OLD TIMERS AND NEW TIMERS

What can we learn from those that roughed long ago AND now?






So, how are YOU getting prepared? We are facing total collapse by the end of 2014. You have one pretty good year in 2012. In 2013, if we elect a rational President, he will cut spending fiercely, and he will disengage the Federal Government from much of its Big Nanny role in the states. If we elect a mad man, he will go mad with frenzy and trash the nation totally. We may have our first dictator.

You may well become a lot more free when the central government is flat broke, but YOU WILL END UP HAVING TO TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF. Are you able to do that? When all the goodies you think you are entitled to are gone, then what?

Remember, you saw those old timers in Bakersfield, California in a pretty upbeat mood. They were obviously survivors. If you have no skills or will to take care of yourself, I suggest you go find some really old folks to tell you how they did it. You just might learn something.

How can you tell you are NOT ready for hard times? Answer: If you could not finish the video on the tent city, my friend, you are NOT ready to face your destiny.

What will you do when it is just you and Jesus?

HOW TO TRAIN A PET LION

The British Colonial Office during the 1930s came up with the notion that the Kenya highlands could be settled by Englishmen who were experienced farmers and adventurers. This was thought of as a sort of second try at what England meant New England (USA) to be during the 1700s. 


Well, it worked pretty well. Englishmen who felt hemmed in by their neighbors, and by the changeless class status into which all Englishmen were thrown, took the opportunity, sold out, and went to Kenya to seek their fortune. They settled in the Kenya Highlands west and north of Nairobi, the capital of Kenya.

They made the highlands produce all sorts of commodities, including coffee, tea, wheat, oats, vegetables, cattle crossed with local breeds, and much more. Men like Lord Delamere cashed in huge fortunes and estates in the UK and came to Kenya and developed farming and commercial business from scratch. They really must be credited with laying the foundation of commercial and agricultural life in Kenya as it  is today.


Among the settlers were many rough and ready characters. They developed their own oddities, and it was almost essential socially to be just a bit strange in some way. Jim Hodson was a personal friend of my parents when they were missionaries in Kenya, and our family used to visit his farm. The Hodsons were Bible believers and a delight to be around. Jim had some amazing tales to tell of life in those early days. 


One settler, living not far from the Hodson farm, had some wild pets he had tamed. His pride was his full grown pet lion, which was actually house broken and pretty much had the run of the farm. As with all settlers, this man and his wife had beautiful gardens and flower beds all around the home. The perfect climate in the Kenya Highlands made it possible to have a year round paradise with minimum care and effort.

Jim Hodson raised cattle and had a large vegetable garden, but his main commercial product was wattle bark. Wattle is from the Acacia family of trees, and its bark has medical use. In Kenya, Wattle bark was used to extract tanning acids for leather processing. Jim's wife once said that when someone called on the phone, and when Jim was out on the farm removing the bark from the trees, she did not know whether to tell the caller Jim was barking or stripping. Alas, trade talk.




Jim Hodson told us the following story about one of his neighbors.


All settlers had an African hired hand to simply keep the grounds immaculate, and a popular Kenya innovation was the "sun downer," a cocktail gathering at sun down for other neighboring settlers. 


This white farmer came in from his farm one day, and walking through his flower garden and grounds, found that they had been dug up pretty badly. He was furious, and he knew just who had done it-- his pet lion. He had broken the lion of rooting up the flower beds, but he figured the lion had backslidden. 


"I will teach that beggar to muck about in my gardens." 


The settler, like many of his fellow farmers, carried a walking stick about with him, though he was not at all lame. It is a British thing, and if you don't understand it, you must ask them about it. I don't understand it either. 


He took his walking stick and went looking for his pet Simba, lion. He found him, and he promptly gave him a good caning. The lion was hardy, and the caning did little harm, but the lion cringed, and finally the lion slunk off into the shadows humiliated. 


"That will teach that rascal." The settler felt good about his being a firm disciplinarian with his pets around the farm. He then walked into his living room, and what do you think he found lying in front of the fire in his fire place? 


SIMBA !! His pet lion. 


The settler had just given a totally wild lion a good caning. He was terrified, but it was too late for that. He became quite a legend in the highlands, and his friends loved to invite him around to cane the lions on their plantation. 


I suppose there is a moral in this. 


If nothing else, it simply shows that man is master of the wild kingdom, BUT, only if man has no fear. That is very hard to accomplish unless man believes he is in charge. 


Try it, and let me know how it works for you. We have some very wild feral hogs here in Texas that are known to be very vicious. I would like to invite you to come and visit us, and you can show me how to cane a wild hog.

TERRA FORMING-- NEW CHARISMATIC CULT

This is the replacement cult in the wake of the chaos at TBN, Benny Hinn, and most other Charismatic gurus. Scott Norvell has really grabbed four devilish entities, and he is raising the level of hostilities for the sake of Satan against the Bride of Christ.


So, I wrote and article on the thing. You MUST learn about this. It is sweeping the globe, and it will hit near you sooner of later. You better have foreknowledge.


GO HERE FOR THE ARTICLE

COMIC RELIEF- JINGLE BELLS FROM GUJARAT

Not to vorry, for you I give pipty percent discount song:



Ve got more in the go down.....

AKIM CAMARA-- THE SAVANT WILL STEAL YOUR HEART

Age 3




Age 5


Age 6 or 7


I trust you are not one of those who think all Wogs have nothing by shucking and jive in their bones. Akim is on his way to an amazing destiny if he stays on course.

WHY IS THE USA 28TH IN LIFE EXPECTANCY?

Here is the story about our lousy longevity compared to other nations:


Easy answer:


1. Staten drugs and cholesterol myth


2. Over diagnosing on behalf of Big Pharma


3. High Fructose Corn syrup


4. Chlorinated water


5. Fluoridated water


6. Cancer treatment which ain't


7. Deadly cooking oils


8. MSG and Aspartame in food


9. Avoiding the sun (no vitamin D)


10. Lazy couch potatoes


11. FDA and USDA attack alternative medicine and supplements which other nations promote


12. Food designed for shipping, packaging, eye appeal, not for nutrition


13. four thousand plus chemicals in food


14. Fast food preferred to self-cooked food


15. Bathed 24/7 in Electromagnetic Field, Micro Wave, and Radio Wave energy


16. Eat 128 lbs of sugar a year compared to 9 lbs 100 years ago


17. Avoid animal fat and tropical oils, the best fats


18. Eat on the move and snack between meals


19. Government, schools, the FDA, and Big Pharma have become the big nanny of Americans who do not believe they must take responsibility for their own health destiny.


