Church?

I'm utterly done with modern churches. I think what we have come to see as a typical modern church today was what probably started out as'seeker sensitive' "churches." What were those seekers actually seeking? Most of these churches, if I didn't see the $12K+ flashing, multi-color, programmable marquis that gave the church's hours and said, "Jesus will be here at 6:30 Wed. night," out front before I went in, I'd never know I was in a "church" at all. Even the ones that can't have all that because they are small and don't have the funds, are trying hard to catch up. They have all the Church Growth Formula books, colored lights, and the right paint colors. Ask me how I know.

They look and feel like clubs. There's no real difference except the whole family goes and there's (usually) no alcohol or drugs... maybe, and they see themselves as morally superior for punching the Sunday timecard again. The music "ministry" is doled out to anyone who has a flair for music or can carry a tune. They have "worship practice" as if there is such a thing, and half the time they get a mic and bloviate on their great spiritual understandings, as if they are fulfilling some kind of great calling, ignoring the fact that they were drafted by a "ministry team leader" who was desperately seeking to fill the menu with the just right items in the first place. The same guy plays secular music in a garage band the rest of the week and think it's cool, man.

Then the peddlers set up their booths to sell coffees and snacks, bottles of water with little Bible related lables slapped on them. They hark Bibles, covers, book marks, pens, highlighters, book lights, shawls, lap blankets, handbags and backpacks, little tins of mints, home decor, you name it; all with cutesty phrases and generally poorly paraphrased scriptures that have been satisfactorally bastardized so as not to offend anyone who is still participating in their prefferred sinful behaviors. All these are printed artfully on their items for a nice virtue display so they can leave it sitting, arranged carefully so as not to look too artificially placed in their seat-- THEIR seat-- before church starts, so no one else can sit in there while they wander around and "fellowship" until the right song plays. These vendors charge about 25-50% more than anyone else would dare try to get away with on the "secular" market.

The people in these "churches" have justified what they're doing, found like minded people with whom they share their weird ideas, excused it all, made it acceptable, until finally making it a requirement to qualify as a good church. The first question people ask when they move into a new community about churches is almost always, "Where is a church with a good kid's program?" or "Where is a church with good music?" It's all about how THEY feel. What can this church give to ME? What about, "Where are they studying God's Word?" Or "Where are the churches that are seeking God's presence?" "Where's the church that is still a light on a hill?"

You can have all that child care/club atmosphere. It may have started out with good intentions back years ago, but the thing's gone off the rails. There was a church in Lake Worth, TX that had a big sign painted right on the wall of their building out front with their church motto on it, that pretty much summed up what's wrong. It said:

"The Church With You In Mind."

Nuff said. I get it.

Now, the pastors think they need more and more accoutriments, then they need more and more money to pay for them, so they hark for more and more butts in the seats, so they have to please more and more people -- or paying customers, as I like to call them. Then they have to keep making more and more excuses as to why they let this crap continue. I guess they must wake up every morning and go down the list as to why this is happening under their noses, and why they should continue doing it. They probably have to override a lot of personal conviction to decide to continue it all again yet another day. They've invested so much time, energy, and money they are unsure how to untangle the web. So few ever jerk the slack out of themselves and see it, and put a stop to it. So very few.

I'm out. I've been out a long time now. How hollow and numbing! Screwtape would be proud. I'll never go back. If I wanted to associate with that trashy lot of Godless, self indulgent meat sacks I might as well go to the real club and get the real buzz from real alcohol. There's a reason they call alcohol "spirits." In the world, it's all faked to replace the Truth: Spirit, soul and body. Now the so-called allure of the godless world is faked by churches to replace the One True God.

This is what I want: 2Cor. 2:17 (Amp) "For we are not, like so many, [like hucksters making a trade of] peddling God's Word [shortchanging and adulterating the divine message]; but like [men] of sincerity {and} the purest motive, as [commissioned and sent] by God, we speak [His message] in Christ (the Messiah), in the [very] sight {and} presence of God."

Be Godly. Be the church. Jesus preached The Kingdom of God and repentance. When you find a church that reflects that, get in it. If they never sing a note, if there's crying babies and fidgetty kids, stay there and contribute. Power up. Reach the lost. Don't settle for entertainment.

I Hope You Have Prepared

I had a vision of sorts back about 8 years ago.  It was of America in chaos, created and carried out by our own government, when suddenly something of natural origins occurred (I saw fires and crumbling structures— could have been anything, I don’t know), causing them (the Powers)to cascade out of control.  The results were absolute mayhem.  

Prepare as best you can, keep your loved ones close, if you can, and above all, draw nearer to Jesus.  God kept Israel safe in the floods, fed in the famines, and when all was dark there was still light in the land of Goshen.  He can keep us through the mad stumblings and bumbling of this world’s evil. 

He laughs at their feeble attempts.

Another Sign on the Road

I'm not some great expert, but I'm just putting in my 2 cents.

I know everyone is sick of politics.  I am, too.  However, I think this situation we find ourselves in has less to do with right/left politics, and Dem/GOP parties.  This is a good vs evil sort of an ideological battle.  If you are looking around you can see that the internal struggles are at the tipping point.  In the natural world of human beings, things are about to get ugly.  

As for me, I'm a believer in Jesus, I believe that we are in the last days.  We know what kind of mayhem is coming upon us at some point, no matter the political scenarios. We've seen this coming for a long time. So long, in fact, that some of us (I) got complacent.  I consider voting a duty to my country and the least (literally) that I can do to try to accomplish things I can never accomplish on my own.  Our part in this world is to do what we think is right and to do our best, and when we are at the end of our own abilities, to enable those who are in positions to make the changes we want to see made, happen.

I know these are just politicians, and that there are globalist overlords and evils unspeakable, all that, but if my teeny vote can spare one innocent life, help one unfortunate person, change one unjust law, even for just a short time, then I feel obligated to vote intelligently and faithfully.  That's just my personal convictions on the matter as it stands.

This election has been highly charged, probably, truth be told, since the outcome of the last one was known.  The further we went through this last four years, the wider the gap and the deeper the rift between the factions.  We know a lot of it was by design, and we can see what's happening to some degree, but the lines are clearly drawn.  

If President Trump wins with a squeaker, or if courts find in his favor, the left will explode with insane levels of rioting and brutality because he "stole" it.  If they win, they will think it's a mandate, and they will use the opportunity ALSO to riot in some twisted sort of celebration.  It won't stop with celebration.  They will use it as a mandate to march into communism.  They will think they do the country a favor to punish the rest of us "n@zis and fascists" who have "ruined their democracy"... yada, yada. Life will be intolerable for anyone who's not with them.  No matter how it ends up they will not be easy to live with.  

In all likelihood, Trump will win, probably in litigations all the way up to the Supreme Court.  It would be naive to think the left would somehow be satisfied, appeased or that they might change their ways in the four years leading up to the next election.  Things are not going to improve over the next four years and have us find them magically content to abide by our laws next time around.

