With all the talk of 2012 and the Mayan calender, Do I think it is "the end?"

These are truly exciting and frightening times. We have numerous sources looking at the end of the year as the end of the world. We have grown all too accustomed to expressions like “Doomsday Preppers,” and EOTWAWKI (End of the World as We Know It, WROL “Without Rule of Law,” and of course SHTF (Stuff Hits The Fan.) As people that prepare for the worst, it is as though some of us are actually craving the breakdown of our society, and that in itself is scary to me. When we consider all the bad things happening in our world today, and we only focus on “Not if, but when” we miss out on our real life. While being prepared for possible events is important, it is also important not to allow your life to pass by while trying to prepare to live in the aftermath of a collapse. There are things that will pass by you quickly if you don’t take notice. I am not talking first steps of a child here, I am just talking about how the sky looks when the sun starts to come above the horizon at sunrise, or drops to the crest of the land at sunset and hits the clouds, and sends colors throughout our sky.

I am talking about looking at a mountain side, and seeing how the trees are colored, and it looks as though God has used a paintbrush stroke to create the view, or a mirror clear lake and not being able to determine where the lake ends and the sky begins.

It is easy to get so preoccupied in preparing to live during hard times, that we miss the little daily blessings and refreshment of our spirit that God sends us. At times, I find myself guilty of this, and often it takes a sharp word from my wife to bring me back to the here and now.

As for 2012 being “the end,” let me assure everyone that the end is coming. Could it happen on December 21, 2012? The short answer is Yes, of course it could happen on that day, just as it could happen today, tomorrow, or a thousand years from now.  The end will surely happen. There are many events happening in today’s world that will accelerate the end of society as we know it if not changed. Some think that nothing can change the course that our world is heading to, others still think there is time. I think dating the day of the end is more than a bit bold. I guess it may put an imminent perspective in some people’s minds that we need to get a hold of the struggles that are present in this world, and I agree that there needs to be some changes, but I don’t fret about a specific day on a calendar.

As a paramedic, I see tragedy happen often when at work. When I worked in the donor service, and did tissue recoveries, I often found myself wondering if these people that had died within the last 24 hours told their loved ones how much they cared before they took that fateful last step out of the door of their house that would lead to the end of their life, or did they in a huff, just leave without saying a word. Did the husband’s or wife’s last remaining memory of their loved one be words of kindness or one of scorn. The child that was put to bed the night before and then scolded because he couldn’t sleep, or wanted a drink of water, will his last memory of his parent be that scolding, or will he remember that final embrace before his parent left the house?  Then I would think if they could have just known that their last day of earth was today, what would they have done differently? This is what we need to be focused on each day. Because we have yet to be able to forecast the day of our end, we need to embrace those things that are important. I often say, ”Prepare for tomorrow, but please live for today.” Live each day as if it is your last, because neither you nor I know when our last day will come. When you leave this earthly world, you don’t want to have regrets for the promises you made that you didn’t fulfill, nor the forgiveness that you never extended. Say what you mean and mean what you say, because when the end does come, there won’t be second chances. Daily, tell those people that are most important in your life that they are important, and that you love them. Don’t get angry because your child gets out of bed one more time, because he wants to hug you, and feel the safety of your embrace. You are so important to the people in your life, make sure they know how important they are to you.

Biblical Perspective of Prepping

When we consider what “prepping” is to us today, we generally think of it as a new concept. Preparing for the “End Of The World As We Know It” (EOTWAWKI), “Sewer Hitting The Fan” (SHTF), “Without Rule of Law” (WROL), or various other terms that have been coined from this movement seems to have come around in the most recent years. Actually preparing for disaster is not a new concept. The Bible has several incidences where prepping, sometimes for many years, saved the children of God. Below are two.
I like to think of NOAH as the world’s first prepper.
Hebrews 11:7

By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.

Can you imagine the logistics that Noah and his family must have gone through? Not only was he saving himself and his family, but if the Bible is to be believed, he had to prepare and store food for every pair of land and airborne animal, as well as his family. Not to mention the small task of building an ark to transport them all in. He of course had Divine Guidance of “the what and when” things were going to transpire.
It would be a great help today in knowing “the what and when”, and how long it will last, but unfortunately, we aren’t given those clues. So we prepare in ways that we can only imagine will sustain us for a finite period, and then we hope and pray that we can survive until some semblance of normality return. If it doesn’t, then we will either die, or make the most of the situation, by adapting to a new set of norms.
And then there was Joseph, the original food hoarder.
^{Genesis 41:46-49, 53-57}

⁴⁶And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt. ⁴⁷And in the seven plenteous years the earth brought forth by handfuls. ⁴⁸And he gathered up all the food of the seven years, which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities: the food of the field, which was round about every city, laid he up in the same. ⁴⁹And Joseph gathered corn as the sand of the sea, very much, until he left numbering; for it was without number.
⁵³And the seven years of plenteousness, that was in the land of Egypt, were ended. ⁵⁴And the seven years of dearth began to come, according as Joseph had said: and the dearth was in all lands; but in all the land of Egypt there was bread. ⁵⁵And when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread: and Pharaoh said unto all the Egyptians, Go unto Joseph; what he saith to you, do. ⁵⁶And the famine was over all the face of the earth: and Joseph opened all the storehouses, and sold unto the Egyptians; and the famine waxed sore in the land of Egypt. ⁵⁷And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph for to buy corn; because that the famine was so sore in all lands.

Now we have a 30 year old Joseph. A prisoner and slave standing before the greatness of the throne of Pharaoh, having just interpreted Pharaoh’s dream about the oncoming 7 years of prosperity as well as the 7 years of famine. Joseph by divine inspiration was able to see the coming economic crash, and was positioned at the right place and the right time to save not only the nation of Canaan, but also Egypt, and in fact the whole known world by setting aside food preps.
It is something to me that God had Pharaoh’s heart opened to the idea that disaster would actually take place. Can you imagine what would happen if a prisoner today were to tell our president of events like these happening, and what the reaction would be? They would probably call him names like “Crazy Uncle Joe”, and dismiss him back to rot in his jail cell. This shows how, with divine inspiration, one man can make a difference to his family, the nation, and the world.
Keep these two in mind while you work your preps out. You may say that “well, they were divinely inspired.” But who is to say that you aren’t. God chose this time, this place, from all the time since the beginning of the world to have you here. He has opened your eyes to events that others cannot see, and given you the tools and mindset to survive.
There just might be a little Noah or Joseph in us after all.

Greetings, and welcome to the Prepping Pastor Blog. Here I intend to give a Christian prospective on prepping for possible Without Rule Of Law, economic crash scenarios, and preparing for worst case scenarios to life here on earth. I have been approached by a publisher to write a Christian Prospective on this subject, and have been given free reign as to subject matter that is included. I would like to invite any reader of this blog to input things into which you as a reader would like to see covered in the book, and I will acknowledge these ideas from the readers in the book as well. I will be using this blog to put out ideas as well for peer testing and reaction. I ask you all to join me, as we explore the Bibles take and attempt to gain a focus on how we can both prepare as well as remain true to our faith.

Pastor James