SurvivalBlog.com

Lately I have begun speaking, teaching, and writing on topics such as How To Eat An Acorn; Ancient Food Preservation Methods Today; Permaculture, How and Why; and Edible Common Landscape Plants. I have also been writing on Christian Culture, and various things concerning our time, from first-hand experience. In 1999, we suddenly became aware of Y2K.  We had a two-year old child, and were horrified [at the prospect of a power grid collapse.] I borrowed from my Dad to get out of bank debt, and sold antiques in order to stock up on foods and other items that made me feel prepared, but which I wouldn’t bother with now. Y2K was a wake-up call for us, as it was for so many; we gave up gluten and casein and white sugar a few years later.  We have continued to grow healthier, more energetic and alert, even as we age chronologically. Our family menu and lifestyle have changed steadily, conforming more closely to what is prudent; surprisingly, we are more and more happy and zestful, as our bodies become ever more able and healthy!

We have family prayer every evening, go to Mass in the morning, and do not have television service.  We read books, many of them not novels but “how-to” books.  Some of us learn new skills, other practice the ones they are perfecting. We buy well-made, name-brand, modest, classic clothing used, and wear it for years.  (Underwear and socks, and a lot of the shoes, are new.) We drive older vehicles; we have gotten gluten and casein and chemicals out of our diet entirely. We grow a lot of edibles here, and often buy high-quality foods like raw honey and organic fruit with the money we don’t spend on medical bills and pharmaceuticals.  But most importantly, in the time since the Y2K scare, we have been set free from fear, by having long trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ and by walking in the way He has shown us.  We are ready to live unto Christ and to die unto Him, in His good time; we have seen for ourselves that the angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him.  We have been led and protected.

 But even so, I am afraid! My fear is for the many, who continue to “prep” by buying the indicated items and attending seminars and classes like mine, and by reading Survivalblog entries.  I am afraid for the vast majority of folks who call themselves Christians, and are unloving, distrustful, and prone to avarice; those who are priming themselves for violence with violent reality television and video games; I am afraid for those who think they are ready for anything, because they have guns and ammo and a stack of MREs, and plan to fall back on the oak tree in the yard, for acorns and squirrel meat.

Let’s take that scenario, and see how full of holes it is; and we will explore the remedy.  You live in a small subdivision in the suburbs; or in a condo in the city, it doesn’t matter. Perhaps the Powers That Be (PTB) have begun a Search And Seizure of all guns and ammo from the homes of citizens. There is a new version of “Angry Birds” out,  created to help the PTB to target people just like you.  In the wake of violence following the cessation of “dole” by the PTB, people have looted, murdered, and rioted nationwide, and we now have Martial Law.  The PTB wants total power; which means, they are the only entity with guns and food stores.  Fresh water and food supplies are trucked into your area regularly, but ongoing conditions of scarcity cause even your good neighbor to “tweet” you to the authorities (for a reward) and they come, suddenly, to seize your supplies. Many people have told me that this is not going to happen to them; that they have guns and know how to use them.  But don’t underestimate the forces arrayed against you; (think Waco, Texas.)  So, gone are the MREs and the guns and ammo; gone even the knives, bow and arrows, and  medical supplies.  You have been labeled a “Hoarder” and are now an irritant [or criminal] in the public eye.  Hungry people are watching you closely, hoping to get some information that will earn them points in the “Birds” game, points they can exchange for  special luxuries, like a box of Cheese Nips or some peanut butter.  Everyone is hungry, angry, fearful, and on their guard; nobody feels well, because they are making do with substitute meds and bad food, given out by the PTB.

Well, you didn’t really want to have to do it, but those squirrels and acorns are starting to look pretty good.  You know how to make a snare, for when the squirrels show up in force.  It is August; there should be some acorns on the tree already.  (Did you know that you can pick green ones?  They are not poisonous; keep them until they are brown and easy to peel (a few days)  and crack and peel the nut, then soak.