My take on this particular election is this:  we have a few weeks to see how things go, but EITHER WAY I think we are only going to have a few months, and God willing, up to another 4 year window of time to get ready. I have to say, I will take every day and every year I can get, because we're never really ready enough are we?  But I think this is truly the BIG wake up call.  If you've been looking for a sign for when to pull the lever and go full bore into prep/survival mode, I think now we're seeing that sign.  I'm not a panic monger or a fearful person, and I'm not trying to spread more stress or anything like that-- I just see the writing on the wall.  We are far past my personal "red-line."  It's time to go now.  

If you aren't ready, it's time to up your game and go into 100% efforts.  Personally, for me, it's always been an "out there somewhere" thing that I felt the need to prepare for.  I took it seriously, but til now I never really felt the urgency or the certainty that it's truly right upon us. When I really started seeing it (and became aware that this reality is very, VERY close) I also realized I am not where I need to be in order to make it. 

At my house, this is not going to be treated as a drill, or an exercise.  I am older, and we have very little to work with, we were robbed of our meager savings a few years ago and will be starting over.  Time and resources are key for us, and we'll have to play our cards like masters, but I'm making the move before the end of the year to find a small piece of land, take my stash, and GET THERE.  The details will play out and the day to day struggles will test us, but the decision is made... late, but just skinny-ing in before the balloon goes up, I think.

*IF* this isn't *IT* then I think it's the cue to make the move and get established.  Could be that God wants to wake up a bunch more folks and He'll give us more time in His mercy.  I hope that's the case, but, like a good prepper, I'm going to be ready in case I was right in the first place.  

Anyway, heads up, friends.  Stay calm, and stay ready.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path." -- Proverbs 3:5-6

A Glimpse Into Our Future

I wrote this quite some time ago and thought I'd posted it.  Turns out it was in the drafts.  Better late than never, I guess.

*****

I was reading the comments on a controversial article today. Actually, it wasn't controversial, or rather it shouldn't be, but the comments were easily ten times longer than the article and they were hostile and very highly charged.  What was the topic?  Someone had a display of posters set up at a public event, and someone else who disagreed with what they were trying to support came up and destroyed them, one at a time, deliberately and angrily; it was not an accident or a misunderstanding.  Clearly this was some sort of a criminal act.  Maybe it was not on the level of a burglary or a murder, but a crime none the less. Last I heard, destruction of private property was a crime.  Maybe it being "aggravated" or in a public place should factor in, I don't know.  She should have probably been ticketed or charged, and then fined and assigned some public service hours or something.

-----------------------------------

THIS person is a product of the public education system.  It's exactly the result they wanted.  He (she?) truly believes this and seriously thinks the rest of us are wrong and evil or even part of a cult.  He believes it because it's been force fed to him for 12 years with little or no parental or church input, or any other alternate input to show him any other thing contrary to what they've been taught in their classrooms.

THIS, the product of the public school, is where the end begins. Unfortunately it's been going on for a long time.  A generation has come up through this intensive indoctrination and they literally think like the writer of that comment.  They are literally unable to see the truth.  They fight against hearing the truth because it's contrary to everything they have read in their books and been told by their trusted teachers.

This person and the rest of his graduating class are the ones who will vote in the next election -- for socialism -- because it's normal to them.  They are the ones who will vote against Christianity, because Christianity has been represented to them as a cult. They are the ones who will be giving our gun rights away because they've been taught they are evil and private gun owners are dangerous.  Once they have the given up the gun rights all the rest of our rights will be gone.  We must step up and get involved with the schools in our districts.

Thankfully, it's not too late as long as we wake up now and stand up in the face of this corrupted government indoctrination system.  Be ready for some eye rolls, some opposition, some full on assaults.

Even if you homeschool, even if you have no kids, you are a taxpayer, therefore you can voice you opinions on what goes on in your district's schools.  Learn what they are doing.  Find out what they are producing in your local schools.  Search it out on the internet.  Ask around your community.  Arm yourself and be informed and get involved.  You can contact your representatives and senators.  It's easier now than it's ever been to voice your opinion with your state and federal representatives in congress.  You can attend meetings in your district.  You can do something.  If we all do something, just some little something small, we can turn the thing around.  We're going to have to do it soon, though, because it's going to take a lot of track to slow the momentum of this fast moving train before we can actually get it going in the right direction again.  We must act now.  We MUST.

Keep a Knife and Keep it SHARP.

If you aren't someone who normally carries a knife I suggest you start. You'll get used to having it with you and you'll be surprised how much you use it.

We could get into what type for what situation, etc... but for this post I'm just talking about a nice pocket knife or maybe even a multi tool of some kind. I'd call it "every day carry" gear, but, first, I hate the catchy phraseology used by niche groups, so I rarely use it except for quick references in blog posts like this, and second, it's more than just an every day carry piece of equipment. My EDC would be readily handy to me, like my purse, but my pocket knife is in my pocket. Are your car keys EDC? Is your wallet EDC? Technically maybe, but, no, not specifically. They are just always there. My pocket knife is just in.my.pocket.

Open packaging, remove tags, cut, divide, slice: I don't always use it many times a day, or even necessarily every day, but I do use it often, and when I need it, if I don't have it, its a drag.

Any knife is better than no knife. A better knife is-- well-- better, but don't let lack of finances stop you. You can pick up a five dollar knife at almost any outdoor or hardware store. Start there, then when you can manage it, get a better one. Getting the five dollar knife will help you learn what you want out of a knife before you spend more buying a better one.

Keep that sucker sharp. A dull knife is a frustration, a bad tool, and a danger. I will probable get "educated" by people about this, because people will say, "You are going to ruin your blade like that!" and explain how I SHOULD sharpen a knife, but get one of these small knife sharpeners (link below) or something similar for quick use.

I've had one just like the one it for close to 20 years. I paid 3 bucks for it at the grocery store. All these years later and they're still only four bucks. I recently ordered an extra for my "EDC" and my "B.O.B." They are cheap, light, easy to stow and easy to use. It has a course/carbide and a fine/ceramic side. I have my old one in my kitchen drawer and I use it all the time. I have had some pretty crummy knives do a fairly decent job for me just by keeping them sharp. I have acquired better knives over the years, and I still use it, probably daily.

I don't endorse many products, but I give this one my stamp of approval. Why? Because it works and because I use it. If it works but you won't (or can't) use it, then, in reality, it's it's not a good tool for you. I have other knife sharpening tools, but this one is the go-to, every day tool that I use. I think you would, too.

I suppose if you have a thousand dollar hand crafted pocket knife you might not want to do it this way, but, it's not likely you're using that as your every day knife. If you have something like that, learn to use a wet stone or an oil stone, use it on the nice knife, then go buy a pocket knife you can pick the rocks out of your shoe tread with for carrying in your pocket.

Carry on.

Amazon link to knife sharpener, or copy/paste:
https://www.amazon.com/Smiths-CCKS-2-Step-Knife-Sharpener/dp/B00032S02K/ref=sr_1_22?crid=3VF7VHQLLSHM6&keywords=knife+sharpener&qid=1554755451&s=gateway&sprefix=knife+sharpener%2Caps%2C182&sr=8-22

Turning Point

OK, here's my 2.  It's a little long, but it's my summary of current events as I believe it could possibly shake out.  I hope I'm right.  Tell me what you think.

