Signs of the Times | Prepared Christian

The Shemitah, Four Blood Moons and the Most Important Preparation

September 27, 2015 by Chris Ray

I know I haven’t been posting regularly for some time, but I believe I would be doing a disservice to all of you for not commenting on a few things. Some of you may be aware of them. Others may be hearing it for the first time. I also want to comment on a few current news stories that I feel may tie in.

I’m talking about the Shemitah and the Four Blood Moons.

The Shemitah

I became aware of a book called The Harbinger, a book by Messianic Jew Jonathan Cahn, thanks to some of you a couple years ago, which I then read. The follow up book to it is called The Mystery of the Shemitah. While Trudee and I are still reading it, I have listened and watched enough from Jonathon Cahn to understand the core of it.

The Shemitah is a command God gave the Jews to let the land rest and lay fallow for one year. At the end of that year, all debts were forgiven. It is a way for the land to be renewed, and for the finances of each household to be renewed as well.

Mr. Cahn stipulates that the Shemitah is also prophesy. In his book The Harbinger, he draws a comparison between America and the 9/11 attacks to the destruction of Ancient Israel. If the links he draws are in fact true, they are very concerning. The Mystery of the Shemitah comes from a small part of his original book, but expounds on it. You see the 9/11 attacks came on the opening of the Shemitah in 2001, and 7 years later came the great recession. Now, 7 years later, we find ourselves in another Shemitah year that began on September 13th.

He says that the previous two Shemitah’s were acts of God trying to get America’s attention and wake us up. Mr. Cahn is careful not to date set or say that something will happen, but that if God wanted to continue in this vein, this Shemitah could be very eventful.

The Four Blood Moons

I found out about The Four Blood Moons from some of you as well. They have been popularized by the preaching of Pastor John Hagee in a movie call “The Four Blood Moons”, which, by the way, is available to stream on Netflix.

Only four times in the last 500 years have there been four blood moons appearing back to back, coinciding with Jewish high holy days.

1493
In 1493 Cristobal Colon, AKA Christopher Columbus, rescued Spanish Jews from the inquisition and brought them to America.

1949

On May 14th, 1948 Israel declared sovereignty. Less than 24 hours later Israel was attacked by Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq. All were defeated by Israel. The armistice was signed on July 20 1949.

With the armistice signed, Jews from around the world begin to return to Israel. Many have likened this return to the Jews being called out of Egypt and being led to Israel.

1967

On June 7, 1967 Jews claimed victory in taking Jerusalem, in the Six Day War and blew the Shofar at the Western Wall. This was the first time in 2,000 years Jews had been in control of Jerusalem.

2015

For the first time in history, the Tetrad occured in a Shemitah year; the final Blood Moon occurs on Monday September 28, 2015. (Keep different time zones on different continents in mind here.)

Jubilee Year

The Jubilee Year was to provide for a double portion of rest every 50th year. Each 49th year would be a Sabbath Year, followed by a Jubilee Year in the 50th, so that for two consecutive years the people would restore the land, personal and economic freedom and to be dependent on God.

The Shemitah and the Jubilee year just started and will continue until September 2016.

My Take

My opinion of the Mystery of the Shemitah is that I think Jonathon Cahn sensationalizes things in his books a bit. There has been a time or two in both the Harbinger and the Shemitah that I rolled my eyes a little. That’s not to say there is not good information in them, but I’m not certain he isn’t stretching ancient prophecy to fit America.

There is no doubt it was a command for the Jews. Could it be a prophecy and one that is being given to modern day America? That I don’t know; but if it is not, it is quite a coincidence that out of the last six Shemitah’s, all of them had either a market crash or a recession occur during the Shemitah year.

2008 ~ Housing Bubble Burst and Ensuing Recession

S&P 500 loss: 56.4 percent
Duration: 17 months

2001 ~ Dot Com Bubble Burst, Recession and 9-11 Market Aftermath

Loss: 49.1 percent
Duration: 30 months

1994 ~ The Great Bond Market Massacre
Loses: The biggest bond market collapse in US history. Not only that, $1.5 trillion was lost worldwide.

1987 ~ Black Monday, October 19th
Loss: 33.5 percent
Duration: 3 months

1980 ~ Increased interest rates of nearly 20% caused a recession.
S&P 500 loss: 27.8 percent
Duration: 21 months

1973 ~ Israel’s Yom Kippur War lead to an Arab oil embargo that sent energy prices soaring, leading to a recession.
Loss: 48.0 percent
Duration: 21 months

Yes we have had several stock market crashes and recessions throughout our history, but never in the pattern of every seven years, falling on the Shemitah year. When I discovered this, I wondered what may have happened in 1973 and did some research; Abortion was legalized. Now I am not saying it is related, and I’ll take this time to say that as believers, we need to be cautious of numerology, astrology and making links that are not necessarily connected. I think we, as watchmen, need to be aware of God’s word, His prophecies and current events.

I do believe God sends us signs. The Bible is full of them! Just use discernment.

I don’t think any Bible believing follower of Christ could say that America doesn’t deserve judgment. Like Billy Graham once said when asked if America deserve to be judged, “If not, then God owes Sodom and Gomorrah an apology”.

In the last 40 years, our country has accelerated in sin. Once we legalized abortion, many other countries followed suit. We export sin to other countries in the form of pornography.

Since our current President has taken office, we have seen:
“Don’t ask, Don’t tell” abandoned and open homosexuality allowed in the military.
The Supreme Court making the decision that any ban of gay marriage is illegal.
The White House bathed in “Rainbow” colors in celebration of that decision.
Christian bakers and florists charged and fined for refusing to cater to homosexual clients.

These are to name just a few.

The World is a Powder Keg

A little known portion of the Iran deal states that if Israel attacks Iran, we will defend Iran. It rewards Iran for training and finding terrorists with billions of dollars in oil revenue. The attempts to limit their obtaining a nuclear bomb are laughable.

We’ve been shown that China has the power to destroy the world economy, as was seen on August 7, 2015.

Russia has its fighters and nuclear capable bombers fly just shy of several countries’ borders, including off the coast of Alaska and California. Russia has also recently sent fighter and other armaments to Syria to aid Assad.

The Violence in Syria has seen tens of thousands of refugee’s flee into Europe. Rape, child abuse and other acts of violence are being reported from some refugee camps. Some are concerned that members of ISIS are hiding among the refugee’s to sneak into Europe and America.

North Korea makes a new nuclear threat against the USA. They are also restarting uranium enrichment and attempts to launch a satellite, which is viewed as testing of an ICBM missile.

Oh yeah, this is all in the last two months!

So What Should We Do?

The Most Important Preparation!

First and foremost, get right with God. If you’ve not asked God to enter your life, don’t wait any longer. Tell Him you know you’re a sinner, repent, which means to confess your sins and do them no more; and ask Him to come into your life.

If you are saved, get rid of anything that could keep you from Him. I recently decided not to watch anything I would not feel comfortable watching with my mom. I came to this after spending a few days with her and discovering how many things on Netflix I might normally watch, but felt uncomfortable watching with her. I could say I won’t watch anything I wouldn’t watch with God, but I have watched things that were not spiritually healthy, knowing He would not approve, for years.

Men, you are the spiritual head (the Priest) of the home; be that example! I didn’t know how to be this, so I started with saying I wanted to pray before meals. I also started reading the Bible every morning, even if it meant getting up 10 minutes earlier. I started praying with Trudee before bed every night. Pray over your family, and bless them. As a part of being the example, and not being a hypocrite, be aware of sin you might be taking part in. Even if your family doesn’t know you’re sinning, both sides of the spiritual war do!

Women, our culture has, for lack of a better way to phrase this, “bred this out of modern men”; If your husband takes steps to be the spiritual head of the home, allow and encourage him! If he won’t, then the job falls to you!

Other Preparations

I never recommend going into debt to get prepared, but I will admit I did take a loan out on my 401k. I used the money to increase preps that I had on the back burner, but felt very compelled to get taken care of. The 401k loan is taken out of my paycheck, and I will pay myself back with interest.

Make sure you have a way to purify water, as much food stocked as you can afford, with alternate ways to cook, and a way to defend your loved ones. Once those major needs are taken care of, prayerfully consider investing in precious metals.

If your preps have holes, prayerfully consider filling them as soon as you can. I have covered every topic that deals with preparedness essentials, just use the search function. If you don’t see what you are looking for, send me an email Chris preparedchristian net and I will either write a reply to you, or write a post about it and share it with everyone.

Closing

I am not one given to hysteria, but I do feel like we’re on the verge of something big. I have felt this way before, and nothing came of it. Then again, there wasn’t this much tension in America, or the world for that matter, not to mention the significance of the blood moons and the Shemitah.