Look at the Oaks, in August; what kind of harvest is it going to be? Oak trees do not have regular cycles of production, but a “masting cycle” (large harvest) only every fifth or sixth year. Most folks know that acorns have to be leached of their tannins before you can eat them. There are two ways, the quick/hot way, and the slow/cool.  For the first one, either use two pots of boiling water, and pour the peeled acorn pieces/meal into one until the water turns brown, on the heat; then quickly strain and dump immediately into the second pot of boiling water, and then refill the first and bring it to the boil, alternating, until the water no longer turns brown.  If you let the acorn cool before the boiling out of the tannins is accomplished, the tannins will be permanently heat-locked into the acorn, and you may as well throw it away, unless the process is close to done; so this is not something to do without adequate time, safety, and water, even though it is the quicker method.

 The other way is to soak the acorn meal or pieces in a mesh bag in a stream or pond; or in a container, changing the water as it darkens, until it stays clear. Acorns store, whole in the shell, for years, after gentle drying out of the sun until they rattle when shaken. For storage, coat lightly with diatomaceous earth and store in metal or off the ground, so rodents won’t get them. Many foods can be made from nothing but acorns  (Bread, “oakmeal”, oil, flour for pancakes, “nuts” and “olives”) – if you know how, and have the right equipment. What simple tools and experience do you need; do you have them?  The only way to find out is to act now!  Yesterday, I drove to the Wal-Mart while my child was with her math tutor.  I noticed a Red Oak (big, oil-rich acorns!) on public land that was masting; the nuts completely covered the ground.  I parked close by, prayed fervently that I would not be molested and would be a sign to the wise to do likewise; then I took out my little small (hazelnut-size) long-handled nut-roller and a large, flexible-plastic lug with two handles, and started harvesting, standing comfortably and collecting large amounts quickly.  In 40 minutes, I had collected 75 or 80 pounds of acorns, pouring them into large containers in my Tahoe as the carrier filled.  I was out of there in no time, with a lot of acorns, because I had tools and some experience. It was a learning experience for me, as I ended up with blisters inside my thumbs from vigorous use of the nut-roller without work gloves.  (Even though I have been collecting and using acorns for years now, I forgot to pack an important piece of equipment; and it was a stress-free day, not TEOTWAWKI!)

Arriving home, I dumped everything into a cattle-trough full of rainwater, and discarded everything that floated.  (There are worms inside many of the acorns, especially those that fall early.  The holes you see are from the emergence of the mature grub; before then, the acorn will float, as does an old, empty shell) Now my acorns are drying safely indoors.  They will keep a long time in shell, since tannic acid, the very component creating acorns’ bitterness, is a preservative. (In fact, because of the tannins, you do not need to worry about spoilage of acorns that are leaching in water, even if they have been soaking a long time!  ) If you have chickens, or if you like to eat insects and worms, you may keep the floating stuff, after drying, in a bucket for a while.  Check the bottom in 4 or 5 days; it will be crawling with useful, delicious food.  (If you don’t need to use these, please destroy them.)

But, back to our scenario: perhaps it is not a masting year, for your oak tree; and besides, everyone is picking up those acorns. The Powers That Be (PTB) are evacuating the neighborhood, aged and infirmed people first.  Many homes are empty; who will they come for, next?  You decide to “bug out” at least for the time being. Fortunately, there are all sorts of items the PTB have not taken, all over the house.  Because you have been living the “readiness lifestyle”, you know just which items to bring, and how to rig up a backpack for everyone (the PTB have taken everything you had ready, since you were Hoarding and they need you to Share.)  Everyone is, as usual, feeling fine; nobody has allergies that are very bad, or any kind of gastrointestinal trouble, because you have been following a strict gluten-free, casein-free diet for years now.  You are trim and in shape, because of said diet and the lack of a television; and because you are always busy, in healthy ways.

