Christianity and Prepping

The Panhandle Rancher speaks….Christianity and Prepping

While I have no clue what your nephew’s life path has encountered, I would share with him that prepping IS Biblical…Proverbs 27:12
“A prudent person foresees the danger ahead and takes precautions.
The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences.”

 

Having so said, I have relatives who are very good and walk the Christian walk as closely as God has given them the light to see the right. These relatives are generational farmers in a remote region. I approached these relatives years ago about pre-positioning a stocked Conex container on their property so that if my family ever had to flee to their locale, we wouldn’t arrive as refugees. In reciprocity, I offered to provide a Conex at my location for them to stock. The head of family laughed and readily agreed to permit me to drop off a container, “If it made me feel better.”

The consensus of this family was that they walked with God and they had totally surrendered their lives to His hand. Whatever the future, they were comfortable with the outcome. As I explored their beliefs I realized they had for all purposes become Quakers (albeit members of another denomination). They had firearms for hunting and defense from wild animals but would never ever aim those weapons regardless of circumstances toward another human, not even in defense of self or family.

I thought and thought about their attitudes and my relationship with God, eventually mentioning it to a Christian cousin who is aligned with the prepper movement. Their attitudes bothered him as well.

My cousin was invited to share Thanksgiving with the farmer and family. After enjoying Thomas Turkey, he turned the conversation toward my Conex. The cousin reported back to me that if anything their attitudes toward self-defense had solidified. He even mentioned to them that God often acts through human hands and that perhaps this author was His method of providing for their common defense. Of course that idea was rejected.

As I spoke with my cousin more regarding his Thanksgiving visit, I became convinced that the farmer family was untrustworthy in a survival situation. As the contents of the Conex were sterile for identification purposes (including fingerprints), it remains in place with the hope that its contents might someday help the farmer family.

My Christian walk is less than perfect so I am a poor councilor regarding Christianity. It appears to me however, that many Christians have paid so much attention to the ‘turn the other cheek’ remark of Christ that they have come to ignore the same Christ who braided a whip to drive moneychangers from the Temple. We should not ignore that there is a whole lot of righteous slaying, approved by God, recounted in the Old Testament. Now I realize that we Christians live under a new covenant but that new covenant reinforces a timeless and unchanging God who was even accepting of soldiers serving the bloody Roman government. War in Heaven is described in the Bible. God did not roll over in this Heavenly war so I cannot believe that God would create us in His image with the intention that we not defend our families and ourselves. Not long before the crucifixion of Jesus, he even inquired of his apostles about the availability of swords. This does not sound like a weak person to me. The mere fact that one apostle carved an ear indicates to me he was trying to split his opponent longitudinally. My view of a Christian is that of a strong soldier garbed in the whole armor of God, waging war against evil.

Christianity is on the wane in the U.S. I believe that part of the reason has to do with so many Christians wholeheartedly taking ‘turn the other cheek’ out of context and applying it over the entirety of Christian life. I believe this is in disagreement with the actions of an unchanging and timeless God as recorded in the Old Testament and many of the actions of Jesus while on this earth.

I have remarked in the past that many of our societal problems arise from young men not knowing their fathers and hence never learning firsthand how to be a man. One can watch two roosters, two stallions, and/or two bulls in close proximity to one to another and see that they will fight to the death in order to preserve supremacy within the herd (or flock). Today we have many so called men who fail to act as God intended for them as head of household. Indeed there are adult males who totally abandon that role within the families they create, males whose only purpose is to irresponsibility father as many offspring as they can. Liberal feminists have completely emasculated many males. The Biblical view of the man as head of family is one who acts as provider both of sustenance and security.

We have dearth of responsible behavior. I believe this irresponsibility corresponds to the decrease in numbers of Christians in our society. Irresponsibility generates children without fathers in their lives, workmen without pride in their work and a slipshod work product, and governmental leaders whose primary goal is to secure wealth and power at the expense of the governed.

My view of Christianity involves walking with responsibility, totally accountable for my actions, and not necessarily always ‘turning the other cheek’ in response to wrongs. A real man will forgo a measure of present happiness in order to prepare against an indeterminate future. A real man will defend his family and if necessary expend his life in order to protect wife and progeny. A real man understands that the world is and always has been a dangerous place, and whenever honor and integrity permit, will take prudent measure to mitigate exposure to danger.

I have instructed my children that God does not look on death as does man. That which is terrible to us is commonplace to God. Death should not be an unexpected outcome of our lives; neither should our personal comfort. Man is made for trouble and woe. This is the norm and not the exception. We should rejoice during times of peace and ease and use that time in preparation for an uncertain future. It is the choices we make between birth and death that are important.

Real men are honorable protectors and providers.

Real men do not shirk nor retire from difficult tasks.

Real men do not blame others for their shortcomings.

Real men walk this earth with fidelity, bravery, and integrity.

My thoughts,
Panhandle Rancher
http://modernsurvivalonline.com/the-panhandle-rancher-speaks-christianity-and-prepping/