Is a Storm Coming to America?

    HOPE FOR WHEN THE STORM HITS is about the realities of what is happening and coming in our country, America (the storm); and the hope that we can have despite it all. Talking with my Grandfather, who was born following the crash that began the Great Depression, I know that he is very concerned about my parents’ and my generation in the midst of the problems going on in our country. Yet, my Grandpa Deason has also shared with me some hopes that I believe are key to motivating those who read this book to move forward intentionally in the midst of another impending “Great Depression.”

 

      The signs are clear. Our nation has wholesale rejected God and pursued evil (Isaiah 5:20-21, Proverbs 8:13). A few, a remnant of dedicated followers of Christ remain. Regardless of one’s spiritual position, almost the entire country has become dependent and comfortable in many ways. If food supplies could no longer be purchased from a store and one had to find and preserve his own food, many would starve and die following a season of trying to steal from those who were somewhat prepared. This book is about casting hope. My Grandfather told me how even though times were “hard and tough” when he grew up and they were “poor” that they had food, a good life, and people were really close back then. What do people want today? Well, the same things ironically. They want close relationships and their basic needs met. Contentment can be summed up pretty well by what my Grandfather told me: “I didn’t try to make a lot of money. But I had a wife and kids, and now look at how many grandkids and great grandkids there are that came from your Grandma and Me. What more could a man ask for?” At the time of this writing some 29 people are either 1^st, 2^nd, or 3^rd generation descendants (5 children + 18 grandkids + 6 great grandkids) of my Grandfather and Grandmother. Another 9 people are spouses of the 1^st and 2^nd generation descendants. Family. Relationships. Love. Those are the things that will still be considered the greatest blessings when the coming storm hits (unless the Lord does a miracle and has mercy on us).

          What will follow, first of all, is my Grandfather’s description of what it was like in the “hard” yet good times that he grew up in. After that, I will talk about some strategies that can be implemented to prepare for the coming storm and to build self-sufficiency now so that we can       1) take care of our families and 2) help others if hard times strike.  

 

Wisdom is more important than gold or silver

       “Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding, for the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold.” Proverbs 3:13-14 ESV

 

 

 

 

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      I went for a walk with my Grandfather one Thanksgiving to walk his dog and he told me about his concern for me and my parents’ generation and the mess that the country is in. He told me, “The White House…and Washington, D.C…..you gotta fix it.” This book is my first step in sounding the alarm to that end. I realize that I may never have an opportunity to speak to the leaders of this nation; however, I will write and speak about how to “fix it” by doing the right thing instead of just doing some-thing. What follows is my vision—well really a Biblical conviction based on study of God’s Word and time spent with the Lord—of what we as individuals and families can do. We cannot keep going down the path we are going as a country without consequences. Realistically a storm is coming. God can do a miracle! I pray for Revival, I hope for a complete turnaround, but realistically I have to be honest and so do you that we do not see a 180 happening. However, I do know that Scripture is very clear about this: God will preserve and take care of His Remnant.

        The truth is that unless the United States of America dramatically changes course, that the judgment of God will come upon our land (Jeremiah 23, Romans 1:16-32).

But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.   Psalms 75:7

 

And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings  Daniel 2:21

 

       Therefore, I believe we must be realistic. God will always preserve a Remnant for Himself, as I will go into later (and am even doing a book project on with a good friend—Ken Zimmerman, Jr. which is scheduled to be released in 2014). But before we go on I want to make clear what my intentions are as we move forward. The reason why I must do this is I am going to mention very specific ways that we can prepare for a coming economic storm; however, without the proper foundation these preparations and ways to increase one’s income will become idols in our lives.

1)      Seek and Serve God only

2)      Pursue Wisdom

3)      Plan Purposefully to Provide for & Protect my Family

4)      To Invest in Lasting Things: Relationships, Time with God, a Home (not just a house)

      We need to recognize first and foremost our utter need for and dependency on God. You cannot take a breath, enjoy a hot meal, cherish fellowship with a close friend or loved one, learn, or apprehend anything without God! He designed you and your body and your mind in your mother’s womb (Jeremiah 1:5, Psalm 139:13-14)! God is sovereign and controls all things, when hard times come, He is still with us. The things that you and I must endure during our lifetimes, we will endure in His strength if we abide in Christ. Like Job and Hezekiah, we can trust in the Lord in the midst of our sickness! As the late Adrian Rogers said, “‘Pastor, what should we tell the sick and suffering?’ Tell them that this isn’t God’s final plan; Jesus is coming back.” Daily acknowledge your utter need for God! You must understand your sinful poverty (Rom 3:23, 6:23)! When you understand that, and daily live in a mindset that you are nothing and God is your everything then “Blessed are the poor in spirit” (Matthew 5:3). And what do the poor in spirit receive? “For theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3)!

