My friend Todd from Prepper Church.com and Prepper Website.com has created a way for like-minded Christian Preppers to connect, build community and a MAG (Mutual Aid Group). Here is a video of Todd explaining his vision.
 
 

 
 
Here is a link to the Community Groups page that Todd mentions in the video.

I wrote an article listing ways find like-minded people, and some things to consider when meeting them. I would recommend taking a look at the video and then reading my article called The Ups and Downs of Finding Like-Minded People to Group With.

 
Please click here to vote for Prepared Christian as a top Prepper site!

If you liked this article please think about sharing it on the social media listed below, thanks!

Jesus reigns, He is love, He is righteous, He is power, He is King, HE is RISEN!

Happy Easter Everyone!

In the article I posted recently called Why Do You Really Prepare?, there were some great comments and questions. As a rule, if two people ask a similar question, I assume more might have it and don’t ask. I have covered many of these topics in the past, so I will give a quick opinion, and then provide links to past articles.
 
 

Faith First

As it is with anything, our faith needs to come first. We build other areas of our lives on that foundation, knowing who we are in Him, and who He is in us. If you want a deeper relationship with God, you have to put effort into it; reading the Bible often, prayer, praise and worship are great ways to do this.

Read this to see more of my thoughts on spiritual preparedness and being anchored in Christ.
 
 

Faith in Preparations, or in God?

A question was raised that essentially said, “By preparing, am I putting my faith in my own preparations instead of the Lord?”

The answer to this is that it is possible, but doesn’t have to be the case. There are tens of thousands of other Prepared Christians that God has called to prepare, who visit this site each month. I’m sure that there are some who are acting out of their flesh, so how do you know for sure?

In the beginning days of my prepping, I wanted to make sure I wasn’t going against His will, so I kept bringing the decision to Him, and was fully willing to walk away if I felt convicted to do so. When that didn’t happen after a time, I quit asking.

“If God gives you a watch, are you honoring Him more by asking Him what time it is or by simply consulting the watch?” ~ A.W. Tozer

He gave you the common sense to see the need to prepare. If you feel led to prepare, have brought it to Him in prayer and are willing to give it up if He asks you to, then I think you’re being obedient and your faith is in Him.

 
 
How Much Time, Energy and Money Should I Spend?

This, like everything else, is relative. To me, researching preparedness has always been a passion and a hobby. I think spending more time researching it is far more productive than, say, watching tv or playing PC games.

I think that as long as you’re not putting prepping before your familial activities and duties, have at it. The same can be said for money. Let’s face it, it can be expensive to “get ready”, but I don’t think anyone should go into debt to do it. One of the things we did was use the tax return to buy one big item every year, and spend as we could afford it for other smaller tag items.
 
 
How Prepared Do I Need to Be

In You Don’t have to Outrun the Bear, I explain that the big events that many blogs hype, are probably not going to happen. If they do, it is not likely to affect the entire country, so help will eventually show up. I have no problem with folks who want to put up enough food to feed their families for a year or more. However, that simply isn’t possible for everyone. I do think everyone should try and get enough cash on hand, enough food and other supplies to batten down at home for 90 days. If things do get even moderately bad, this will ensure you’re not out and about with people frantic because they’re not prepared. The longer the event, the more frantic and dangerous people become.

If 90 days isn’t possible, then get as prepared as you can be and know you’ve done what you can, and trust in the Lord.
 
 
Helping Neighbors

I have covered this from a few angles; first, in Why Should Christians, Specifically, Be Preparing?, I explain that I believe many of us were called to prepare so that we can act as His hands and feet in dark times. In Christian Hospitality and Preparedness, I point out that while we should be hospitable, we, by no means, have to rescue everyone.

Proverbs 27:12 says

“A prudent person foresees the danger ahead and takes precautions. The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences.”

Those who don’t prepare, if they are aware of the potential dangers, then fall into the second group. If God sees fit to let them face their consequences, should we really intervene? I’m not heartless. I will help those I can, who are in need, especially those who were unable to prepare. But as I found, the Bible recommends that we give in secret.

