Nimrod was a builder, hunter and warrior (Gen. 10:8-12). Our interest in him, in this study, has to do with the way he provided food for his family and people. Who were the great hunters for bread, but did not raise their own. All the conquering nations were. To sustain their lifestyle, they hunted other human beings and enslaved them and forced them to make bread. Christianity tried to make slaves accept their roles, but that did not end well. The slaves, in America, are an example of what happened to the USA.

The Bible says that a good manager will distribute properly to the needy their portion of food. How fair and trustworthy can a government, an organization, or a system be without managers, who are impartial in the distribution of bread? What kind of a person should we trust with our livelihood? It is natural for us, to elect persons, who can feed us and double our income. We do lean toward a person, who has built or enlarged his barn. Jesus, however, called such a man a, “fool” (Lk. 12:13-21).

The Psalmist believed that, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world and all who live in it” (Ps. 24:1); but, God put it in the hands of man, “fill the earth and subdue it” (Gen. 1:28; 2:15). The first couple did not subdue the earth and the ground turned bad. “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread” (Gen. 3:17-19).

We are told repeatedly that Christians are in the world, but not of the world. Does that mean that Christians cannot have a piece of the pie, which the world has to offer? Do they have to remain poor and scrounge of the crumbs that fall from the table of the rich? What did Jesus have in mind, when he told his followers that they would be rewarded a hundred times for leaving their homes, families and relatives for his sake (Mt. 19:29)?

There are no free meals in this world. I have to pay for what I eat and for how much I eat. I also pay when I am called upon to feed someone. To be able to eat and feed I must follow this down to earth rule, “No rule will work, if I don’t.” Humor hits home at times. A man fell and hurt his leg. He went to the doctor, who bandaged him up and said, “Don’t worry! You’ll be walking before the day is over.” “He was right, said the patient, “I had to sell my car in order to pay him” (Murd. 232).

Bread making is everyone’s responsibility, even those of us, who are disabled. It is tragic, that more than half of the people in the developed western world are mentally disabled by a brand of thinking, which demands to be fed by the rich. The bad news is that the remaining rich are merely workers with sufficient income to pay their own taxes. They too are rapidly diminishing, and they are beginning to tell those, who depend on them without contributing to the breadbasket, “Go and feed your selves.”

Jesus, more than anyone, knew that bread and water were the two most important things in life. He told his spectators, “you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill” (Jn. 6:26). We are to make a daily request to heaven, “Give us today our daily bread” (Mt. 6:11). I was a young minister, when two young people sought my advice on how to resolve differences, before they were married. The groom was totally infatuated with her and she had apprehension about his uncertainties and lack of purpose. I foolishly insisted, that love would overcome their differences. Their problem was not love, but bread. Without food on the table, love ran out of options. After six months, the hot lover left his wife and country. After that disaster, I asked every couple, whether they had bread? Bread is to love, what work is to faith.

We go to church regularly and we enjoy worshipping. I was surprised when I was greeted by one person with a question, “Have you solved the world’s problems?” I smiled and mumbled an answer with another question to defend myself. After church, I began to ponder and the person’s question began to be a grain of salt in my mouth. It tasted like a bit of sarcasm. It reminded me of my boyhood days when our people in Eastern Poland believed that nothing could go wrong with God on their side. They were people of the land with mixed farming that produced ample food, especially bread. The war came and drove us from our land and our search for bread changed our world. We had forgotten why our ancestors had moved to that part of the world? This precisely is what Americans are forgetting. My next series shall be on how bread has and will continue to impact man’s existence.

Love without bread is absolutely meaningless. It is the kind of food that leaves us hungry and in want. The more we eat, the less we enjoy it. Ultimately, it even makes us sick, and we turn away from this kind of love. We end up blaming God for having led us to believe that love would be sufficient to take care of our mistakes or problems. This type of love is man-made and it is blind. The kind of love Jesus talked about puts bread on the table. Love lives on bread and not on fancy or wishful thinking.

The title sounds far fetched. Man has become too advanced in thinking to let that happen and he has the means to avert such a fate. It is true that man is and has, but does he do it? It is what he does, with what he knows, that contradicts his destiny of securing sufficient bread to feed the world. According to the prediction in the Book of Revelation, man himself, will create an environment, which will result in a shortage of food, that will destroy one fourth of humanity (Rev. 6:8). How can this be? Let us see, who is in charge of our bread supply, and in what direction are we moving?