Cut the population by 90% and there aren’t enough people left to do a great deal of ecological damage.”
David Rockefeller
“Either they [governments] do it our way, through nice clean methods or they will get the kind of mess that we have in El Salvador, or in Iran, or in Beirut. Population is a political problem. Once population is out of control it requires authoritarian government, even fascism, to reduce it. “The professionals,” said Ferguson, “aren’t interested in lowering population for humanitarian reasons. That sounds nice. We look at resources and environmental constraints. We look at our strategic needs, and we say that this country must lower its population -or else we will have trouble.
Ted Turner:
“A total population of 250-300 million people, a 95% decline from present levels, would be ideal,”
Margaret Sanger (founder of Planned Parenthood, funded by the Rockefellers) said in her proposed “The American Baby Code”, intended to become law:
“The most merciful thing that a family does to one of its infant members is to kill it.”
UN Biodiversity Assessment on Sustainable Human Population; US Senate September 9, 1994:
“A reasonable estimate for an industrialized world society at the present North American material standard of living would be one billion people. This must be implemented within 30-50 years, 2/3’s of the population must be cut.”
“The UN says property rights are not absolute and unchanging, but are there for the convenience of whatever government wants to do.” – Michael Coffman (Stephanie R. Pasco, “The Move to Depopulate the Earth”, Infowars.comAugust 27, 2009).
So how does GM food fit into the depopulation agenda?
Genetically modified food (GM food) has been a hot-button issue in Ghana of late. Most of us cared less about these newfangled genetically modified seeds until local activists raised alarm over a piece of legislation currently before the country’s parliament the passage of which, they fear, will “allowed takeover of Ghana’s seeds and broader food systems by transnational corporations” (Ali-Masmadi Jehu-Appiah and Christ Walker, “Ghana’s Battle for seed sovereignty”, New African magazine, December, 2014, p. 74). The proposed legislation is called the Plant Breeders Bill.
It sounds like a turf war between indigenous farmers and local activists on one side and multinational agribusiness on the other side. But what is it in it really for consumers? What are the health implications of eating GM food? And are the fears for the local farming industry justified?
Slow Death at the Table
The looks are impressive … succulent and inviting … and the accompanying promo is just as appetizing: improved varieties of GM food crops will solve world famine, reduce reliance on pesticides, give farmers higher yields and help cure the diseases of mankind. And they are hardy, pest-resistant and completely SAFE to eat!
But we just heard one side of the story. Other experts vehemently insist we just opened a can of worms with Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), claiming “GMOs have a shaky track record and have never been proven safe. And the test results that reveal the real dangers never see the light of day. When you eat them, you’re taking part in a global Franken-foods experiment” (Dr. Al Sears, How the Feds Set Frankenstein Free on the Farm Terrorizing Farmers, Making Us Sick, PDF p.11www.AlSearsMD.com).
Anyway, what is a GMO?
The American Academy of Environmental Medicine defines a genetically modified organism (GMO) as “the result of a laboratory process of taking genes from one species and inserting them into another in an attempt to obtain a desired trait or characteristic, hence they are also known as transgenic organisms. This process may be called either Genetic Engineering (GE) or Genetic Modification; they are one and the same”.
In order not to confuse traditional breeding methods like grafting and hybridization with genetic engineering, the article goes on to explain:
“Genetic engineering is completely different from traditional breeding and carries unique risks. In traditional breeding it is possible to mate a pig with another pig to get a new variety, but [it] is not possible to mate a pig with a potato or a mouse. Even when species that may seem to be closely related do succeed in breeding, the offspring are usually infertile—a horse, for example, can mate with a donkey, but the offspring (a mule) is sterile.
“With genetic engineering, scientists can breach species barriers set up by nature. For example, they have spliced fish genes into potatoes. The results are plants (or animals) with traits that would be virtually impossible to obtain with natural processes, such as crossbreeding or grafting.
“How is genetic engineering done?”
“In order to breach these natural barriers and make possible the introduction of DNA from a different species, genetic engineers have to find ways to force the DNA from one organism into another. These methods include:
• Using viruses or bacteria to “infect” animal or plant cells with the new DNA.
• Coating DNA onto tiny metal pellets, and firing it with a special gun into the cells.
• Injecting the new DNA into fertilized eggs with a very fine needle.
• Using electric shocks to create holes in the membrane covering sperm, and then forcing the new DNA into the sperm through these holes”.
“Breaching natural species barriers”!That is way too deep for comfort. Genetic scientists have intruded into the realm of the Creator to create new life forms across species. They have usurped His rights and powers as Creator to create distinctive plant and animal species each of which is to reproduce “after his kind”:
11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good (Gen. 1:11-12).
