Prepper Recon

Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase:  So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.

Proverbs 3:9-10

Honour the Lord with thy substance. Wow, that sounds pretty broad, right? I mean, that message seldomly comes across as having so much flexibility on Sunday mornings. Most folks I run into have the impression that the only way to really abide by that principle is to stick it all straight in the offering plate. But does that always honour the Lord?

Ten years ago, I would have said unequivocally, yes! However, I’ve been around the block a few times over the past ten years. And, I’ve seen a few things that I wish I hadn’t. I’ve seen churches make some very faithful expenditures that seem like solid investments into the kingdom of God. I’ve seen the very same churches make horrific decisions concerning money.

I’ve seen a pastor being paid a $500K severance package after being removed from the pulpit for his sexual sin. In the same instance, several members of the staff, probably in the $30K to $45K ballpark, were laid off. After all, you have to tighten your belt to weather the financial fallout when your pastor gets busted with the makeup girl and the Zumba instructor.

I’ve seen the widows mite being spent to wash clothes for homeless addicts, enabling them to live a higher quality of life, ensuring that they’ll never have to deal with the consequences of their sin which might force them to get help, and almost guaranteeing them an eternity in hell.

I’ve seen cessationists, those who don’t believe in the gifts of the Holy Spirit, wag their head, unable to understand why their congregation is withering like a dry branch in a drought. Program after program trying to grow the church without seeking the guidance or assistance of the Holy Spirit, amounts to wasted time and squandered resources.

So what does all of this mean? Should we quite giving to our local church? Of course not. Needless to say, I’m no longer a part of any of the churches mentioned above, but that’s not to say where I attend now is perfect. I think you have a definite duty and a certain obligation to help out with the operational costs of the church where you attend.

However, my beliefs have evolved with experience. I don’t think throwing everything you intend to give in the offering plate guarantees that you’ll be blessed. You have a responsibility to know how that money is being spent. I’m not encouraging you to become a professional church critic, we have no shortage of those as it is. But I am hoping to urge you to be the best steward you can be with the first fruits you dedicate to honoring God.

In this present age, more than new mobiles for the nursery, more than a fresh paint job in the forer, or a better projector, the church needs to stand and fight. A large portion of the church’s resources should be dedicated to defending our fading right to speak the truth, standing up for the Kim Davises, Coach Joe Kennedys, and the Sweet Cakes Bakeries of America. We should be fighting against the murders of the 3,288 children who are killed every day in America. We should be supporting staunchly Christian politicians so owners of casinos and strip clubs don’t become the new face of American conservatism.

We need to be fighting for our children, providing education outside of the public indoctrination camps, so our daughters won’t be molested by perverts using their restrooms, and our sons won’t be shamed for acting like men.

I’ve said it before, one of the best things you can possibly do for your church, is to donate to the NRA.  It is organizations like the NRA, Liberty Council, and First Liberty that are heavily engaged in the legal battle to push back against the anti-Christian, tyrannical forces of the God-haters, leftists, socialists, and communist who mean to shut you up and stand with their boot on your throat until you agree to validate every form of evil that they call good. Once that happens, the new mobiles in the nursery, the fresh paint, and the HD projector will all be for nothing.

It would be a senseless act, bordering on abuse, to give your fourteen year-old his entire college fund and inheritance to hold on to while he goes on Spring break. Likewise, if your church leadership is not awake to the imminent demise of the American Constitution, it is your obligation to make sure some portion of your first fruits are allocated to defending the remnants of freedom before the flame of liberty is extinguished forever.

Jesus said “what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world yet loses his own soul?” Prepper translation: “What good will it do you to survive the coming economic collapse, nuclear war, or even a zombie apocalypse if you don’t know you will go to heaven when you die.” A recent study found that 10 out of 10 people die! On that day we will meet our Maker. It only makes sense to be prepared for that day. Click here to learn more about knowing GOD.

Have a blessed day and happy prepping!

Mark

Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.

Joshua 1:9

Today’s Sunday Prepper Bible Study is a guest post written by our good friend, Sgt Tim,  over at Outlaw Patriot News.