Monday September 28th is the last blood moon but we have almost a full year of the Jubilee left.

While God doesn’t have to do anything with any of this information, He sure left plenty of signs pointing to the possibility that He could if He wanted to!

Are you ready?

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Filed Under: Christian World View, Signs of the Times

A Practical Look at the Economy and What You Can Do To Prepare

March 10, 2015 by Chris Ray

I was recently sent an email from fellow Prepared Christian Jeff, asking if I would give my thoughts on the economy, debt and how scripture may tie into it. First, thanks Jeff for the email! Second, I’ll say that I am, by no means, an economics expert. I could only give a novices explanation to the workings of the stock market, or how the economy of a country works. I am, however an expert at threat analysis and troubleshooting in general. While I do think I could do wonders to fix the economy, nothing I say will have any impact on a national level. But I also have some ideas that could help you and your family get out of debt, put more money into your pockets, and build an emergency fund.

At a National Level

The truth is that nothing I say in this segment matters to the extent that we can do anything about it. It is important to understand how and why things will trickle down to the point where you will feel it.

I don’t want to get to political, but we can’t discuss our national economy and our debt without wading into politics. I used to be someone who thought the person we voted for would have some impact on the economy; no longer. I have used this analogy before; our economy lies in a coffin, one party is pounding in nails slowly but steadily with a hammer. The other is frantically putting them in with a pneumatic nail gun. While one might be doing the job slower, they’re still putting nails in the coffin.

President Bush increased the national debt a huge amount with the start to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the creation of DHS. This was made to look like child’s play by the staggering amount of debt the Obama administration has created. From the continuation and eventual withdrawal of the war in Iraq, to the ongoing war in Afghanistan, the various militaristic involvements, to the untold number of social programs and on and on and on. Not to mention QE 1, 2 and 3, and Obama care. We have more American’s on welfare and disability than ever before; there are 20 million people that cannot feed themselves without some form of government aid. Some could argue that this was done on purpose, research the Cloward Piven strategy.

I could go on and on, but the point is that in the last fifteen years the value of the dollar has decreased significantly. The country has taken on debt that, if we stopped spending today, would probably still take my great grandchildren to pay off. But that won’t happen. I believe each President for the last fifty years has spent more than his predecessor. Instead, we’ll keep digging the hole deeper and ask China and other nations to help remove some of the dirt from time to time.

At a Local Level

How can this affect you? I’m not one who believes in the impending economic collapse that will see societal collapse and WROL (Without Rule Of Law) overnight. Instead, I think it will be a slow boil. I believe it is only a matter of time until we see another recession. I think that this one will be harsher than that of 2008. Federal dollars will have to stretch further due to the above mentioned incurred debt, so cuts will need to be made.

These cuts will be to federally funded programs, some in terms of money given to states, and others in forms of cuts to social programs. If less federal dollars are coming into the states, the states need to make cuts, thusly will the cities.

When we see a recession, we obviously see unemployment rise. We’re not in a recession now, and I am seeing more local businesses fold then I am seeing open. When we do see a recession, this number will rise. If you would like a few ways to judge the health of your local economy, I wrote an article called Signs of a Slowing Local Economy.

In the last five years I have seen some reports that cities are no longer having street lights on after certain hours. Police have said they won’t respond to certain crimes and won’t ticket or arrest for others.

We’re also seeing more and more young adults living with their parents. I think the main reason for this is that the jobs they are able to find aren’t paying enough for them to afford living on their own. I have read that the unemployment rate for people in this age group is nearly three times what it is for older workers.

These items might seem unrelated, but let me tie them together. We’re not currently in a recession, and there are several municipalities making cuts to basic safety features. Many small businesses are closing their doors and we have many college-age people living with their parents because they are either unemployed or underemployed. All of this is occurring during a “stable” economy.

The College Bubble

Here is an article that will explain the College Bubble better and in more detail than I. Here is my quick and dirty explanation; federally backed student loans are handed out to just about anyone. Colleges are continually raising the tuition costs; I wish someone could explain to me why it costs more not to teach someone about a topic like computer programming than it did ten years ago. Student loan debt is over 1 trillion dollars and, according to the linked article, has surpassed credit card debt.

I see enough similarities to the housing bubble to believe it will pop. When it does, enrollment will drastically decrease, causing schools to lower tuition or close. In both cases, cuts to staff and salaries will be made. I also agree with the article that it will be much harder to get a student loan.

Debt

I hate debt. In fact, I think it steals from ones future; and you should too. This isn’t to say I don’t use it, I just avoid it at all costs. I saw statistics that say the average household has from $7,000-$12,000 in credit card debt alone. If you could pay $100 toward your credit card debt each month, it would take almost six years to pay off $7,000. Unfortunately many of us who use credit cards can only afford to pay the minimum payments. I bought into this trap in my early twenties. I bought a computer for $2,500 and made the minimum payments. It took me seven years to pay that off.

The Bible lists the word debt in less than ten verses. My favorite is this one from Romans 13:8:

“Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.”

Biblical times didn’t look at debt like we do. Back then, if you had a debt and you couldn’t pay when the debtor wanted to collect, you could be sold into slavery until the debt was paid. Now this isn’t the kind of slavery we had in America. It was more like indentured servitude. An indentured slave would work until their debt was paid off. I don’t know this for sure, but I would imagine that the cost for room and board would be added to their debt, increasing the amount of time they might need to work. Keep in mind, it was Jewish custom to forgive the debts of fellow Jews (I believe) every seven years.

If you’re currently living a lifestyle where you use your credit cards frequently and are sporting hefty debt, you might not see it as slavery. But I bet as soon as you decide you want to be debt free you will be.

What Do I Suggest?

It’s not my place to tell you what to do. Instead, I’ll offer my suggestions. First, you have to want to get out of debt and decide to only spend what you have, as does your spouse if you have one. Along with this, Tithe. If you don’t have a church you want to give to, find a Christian organization to give to. Give God what is His, and let Him bless you in return.

Next, I would work on an emergency fund before paying off the credit cards. You need to be able to pay for the things that go wrong without going into more debt. I think enough money to pay one month’s bills makes sense. This way if there is a major car repair, or you’re hurt and can’t work for a few weeks, the bills are paid.

Now, I would pay the minimum on all cards, then pick the card with the smallest outstanding balance and throw as much “extra” money at it as you can. Once it is paid off, use all of that money to pay the next smallest one, and so on until all cards are paid off. I haven’t looked into him much, but I believe Dave Ramsey has a similar approach and I know some of you have had great success with it.

So, you’re debt free. Now what? Now I think would be a good time to do two things; pick a more expensive prep, save up for it and purchase it with cash.

Don’t hesitate to hold cash. I know some people believe cash will be worthless overnight. The only scenario I can see that in is a total grid down event, and even then it would hold its value for a time. Now that I think about it, in this scenario and many others, cash will still be king, at least for a while. People know its value, they believe it is worth what it is stamped with and transactions can be done without power.

It is a good idea to keep some cash at home, or in a safe deposit box. I also keep a small amount of emergency cash on me. In fact, they are the same bills I originally started carrying. I consider this money only to be spent in dire situations.

I think saving for retirement is a good idea. We have no idea when or if the economic “meltdown” is coming, or what shape it will take. I know some of you believe the fed will seize all assets in 401K accounts. I just don’t see it. I think there would be blood in the streets and they know it. I can’t even imagine what creative ways they would use to come after more of our money, but I do think that they would do it going forward, not taking money that has already been saved.

Once you are debt free and have your preps squared away, you could work on both barter items and learning skills that you could barter.

This would also be a good time to invest in precious metals, if that is of interest. I think it is a good idea. I wrote a two part primer on precious metals, part one and part two. I see gold and silver as currency that has held its value over time, that can be used to barter. I don’t hold it as an investment. I see it the same as paper money but with a stronger run in terms of holding value.

One other big ticket item you may consider is a BOL (bug out location). This is a goal of mine; a piece of land I can do some permaculture on, use as a vacation spot, and BOL if ever needed. Does this mean more debt? It might. We will have to pay cash for raw land or take a mortgage for land with a structure. If this is my only other debt besides my current mortgage, I think there is more than enough upside to take on the additional debt.

The last thing I will suggest to do once you are debt free is to save up and treat yourself in some way. Life is more than prepping, working and saving; as long as we don’t go into debt for it, splurge a little.

Final Thoughts

The point I am trying to make is that there is plenty to be concerned about when it comes to the economy. Watch for national signs, and especially local signs because these things never happen overnight. The best thing we can do now or if things really go sideways and we do see a complete economic collapse overnight, is to have our financial house in order.

