Lux Lucet

A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself, but the simple pass on and are punished.

    Proverbs 22:3

Last week we concluded our look at various examples of prepping the Bible. In Parts 4, 5, 6 and 7 of these series, our focus was on Noah, Lot Joseph and the teachings of Christ in that order. Not that this list exhausted all the examples of prepping found in the Bible. Indeed, there are a great deal more examples of prepping in the Scriptures than I have the time or space to discuss in this short series on Christian prepping. That said, I believe the examples we looked at are enough to establish that God approves of prepping.

It had been my intention today to follow the prepping examples discussed in Parts 4-7 with some practical advice on prepping. But the more I thought about it, the more it seemed good to follow the Scriptural examples of prepping with a more doctrinal discussion. Examples are helpful, for they help us to see the practical application of Christian doctrine, but examples do not replace doctrine.

But before we dive into Biblical prepping theory, I’d be remiss if I did not review the financial news from this past week. As has been noted previously, the main title for this series, “The Ongoing Financial Crisis of 2008,” expresses this author’s opinion that the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) that struck in that year has never really ended. As some historians consider World War II to be a continuation of World War I separated by 21 years of uneasy peace, so too are there many financial market observers who argue that the next financial crisis simply will be a continuation of the GFC, separated by a decade or so of uneasy financial normalcy.

The reason some market observers argue this way, and I happen to agree with them, is that the cause of the GFC was never honestly dealt with, but rather was papered over. The 2008 crisis was caused by excessive debt, which itself was the inevitable result of a corrupt global financial system, founded as it is on the fraudulent, debt-based, central bank issued, fiat US Dollar.

When things became unglued in 2008, the US and the world in general were presented with an opportunity to deal honestly with a bankrupt – bankrupt in both the economic and moral sense of the term – financial system. It was a bit like the alcoholic being given the opportunity to clear out the liquor cabinet, sober up, and get his life back, or to again reach for the bottle and find temporary solace in the very thing that’s destroying his life.

America, and the West generally, made the wrong choice, deciding to take another hit from the debt bottle that is destroying our nations, all the while making some fabulously wealthy.

As proof that the issues of the GFC were never resolved, consider the absurd spectacle of negative interest rates. According to Mike Shedlock, there are five central banks with negative interest rates – the Swiss National Bank, Denmark, the European Central Bank, Sweden and the Bank of Japan. Negative interest rates – this is a situation where savers are charged a fee to save and borrowers are paid to borrow, the exact opposite of how a financial system is supposed to work – rob the prudent and reward the profligate. Put another way, they are the financial equivalent of calling good evil and evil good. Such a situation never could exist in a market economy, but has come about as a result of the monetary sorcery of an immoral central banking cartel that currently runs the West.

Negative interest rates are a screaming danger signal to anyone with any financial sense that there are serious problems in the global financial system, but that hasn’t stopped President Trump from calling for them.

But negative interest rates aren’t the only danger signal flashing red. As we discussed last week in Part 7, the Fed continues to bail out the overnight repo market. To give you a sense of just how big the ongoing bailout is, CNN noted on 9/20 that in the first four days of the operation, the Fed had injected over $275 billion into the repo market. “In less than a week,” CNN went on to say, “the Fed injected 34.4% of the $800 billion that it printed during the 2008 bailout.”

That is simply breathtaking. To think that in the first four days of the most recent bank rescue the Fed printed more than a third of the total it did during the 2008 crisis. And note well, that total was as of 9/20. An entire new week of repo market bailouts has since gone in the books. And the bailouts are scheduled to continue until 10/10! At the current rate, the repo bailouts will exceed the (at least publically admitted) bailouts of 2008.