20. Nutrition is taught (warped) in grade school instead of Medical School. Doctors have only eight hours of nutrition training.


21. Peer pressure and the medical establishment threatens the average doctor into submission to the propaganda from above. These local doctors DO NOT take their own advice because they know it is lousy.


22. Too many vaccinations that are too early, too much at a time, and do not work, AND they destroy the God given immunity process of growing up.


23. Too much health advice from people who are reporters, not medical experts who have DONE IT


24. Too much nannying from Presidents wives and politicians who are the most blasted unhealthy people on earth, like fat man Al Gore


25. Too many precautionary procedures, and too many numbers treated when the "patient" is in perfect health


26. Too many tests, mammograms, MRIs, and PSA tests-- WORSE, too may biopsies


27. ERs that are manned by drop outs from the real world of medicine


28. To many foreign drug addicted "doctors" from India and other nations. These are doctors that would have been hanged in their nation of birth if they had not fled to the sucker republic of America. Too many losers in medical professions who treat people worse than veterinarians treat pigs.


29. Dehydration treated as some other disorder. Salt avoided way too much by Americans.


30. Woman not seen by doctors as different than men until the doctor wants to shack up with one.


31. 365 plus mental disorders that have NEVER been proven to really exist in a laboratory. Then, the alleged patient is drugged unto oblivion and addiction.


32. Let's face it, Americans suffer greatly from a lack of healthy skepticism about medical professionals.


I must have missed a lot, but this is a start.


DO YOUR OWN THINKING PLEASE. You will live longer.

DUMB REACHES NEW DEPTHS

During the 1958 World's Fair in Brussels, the authorities banned British sausage because it had to mush cereal in it to qualify as a meat product. Kudos all around for the Belgian Health Dept.


Well, the brain drain was not noticed I gather, but things have gone south, way south. It seems the EU authorities in Brussels have changed the rules on dehydration. Water is no longer the cure of choice.


Here is a video fellow who has it right:

SURVIVAL THINKING IN BAD TIMES..... PART TWO

Well, Part One of this series was the basics in how we ought to think. I will next start wandering through the woods of reality and application:

1. ESCAPE
The wicked flee when no man pursueth.

This usually is a bad idea. You are most prepared to survive and thrive right where you live. But, if you really are threatened by either lawlessness nearby or big nanny government threats of prison or punishment, or worse, removing your kids from your home, then you may need to flee.

Understand this about fleeing: It is not unpatriotic. Furthermore; many people have suffered horribly because they thought they should somehow stay and suffer to prove something. The Mennonites of the 1500s in Europe fled from Switzerland to The Netherlands when the Calvinists and Lutherans did violence to them. Later, they fled to England and New England, where they are well known to this day.

If you have no religious zeal, the most convincing alibi in history is not available to you. It is too late to invent a religion just for your selfish purposes. No genuine motivated religious group will want you. You are nothing but an opportunist and fake. So, you must find other ways to define your flight.

The government usually shows some restraint when people use a higher power, God and the Bible, as the standard for their actions. So, pastors and church leaders need to define when their people must flee, and this must be put in writing NOW. This will then be a grandfathered issue when action is needed.

If you are in a church or Christian group where the pastors are intensely possessive, such as 90% of all Fundamental Baptist churches, you need to move on to another denomination that allows the fathers of the homes to defend their families, and church leaders will help and defend them. This was the manner of the Mennonites long ago.

Where to go..... The shorter the trip the better. If you live in New Hampshire, what is life like in Maine? Your culture will mostly be in tact this way. To move at once from New Hampshire to Bangladesh would be horribly traumatic, not because Bangladesh is terribly inhospitable, but because you are in no way ready to hit the street in Bangladesh.

Once you are in Maine, define when you must leave there. What trigger signals you to move on? This was another practice of the Mennonites in old Europe. Send someone, if possible, to the next point to reconnoiter. Learn all you can about the next destination. Meanwhile, make yourself as valuable as possible to local citizens and officials so that they will be motivated to defend you. Again, I learned this from the Mennonites. They were fantastic farmers, and the king of Holland refused to turn them over to the Swiss authorities. Later, Queen Catherine of Russia protected them because the tamed the wild steppes of south Russia and made them produce wheat.

And the "uttermost parts"? For me, I feel safest thinking about places I have lived, or where I have close friends. That is a given. Never go off into oblivion unless you are absolutely desperate. I would be best received in Australia, then Kenya, and I have associates in Singapore, India, and South Africa who might at least help me survive until I can justify my existence there. I would use my piano tuning skills to survive, and trust God for the rest.

Your situation will be very different than mine, but most of you reading can come up with a plan. Once you have a plan, set a trigger point of when you must make your first move. The trigger will be something ominous that threatens you whole family. Once you have this all tentatively planned, get passports, and if you intend to leave your home country, send money ahead via either investments in ETFs in the target nation, or into a bank account in that nation. Get a credit card with international use.

Contact your friends at your target destination BY SNAIL MAIL [ e-mail etc can be sniffed, telling authorities what you are doing]. Once you anticipate really acting on this, send one of two kids ahead if possible, either accompanied by friends, or alone if they are older. This makes it look like you are not really leaving.

2. HUNKER DOWN
This is the most desirable choice of course. If you choose this plan, you must try to become as self-sufficient as possible. You may be deprived of employment and freedoms as a form of religious persecution.

Do not associate with ANY militia, tax rebels, or rabble. Stay away from protesters. Your job is first and foremost to care for your family, so you do not need to respond to those who agitate and talk of anarchy. Keep all laws that do not violate the Word of God. God does NOT tell you to defend democracy, freedom, or the US Constitution.

"Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel." Samuel Johnson

The problem is, rational leaders and local law enforcement officials know that patriotism, and mongrel conservative Christianity is often claimed by trouble makers who are simply lawless.

Don't shoot guns carelessly, and don't indulge in tough talk. BE tough, and be gentle until you need to be tough. After all; this is always perceived as manly by the world anyway.

Before you leave, you may want to arrange for someone to either own or occupy your home or property. If you are leaving for good, don't leave your possessions to be trashed. There may be someone who is not on the bull's eye who would love a place to live and would take care of it. You may want to come home one day. In fact, the majority of fugitives from persecution in recent years have gone home after the regime changed.

3. SCATTER
This has the disadvantage of breaking up the family. It has the advantage of being the most sudden way to flee, and the authorities have several trails to follow instead of just one. Small children must not be sent off alone to live with even the most loving friends if at all possible.

If you do this, be sure everyone understands that all communication must be by snail mail or traveling friends.

