Lessons From the First TEOTWAWKI- Part 1, by Sarah Latimer

Basics of the First “TEOTWAWKI”

The first “end of the world as we know it” event that mankind experienced was initiated by a woman, and while there are plenty of reasons to finger-point at men in our world today over the problems it faces I want to focus primarily on the women in this article and their responsibility for some of the problems we face and discuss how we can correct these to create a better world, if only in our own homes and communities. I am talking to my “gender sisters” in this article. Yes, I know there are plenty of men who may want to come to our defense, but you men need to back away and let us deal with our emotions and think through the facts before short-circuiting what needs to occur. We may need a listening ear or a shoulder to cry on, but don’t stop the progress. There will likely be some emotions; there usually are when we find we have been lied to, used, or even when our own manipulative schemes are exposed and we struggle with the notion that we must admit it. Some of the SurvivalBlog women may not be surprised by what is coming, but there will likely be some who are. There may even be some who are angry. God made us to be emotional beings, but we need to face facts and make corrections before we lose what is important to us, whether from a SHTF scenario or from relationship breakdowns. I’ll admit that I’ve been angry at a few points on my journey toward what I’m going to share here, and I’ve made some mistakes in my past. I didn’t like the corrections that had to be made. It didn’t fit with the image I had built up in “my plan” that had been partially formulated by the culture in which I lived; I’m stubborn and don’t like to adjust my vision. (We’ll talk more about vision in just a bit.) However, it had to change in order for me to find abundant life and true happiness, the kind of happiness that the Bible speaks of and that our nation’s forefathers wrote about in the Bill of Rights.

Let’s get back to that first TEOTWAWKI situation and examine it to see what we can learn from it, because we are here on SurvivalBlog to learn how to avoid a crisis or at least to prepare for one when it, whatever it may be, comes. Most of the 27,000 or more articles on SurvivalBlog are aimed at preparing for and surviving a crisis of one sort or another that affects your family, community, region, nation, or the world. There is a wealth of information contained within these articles. However, the woman who created the first TEOTWAWKI had no reason to pay any attention to any of these survival concerns. She did not need water filtration or purification systems, back up solar power systems or generators, MREs or cases of freeze-dried food, a bunker, or even shelter from the cold. Before her TEOTWAWKI experience, she didn’t even need clothes! She had everything provided with ease for all eternity! Well, you have probably guessed with that last comment that I am writing about Eve, the first woman.

Eve lived in paradise, and I mean it was the absolutely perfect place. There is nothing on Earth like it now! There were no animals, birds, or insects with inclinations to cause her harm, as there was no such thing as death in this place at that time. There were no storms, tornadoes, and harsh rains to cause floods; rivers that flowed and morning mists watered the vegetation and provided water for mankind and animals. There were no warring parties or threats of EMP, or even threats of drought or pandemics. She and her husband were sustained from the fruits and vegetables of the garden trees, which they merely picked. They did not need to weed or work the soil or haul water to grow food; they did not need to butcher animals. The tree of life in the middle of the garden sustained them in perfect health. Can you imagine a place that had no harsh freezes, no predators or nasty bugs, no thorns or weeds, no shortage of water, and where lush food was waiting to be picked year around and every animal roamed peacefully under your gentle care, almost as a pet but without the hard chores of providing food? What a truly wonderful life!

You may be wondering how anything regarding Eve’s seemingly fairytale life can possibly apply to our survival, but I am strongly convinced that there are key lessons to be learned that relate to our survival. I believe that these key lessons relate to our personal character, roles, convictions, relationships, and social interactions and that these directly apply to our survival. In fact, I believe that it is probable that the TEOTWAWKI event we most likely will experience can in some way be attributable to people (men or women) following Eve’s example of what not to do. Let’s learn from what she and Adam did and do our best not to follow in their mistakes!

It’s my proposal, that in order to create the most pleasant, peaceful, loving, productive, united, and defensible home/family/community, we should personally strive to:

1. Hold true to God’s truth by knowing and obeying His Word and His vision without distorting the Word to conform to what is comfortable “in our eyes”. (Prov 16:25)
2. Recognize and submit to the authority God has put in place (God, husband, government, et cetera; in that order). (I Cor 11:3, Eph 5:21-24, Col 3:18)
3. Don’t think of ourselves above God, our husbands, and our family; they are our core purpose and we are to love them with our whole beings. (Philippians 2:3, Proverbs 31, Titus 2:4-5, I Peter 3:1, I Timothy 2:11)
4. Don’t let our eyes/lust for what appears to be pleasing end up stealing God’s blessings; stay true to the top three and talk it over, even praying, with our husband before making significant decisions or purchases and trusting him to help us make wise commitments. (Numbers 30: 3, 13-14, I Peter 3:5-12, Proverbs 31)
5. Do not oppose our husband; we are to be our husband’s help mate/help opposite. (By “opposite” here it means to provide a view from a different vantage point, not pull against him.) (I Peter 3:5-12, I Corinthians 7:2-5)

As your husband’s wife, you are to be the “wind beneath his wings”, encouraging and believing in him. He’s your champion, if you will use the power of love and tenderness that you’re given to build him up. We, as women, can swiftly destroy, but it takes a long time to rebuild the pieces we’ve knocked down. Have patience and be persistent with a tender tone and kindness, always showing love and encouragement. Forgive and move forward. The alternative truly brings death to a man’s spirit, and it was woman who took the first action to bring death into this world. Don’t forget that! It isn’t your fault, personally, or mine, that we don’t live in this garden paradise, but we can make our situation worse if we do the same things Eve did. We have it in us to passionately build or just as passionately and abruptly destroy. Let’s delve into Eve’s story.

God created Adam as a perfect man and gave him the job to name the animals and care for everything in the garden. God determined that Adam needed companionship, one like him, so God made Eve out of part of Adam’s body, his side. Eve was his “help opposite”, who complemented him, being different but similar to him, assisting him with a complementary perspective, and completing him. You see, Adam was literally divided by God to form Eve. He no longer was whole in the same way as before. To be whole required that he be united with Eve and they come together as one person, because she contained part of him, yet was also different. The female part contains the more sensitive, nurturing, and emotional side while the male has more of the focused, physical, and logical side of personalities. Yet there are definite overlaps, and some men and women differ in their strengths. However, together in marriage between a man and a woman the two are far more powerful and capable!

Eve was literally part of Adam and came from him and was given the purpose to be his helper. She was significant and needed, though she was the weaker vessel. God had formed both of them, though Eve came from Adam, and God has united the two of them to complete them and make them whole.

God put them in the garden and gave them food to eat, purposeful work, companionship between the two of them as well as His visits, and He gave them two special trees in the center of the garden– one of which they could eat and one of which they were told not to eat. Now, we are told that God gave the specific instruction to Adam about the trees from which food could be taken and the one that was not to be used for food to Adam, but we are not told that this instruction was given directly to Eve, as she had not yet been formed.

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. Genesis 2:16-17