James:
My wife and I have been “aware” that something isn’t right since the whole Y2K scare back in 1999. Sadly at the time, we had no idea of what “prepping” was or the first thing to do about how we felt. I think we might have had a dozen gallons of water on our shelves. Pretty sad, but we really had no clue. I’ve always had this nagging feeling that things were really getting worse all the time, but it wasn’t until I watched the “37 Things to Hoard” advertisement, that I finally decided I was going to find out how to take action. I knew I believed what it said, and had always been hesitant to actually buy one of those things, but I thought “it’s only $27 or whatever, what could it hurt?” So I downloaded the books, and for the first time I had a little bit of an answer as to what I should be doing. Of course from there, it has exponentially grown, because I thought if $10 a week was good, what could I do with $100 a week and so on. We were already so far behind the game, I began to ask God for the time that we needed to prepare the way He wanted us to be prepared. I read everything I could, especially SurvivalBlog and the book “How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It”, learned new skills quickly, and questioned whether or not prepping was biblical. Our background as Christians has always made us look to the bible for our overall answers. If it lines up with the Word of God, then it’s right. If it goes against the Word of God, then it is wrong. With everything that isn’t mentioned being up to us as to whether we will accept it or not. Well I obviously came to the conclusion that yes, it was biblical. So we moved forward and started formulating our short term goals, long term goals, and the “what would we do if we had all the money in the world right now” goals.
I always admired our grandparents and people that had gone through the Great Depression, and if you asked any of them what things were most important to have, wheat or flour would have been one of them. So I asked myself what would I do with wheat or flour. Oh yeah, I could make bread. Then I remembered that I didn’t know how to make bread. So I set off on a quest to learn how to make my own bread. It was liberating to know, that with this one small step I was on my way to being able to learn the necessary things I would need to be self-sufficient. I began to realize, that unlike many of our rural brethren who have lived the life and learned things since they were young, there is a whole set of skills that is dying off with a great generation. The internet has made learning much of those skills much easier, but you definitely have to practice those skills. For example, we started gardening three years ago and have made many mistakes. If we absolutely had to live off our own garden, I’m not sure we could do it yet. I thank God that
He has given us a little bit of time to make mistakes before we don’t have any choice.
All the things that have to do with prepping can be learned, from food storage to gardening to firearms to medical techniques and everything else. But the real questions I have been struggling with, are much larger than those. As a Christian, I know how it all ends as the bible tells it, and I have spent my whole life preparing my soul for eternity. Always asking myself the question “would I be able to lay down my life for the Word of God”? If someone had a gun to my head and said that I either denied God, or I would be shot, would I be able to stand up for God and die? So for me, the end of this world is something I have been accustomed to thinking about. That being said, I also know that 1 Tim. 5:8 says “But if any provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel”. And so, as a father, I must be prepping for my wife and children. There are many Christians that say “God’s in control, and I’m just going to trust in Him to take care of me”. Except that the five virgins that didn’t prepare oil for their lamps weren’t allowed in to the marriage (Matt. 25). Point being, they were all virgins, but only half of them were prepared.
I’m also somewhat of a history buff, noting that civilizations rise and fall throughout history, usually coinciding with that civilization rejecting God, as our nation has been doing for some time now.
So on to my larger questions. Is this the end of the world as foretold by the bible? Because if it is, then nothing material means anything. Which is why I am teaching my family to prepare our souls first, then prepare for our bodies. Still prepping, just in a different way, and still keeping in line with the Bible. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you” (Matt 6:33). Or is this just the cyclical rise and fall of a nation? And if it is, then where would we go from here? In WWII, the smart ones left everything they had, in the middle of night, to get out ahead of Nazi Germany. They left family, friends, houses, belongings, and the only existence they ever knew because they felt led to leave. The difference was, they had an “America” to run to. Where in the world right now, would we run to? Or are we left to stay here and fight? Scary thought.
We may be forced to do things we’ve never even considered before.
My wife and I definitely feel we are being led to prepare ourselves and our family as best we can with the resources God has given us. But I go back and forth sometimes as to what direction to take. Sometimes I feel we should be planning to ex-pat. Sometimes I feel like moving to the redoubt, not knowing if there’s enough time left to plan all of that. Then sometimes I feel like we ought to stay put until we can just move a little farther out of town onto a little hobby farm. I think and pray about these things all the time. Choices, choices, choices. And with every day getting worse in the world, and closer to the eventual meltdown of the economies of the world, including our own. There is no manual for this situation. There is no one size fits all answer that everyone should be following. The events of this year have been a rising tide of evil, spreading all over the world. We can argue the intents of those involved and who’s to blame all we want, but it seems like the snowball effect is taking place and the decline of the world has taken on a life of its own.
Which is why I’ve come to these conclusions. First, that I need to prepare my soul and always be mindful of where God is leading me. When I do this, He is really in control, and I find myself in places I never thought possible. Second, that all of the distractions our society has created for itself, be it television or video games or lifestyles or anything else, should take a back seat to the overall preparing for long term collapse of the way things are. How many years did the media cry “the housing bubble is going to burst!” and everyone kept buying, selling, and flipping, until one day it actually burst. Then a new reality came into being. I have a feeling we’re in for something much worse, and it will last a lot longer than the last time, which we still haven’t recovered from yet! And third, that whatever path I choose for my family, that I must continue to prepare, continue to build, until I have my answer from God. If I and my family happen to die along the way, then someone will use it, and what a blessing it will be for them that find it. And even in my death, I will have helped my fellow man.
I pray that the Lord Jesus will grant us that are aware and working, the time to do the things we need, and give us the forewarning and knowledge of where to go and what to do, and that He keep us safe on our individual journeys, and that through the fire that we must walk, that He will win more souls to Himself, until we all spend eternity with Him. – Anonymous