  The “busy” that is widespread now, like a wasting disease of the soul, is the opposite kind. Like gerbils on a wheel, so many people are caught up in empty, self-gratifying activities. A people that are subclinically ill, because of the dead/processed/junk diet, and grouchily assert their rights to an evening of “chilling” in front of a screen, after a meal of something easy to prepare, are a vulnerable people, a bunch of house pets unfit for life outside of a cage.  And our only survival is in getting, and staying, free.

Perhaps you are ahead of things, and have a great number of hidden food plants in your yard.  You decide to dig up and harvest some stuff to take with you…As we said, it is August.  You will take some Yellow Asphodel and skirret roots, and some Jerusalem Artichoke tubers; you dig up some oca plants (later in the year you would just take the tubers) as well as scorzonera and crosnes tubers; throw in a bunch of potatoes. All of this to transplant, and not, unless absolutely necessary, to eat. (Or, leave everything undisturbed, hoping that no one will be able to identify your garden plants as food; hope to be able to return, once the neighborhood is emptied.)  I have a feeling, though, that there will be mechanical watchdogs all around, and that return will be impossible if you live near a city.

Go to the freezer and get out packages of sprouting seed, as well as and various garden seeds (especially annual and perennial beans, summer and winter squashes, and turnips, perennial oats, broomcorn, and millet).  Make sure you wrap the frozen seeds immediately in heavy items that will insulate them as they slowly come up to temperature; else, you will have a lot of condensation just where you do not want wetness.  From the kitchen, you grab peelers, one or more small graters, metal tongs. A slotted spoon and flat spatula, a ladle, a couple of pots, and some mel mac or stainless bowls, cups, plates, and flatware.  Grab any sharp knives, an ice pick, a steel or small sharpening stone, and a small folding pruning saw; wrap these in a medium-weight tablecloth or light bedspread that can serve as a blanket and operating stage. Take salt; Zip-Loc bags; first-aid stuff as available; mylar bags and duct tape; rubber bands, rawhide laces, cording, and wire; clothespins, safety pins, sewing supplies and a couple of rolls of toilet paper, without the central tube (or use the tube for packing a Ziploc full of small items).  Fisherman’s Friend is a really great cough drop/decongestant/mucus reliever; these never get stuck together and are extremely effective!  Nobody needs toothpaste, although you might take a small tube, and wean the fainthearted onto ashes and a stick over the course of time. The most important thing is to expect hardship, and start getting used to it now; as extreme emotional reactions later, such as shock,will be the biggest threat to everyone’s safety and ability to thrive.

Finally, dress yourself for business, in double underwear and ripstop outerwear, hiking boots and smartwool socks, work gloves, and a sunhat and sweatband. Tie a cotton bandana around your neck. Pack a long raincoat, a wool sweater, and extra smartwool socks; depending on the number and strength of the party, add more items as room and weight permit. Your ripstop nylon pants should be a size too large (pack wool long johns or fleece pants to wear under them, for winter; also pack a  balaclava and one other warm hat, muffler, warm gloves and at least one pair of extras (a pair of those expensive, waterproof, cold-weather gloves would be wonderful);  work gloves, and extra socks and undines, if you have room). Ladies who do not wear pants will have to wear some for now; the ripstop will prevent shredding of the legs in briars and rocks, and allow for extra warmth in winter or at night.  A dress or skirt can go over the top.

 If you have plenty of extra wool socks and warm gloves, you can make it with one pair of hiking boots; though an extra, dry change of footwear can be a great thing.  Perhaps a pair of flip flops, as they can be cut apart as needed to make fishing bobbers, bottle corks, and cushioning for splints, among a hundred other uses; and you can wear them under your wool socks while your boots are being dried with hot rocks from the fire at night. (Put a dry, heavy piece of cloth in the bottom, and pay attention that you don’t burn that!) 