 

Courtesty of:

 

 

 

1 Timothy 5:25

Likewise also the good works of some are manifest beforehand; and they that are otherwise cannot be hid.

 

    Let us also remember that some people’s good works are made clear and plain before the eyes of others before their death and that those whose good works are not evident to others before their death will not be able to hide their good works from the Lord who has seen them and will reward them at the feet of Christ. It is also important to note, that just as there are degrees of punishment in Hell according on a one’s transgression of the Law, likewise there are degrees of reward according to one’s good deeds done with a heart of charity. However, this distinction remains about those who gain rewards from Christ—they pale in comparison to the prize of everlasting fellowship with the Savior!

1 Tim 5:25 (KJV)

1 Timothy 5:23-24

Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities.

     Paul addresses an illness of Timothy’s directly, but also provides for us a very important reminder: drinking wine is not a sin. For just think about this one point: Scripture says that drunkenness, not drinking a glass of wine, is sin (Gal. 5:19-21). Likewise Jesus turned water to wine; He most certainly would not have done this if it were a sin. Plus, there is not Scriptural evidence to support that Jesus was a Nazarite who never cut his hair or drank wine. Instead, we see Jesus turning water into fine wine and passing around the wine cup to His 12 disciples and saying taking and eat for this is my blood poured out for the remission of sins. He would not have done this if it was a sin to take a drink of wine.

      Proverbs does say in chapter 31 that it is not good for a ruler to drink wine and thus in a drunken state pervert justice and earlier in 1 Timothy that an elder and deacon should not be given to much wine; however, a drink of wine is never expressly forbidden. Back then, wine was as common a drink as coffee or soda today. We would do well to look at the Scriptural emphasis on abstaining from addiction and the loss of one’s faculties and not on legalistic rules made by well meaning men (that’s what the Pharisees did).

 

24 Some men's sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment; and some men they follow after.

 

      The sins of some are seen clearly before they die and they are judged; however, there are others whose sins remain hidden. These may think that they have gotten away with their sin, but that is not true. No, their sins follow them into eternity where they are judged for their sins. Scriptures teaches that there are degrees of punishment in Hellfire; however, there is no lesser punishment or refining process such as purgatory. All who go to Hell are eternally in torment, but the judgment each receives is proportionate to the amount of one’s transgressions of Law of God. Therefore, let us not sorrow when the wicked seem to thrive and their sins are glossed over by the world, for God is a just God and unless they come to repentance and glorious redemption in Christ, they will be punished according to the measure of their transgression.

1 Tim 5:23-24 (KJV)

Forgive, don't hold onto your debt--you can't pay it!

Thought 171

Forgive, don’t hold onto your debt – you can’t pay it!

When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened.

“Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.

“This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.” Matthew 18:31-35 (NIV1984)

Daily Devotion from Ryan's devotional series, Thoughts

Thought 159

Why God Punishes

   God is just, therefore He must punish sin. Take a look at what Deuteronomy 28 in the New International Version says:

Deuteronomy 28

 ¹ If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. ² All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the LORD your God:

 ³ You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country.

 ⁴ The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.

 ⁵ Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed.

 ⁶ You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.

 ⁷ The LORD will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven.

 ⁸ The LORD will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The LORD your God will bless you in the land he is giving you.

 ⁹ The LORD will establish you as his holy people, as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the LORD your God and walk in his ways. ¹⁰ Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they will fear you. ¹¹ The LORD will grant you abundant prosperity—in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your ground—in the land he swore to your forefathers to give you.

 ¹² The LORD will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. ¹³ The LORD will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the LORD your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom. ¹⁴ Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the right or to the left, following other gods and serving them.

 ¹⁵ However, if you do not obey the LORD your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:

 ¹⁶ You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country.

 ¹⁷ Your basket and your kneading trough will be cursed.

 ¹⁸ The fruit of your womb will be cursed, and the crops of your land, and the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.

 ¹⁹ You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out.

 ²⁰ The LORD will send on you curses, confusion and rebuke in everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin because of the evil you have done in forsaking him. ^{[a] 21} The LORD will plague you with diseases until he has destroyed you from the land you are entering to possess. ²² The LORD will strike you with wasting disease, with fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, with blight and mildew, which will plague you until you perish. ²³ The sky over your head will be bronze, the ground beneath you iron. ²⁴ The LORD will turn the rain of your country into dust and powder; it will come down from the skies until you are destroyed.

 ²⁵ The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will come at them from one direction but flee from them in seven, and you will become a thing of horror to all the kingdoms on earth. ²⁶ Your carcasses will be food for all the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and there will be no one to frighten them away. ²⁷ The LORD will afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors, festering sores and the itch, from which you cannot be cured. ²⁸ The LORD will afflict you with madness, blindness and confusion of mind. ²⁹ At midday you will grope about like a blind man in the dark. You will be unsuccessful in everything you do; day after day you will be oppressed and robbed, with no one to rescue you.