21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good(Gen 1:21).
24And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.
25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and everything that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good(Gen 1:24).
God who created the world in wisdom (Ps 104:24)made each animal and plant species and their various subgroups “after their kind” and upon evaluation found that “it was good”. But genetic engineering opposes this fundamental law of nature put in place by God and has invaded the province of the Creator, breaching the natural barriers He erected between the species.
The scope for the creation of all sorts of life forms to satisfy the fancy of scientists can only be imagined. With biotechnology allowing the introduction of genes from one species into another, “It’s now possible for plants to be engineered with genes taken from bacteria, viruses, insects, animals or even humans” (ibid. Emphasis mine). Here are some of the more “interesting” combinations genetic engineers have come up with:
• Cow genes turned pigskins into cowhides.
• Jellyfish genes lit up pig’s noses in the dark.
• Human genes were inserted into corn to produce spermicidal.
• Corn engineered with human genes (Dow).
• Sugarcane engineered with human genes (Hawaii Agriculture Research Center).
• Tobacco engineered with lettuce genes (University of Hawaii).
• Rice engineered with human genes (Applied Phytologics).
• Corn engineered with hepatitis virus genes (Prodigene) (ibid).
The floodgates have been opened, and nothing is sacred anymore. If not, how could man and rice combine at the genetic level? And how could a scientist think up the idea of a transgenic corn carrying genes of the hepatitis virus and then create it if not driven by the ideology of death?
The manipulation and distorting of nature using genetic engineering is now wholesale and seemingly unstoppable—and the results cannot be pretty.
Yet God does not stand aloof from His creation. He holds the ‘patent rights’ to all creation and indeed has ‘patented’ all His creation by His word:
10“… every beast of the forest is Mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.
11“I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine (Ps. 50:10-11).
By His rights as the Creator, God expressly forbids the mixing of species, such as crossbreeding, to avoid the corruption of His creation:
Lev. 19:19
Ye shall keep my statutes. Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind: thou shalt not sow thy field with mingled seed: neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woollen come upon thee.
Deut. 22:9
Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with divers seeds: lest the fruit of thy seed which thou hast sown, and the fruit of thy vineyard, be defiled.
The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge comments:
These practices might have been considered as altering the original constitution of God in creation; and this is the view which the Jews, and also Josephus and Philo, take of the subject.
And genetic engineering goes way beyond traditional breeding methods like hybridization, which the Creator forbids, to re-engineer plants and animals at the genetic level to give them characteristics completely foreign to their nature!
Now, when man tinkers with God’s creation this way, what are likely to be the consequences?
Last night during the presentation by our African Hebrew brothers from Free the Mind Movement, we saw the transgenic freaks of nature brought into being by biotechnology. We also saw the dire health implications GM foods engineered with genes from who knows where hold for consumers.
Citing the American Academy of Environmental Medicine, Dr. Al Sears points out that, GMOs have been linked to: “Infertility, Weakened immune system; Accelerated aging; Genetic problems with cholesterol, insulin control, cell signaling and protein formation; Changes in the liver, kidney, spleen and gastrointestinal system” (Dr. Al Sears, How the Feds Set Frankenstein Free on the Farm Terrorizing Farmers, Making Us Sick, PDF p.13 www.AlSearsMD.com).
A “weakened immune system” means a sickly world population which is easily overcome by diseases and infection. Meanwhile, we eat to cease child-bearing. Both lead to the same result: a decrease in world population over time. The GM food is a virtual contraceptive!
That’s why Africans in general and Ghana in particular need to be wary of GM foods, especially when it’s on record that many European countries have banned genetically modified food from entering their ports or being grown.
There’s an invisible hand behind the world systems and forces that have ganged up against the proliferation of (human) life on earth. His name is Death, and he’s the ruler of this world:
Heb. 2:14-15
14Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
15 And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
Eph. 2:1-2
1And you hath He quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
John 12:31-32
31Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.
32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me.
1Cor. 15:26
The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
Satan is death, the cause and instigator thereof. And his own end is decreed; his own death is predetermined (Rev. 20:14).
But for now, he’s the king of those who have rejected the truth of God, which is the way of life. And it’s he who has possessed the Euro-gentile scientists to develop the “terminator technology” of genetic engineering to produce sterile seeds and spread infertility among the human population.
Through his human agents in high places of business and government he’s on course to take control of the world’s food supply.
A global crisis of apocalyptic proportions is waiting to explode!