The Deep State is a festering boil on the butt of America, and it's just about to be popped, and they know it.  If you don't think they're scared, watch the news... any legacy news: interview, presser, anything.  Kill the sound.  Cover their mouths with your hand so you can only see their eyes.  Look at them.  They have the look of panic in their eyes.  It's obvious.

It's GOING to hit the news.  Sooner or later it's going to hit, and it's going to start going all the way up the ladder.  They know the people are starting to wake up, so they are resorting to crazier and more extreme measures to deflect attention off themselves and toward something-- anything else.  

Ginsburg is probably dead.  Sure, they don't want to give President Trump a chance to appoint another judge, but I think they're holding out for more reasons than just that.  They're buying time, hoping for the last ditch, Hail Mary, headlining Ginsburg "news" when they need it most.  They'll likely take her out of the freezer and roll out her corpse for a huge state burial that will dominate the legacy media outlets for days.  Never mind that when Justice Scallia was bumped off they just flushed the evidence and got him in the ground ASAP. 

They'll use Ginsburg just like they rolled out G.H.W. Bush during the Comey testimony, and like they did that crazy, run-on, Papal style memorial/burial of someone as non-impressive as John McCain.  Really?  He was a crappy guy, and a failure at most of what he did.  He was a corrupt senate lifer with a (very) shady military run, not a head of state.  Sheesh... what was it-- 5-6-7 days of that guy?  They didn't even go to that much effort for Bush and he a was at least a president! 

They needed a big distraction, the time OUT of the headlines.  And they'll do it again.  There are grave changes for them in the offing.  Watch what's going on behind the scenes.  Not just at the next false flag school shooting, emergency, disaster, justice's funeral: watch all of it.  If it is a dominant story, a day in and day out, sort of frenzied feeling story, it's probably a cover.

Also, I think they're running all these insane far left socialist candidates as a hopeful last hurrah because they know they'll never get another chance.  They sunk their own boat and they're bailing as fast as they can, but the damage is just to great.  They think to make hay while the sun shines... but they're too late.  Their sun ain't shinin'.  These stinkers are circling the drain.   

Now there's all this chatter about "soft coup" going around.  Do you honestly think that this kind of accusation can make it to an adversarial "news" media, that there can be headline discussion about a topic this dire, or that the senate can address it as a coup, and there's  Presidential acknowledgment, and nothing happen as a result?  Hardly.

There are new investigations underway, and once they begin federal investigations there is no end to them until they are  declared closed by the chief investigator.  There was a mountain of information gained during the Mueller investigations that can be used in these open investigations  The info is already known, gathered, documented.  They nailed all of it down tight because they wanted to be SURE all the I's were dotted and all the T's crossed when they nailed President Trump.  But, it didn't implicate President Trump, did it?  No, no.  It made an airtight case against the Deep State. 

The never-ending probes and investigations have illuminated the dirty deep state and their connections, and exonerated President Trump.  The exposure is opening new investigations, and the all evidence is sitting there.  They're making clumsy mistakes, now.  That's a sign that their lies and stories are unraveling and they can't keep them straight any more.  Although lots of the big turds have already been flushed via resignations and firings, that's just not the kind of the justice I was hoping to see.  I think we'll see many more flee, die, be "suicided", or fake their own deaths, etc... I actually believe we're going to see some of the big's get their just rewards, too.  I can't wait!  

The best part, for me, will be having the truth about these horrible people come out, dead or alive.  Oh, I want to see them tried, jailed, hanged or whatever, as the treasonous enemies they are, but just having the general population see with their own eyes that the big, bad "conspiracy theories" were true the whole time, will be wonderful.  Their heroes were monsters.  That may sound small and petty, but it's honest. Yes,  I'll be glad to see these ignorant people realize they were totally duped.   It'll be a big, fat, "WAKE UP!" slap in the face for those who stood and  pointed fingers at all the crazies and deplorables.  Willful ignorance tastes like crow, in the end, doesn't it comrades? 

It will be gratifying for us who have seen the lies, who endured their belligerence and smug confidence. It will be a real breath of fresh air.  It will be vindication for the ridiculed, de-platformed, and de-personed front-liners.  It can't come soon enough for me.

Oh, and on a side note, for what it's worth: the penalty for treason?  Hanging.  Remember the likes of Camilla Harris and Crazy Aunt Nan and a whole host of socialists who flooded social media because of the Jussie "Fake Noose" Smollet,  great friend of the Obama administration, debacle?   Before he was found out to be the lying, race baiting, small minded criminal he is, they proclaimed him victim!  They had to DO something!  So they hurriedly tried to pass "anti-lynching" laws.  What?  Lynching is already illegal, so what's up with that?  Maybe it's just the "hanging" part they are concerned about....?   Hmmm....  Curious.  Just sayin'.  Probably just a CONSPIRACY THEORY.

So, keep your head above the waterline... we're about to see the drain open.  It could go to stinkin'.

I Knew You In Your Mother's Womb

(photo credit)
2.2 lbs.  Happy to be alive.  25 weeks.  It is legal to brutally kill a baby like this in many states.  It is legal to brutally kill even older babies in some states.  There are monsters among us.

Sorry this isn't my most professionally written blog.  I'm not the greatest writer anyway, and this one is just sort of off the cuff.

EVERYONE should be forced to see an abortion happen, then only real monsters would still be in support of it, and the line would be clearly drawn. 

I know decent people who are so blinded, so hoodwinked, so indoctrinated by the "pro-*choice*" rhetoric that they will do and support truly monstrous things.  Being made aware of the barbarity, aware of the fact that these babies feel what is being done to them, would bring a sane human being to their knees.  They think they understand, they claim they know the truth, and blindly support the greatest evil of our time.  If they saw it, they would know.

If you are NOT fully aware, how can you claim to support something, anything, that is so controversial and potentially terrible?  You are hopelessly lazy if you can't be troubled to find readily available information and decide based on knowledge instead of propaganda.  Shame on you!

I choose the sanctity of life.  I choose to protect the most innocent of all victims.  I choose sanity.  I choose to be the enemy of those who are aware of what they do and choose to do it, or support it,  once they are aware.  They are monsters.

So very few abortions are actually performed for medical reasons.  My friend had a baby at 24 weeks back in 1999. The girl turned 20 in 2019.  That was TWENTY YEARS AGO.  Doctors have been performing surgeries on unborn babies for decades.  There was very recently a baby cut out of it's mother's womb for a surgery, then replaced back into the womb. Teeny-tiny, but otherwise it was fully and perfectly formed in every way.  The surgery was successful.  You KNOW they have technology and medical skills now that can save babies, and that they can go on to and live normal lives from much earlier stages of pregnancy.

There are SO FEW "health" reasons, for mother or baby, that require abortion as a solution. There are so many possible mistakes in diagnoses.  My youngest grandbaby was going to be in a medically fragile, compromised or dependent state at birth, and they suggested abortion. My poor son and daughter in law were nearly catatonic for the rest of the pregnancy after hearing this news. Lo! He was born healthy has a horse. No problems whatsoever.  They were DEAD WRONG, but they were willing to murder him in a torturous fashion because reasons. But, muh docters!  Muh science!