When we give in secret, it allows us to give on our terms, without risk of people finding out when we would rather they not know. One option is to give to a local church and let them decide who gets it. Another is to leave a care package in the middle of the night.

 
Please click here to vote for Prepared Christian as a top Prepper site!

If you liked this article please think about sharing it on the social media listed below, thanks!

Imagine you’re awakened in the middle of the night by something so terrifying and dangerous that you only have time to get your family and flee with the clothes on your backs and maybe some minimal supplies.

As time goes on, the danger has only increased and is preventing you from returning to your home or job. You’ve taken shelter in an abandoned building and must rely on others to get by day to day.

Now imagine that the reason you fled was because of your faith and that the danger was from a mob on a murderous rampage, slaughtering others who share your faith.

This is reality for many of our brothers and sisters in Christ in Iraq and Syria who fled when ISIS gave some an ultimatum and slaughtered others.

Trudee and I use part of our tithe to give to Voice of the Martyrs and they recently sent us this:

It gets very cold in northern Iraq, and winter is coming. Christian refugees from Mosul need our help now.

When IS (Islamic State) advanced into Iraq this summer, 100,000 Christians were displaced. Many fled to the Kurdish region and camped in unfinished or abandoned buildings, schools and empty fields. Now that winter is coming, these Christian refugees need our help to stay warm for the next few months.

The Voice of the Martyrs is already at work providing warm clothing, heaters and better shelters for our brothers and sisters in need. Since this past summer, VOM has been supporting Christians in Iraq with food, generators for churches, shelter, Bibles, emergency medical care and water purifiers. Now we’re helping them prepare for winter by providing warm clothing, including coats and long underwear, and gas heaters. You can help support our ongoing efforts with a gift to “Help Iraqi Christians.”

“We thought we had been forgotten by the whole world!”

—IRAQI CHRISTIAN WHO RECEIVED AN ACTION PACK

VOM partners have been distributing aid items to Christian refugees since summer, and now is your chance to personally fill an Action Pack that will be distributed to Iraqi Christians. Action Packs are special bags that you fill with approved items and send back to VOM for distribution. You will fill these Action Packs with warm clothing and other items that will be given directly to the displaced Iraqi Christians as an encouragement. Get your family or small group involved in filling several Action Packs, and include a photo and a note telling them they are not forgotten.

While this might not be a preparedness topic, it is a kingdom topic. If it is in your budget, please consider supporting persecuted Christians in Iraq.

“And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!” ~ Mathew 25:40

To donate to Iraqi Christians, just click on the image below.

 
Please click here to vote for Prepared Christian as a top Prepper site!

If you liked this article please think about sharing it on the social media listed below, thanks!

Any time I get questions on the same topic that I haven’t covered in a while, I take it as a sign to go over it again. In the last few weeks, the question has been raised by what I’m assuming are newer Prepper’s who are questioning if prepping is in line with God’s will. I can relate to this, as I struggled with it as well. Study led to the creation of this blog. For some of you, this might seem like a silly question, but this is an important issue for those struggling with it. Because of this, I’m going to ask that you keep any comments that aren’t encouraging to yourself or they’ll just be deleted. Words of encouragement are always appreciated, of course.

I try not to tell people what they should believe or what they should do. Your situation could be very different from mine! For example, what is important here in Minnesota might not be so important in Texas. I, instead, give you my thoughts on issues. This topic is not going to be any different. If asked to give a one word answer to “Is preparedness a sin?” I think the overwhelming majority of answers would be “no”. My answer, however, would be “possibly”. I don’t know your motives, your lifestyle, your finances or your relationship with Christ; so it’s not my place to tell you whether or not it might be sin. Instead, I’ll give you some things to think and pray about.
 
 
Could Preparedness Be a Sin?

The short answer for me is, “possibly”; which I think is the answer to many “Could (You name it) be a sin?” questions. For example let’s use fishing; could fishing be a sin?

