Category: Christianity

Start Small, Plan Ahead, and Set a Realistic Timetable, by Christian Rebel

I’ve only been in the survival community for one to two years; I still need quite a bit of work to do before I’d dare say I’m prepared enough to survive a severe blizzard let alone some life changing and significantly prolonged event. I get a little overwhelmed by all the work I still have to do and frustrated by how precious little resources I have to work with. I’m a 21 year old unemployed college student still living at home in an apartment complex 20 minutes from a city, as you can see my options are limited. Limited not …


How to Handle Fear and be Stronger for the Experience, by P.G.T.

I am out of my comfort zone. We executed a move and I have to battle fear. I am afraid that we will fail. I am afraid that our plans have been too costly. Our “threes” have been reduced to one – and we all know that one is none. We no longer have three ways to heat, cook or travel. We don’t know the terrain well, nor do we know the roads.  We do not have all of our supplies here with us. And, to top it all off, today I opened a package of spiced almonds only to …


Spiritual and Moral Preparedness, by A. Padre

I guess I am a prepper.  When I started “prepping” 15 years ago they called it being a survivalist, but I think prepper is more apropos since the word survivalist suggests Rambo and anyone who knows me knows that’s not me.  Over the past few months I became aware that prepping is gaining momentum again, like it did before Y2K when I first got involved.  Some months back I stumbled on a YouTube channel and since then I have been making the rounds of the prepper sites.  I have been really thankful to all of you preppers out there who …


Letter Re: Prepping for Missionaries and Other Long Term Foreign Workers

Dear Mr. Rawles, I have been following the thread on “Prepping for Missionaries and Other Long Term Foreign Workers.”  My business partner and I have more than one hundred mission trips between us and have been first responders to several of the latest disasters including the Tsunami in Banda Aceh, Hurricane Dean in Jamaica, and the Earthquake in Haiti. Several of the writers and especially P.J.H. has been spot on in their information.  Problems in the mission field or for the foreign worker have a direct correlation to the lack of understanding for the culture of the country where they …


Three Letters Re: Finding Prepper-Friendly Churches in The American Redoubt–Expanding The List

Hi Jim, There’s a great local cowboy church called Gold Hill Church, near Deary, Idaho. It is not only prepper friendly, but even “dog friendly”. Another prepper-friendly church is the Community Church in Southwick, Idaho. Also, I noted that one of the churches you listed in Bonner’s Ferry appears to be a Seventh-Day Adventist (SDA) church. As I grew up in that church and greatly admire much of the values of the SDA subculture, it always concerns me when an SDA[-affiliated] church does not let people know that they are really an SDA church. The books they list for sale …


Finding Prepper-Friendly Churches in The American Redoubt–Expanding The List

Based on some suggestions from SurvivalBlog readers, the following are several new entries to supplement the list of prepper-friendly churches in the American Redoubt that I already posted. (I’ve just updated the original list.) Parenthetically, I’m often asked why I place an emphasis on Reformed churches. First and foremost, I believe this is a doctrinally-correct stance. (Your mileage may vary, but the Five Point Calvinist view matches my interpretation of the Bible.) Secondarily, those who hold to a mid-tribulation or post-tribulation eschatological view (as many people in Reformed circles do) tend to be more prone to prepping than those who …


Prepping for Missionaries and Other Long-Term Foreign Worker, by Mission Mobilizer

The position of the Missionary or Long-term foreign worker is a bit unique, and certainly cannot be assumed to be similar either to a non-American prepper in his native home or to short-term traveler overseas. Those who travel overseas in the short term, need only to make sure that they are back home before any kind of crash and they can implement all of their plans as normally as they would have had they been at work when things began to go wrong. Those overseas for longer periods of time, stretching into years rather than days or weeks must plan …


An Unconventional Training Opportunity: Short-Term Missions, by Nate C.

When it comes to training, there are many good avenues. Some choose (or are drafted) to serve in the military and take advantage of the training there, ranging from basic to advanced. Others get involved in Scouts. Some piece together opportunities like firearms training, wilderness survival and emergency medical courses. Still others learn through travel. There are many types of travel, and each teaches in a different way, if we choose to learn. A cruise with touristy ports-of-call probably isn’t much of an education, except in the gustatory sense, but foreign military service clearly can be. Not all of us …


The Prepping Imperative, by A.L.T.

Three years ago, my husband and I had never heard the terms “prepper”, “survivalist” or “bug out”.  We were blissfully unaware of our country’s and world’s dire circumstances and didn’t know how to do much of anything truly useful.  This is a chronicle of the journey that brought us to where we are today, and I have included some of the specific books, resources and equipment that are the fruit of much research and thought.  We didn’t have much to spend on equipment or commercially packed stores of food, but through providence and thrift, we are much better able to …


Letter Re: Some Advice on Tangibles Investing

After first picking up your book “How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It” on a whim, SurvivalBlog.com has definitely changed a lot about how I live my life, particularly in how I choose to spend money.  As a prospective medical student, I can’t buy a retreat property and set it up the way I should (however much I want to).  However, there are many things I have found I can do.  After reading The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason years ago at the encouragement of my Dad, I started to set aside 10% of what …


Emergency Prep for Travelers, by O.P.

In March I was traveling on business when the earthquake/tsunami struck Japan.  My brother was in Japan at the time on business travel.  My brother finally made it home five days after the earthquake struck.  Meanwhile I was in Israel when the rockets from Gaza started up again, and a bombing occurred at the Jerusalem bus stop.  We both travel considerably throughout the world, and have often discussed preparations during travel for emergencies.  My brother is less concerned about preparations at home, but our experiences have convinced him over time on the need for backup options when away from home.  …


Letter Re: Morality and the Prepper Movement

James Wesley; I came into the prepper movement (without being aware there was any such movement) by degrees, through religion, a few years ago.  As an old “Latin Mass” traditionalist Catholic, there is a tendency amongst our ilk to look with suspicion upon that which is trumpeted as “progressive” or “liberal” or even “modern.”  Not that we are against real progress in some area, or resist modernity for its own sake, but because a real Catholic ought to be a spiritual man, who rejects much of what the modern world tells him is “good,” since these same things so often …


Letter Re: Moving to The American Redoubt

Hi James, We read SurvivalBlog often and stumbled across your article about the American Redoubt and found it very interesting, especially after watching the movie “Atlas Shrugged.” I wasn’t sure what it meant to us or what we could do with the info you provided. We decided to randomly search for jobs. We live in Arizona and have always wanted to move out of state, summers here are brutally hot. After reading your article about relocating we decided we really didn’t want to be in Arizona when it all goes down, with the lack of water and you know the …


Finding a Prepper-Friendly Church

Many readers of SurvivalBlog are Christians. For us, the search for a desirable “vote with your feet” relocation locale includes a very important criteria: finding a good church home. I am of the opinion that finding a good church home is our Christian duty, and that it honors God. It is also an important factor in finding acceptance in a new community. By joining a church congregation that shares your world view, you can very quickly become part of a community, rather than being perceived as just “that new guy”. In many locales, this shortens the time required for a …


Letter Re: One Week’s Worth — Examining the Ethics of Preparedness

Dear JWR: In response to the article “One Weeks Worth”: First, I believe not all possible solutions were presented. It was clearly stated that the prepared man insisted that his wife always keep a half a tank of gas in her car, implying that he probably had a car too. They should have let them take one of their cars to get to the shelter. This would have been a viable and best scenario for a win-win situation. Being helpless and being lazy are two separate issues and I believe the unprepared man was both lazy and slothful in not …