VERY few abortions are medically necessary.  They are almost all for the convenience of the mother.  She chooses abortion because she doesn't want it, doesn't want to be pregnant now, or because she'd be embarrassed by it or in trouble with someone because of it, doesn't want to make the necessary sacrifices, doesn't want to be responsible: because she IS SELFISH.  It all boils down to selfishness.

The opposite of love is not hate, as so many would say.  The opposite of love is selfishness.  The driving force of the day is selfishness, and babies-- innocent, tiny, dependent, beautiful babies-- are paying the price.

2 Timothy 3:1-4 - "But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God."

God IS love.  Selfishness is the opposite of God and Godliness.  Godless people do ungodly things.

If I can't stop them from this atrocity, which I WOULD, then they should at least face what it is that they do, confess it as the murder that it is, and do something a bit more humane, like lethal injection. The same people protest when convicted murderers are given lethal injections as a sentence for heinous crimes, but they'll (let someone else) rip a baby into bits or chemically dissolve it without a peep, and defend their right to do so. It's hellacious.

Draw the line.  Choose your side.  Stop making ridiculous arguments and covering your activities with medical terminology and clever excuses.  Just pick your side and get on it.

I will never abide a killer or his supporters.

Old Magazines To Peruse

Here's a link to some old magazines.  Interesting info and a little trip back in time a few decades.  Fun to look through.

Downloadable.
Here

https://digitalmaine.com/farmstead_magazine/?fbclid=IwAR1-Tj3KhdX55XWr7K-2-JbN1K-0Kvgq24xvpxJjt23VYgOZLRGy4jk0EQQ

A Little on Bartering

Bartering.  There's tons to be said... more than I'm going to say here and now, but I'm always considering bartering.  It's been around for a jillion years.  I think it's "the thing" for hard times.  I think most of us have considered bartering.  We learn what items are the best to have in store for post SHTF just for the purpose of bartering.  That's great! but...

Who will you be bartering with?  Do you have a network?  Do you have any idea who will have what you need, and whether or not you'll have something they want in trade?  

Bartering is true free market economy, but it will be useless if you can't get what you need or if you haven't got the right trade goods.  It might not be easy to access goods or people who want to barter.  There may not be a big marketplace.  This is where tribes, groups, clans come in.

NOW is the time to find prep groups, to establish relationships with neighbors, and to build tribes, or clans, with close friends.  Make NEEDFUL contacts and build on them NOW before the balloon goes up.

If you're one of these "lone wolf" types, sorry... you're not prepping, you're hoping, and you will lose.  Don't come around my place being G.I. Wanabe and think you're going to get my stuff.  You are officially the first bad citizen of the new normal, and you're not welcome.

SO-- prep and be ready, but don't leave contacts and groups out of your plans.  You'll need them, and they'll need you.

On that note; Have skill sets that are helpful to a group, keep (and learn to make/produce) items that will be valuable for barter.  Have something to bring to the table.

Emergency Water Storage

One of the things, if not THE #1 thing, we should be most concerned about storing for emergencies is water. I'm dangerously, woefully behind on realistic water storage, so this is my current area of research.

We live in a very small home (450 sq ft? 3 people, 2 pets) and storage is a difficult, continuous issue. Some things I can squeeze into little nooks and crannies. Some things I can repackage or redistribute to save space, but water is water, and you can't compress it, and you can't squeeze it into the cracks. Yet, it's vital to have it on hand in an emergency.

You need water available, independent of "the grid", municipal, or shared sources. Shoot for outdoor tanks. Water catchment would be awesome. You can survive if you have a 1500 gallon tank outside, but can you access it? If you're in an emergency situation things are already uncomfortable and strange. Wouldn't it be nice if you planned ahead so that the most mundane tasks don't turn into an additional burden?

The general rule is to have 1 gallon of water per occupant per day. That adds up, and I think that's a conservative estimate. Multiply your daily use by how many days worth you would feel best about having on hand and you'll see, it adds up fast.

That 1 gallon rule probably just means drinking water. You will NEED water for sanitation and hygiene. It's really not optional. Hand washing, dishes and even showers are important, and become more important the longer the emergency situation drags on.

There are lots of reasons to have, and ways to stash, emergency water, but have you considered how you will access it? If you have barrels outside or some other way that you store larger quantities of water, do you have a way off accessing it with relative ease if you need it? Have you ever siphoned before? It's not hard, but have you done it? If you need to, can you do it? Can you pump it? Can you transport it to your house?

One of the pics I added to this post is of a product called Water Bricks. I'm NOT promoting them. Like I said, I'm researching, but I do like the idea and the design. There are lots of different kinds of products on the market for water storage, some are cheaper, some just as good, some just cheap knock offs, different sizes, etc... I chose to picture these because of their ready-to-go functionality. By observation alone I can see:

A. They stack neatly and interlock securely.
18.5 x 18.5 x 18.5 inches ; 18 pounds
B. They hold 3.5 gallons per unit, which makes them portable. Incidentally, most toilets will flush with less water than that... just thinking out loud here.
C. They seem well constructed and durable.
D. You can get an optional spigot to fit the opening. Big plus.

This last feature would be great in the kitchen. Think about it. If you've ever done any primitive tent camping where there's no running water and you didn't have a faucet, you instantly understand what a benefit it would be to sit one of these blocks along side the kitchen sink.

There are some good looking, but costly and bulky equipment you can get for camp kitchens and water, etc... but it wouldn't be practical in a house. I've tried to figure out how to fashion a similar system and adapt it for indoors in case of emergency. Think about a camp shower. The pic I chose was the cheapest, simplest one I saw. They are very portable, lightweight (when empty) and stowable. You pop them out of the box, hang them up, and you have a gravity fed faucet.

Speaking of a camp shower, after a few days without water you will be pretty gritty and grim. It won't kill you, but "survival" would be nicer with a few simple preps. Hang one in your shower stall, or outdoors in a tree, rig a curtain... You will be surprised how good a shower will make you feel, and how morale will improve.

You can buy a pop up shower stall for around 30-40 bucks if you want to go that route. There are even portable propane water heaters for around a 100 (and up). On the cheap end, my husband used to drive for the oil field and he'd be out for WEEKS with no access to showers. He used baby wipes and a 7 dollar pump up, pressurized type sprayer like you'd use for bug spray or weed killer. lol Innovative, but if you're gonna prep for comfort and "homey" familiarity, that ain't it.

I'm just sharing my thought as I'm having them. These things might not be life saving preps, but they are life improving preps, and probably time/labor saving preps. They aren't for your B.O.B. but if you're bugging in through a power outage, a natural disaster or something like that, they're worth a look.

These are just a few considerations concerning water and it's usage in an emergency. Feel free to point out things I've missed that are needful. I'm sure I'm not hitting them all. I need to learn, too.

My 2.

Addendum:



It turns out, the Water Brick also has a water filter that fits in the opening. Like I said, I'm not promoting this product at this point, but it has given me some great ideas.  It's pretty cool, and pretty well thought out. You could probably be innovative and McGyver your own equipment if you already have water containers. There's no reason not to just adapt something to them if you have them. I don't have any real stash supplies for water yet, so this is looking pretty inviting. It's a bit pricey, though, all together. I'm going to shop it and see what I could cobble together myself before I commit.  Just cogitatin'.