By now, this discussion must be sounding a bit morbid to some readers. If all is well where you are, and local authorities are friendly and supportive of you, fleeing sounds wicked. Well, it is. But, all over the world are people who are on the fine edge of severe suffering and persecution, and I have been where this was in progress. I would be derelict if I did not pass on my observations. I hope you understand.

4. PLANNING FOR THE MIDDLE ERA OF CRISIS
We are assuming you are not going anywhere. You plan to prepare for the future and survive the best you can. The question is, what will the middle of a collapse era be like, and how can I make the best of it?

The first thing I must say to you is that you should become moderately entangled in either law enforcement, local government, or social agencies. If you are a military veteran, join the American Legion or the VFW. Of course if they are nothing but a drinking club, don't bother. Although, drunk Veterans sometimes let the cat out of the bad on government policy. Hmmmmmmm

As to survival, you need to change some things now, not later when the trouble starts.

     a. But extra. The economy is NOW tanking slowly. Later, it may crash, or at least head down sharply. When that happens, run away inflation will start, OR rapid devaluation of the dollar. This is because the government will finally realize they will never pay off the national debt with the present cash flow from taxes. The rest of the world will also figure it out, and the dollar will tank

So, what you buy at present prices will cost a lot less then in one of two years. Again, buy extra, and store it.

---------------

5. PLANNING FOR THE DISTANT ERA OF CRISIS

6. ASSOCIATION WITH OTHER SURVIVORS

7. HOW TO THRIVE INSTEAD OF JUST EXIST

CHINA'S FOREIGN POLICY

It seems that China has a record of confrontation with its best customers. 


What does this mean. We know that China is heavily invested in trade with the USA, which is mostly one sided as China makes most US goods in the market place. At the same time, China makes missiles that they inform us can reach Nebraska etc etc.


Now, look at the dispute of the border between India and China. This is the same picture. China agitates India while making trade agreements. 


China keeps the heat on Taiwan also, and other Asian nations resist China while trading with China. It seems to me that this is some primal notion of international relations from a thousand years ago. I wonder if the history of China would bear this out. 


So, if China keeps this up, it would seem that a stand off with the whole world is in the offing, like two gun slingers with their hand poised to draw, China wants to look aggressive while cooing like a dove about more trade.


Bah. What fools we are to turn out back on Mexico, South and Central America, Africa and much of Asia to pamper the dragon.


Here is the story of the Big Red Bully of the North:

STUCK IN THE W.C.

Now, we finally have a real emergency. Captain out of commission, and a foreigner trying to get into the cockpit.

Well, sort of.............


Oh give me a key.....
To the WC
I done went peee
And I want to flee
The door is stuck
Over Tennessee
And I want out
Momentarily
[ Sing to "Bury Me on The Lone Prairie ]

I tell you something, folks, it ain't a right kindly day when a Billy Bob pilot from North Carolina don't have his'n own key ta the out house.

But, I reckon it's mighty fine to have sech a fine ending to a really deadly sitiation, right?

By the way, Chatauqua Airlines is the airline that still has wicker seats against the wall between the stain glass windows.

SURVIVAL THINKING IN BAD TIMES..... PART ONE

The following is not conventional wisdom. I will not give many details about survival, but I intend to inspire you to get your mind and soul moving along in such a way that you are a survivor mentally. You will be able to then fill in the details for your particular situation.

My experiences growing up in Africa, and later as a missionary there and in Ethiopia in the bush, as well as my days as a small church pastor in rural areas, have given me a larger view, I think, than the average survival guru.

By the grace of God, I have been able to survive and thrive, but no dandy from the financial world will ever call me a success. If that bothers you, consider this: The most wealthy and powerful men before the 1929 stock market crash became helpless beggars after the crash. This is because they had soft hands and heads full of vanity. They simply lacked any survival skills that had to do with daily life. They were fed, clothed, and escorted by servants 24/7, and when the servants went back to Tuscaloosa, they starved.

Here then are some survival principles. They are not in the exact order that you may need to apply them, and the first principle will show you why:

1. CATCH UP
Everything must be tied to biblical prophecy AND past history. This means that where you are now, and what you need to do to survive, will not follow exactly the order of life of the Dustbowl farmers or the Great Depression victims. But, pay attention, your options will turn out to be very much like theirs in principle. How well you survive the present stress will depend greatly on whether you have a forward look that is in line with God defined coming destiny for humanity, and a backward look AND KNOWLEDGE of past disasters in the USA and the world.

I venture to guess that you are woefully ignorant of the past. Ninety percent of Americans alive today have been subjected to little of no real history of the past. The public school system has laundered history into oblivion. What history you ever got is all revisionist propaganda. If you depend on pundits, talking heads, and gurus of economics today, most of whom never saw hard times worse than the Arab gas price hikes of the 1970s, you are working with less than half a load. CATCH UP. The Internet is loaded with videos and articles telling what life was like during past crises.

My son works in technology in very high end medical company. He tells me that when he talks about reading the news online to his co-workers, or when he suggests they look up some issue of life on Google, many of them look at him cross eyed. They seem to use the Internet only for amusements like movies and music, and to stick their face in public view on Facebook. It is amazing to me. With four techy sons and sons-in-law, I have to really be careful when I toss out a fact here or there. Someone is invariably punching the topic into Google and setting me straight. Being in Texas, and willing to "stretch the blanket" once in a while, is dangerous IF you have friends who know how to use Google.

Ecclesiastes 6:10 That which hath been is named already, and it is known that it is man: neither may he contend with him that is mightier than he.


In case you are not familiar with it, here is the gate keeper of the world. I jest of course :-)

2. IMPROVISE
You cannot get ready for everything.

You must get ready by setting priorities for you, your family, and neighbors based on your immediate circumstances. Air, water, food, security, companionship, income, and status in the community. All of these must be ever bathed in prayer in the recognition that God is at work in you, and you ought to be a blessing while you survive.

But, you will miss something. This is because new factors will enter which were not in past history and which are not answered by prophetic teachings from the Word of God. So, what will you do? For now, stop throwing away everything that seems outdated and old. It may come in handy later. The old computer still works. The software loaded on it will be hard to find. It will always connect to the web. The old car is probably nearly worthless as to street value. But, it runs, it will get to the store and back when your new whiz machine blows and engine and you just lost your job, and your old beater will look great to someone near you who went bankrupt and lost everything.