Apart from its sheer size, another remarkable facet of the current repo market rescue is that the cause of the crisis has not yet been disclosed. One clue to the locus of the problem is in the fact that this is a repo market bailout. According to an article by Pam and Russ Martens posted on Wall Street On Parade, “The New York Fed is only allowed to engage in these repo transactions with its 24 primary dealers. That list of 24 primary dealers includes the securities units of big U.S. banks like JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Bank of America and Wells Fargo, but it also includes the U.S. based securities units of troubled foreign banks like Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse, and Societe Generale (SocGen).” Because the New York Fed is not announcing which banks are drawing down the bulk of its loans, neither Congress nor the American people know if the money is flowing to U.S. banks or foreign bank subsidiaries in the U.S. Propping up troubled foreign banks in not what most Americans want their central bank to be doing.” Of course, I would add that I don’t want the Fed bailing out troubled American banks either.

So here you have this massive bank bailout going on, a bailout that more than one analyst think involves Deutsche Bank, but the American public is largely in the dark. This, naturally, is exactly what the fed and other financial ne’er do wells want. Let the people obsess about the Democrats’ frivolous impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump, while the Fed once again bails out the billionaire bankers and hands the bill to the American people.

Very clearly, there are serious problems in the financial system. Enough so that it probably is inaccurate to speak of a coming Phase 2 of the GFC, for it is already upon us.

But enough of Wall Street intrigue for the moment. Let us now turn to discussing the Biblical doctrine of prepping, to see what the Scriptures teach us about how Christians should prepare for the financial storm in which we find ourselves.

What is Prepping?

Oxford gives the following definition of prepping: “North American The practice of making active preparations for a possible catastrophic disaster or emergency, typically by stockpiling food, ammunition, and other supplies.” This seems to be a reasonably good basic definition of prepping. It covers the idea of gathering the items for use in the event of a large scale disaster, and that is the way “prepping” is typically used.

But to my way of thinking, prepping is more than just stocking up on supplies. As Christian preppers, just piling up a lot of stuff is insufficient. In fact, it’s not even the first order of business. Prepping begins with understanding the Scriptures and asking that the Lord would grant us wisdom to apply that knowledge to the various situations we face in our lives. Prepping is spiritual first and only secondarily is about accumulating supplies. Jesus related the parable of the rich man who tore down his barns to build bigger ones only to find that his soul was required of him that very night. We can ask, what does it profit a man if he has the biggest survival bunker but loses his own soul? The obvious answer is, nothing at all.

To What End Do Christians Prep?

Question 1 from the Westminster Shorter Catechism (WSC)
succinctly sums up the end to which Christians prep. It’s the same reason Christians are called to do all things: To glorify God and to enjoy him forever. In support of this assertion, the WSC cites 1 Corinthians 10:31 “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” Note well the “whatsoever.” By this, the Apostle Paul admits of no exception to his call to glorify God. By necessary inference, this includes our prepping efforts.

In What Way Do Christians Glorify God by Prepping?

Prepping shows that we’re good students in the school of Christ. It’s often and rightly noted that Jesus holds the offices of prophet, priest and king. But another office he holds that many don’t think about is that of teacher. Christ was called “Rabbi” by his followers, that is to say, teacher. His role as teacher is emphasized by the term the New Testament uses for his followers, disciples. Disciple is a Latin word that means “student,” and is a translation of the Greek term for student used in the New Testament, mathetes. Mathetes comes from the same root as the Greek verb manthano meaning “learn.” A disciple is a student or one who learns.

And how does a student honor his teacher? He does so by understanding, assenting to, and applying the propositions taught to him by the teacher. Now just to be clear, I’m not defining faith here, or trying to suggest that faith consists of three parts, understanding, assent and application. Faith consists of understanding together with assent (agreement). Saving faith is when we understand and agree with the teachings of Scripture, in particular the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Neither am I suggesting that the application of the doctrines of Scripture to men and situations as we come across them in our lives has anything to do with our salvation. We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, because of the righteousness of Christ imputed to us alone.