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Filed Under: Signs of the Times Tagged With: Finance

Q/A with AlertsUSA on Current Events

October 28, 2014 by Chris Ray

In our last Q/A session, North Korea was one of the leading topics in the news. I want to thank AlertsUSA for taking the time to answer these questions. Due to circumstances beyond our control there was a little delay, but the information is still very relevant. I also wanted to let everyone know that AlertsUSA offers $20 their yearly membership to Preparedness Club members. That one benefit pays for half of the yearly Preparedness Club membership alone.

Attacks by islmists

Chris: Since 9/11, we have seen multiple jihadi’s calling for attacks on American soil, yet there have only been a few successful lone wolf style attacks. What are the chances that they saw how we chased the Taliban and the terrorist camps out of Afghanistan and Al-Qaida out of Iraq, and now know that if they don’t hurt us worse than before, we’ll roust them from the countries that they are based in?
What are the chances that our enemies are waiting for something big enough to hurt us bad enough for us to not be able to respond?

AlertsUSA: While there have only been a few successful domestic attacks since 9/11, this is not for lack of trying. As we have written about within our Threat Journal newsletter on multiple occasions, a casual conversation with any federal law enforcement official or member of the special operations community, if directly asked, will reveal there are a constant stream of individuals, organizations and foreign states attempting to do harm to this country as well as our citizens and interests abroad.

As an example, a major counter-terrorism operation was undertaken within the last few weeks in SE Michigan (home to the nations’ largest mosque) and several other locations across the country in order to roll up an active, very serious plot. No, you will not find links to media reports about the operation. It was all done quickly and quietly by specialized CT professionals with no fanfare.

Why are these incidents not shared with the public? There are a multitude of reasons. On one hand, there are few tactical or strategic benefits and it may actually hurt other ongoing efforts by revealing sources and methods. There are also few benefits to having such operations dissected by media organizations and political opportunists. The real professionals don’t want the publicity. There is also a very real concern that if the true tempo and nature of such threats were publicized it would likely result in significant backlash against specific religious / ethnic groups.

In the end, while a majority of Americans have become complacent thinking that terror organizations have stopped trying, or are holding back, or that all terror threats are sprouted by the U.S. government to keep the “sheeple” scared, the truth of the matter is that these attempts happen regularly.

Chris: We’re all aware of ISIS and the way they are slaughtering Christians in the Middle East. Today, FOX News reported this:

“A senior Homeland Security (DHS) official confirmed to Congress on Wednesday that militants associated with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS) are planning to enter the United States via the porous southern border.”

I think ISIS would obviously love to launch attacks here on the US mainland, but how much of a threat do you think it is? Secondly, do you know how seriously government is or isn’t taking it?

AlertsUSA: The threat is very real and we know from first hand experience and regular interaction with those at the pointed end of the spear that the U.S. government is taking it very seriously.

Here again, while CT professionals prefer to operate outside of the spotlight and not have their actions dissected by media organizations and political opportunists, there are a growing number of U.S. citizens whom have traveled abroad over the last few years to join the jihad and are now returning home. Then there are the literally thousands of Muslims who are citizens of European Union countries whom have done the same. And as citizens of the EU enjoy visa-free travel to the U.S., this only amplifies the threat. Then add to this those Americans who are not inclined to travel abroad, but are nonetheless similarly motivated.

The threat is very real, as can be seen with the recent beheading in of a woman in Oklahoma who refused to convert to Islam. More is coming.

Additional note from Chris. It would seem AlertsUSA is of course correct, the most recent attack by an islamist occurred in Canada. I would also point out that the beheading in Oklahoma is the first killing of that type, but there have been several lone wolf Islamic attacks in recent years.

Russia

Chris: The cold war may have ended, but Russia has never stopped its saber rattling. I remember in 1991, while on board the USS Abraham Lincoln Air-Craft Carrier, the Russian Bear were flying into our air space and F18s were being scrambled to intercept them. With all of the Russian advances on Ukraine, the US and NATO response, they have stepped up the saber rattling to a level not many are aware of. The Business Insider.com recently said in an article titled “Russian Strategic Bombers Near Canada Practice Cruise Missile Strikes on US “that at least 16 bomber incursions by the bear occurred in just 10 days recently.

“Northern Command has confirmed that Russian strategic bomber flights increased sharply over the past six months.”

Last month, at least 16 bomber incursions by the Russians took place within the northwestern U.S. and Canadian air defense zones over a period 10 days. It was the largest number of incursions since the end of the Cold War. U.S. fighter jets intercepted the Russian aircraft and followed them until they exited the defense zone. The Tu-95 is a nuclear-capable bomber that is outfitted with six AS-15 nuclear-armed cruise missiles. The missiles have a range of over 1,800 miles.”

AlertsUSA: We all believe that Russia is just saber rattling, but Russia is not North Korea, and Putin is not Kim Jung Un. Russia has the capability to deal a knockout blow several times over. With the way they are flying these mock attacks, they could fly several Tu-95s and launch a hundred nukes before we were even aware they were headed our way.

I try not to delve into prophecy often, but those familiar with Ezekiel 39 will know that Russia, or Magog, will lead many of the world’s forces in an attack against Israel. I have said before that I believe for this to happen, something will need to happen to remove America as Israel’s protector.

All that being said, what are your thoughts on Russia, their threat to the US, and their threat to the countries that were a part of the former USSR?

This is complicated, but important.

YES, Russia does pose a threat to the U.S. and NATO.

BUT, the actions of the U.S. and NATO also pose a strategic threat to Russia.

Example: The proposed missile shield the U.S. has been attempting to get placed in the Baltic States is not for protection of Europe from missiles fired from nations such as Iran. It is intended to be able to take out Russian strategic rockets during the boost phase. Russia knows this and has publicly threatened to preemptively strike any such installations.

Example: U.S. meddling in Ukrainian politics poses another strategic threat to Russia.

Consider the following:

In December last year, Asst. Secretary of State for Europe, Victoria Nuland, delivered a presentation in front of National Press Club during which she revealed that the U.S. government has invested more than 5 BILLION dollars in helping destabilize the pro-Russian Ukrainian government and to develop “democratic institutions and a good form of government,” all in an effort to bring about Ukraine’s entry into the EU, and ultimately, NATO.

Next, consider the geography of the region. Looking at a map you will see that the Black Sea is Western Russia’s singular warm-water access point. All other ports in the North of the country, with the exception of Murmansk near the northeast corner of Finland, are blocked by ice at least 6 months out of each year. The only reason Murmansk remains ice free is due to the warm waters of the N. Atlantic current. Although 9 time zones in size, more than 90% of Russia’s population lives in the Western third of the country. If Crimea, and thus access to the Black Sea, were to end up in NATO hands, Russia would lose access to the world’s oceans for at least half of the year. This is a huge strategic threat to their defenses, to international trade and more.

Next, the Russian Navy has kept its Black Sea Fleet stationed at a naval base on the Crimean peninsula since the late 1700s and the time of Napoleon. The Port of Sevastopol has a large, deep, defensible harbor and is accessible in all seasons. In 2010, Russia negotiated an agreement with Ukraine that allows use of the strategically located Sevastopol naval base through 2042 in exchange for discounts on natural gas.

Ukraine becoming a NATO member would eliminate their ability to use this base, which is critical for their access to the world’s oceans.

Finally, playing “follow the money” it should not be surprising that Ukraine is a critical corridor for oil and gas pipelines from Russia and the Caspian region into Europe. These pipelines and the product they carry generate huge profits (hundreds of billions) annually for the Russian government. To have Ukraine come under Western influence and potentially join NATO would put that Russian state revenue stream at risk. Hence, another strategic threat.

With just these few items (there are many more), it is easy to see how Russia is being backed into a corner and forced to exert their power and to sabre rattle. Their strategic interests and national security are directly threatened.

And this is where the danger comes home.

Russian President Putin, Prime Minister Medvedev and the Chief of the Russian General Staff Gen. Nikolai Makarov, have on multiple occasions in the last 3 years made explicitly clear that Russia would use nuclear weapons, including in a preemptive capacity, if there is a threat to the integrity of the Russian Federation These scenarios include conventional attacks on Russia or it’s strategic partners, placement of missile shield installations in former Soviet-bloc countries and more.

Ebola

Chris: I have said in previous articles that I think the Ebola threat here in the USA is minimal. However, you recently had an alert that said:

“Air ambulance company used for Ebola evac flights admits moving “a lot” more cases to US than pub disclosed. State Dept. mum on details & treatment locations.”