Shifty...

What if I decided 1 foot could be 11 inches just this time for this one build, because I have a good reason, and it's just easier- .just.this.one.time.

NO, 1 foot = 12 inches. It's the standard. You start changing the standard and nothing will fit, and whatever you try to build will be horrible, ugly and unstable. Trust me: your "one time" easy way out will catch up one day, and the fall thereof will be great.

Keep to your standards. If you don't, don't come crying to me, don't think you can convince me to change mine because my emotions are pricked. Don't expect me to feel anything for you but pity for your foolish, stiff-necked ways. You made your choices and now you have consequences. The way of the transgressor is hard.

To the rest of us: learn from the ways of those who suffered by thinking that changing their standards could ever help them. DON'T CHANGE YOUR STANDARDS.

I'm stunned at how many people will lower their own standards because of their feelings, as if emotion had any bearing on the truth. Shaking my head, for real. How can you trust people like that? Their foundations are like sinking sand. Maybe that's what it means to be "shifty." Just ponderin' life.

Learn Some New Skill Sets

So much of what "preppers" teach and study is just stuff our grandparents did as every day practices. Some of us older folks remember it. It's not magic, and it's not some mystical lore. It's just practical things that have been bred out of our culture by the onslaught of industrial farming, big box stores, electronics, and our convenience oriented age.

Most of what we want to know is really easy to access without buying gadgets or gear or even taking classes. Just study up, practice and build up some skill sets. It's easy and fulfilling, and it gives you a great sense of accomplishment along with the knowledge that you have gained another needful skill.

Check out some of the free resources. There are MANY, but I recommend starting with these three, just because they are MASSIVE:

Internet Archives
https://archive.org/

Project Gutenberg
http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page

Google Books
Google Books>tools>any book>free ebooks

In order to get  link I had to do a search.  I typed in farm buildings so that's what will turn up in this particular link:

https://www.google.com/search?biw=1920&bih=889&tbs=bkv%3Ar&tbm=bks&ei=PpEFXPyxHYeH8AP9iaWYCQ&q=Farm+buildings&oq=Farm+buildings&gs_l=psy-ab.3...6253.9314.0.9886.14.14.0.0.0.0.137.1482.7j7.14.0....0...1c.1.64.psy-ab..0.7.746...0j33i299k1.0.P7HFbrEK8DM

Or, just go to google and search what you want to learn, then go to the top where it says "more" and choose books. After you do that you can click "tools" and it'll let you pick several things. Go under "any books" and choose what you think you will want to see. I usually go to free google ebooks, or however it's worded. Most of the free ones are old books. FASCINATING stuff.

Books: old, out of print, past the copyright dates, and chock FULL of valuable, timeless information.  Just go to one of these, type in the subject you're interested in, and strap in. You can read for yourself what people used to do everyday before we found ourselves so dependent on our modern systems. You can learn steps, how to's, materials; the list is almost endless. I can spend literal HOURS reading once I get on one of these sites. You'll have so much info you'll be swimming in it.

Enjoy!

$15.00 Minimum Wage?

I really thought this through and hope you read it. I don't expect to change you viewpoint. That's not my job. Time and experience will teach you just like it teaches everyone. What I WOULD like is to show you that others aren't evil schemers or cruel or unkind because we see a different solution to a problem. I hate, h.a.t.e. HATE this one-sided blind arguing.  It isn't Us vs. Them, no matter what we've been taught to believe.

Hot button issues are designed to incite division.  The only reason it works is because the problem is real.  Pretend you are in my kitchen having a nice conversation.  Perhaps it will help to stop that "Us vs. Them" mentality, and possibly end this horrible divisiveness and hatefulness.

Let me start by saying, if you were at my house I'd offer you coffee or tea and we'd sit at my kitchen table and eat toast and smile a lot and joke and probably like each other, because we're decent folks. I'm a roundish gramma lady who loves to chat and feed people, and I make folks comfortable. I am kind, fairly intelligent, most who know me would probably tell you that I'm very nice. I'm just a no nonsense, cut through the crap kind of a person.

So, on with it.  I strongly disagree with an enforced $15.00 an hour minimum wage law as a solution to economic struggle among our nations' poor.  Generally skipping past the financial problems and inflation and whatnot, lets get straight to the conflict point: caring and kindness

No one is saying that the wage to cost of living gap isn't growing or that life isn't a financial strain on some more than on others.  Discerning the situations on a personal level and offering help to people who sincerely need it is generally not a problem for anyone from either "side" of the argument.  No decent human being wants to see others struggle under prolonged financial pressures.  I simply don't see an inflated minimum wage as a viable solution in any of the arenas that will be affected by enacting such a law.

I believe that people, like butterflies, or baby chicks, no matter how they struggle or how it hurts our hearts to see their hardship and seeming agony, if we help them escape the trials of emerging from their shells we doom them to catastrophic failure that they will never overcome. It looks so impossible, but they can do it. It's how they are made and it is necessary to their existence.

People grow, become strong, and get the beautiful opportunity to experience life and have a wonderful sense of accomplishment through hardship and struggle. Forcing others to intervene is a way to pass the buck and salve pricked emotions without doing anything of lasting value to helps anyone including yourself. In my mind, it's a terrible thing to do to them, to yourself, as well as being a bad thing to do to those who are forced to pay for it, which, by the way, is not going to be the corporations.  It's going to be you and me, the consumers.  I see it all as unhelpful, unkind, and unjust.

If we personally involve ourselves and our OWN resources in charity, which we are all responsible to do, we will quickly learn where the line between charity and entitlement is drawn in our own minds, and then no amount of argument or shouting will sway our conviction. As long as we aren't hands on and invested personally, we have no skin in the game and it's easy to point fingers and look accusingly at other people, but we CAN NOT pawn off our personal responsibility.

We can never legislate our responsibility for personal charity away. We will always have the poor among us, and we will have to see it and deal with it on a personal level. To try pass some legislation to relieve us of the burden of responsibility only further involves government into corporations and further restricts individual liberty.  Government + corporations = bad.  I would rather keep them totally out of it.

I hear all the cacophony about, "it's not charity, it's about living wages..." but, actually,  it is about charity.  It's about misplacing your charitable feelings of wanting to help someone by forcing someone else to do it instead.  That is a vicious and never ending cycle.  It will never be enough to fulfill you or satisfy them.  Ever.

"But, the evil corporations!"  No doubt corruption is rampant and profit to the top levels and the politicians is hair raising.  I doubt we know the depths of it all, but who will hire you if not those who can create jobs?  Will someone magically create employment if actual people and their businesses stop employing you?  Even if those people are scamming and cheating, or whatever they may be doing, they are providing millions of jobs that will not be replaced if we "rid ourselves of this evil!"

"It's about appreciating employees!"  Well, firstly, employees agreed to the terms when they accepted the conditions of hire.  Secondly, maybe a little thankfulness for a job and some appreciation to the employer is in order.  Not all appreciation has to be directed at the employee.  In fact, that's a fairly recent view to have.  Thanklessness is, in my view, the biggest part of the problem anyway, but that is a different blog for a different day.