Many of the disciples were fisherman, so how could fishing possibly be a sin? If I spend so much time fishing that I neglect my family, I could be walking in sin. If I spend money I don’t really have to buy the latest rod, reel, depth finder, fish finder, tackle and so on, so that I can make the most out of my time fishing, I could be walking in sin. If I blow off family, church, work and other commitments to go fishing, I could be walking in sin.

It doesn’t matter what the issue is, just about anything could be sin! Like many things, preparedness being a sin is a matter of the heart. If you’ve wrestled with this question, I believe your heart to be in the right place. Your concern of the issue shows that you care more about your walk with the Lord than being prepared for “come what may”.
 
 
For Most of Human History

For most of human history people have stored food from the harvest to last until the next. In fact, for much of our history, our ancestors lived subsistence lifestyles; hunting and gathering for food. They had to know how to dry, smoke, salt or otherwise preserve it for later use.

The idea of being prepared is not new! If we were to go back just a couple generations, we would see that the tables were turned. Most people had more than two weeks’ worth of food in their pantry! Many people grew their own garden and knew how to preserve the abundance from it! Many people hunted, trapped and fished, not for sport but for a way to put protein on the table!

I doubt most people from this era thought of themselves as “Prepper’s”. They would have considered the things they did “normal” and “prudent”. Do you think they were sinning?
My personal opinion on self-reliance is: (this can happen in any area of your life, not just preparedness) if, at any point, someone doesn’t leave room for the Lord, they might be acting in pride and God hates pride. What I mean is this; if you don’t talk to Him about your plans, if you feel Him speaking to you, but ignore it, if you (knowingly or not) decide this is your life, and you’ll do “X” because you want to, then you might be acting out of pride. Again, this could be the case for someone who is a fantastic baker and wants to open a bakery or someone who wakes up to how fragile the world really is and wants to make sure they can feed their family if hard times fall.
 
 
Supporting Scripture

I’m not going to cover all of the scripture I have found that I believe supports preparedness. For the full list, see Scripture Related To Preparedness. Here, I will cover just a couple that I think build the case nicely.

 
Proverbs 6:6 –11 (NLT)

“6:6 Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones. Learn from their ways and become wise! 6:7 Though they have no prince or governor or ruler to make them work, 6:8 they labor hard all summer, gathering food for the winter. 6:9 But you, lazybones, how long will you sleep? When will you wake up? 6:10 A little extra sleep, a little more slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest—6:11 then poverty will pounce on you like a bandit; scarcity will attack you like an armed robber.”

To me, this verse makes it clear that God values people storing for hard times. It is also clear that He is accepting of people who did not prepare for facing the hard times that they may fall on.

 
Proverbs 21:20

“The wise store up choice food and olive oil, but fools gulp theirs down.”

This one is pretty cut and dry.
 

1 Timothy 5:8 (NIV)

“If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”

I look at this verse like this; if someone who could work but is lazy and chooses not to, they have denied the faith. I, however, do not see anything in that verse that says you are not subject to this if hard times fall.
 

Proverbs 27:12

“A prudent person foresees the danger ahead and takes precautions. The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences.”

This is, to me, the most important verse! I used it to convince Trudee that God gave us permission to prepare for the dangers that I was finding when I “woke up” and started seeing how fragile things are. If you need help discovering some of those dangers, I have written over 40 articles in the category Signs of the Times.
 
 
Opposing Scripture?

There are a couple scriptures that I have seen used as arguments against preparedness, or from people who just want to make sure they aren’t going against God’s will. If you have one that I don’t cover here please let me know.
 
1 Kings 17:1-6 (verse 6 shown)

“The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.”

This was a command to one man, not a dictate on how people should live going forward. The same can be said about the Jews being led out of Egypt with Moses. God commanded them to look to Him for manna a0
nd not to save any. This was God loving His people, and teaching them how to depend on Him, not a command for modern day believers to wait for manna.
 

Mathew 6:25-26

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?”

This verse is not about preparedness! It is about worry! God cannot contradict Himself! Look again at the scriptures I listed above. He clearly places value on being prepared for the dangers in our lives.
 