I am building a green house right now. I bought much of the materials needed, but I am going to the woods for mulch, and I will cut cedar saplings to put under the buckets so critters cannot get into them. Buckets? A piano tuning customer maintains swimming pools and has lots of 6 gallon plastic buckets made of food grade plastic (very important). I am planting in buckets because water can be scarce in Texas. So, I can greatly reduce the amount of water needed for the plants. The potting soil will come from a Texas "tank" (tanka in Spanish), which is a stock pond on the property. It has badly silted in, and when I dredge if for the silt, I have more water in the tank and I will have exceptional free potting soil.

That story was the result of spending my life HAVING TO improvise. The details are unique to me, but past history and biblical prophetic expectations helped greatly as I built the green house. What biblical expectations, you may ask. Answer: Soon the world will have famine. The USA is nowhere in world prophecy. We are doomed to become a disaster zone as Europe, the Middle East, and Asia prevail. God is not an American. He does not have to save this nation for my benefit. But, he graciously told me what I need to get ready for, and what I cannot deal with, he will.

Better yet, when famine or financial disaster comes, I will not only have food for my family, I will have a great place to go and sit in the sun in mid-winter and drink a cup of tea and inhale high oxygen air. If I am prepared well, famine may end up driving me to contentment. That statement will drive some of you mad. Read it several times..... you might catch on eventually.

Philippians 4:19 But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

What should you be doing now to provide a smoother ride in the future when the USA tanks?

3. MAKE THE WORLD COME TO YOU
You see the AdSense ads on this blog, right. There are three other blogs. They all produce a small cash flow. I have only scratched the surface in tricks that can be used to make this work better. I don't get much from it now, but when I have idle time, I can turn it into better cash flow. The world comes to me, though only in a small way with this example.

Here are the thoughts of Quince Forrest, a trial drive cowboy foreman from 1889. He and his crew drove a herd of longhorns from Matamoros, Mexico, across from Brownseville in Texas, all the way to an Indian Reservation in Montana. This must be one of the longest trial drive in world history. After the cattle were delivered, the guys were laying around the camp fire on the trip home to Texas.

Quince said, "In don't know how you fellows feel about it, but I bade those cows god-by on their beds to-night without a regret or a tear. The novelty of night-herding loses its charm with me when it's drawn out over five months. I might be fool enough to make another such trip, but I'd rather be the Indian and let the other fellow drive the cows to me-- there's a heap more comfort in it." [ Taken from The Log of A Cowboy by Andy Adams ]

Drive the world to yourself. By barter, friendship, stealth, and by simply making sure you are at the right time and place when the parade goes by. When I was in college we went to see the Rose Parade in Pasadena a couple of times. We went the night before and set up chairs right along the curb. We posted a guard to make sure the chairs were not claimed by strangers. We wandered around and handed out Gospel tracts, and when the parade finally went by the next morning, we had from row seats. Think!

Now, it can get both sinister and practical. Suppose a fascist regime takes over the USA (or, has it done so already?). You can hunker down and get ready to fight it out, flee the country, or you can let the regime come to you. Your landlord in Ethiopia was very rich, and he was a savvy and wise man. He was also very loyal and personable to anyone he liked. When the Marxist took over Ethiopia our landlord hid while other government officials and business men were being machine gunned every day at dawn. We had to hear that every morning when we woke up. Finally, the Marxist national counsel came to a frightening conclusion-- they had killed off all the brains of Ethiopia. No one even knew where the tar was to repair the roads. So, they reversed and scoured the nation for all the businessmen who had not left Ethiopia, and ironically they invited them to join the Marxist national counsel in great pomp and dignity. Our landlord let the creeps find him, he was exalted to the counsel, and he played the game. One day, he was gone, probably to Sweden or Great Britain.

You do not have to LIKE the national and political and business establishment. But, can you make them NEED you? This applies even in good times. If they NEED you, they dare not attack you. Especially if we get to the point where working thinking people are fleeing the country, which is happening in small degree NOW. Here is Jesus Christ on this subject:

Luke 16:9 And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations. 

Conservative Bible teachers avoid that verse like a plague. It sound like Jesus is telling us to make friends with those who have the power and the money (mammon). And, that is exactly what he meant. When you fail, if you have been the friend of a powerful men in government of business, you have excellent counsel and a recommendation possible. You will need it. Jesus did NOT say to make friends of mammon. He is NOT suggesting becoming obsessed with getting rich and hording gold. He is saying that we need friend who know how the money survival game is played.

Drive them to you. Be a good friend to some people whom God can use to see you through the hard times. But, be a real friend. We are not talking about simply using people. The rich hate to be used. Most of them have no real friends because, from their wife and kids, to their lowliest customers, they are being hit for loans and favors financially. They know that if they had no wealth, they would be divorced and abandoned by society. You could be the only friend they have who cares about them, IF you care. When Jesus tells us to be a friend to someone, friendship must be defined HIS way, not ours.

4. CONTENTMENT
Are you satisfied with God's will? In what way has he failed to care for you? What seems like neglect on his part may be the result of slot on your part.

Now, getting stuff is a trap. It is essential that we find a vocation that will provide for our needs, but so often today, and in all history really, men are not satisfied with enough. It is the hallmark of American society that we never have enough, we always want more. Capitalism is wonderful in what it creates in toys and wealth. But it is a scourge in what it does to the every day capitalist. It makes him a raging covetous freak.

Ecclesiastes 6:9 Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire: this is also vanity and vexation of spirit.

Desire! The ads and mailings invite us to desire things, and we crave gratification for our lusts. We are a nation overwhelmed with sodomy and fornication and adultery. It is normal to most people. An American will lie about anything if it gets him ahead. Truth is of little value really. All this is based in the national past time of getting more. One wife, one car, and one toy are not enough.

Micah 4:4 But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it.

The coming Messianic Age will be marked by contentment and private ownership. So, what about YOU? Are you content with what you have, with what God has allowed you to get? The reason you feel so driven and pressed to keep a tight schedule is because you want more, more cash flow, more toys, and more power over other people.

On a practical note, when social and economic collapse comes, will you have all sorts of frustrations over what you can no longer do or get your hands on? If you have cultivated an ongoing spirit of contentment, you will only have to worry about your daily bread, literally. You may need to look for a job. You may need to keep watch over your property at night. But, you will not be sitting in the corner grousing about, "how it could have been if the blank blank Feds had not trashed the country."

Make time for coasting, for thinking, for being idle physically and socially so that you can dream dreams about something other than getting more stuff. God has a great world out there that invites your attention. Make a covenant to walk a mile a day in the country. If you live in the city, why? All over America and the world are rural settings where life is far more real and satisfying than downtown. You may take a cut in income, but you will most certainly live longer, and your family will prosper. Prosper? In Paduka Kentucky? Yes, prosper in the real life, the good life near the good earth God created.