You may wish to bring a small washing ball, which can be thrown into a washer now instead of detergent, and used when washing by hand whether at home or away. We have been using these products for at least eight years in our home; they work by saponifying the water (breaking the surface tension, making the water “wetter”, as detergent
does, without adding anything that will need to be rinsed out.)  A “breathing washer” from Lehman’s is nice, to use with it.  I don’t know that you would want to pack it, nothing is guaranteed; you may need it at home for a year before you ever think of leaving.  It is certainly a great tool; and the handle does come off! 

 As for actually doing your laundry, you can wash your ripstop nylon things at end of day (or several days!), shake them out, and hang to dry.  They should be dry by morning, and if  not completely so,  at least dry enough.  The outside pair of underwear will go on the skin-side, and the inside pair in the wash.  Ladies will need to bring even more panties, and many pieces of toweling, maybe stitched together in layers, to use as pads.  They should also have a Zip-loc bag to keep these in, at that time of month, rinsing them and hanging to dry at night.  If necessary, drying ones can be pinned with large safety pins to the outside of packs.

 You most likely will not be returning.  Put your solid gold rings and any hefty sterling ones on a sturdy piece of string around your neck, under your shirt.  Put other items in a tied-off sock, here and there; in a pinch, you can pierce the sock and slip it onto your cord, as well.  Marauders may leave you alive, but grab your gear; so you may not want to sew things into linings, even when you do have time.  This is not the time to start going through treasures and photos.  Get your favorite photos laminated and put them in your bible as a bookmark.  Bring your smallest bible.  An extra gospel of John, New Testament and Psalms, or other small partial is good, if you have room.  These may be worth more than gold in the times ahead; it may well be that they are seen as tools against the State, since the New Age targets the Abrahamic Religions, scapegoating Jews, Moslems, and Christians together.  We do all share a belief in one God, Who has given us moral absolutes. Ultimately, the state of things has been foreseen and is inevitable; and we have total freedom to choose whether we are to live and die in love, as sons and daughters of the Most High, or in fear and thralldom, as His enemies.  There is no middle ground.

 The thing that needs mention now, is how to pray.  Even unbelievers pray, in  times of great need, out of fear; and it can lead them to faith and then to salvation.  But it is not the way for believers to pray!  We need to keep our trust and our joy and our worship before us, we need to go with a psalm in our minds and hearts!  There is no other way to be prepared, for anything, except to put ourselves wholly into the hands of the Almighty One , Who loves us.  Become comfortable without the noises that are in the way, and spend time in silence, quieting your anxieties and over-busyness with silent or audible praise and worship songs.  If you are not a Christian, think about prayer, anyway; in an emergency, wouldn’t you rather be full of peace and assurance?  That doesn’t come while things are hitting the fan, but is built up slowly, like the strength of muscles from weightlifting.  It lifts the eight of the world from our minds, and lets God hold it, while we attend to our immediate business. 

Noise is another of the addictions of our age, another of the things we and perhaps even more so, our children, cannot do without. It is psychologically calming to a person, to spend the day with the accustomed noise level; whereas suddenly moving from noise to silence, or vice versa, causes anxiety.  The ramifications of this are staggering; how is a sudden lack of loud music, or the “background noise” of a television, going to affect you and your loved ones?  In fact, psychologists tell us this is one of the wedges driven between the generations by the Evil of our time.  I can imagine buses with happy teens and children on them, stopping at every street.  They are playing a movie, loudly, on the bus.  Maybe the smell of popcorn is coming from somewhere.  It is parked right out there, waiting for your child.  The destination is a camp for young people exclusively.  “They” tell your child, hesitating in the doorway, that you will be okay, and they have a special place for you to go, as well. You can be in touch.  In fact, they will give everyone a subdermal I.D. number, so nobody will get misplaced.  You will only be irretrievably lost.

Pray, silently and in hope.  Pray, audibly and with scripture. Sing and recite the psalms.  Quiet your vociferous modern heart, and you will hear the voice of God, who never left, but Who never raises His voice.  He is found in silence because if He used force, we would not be free; and our freedom is the richest of God’s gifts to us, by which we may decide to love Him back, and be His servants.  A good antidote to loud-music addiction is to sing praise and worship songs.  You can find them on youtube, at prayer meeting, or just ask a Christian friend.