 
Other Arguments
 
Aren’t We to Look to God to Provide?

The short answer is yes, of course! However, let me ask you this; do you consider yourself to be a steward of the money you make? If so, are you using that money to provide for your daily bread from the grocery store now, or do you depend on Him for daily manna? If He is providing daily manna please let me know as I would truly love to try some! If you are using His money to provide for your daily bread, do you think He cares if you buy it now or acted as the ants and stored it in the past for a potential future danger?

My view is; our Heavenly Father wants us to be good stewards and to be grateful for the things He has provided for us. I personally don’t think He cares if I use canned goods I bought two years ago, as long as I thank Him for them when I eat them.

I answer several questions on this topic in the first article I wrote on the subject called, you guessed it…Is Preparedness a Sin?
 
 
Final Thoughts

I have spent significant amounts of time studying the Word, thinking about, praying about, and conversing with others on this issue. I have come to the conclusion that not only does God condone preparedness, He actually encourages it! He knows we live in a fallen world that is full of dangers and He wants us to take precautions against them!

I wrote another article where I ask Why Should Christians, Specifically, Be Preparing? In it I build the case for why believers should be preparing now, so in an emergency we can be God’s hands and feet and help others.

 
Please click here to vote for Prepared Christian as a top Prepper site!

If you liked this article please think about sharing it on the social media listed below, thanks!

My mom told me years ago that she had a dream that people were coming to Trudee and I for help. We would give them a white container of supplies and send them on to a safer location. I’m not claiming this dream to be prophetic, but it has been on my mind lately. I was emailing with a reader a couple years ago and she said she felt like God was calling believers to prepare so we could be sent out like thousands of Noah’s Ark’s. This too has been on my mind lately.

I’m not going to tell you that it is your Christian responsibility to take care of those who didn’t prepare. In Why Should Christian’s Specifically Be Preparing? I cover this in greater detail, so I’m only going to touch on it here.

There are examples of us being told to care for the needy, and examples where God clearly states that if people do not prepare, they must suffer the consequences; what are we to do?

God told His people through Joseph’s interpretation of Pharaoh’s dream to stockpile food to last through a seven year draught. But when He called His people out of Egypt He had them depend on Him for daily manna. What are we to do?

Be obedient.

I’m not being holier-than-thou here; I struggle with this. I am of the belief that you get out what you put in. One of my favorite verses is Proverbs 27:12: “The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simpleton pass on and suffer for it.”

I have spent a lot of time, energy and money to prepare for my family. I feel, like I am sure many of you feel, that I am not going to take care of those who chose not to take care of themselves.

However, what if God is telling some not to prepare? What if there are people that, through no fault of their own, find themselves in need during a time of turmoil?

Does this mean that we have to help everyone who ever needs anything, regardless of the reason? “The simpleton passes on and suffers for it” tell me this isn’t the case.

So what do we do? How do we reconcile and make peace with the two viewpoints that could be seen as competing? Being prudent and preparing, and possibly being God’s hands and feet and taking care of someone who “Is suffering for it”?

Listen for the still small voice and be obedient!

I believe that everything I own is God’s, and I am just the steward of it. A good steward doesn’t give away everything he is charged with taking care of. But a good steward isn’t prideful, thinking “I have spent a lot of time, energy and money to prepare for my family and everyone else be damned.”

Like I said, I am struggling through this.

Bringing this back to the top of this article; are you willing to be an Ark? Maybe that means giving aid to someone in dire need; maybe that means giving them some meager supplies and sending them on to a safer place. It could mean you do nothing, as sometimes I think Father just wants to see that we’re listening and willing.

I’ll ask again, are you willing to be an Ark?

EDIT:

There have been some comments made about how to give, and it was mentioned that James Wesley Rawles encourages people to give to their local Church. I do as well, for a few different reasons, you can read about it here: Lessons from the Bible on Anonymity

 
Please click here to vote for Prepared Christian as a top Prepper site!

If you liked this article please think about sharing it on the social media listed below, thanks!