Change you viewpoint and attitude about your job.  Be the guy people LIKE to be around.  Anyone can stand around and gripe about their job, and draw a crowd doing it.  Contrary to popular belief, that crowd, those numbers, do not represent a movement and do not indicate the rightness of their argument.  It usually represents the easiness of the path.  There is no strength or growth there.

Some NEED charity, and are usually the last to say anything, let alone DEMAND.  There is no experience like providing that to them for y.o.u.r.s.e.l.f.  There are many life lessons in giving and receiving charity.  Dot miss out on either. 

Some seek an easy path: help breaking through their shell. Don't help them. It may seem cruel or uncaring but quite the contrary. It will make matters worse.  They simply need to work: hard and long.  Work, think, learn logic and reasoning, break through and grow up.

Still others are horrible, freeloading layabouts, masterfully scamming the system and robbing hardworking taxpayers.  Whether few or many is debatable, but they are there and anything they are receiving as a handout, a charitable gift, or an entitlement needs to be stopped.

Also, money is rarely the real issue.  Again, a different blog for a different day.

The moral of the story:  A kind heart is manifest in many ways. Please don't assume that people aren't kind because they see solutions in different ways.

My 2.

GOOD TIMBER
by Douglas Malloch

The tree that never had to fight,

For sun and sky and air and light,

But stood out on the open plain,

And always got it’s share of rain,

Never became a forest king,

But lives and dies a scrawny thing.

The man who never had to toil,

To gain and farm his patch of soil,

Who never had to win his share,

Of sun and sky and light and air,

Never became a manly man,

But lived and died as he began.

Good timber does not grow in ease,

The stronger the wind, the stronger trees

The farther sky, the greater the length

The more the storm, the more the strength,

By sun and cold, by rain and snow,

In tree and men good timbers grow.

Where thickest lies the forest growth

We find the patriarchs of both.

And they hold counsel with the stars

Whose broken branches show the scars

This is the common law of life.

B.O.B.

Do you have a Bug Out Bag? I'd like to know what you consider you're MOST ESSENTIAL items.  I welcome any and all intelligent input.

For all my prepping and big talk, I don't have a ready bag. I'm going to remedy that ASAP. I don't hold the popular view of a B.O.B. Read on and I'll explain why.

First, I don't think you need MOST of what is being hard sold to the modern "prepper" market. If it says prepper, survival, any of the "cool" catch words in their advertising, I'm immediately suspect, and looking at that particular item with a wary eye. It might be a good product, but marketeering is a BIG red flag (and a turn off) to me.

It's my belief that B.O.B. is to get you from point A to point B. It's not a camp out bag or a spend time in the woods bag... whatever. If you're bugging out, #1. You'd better have a destination planned, and #2. You only carry the essentials to get you there. You should have preps stashed at you B.O.L. enough to keep you a few days until it is safe to move on, go back, or go to a contingency location.

Honestly consider and assess your skill level.  Pack accordingly.  If you haven't already practiced starting fires with sticks in the rain you will probably need a lighter or some sort of other fire starter.  Don't try to be Mr. Bushcraft when your safety is on the line.



1.)  Weight:  Be smart. You are only as fast as the slowest person in your group, and you have to know your own capabilities. DO NOT over pack. Bug out bags are for emergency travel. FOOT travel. The more you have the harder the trip. Think it through.

2.)  Water: Take water. Have water ALREADY IN YOUR BAG. Don't wait til you're bugging out to say, "Oh, hang on while I fill my water." You can't make it without water.  A life straw or something to purify water would be a definite plus.

3.)  Tarp for shelter. You need it. Elements claim more people than most other things in a survival situations.  There are some pretty nice mylar foil type blankets that are very compact that might be a good thing to have in case of a drop in night time temperatures.  The prices vary greatly, but if you shop it you can find them at a fairly reasonable price.

4.)  Clothing. I'm not going to carry much for changes of clothing.  Lightweight things to change into while you dry or clean the ones you are wearing is about all I will have.  Having a separate small bag attached to the outside with additional clothing in case changes in the weather require it would be smart. Then if you need it you can take it, and if not you can take it off and spare yourself the additional weight and bulk. An extra pair or two of socks might be smart. If your feet hurt or get wet, it's the makin's of a horrible trip.

Additions to clothing: I know a guy who has a "naked bag" stuck right to the outside of his B.O.B. He says it's in case he's in the shower and something happens and he has to run for it-- RIGHT NOW: NAKED. Then he'll have clothes at the ready. Pretty good idea, actually. If you don't use it, you can jettison it later to lighten your load.

5.)  Food. I'm not going to carry food that has to be cooked, only fuel for the trip, and as lightweight as I can find. No pans for cooking, no using water to boil dried foods. Just energy bars, calories/carb dense foods. Remember, B.O.B. is for MOVING, not for being Grizzly Adams.  B.O.B. implies S.H.T.F. and what is generally considered to be a hazardous time, so I don't think starting fires would be a good idea unless it's absolutely necessary.  

6.)  Gear. What's essential for me may be different from what is essential for you, so think and plan-- then pack.  A good multipurpose knife, a multi tool, some paracord, a couple of disposable lighters and maybe a fire starter puck, flashlight, a small first aid kit, fishing line... essentials is all you should have in a B.O.B.  

7.)  Bag. I chose this pic, because I'd take that rig in a heartbeat, but truth is, you don't absolutely need any particular type of a bag. Some are made better than others and are tried and true, made for the job, and have very functional components, etc... but if you don't have one, don't be deterred. Just get something sturdy that you can easily carry for long periods. Fill it with what you NEED. Don't buy every top dollar item that's out there. A ten dollar Morakniv would be as good as any knife. A kitchen knife is better than NO knife.

8.)  Special Supplies:  People who need medication or have some special need that can't be ignored had better have a ready bag with that stuff, and you'd better schedule rotation for it so it's as up to date as possible at all times.  Considerations for children, elderly, women's needs, anything peculiar to your group... address it and provide.

Just think about it long and hard. What is essential? What is not? What does it weigh? Can the weakest/smallest person in your group manage their bag?  Are you able to operate the things in your bag successfully?

Pipe up, jump in. I'd like to hear what you think.

I Think We Dodged That First Bullet

"Give me four years to teach the children and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted.  Give us the child for 8 years and it will be a Bolshevik forever." - Vladimir Lenin 

We have a newly elected leader, democratically elected by the citizens of the United States.  There are so many things that we could talk about, most of which have been discussed to bits, but I want to talk about something at which I believe we should seriously take a closer look.

These political demonstrations are showing us all something.  NOT that we have a great divide, much unrest, and a group of improvident young people, although we do have these things.  I suppose you can even chalk up the level of intensity to the great divide in ideologies, but let's look underneath.

Here, we have a group of people, products, Bolsheviks if you will; indoctrinated from the day care through twelve years of public school and then segregated into a college system that is rife with liberal divisiveness and anti-American, anti-white, anti-everything-you've-grown-up-with sentiments, who are steeped in the credo of the system, and are now despondent at the prospects of having to face defeat in the real world.  Their teachers and professors and the prophets of their dogma have left them nothing: no explanations, no alternative views, no "next step," no stability.