God arranged for Adam and Eve's contentment. He would not give Adam misery and tell him it was good for him. So, how did God do that? He planted a garden east of Eden, The Garden of God, and he placed Adam and Eve in that garden to keep it and "subdue" it. The farther you are from the Garden of God, the more miserable you will be. So, if you are stuck in the city, find a way to have a little garden where you can be a keeper of things God made.

5. WHAT ARE YOU OVERLOOKING?
After air,water, food, work, electricity, heat, security, fellowship, etc, there are things you will easily overlook. Start by making a list of things you take for granted-- especially things you think you are entitled to. In a total collapse, according to the history of man from ancient times, people find out that they become desperate for want of one small thing.

What about Social Security? How about health care? Are you receiving these and other services as benefits of past faithfulness? Well, when the insurance company tanks, you will get no help from them. When the company sending you a pension, or the US Military, is busted, you will not get your pension or VA benefits.

Also, what medications and food supplies could you not do without, that is, they are not there in the market place? What is your plan to get ready? No plan will mean you will become an indigent as a bag lady in downtown Chicago after a collapse. You may feel very self-sufficient and confident in your provisions now, but many of them depend on your being employed and society and the government being intact.

What if gas stations closed. What if the power went down. Financial collapse is not the only thing that can maroon you in the modern world as if you were lost on a desert island. You flip the switch, and the lights are out..... for six months. You assume that if the Federal Government can muddle through, all will be well. This illustrates how utterly helpless and unsavvy you really are.

An X-16 solar flare could trash all the electronics, and especially the AC power lines, in a snap. This is an electromagnetic storm caused by the sun, and in 1889 the earth had a big one. It fried all the telegraph keys and some wires and electrocuted some telegraph operators in the process. There were no electric power lines then, and certainly no phones and computers. Imagine a world with no AC power, phone lines, and technology communications. Some computers that were not connected would survive, but the world of business would be gone for a long time. No one would die probably, and no damage could be seen to the naked eye. But, life would come to a dead stop. Your car might run, but gas stations would be gone.

So, I find it a great folly to try to imagine the actual way that a crisis could happen. Financial collapse for the USA is absolutely inevitable. The run away printing of fiat money has ALWAYS resulted historically in a financial collapse, as with the Weimer Republic in Germany and the John Law money scam in France.

So, whatever may be coming is not as urgent as whether you are prepared.

I would be happy to talk about survival in other nations in the world if readers send comments to that effect. I would have to research it a bit, but some principles never change, and many responses work in any setting with some minor details to change.

Matthew 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Does this mean you can do nothing prudent to prepare for possible issues? I think another Bible text makes it clear that we are talking about ongoing sane preparations for the future versus wide eyed panic based on talking heads and frantic pundits in the news.

Proverbs 6:6 Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise:
7 Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler,
8 Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.
9 How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?
10 Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:
11 So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.


Outdated advice? I think Solomon's admonition is very much in order today. In verse 11 you read that you could become as a man who travels. What does that mean? It is exactly the same today. When the Dustbowl and the Great Depression hit unprepared people, they traveled. Many went to California. Men became tramps and HoBoes. People were merciful in those days and helped them. But, if you could prepare for your family so that you did not have to go traveling, would you? Huh?

Go the ant..... learn her ways. No guide or nanny to tell her what to do, but she does the right thing, and we do have ants here yet, just as Solomon did 3000 years ago.

May you thrive under the mercy of God, no matter what may come your way.

Psalms 31:14 But I trusted in thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my God.
15 My times are in thy hand: deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me.
16 Make thy face to shine upon thy servant: save me for thy mercies' sake.
17 Let me not be ashamed, O LORD; for I have called upon thee: let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave.

Psalms 103:1 Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.
2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:
3 Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;
4 Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;
5 Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's.

Psalms 23:4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. 
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

BASICS OF SURVIVAL

My experiences growing up in Africa, and later as a missionary there and in Ethiopia in the bush, as well as my days as a small church pastor in rural areas, have given me a larger view, I think, than the average survival guru.

By the grace of God, I have been able to survive and thrive, but no dandy from the financial world will ever call me a success. If that bothers you, consider this: The most wealthy and powerful men before the 1929 stock market crash became helpless beggars after the crash. This is because they had soft hands and heads full of vanity. They simply lacked any survival skills that had to do with daily life. They were fed, clothed, and escorted by servants 24/7, and when the servants went back to Tuscaloosa, they starved.

Here then are some survival principles. They are not in the exact order that you may need to apply them, and the first principle will show you why:

1. CATCH UP
Everything must be tied to biblical prophecy AND past history. This means that where you are now, and what you need to do to survive, will not follow exactly the order of life of the Dustbowl farmers or the Great Depression victims. But, pay attention, your options will turn out to be very much like theirs in principle. How well you survive the present stress will depend greatly on whether you have a forward look that is in line with God defined coming destiny for humanity, and a backward look AND KNOWLEDGE of past disasters in the USA and the world.

I venture to guess that you are woefully ignorant of the past. Ninety percent of Americans alive today have been subjected to little of no real history of the past. The public school system has laundered history into oblivion. What history you ever got is all revisionist propaganda. If you depend on pundits, talking heads, and gurus of economics today, most of whom never saw hard times worse than the Arab gas price hikes of the 1970s, you are working with less than half a load. CATCH UP. The Internet is loaded with videos and articles telling what life was like during past crises.

My son works in technology in very high end medical company. He tells me that when he talks about reading the news online to his co-workers, or when he suggests they look up some issue of life on Google, many of them look at him cross eyed. They seem to use the Internet only for amusements like movies and music, and to stick their face in public view on Facebook. It is amazing to me. With four techy sons and sons-in-law, I have to really be careful when I toss out a fact here or there. Someone is invariably punching the topic into Google and setting me straight. Being in Texas, and willing to "stretch the blanket" once in a while, is dangerous IF you have friends who know how to use Google.

Ecclesiastes 6:10 That which hath been is named already, and it is known that it is man: neither may he contend with him that is mightier than he.


In case you are not familiar with it, here is the gate keeper of the world.

2. IMPROVISE
You cannot get ready for everything. You must get ready by setting priorities for you, your family, and neighbors based on your immediate circumstances. Air, water, food, security, companionship, income, and status in the community. All of these must be ever bathed in prayer in the recognition that God is at work in you, and you ought to be a blessing while you survive.