AlertsUSA: While I still think the threat of it spreading like it has in Africa is lower here in US, this is more concerning. Do your sources have any other information on the extent of this practice?
In the time since your questions were originally posed, much has transpired.

While we have no further references to “secret” flights, take note that Judicial Watch, the conservative public watchdog group, says in a new report that the President is “actively formulating plans” to admit Ebola-infected non-citizens into the U.S. for treatment.

Other Threats?

Chris: What other threats should we be paying attention to that I haven’t covered?

AlertsUSA: In the end, I would say that while it is extremely easy for people to become complacent because it seems the U.S. rarely comes under attack or that nothing too bad ever happens, this is an extremely dangerous mindset. Particularly for those of us who profess to be Christians.

Just consider where we are as a Nation:

The dominant political party in America has adopted and ferociously defends the sins listed in Romans 1 as their national platform. Free birth control and the promotion of fornication, abortion on demand up to and including late term (murder), the widespread promotion of homosexuality and the codifying of homosexual marriage into Federal law (and the “hearty approval of those who practice it”), and on and on and on. All of this is a gross violation of God’s law.

With all of this and more happening on a national level, can anyone really think that we are a Nation under God’s blessing and protection? Hardly. Romans 1 is explicitly clear that God WILL judge nations which go down this line.

Pray, Prepare and Stay Aware.

Filed Under: Signs of the Times Tagged With: Current Events

What You Need to Know About a Pandemic

August 6, 2014 by Chris Ray

I have covered this topic in the past, but with the outbreaks of Ebola popping up and the number of new readers, I decided I would cover it again. A true pandemic is one of the “big ones” that scares me the most, partly because we are so limited by what we can do to prepare for it, and partly because I think it has a better chance of happening then an EMP over American soil.

I used the word “true” because the last pandemic we had, H1N1, aka the swine flu, wasn’t a true pandemic. It had the “morbidity rate” or rate of infection, but the mortality rate was actually lowered compared to past requirements.

Modern Day Pandemic Dangers

The last worldwide pandemic was the 1918 Influenza Pandemic, killing 20-50 million people, including 675,000 in the United States. The population of the United States in 1918 was 103,206,000, meaning that roughly .65% of the population was wiped out.

I believe that if we were to see a pandemic today, we would be in much worse shape. In 1918, if someone wanted to come to America, they had to take a boat. I don’t know the travel time of a vessel in 1918, but I would guess 10-14 days. With modern day air travel, an infected person could make it stateside in 24 hours, infecting everyone onboard in the process. In turn, those passengers would infect everyone on their connecting flights and eventually their families. One infected person could literally infect people travelling to the majority of states within in 24 hours.

The scare right now is Ebola. While Ebola is incredibly nasty and I mourn for the families who’ve been affected by it, it isn’t what scares me the most. Ebola most often comes from West Africa and patient zero is infected by direct contact with infected animals, some of which are used as a food supply, such as bats. It is then possible for human to human infection via the exchange of bodily fluids. Some of the numbers I have seen for mortality rate of Ebola are 50%-90%. However, I found data that suggests there have been less than 4,000 cases since Ebola was discovered in 1976, including the cases from the recent outbreaks.

What scares me is the illness that doesn’t exist yet or a mutation of an existing one that takes on more deadly qualities. For example, if a form of SARS, which has a high mortality rate, married a version of H1N1, we could then be faced with something that infects a large percentage of people and kills 15%-25% of those infected. To be clear, I am not saying that Ebola isn’t a threat. It is decimating countries in Western Africa, killing civilians and healthcare workers. We need to be vigilant and stay informed on any local cases of it. I’m just not sure Ebola has the same threat level as a more virulent strain of the flu. Here is an article from Canada published on June 23, 2014 where a physician and professor stated the following:

“If we had a case in Canada we’d isolate the case, the patient would live or die, and we’d be highly unlikely to have it transmit,”

While it is true that medical care has made incredible strides since 1918, there were no antibiotic resistant superbugs either, such as the recent Resistant ‘Nightmare Bacteria’ Increase Fivefold in Southeastern U.S. While we have far advanced scientific ability and equipment, for a vaccine to be developed, the scientists first have to be able to reproduce it, successfully test it, and then get FDA approval. This could take three months or more.

In case you were wondering, current US population is 318,559,000. If we saw 6.5% of our population die, that would be 2,100,000. When you consider the number of people taken out of the workforce, not just from death by pandemic, but those who are sick, those who are taking care of the sick and those self-quarantining, you can begin to see how quickly essential services could be overwhelmed and collapse.

What Can We Do?

In Flu and Pandemic Preps to Buy Now, I list three items that I own and believe you should as well; Hibiclens, Surgical N-95 NIOSH-certified masks and latex free gloves. Read the article for in depth information. Below are the highpoints.

Hibiclens was prescribed to me during an MRSA scare a few years back. Not only does Hibbiclens kill viruses and bacteria on contact, it will protect you for up to six hours after use.

Surgical N-95 NIOSH-certified masks are not the same as the N-95 masks you can buy at the big box store. These are the masks OSHA requires for medical personal exposed to potential pandemic victims.

After the masks, Latex free gloves are quite possibly the most important PPE (personal protection equipment) you can own. The two most common ways to spread a virus are through the air and through contact. If you wash with Hibiclens and wear gloves, you’ve greatly reduced the risk of direct contact.

We can also be prepared to hunker down and shelter in place to ride things out until we’re sure there is either nothing to worry about or there is a vaccine. This is one event I believe bugging out might be best, if you live in an urban environment and have somewhere else to go.

To either shelter in place or bug out before things take a bad turn, you need to stay on top of current events and be alerted for any stateside outbreaks, especially those in your local area.

One of the best resources for this is one of my sponsors, AlertsUSA. I have received alerts from AlertsUSA for quite some time now and they consistently provide news faster than I can find on mainstream media. They have important connections who pass information along to them, which they in turn pass along to their subscribers. As a reminder, Preparedness Club Members get a 25% discount at AlertsUSA.

Another site you can keep an eye on is the page that the CDC is keeping up to date on the Ebola outbreaks.

My personal plan would be to put the entire house in quarantine when I either a.) hear of multiple cases near me or b.) see local cases announced on the local news. I am lucky enough to be able to work from home occasionally, so I can pull the trigger faster than if I had to go in every day. If I had to go in, I might still impose quarantine and take a couple days of impromptu vacation time.

As stated above, it could take 90+ days to develop a vaccine. For this reason, I think we should have a minimum of 90 days’ supply of food and medicine on hand. The water will probably continue to run, but we should be prepared for waterborne illnesses as well. Having that much water stored is not realistic for 99% of us. Have some stored as well as a means to purify more.

Around the time I started blogging 4 years ago, I read an article that spoke of how woefully ill prepared large communities were for a pandemic. Since that time, some state governments have started taking action. Minnesota is just one of many. I attended a conference on how local hospitals will respond. They said that if any clinic or hospital begins to see an increase in patients with the same symptoms, they activate a call center who then calls other local clinics and hospitals to make them aware and to see if they have any patients to report with those same symptoms.

There are several sites that have been predetermined to use for housing patients. Cots and medical supplies will be brought in quickly. There are caches of medicine scattered around the area, which can be distributed to these locations very quickly when needed. The local media will be kept up to date so they can relay information to the public. There are also various locations around the area that have been chosen as mass vaccine distribution centers. I was also invited to attend a meeting at my church, with high ranking law enforcement officials, local Emergency Managers and medical personnel to discuss the church being one such center. The discussion focused on the best way to quickly and safely distribute the vaccine. One potential option was drive thru style; with people pulling their cars up, vaccine given and they go on their way.

My first thought is that a mass vaccine center is the last place I would want to be. However, when looking at this from a logistical standpoint, it is the fastest way to get the vaccine to the public.

Here is an article from the CDC with information on the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS). While this isn’t a perfect solution, I am glad to see that government is being proactive on this topic.

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Filed Under: Medical and First Aid, Signs of the Times Tagged With: awareness, Pandemic

Has the Threat of an EMP Increased?

March 3, 2014 by Chris Ray

Has the Threat of an EMP Increased

As I mentioned in The Difference Between an EMP and a Solar Flare, I believe that the threat of a conventional nuclear or an EMP strike on American soil has increased. I, of course, am talking about Iran’s claims that they will be sending their naval fleet to a position off the coast of the United States. Before I go any further, let me be clear, I do not believe Iran’s Navy poses any threat by a traditional naval attack. That being said, I do believe, as I stated, that the chance of a nuclear strike has increased.

If you’re not familiar with the news item, FOX News covered it in this article called Iran sending warships close to US borders. On a side note, multiple sources for this story have pulled their articles. Here is another article from the Washington Examiner that states: Expert: Iran ships a dry run for later nuclear/EMP attack; humiliate Obama.

