Preparedness - What's It All About, Anyway?

 

“Survivalist”, “Weird”,

“Anti-social”, “Paranoid”, “Paramilitary”

These are all names you may find attached to yourself if you mention to your friends and neighbors that you are a Prepper.

• A smirk and, “What are you afraid of?”
• Rolled eyes, a grimace and, “That can’t possibly happen.”
• And for Christians, the inevitable, “Don’t you trust God to take care of you?” will follow your proclamation.

Preppers embrace the concept

for a variety of reasons.

1993 - Waco, Texas Siege 

Overcoming stereotypes is difficult. The first that comes to most people’s minds are jumbled images of Ruby Ridge and Waco, along with anti-government paramilitary types armed to the teeth and hunkered down in bunkers somewhere in remote mountains or deserts. 

 

In reality, these people simply view our government and bureaucracy with a jaundiced eye. They have seen too many politicians make decisions that cause both economic and social disasters.  They view most politicians as power mongers who care more about advancing their own agendas than in serving the needs of their constituents.

• There are independent souls who simply don’t want someone else telling them what to do, how to spend their money, and how to live their lives. They resent some government entity telling them how to raise their children or how to manage their families, or how to live their lives.
• Most fiercely defend our Constitution, especially second amendment.  They consider ourselves to be True Patriots.  Freedom of speech, freedom of religion, the right to bear arms are essential to their sense of well-being.
• Some people see our society careening down a road to destruction. This may be political, financial, or religious. They see no need to be dependent on big business, big government, electric companies, etc.
• Some folks simply want a simpler lifestyle without all the accoutrements mass media tells us we need to be happy.

 

And then there are those who believe it’s wise and prudent to prepare for whatever disaster may befall them.  Such people believe that anything can happen and each person or family needs to be prepared for disaster.  Most do not (or perhaps should not) trust the government to provide for their needs in the event of an emergency.

• Wise people will think in terms of losing their homes, either by natural disaster (hurricane, tornado, fire) or by economic disaster (loss of jobs, foreclosure, theft, fraud, illegal actions of others)
• There are those in power who seem determined to bring us into war, preferably in our country, not theirs.  For whatever warped reasons, we now face the reality of terrorist attacks within our own boundaries.  Watch the news any day of the week.  You will see what happens when people are at war.

 

There is a biblical precedence for preparing for disasters.

• Starting with Joseph in Egypt who set up silos to hedge against the coming famine. Throughout scripture you will find situations in which God blessed those who prepared for their family’s needs. 
• Yes, we do need to trust God to provide for us, but that does not mean sit on our duffs and wait for something to happen. God gave us a brain and we are supposed to use it. It means thinking, planning ahead, deciding how to deal with the unthinkable, and trusting God to guide us through it. We must see the handwriting on the wall.
• Here are just a few – I’ll cover more as time passes:
• Pro 27:12  A prudent person sees trouble coming and ducks; a simpleton walks in blindly and is clobbered.
• Pro 27:12  The sharp man sees the evil and takes cover: the simple go straight on and get into trouble.
• Pro 27:12  Be cautious and hide when you see danger-- don't be stupid and walk right into trouble.
• Pro 27:12  Wise people see trouble coming and get out of its way, but fools go straight to the trouble and suffer for it.
• Pro 27:12  Sensible people will see trouble coming and avoid it, but an unthinking person will walk right into it and regret it later.
• Pro 27:12  A prudent man sees the evil and hides himself; the simple go on and are punished.

Any or all of these situations can bring about what some of us call:

 

TEOTWAWKI,

The End Of The World As We Know It. 

 

Most people simply cannot fathom this happening.  Look what happened during the Great Depression. Rather than face economic loss, losing one’s home, and the destruction of everything they valued due to the Dust Bowl, people committed suicide. They simply were not able to wrap their brains around any lifestyle other than what they had created for themselves. 

 

As you continue through this BlogSpot, you may key in words such as prepping, disaster, etc. and find things I have posted that may be of interest to you. 

Hurricane Katrina –

Superdome guarded by National Guardsmen Armed with Assault rifles 

 

As a Prepper, you will be especially interested in the following:

• Dehydrating foods for use during an emergency, home made MRE's, thermos bottle cooking.
• BOB’s – Bug Out Bags, bags you have packed and ready with the minimum of supplies needed to take care of your family’s needs in the event that you must evacuate your home. Whatever happens, you probably do not want to depend on FEMA to take care of your family’s needs during a crisis situation.
• Issues around the economy, which will affect your ability to house and feed your family.