Greetings. This is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church with a moment of truth, where we challenge you to think through an important issue of life and faith. Today, what are the remaining elements of the Joseph Reserve Principle? This is part two of that series. The Joseph Reserve Principle is based upon Joseph's God-inspired interpretation of Pharaoh's dreams, such that he knew that there would be seven years of abundant prosperity in the grain harvest, followed by seven years of desperate famine.

Joseph's advice to Pharaoh was to lay aside a reserve of grain during the years of abundance in order to ensure that there would be enough to feed the people during the seven years of famine and want. And so impressed was Pharaoh with Joseph's divine interpretation of his dreams and his understanding of world events that he put him in charge of all the preparations. In fact, Joseph of the line of Abraham ironically was destined to preserve not only the line of the Messiah by saving Jacob and his sons from famine, but also the very people who would enslave them, that is the Egyptians. Oh, Joseph was a prepper.

He was a man that would be called today a conspiracy theorist by most American naive Pollyannas who don't think anything could possibly happen to disturb our Big Mac drive-through pickups, our overflowing grocery store shelves, and our 24-7 Wi-Fi and cell phone service. Oh, but Joseph knew better, and so should we. And so therefore, we have devoted two broadcasts to the notion of biblical preparation. That is the Joseph Reserve Principle. And last week, we covered in brief the first three elements, very important, first three elements, clean air, clean water, and clean food.

Are you prepared for the time when the shiitake mushroom hits the fan? I refer you to that segment, which is found on our website, americastruths.org, americastruths.org, one word. But in a disaster or grid down situation, there's so much more to consider. And so let's consider a few other items here today, okay, shall we? First of all, dry, warm shelter.

Dry, warm shelter. It's necessary if for some reason you must evacuate where you are now. Perhaps you're in a populous suburb or, regrettably, a decaying blue city like Portland or Seattle. If so, then a disaster like war, famine, or plague may drive you out of those places to someplace safer. If you have not considered this carefully before you have to leave, then I'm afraid that you will eventually be little more than a starving zombie wandering around the countryside in search of whatever you can lay hands on.

And you know from the movies what happens to zombies, don't you? But if you must head for the hills, then know where you are going and what you will be taking long before it becomes time to evacuate. If you are retreating to a remote area in the wild, you will need dry, warm shelter. If you know precisely the spot to which you will go and it is permissible, construct a shelter or cabin beforehand. Otherwise, carefully select a sturdy tent whose size and features fit your requirements and mobility and terrain and climate that you will encounter.

I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this because the efficacy of bugging out is very limited. Bugging out works only for a short time unless a pressing crisis is over and makes one extremely vulnerable to all sorts of variables too, largely beyond one's control. Bugging out. Ah, the best solution is to move to the place of relative safety beforehand. I refer you to a book.

It's Joel Skousen's Strategic Relocation. He has written a book and he is also overseer of the World Affairs Brief. You can access this online. His World Affairs Brief, very worthwhile site. And his book is Strategic Location, North American Guide to Safe Places.

Get this book and find out where you need to relocate. Move to your bug out location. Make your Custer's Last Stand there and build a sturdy Alamo, if you will, a sturdy Alamo that you can defend. Plan ahead. Secondly, layers of clothing.

Prepping layers of clothing. As a corollary to warm, dry shelter, you and your family will need layers of clothing adaptable to the climate and weather you will encounter. Even if you do not have to bug out, well, if civilization collapses, you'll be stuck with the clothes you have with very little recourse. There'll be no more running out to Walmart or Cabela's for a last-minute pair of wool socks. If your closet is filled with suits and sport coats and casual shirts and sweaters and the occasional pair of jeans, you'll be ill-prepared for survival conditions.

Under survival conditions, even if you do not have to bug out, you will be outdoors more often and on your feet more often. Do you have a sturdy pair of hiking boots or shoes? Maybe a pair of combat boots from back in the day. You might need a light pair of running shoes, too. Maybe a pair of beach skins if you'll be in water on a consistent basis.

Think about the climate and weather variation to which you will be subject and plan ahead. Rain gear, light and heavy gloves, light and heavy hats, light and heavy socks, durable tactical pants. These are indispensable for me. Several pairs of durable tactical pants with all kinds of pockets and things to hang stuff on, right? And a leather belt.

Don't go to your dress cupboard and get a cardboard belt. You need a real leather belt to hold things up in survival situations. And water-resistant coats and pants in either wool or polyester shirts, pants and underwear. Yeah, cotton, when it gets wet, makes you cold and doesn't retain your body heat. No, wool and polyester do retain body heat and they tend to wick away moisture from your body, too.

