I would like to thank B.H. in North Idaho for his candid discussion of world views and the church. As a Christian, I have the same beliefs that he has.
And as a Christian, there is no way I cannot feed the hungry and the poor. Jesus said the most important commandment is to love God and the next is to love your neighbor. That means charity. And charity entails feeding the hungry. I may run out of food and die myself, but I know God would bless what I did for others. As long as I’m doing what God instructs, I’m not scared of dying. That said, I won’t hesitate to use a firearm if necessary to save lives, including my own, from some evil person.
In “The Apology of Aristides,” dated 125 A.D., Aristides wrote the earliest apology of the faith that we have outside the New Testament, a letter to Hadrian during the time Christians were being persecuted in Rome. In this letter, he says, among other things, that Christians would fast for 3 days so they could give food to hungry fellow Christians. How far we have drifted from what the first Christians did for each other.
The church needs to be a leader through charity. Why? Because the one that gives charity is the one with the power. Why do you think government wants so much to be the one that gives people what they need, in the form of Social Security, Food Stamps, Medicaid, etc? Power. And control. The church needs to take this power back to show that God is the one that has power and God is the one that provides. As B.H. said, the church needs to position itself to be ready to handle the hungry and the poor, as the Bible commands. This is so government does not become the “savior” of mankind when everything falls apart. We already have a savior. And Christians need to do what the good book says, love they neighbor.
(For more information on how to put the church back in its proper role of providing for the needs of others through charity, I suggest reading the Biblical Blueprint Series. It has loads of ideas for the church to help the deserving poor. One of the books is titled, “In the Shadow of Plenty.” If you see this book, you’ll know you have the right series of books.)
The Biblical Blueprint Series contains the following 9 books:
Introduction to Dominion, Biblical Blueprints on Dominion
Honest Money, Biblical, Blueprints on Money and Banking
Who Owns the Family?: Biblical Blueprints on the Family and the State
In the Shadow of Plenty, Biblical Blueprints on Welfare and Poverty
Liberator of the Nations, Biblical Blueprints on Political Action
Inherit the Earth, Biblical Blueprints on Economics
Chariots of God, Biblical Blueprints on Defense
The Children Trap, Biblical Blueprints on Education
Entangling Alliances, Biblical Blueprints on Foreign Policy
Ruler of the Nations, Biblical Blueprints on Government
Protection of the Innocent, Biblical Blueprints on Crime and Punishment
My own plan when things fall apart is to have enough food stored to be able to feed people. I won’t be able to give them much but it will be a meal at least. But my main plan is to teach people how to live in the tough times and to introduce them to Christ.
For the people that live in my area, I plan to have extra seeds available to give out along with instructions for how to grow them and how to make compost for future growing. Hopefully, within 30-60 days, they’ll have at least a little food to eat from what they planted. Yes, I know inexperience doesn’t produce the best farmer, but they will learn. In the meantime, I plan to teach them which foods they can scavenge, such as dandelion, stinging nettles, lemon balm, chicory, acorns and others nuts, and which berries are safe, etc. I also plan to have extra small traps, like the ones for squirrels, etc, that I can give to others so they can supplement whatever they scavenge. I’ll teach them how to catch and cook grasshoppers, snails, how to fish and catching/shoot birds and cook them. Even as a female, there’s a lot I can teach.
Living in the Deep South, we have an advantage: kudzu. We are inundated with it. People don’t realize that every part of this plant can be used for food. The root can be ground and made into a meal, which, when mixed with water and heated, can make a nutritional broth. The leaves and flower petals are edible. And for those with sugar, the petals and small stems can be used to make kudzu jelly. (As a footnote, the Japanese ate kudzu root after the atomic blasts. The roots are deep enough that they do not get contaminated by the fallout, which is good to know if there’s a nuclear attack.)
I also plan to teach people how to make filters for water, how to build fires if necessary, etc. These are the types of things I feel will help people get by. If they keep busy, maybe they won’t have as much time to get depressed or mad. And if they can start finding food and growing food, perhaps the idea of stealing won’t enter their heads, although that may be a bit optimistic.
In other words, I plan to teach people to fish and not just give them fish, while at the same time, telling them of God’s love and how he provides for us. – Vic from South Carolina