To help explain why I believe that the threat of an EMP or traditional nuclear attack has increased, I’ll use the following metaphor; You are the captain of a very successful bowling team, winning several tournaments across the state. Many other teams have your team in their sites. Some teams talk trash, but for the most part everyone has a good clean time, except for Joe Dirtbag from the next town over. Joe’s team never finishes very high in any of the tournaments, which makes him and the Dirt-Balls hate you even more.

Joe has made some threats about how he is going to “kick your butt”, “Wipe you from the map” and on and on. Because Joe’s team practices at a different bowling alley and because there is no way his team could even come close to beating your team, even if you gave them a three frame lead, you dismiss Joe and laugh off his threats, until Joe starts posting on social media that he is going to come to your house and shoot you and your family. You don’t know if Joe is serious or if he even owns a gun.

Now, if you are prudent, I believe you live your life normally while keeping an eye out for Joe. You should maintain this vigilance until enough time has passed where you feel sure Joe isn’t showing up. However, if Joe shows up at your spouse’s work, your kid’s school or across the street, you would be a fool not to think the threat has increased.

But Is Iran a Threat?

Iran puffing up and making wild claims is nothing new. In fact, here is an article from the Times of Israel with the headline Iran: We’re ready for ‘decisive battle’ with Israel, US Let me clarify. If Iran doesn’t show up on our shores, obviously the threat hasn’t increased. They’ve made some pretty silly claims over the years, so them being a no-show is a high possibility. However, if they do start to patrol just outside of our borders in international waters (most countries agree that this is 3 miles from the coast), then yes, I believe the threat has increased.

I have written a few times on how Iran doesn’t have the missile technology to launch a strike of any kind from its borders to attack ours. But if they were to place a nuclear payload on one of their current missiles and hide it on a cargo container ship, they could launch an attack from international waters outside of American soil. I am not the first to think of this. You might recall that Steve from AlertsUSA said in a Q/A session from March of 2013:

“Chris:

While many countries such as North Korea or Iran, don’t have the missile capability to launch a nuke from their country to land on the continental USA, (I know North Korea either has gotten the technology or is close to having it). Would it be possible for them to hide a missile on a ship carrying shipping containers, and launch an EMP style attack from a hundred miles from our shores?

AlertsUSA:

“In addition to that written above, this is most certainly a possibility. The USGOV certainly appears to be bolstering East Coast surveillance and defenses against some type of threat.

Consider the following:

In January, it was announced that the U.S. defense department would be closing down a balloon surveillance program being run on the U.S. / Mexico border known as TARS, or the Tethered Aerostat Radar System (TARS), which was an aerostat-borne surveillance program used to support counter-narcotic operations, mostly in southern border regions. Four TARS are deployed in Texas, two in Arizona and one in New Mexico, Florida, Louisiana and Puerto Rico.

In news released this February, a system similar to TARS known as JLENS, or the Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System will soon be deployed around Washington DC. This begs the question: Why would such a surveillance system need to be “tested” around our the National Capital Region, already one of the most heavily monitored and defended areas in the country?”

Closing

While Iran obviously cannot stand toe-to-toe with the military might of the United States, they don’t need to in order to bring the USA to its knees. Look at how much Al-Qaeda was able to accomplish with just three planes.

I’m no chicken-little, claiming the sky is falling, but when someone makes claims that they want to destroy you and then show up at your front door, it is prudent to start acting like they believe they can and that they want to try.

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Filed Under: Signs of the Times

The Difference Between an EMP and a Solar Flare

February 25, 2014 by Chris Ray

The Difference Between an EMP and a Solar Flare

EMP and solar flares are often spoken of as if they are the same thing. While the end result is similar in that we’re left in the dark, they are actually different threats. Why does it matter? Well, for one, there are actions that can be taken to help protect against a solar flare. Later this week, I’ll be discussing EMP as a clear and present danger to the United States.

Electro Magnetic Pulse

Congress commissioned a group to study the threat of EMP in 2001 and has since re-commissioned it. You can read the EMP Commission Report for full details, but here is one section that described EMP well, located on page 9.

“The electromagnetic pulse generated by a high altitude nuclear explosion is one of a small number of threats that can hold our society at risk of catastrophic consequences. The increasingly pervasive use of electronics of all forms represents the greatest source of vulnerability to attack by EMP. Electronics are used to control, communicate, compute, store, manage, and implement nearly every aspect of United States (U.S.) civilian systems. When a nuclear explosion occurs at high altitude, the EMP signal it produces will cover the wide geographic region within the line of sight of the detonation.”

To be clear, the threat of EMP is totally manmade. An EMP is only caused by a nuclear explosion in the ionosphere and will impact the area within its line of sight. A faraday cage could be used to shield and protect against the effects of an EMP. There are arguments over how effective it would be and how it needs to be made. Personally, I believe that a faraday cage could be an effective method but I also believe it would need to be grounded.

Space Weather; Solar Flares and Coronal Mass Ejection

A very quick and simplistic explanation is that these are two different ways that the sun emits energy. A large eruption produces a flash, called a solar flare. A coronal mass ejection is an eruption of plasma into a large ball of energy. For more in depth information on these topics and on space weather, you can visit this NASA page on Solar Storm and Space Weather – Frequently Asked Questions.

Here is a short video that describes these topics much better than I could.

What Does This Mean for Earth?

The earth has seen solar flares for millennia. For example, there was a very large solar flare in 1859 that disrupted telegraph service, causing the lines to catch fire in some places. There was a blackout in Quebec in 1989 attributed to a solar storm, leaving 6 million people without power.

For a better understanding of this, here are two podcasts from Off the Grid Radio. There are transcripts of these podcasts for those who would prefer to read.
This Off The Grid Radio; Episode 10; (Transcript) is an Interview with John Kappenman, President of Storm Analysis Consultants. John Kappenman is someone who has studied space weather and has testified before Congress on the danger it poses. Mr. Kappenman discusses how solar weather is a very real threat to the grid, mainly to the large transformers.

He explains that:

“event that is almost incomprehensible because we don’t have a lot of relevant experience with it on today’s infrastructure. The severity of the storm that we’re talking about here, we think has a capacity to create widespread massive damage to the power grid especially large high voltage transformers that could cause maybe a 4 to 10 year sort of damage to the power grid and inability to restore that power grid intact over a very long period of time.”

The reason it could take 4-10 years to recover is, as Mr. Kappenman goes on to explain, that the United States currently relies on manufacturers overseas who produce these transmitters. And that:

“Also huge devices on the order of 270 tons each, so they cannot be airlifted. They have to be delivered by slow boat and enormous land logistics problems to locate them to the sites where there need to be replaced.”

The host, Bill, asks:

“So another question that people asks us constantly is does this have the potential to produce its own EMP and fry any electronics. Could a storm be one that’s 10, 20, 30 times more powerful than some of the lightweight stuff we’ve seen? Can that create an EMP and mess electronics in your home up even if you’re not connected to the grid?”

Mr. Kappenman responds:

“Well, I’d say that’s highly unlikely but I have to also caution that we don’t know the full extremes of what mother nature can do either. We certainly have been made aware of the ever more sensitive microelectronics can be impacted by radiation dosages that are also coming in during these severe space weather events and we know that systems like GPS may not function at times during severe space weather events as well. So there is some uncertainties out there that probably haven’t been fully understood and revealed yet.”

The end result is essentially the same. We’re without electricity. In Off the Grid Radio: Episode 31; (Transcript), Mr. Kappenmen is back and explains more of the problem with the grid and transmitters. He also goes into what society would look like if the power just ceased flowing.

Mr. Kappenman explains how our leaders could have done something and chose not to.

“In the last Congress, in I think May or June of last year, the House of Representatives did unanimously approve a bill called the Grid Bill, House Resolution 5026. This bill would have set in motion efforts to harden the power grid and make it more resilient against these sorts of threats that exist in today’s power grid. It would also deal with the cyber security threat, electromagnetic pulse threat and severe space weather, geomagnetic and solar storm threat that we’re talking about. The Senate was not able to act on that bill in the last Congress. As a result, it did not become law, it did not pass. I’m uncertain how the new Congress will view this and what measures they will take. I think some form of this bill will be re-introduced in Congress and further evaluation will be done in formulating a bill that hopefully would get the quick approval of both the House and the Senate.”

To my knowledge, the federal government has still not acted. In fact, some states and cities have begun to take action on their own.

You can sign up to receive Solar Flare alerts here from Flare Alert.

Later this week, I’ll cover how the threat of a nuclear or EMP attack has just increased.

