Neo-Survivalist

The news is full of “unrest” it seems like.  We have the mosque going in at ground zero.  We have a pastor in Gainesville, FL that is looking to do a public burning of Korans.  The Gainesville pastor has gained international attention at every level – truly amazing.

Furthermore, pastors from other churches now are possibly looking to mimic the Gainesville event.  All of this adds up to further unrest.  I’m not going to comment on the acts themselves because I think they’re a little over played now anyways, but the point is that unrest is everywhere these days.

I recently talked about the Gainesville guy with one of my friends who said he shouldn’t do it because it will prevent people from peacefully living together.  I thought to myself since when have people lived peacefully together?  The world has and will continue to be chaotic.  The world is full of various people groups and controlled by various interests – tension is the constant reality in the world.

As a young man with a young family, I can’t help but notice what is going on in the world.  Couple these things with the growing economic uncertainty and it makes me take action.  It makes me want to do things that people consider weird and extreme in the name of protecting my family.  Buying a gun, buying some extra food, etc. these things are viewed by many as extreme and even more as unnecessary.  Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t, but I don’t think I’m willing to risk it.

After all, the insurance that comes from “prepping” doesn’t cost much yet might be incredibly valuable in the right circumstances.

Side note: the Gainesville pastor is making a political statement.  Whether you agree with it or not, I don’t exactly think that it should be the focus of a pastor to be making political statements.  Not exactly preaching the gospel if you know what I mean.

America, Christianity, General Preparedness

Here’s a shot of the recent Atlanta riots over the folks waiting for their government handout.  This is definitely a scene we will see more of in the future.

America

Here are two must reads for today on why the economy will continue to collapse and what it might mean…

There is no double dip – it will be much worse

The worst case scenario

Economy, Financial Preparation

Due to time constraints, I haven’t been able to keep this blog up as much as I’d like.  As such I’m looking for individuals who might be interested in writing about topics that this site discusses.  You can be either a hardcore survivalist or a new beginner who is on a journey to become more self reliant and sufficient.  Please contact me if you might be interested.

For now the site does not really generate any revenue, but in the future if and when it does, writers may have the option to share some of that depending on what the future of the site looks like.

Thanks.

Uncategorized

Gold was crushed today, and those of us focused on the long-term see it as a potential buying opportunity.  I’m a big believer in precious metals for financial security.  I’m not necessarily a big believer in the inflation story for a number of reasons, but the reality is that there are massive, massive deflationary forces in the economy right now.  Why would that be bullish for gold?  Because I’m also convinced that the government will do whatever it takes to fight deflation (since our entire system depends on continuous expansion and inflation).  It will be the loss of confidence that will drive gold to insane levels.

Now, you’ll hear people shout that the gold bull run is over if this correction materializes.  This is when its best to buy gold, when people are vocal about it in a bearish manner.  Be patient and wait for opportunities – for now, it might even go lower.  I will be watching gold with a close eye and loading up on gold stocks and potentially some physical silver.

Financial Preparation

I have seen a connection somewhat between the survival community and Christianity.  I mean somewhat because what I mean here is that many who are into survivalism are professing Christians.  Now without getting into a long discussion here on my belief that most people who claim to be Christians are not followers of Christ (and such a claim is Biblically based), it’s important to keep this in mind when discussing such a connection.  Note: if you want to discuss this previous statement further, leave a comment or contact me – I’m happy to discuss further.

Now, let’s get this out on the table, I’m a Christian.  I believe the Bible is the Word of God and I believe Jesus Christ is the only path for salvation for mankind.  As I’ve grown in my faith, much over just the past year, I’ve really wrestled with my tendencies to embrace “survivalism” as most “survivalists” define it.  Like many things in life, as we read the Bible, God reveals things to us and confronts us with things and makes us question areas of our life, namely things we hold onto over God himself.  This is the process of sanctification and is an absolute part of life for any true believer.