 The best of these are repetitive and short, and easy to learn. (Example: “He gives us incense for ashes; the oil of joy for mourning; the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that we may be trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified”.)  You may very well go to a church that has different songs; memorize the ones that speak to you, and sing them as you quietly go about your business.  “Quietly” really is the operative word; we need to quiet our hearts and listen, now, so s to be able to distinguish the voice of God, within, from the great faker who prowls unceasingly.  Learn scriptural songs.  The healthier your body gets, on your new regimen, the clearer your mind will be.  Challenge yourself to love learning, especially from the word of God.  Hide it in your heart, where He can activate it when you are in need, and where no one can take it from you!

Back to our packing.  You would want a hatchet, cleaver, or machete. But let’s say, for our scenario, that the PTB have taken all of these; because of  general unrest and murderous intent, they will say; but loss of tools also deprives you of the ability to do anything for yourself, and makes you less sure that you can make it without the help of the PTB. You might have, still, a folding pocket saw; it is better than nothing!  Also, pack a few mesh onion or citrus bags and lots of knee-high nylon hose.  Both can be used for leaching acorns, and the latter are good for many other things, such as straining, filtering, and sprouting while hiking (pour a little water through the sprouts at each stop; hang off the outside of your pack or in the campsite, to keep drained). Pack field guides to edibles, and copies of these articles, as well as a boy scout or military field guide. But never has there been a time when we were less prepared to make fires, snares, cording, and to find our own food.  No book can substitute for going out now, this week, and beginning to gain actual experience!

Pillowcases are a great thing!  I buy them from the Goodwill; often, they are brand new. They can be stuffed, to make a pillow; held open with vine or sapling and used for gathering grass seed as you walk; as part of an improvised water filter; a source of bandage or tourniquet cloth; and many other things.  When not in use any other way, use them for carrying things, inside a larger piece of cloth or tarp.  They will take the place of the pockets and compartments of a backpack, which you no longer have. You have a real lot of stuff, and time is running out! A little bug repellent is a good thing; in the field, some yarrow from the roadside or garden, or geranium or several other like plants, can be rubbed on as an insect repellent.  A very low, smoky fire of leaves and moss (“smudge”) can help at night, where there is no risk of detection. A bee-keeper-type arrangement of tulle or finer net may be drawn over the bill of your cap at night, and tied around your neck with the bandana; in a pinch, the panty-part of some large hose will do; get the longer queen size ones, and wedge the baseball cap, on your head, into one thigh, with the waist elastic at your neck, wrapped shut with your bandana.  These do not last forever, but they are small and easy to pack, and have many uses, one of which is to be worn next the skin as an extra layer of warmth in coldest weather.  Sunscreen can be good, but there is no substitute for shade, and so you are wearing a long-sleeved ripstop shirt, with ventilation mesh under the arms, and a hat with a brim.

You can do a lot with duct tape and mylar!  A couple of mylar emergency blankets take up very little space, but in extreme weather they may be held around you with duct tape, and can make the difference between comfort and sleeplessness, or life and death.  You can make a sturdy handle and provide reinforcement in a big pack made of tarp, with thoughtful application of duct tape.  And you can create a long-lasting, sturdy water bucket with a large mylar bag, a small stick, and a wrapping of duct tape as strapping around the bottom of the bag and crossing around the wrapped-stick handle grip.  This may seem wasteful of duct tape; but  almost all of it is reclaimable, as needed; and this is actually a way of reducing that heavy, bulky roll of tape.