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Filed Under: Signs of the Times

Have We Been Warned to Flee America?

January 1, 2014 by Chris Ray

Have We Been Warned to Flee America

We normally prepare for possible future events. For Christians, those possibilities should always include the biblically prophetic. That said, if you knew that a major, nation-changing, prophecy-fulfilling event were to occur in your lifetime, an event that would forever change America and alter the course of the world, would it change how you prepare?

Trudee and I recently read a book called The End of America. It is my opinion that every Christian should read this book and do their own study, pray on it and see if they come to the same conclusion as the author John Price has.

I have received many emails over the years, commenting on how America is not mentioned in the Bible. I usually say something to the effect that many nations are not mentioned, that for America to be unmentioned only means that it’s not a key player in the end times. When I look at the world as it is today, I wonder what would it take for the world’s only superpower to be absent? One thing I have considered is that something would have to be done to remove the USA as a defender of Israel from the armies and allies of Gog and Magog. This book offers a very plausible explanation.

The book covers so much information that there is no way I can touch on everything. I will cover key points and give my take on a few things. I also want to say that while I do read the Bible every day, I did not attend seminary and have an intermediate level of understanding. For this reason, I have a favor to ask; join with me in a study of this subject. In the words of Ronald Reagan, “Trust but verify.” I think it is prudent to study the topic John Price brings to light. While Mr. Price has done most of the legwork, it’s absolutely essential that we all verify through study and prayer how this translates to our lives.

I don’t want this study to go on in the comments of this blog post. It would get too cluttered and hard to follow. I have created a new section on the Prepared Christian forum, called “Have We Been Warned to Flee America?”. It requires people to sign up and I have to manually approve each membership. This makes things a little slower to get rolling, but it is the only way I can keep the spammers and hackers from posting their filth. Your membership will not be approved immediately, but I will be keeping a close eye on the forum this week to approve memberships. If I reject your membership, please send me an email to let me know. I have roughly 50 spammers creating accounts every day and sometimes I reject a legitimate membership by accident. You will need to log into the forum to be able to see the “Have We Been Warned to Flee America?” forum, once logged in you will find it under the Preparedness forum. You can get to the forum by clicking on the link above.

Mr. Price offers a lot of material on his site, the EndofAmericaBook.com. One item he offers is called PROPHECY 101: A Brief History of Prophetic Interpretation and another is Hebrew and Greek Annotation about the Daughter of Babylon verses.. He also offers a study guide, which I didn’t know about until we were almost finished with the book, that he gives away. He has given me permission to host a copy, which you can download by clicking here. If you need the study guide as another file type, please email me at Chris (at) preparedchristian (dot) net, and I will take care of it.

I have asked John Price if he would be willing to answer questions on the blog post and on the forum. He has agreed to do so. If you have a question for him, please ask and he may answer.

The Kindle version of The End of America is available for $.99 and should be affordable for most of us. You don’t need a Kindle to read kindle books, Amazon offers free Kindle software that allows you to read it on your PC. Click this link to download a free copy of the kindle software.

Here are some things to keep in mind as you read this article: I am a skeptical by nature. I like to have things proven to me. I like to see how people come to their decisions. When people make claims about the Bible or prophesy I scrutinize them even more. There are just too many false teachers who want to tickle ears to take anything on face value without scripture to support it. Mr. Price gives scripture to back up his findings. It is up to us to verify and see if we come to the same conclusion. He also gives several verses from the Koran when he explains the “religion of peace”.

The End of America

The book starts off looking at prophesy, specifically those dealing with the end times. It touches on Israel, and the timing of the Jews again entering the Holy Land in the form of their own nation, Israel.

Mr. Price explains that Israel getting its homeland back as well as the revived Roman Empire (the European Union) are two key prophesy events pointing to us being in the end times.

The Religion of Peace

In chapter two, entitled “The Religion of Peace”, Mr. Price gives a brief history of Islam. He follows the history of Muhammad and the creation of Islam, following the roots of Jihad through Wahabism, which is the dominant form of Islam in Saudi Arabia. What the Wahabists believe is explained and many examples of worldwide terrorism are given.

Muslim End times prophesies are given. I have studied these a bit from other sources as well. When you consider them along with the Christian End times prophesies, it is as if you’re looking at two sides of the same coin. The Twelfth Imam or the Mahdi is their Messiah, and is a great political and military leader. Mr. Price makes the connection, calling the Twelfth Imam the Antichrist.

The Caliphate is also spoken of. The Caliph is the united religious leader of all of Islam. It was abolished in 1924 by Turkey. However, there have been calls from some countries to have it restored. This would greatly help in establishing a one world religion.

The Mystery and Identity of the Daughter of Babylon

I have received emails about the possibility of the United States being the Daughter of Babylon. It is a topic that has interested me but is something I haven’t had time to research. There are several prophesies from both the Old and New Testaments listed, giving the Greek definition of some words to better understand the verse. In fact, here are (–LINK Hebrew and Greek Annotation about the Daughter of Babylon verses.–) (Warning: There are 223 verses on 69 pages).

There have been many claims as to what the Daughter of Babylon is. I have heard claims of the ancient city of Babylon, Rome and even the Catholic Church or New York City. Mr. Price gives 23 clues and the scriptures for each as to what the Daughter of Babylon is. Here are just a few:

• Is the Daughter of Babylon the same as the Mother of Babylon?
• The Hammer of the Whole Earth
• A Latter Day Nation
• A Nation of Wealth and Luxury
• You who live on many waters
• Center of World Commerce
• The Great Voice
• They are Mad Upon Your Idols
• Where other Nations Gather
• She Has Been Proud Against the Lord

The above list is only 10 of the 23 clues. Mr. Price goes into these clues in detail, explaining why he believes America fits the description as the Daughter of Babylon, and why these verses rule out other countries and entities. These clues are very helpful, as is his explanation of how various scriptures just can’t be applied to certain places like ancient Babylon or Rome. If you believe that the Daughter of Babylon is in fact ancient Babylon, Rome or some other place or entity, please read his book and see how his arguments stack up.

How Does God View The Daughter of Babylon?

In this chapter the immorality of the Daughter of Babylon is mentioned, they are:

• Abortion
• Pornography
• Adultery/Divorce
• Same Sex Marriage
• Violence
• Drug Culture
• Witchcraft
• Sumptuous, Self-Indulgent Lifestyles
• Other Abomination

Summarization of the Future of America

This article is getting a little long, so I am going to summarize a few key points that need to be made. Mr. Price mentions a book called Eye to Eye, Facing the Consequences of Dividing Israel. This book lists several times over the last twenty years where America has tried to force Israel to give up land and explains how God has judged us each and every time, usually within a single day. These are natural disasters, from Katrina to the economic crash in 2008. I’ve heard these claims before and was skeptical, but when we ask Israel to give up land twenty times and each of those twenty times, we face historic weather events and economic ruin, well, let’s just say I’m more of a believer now.

There is prophesy starting in Ezekiel 38, where Gog and Magog along with a host of other nations attack Israel. I’m not going to go into great detail, but Mr. Price describes how Russia, Iran and many other nations may attack Israel, and how America will turns its back on her, ignoring the treaty we’ve had for many years.

Because of this, God curses America, lifting the protection He has provided for so many years. Mr. Price goes on to explain that the Jihadists have asked for and have been granted permission from their clerics to use nuclear weapons on Americans. They have also attained a nuclear Fatwa, which is added as attachment A to The End of America. He also explains that Jihadists could seek nuclear weapons from Pakistan, Iran, North Korea, Libya and Russia.

In Revelation 18:8 we’re told:

“Therefore in one day her plagues will overtake her: death, mourning and famine. She will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.”

Mr. Price explains how from scripture he believes that multiple nuclear detonations on key American cities including:

• America’s national capitol – Washington DC
• America’s financial capital – New York
• America’s major oil refineries
• America’s cultural pollution capitol – Hollywood, Las Vegas, Los Angeles
• For good measure the major centers of commerce, Chicago, Seattle, Houston, Atlanta, Miami, Boston and so on.

As he points out it, it would take more than just a few nukes to bring down America, so he believes there will be an EMP as well. While true terrorist groups don’t have the missile capabilities to put a nuclear tipped missile into the American ionosphere, they could purchase missiles easier than they could the nuclear bomb to arm it. Both could be purchased from countries that are not friendly to America and, as I have covered in other articles, the nuke doesn’t need to be launched from a country thousands of miles away. They could load the nuke on a specially fitted cargo ship and launch it a hundred miles off of the coast of the USA. He says that this could result in millions of deaths during and immediately following the attack. Those not killed will face radiation sickness and a lack of food.