In this world that is most definitely seeing a quickening of events around the globe that are designed to overthrow the gift of free will that the Lord endowed each of us with, it can be tiring and easy to lose your faith that the Lord God Almighty is with each and every one of us in the Holy Spirit. We can lose sight of what it is that is most precious in this world and of the part that each of us plays in encouraging one another and living as an example to those that have not yet come to know our Lord and Savior (1 Thessalonians 5:11; Matthew 6:1-4). For this quickening that is playing out before our eyes is surely the result of the eternal struggle that has been being waged throughout the ages in the spiritual realm spilling over into the physical world (Ephesians 6:12). And just as we are now entering a time in this world when that eternal struggle is now spilling over into our physical world, we must recognize that the time is now more than ever that we have our own part to play in this struggle, as soldiers engaged in spiritual warfare on those principalities and powers. The battle is waged on the spiritual level, but what are we if not spiritual beings encased within a physical shell. We have been given the power to tread over all the power of the enemy (Luke 10:19) but most, out of either fear or laziness, wait for someone else to do the treading while they hide away. The time has come for you, Christian Warriors, to put on the full armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18) and realize the power that you have here in the physical world to do battle against those powers in high places that do wicked within the spiritual realm. We are called to do so – it is our duty as servants of the Lord and in order to remain obedient to Him.

Within the world right now, we see the working of these dark powers in high places that seek to place tyranny over our minds and souls through cleverly crafted deception. Our economic system is a deception with a currency with no value other than the belief in the value of the dollar. The deception of climate change is preached at the pulpit of our educational institutions as fact that man is destroying the planet and cultivating a spirit of guilt within our youngest minds when the reality is that climate engineering is leading to catastrophic shifts in the natural order established by God. The wholesale slaughter of the next generation has been made a question of the right to convenience on the part of the mother, ignoring the most sacred bond between mother and child, while the purveyors of murder seek profit from the body parts of the children sacrificed on the altar of death. Division amongst the people by every means necessary is sowed into the minds of men to foment hatred and violence to keep the people from realizing that there is no race but the human race and that there is strength in our differences. For the powers know full well that if the mind of man were turned to warfare against them, they could not prevail over the power given to the sons of man.

As was witnessed during a conference call between Steven Menking, Pastor Mike Spaulding, and Jon Robberson, I prayed recently that though the past 20 years of my life were devoted to serving my country, I give the rest of my life to serving Jesus Christ. It through these past 20 years, the experiences, the travels, the interaction with other people literally all over the world, that I can see ever more clearly what is going on in the world, and that despite our vast differences, at the end of the day, all people everywhere want the same things out of life. I have also come to realize that part of my service to Jesus Christ is to lift up others that seek to join in our spiritual warfare against those dark powers and give them the tools that they need to successfully engage the enemy. Through my articles, such as “Christian Leadership: Three Principles”, “Who is Directing Your Steps?”, and “Warrior Ethos: Preparing the Christian Warrior for the Way Ahead”, I have attempted to give Christian Warriors the foundations of understanding their place in this fight, a code by which to engage the enemy, and the principles of leadership to lead not only within your workplace or family, but also within your ministry. In this article, I am blowing the trumpet for the charge of our brethren into the fray of this spiritual warfare.

Even as the enemy has sought to step up his attacks against us, we must come together in order to counter those attacks, not only against us, but against those that do not yet know the Lord and our brethren around the world. As part of this, we must understand that as the day of the return of our Lord draws nearer, the age of denominations within His church are over. We must seek to eradicate division within our own ranks and join together into a singular Body of Christ. So long as one lives the Word and has accepted the Lord into his heart without a reprobate mind, let him serve the Kingdom. Even as the winds of change blow into our faces and the world prepares to turn against us, we need strength through the encouragement of one another and solidarity in our faith in Jesus Christ. It is only in this way that we will weather what the enemy is collecting before us.

