Yes.
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
It bluntly states that our mission is to look after those who can not help themselves. You note that he does not say that God is not taking care of them, He is, by sending you.
God expects you to do your part. He will fill in the blanks.
The admonishment to store up in the 7 years of good times, in preparation for the 7 years of bad times is pretty clear.
....The Lord knows what’s coming, and He knows what we will need. He will give Christians the things we need when we need them. I’m not advocating lying down and “doing nothing,” because I don’t believe prepping is a bad thing, but we must keep it in perspective. While prepping can be a great help in certain situations, it is not what saves us or takes care of us. Only the Lord does that, and while we may choose to be preppers, as Christians, we must always keep our focus on Him.
After everything you said to knock it, I wasn't expecting the conclusion to say "I don't believe prepping is a bad thing".
Yes, but...
We must be very, very careful not to allow our preparations supplant our trust in the Lord’s protection. The Lord has made it plain that, as He has His eye on the sparrow, so He has His eye on us and is aware of our every need.
It is perfectly acceptable and wise to prep, as long as we do not place our faith in these made-made material things.
That article reminds me of the people who make the comment that money is the root of all evil. A little bit of a twist of scripture goes a long way with some. I have followed my grandparents example of “putting up” enough until next years harvest. It’s what has been done since Bible times. Today they would call that “prepping”. Not once does scripture in any way denegrate those who provided for their families with extra provisions to help those who are in need. Of course we don’t put our faith in those goods and it’s the “love of money” that leads to sin. If “prepping” is somehow un-Biblical then Joseph sure made a mistake by storing up for the lean years.
That is one complex question. As a human being, I want to take care of my own and defend my family and as a Christian, I do not see any scripture that would instruct otherwise.
But I do see our Saviour instructing us to love our enemy, feed the poor and take care of widows and orphans. God shows us in scripture that our neighbor is not necessarily the people we expect or even like.
And in our faith history, we see the Martyrs that went to the cross, were burned at the stake and went to the lions rather than reject the Christ they followed rather than take up arms and fight the ungodly.
I am not a pacifist, but these facts do trouble me.
My wife is an organized person. She has a couple of months worth of food in the pantry just because that is the way she was raised. But ultimately... I'm probably not interested in living through the "mad max" world of the apocalypse.
We have an eternity with God. Why would a few years of surviving the apocalypse be so important to us?
That's just my take on it...
We prep in many ways in our life to ensure we survive. These “ways” DO NOT include food, water, weapons and ammo.
How about...auto/health/life insurance, retirement accounts, medical/dental care in general (annual physicals, dental exams, cholesterol meds)...heck, even college education/tech school diplomas.
Many of us have chosen a harder path by making use of hard work and the resources available to us in an effort to give us a longer, better life.
Why would storing up food and other supplies be any different?
Prepare for your family but put all your trust in the Lord, don't let things of this world dominate you.
Republican/Conservatives: Preppers=Responsibility
There is a VERY large number of verses advising preparing (stockpiling) for the unknown, and many verses roundly criticizing those who don’t. Just because God hasn’t clearly told you to stockpile 7 years of food doesn’t mean you shouldn’t set aside some of the “harvest” from good years in preparation for bad years.
The anecdotal directive to stockpile grain in preparation for 7 lean years was given to the _whole_country_. Joseph was the nation’s leader, given the dramatic task of doing what individuals should have been. (OK, 7 years is a bit much, but there is no excuse for not being prepared for _at_least_ 1 year.)
Parable of the ants & grasshopper. Parable of the maidens with and without extra lamp oil. Consequences of famine. Plenty of others; I’ve not time to dig them up but you know where to find them.
Trust God for providence? Absolutely. And you’re wallowing in “providence” RIGHT NOW: you have the money, time, opportunity & resources to stock up a year’s worth of food etc, knowing full well that our country is being driven directly into a brick wall. Come the next big crash, you’ll likely be too distracted with hunger to recall writing this anti-preparedness drivel instead of stocking up for that inevitability.
A favorite insightful joke comes to mind...
A preacher’s home was subjected to a massive flood.
Standing on the front porch, a rowboat came by. “Get in!” the occupants said, “we will take you to safety!”