Mr. Price spends a chapter explaining that God demands an accounting for innocent blood. He notes that in the 38 years since abortion was legalized, there have been roughly 700,000 homicidal deaths, and in that same timespan there have been roughly 53,000,000 (or 75 babies for every person) murdered.

He makes note that God says in Numbers 25:33:

“Do not pollute the land where you are. Bloodshed pollutes the land, and atonement cannot be made for the land on which blood has been shed, except by the blood of the one who shed it.”

He makes the point that because of the innocent blood of millions of babies, God demands an accounting and we could lose just as many American lives.

Warning to Leave the Daughter of Babylon

Mr. Price says there are nine separate warnings to flee and lists the verses for them. Seven of them to Christians and nine to Jews, commanding His people to flee the Daughter of Babylon.

He also explains that the “religion of peace” will give the rest of the world a warning to accept Islam or suffer the same fate as America. Mr. Price explains how Christians will be executed in the last days and asks who beheads people in the modern day? That’s correct, the “religion of peace”. Mr. Price then gives a brief history explaining why Muslims behead people.

We are given a history of Christians and Jews immigrating to other countries to flee religious persecution. Mr. Price spends a chapter covering what a Christian might look for in a new homeland.

John Price is not a prepper. In emailing, he said he sees it as something contrary to following Gods command to flee. I happen to disagree with John. I believe that God has called many of us to prepare. Even if I come to same conclusion Mr. Price has, deciding to leave America, I will still prep where ever I live. I’m not preparing just for the downfall of America, I prepare for the myriad of things that can and do happen every day, up to and including unemployment, floods and wildfires.

My Take:

Trudee and I spent a lot of time talking about the possibility of America being the Daughter of Babylon, and the implications from it. I knew early on that this was something I wanted to talk to all of you about. To be honest, while I think my Biblical knowledge is above average, it isn’t deep enough to answer the important questions I have. I know I need to study this material and I am hoping some of you will be willing to read the book and study it along with me.

If we come to a different conclusion than Mr. Price did, we’ve only wasted a small bit of time and will gain Biblical knowledge. If, however, we come to the same conclusions, there are some very, very big implications we must face.

I love America. I thank God frequently for the privilege of being born here. The thought of moving to another country saddens and overwhelms me. I honestly have a hard time wrapping my mind around it. However, while I have a very hard time hearing God’s voice in the moment, there have been two times where I have clearly known He was telling me this: “Do not put your love of country before me!” The first time was a few years ago, the second was while reading this book.

Are we considering moving? We want to be obedient. If further prayer and study tells us that the USA is in fact the daughter Babylon, yes, we’ll consider it or more.

Trudee and I were talking about the implications of this book and decided that we first needed to make sure we came to the same conclusions after study and prayer. We decided if we came to the same conclusion, we had to make the choice to leave or face the coming destruction. I felt convicted. When the God of the Universe tells you to do something, there isn’t an “if you want to” attached to it. It is a command!

If the scriptures on the Daughter of Babylon and the commands to leave are, in fact, aimed at America, the commands are no different than the commands God gave the Jews when taking them to the Promised Land. Remember what happened when they disobeyed?

I have studied prophecy and I have spent considerable time researching, thinking about and writing on what effect various threats may impact America. I have seen quotes by numerous American leaders, some in very high positions saying that it is not “if”, but “when” America is attacked with nuclear weapons (conventional or dirty bombs).

I believe it is very possible, if not probable that nuclear weapons could be smuggled in via ship, as only 3% of cargo is inspected. They could also be brought in through our ridiculously porous borders. I also know that EMP is a very real concern and is something our government is worried about.

There are some consequences to a nuclear attack that were not mentioned. The main one is the damage to nuclear power plants. They have generators that will run the cooling systems, with enough diesel to run for two weeks. If, after those two weeks, the power is not restored or more diesel brought in, we will see multiple Fukushima’s all over the country.

Closing

I hope you’ll get a copy of this book and join me in the forum to study and pray over these issues. If you join in reading this book and the study of the related scripture, please continually be asking for the Fathers guidance and wisdom for us as a group.

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Filed Under: Christian World View, General Preparedness, Signs of the Times

National Geographic’s American Blackout

November 6, 2013 by Chris Ray

I had the opportunity to watch National Geographic’s American Blackout
National Geographic’s American Blackout and thought I would give you my thoughts on the show. If you haven’t watched it, be warned, there are some spoilers in this article.

The premise of the movie is that there was a major cyber-attack that brings the electric grid down from coast to coast. The show is presented as if the content from citizens who took the video on their phones and video cameras was collected after power was restored,

The show mainly follows five groups, though video clips are shown from others. One group is comprised of a family of preppers and the boyfriend of the daughter. The second group is made up of four students trapped in an elevator. The third group is a wealthy couple somewhere in New York who live on the 46th floor. The fourth group is a family with a young daughter and a pregnant wife is who is due any day. The last group is a mother and teen-aged son. The mother is a nurse who leaves the son alone for most of the blackout.

The movie flows from day to day, giving viewers an idea of how quickly thing get bad. I had originally thought about reviewing it day by day but I think a better approach might be to go by categories. Just after the show starts and the power goes out, the groups mentioned above are often filming themselves. There is an occasional newscast report from a television station that is on generator power.

Water

Water is the most important of the five basic needs (occasionally security trumps it) and the only family that was prepared for this was the family of preppers. In one scene the man from the couple in New York goes into a store and tries to cut in front of everyone else, attempting to buy a gallon of water with his credit card. People were willing to pay $40 for one gallon of water!

I realize that many of us cannot store enough water, but knowing how to filter it and make it safe to drink is something every prepper should know. I cover several methods in the article The Storage, Filtration And Purification Of Water.

Nat Geo also made a comment about the average home in America using 400 gallons of water a day. That seems high to me but I have not researched it. In a survival situation the number that is often given is 2 gallons of water per person per day for drinking and miscellaneous uses.

Food

In the beginning of the blackout, people were throwing blackout parties, cooking a lot of the food before it went bad. The New York couple was eating caviar and drinking warm champagne. The man got sick later in the movie. Here are some tips on Keeping Food Cold Without Electricity.

The prepper family had quite the setup. They bugged out early to their remote location. It was stocked with some food in a closet inside the home. They called that their “decoy food”. If anyone broke in, they would steal that and quit looking. The preppers had 2+ years of food stored in their bunker. There was a neighbor who came to the fence asking for food. The father told the neighbor they could not help him, but the daughter’s boyfriend piped up and said they had plenty to spare. This raised the tension and the father ended up pulling his firearm and telling the neighbor to leave. The daughter’s boyfriend later snuck out and gave the neighbor some canned goods.

Nat Geo, made a text comment about the quantity of foods that are shipped and transported every day in the USA. Since the power was down, the cranes that offload ships in ports that require electricity weren’t functional and the gas pumps were unable to pump diesel into trucks. Therefore, none of those goods would be transported. I covered the impact this would have in When the Trucks Stops

There were many food related riots and eventually the federal government stepped in, instituting “rationing and fair allocation” of resources such as food, water and gasoline. Priority was given to EMS, police and military.

Power

Nat Geo stated that a cyber-attack could cause power surges, causing damage to the electric grid. I have read several articles over the years about municipalities and state and federal government finding proof that hackers from other countries have hacked into the grid.

The prepper family had a solar energy system and a bicycle generator. The father stated they had enough energy stored in their battery array to last two months.

One of the people in the elevator has a wind up cell phone charger that he used to keep his phone charged.

Nat Geo said that only 10% of the traffic lights across the countries have any type of backup power. This was leading to a lot of accidents.

I have covered multiple ways we can Prepare for the Grid to go Down. Just follow that link.

They said that cell towers often have backup power but that service would be drastically reduced due to load. This is often the case in any type of emergency. Often times a text message will still go through when a phone call will not.

Shelter

The couple on the 46th floor, having to go up and down the stairs was hating life by the third day.

The four people trapped in the elevator were all college students who were heading home for spring or summer break. No one knew where they were, let alone that they were trapped in the elevator. They tried to pry the doors open without any luck. Long story short, one student fell to his death from the top of the elevator. The other three made a harness to climb up the elevator shaft and were able to use a knife that one of the students had to cut through a grate of sorts and climb out. They were still trapped on the top of the building. A second student later died on the building roof.

Since there was no light at night, people were using candles, which was leading to fires. In fact, the family with the young daughter and pregnant wife were chased from their home due to fire. They had candles scattered throughout the house. I’m guessing that was the cause of the fire.

Many fires were out of control, as there was no water pressure to put them out. Nat Geo gave the number of 3,500 gallons of water being needed to extinguish the average house fire.