To further the analogy of military strategy and doctrine within this battle, we must understand that each of us has certain tools and skillsets that they bring to this fight, just as the military has certain specialties that they employ within physical warfare. First, we have the frontline soldiers in this fight, the infantry. These are the hardy men and women that are there in the trenches day in and day out, saving souls and bringing the Word to those in need out on the streets. Second, we have the artillery and close air support from those that seek to inform on the efforts of the Body against the enemy through writing and broadcasts. Third, we have the support elements in the form of those that engage in prayer for protection of the aforementioned groups and seek to root out the enemy through that prayer. Lastly, we have the intelligence network that seeks to inform not only the Body of the actions of the enemy, but engage in outreach ministries to recruit new members into the battle.

The bottom line is this: We all have a part to play in this struggle against our eternal enemy. Each of us has skills. For some, it is the pen. For others, it is leadership. Yet others have the gift of speaking across a multitude of platforms to call the lost home. We have all been given these gifts, outfitted for the battle, by the Lord – born at this specific time for this specific purpose. Yet it is obedience to the Lord (a sense of duty) that compels us to put these skills to use within the battle. Without that obedience, if fear takes hold, then a vital component of that part of the unit is lost and it could potentially compromise the whole of battle (while we know that in the end the Lord will win, it is vital that you be obedient to the Lord and play your part to enable that victory).

And just as we all have our own particular skillset to bring to this battle, we have all been scattered across this nation, and even across this world, for a specific purpose, like paratroopers dropped behind enemy lines to engage the enemy. Raise up others around you, like the soldiers of WWII working together with the resistance networks in France and other places, to work against the enemy first in your local area, then take it to the next level, and so on. Join together with other groups of networks along the way to encourage one another and to hold one another accountable to being true to the Word. Let the Holy Spirit guide you just as the HQ units move their units into place for physical battle.

The last thing that I will add to this article is this – though it is quite easy to get lost in the news of the day and discouraged by the clamor of the small victories of the enemy, one thing that the enemy will never allow to be broadcast on the platforms that he has already acquired control over is the swelling revival that is building here in the United States and globally that is growing to a tsunami that will pour out over the land. As those that have followed me for some time know, I am active across several social media platforms and I have witnessed a number of those that have followed me for some time over the years go from secular beliefs to more recently posting about their love of the Lord and conversion to Christianity. This fuels my belief that in the face of the quickening of the works of our enemy, men and women around the globe are coming to the realization of the power of the Holy Spirit and the salvation to be found in Jesus Christ. No matter the part you play in this great battle, you must take encouragement from this. And we must use our skills to guide these new recruits and help them to understand the part they play within our greater strategy.

Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.

Zechariah 4:6

Last week, we talked about how you get the Holy Spirit. This week is somewhat of an extension of last week’s study.

Today’s verse comes during the period of time that the Jews are returning to Israel after their 70 year exile in Babylon. When they get back, they want to rebuild the temple, the wall, and city of Jerusalem, but they can’t even think about rebuilding until all the rubble has been cleared away.

Often times, folks dedicate their lives to Christ or come back to him after a long period of being out in the world. They want to start over, but there is so much rubble from their past life. The rubble of mistakes, the rubble of pain, debt, broken homes, and guilt. These are all common forms of rubble that come from living ungodly lives and we often find ourselves powerless to deal with it.

Likewise, Christians who have been walking with the Lord will have a calling to do some great work, yet the obstacles are overwhelming. They may feel led to start a new ministry in their church, a home Bible study or an outreach program, yet the position seems to just grind them down.

If you can relate to any of these situations, then you can relate to how Zerubbabel felt when he returned to the pile of rubble that was his homeland. God’s message to Zerubbabel was the same as it is to you today. Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.

Does that mean Zerubbabel sat back with a glass of iced tea and watched the temple and the city be rebuilt by angels? Not at all. God still wants you to be involved, but know that he will give you the power to accomplish the mission he has given you if you will surrender the project to him and ask to be filled with His Spirit.

Jesus said “what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world yet loses his own soul?” Prepper translation: “What good will it do you to survive the coming economic collapse, nuclear war, or even a zombie apocalypse if you don’t know you will go to heaven when you die.” A recent study found that 10 out of 10 people die! On that day we will meet our Maker. It only makes sense to be prepared for that day. Click here to learn more about knowing GOD.

Have a blessed day and happy prepping!

Mark