But, you will miss something. This is because new factors will enter which were not in past history and which are not answered by prophetic teaching from the Word of God. So, what will you do? For now, stop throwing away everything that seems outdated and old. It may come in handy later. The old computer still works. The software loaded on it will be hard to find. It will always connect to the web. The old car is probably nearly worthless as to street value. But, it runs, it will get to the store and back, and it will look great to someone near you who went bankrupt and lost everything.

I am building a green house right now. I bought much of the materials needed, but I am going to the woods for mulch, and I will cut cedar saplings to put under the buckets so critters cannot get into them. Buckets? A piano tuning customer maintains swimming pools and has lots of 6 gallon plastic buckets of food grade plastic. I am planting in buckets because water can be scarce in Texas. So, I can greatly reduce the amount of water needed for the plants. The potting soil will come from a Texas "tank" (tanka in Spanish), which is a stock pond on the property. It has badly silted in, and when I dredge if for the silt, I have more water in the tank and exception free potting soil.

That story was the result of spending my life HAVING TO improvise. The details are unique to me, but past history and biblical prophetic expectations helped greatly as I built the green house. What biblical expectations, you may ask. Answer: Soon the world will have famine. The USA is nowhere in world prophecy. We are doomed to become a disaster zone as Europe, the Middle East, and Asia prevail. God is not an American. He does not have to save this nation for my benefit. But, he graciously told me what I need to get ready for, and what I cannot deal with, he will.

Philippians 4:19 But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

What should you be doing now to provide a smoother ride in the future when the USA tanks?

3. MAKE THE WORLD COME TO YOU
You see the AdSense ads on this blog, right. There are three other blogs. They all produce a small cash flow. I have only scratched the surface in tricks that can be used to make this work better. I don't get much from it now, but when I have idle time, I can turn it into better cash flow. The world comes to me, though only in a small way with this example.

Here are the thoughts of Quince Forrest, a trial drive cowboy foreman from 1889. He and his crew drove a herd of longhorns from Matamoros, Mexico, across from Brownseville in Texas, all the way to an Indian Reservation in Montana. This must be one of the longest trial drive in world history. After the cattle were delivered, the guys were laying around the camp fire on the trip home to Texas.

Quince said, "In don't know how you fellows feel about it, but I bade those cows god-by on their beds to-night without a regret or a tear. The novelty of night-herding loses its charm with me when it's drawn out over five months. I might be fool enough to make another such trip, but I'd rather be the Indian and let the other fellow drive the cows to me-- there's a heap more comfort in it." [ Taken from The Log of A Cowboy by Andy Adams ]

Drive the world to yourself. By barter, friendship, stealth, and by simply making sure you are at the right time and place when the parade goes by. When I was in college we went to see the Rose Parade in Pasadena a couple of times. We went the night before and set up chairs right along the curb. We posted a guard to make sure the chairs were not claimed by strangers. We wandered around and handed out Gospel tracts, and when the parade finally went by the next morning, we had from row seats. Think!

Now, it can get both sinister and practical. Suppose a fascist regime takes over the USA (or, has it done so already?). You can hunker down and get ready to fight it out, flee the country, or you can let the regime come to you. Your landlord in Ethiopia was very rich, and he was a savvy and wise man. He was also very loyal and personable to anyone he liked. When the Marxist took over Ethiopia our landlord hid while other government officials and business men were being machine gunned every day at dawn. We had to hear that every morning when we woke up. Finally, the Marxist national counsel came to a frightening conclusion-- they had killed off all the brains of Ethiopia. No one even knew where the tar was to repair the roads. So, they reversed and scoured the nation for all the businessmen who had not left Ethiopia, and ironically they invited them to join the Marxist national counsel in great pomp and dignity. Our landlord let the creeps find him, he was exalted to the counsel, and he played the game. One day, he was gone, probably to Sweden or Great Britain.

You do not have to LIKE the national and political and business establishment. But, can you make them NEED you? This applies even in good times. If they NEED you, they dare not attack you. Especially if we get to the point where working thinking people are fleeing the country, which is happening in small degree NOW. Here is Jesus Christ on this subject:

Luke 16:9 And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations. 

Conservative Bible teachers avoid that verse like a plague. It sound like Jesus is telling us to make friends with those who have the power and the money (mammon). And, that is exactly what he meant. When you fail, if you have been the friend of a powerful men in government of business, you have excellent counsel and a recommendation possible. You will need it. Jesus did NOT say to make friends of mammon. He is NOT suggesting becoming obsessed with getting rich and hording gold. He is saying that we need friend who know how the money survival game is played.

Drive them to you. Be a good friend to some people whom God can use to see you through the hard times. But, be a real friend. We are not talking about simply using people. The rich hate to be used. Most of them have no real friends because, from their wife and kids, to their lowliest customers, they are being hit for loans and favors financially. They know that if they had no wealth, they would be divorced and abandoned by society. You could be the only friend they have who cares about them, IF you care. When Jesus tells us to be a friend to someone, friendship must be defined HIS way, not ours.

4. CONTENTMENT
Are you satisfied with God's will? In what way has he failed to care for you? What seems like neglect on his part may be the result of slot on your part.

Now, getting stuff is a trap. It is essential that we find a vocation that will provide for our needs, but so often today, and in all history really, men are not satisfied with enough. It is the hallmark of American society that we never have enough, we always want more. Capitalism is wonderful in what it creates in toys and wealth. But it is a scourge in what it does to the every day capitalist. It makes him a raging covetous freak.

Ecclesiastes 6:9 Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire: this is also vanity and vexation of spirit.

Desire! The ads and mailings invite us to desire things, and we crave gratification for our lusts. We are a nation overwhelmed with sodomy and fornication and adultery. It is normal to most people. An American will lie about anything if it gets him ahead. Truth is of little value really. All this is based in the national past time of getting more. One wife, one car, and one toy are not enough.

Micah 4:4 But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it.

The coming Messianic Age will be marked by contentment and private ownership. So, what about YOU? Are you content with what you have, with what God has allowed you to get? The reason you feel so driven and pressed to keep a tight schedule is because you want more, more cash flow, more toys, and more power over other people.

On a practical note, when social and economic collapse comes, will you have all sorts of frustrations over what you can no longer do or get your hands on? If you have cultivated an ongoing spirit of contentment, you will only have to worry about your daily bread, literally. You may need to look for a job. You may need to keep watch over your property at night. But, you will not be sitting in the corner grousing about, "how it could have been if the blank blank Feds had not trashed the country."