Okay, you might or might not have a compass or GPS.  Let’s say you don’t.  You will have to think ahead, so as not to take a wrong path.  There is no substitute for asking God for direction.  Do not err by expecting Him to do everything for you! You will be traveling at night, since during the day, your party will be reported and stopped.  But at night, there is surveillance. A pair of night-vision binoculars might be very helpful.  Recite Psalm 91.  Think and remember which neighbors are gone; cross through those yards when you can.  Make for a safe house (friends who won’t turn you in; relatives- work this out ahead of time! You may want to give each other your house keys, or tell where to find them,)

In this time, if you have been asleep, as have so many Christians, you will have to wake up, and choose radical faith and trust, and count on supernatural guidance and protection.  The alternative is fear, distrust, and violence.  If you have really never seriously considered Christianity, have sneered at it; if you have loved New Age stuff, and are a vegan, but want to be free – the only way is to “consider the heavens”.  There is a wonderful book called The Real Meaning of the Zodiac. It has information that will help you find your way to Jesus Christ, our Salvation.

 There will be miracles of provision, multiplication of goods, protection and invisibility to the enemy, and many other kinds, in these days.  Somewhere along the way, those who have put All of their faith in Jesus Christ will be suddenly “raptured”, or taken away in the blink of an eye; and even the godless are predicting this.  The thing to do is to put on the faith you have been pretending to have; and to do so, you need strength.  Stop doing the things that hinder you!  There are invisible webs and nets and chains holding us down…Change your diet, cancel your cable television service and sell your television.  This may seem radical, but think again.  Why does the thought of no television hurt so much?  Why do you think it is not possible; and besides, there are so many “good” programs?  Listen, friends; there are no good programs!  You wouldn’t eat food every day that only had a little bit of poison in it, would you?  Even the best things are seasoned with stuff that seduces, perverts, stupefies.  That popular television preacher is telling you comforting things, and his lovely wish next to him is not as virtuous a model as we could wish, for our young women; and in the end, that is not what you are really watching, anyway. Even watching Animal Planet with a child reveals hidden New Age agenda specifically geared toward the young mind; and the filthiness or subtle perversions of the commercials is just extra gravy on top.  I am a prophet of the Lord; I say to you now that He calls His people out of the harlotries of  life in 2012 America.  If it isn’t bad to you, if you can justify everything, and sneer at changes recommended here, then you are as the citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah, and other places destroyed by the Lord, because of the contagion of the inhabitants, and their hardness of heart.  If you do not see it and think this warning and these precepts are ridiculous, then I say to you that you are already dead.

For everyone else, you may be wondering – after we get rid of the television and video games and smartphones, what will we do instead? The answer is that you will recover lost ground!  You will go from strength to strength; you will find out that you have more energy; and that the day is not long enough for all of the projects you have going!  Beware, however;  lest getting rid of television pushes all of your family members into separate rooms with other electronics, and even alienates your children.  If they have been in public school, you will have lost them, and they may report you to the International Children’s Council, and asked to be moved to a friendlier environment.  If your children are in a Christian school, and are young enough, there is still time to reach them.  Be converted, yourself, first; and without delay!  This is still a time of grace, but it cannot go on much longer.  Change and return to the Lord with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.  Do this with your whole family; win the hearts and minds of your young ones through your own conversion example and by prayer and family bible time.  Don’t go hungry!  Just get off white rice and potatoes, packaged edible things of all kinds that substitute for food, and gluten and all items containing dairy or casein or sodium caseinate.  (Read the book Devil in the Milk: Illness, Health and the Politics of A1 and A2 Milk, if you are not convinced.) Yes, it seems hard; like anything else you are not used to.  But think of how many times you have done hard things! You are reading this now, but once you thought reading too hard. Have faith; be obedient, and decide to believe!  God always rewards our obedience; our freedom of choice exists, because He craves our love and obedience, neither of which can exist without absolute freedom!  