Here are a few areas that I’m wrestling with:

Isolation

A main point of the survivalism crowd is isolation.  Famous survivalist, Rawles of the survivalblog.com website (who is a self professing Christian) lives somewhere out in Idaho in his isolated “retreat.”  I understand the reasons behind such a move, but how does a Christian reconcile this with the commandment given by Christ himself to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:18-20)?

Hoarding

Hoarding is another major point of survivalism.  While the Bible does discuss saving up for hard times to be a wise move, the Bible also clearly condemns hoarding when so many individuals have nothing.  Did you know that approx 3 billion people on the planet live on $1-2 per day?  Read the account of Lazarus and the rich man in Luke 16 for a chilling example of someone who is rich.  Again, I don’t have the answer here, but this is something I wrestle with.  I personally have some stored food for potential hard times, but I am personally convicted about the desire to continue to pile up more and more for myself while I completely ignore literally billions of people who have absolutely nothing.  How will I answer to God when I’m called to give an account for my resources (again, read Luke 16)?

I thought that this was an interesting discussion to open up to people interested in survivalism, especially since I seem to see a common inter-weaving between survivalism and Christianity – some Biblical, some maybe not so much?  What do you think?  Do you wrestle with these things?  As Christians, it’s important to read the Scripture for what it is.  We far too often twist the Scriptures to our own liking according to our culture, our desires and our wants.

I hope you will add your input to this discussion.

Christianity, General Preparedness Christian

America

There are a range of items you can purchase and accumulate in order to prepare for uncertainty in your lives.  None might be more important than a water filter.  We all recognize that water is the most important thing for us to have.  We can go much longer without food than we can without water.  We need it and we need lots of it.  Unfortunately, water is bulky and tough to store large quantities of.  And, no matter how much you store, you will eventually run out depending on the circumstances.

A water filter guarantees acceptable drinking water as long as we can find a water source.  Where I live in Florida this really isn’t too difficult.  For me, I already had some stored water and some purification tablets.  Adding a water filter essentially completes my water preparation strategy.

I chose to purchase the MSR Miniworks Microfilter since it is one of the most popular water filters on the market, and it is relatively inexpensive.  At this point, I felt it was necessary to add the item to my preps.  Down the road, I may consider adding a Berkey Water Filter or one of the Katadyn water filters.

General Preparedness water

America, Financial Preparation

Despite the misconceptions surrounding the term insurance these days, insurance is primarily a financial tool used to accomplish a few things which we will get into in a minute.  These days insurance, due to the recent health care debates, is used incorrectly.  Health insurance is more used to mean health coverage, where insurance means something much differently.

Insurance is a financial tool.  It is used to accomplish the following:

1. Mitigate Risk - By paying an insurer, you are offloading risk onto the insurer.  You essentially pay a little on a regular basis to mitigate the risk of a major expense down the road
2. Protect Your Assets - Your assets might mean possessions or your family.  Insurance protects your assets from future uncertainty.  This might include life insurance, homeowners insurance, liability insurance, etc.

Insurance is a very smart tool when used appropriately.  Most of us accept this and we all have various forms of insurance in our life.  I think prepping is very much a form of insurance, yet the participation rate in this “insurance plan” is much lower than the other forms.

Preparing for future uncertainty now while you have the ability and time to do so is a wise move.  Most people would admit to you that they are uncertain about a number of things in life and society as they look forward, yet you’d be hard pressed to find people doing anything about it.  Prepping is what we neo-survivalists are doing to mitigate future risk.

We are concerned about the well being of our assets.  By assets, I’m first and foremost speaking of my family, and my home and possessions thereafter.  The items I buy each month to prep are akin to premiums paid into an insurance plan.  The time spent learning skills now that might help me later is also akin to premiums paid.

Turning specifically to precious metals for a second, investing in gold and silver is definitely another form of insurance.  By owning physical precious metals (not a gold/silver ETF), you are buying insurance against inflation and against a currency crisis.  A very wise move considering the economic policies of this country (and the world).

Do you have insurance?

Financial Preparation, General Preparedness