Make time for coasting, for thinking, for being idle physically and socially so that you can dream dreams about something other than getting more stuff. God has a great world out there that invites your attention. Make a covenant to walk a mile a day in the country. If you live in the city, why? All over America and the world are rural settings where life is far more real and satisfying than downtown. You may take a cut in income, but you will most certainly live longer, and your family will prosper. Prosper? In Paduka Kentucky? Yes, prosper in the real life, the good life near the good earth God created.

God arranged for Adam and Eve's contentment. He would not give Adam misery and tell him it was good for him. So, how did God do that? He planted a garden east of Eden, The Garden of God, and he placed Adam and Eve in that garden to keep it and "subdue" it. The farther you are from the Garden of God, the more miserable you will be. So, if you are stuck in the city, find a way to have a little garden where you can be a keeper of things God made.

RARE-- MAN COMES BACK AND GIVE GOD THE GLORY

Ted Williams, who ended us a street person begging, and was arrested for shop lifting, is on the road back.



The man seems real now. There is something about hitting bottom. There is nowhere but up. The sad thing is, the vast majority who hit bottom don't ever look up. They dive into prescription drugs and stay there until they die.


But, Ted blessed me as he sat on a Hollywood talk show and gave all the credit to God. His first job back in the working world was selling noodles and cheese. I pray he makes it, not to be famous, but to get the "gusto" he talked about. There is no value in fame if it lands you in the gutter. 


LATER: I wondered if Ted was keeping on course, and it sure looks like it, as of November 2011:

1 Corinthians 8:2 And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.
3 But if any man love God, the same is known of him.

PHILIP IV OF SPAIN SIGNS AUTOGRAPHS AT MUSEUM

Philip was a sore loser in the Thirty Year War. But, in a spirit of the modern age, he has returned for the restoration of his famous portrait painting.



Three hundred years from now, some shark will sell one of those autographs at auction for millions, right?

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR PROVIDING HEALTHCARE?

Exodus 15:26 And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee. 

Exodus 23:25 And ye shall serve the LORD your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee.

Psalms 41:3 The LORD will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing: thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness.

Psalms 103:3 Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; 

Ask any believing Jew in Old Testament times this question: “Who is responsible for providing your healthcare?”, and it is unlikely they would have even had to think about the answer. The answer was very clear in the Old Testament writings: The LORD our God, the one who created us, is the one who heals us and gives us our health.

Ask that same believing Jew who they would turn to for help if they were sick, and their answer would be equally as quick in their reply: the priests. They were the ones who administered God’s health care plan:

Leviticus 13:3 And the priest shall look on the plague in the skin of the flesh: and when the hair in the plague is turned white, and the plague in sight be deeper than the skin of his flesh, it is a plague of leprosy: and the priest shall look on him, and pronounce him unclean.

Deuteronomy 24:8 Take heed in the plague of leprosy, that thou observe diligently, and do according to all that the priests the Levites shall teach you: as I commanded them, so ye shall observe to do.

Now let’s fast forward to the believers living in the days of Jesus and ask them the same question: Who is responsible for providing your healthcare?

Matthew 4:23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.

While the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and laying His hands on each one of them, He was healing them.

Matthew 15:30 And great multitudes came unto him, having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast them down at Jesus' feet; and he healed them:.

Luke 5:15 But so much the more went there a fame abroad of him: and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by him of their infirmities.

The news about Jesus and his power to heal spread far and wide, and crowds sought him out. Everyone who believed in Jesus knew that he had the authority and power to heal, because they witnessed it first hand. They trusted in him for their health. But it was not yet time to set up his physical kingdom, and he was a threat to those in power at that time, so he allowed the authorities to kill him. His sacrificial death on the cross satisfied God’s punishment against sin. As we have noted in other places, sin is the cause of all sickness, either directly or indirectly. If there had never been any sin, there would never have been any disease or sickness in a perfect world. So Jesus’ death took care of that problem once and for all.

In the Old Testament times, continual blood sacrifices were needed to cover up the effects of sin.

But Jesus’ healthcare plan did not stop when he died his physical death. Jesus still lives today, and he passed the administration of his healthcare plan on to his disciples:

Matthew 10:5 These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not:

6 But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

7 And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.

8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give. 

Luke 9:2 And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick.

At the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were taking place among the people; and they were all with one accord in Solomon's portico. But none of the rest dared to associate with them; however, the people held them in high esteem. And all the more believers in the Lord, multitudes of men and women, were constantly added to their number, to such an extent that they even carried the sick out into the streets and laid them on cots and pallets, so that when Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on any one of them.

Acts 5:12 And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch.

13 And of the rest durst no man join himself to them: but the people magnified them.

14 And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women.)

15 Insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them. 

16  There came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed every one.

Acts 19:11 And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul:

12 So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them. 

So believers living at the time of Jesus or during the beginning of the church right after his death, would answer the question as to who was responsible for their healthcare by stating their belief that Jesus was their healer, and the one who restores them to a relationship with God, resulting in health. The apostle Peter wrote:

1 Peter 2:24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.

Healing was not seen as simply dealing with sickness in the physical realm only, but also as a spiritual problem with sin that only Jesus could heal. And if you would ask these believers in Christ who they would turn to for help when they were sick, they would reply that they turned to their leaders in the church, because Jesus passed on his ministry of healing to his disciples. James, the brother of Jesus who became one of the key leaders in the church at Jerusalem wrote the prescription for us:

James 5:13 Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms.

14 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:

15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.

16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

17 Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. 

18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.

19 Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him;

20 Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.

Now fast forward to today, the 21^st century, and walk into any church in America and ask the believers this same question: Who is responsible for providing your healthcare? What would be the response? Would they respond in a similar way that believers have always responded throughout the history of the Bible, a book which is the written record of God’s people and their faith in God? I don’t think so. 

I think most believers today think “healthcare” is equivalent to “medical care” and the domain of drugs, doctors, insurance companies, and hospitals, which in most cases only deal with the physical realm, and is part of a multi-billion dollar industry that controls our economy. I think most believers today would take sides in the debate as to who should be paying for this medical system that is called “healthcare,” rather than discuss what true health is, and what true healthcare is. 

The world system built upon the foundation of humanism and Darwinian evolution has defined the term “healthcare” for us, and Christians are not even debating it.

Wake up America! You have traded the truth for a lie, and equated “healthcare” with what is actually medical care: a system that for the most part only manages disease and brings great profit (and power) to those in charge of the system. Instead of seeing Jesus as the one who is responsible for our healthcare, and the leaders of the church as responsible for administering it, we have turned to the world system built upon the lie of evolution and humanism, and made it our idol as we trust in it for our “health.” The result is a highly technical system, but very sick people.