Security

Security for all of the groups was laughable. Multiple times people went to areas where there were known riots and gang activity. While I do think Nat Geo had the characters venture into these areas so we could see what things were like, I also know that this behavior isn’t limited to a few people in this youtube-driven, “selfie” taking, YOLO world we live in.

The prepper family had firearms but no real security procedures or plans in place. The son was standing the late watch when the neighbors who got food from the daughter’s boyfriend earlier came back to get more. They captured him and forced him inside the home. The son directed them to the decoy food. He then woke everyone. The father brought them all into the bunker at that point.

Later that day, the neighbors, now turned bandits, came back to see what else they could find. The family had a surveillance system and could see them coming. The dad went out alone to confront them, and got his rifle taken away.

The New York couple ended up near a riot and stole a can of peaches that they then brought back to their building. They were followed by a man who demanded the can of peaches. When he was told “no”, he attacked. The husband used the “assault can” to pummel the man. They heard sounds in the hallway of their apartment building and went to explore each time. This never ended well, and in the end, might have cost them everything.

The young man whose mother was a nurse had been on his own for over a week. He found a pistol in his mother’s room but had no idea how to use it safely.

As of the third day, there was a dusk till dawn curfew, which was largely ignored. The National Guard was asked to help patrol the streets in several cities. Martial law was talked about a few times.

Miscellaneous Items

People had little to no cash and, since ATM’s weren’t working, they had no way to pay for goods. One of the shops shown was willing to take trades. Many people don’t think cash will be valuable in such a disaster. I think it will be extremely valuable for a short time. In the show, the media frequently said the government was close to solving the problem. As long as people think the system will go back to what it was, cash will have value. If weeks and months go by, it will then lose its value.

Hospitals were overrun with people. Hence the nurse being kept from her son for many days. Because there was no power, people were doing things that they had never done before, like opening a can of peaches with a butcher knife. This led to a major laceration, which seemed to get infected and make the man quite ill.

I think it was around the seventh day when the President requested international aid, to deliver goods to the American people.

It was mentioned that there are roughly 700,000 HAM radio operators in the US. In this type of scenario this might be the most reliable form of communication.

It was also said that there is an estimated 3 million preppers in the US. I would love to know how they got to that number.

The lack of ability to have a working water and sewage system was mentioned a few times, but I think they grossly undersold the damage this would cause. I covered Survival Sanitation sometime ago. I linked to three great articles from Tactical Intelligence and I highly recommend all three. If you live in an area that is on city sewer and water, just think for a minute about what might happen if all of the toilets in your neighborhood stopped working for a week or longer. Knowing how to manage that, and all of the garbage is something we should all consider.

If memory serves, the power came back on to all of America after nine days. Things just don’t work like that. If power fluctuation can cause damage to parts of the grid all across the nation, it is going to take a lot longer than a little over a week to get them all repaired or replaced. I listened to a podcast with an electrical engineer named John Kappenman who has testified before Congress on the dangers to the power grid from EMP. He stated that we have some components in our grid that have a 30 year shelf life and are 50 years old. If that wasn’t bad enough, he said we no longer make some of these power plants and would need to have them shipped from other countries. Power might come up for a portion of the country, but there is no way a switch can be flipped and the entire countries’ power restored.

The father of the prepper family came off as a jerk to me. I agreed with most of what he said but he could have used far better arguments to make his points.

Final Thoughts

American Blackout is worth watching, if for no other reason than to decide what you would do differently. If we see a nationwide blackout, things are very, very bad. It would take a major event to bring down our entire electric grid and I would expect it to take much longer than nine days to repair.

I think this would be a good show to have a non-prepper watch. It could plant the preparedness seed.

If you had a chance to watch it, please let me know what you thought!

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Filed Under: Off-Grid, Preparedness Tips, Signs of the Times

Food Stamp Cuts Starting November 1st

October 30, 2013 by Chris Ray

Not long ago, I posted an article called Nine Meals From Anarchy; a Food Stamp Melt Down. In it I explained that there has been looting and small outbreaks of violence in the past when there have been problems or delays with the food stamp system. I also made the point that I think the reason violence and looting were not sparked into large scale rioting was because of “nine meals”.

I mean “nine meals” both figuratively and literally. Figuratively in the sense that, to date, the problems with the food stamp system have been corrected within a day or two at most. Literally because when people go hungry for three or four days in a row, they tend to act on it.

“If you look across the world, riots always begin typically the same way: when people cannot afford to eat food,”

That is a quote from Margarette Purvis, the president and CEO of the Food Bank for New York City, in an article from Salon.com. The article goes on to say that:

“Purvis said that the looming cut would mean about 76 million meals “that will no longer be on the plates of the poorest families” in NYC alone – a figure that outstrips the total number of meals distributed each year by the Food Bank for New York City, the largest food bank in the country. “There will be an immediate impact,” she said.”

In the last five or six years we have seen civil unrest and rioting due to the price or unavailability of food and the cutting of government entitlements in the following countries; Bolivia, Egypt, England, Greece, Guinea, Haiti, Indonesia, Italy, Ivory Coast, Mauritania, Mexico, Morocco, Mozambique, Senegal, Spain, Tunisia, Uzbekistan and Yemen.

You might be thinking that the people in those cultures are different that the American citizenry. I disagree! I think people are people, hunger is hunger and entitlement is entitlement.

The following video from Fox News says that the government is spending $80,000,000 to prepare for potential riots related to the cutting of food stamps. Here’s a thought; money is tight, so we have to cut food stamps, but we’re going to spend $80 million to prepare for possible riots because of this cut.

What Can We Do?

For starters we can remain calm and wait to see if anything does happen. Just in case, prudence might dictate that you get any grocery shopping you might need done before Friday. Keep in mind that we very well might not see any unrest on November 1st but we could see situations later in the month, when the realities of the cuts are felt.

I have covered what civil unrest might look like in What Does Civil Unrest Look Like and How Can You Stay Safe Near It? If there are riots, keep a safe distance and be prepared to defend your family. Also be on the lookout for the police response. I covered some of how the government has been gearing up for civil unrest in Government; the Good the Bad and the…What are They Planning

We can donate food to local food shelves or churches to help them meet the needs of the destitute. This is a much better option than giving the food out yourself.

Above all else, we can pray. Pray for those who are in legitimate need and will now not have food to put on the table. Pray that those who might be taking advantage of the system would change their ways. Pray for one another, that we may be blessed with wisdom and knowing God’s will as we prepare and navigate our future.

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Filed Under: Food, Security, Signs of the Times Tagged With: awareness

“Super Brains” Trying Predict How the World Will End

September 13, 2013 by Chris Ray

Some of England’s smartest people have joined forces and formed a group called “The Cambridge Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER). This group includes Stephan Hawking and 26 other leading thinkers.

The Daily Mail article, Killer robots and crippling cyber attacks: How the world is going to end – according to super brains such as Stephen Hawking states that the groups manifesto is clear:

“Many scientists are concerned that developments in human technology may soon pose new, extinction-level risks to our species as a whole.”

One pearl of wisdom given is this:

“In a modern, efficient world, we no longer stockpile food. If the supply is disrupted for any reason, it would take about 48-hours before it runs out and riots begin. So on a practical level, individuals should keep some non-perishable items at home.”

So what are some of the threats they have identified?

“Cyber attacks: Power grids, air traffic control, banking and communications rely on interconnected computer systems. If these networks collapse due to action by enemy nations or terrorists, the paralysis could result in society breaking down.”

“Food supply sabotage: Efficient distribution networks mean many Western nations have only 48 hours worth of food stockpiled. Any disruption would result in panic buying and riots.”

“Fast-spreading pandemic: International travel means a new killer virus, mutated from animals, could travel the globe in days, wiping out millions before a vaccine can be developed.”

Those are just three. Read the article for others. My favorite is the intelligent technology (LOL).

In all seriousness, I think it is great that they are taking a look at this. Many of the dangers they have listed are things the preparedness community has been talking about for years. If they were really “super brains” they would invite a few preppers! I suppose they would feel that their group would not be taken seriously, which is too bad, because I see a few glaring dangers that aren’t listed.

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Filed Under: Signs of the Times

The Shemitah, Four Blood Moons and the Most Important Preparation

A Practical Look at the Economy and What You Can Do To Prepare

Q/A with AlertsUSA on Current Events

What You Need to Know About a Pandemic

Has the Threat of an EMP Increased?

The Difference Between an EMP and a Solar Flare

Have We Been Warned to Flee America?

National Geographic’s American Blackout

Food Stamp Cuts Starting November 1st

“Super Brains” Trying Predict How the World Will End

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