Then God blessed them [Adam and Eve], and God said to them,
‘Be fruitful and multiply…’” (Genesis 1:28).
The Lord gave us a wonderful blessing when He designed love and marriage as the means for humans to perpetuate themselves. I have often said that “be fruitful and multiply” is the only commandment we humans have kept. However, in recent times some people groups have not even kept this commandment. They have kept the love part but not the multiplying part. We don’t need to be really, really smart to realize that if we don’t make babies, we won’t be around very long. Abortions not only kill babies, they kill civilizations.
People who study population rates and their impact on civilizations tell us that married couples must make 2.1 babies just to keep even. Now I don’t know how we can make a .1 baby but this is an average of the total number of babies we must have to maintain our civilization. Two must make at least two more just to replace themselves. Makes sense! So how are we doing? What people groups are “pulling down the shades” and which ones are not? The answer tells us some very important facts about the future of the nations.
The statistics below are a few years old but have remained about the same with some differences which I will point out. The bottom line of fertility happiness is that Western nations with a Judeo-Christian heritage are not reproducing at a rate to maintain themselves while Middle Eastern countries with an Islamic heritage are “taking care of business.”
European nations have the lowest birthrates while Islamic nations have the highest. In fact, if the current birthrate in Europe continues, Europe as we know it today, will “birth control” itself out of existence in one generation. Europeans will be a tiny minority among an Islamic majority. Take a moment and think what that might mean for the world, for America, for Israel and for the Jews in Europe. Can you hear God calling the Jews home?
The birthrate in Russia is so low that a few years ago the Russian government declared a “Day of Conception” and told workers to stay home and make babies. Those who were successful in this marriage encounter would be rewarded with all kinds of prizes. How is that for an excuse to miss work.
The only Western Judeo-Christian nation that is staying even is America. However the Americans who are having babies are Hispanic Americans not those with a Protestant European background who founded America. Protestant European America is diminishing in the percent of the total population of America while the traditionally Catholic Hispanic population is increasing in their percent of the American population. Today the Pilgrims might be eating tortillas rather than having “high tea.”
The marriage encounter in Israel is also changing but in favor of the Jewish state. When he was still alive, Yasser Arafat said the “Palestinians” would defeat the Israelis with the weapon of the womb. He meant that the Arab birthrate was much higher than the Jewish birthrate, and over a generation, the Arab population would overwhelm the Jewish population. At that time the Arab birthrate was about 5.0 while the Jewish birthrate was 2.6.
But for the first time in the history of Israel, the Jewish women are doing their duty to increase the Jewish population. The Israeli Bureau of Statistics recently published the current birthrates of Jewish and Arab women. It seems like the Israelis are missing a few days of work while the Arabs are working overtime. The Israeli women are having more children while the Arab women are having less. Both the Jewish birthrate and the Arab birthrates have evened out at an average of 3.13 children per woman. Way to go ladies!
This “population explosion” among the Israeli woman reminds us of Exodus 1:7 which reads, “But the children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly, multiplied and grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them.” This rediscovery of the joy of marriage, along with the coming Aliyah from Europe, will ensure that the Jewish people will indeed be a majority in their own state. They may be the only ones with a majority in their own country. Think about that.
Isaiah wrote of these times and said, “For our waste and desolate places, and the land of your destruction, will even now be too small for your inhabitants; and those who swallowed you up will be far away. The children you will have, after you have lost the others [in the Holocaust], will say again in your ears, the place is too small for me; give me a place where I may dwell” (Isaiah 49:19-20).
Take a moment and read the birthrate figures below and contemplate what this might mean for the future. Where appropriate, the Lord might say to some, “Don’t be shy, multiply.” Smile! Remember, a civilization must have a minimum of 2.1 to survive.
Spain – 1.1 Germany – 1.4
Korea – 1.1 Canada – 1.48 Middle Eastern
Russia – 1.14 U.K. – 1.8 Countries – 5.1
Italy – 1.2 Australia – 1.8
Japan – 1.32 France – 1.9
Europe – 1.38 America – 2.1