But as we have noted in other places, real health is not something that can be purchased. It is a free gift given to those who put their trust in the right things, instead of lies. When will we repent and turn to the one who truly can offer us real health? Let’s stop participating in the debate of who is going to make the providers of the medical system richer, and instead start debating the true meaning of healthcare!

Exodus 15:26 And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee. 

Brian Shilhavy at created4health.org

YOU ARE DEADLY, HONEY

Most of the honey sold in chain stores across the country doesn't meet international quality standards for the sweet stuff, according to a Food Safety News analysis released this week.

One of the nation's leading melissopalynologists analyzed more than 60 jugs, jars and plastic bears of honey in 10 states and the District of Columbia for pollen content, Food Safety News said. He found that pollen was frequently filtered out of products labeled "honey."

"The removal of these microscopic particles from deep within a flower would make the nectar flunk the quality standards set by most of the world's food safety agencies," the report says. "Without pollen there is no way to determine whether the honey came from legitimate and safe sources."

An earlier Food Safety News investigation found that at least a third of all the honey consumed in the United States was likely smuggled from China and could be tainted with illegal antibiotics and heavy metals.

The solution is to buy local honey processed by local people you trust. If you cannot buy locally, you should not be eating honey at all. This is yet another way the FDA and USDA are in collusion with Big Pharma and Big Ag.  The Federal agencies are helping you become moderately sick so that Big Pharma can cure you and make billions. If you feel good about being a victim of fascist creeps, then dive in and trust the Feds.

THE SWAGMAN

He would be considered dangerous by Australian authorities today. If he were not their national symbol of the past, the government agents would sock him away in prison.

When someone shows too much individuality, he must be watched. He may well be a terrorist or illegal immigrant. The USA Homeland Security also watches anyone who is a bit weird.

In past days in Texas, Arizona, and the Outback or Australia, life was spiced up and made colorful by these odd fellows.

In Australia, it was the Swagman.

A swagman, also called a swaggie, sundowner or tussocker, is an old Australian and New Zealand term describing an underclass of transient temporary workers, who travelled by foot from farm to farm carrying the traditional swag (bedroll). Also characteristic of swagman attire was a hat strung with corks to ward off flies.

Particularly during the Depression of the 1890s and the Great Depression of the 1930s, unemployed men travelled the rural areas of Australia on foot, their few meagre possessions rolled up and carried in their swag. Typically, they would seek work in farms and towns they travelled through, and in many cases the farmers, if no permanent work was available, would provide food and shelter in return for some menial task.

Another form of the swagman was the "pack horse bagman" who rode a horse and led one or two pack horses in his travels, typically in the Northern Territory. The pack horse bagman called in at stations where he would work shoeing horses, mustering, repairing bores, etc.

In the USA the same exact era produced the Ho Bo. He did the same thing. In the 1970s I pastored a small church in the California desert on the Union Pacific Railroad. Our town station was a shift change point, so all trains stopped for a while. Ho Bo's would get off the train, and ours was the only church in town where the parsonage was occupied all the time. So, I had many visits. 

Most of the men "riding the rails" were not Ho Bo's anymore. They were basically down and out beggars. But, I knew a genuine Ho Bo because they would always insist on working before I fed them. It has always been a point of honor in that profession. You must give the Swagman of Australia and the Ho Bo or the USA high credit today for not accepting entitlement. They had an ethic that many millionaires don't have.

The following discussion of the Swagman is uncanny, for it describes the American Ho Bo in all details. There must be some sort of quirk in human social behavior which produces these odd fellows. The following is from Wikipedia:

Swagmen were often victims of circumstance who had found themselves homeless. Others were rovers by choice, or else they were on the run from police (bushrangers). Many were European or Asian migrants seeking fortune on the goldfields. One such swagman was Welshman Joseph Jenkins, who travelled throughout Victoria between 1869 and 1894, documenting his experiences in daily diary entries and through poetry.^[11] Swagmen ranged in age from teenagers to the elderly. Socialist leaderJohn A. Lee's time as a swagman while a teenager informed his political writing,^[12] and also featured directly in some of his other books. Novelist Donald Stuart also began his life as a swagman at age 14. Several of his novels follow the lives of swagmen and aborigines in the Kimbereley and Pilbara regions of Western Australia. Many swagmen interacted with aborigines along their travels; bushwear designer R.M. Williams spent his latter teen years as a swagman travelling across the Nullarbor Plain, picking up bushcraft and survival skills from local aboriginal tribes such as cutting mulga, tracking kangaroos and finding water.

At times they would have been seen in and around urban areas looking for work or a handout. Most eyewitness descriptions of swagmen were written during the period when the country was 'riding on the sheep's back'. At this time, rovers were offered rations at police stations as an early form of the dole payment. They roamed the countryside finding work as sheep shearers or as farm hands. Not all were hard workers. Some swagmen known as sundowners would arrive at homesteads or stations at sundown when it was too late to work, taking in a meal and disappearing before work started the next morning. The New Zealand equivalent of a sundowner was known as a tussocker.^[8]

Most existed with few possessions as they were limited by what they could carry. Generally they had a swag (canvas bedroll), a tucker bag (bag for carrying food) and some cooking implements which may have included a billy can (tea pot or stewing pot). They carried flour for making damper and sometimes some meat for a stew. They traveled with fellow 'swaggies' for periods, walking where they had to go, hitch hiking or stowing aboard cargo trains to get around. They slept on the ground next to a campfire, in hollowed out trees or under bridges.

And, we could not leave this topic without giving you the most famous literary story about a Swagman.
Waltzing Matilda.

Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong
Under the shade of a coolibah tree,
And he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boiled
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me"

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me"
And he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boiled,
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me".

Down came a jumbuck to drink at that billabong,
Up jumped the swagman and grabbed him with glee,
And he sang as he shoved that jumbuck in his tucker bag,
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me".

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me"
And he sang as he shoved that jumbuck in his tucker bag,
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me".

Up rode the squatter, mounted on his thoroughbred,
Down came the troopers, one, two, three,
"Where's that jolly jumbuck you've got in your tucker bag?"
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me".

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me"
"Where's that jolly jumbuck you've got in your tucker bag?",
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me".

Up jumped the swagman and sprang into the billabong,
"You'll never take me alive", said he,
And his ghost may be heard as you pass by that billabong,
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me".

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me"
And his ghost may be heard as you pass by that billabong,
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me."

And Rolf Harris captures it all:

Have any of our readers known a Swagman from long ago? Also, what is the equivalent of a Swagman in your corner of the Empire? Leave comments please.