In a number of blog posts, I’ve urged that readers make reasonable preparations for the biblically-prophesied difficult times ahead of us. An article newly posted to my homepage is entitled, Should Christians prepare for Hard Times?, and it examines the question of whether Christians should simply “rely on God in faith” to do everything for them in the future or whether they should heed the biblical warnings and make prudent preparations for future challenging times. If you have not done so yet, I urge you to read that article. It may be one of the most important articles you will ever read at my website as its content and counsel could literally make the difference whether you and your family can make it through the future hard times.
Even the US Government has warned and advised all Americans to make reasonable preparations for future hard times. There are two links (below) from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) website and they offer excellent advice to every American. The first link warns that everyone should make their emergency preparations “well in advance of an emergency.” How true! It is better to make your preparations a year ahead of time than start an hour too late when the bad stuff hits the fan. The second link offers a basic list of emergency supplies everyone should have on hand in the event of an emergency situation developing in your area because governments may not be able to help you for “days.” Indeed, as we all saw in the Hurricane Katrina aftermath, some people were essentially “on their own” for weeks in the chaos that can hit after a major emergency.
The second link has a good basic list of necessities, but it will need to be expanded for many with specialized needs, such as diabetics, those who need oxygen canisters, etc. FEMA’s list also wisely suggests a can-opener, but people (like me) in northern regions need to remember that canned goods can freeze and burst if they are not stored in above-freezing temperature containers. The third link also cites a FEMA reminder to have basic survival supplies in a winter survival kit in your car in the event you are stranded in a blizzard or your car breaks down away from home. An emergency red light flashlight or light sticks can give you a way to help rescuers locate your car if you get stranded. These common-sense, FEMA-suggested emergency preparations should be done by everyone regardless of religious beliefs. They make just as much sense for Jews, Buddhists, Moslems, Atheists, etc. as they do for Christians.
Revelation 6:5-6 warn that food shortages will strike in the latter days and that food will be rationed by price. Matthew 24:6 warns famines will occur on the earth in the latter days. That same verse warns earthquakes will be common and pestilences (disease epidemics) will strike as well. A recent movie named Contagion depicted a situation where a sudden pestilence forced people to stay in their homes for fear of getting infected if they ventured out in public. If you were warned right now that you had to stay in your house for just such a reason, how long would you and your family last before you ran out of food, water, prescription medicines, etc. Luke 21:25 warn about “the sea and waves roaring” in the latter days (i.e. hurricanes and tsunamis). Hurricane Katrina and the tsunami which killed approximately 250,000 people in the Indian Ocean region a few years ago are likely to be but the initial fulfillments of that prophecy.
Making emergency preparations such as those suggested by FEMA make sense not just to prepare for apocalyptic biblical events, but also for regional and local weather events that regularly strike parts of the USA (or many other nations). Consider the list of what could happen. Residents of coastal areas periodically receive warnings to suddenly evacuate inland to avoid hurricanes. If you received a notice to evacuate inland, do you have a “bug-out” kit handy so you don’t have to scramble around searching for items that you will need to bring with you? Some Americans have to evacuate their homes due to flash floods. Other Americans, especially in the western regions, can receive a sudden warning to leave their home within a few minutes due to rapidly-advancing wildfires. A friend of mine in Arizona received just such a warning from his local government authorities earlier this year, and he had to “bug out” within minutes. This last week has seen incredible Santa Ana winds in California. If those winds had been pushing wildfires ahead of them, hundreds of thousands of people might have been warned to quickly evacuate their homes and flee. Residents in the northeast portion of the USA can be without electricity for weeks due to the after effects of a “Nor-Easter” storm or icestorm. I recall a media story about people in the Kentucky-West Virginia area being without electricity for two weeks after a major icestorm a couple winters ago and they were burning their furniture in wood stoves to stay alive.
There are even more possible threats to consider. The fourth link below reports that a Russian cyberattack disabled the water supply system in Springfield, Illinois recently. Given the computerized infrastructure of virtually every critical American utility system, organized cyberattacks from enemy nations or terrorists could suddenly deprive you of electricity, water or other vital services without any advance weather warnings at all. A recent post warned about the very real dangers posed by an Electro-magnetic blast (EMP) blast detonated over America by an enemy nation or terrorist actors. Such an event would cause a devastating loss of American life in the region affected, as documented in the recent best-selling book, One Second After, with a Foreword by Newt Gingrich, the latest front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination.
A solar flare could also cause disruptions to utility services with little or no warning, having almost the same effect as an EMP attack. The fifth link cites credible sources that a major solar storm could shut down many electric and electronic systems in utilities, stock exchanges, communications and health care equipment, etc. which could cost $2 trillion to repair. I’ll bet you didn’t know that NASA and other governmental agencies held a “space weather conference” recently examining just how destructive future solar storms could be. This is a critical issue now as the sun is due to wake up out of a lull in its solar cycle and produce more destructive solar storms. One scientist warns in the last link that the sun could cause such severe solar storms in 2013 that electric utility systems could be shut down for “months” (I’ll bet you didn’t hear about that warning on your local TV News). Revelation 16:8-9 prophesies something will go seriously wrong with our sun during the latter days, so the warnings of the scientists in the last two links should be taken seriously.
Are you ready to survive without electricity for several months? Clearly, the FEMA warnings for Americans to prepare for emergencies should be heeded by everyone. However, the warnings by serious scientists that we could face months without electricity means that Americans should be making preparations to handle a period of months without electricity. People in northern climates need to have survival plans for losing power (and heat) in the winter. Do you live in the colder northern latitudes? If so, you must have a survival plan that includes how to heat your home without electricity or know where you will go in the event you lose heat in your home. As FEMA warns in the first link, you must make such plans “well in advance of an emergency.”
I hope you take FEMA’s and the Bible’s warnings seriously. Both secular and biblical sources warn that you need to make serious emergency preparations now. Unfortunately, most people won’t do so. That complacency could cost them their lives in the future if an emergency is sufficiently serious or long-lasting. To begin your preparations, you could do a web search for such topics as “emergency equipment,” “emergency supplies,” “emergency food supplies,” etc. You will have no problem finding venders. Readers of this blog have been warned. I hope you heed the warnings. No one knows how much time we have left to make preparations before major traumas strike the earth. I hope you read my article newly-placed on the homepage about making emergency preparations and that you start making your preparations based on the FEMA list. One thing is certain: at some point in the future, you will run out of time to prepare. Proverbs 22:3 says prudent people see dangers ahead of time. I hope that you will be a “prudent” person about making preparations for future traumas and emergencies.
http://www.ready.gov/build-a-kit
http://www.ready.gov/basic-disaster-supplies-kit
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/942921–solar-storms-could-spark-2-trillion-global-katrina
