Causes of Premature Death

The third horseman of the Apocalypse pictures famine. He rides with “a pair of scales in his hand,” and a voice calls out: “A whole day’s wage for a loaf of bread.” (Revelation 6:6, Weymouth). Ahead of him gallops a horseman picturing war​—war so widespread and prolonged that he is said “to take peace away from the earth.” These horsemen show the close connection between famine and war.​—Revelation 6:3-6.

Wars have claimed over 100,000,000 victims since 1914 and “food shortage” even more. “More people have died of hunger in the past five years than have been killed in all wars, revolutions and murders in the past 150 years,” states the book The Hunger Primer.