Our good works, prepping among them, are in no way instrumental in our salvation. Rather, prepping and other good works, while having nothing at all to do with our justification, are evidence of our justification already accomplished.

When I say that we honor, that we glorify Christ our teacher by applying his teachings to our lives, I mean by this simply that we are diligent students. Even as regenerate, justified Christians, we are still subject to sin and still prone to be lazy in the application of the things we already know. I know this to be true in my own life. How many times I have known what I ought to do, yet for one reason or another failed to do it!

It is for this reason that we are exhorted in the New Testament to be diligent in our Christian walk. Consider what Paul wrote to the Romans, “The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.” Now these were Christians that Paul was writing to. They already knew the Gospel. Even so, the Apostle encouraged them to cast off and put on.

In light of the very clear teachings in the Bible about what pleases God – limited government, honest money, the praising of the good by the public magistrate, that is to say passing and enforcing laws that are in accord with the Ten Commandments – it should be obvious to any believer that the United States, and the West generally, is a mess. Further, we have many examples in Scripture of God judging nations for their rejection of him. And if God punished Sodom and Gomorrah for their sins, how much more will he punish us who have far more knowledge of his revealed will than the men of Sodom had?

This is what I mean by application. We apply God’s revealed will to the circumstances we find ourselves in. When we examine the West in light of Scripture, we ought to conclude that it is in serious danger and take appropriate actions to preserve our lives and the lives of others. By applying the words of Christ in our lives, we honor, glorify and please him.

For Whom Do We Prep?

“Before I was a Christian I lived for myself. But when I became a believer I put aside self interest and now I live for God.” Those words, or something close to them, were spoken by a Christian in the course of a conversation I was having with him. I didn’t say so at the time, but although the individual was doubtless sincere in what he said, he was nevertheless mistaken.

Becoming a Christian does not mean that we set aside our self interest. It means that we exchange an incorrect concept of what our self interest is for a correct, Biblical one.

As proof of this, consider that the New Testament on more than one occasion appeals to the self interest of men. Jesus asked, “What does it profit a man if gains the whole world but loses his own soul?” Paul makes a similar point in 1 Corinthians 13 where he writes that giving all his good to the poor and his body to be burned profits him nothing if he has not love. In speaking about the Christian appeal to self interest, John Robbins called it a “Christian egoism.”

In light of this idea, that Christians have legitimate self interest, let us answer the question “For whom do we prep?” by stating, in the first place, we prep for ourselves. The Westminster Larger Catechism supports the idea that prepping for ourselves is a legitimate Christian enterprise in the answer to Question 135, “What are the duties required in the sixth commandment.” In part, the response is, “The duties required in the sixth commandment are all careful studies, and lawful endeavors, to preserve the life of ourselves and others… (emphasis mine). As support for the claim that Christians should seek to lawfully preserve their own lives, the Catechism cites Ephesians 5:28-29, “So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies; he that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it….”

Life is a precious gift of God, and we are not at liberty to take the preserving our life lightly. In fact, it’s a sin to do so. In question 136, the Larger Catechism asks, “What are the sins forbidden in the sixth commandment?” It answers, “The sins forbidden in the sixth commandment are…the neglecting or withdrawing the lawful and necessary means of preservation of life.”

It seems to this author that an argument can be made that it is actually sinful for Christians, who, when seeing danger approach, fail to take lawful action to prevent their own harm or death. This is supported by the passage cited at the top of this post. The prudent man hides himself from evil, but it is the fool who, ignoring all signs of danger, plows ahead and is punished for his lack of foresight.

Closing Thoughts

Well, it was my intention to finish writing on the doctrine of Christian prepping this fine afternoon, but as I’m already nearing 3,000 words and time is getting late, I’m going to have to put the conclusion of this subject off until next week. Such are the challenges of blogging!

At any rate, it’s my prayer that you have found this discussion, such as it is, of some value. Lord willing, next week I shall conclude writing on the Christian doctrine of prepping.