While you are thinking about that, let’s get back to our journey.  You may know that many common landscape plants have edible parts. Cannas, those tall, tropical-looking masses of pretty, broad leaves with flower spikes, are very common throughout much of the U.S.  Did you know that they were bred in the mountains of Peru, along with oca, yaucon, and our familiar potato varieties, as starchy root crops?  Starch is harder to find, in nature, and very important in the diet, especially in winter. The very young, unfurled leaves are an excellent cooked vegetable, and are okay raw, as a trail salad item. Canna corms (underground part) make a delicious long-cooked sweet, starchy treat or a good source of starch to use in cooking or baking.  (Cut into chunks, grate into water, stir and remove fibers.  Let settle and pour off the water.  The stuff in the bottom is the starch.  Dry it and put through a sieve to get out fibers and lumps; or use wet, cooked in cakes with oil; or added as thickening and filling goodness to any kind of soup concoction. This method of starch collection is why you have packed at least one small grater; the process is the same for cattail, briar, and all starchy roots.

Canna leaves are used in South America as a tamale wrapper.  Even the young seeds are fried and eaten, and are good raw as well.  Another common landscape plant is the althea, or Rose of Sharon.  It is in the mallow/malvacea family, which includes okra, hollyhock, rose of Sharon, hibiscus, and the wild swamp mallow or marsh mallow.  The leaves of all of these are good and edible, especially cooked; in fact, mallow leaves have been used this way from antiquity, and are still a major perennial vegetable in parts of North Africa and the Mediterranean.  I do not have experience in the western half of the U.S., but can say with authority that these thrive for years without care (and so are unlikely to have been sprayed with chemicals) in the entire Eastern U.S. 

Most of us know a little about daylilies.  The young shoots are eaten cooked; the leaves, when boiled, are supposedly like creamed onions, but can cause flatulence if used in great amounts as the sole menu item; the flowers and unopened buds are good raw, cooked, or dried; the tubers are delicious, but even if you manage to dig all of the small bits up,  the reward is smaller than most people expect; they are like fibrous sweet potatoes the size of garlic cloves, but often occurring in great numbers, as these plants easily naturalize. 

Perhaps we are safely away, and are living on the land, somewhere.  You have been filtering and boiling your drinking water, and making low, invisible shelters with branches and tarps and cordage. Maybe you have even brought fish hooks, and can make snares. But even if you are not molested, what are your chances of making it long-term on your own, with the little you have brought, even without one of the tribe getting sick or having an accident?  How long will you be able to simply go on, before you, or half of your family, wish you were safe in the arms of the State again?  The only remedy for the potential desperateness of this situation is to get this information out to everyone you know!  Make plans; tell others; trust in God; wean yourself off of all of the entrapments that suck up our time and cause stupefaction and lethargy. Things such as television and Farmville and alcohol and FaceBook and casinos and gluten and casein and white sugar and artificial sweeteners (read Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills ). Most importantly, after you have made the dietary changes, with your doctor’s supervision, wean yourself off of prescription drugs (yes, you can!  It is unnatural for most of the population to be dependent on prescription drugs just to get through the day.  Get healthy, God made our bodies to be self-healing!  If He hadn’t, then you’d be a goner after surgery or accidents!

Decide today, if you refuse to be marked or numbered or collected; if you will instead accept hardship in order to live free. The angel of the Lord will guide you to other Christians, on small farms and homesteads. We need host families to be physically and mentally prepared to welcome refugees; we need those moving to be  healthy and off medications, and ready to move when the Lord tells them.  We need to rework our way of thinking, and realize that, instead of conditions of scarcity and crowding, the resulting communities will be blessed with a lot of labor, so that all are fed and provided for; and with convivial Christian fellowship like that in the early Church; and that they will be crowned with miraculous occurrences, as the day of the Lord draws near and His people draw nearer to Him. We will need all of our skills to be in good working order, and our faith to be pre-tested and found strong. Parents, pastors and Christian leaders, be converted and ready to lead in new ways; and everyone, learn to pray without ceasing, carrying on a n inner dialogue with the One Who loves you and Who is mighty to save.  This is an integrated approach to Survival issues, as the entire spectrum of concerns is put into right order. Survival means more than ending the day alive, at whatever cost! God is intimately concerned with our well-being and survival in His Kingdom, which starts here and now, for those who are His own. We only need to awaken and respond.