The Third and Fourth Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Big Business, and the Antichrist
It makes an ominous reading:
5 And when He had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.
7 And when He had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth (Rev. 6:5-8).
Who are these horsemen?
They follow the Antichrist, the first horseman riding a white horse (Rev. 6:2). They are in his entourage, and they are his instruments in his campaign of conquest!
The second horseman riding a red horse represents war, and he helps the Antichrist to topple hostile governments around the world in his rise to world power (see Rev. 13:4).
But for real power over people, to bring the whole world to its knees before him, he must control the world’s food supply.
And now biotechnology affords him just such opportunity. Poor smallholder farmers are the new slaves of the globalized economy. Not only are genetically modified crops set to wipe out their natural varieties through cross-pollination, they have to purchase at the start of every planting season the patented sterile seeds from the transnational agribusiness empires.
Dr. Sears explains the subtle message the companies send to their poor farmer customers by their trading practices:
“Here, we’re giving you seeds to plant, you can eat once, and then after that you’re going to starve because you’re never going to be able to afford our seeds. And we’ve just made you sign a contract that you won’t buy seeds from anybody else.”
The third horse rider determines the price of food at the world level. He holds the entire food basket of the world in his hands. And Death followed him accompanied by Hell!
These pictures the time of the worldwide rule of the Antichrist, who is yet to assume full power. Death and Hell follow the arbitrary controller of food prices because millions will be priced out, unable to afford the astronomical prices of food, while those who can will most likely die by contaminated food.
The power of the third horseman is the ability to lay claim to the global food supply. This is the scary future the transnational agribusinesses foreshadow by patenting their GM seeds making it illegal for farmers to attempt to further modify them, for example. As for preservation for planting purposes, forget it. Most GM seeds are bio-engineered to be sterile and therefore incapable of reproducing on their own. And they pose a lethal threat to traditional non-GMO crops, creating a New World Order of GM food monopoly.
It’s not a scenario being painted by a prophetic alarmist. It’s a present nightmare unfolding as I speak:
…genetically modified crops are invading fields close by (and some that are not so close by), contaminating both the organic food industry and the “conventional” (non-GMO and non-organic) food industry.
…. As genetically modified pollen from their crops blows around, contaminating nearby fields, objections to genetically modified crops diminish because non-GMO alternatives become harder and harder to find. A few more years of this and there may not be many (if any) truly non-GMO crops left anywhere. At that point there won’t be any debate about whether to allow GMO-crops to be grown here or there—no one will have any choice. All the crops in the world will be genetically modified (except perhaps for a few grown in greenhouses on a tiny scale). At that point, GMO will have contaminated essentially the entire planet and the companies that own the patents on the GMO seeds will be sitting in the catbird seat” (Peter Montague, “The Global Spread of GMO Crops” Rachel.org).
Obviously then, the power of the third horseman over the world’s food supply definitely has something to do with the enormous power of the end-time technology of biotechnology to control the productive and distributive processes of food in a world gone GM!
In the Path of Righteousness there is Life
We can’t let the culture of death have its way. Let’s obey the Creator God and follow His ways of life. In them we have enduring peace and success.
As a minister of God, I have listened to both sides of the GM debate—what the pro-GM scientists have said and what the anti-GM scientists have said in opposition. I am not a scientist, and I don’t presume to be a scientist on this platform, but God has given me a mind and the sense to discern good from evil, and I have absolute faith in His word. What His word frowns on, I frown on.
GM may hold some good potential, but evidentially the negatives outweigh the positives. As one expert put it, “it’s a technology fraught with unknown and possibly disastrous consequences for our health”.
It’s far safer, better and enduringly rewarding to stick to the “good old paths” of the Creator:
Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, we will not walk therein (Jer. 6:16).
“They said, ‘we will not walk therein’”. But we have the opportunity to make a difference in our generation. We have a responsibility to ourselves and to generations unborn to ask and search for the “old paths” of righteousness and life which is “the good way” and then walk in them. When we follow new-fangled scientific inventions and ungodly lifestyles which violate God’s laws of life, we only hurt ourselves:
Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions (Eccl. 7:29).
Be touched by God’s regret at the human tendency to go astray by going his own way. His “many inventions” have brought him ruin!
It’s time to right the wrong; time to do things right. There’s still hope yet! As I speak, Ghana’s parliament is yet to approve the Plant Breeders Bill which will grant multinational agribusinesses patent rights to a variety of GM seeds they claim to have developed. Once the bill becomes law, it will reduce our farmers to virtual pawns in the hands of the powerful transnational seed corporations who will require the farmers to go back to them every planting season to buy seeds from them.
Amen!
