I was talking to some friends recently and the subject came up about the new series on the National Geographic Channel called “Doomsday Preppers”. It is a show about normal Americans that are preparing for some type of cataclysmic disaster. Since my friends believe in a pre-tribulation rapture, we know according to 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 that we will be with Jesus Christ during the tribulation.
But no matter what your beliefs are concerning the exact timing of the rapture, Christ tells us in Matthew 24 that things in the world will get pretty ugly. There will be wars and rumors of wars (vs. 6), famines (vs. 7), earthquakes (vs. 7) and tribulations (vs. 8-9) in the end times. When you add to the prophetic words of Paul (1 Timothy 4:1-3) warning of false teachers and godlessness (2 Timothy 3:1-7) you get a pretty disturbing picture of what the world will look like as it prepares for the second coming.
The U.S. Geological Survey reports that in the last three years there has been a 50% increase in severe earthquakes (Magnitude 7.0 – 7.9) around the world. Additionally we remember those horrific pictures from Haiti, Japan and New Orleans with the devastation that “nature” brought upon those regions. Add to this the escalating lawlessness and the wars and rumors of wars that are reported daily by all the news outlets and you can draw no other conclusion than we are in the times described in Matthew 24.
So the question is what is a Christian to do? Should we become a Doomsday Prepper and build underground bunkers and buy MRE’s (Meals Ready to Eat) hoard gold, guns and water? Or should we just go through life like every other day and not worry about it?
God continually reminds us not to go to extremes. Proverbs 30:8 says don’t make me rich and don’t make me poor. We are told to save but not to hoard and above all trust in God, but to plan for the future. And I believe this is cornerstone of our perspective about preparing for end times. We should do some planning and preparing, but not go to extreme and never allow our plans and preparations to replace our trust in God.
At the end of Matthew 24 it says that only God the father knows the time of the Lord’s return. The National Geographic or even Harold Camping do not know when the rapture will take place. We are also told in 2 Peter 3:8 that a day with the Lord is like a thousand years. So we could be many years or generations from the rapture and the cataclysmic disasters that will occur. Only God knows.
God wants us to trust in Him. (Jeremiah 17:7; Proverbs 3:5,6; Psalms 118:8) And this is exactly what we should do. We should be trusting God and not our bunkers, guns, gold or MRE’s.
But then on the other hand we are instructed to plan and to be prepared for the future. (Proverbs 6: 6-11; 22:3; 27:12; Luke 12:35-40).
So maybe some common sense planning and preparation may be in order, but don’t get caught up in the extremes. Perhaps an electric generator, a few shelves of canned goods and some bottled water might be appropriate, but if these things cause us to deflect our trust from God, get rid of them.
Yes we should plan and prepare, but God does not want us to worry about the future (Philippians 4:6). Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 6:25-34 about taking care of the birds in the air and the lilies of the field. Vs 34 says “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow….”
So when the birds start building bunkers and the lilies start hoarding guns and gold; then tune into Doomsday Preppers. But until then trust God.
5 comments:
although i agree with your view i see it as some what selfish to think that the preparations would only be for your self. Don't forget that when times get tough, i mean really tough it will be the best time to show people Christs love for them through your abundance. The example is Gods provision for the people of Israel through Joseph. He was able to make provisions for his family and an entire nation through the leading of God. so although prepping should NEVER replace God. It should be the desire of each of us to meat the needs of the needy when the time comes.
Thanks jdelbridge for your very thoughtful comment. You bring up a very good point. The Bible is clear that even in the most dire conditions we need to be concerned about others. John 13:34-35 tell us this. My question is who would be try to help. In a catastrophic situation like we are discussing we would not be able to help everyone. Do you think that 1 Timothy 5:8 would apply and our main attempt at helping others would be directed towards our family?
Christians most definitely should prepare for the biggest doomsday in history!
Matthew 24:15-16 states: “So when you see standing in the holy place(R) ‘the abomination that causes desolation,' spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. The world's biggest doomsday will be when the anti-christ steps in on the scene claiming to be the Messiah. This day marks the beginning of the three and a half year Great Tribulation period- that period of time that will be more disastrous than any other time in history. People of the world are warned to prepare for three to five days of disaster. Some are preparing for as long as 6 months, maybe more. Christians must store up provisions for three and a half years for their Great Tribulation flight (www.heavenlyskyways.com).
Dr. J, thanks for your comment. It is very thoughtful. However, as a "per-tribulation" believer, I do not think I have to worry about the tribulation except perhaps in some "prepping" for my unbelieving friends.
It gives me a great peace to believe that I will not face the tribulation.
Do you have a retirement account? Do you have insurance? Do you work and provide for more than 1 day (tomorrow?). If so you are prepping and by your definition you are not trusting God.
150 years ago prepping for the next 6 months was the norm. People did it to survive. It was only with the advent of the supermarket, mass transit, and refrigeration that people ceased to keep a storehouse (a concept seen throughout the NT). Are we suggesting that the Christians of 150 years ago were no trusting God? All throughout the Bible there are mention of "storehouses." Were those people faithless? What will you do if something happens and suddenly we are thrust back into that agrarian society and have to live in the same manner as they did?
As you suggesting that the millions of Christians who have starved to death down through the ages were not faithful?
There are many instances of people in the Bible prepping.
Noah prepped and ark and bugged out.
What about the dearth mentioned in the book of Acts where the people of Jerusalem were prepped up enough to supply for their brothers when called to do so by the prophets? Where would you be today if the prophets called on you to help? Would you be the helper or the helped?
I encourage you to buy this book and find out why YOU should be prepping...
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1492976822
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