Lux Lucet

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

    Proverbs 22:3

In Part 8 of this series, we began formulating a Biblical theory of prepping. In Parts 4-7, we had looked at some examples of prepping in Scripture. While the examples of Noah, Lot and Joseph clearly establish that God approves of prepping, it seemed good to me to begin to articulate some of Christian prepping’s main components with an eye to defining the term.

In last week’s post, I closed by asking the question, For whom do we prep?, and answered, in part, that we prep for ourselves. It may seem strange to say that we prep for ourselves. After all, isn’t that just obvious? Not necessarily. The unchristian idea of altruism has so tainted many Christians’ thinking that some believers think that it is somehow sinful to think of their own interests. But although it is common to hear Christians deny they have a self interest, this is not a position consistent with the Scriptures.

Today, I’d like to continue, and hopefully conclude our discussion of the Biblical theory of prepping by exploring the other parties for whom Christians prep apart from themselves. But before we do that, I’d like to briefly review the financial news from last week.

When I began this series a couple of months ago, the stock market was recovering from a serious downturn in early August that was, apparently a reaction to the Fed’s decision to lower interest rates and the inversion of the Treasury yield curve. The Plunge Protection Team (PPT), apparently, saved the day once again, pushing the major stock indices out of correction territory. But even though the stock market has been stabilized and, at least on the surface, things seem normal, there are abundant signs that all is not well on Wall Street.

Just last week (September 29 – October 5), there were more signs of major problems in America’s economy. First, as MarketWatch reports, the Chicago Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) dropped in September for the third time in four months. The expected number was 50, but the index reported 47.1 in September. So what does all that mean? When it comes to the PMI, any reading above 50 means the economy is expanding, any reading below 50 indicates economic contraction. Not only did the September number come in well below expected, but it actually was the worst reading since 2009, around the time of the last financial crisis.

Second, the ongoing “repo madness.” Not only has the Fed been bailing out the overnight repo market to the tune of $75 billion every night, but last week pledged to continue the bailout. Originally, the Fed was going to supply funds to the repo market just for a few days. This was then extended to October 10. Friday, the New York Fed announced that it will “continue to boost liquidity in money markets [the repo market] into November.” Fund manager Dave Kranzler said of the repo operations that they will eventually morph into outright money printing. With every extension of the Fed’s repo market intervention, Kranzler’s evaluation comes closer and closer to being realized.

Third, the chances of a Fed interest rate cut in October are going up. The reason behind this seems to be the previously mentioned bad September PMI reading, which was not limited to just the US, but extended to other industrialized economies as well. Please keep in mind, the Fed cuts rates when it sees economic activity slowing down, either in an attempt to prevent a recession or to pull the economy out of one. If the US economy were really as strong as the Trump Administration would like people to believe, they would not at the same time be pushing the Fed to lower interest rates.

Fourth, layoffs. As was widely reported last week, Hewlett-Packard (HP) announced that it plans to cut its workforce by up to 16% and expects to cut between 7,000 and 9,000 jobs from its global workforce of 55,000. Kroger, America’s biggest grocer, announced plans to lay off hundreds of workers last week, as question arose about its turnaround plan.

In summary, last’s weeks economic news provided further evidence that the US and world economies are slowing down. It has been in anticipation of a significant economic shock that I undertook to write this series on prepping several weeks ago. Let us now continue to look at what the Bible says about prepping.

For Whom Do We Prep (continued)?

Last week, we concluded that, among other reasons for prepping, we as Christians prep for ourselves. But that does not exhaust the parties involved in Christian prepping. In addition to ourselves, we prep for our families, for our fellow believers and for our unbelieving neighbors.

Very clearly, any preparations Christians make need to be done with an eye to helping our immediate family. Noah saved his family – his wife, his sons and their wives – by his prepping. The same with Lot and with Joseph. The Apostle Paul wrote, “But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever” (1 Timothy 5:8). Strong language that.

In like fashion, Jesus condemned the Pharisees who allowed that a man could declare “Corban,” that is to say, he could declare his possessions a gift to God, and therefore escape the obligation to help his parents in their old age. Jesus said this practice was a sin, a failure to honor one’s father and mother.

But Christians have another family as well, a spiritual one, to consider when prepping. Obviously, I’m talking about the household of faith, that is to say, the church. As Paul wrote to the Galatians, “Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Galatians 6:10). Or consider the emphasis that Paul placed on collecting money from the Gentile churches to support the persecuted church in Jerusalem. Writing to the Corinthians, Paul said, “For if the Gentiles have been partakers of their spiritual things, their duty [note well, it is a duty] is also to minister to them in material things.”

Ministering to our fellow believers in need is not an option, it is a requirement. For this reason, Christians must consider their brothers and sisters in Christ in any prepping they do.

Worth noting in this regard is the role deacons may have in any economic collapse scenario. Have the deacons at your church made plans for helping out members in the event of a significant financial crisis? My guess is, there are probably very few deacon boards that have considered the needs of the congregation in the event of a major financial shock.

A final group Christians should consider in any prepping they do is their unbelieving neighbors. While Christians have a special obligation to their families and to their fellow believers, this does not mean we cannot help our neighbors, even if they are unbelievers. Helping unbelieving neighbors can be justified by the Bible’s command to love our neighbor as ourselves. But take care. Any help we give, we must give in the name of Christ. We are not obligated to give out of a sense of altruism. We are not to give as if we are part of a secular community service organization. We are commanded to give in the name of Christ. In the case of helping unbelievers, it is an opportunity to proclaim the Gospel of Justification by Belief Alone.

Fear Not

Many time in Scripture, believers are commanded to “fear not.” Christian prepping should not be done in fear and dread of the future as though we were unbelievers without hope in the world. God is in charge, not the deep state, not the Fed, not the globalists, not the United Nations, not the International Monetary Fund, not the World Bank, not George Soros, not the Bilderbergers, not the Davos crowd, and not the Pope, not the Rockefellers, not the Rothchilds or any other mere man or group, however powerful and rich.

Jesus said “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me.” We serve a sovereign God who is has brought about all things for his own glory, including recessions, depressions, and even outright economic collapses. If you are in Christ, you can take God at his word that whatever happens to you in the coming economic troubles will without a doubt be for your own good. This, of course, does not mean that it necessarily will be pleasant. But it will be for your own good if love God, if you are called according to his purpose.

Christian Prepping Defined

With all these things in mind, let us now attempt a Christian definition of prepping. I would define Christian prepping thus: The application of the Bible’s teachings to our personal circumstances both to foresee potential dangers and to take prudent actions to avoid them, and this to the glory of God and to the preserving of our own life and the lives of others.

Closing Thoughts

Although the occasion for writing this series on prepping is the ongoing financial crisis of 2008, prepping is not just limited to issues related to the economy. It’s not even limited, as it is sometimes thought, to extreme, one in a lifetime situations. Power outages, blizzards, tornados, hurricanes, fires, job loss – these are all things that can and do occur on a fairly frequent basis. Most of us have been through these or similar things in our own life. Prepping can help us to weather these storms as well. But it is so easy to put off doing what we should do to get ready for the small things that perhaps considering the more extreme events can serve as a motivator to get us to do what we should be doing anyway.

We live in a fallen and sinful world, one in which even the most secure situations can be upended by one type of disaster or another. If we are to be good stewards of the things that God has committed to us, it is important to take prudent measures to give ourselves, our family, and our fellow Christians the best opportunity, not only to survive, but to witness to the remarkable grace of Jesus Christ.

In the next installment of this series, I would like to begin to explore some of the practical things we can do to prepare for life’s extreme, and even not so extreme, challenges.