He replied, “no, I trust God will protect me.”
As the rising waters drove him to the second floor, a powerboat came by. “Get in!” the occupants said, “we will take you to safety!”
He replied, “no, I trust God will protect me.”
Rising still more, the waters drove him onto the roof. A helicopter hovered over and lowered a ladder. “Get in!” the occupants said, “we will take you to safety!”
He replied, “no, I trust God will protect me.”
Still rising, the water engulfed the home and the preacher drowned.
Entering the Pearly Gates, the preacher came to the Almighty, thanking Him for salvation. “I’ve one question though: why did you let me drown when I trusted You so much?
God replied, “I sent you two boats and a helicopter, what more did you want?”
You live in a time of plenty. Are you preparing for the inevitable time of want? Dying of starvation, will God’s reply to your pleas be “I gave you a generous income, and sacks of flour at $15 for 50 pounds - why did you choose hunger?”
To download the (free) comprehensive LDS Preparedness Manual:
http://www.ldsavow.com/PrepManualGeneral.html
Based on various LDS Manuals:
http://tomeaker.com/kart/Preparedness1j.pdf
Training materials for Civilian Emergency Response Teams:
http://www.fema.gov/community-emergency-response-teams/training-materials
One list (of many) of preparedness materials:
http://survivalblog.com/store/amazonbooks.html
Ship Captain’s Medical Guide: (in PDF!)
http://www.crosstree.info/Documents/CaptGuide.pdf
FEMA Civilian Emergency Response Team (CERT)
Instructor’s Manual:
http://www.fema.gov/media-library-data/20130726-1838-25045-1683/ig_combined.pdf
Participant’s Manual:
www.fema.gov/media-library-data/20130726-1839-25045-8729/pm_combined.pdf
Proverbs 22:3
(3) A prudent one foresees the evil and hides himself, but the simple pass on and are punished.
1 Timothy 5:8
(8) But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially his family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an infidel.
Better to clarify this way:
Prepping is good, so long as it does not hinder other moral responsibilities.
Nothing wrong with having 7 years’ supply on hand, unless it means foregoing care for your own here and now.
6:28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
6:29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
6:30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
6:31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
6:32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
6:34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
So, I guess Christ is saying that we should not be preppers.
Regards,
Perhaps if you define what you consider "serious" more fully I would better know if I agree with you or not.
I think you're referring to "attitude", the mindset of a serious prepper, as being the issue? Have they logically responded to concerns or over-reacted to worry?
From the abundance God provides, I think we are to be responsible for and provide for our own needs, so as not to be a burden on others, in good times and bad.
Moreover, it's good to prepare for the bad, good on many levels.
Charity begins at home. It's better to be a resource others can depend upon, a shelter from the storm. Who can say when we will be called to be each other's food banks or whatever in times of trouble, either theirs or the world's?
Much beyond that, I trust God and know He will continue to provide for my needs, both physical and spiritual, and send others my way if He thinks I can be of service. Gotta be ready for those...
Well if you are not prepped up and you have to get in a line and put your kids little wrists out to take the mark of the Beast what will God think?
You are asking the wrong question.
Daily I am amazed at all of God’s creation. I delight at watching ants, all hard at work as a team, collecting and storing provisions for lean times. I get angry at the injustice of the grasshopper that comes along and takes what it wants from those who have worked hard.
In all of the animal kingdom you see examples of opposite behaviour. Some species care for their young while other species abandon or eat their young. Some animals mate for life while others jump from mate to mate offering no loyalty, captives to their own base desires. We say they are exhibiting animalistic behaviour. They have no choice. We as human beings do have a choice as we are endowed with free will and the ability to observe all of creation and make a conscious choice as to how we want to live.
It seems that all of the mechanisms of liberal, socialist society, from media to public education, are trying to convince us to be our base self. They tell those who need an excuse not to do the work to be their higher self - if it feels good, do it and don’t feel guilty. People who fall for that are more easily controlled and exploited.
So the real question you should be asking yourself is: am I an ant or a grasshopper?
A much bigger question for Christians is, what do we do for a living, and what do we do at work, not prepping.
Most of the bad things we do, we do at work, for money.
Seven years.