 ³⁰ You will be pledged to be married to a woman, but another will take her and ravish her. You will build a house, but you will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will not even begin to enjoy its fruit. ³¹ Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will eat none of it. Your donkey will be forcibly taken from you and will not be returned. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and no one will rescue them. ³² Your sons and daughters will be given to another nation, and you will wear out your eyes watching for them day after day, powerless to lift a hand. ³³ A people that you do not know will eat what your land and labor produce, and you will have nothing but cruel oppression all your days. ³⁴ The sights you see will drive you mad. ³⁵ The LORD will afflict your knees and legs with painful boils that cannot be cured, spreading from the soles of your feet to the top of your head.

 ³⁶ The LORD will drive you and the king you set over you to a nation unknown to you or your fathers. There you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone. ³⁷ You will become a thing of horror and an object of scorn and ridicule to all the nations where the LORD will drive you.

 ³⁸ You will sow much seed in the field but you will harvest little, because locusts will devour it. ³⁹ You will plant vineyards and cultivate them but you will not drink the wine or gather the grapes, because worms will eat them. ⁴⁰ You will have olive trees throughout your country but you will not use the oil, because the olives will drop off. ⁴¹ You will have sons and daughters but you will not keep them, because they will go into captivity. ⁴² Swarms of locusts will take over all your trees and the crops of your land.

 ⁴³ The alien who lives among you will rise above you higher and higher, but you will sink lower and lower. ⁴⁴ He will lend to you, but you will not lend to him. He will be the head, but you will be the tail.

 ⁴⁵ All these curses will come upon you. They will pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the LORD your God and observe the commands and decrees he gave you. ⁴⁶ They will be a sign and a wonder to you and your descendants forever. ⁴⁷ Because you did not serve the LORD your God joyfully and gladly in the time of prosperity, ⁴⁸ therefore in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and dire poverty, you will serve the enemies the LORD sends against you. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you.

 ⁴⁹ The LORD will bring a nation against you from far away, from the ends of the earth, like an eagle swooping down, a nation whose language you will not understand, ⁵⁰ a fierce-looking nation without respect for the old or pity for the young. ⁵¹ They will devour the young of your livestock and the crops of your land until you are destroyed. They will leave you no grain, new wine or oil, nor any calves of your herds or lambs of your flocks until you are ruined. ⁵² They will lay siege to all the cities throughout your land until the high fortified walls in which you trust fall down. They will besiege all the cities throughout the land the LORD your God is giving you.

 ⁵³ Because of the suffering that your enemy will inflict on you during the siege, you will eat the fruit of the womb, the flesh of the sons and daughters the LORD your God has given you. ⁵⁴ Even the most gentle and sensitive man among you will have no compassion on his own brother or the wife he loves or his surviving children, ⁵⁵ and he will not give to one of them any of the flesh of his children that he is eating. It will be all he has left because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege of all your cities. ⁵⁶ The most gentle and sensitive woman among you—so sensitive and gentle that she would not venture to touch the ground with the sole of her foot—will begrudge the husband she loves and her own son or daughter ⁵⁷ the afterbirth from her womb and the children she bears. For she intends to eat them secretly during the siege and in the distress that your enemy will inflict on you in your cities.

 ⁵⁸ If you do not carefully follow all the words of this law, which are written in this book, and do not revere this glorious and awesome name—the LORD your God- ⁵⁹ the LORD will send fearful plagues on you and your descendants, harsh and prolonged disasters, and severe and lingering illnesses. ⁶⁰ He will bring upon you all the diseases of Egypt that you dreaded, and they will cling to you. ⁶¹ The LORD will also bring on you every kind of sickness and disaster not recorded in this Book of the Law, until you are destroyed. ⁶² You who were as numerous as the stars in the sky will be left but few in number, because you did not obey the LORD your God. ⁶³ Just as it pleased the LORD to make you prosper and increase in number, so it will please him to ruin and destroy you. You will be uprooted from the land you are entering to possess.

 ⁶⁴ Then the LORD will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship other gods—gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known. ⁶⁵ Among those nations you will find no repose, no resting place for the sole of your foot. There the LORD will give you an anxious mind, eyes weary with longing, and a despairing heart. ⁶⁶ You will live in constant suspense, filled with dread both night and day, never sure of your life. ⁶⁷ In the morning you will say, "If only it were evening!" and in the evening, "If only it were morning!"-because of the terror that will fill your hearts and the sights that your eyes will see. ⁶⁸ The LORD will send you back in ships to Egypt on a journey I said you should never make again. There you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.