(RNS2-DEC02) Scottsboro farmer Michael White examines the grain seeds saved by his grandfather from more than a half century ago. Saving seed to plant for future crops is, White thinks, one of the foundational tasks God gave to human beings. Increasing genetic modification and patenting of seeds is limiting that. For use with RNS-SEEDS-ANTICHRIST, transmitted Dec. 2, 2008. Religion News Service photo by Kay Campbell/Huntsville Times.

(RNS2-DEC02) Scottsboro farmer Michael White examines the grain seeds saved by his grandfather from more than a half century ago. Saving seed to plant for future crops is, White thinks, one of the foundational tasks God gave to human beings. Increasing genetic modification and patenting of seeds is limiting that. For use with RNS-SEEDS-ANTICHRIST, transmitted Dec. 2, 2008. Religion News Service photo by Kay Campbell/Huntsville Times.

DUTTON, Ala.-Michael White keeps a Mason jar full of wheat grains next to his well-worn Bible.

The jar was filled by his great-grandfather decades before anyone dreamed of genetically altering plants or animals. The jar reminds him of what he considers God’s first earthly gift to humanity: seeds.

It’s a gift that is in danger of being eradicated, White says, through increased genetic manipulation of plants, hybridization and the patenting of genes by large corporations. God’s gift of seeds, given the day after he separated dry land from water, according to Genesis, is not something that should be taken away from a farmer. To forbid a farmer or gardener from gathering his own seed to replant the next year is something White sees as one of the signs of the end of time.

“The Antichrist will use seed to control nations and people,” White writes in the book he published in May, “The 666’s Are in the Seed,” a title that refers to the traditional number of the Antichrist of Revelation. “He will also use seed to create food shortages. Patented seed will become the most prized possession of the Antichrist.”

Like many Christians, White, who farms near Scottsboro, Ala., believes the years before Jesus returns to Earth will be a “time of trouble,” filled with the chaos predicted in Matthew and Revelation: war, famine, pestilence, plagues and a world-wide totalitarian government. Many Christians believe a globally idolized figure, the Antichrist, will rule the world.

White has been through his own “time of trouble” over seeds. A few years ago he and his father were sued by Monsanto for patent violation-it is illegal to save seed from patented plants for re-planting. At the time of the lawsuit, he said, his retired father hadn’t farmed in years.

The lawsuit against his 85-year-old father was dropped in the spring of 2006, shortly before White agreed to settle out of court with Monsanto. White will not comment on the details of that settlement. The consent injunction and judgment in the case states that White had planted, saved, cleaned and sold patented seed.

Who won or lost in the legal tussles he had, White says, is immaterial. What matters is that people understand that seed patents, non-reproducing hybrids and plants engineered to produce seeds that terminate a germinating seedling are part of what he considers an immoral corporate and legal control of one of God’s first gifts to humankind.

Most seed scientists claim that genetically modified plants are the key to future bounty. Monsanto and other agri-corporations argue that protecting their patents through their Seed Stewardship programs enables their scientists to make more discoveries and ultimately to benefit all.

In fact, patents “facilitate technology innovation which benefits all farmers, including the most resource-poor,” says John Combest, an issues manager for Monsanto, who commented about criticism of seed patents and genetic engineering by e-mail. Monsanto, he said, is helping to develop seeds to produce plants that tolerate drought and increase yields. Those seeds will be licensed to the African Agriculture Technology Foundation for distribution without royalties to farmers, Combest wrote.

Many religious thinkers, however, have warned against the practical and long-term effects of tinkering with a system God put into place at creation. Statements of concern over genetic engineering and patenting of seeds have been issued by Methodists, Presbyterians, Catholics, Baptists, Muslims, the National Council of Churches and others.

One of the most recent was circulated by the International Catholic Rural Association, signed by some 250 religious leaders and faith groups, and presented to a United Nations’ meeting on food security in June. The goal of these groups, says Jaydee Hanson, who worked on bioethics issues for the United Methodist Church and now works at the Center for Food Safety, is to make sure farmers are not restricted from saving or exchanging seeds. That saving or exchanging is currently prohibited by Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights.

“TRIPS … hinder farmers’ innovations,” Hanson wrote in a recent e-mail. “Plants, seeds and genes (should be) part of creation which cannot be claimed by intellectual property rights.”

Michael White sees a blessing in his own troubles, although, he says, the three-year legal fight over seed patents cost him his business, his first marriage, his health and nearly killed his father. The shed at White’s seed-cleaning business was shuttered for four years when his customers quit coming after they received query letters from Monsanto’s lawyers, he said. The shed is now stacked with bags of the foundation seed he bought from Auburn University.

These seeds, he says, are like his great-grandfather’s wheat. They will germinate plants that produce seeds that anyone can save and replant for the next year’s harvest.

White is now getting orders for the heritage seed from farmers who haven’t planted conventional seeds in eight or nine years.

“I hope there’s some good news in this picture,” White said this week. “It’s a monster, but people are waking up. The trend is finally turning around and going back to conventional. I hope I can wake some people up and get back to growing their own food.”

Even more important, White says, he hopes his book points out one of the ways people can see that the end of earthly time is at hand.

“Unsaved reader, it’s altar call again,” White writes in his book’s conclusion. “The food shortages have begun. … The 666’s are in the seed.”

DEA DSB END CAMPBELL