Everyone wants to sort of excuse them due to their lack of understanding, their immaturity, their young idealism, and the fact that they honestly feel abandoned, or orphaned in the wake of this upset, but are they leaderless?

No.

Did you know that these 'organic, spontaneous demonstrators' were bused in with fleets of buses?  Did these idealistic and passionate youth 'spontaneously' rent these buses?  No, in fact, they 'spontaneously' answered ads on twitter and other social media  to show up at these things, and were transported by these buses, right into the middle of it.

How about this: Why is the BM (aka: the Big Media) coverage about this particular group so salient?  Are the youth the only important people?  Are college campuses the only places where one's opinions are important?  Are these beautiful ones, these urbane and au courant people the only newsworthy group?  No.  The news herd has been told to be there, that something is about to take place.  By whom were they told?

These nameless leaders are now inciting these demonstrators to call for the deaths of other citizen human beings, calling for the deaths of those who simply disagree, calling for the deaths of others because they didn't get their own way.  CALLING FOR THEIR DEATH.  Allow that to register for a minute.  Indoctrinated American citizens are mindlessly, obediently taking up the call.

Who's calling these instructions to these pitiable, comfortless, ignorant, "leaderless" young people?

Big money.  Big political establishment sources and big globalist sources are paying big bucks to foment this hysteria and these increasingly hostile "demonstrations."

We should be considering something far more sinister than just this veneer: this thin little covering of young people venting their sense of abandonment by demonstrating.  There are people seeded into these crowds to fan the flames of discontent, paid for by money from seditious sources who have agendas: plans for a desired outcome.

I'm no scholar, but I'd wager that great empires have been toppled and terrible things have begun in this way.  Little Jimmy and Little Sally's immaturity and lack of self control is gross and embarrassing, but far more than that.  It is a distraction from the real issue and a vehicle for the furtherance of their agenda.  They are just a convenient channel for power mongers to exploit.

My best advice is to maintain a heightened level of attentiveness, personal DEFCON level 4.  I think they just tipped their hand again.  Stay vigilant, friends.
Just my 2.

SHAME ON YOU!

(I originally had a picture here of six prosperity preachers and their annual incomes with some harsh criticisms and accusations thrown in at the end.  Somehow, the picture disappeared and the post doesn't make much sense if you can't see the photo.  I'll see if I can find it again.  This picture is a substitute.  Meanwhile, it should be understood that the idea was to paint a bunch of people as heretics and liars.  I *think* it was Joel Osteen, Benny Hinn, Kenneth Copeland, T.D. Jakes, Joyce Meyer and one other that I can't remember.)

SHAME!  I really hate this.  Please READ what I have to say.  I'm sorry it's long.  I'm just SO sick of this sort of thing.  THINK, people.  Think for yourselves.  READ your Bibles yourselves, not just the parts that your favorite preacher reads to you.  READ THE WHOLE THING.

We don't know these people or their lives, what they do or think, what their callings are or their relationship to God.  YOU DO NOT KNOW.  No matter what you think you know, YOU DON'T KNOW.  I've followed some and not others, I made a point to listen to them (and others) purposely to "catch them" in their great misdeeds, and you know what?  I never heard any of them say anything heretical when heard in context, except for maybe T.D. Jakes, who said some things I found questionable, but I'd give him another listen before I judged him so harshly.  

I'm the first to say I don't agree with all they say, but perhaps their calling is far different from mine.  I certainly don't have the heavy burden of that kind of responsibility to carry around, a blessing for which I am thankful.  They glorify Jesus and name him ONLY as  Savior and Lord, every time, without fail. Can we not disagree with the point by point stuff?   Maybe, just maybe there are things we don't understand.  If I were studying to be a bus driver everything I would learn from a culinary school would be foolishness to me.  Just go back to your driver's training and leave the cooks alone.  Let them do what they are here to do.

Where is that mercy and grace that we're always talking about?  Their FRUIT is what we are to judge them by, not their money, not the press, not video snippets, not what a bunch of do-nothing armchair critics have to say, not what other preachers have to say.  I'm FAR more suspect of a preacher who would use his very pulpit to point fingers and call out others by name.  They feign mercy to outsiders and crucify their own over matters of money.

I can tell you three of them (probably all six) give things away all the time.  Their charitable outreach is enormous.  Partner gifts without donations are common among them.  Some of them don't ask for money but to say pray about it, and then if you feel led to give they will receive it, but not to let it diminish your tithes and offerings to your own churches.  I have HEARD them.  I sat through hours of sermons just to be sure I wasn't getting things out of context or missing anything.  (Jakes is an exception.  I heard him say some things I didn't think were good, but, as I said,  I didn't listen long enough.  His topics were not something I like to listen to, and I lost interest.  I'm immediately suspicious of his affiliations with Oprah Winfrey, maybe he can help her, but we shall see.)

I did the research because it's so distasteful to me to constantly be hearing "Christians" trying to destroy other people because they disagree with means or methods or some point of doctrine.  WE did not call them.  WE are not the Holy Spirit, and WE will not be responsible before God for their lives, only for what WE do.  Even if they are "the tares" God will sort them.  He said let them alone til HE deals with them.

Money just pisses people off, and if God blesses a minister we assume he's on the take.  We don't know ANYTHING.  We have NO RIGHT to persecute them for it.  We don't know the details, no matter what we think we know.  They made most of their personal money by way of personal accomplishments-- hard work and time, such as book sales and businesses-- just like any other successful American. They sell their own books and their guest speakers books and teaching series and the like. Should they not?  That's a legitimate question.

Wouldn't you want to keep what you worked for?  Maybe you should not be allowed to, and you should never live a lifestyle any greater than the local homeless, by the standards you have set for others.  No?  Then at what point does it become "too much?"  It changes with your situation, and is unstable as water.  Of course, we don't value the "work" they do, since they are "just" preachers, so in our hearts we don't believe they should prosper.  I guess they should do all they do with no money.  Have them make bricks with no straw?

Now, if YOU start making money, suddenly your sliding scale of what "wealth" is changes.   Sickening.  It's so poorly thought out.  It's NOT scriptural.  It's always a bad interpretation of scripture that takes people to the place where they condemn other people that they don't know, based on suppositions and hearsay,  with wrongly interpreted laws to govern them that they would NEVER apply to any other people group, and to which they would never hold themselves accountable.

If you *really* believe what you say you'd better not prosper!  Never mind these guys in the picture... YOU!  Don't seek a raise or that better job. No investments, new cars, better clothes or upgrades for you.  That would make YOU a hypocrite. STOP TRYING TO PROSPER NOW before you become a heretic!

Your local missionary takes offerings and donations to stay in one village or town.  They send newsletters and ask for pledges so that they can do their work and not have the burden of living and travel expenses.  They take on work for income and give of their time and effort, but they ask others for MONEY.  They operate with MONEY.  If they grow into a mission that feeds the hungry, has an orphanage or expands to new villages, even cities, they will need MORE MONEY.  Is that bad, too?  Why not?  Then, how big IS too big?  Joel Osteen big?  How much is too much?  T.D. Jakes much? Your sliding scale, the abundance vs. opulence scale, is something YOU have created in your mind, that YOU have judged to be true based only on relative, temporary things.  Gods is not so limited.  

But it goes on from there... 

Some of these guys gave the proceeds from their personal gain back into their ministries.  These guys (and gals-- most of them) do more giving and humanitarian work than most organizations that were created for that purpose.  They sent plane loads and bus loads and truck loads of relief to disaster areas, foreign and domestic. They stay on after the rest leave, past the photo ops and news coverage.  Did you know about that?  No, because their detractors don't want to address the good things they do. They reach MILLIONS.  M.I.L.L.I.O.N.S. of people for Jesus in every continent on Earth.  Did you?  

Did you know that four of these six (along with a few others) were investigated by a senate committee?  One senator just couldn't stand these prosperous preachers and he got it in his craw to bring them down.  Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa headed up a senate finance committee investigation into whether they had mishandled funds.  Though CLEARLY a hostile adversary, relentlessly trying to catch them in some extortion, theft or misappropriations, he was unable to produce ANYTHING.  The probe found no wrongdoing.  Their records were crystal clear, and their ministries were above reproach.  Why is that never a part of your argument?

Don't just get angry at me and have the old knee jerk reactions you've learned.  THINK about what I'm saying.  Do your own research.  It's just as available to see as this negative stuff.  Why are you so excited to find all that negative stuff and overlook the rest?  That's a question you should answer for yourself.

I did my homework and I can tell you that I may not agree on every point of doctrine, I may not like their messages much, maybe their mannerisms bother me, and sometimes that's the case, but they are NOT "selling the gospel" any more than Zondervan or CDB, or any other pastor who is in full time ministry.  Full time ministry SHOULD be successful.  Maybe they simply seek God.   Hebrews is clear,  "God is a Rewarder to those who seek him out."  Maybe you simply don't approve of certain levels of success and how God chooses to reward His own people.  I call that attitude judgmental, and all that is, is manifest symptoms of jealousy and greed on your part.

Why don't Christians chose ENEMIES to target?  There are some REAL bad guys out there infiltrating, they don't even PRETEND at the Truth of the Bible-- but everybody wants on the ol' "televangelist/rich guy" bandwagon.  Benny Hinn acts weird.  Joyce Meyer's clothes are too fancy.  Creflo Dollar's car is too nice.  As often as I hear the name of Joel Osteen being trashed and thrown about,  you'd think he was the stand-in for the Devil himself. They name his name more often than that of the enemy of God and man.  Ridiculous.  Jealousy and greed have infiltrated the church and they don't see it for what it is as long as the "other guy" is there to indict.  YOU, Christian, are creating strife.  And where there is strife there is every evil work.  Shame!

On a final note:  If, having done your research, you still don't like these folks, is it good for the Kingdom and pleasing to God to publicly behave in this manner?  We are to be known by the love we have for one another.  If the answer to that last question is yes, because you feel compelled to expose them to the world, first, where are your scriptural instructions to do that?  Second, are you absolutely certain that you are correct in your assessment?  You had better be.  You had better be.

A Church With *YOU* In Mind?

(photo credit)

Church.

I'm sick of the program.  They all have the same format... everybody filters in somewhere near start time.  They sing one fast song while everyone finishes their coffee and cashes out of the book store with their mints and gum and trinkets with scriptures on them, and find their Bibles which they had earlier placed in their "regular" seats.  The band does an extra repetition of the last verse so everyone can stand where they belong long enough to signify that they silently acknowledge church has, in fact, started.  Next, they break from the music and everyone once again wanders about, inside the sanctuary this time, giving each other hugs (that I generally don't want) and exchanging pleasantries.  Intro: Check.

It's now time to do announcements about all the upcoming fundraisers and entertainment and such, conveniently affording the emcee an opportunity to bring the audience back to order, and, once again, have them ambling to back their seats.  Somewhere along in here you'll get a semi-apologetic plea for money mingled with a touch of guilt for those attendees who don't freely and happily give.  Then one more fast song while they pass the plate and to get people's attention back on the show.  Offering: Check.  Follow this with 3 slow, moody, minor chord songs-- repeat, repeat, repeat -- to cultivate an atmosphere where people can be whipped into a more emotionally sensitive frame of mind.  

(Oh, slightly off topic, and for the record, I really think if you need "worship practice" you've crossed over to a place I don't want to go.  What even can that be??  I don't practice worshiping, and I can't imagine it.  Let's call it what it is- entertainment rehearsal, just like any 'show.')

Cue the pastor.

30-45 minutes of a 3 point sermons, probably inspired by, if not downloaded straight from Sermons.com, followed by a felicitous prayer in their best "holy voice," then hurry off to lunch at Denny's with your friends before the church up the street gets there and moves all the tables.

OK, so I get it--  lots of the people there are doing all this with good intent and for basically the right reasons, but they are still following this pre-programmed "outline" of how we "do" church.  I can NOT do it, anymore, at all.  I can't.  I understand it, because I did it for years.  I've been sick of it for years, too, but like so many, I just tried to make the best of it.  I.can't.do.it.any.more. 

It's getting worse instead of better, and the whole production is like any other social club or gathering or group: clique-ish, shallow, desperate to seem sincere, trying to mean it, and having a carefully crafted image to sell to the public.  More and more pandering to a devilish culture is turning modern churches into festering boils on the butt of Christianity. Standing back and looking at it from the outside now, after years of seeing the inner workings, I can see that it's circling the drain.  

There are some who mean for it to work.  They are clinging to the shreds of what once was, hoping to build revival on the back of something long past.  They are being stripped of their freedom to speak truth by fear of what price they will have to pay at the hands of an increasingly hostile society, or by threat of governmental interference.  Many are caving in to the pressures and "embracing diversity" at the cost of The Truth.  And the will of the people rules.   

Where is God in this?  I mean that as a serious question.  I can't get a good answer.  In my case, I know that God was with me and a few others in my church.  He was there, because He came with us, but NOT because of "the church" I attended.  Not because they said, "Come to church Sunday and Jesus will be there to meet your need!"  Not because He was billed as a healer on Wednesday night service.  Not because the special speaker promised something new from God.  Where is God in this?  I have to say I don't think He's in it much at all but for the sake of a few sincere die hards that just don't know what else to do.

I think it is time for His people to come out from among them.  I've thought for some years now that the true church will be driven underground and that we'll be meeting in homes and other smaller, private locations.  I thought it was a bad thing, and it saddened me to see it on the horizon, but now that it's here I don't feel that way.  I know that the church grows most when it is persecuted.  I see it as a purge and a cleansing.  I see it as a time to truly seek God and a time when He will reveal Himself to us.  

We need to be prepared.  We need  to have wisdom and knowledge given by God in this hour.  I believe that we are going to see great things that we haven't seen in the church since the days of the Book of Acts!  This is a time that the Bible spoke of and all mankind has anticipated.  God Almighty saw fit to place us here, now, so I am certain He has equipped us for the task.

Guard your heart!  Stay in The Word!  It will be your guide and keep you safe.  Cast off all the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.  Disentangle yourself from the affairs of this life.  Gird up your loins, saints!  Be prepared.  And look up!  Lift up your heads because your redemption draweth nigh!!