Plan ahead for these things. Thirdly, you'll need fire and fuel. Fire and fuel. Well, it may seem obvious, but not a lot of people think through this very thoroughly. Fire and fuel to burn, not only crucial in regions where snow and cold are a routine part of the climate, but also in warm weather parts of the country, even the deep south or the southwest.

You'll still have to cook your food when the electrical grid goes down and your gas stove and furnace are no longer supplied with gas. And as Texas proved back in the winter of 20 and 21, a cold snap in the south can be pretty cold and uncomfortable when there's no electricity from wind power generators, right? If you have a typical suburban home with 2, 3, or 4,000 square feet of living space, you'll not be able to heat or cool all of that comfortably in a grid-down situation, as you were able to do under those happy days of plenty. Those are swiftly coming to an end.

You'll have to make an executive choice as to which living space you choose to heat or cool, depending upon your individual circumstances. The best short-term solution is a high-wattage generator, 10,000 watts minimum, fueled by propane or gas. That will sustain a portion of your personal electrical grid for the duration of your supply of fuel, that is. But eventually, depending on the length of the grid-down situation, those fuels will run out themselves. On a smaller scale, you might use a camping propane heater or maybe a camping propane stove to cook your food.

Don't use these items inside for very long, though, because they quickly use up the oxygen in the house and you may find yourself passed out from poisoning here if you're using a propane heater and stove indoors. Perhaps you might fall back to a wood stove for heat or in charcoal than for cooking. Perhaps you might invest in a pellet stove even now. You might not use it all the time, but a pellet stove. Once again, a pellet stove is conditioned, its efficacy is conditioned on your access to pellets.

Unless you have a bin full of pellets, you could run out of those, though, as well. Fire and fuel, though, for cooking and for heating, absolutely necessary. Think through these things ahead of time. Tools, number four. Tools.

When the shiitake mushroom hits the fan, the small appliance and the garden tool desk at Home Depot will be closed. Your local car mechanic may not be available. A plumber, as a handyman, will be a thing of the past. You will have to repair that flickering light fixture, that leaking faucet, that squealing brake disc. You'll have to do that yourself.

Do you have the fundamental tools to keep things humming and running at your home? Much of this is conditioned by your skills and the needs of your home. Buy tools accordingly. I'm going to refer you to several excellent YouTube videos since I can't put it any better than they can. And quite frankly, I need to bone up precisely in this area.

But there are some excellent YouTube videos that are still up and I just give you four of them. For example, just key this in and you will, the video, respective videos will come up. Emergency tools for SHTF. The shiitake mushroom hitting the fan. Emergency tools for SHTF.

That's an excellent video. And then there is the SHTF gear you need. The shiitake mushroom hitting the fan gear that you need. 10 basic preps for beginners. Once again, that's another excellent video.

SHTF gear you need. 10 basic preps for beginners. And then there's another video called overlooked tools for SHTF homesteads. That's an excellent one. We have a virtual homestead up in our valley.

And I got many good recommendations from that video. And then there's an overlooked one that I like too. It's kind of quirky, but it's nine essential prepping tools you never thought of. Nine essential prepping tools you never thought of. That's another good video.

Tools. Very important to have on hand when the shiitake mushroom hits the fan. Number five. Weapons. Oh, dear listener.

When all civil law and order breaks down, then personal law and order must be built up. When civil law and order breaks down, personal law and order must be built up. What kind of help do you expect from a police force that has been defunded, demoralized, and destroyed? Circumstances in blue cities, for example, are such that murder, robbery, and assault are up double and treble from just a few years ago. In a grit down, shiitake mushroom hitting the fan situation, people will be desperate and ready to do desperate things to get food, shelter, and also any human contact they can get like our sons, wives, and daughters.

Can you defend yourself? Can you defend your family? Will you defend yourself? You will need more than sturdy locks on your doors. The proverbial 911, if it's functional at all, will be overwhelmed.

Already, in blue cities like Portland, the average response time when calling 911 is two hours. Perhaps your assaulter will politely wait for help to get there, but otherwise, you'll need a means to defend yourself and your family. I have a few suggestions here. Now, this is old stuff for many of you, but for many of you new to prepping, weapons may be new to you as well. First of all, the AR-15.

Oh, the king of implements, AR-15. This ubiquitous firearm, the absolute dread nightmare of your progressive gun to control cell, the mere sight of which is guaranteed to send them into girly fits of hysteria. The AR-15 is really just about the cheapest, Americans are buying them up like popsicles in the park on a hot summer's day. Don't be afraid of the AR-15. It is the most emphatically non-assault rifle.

It is not an assault rifle. You've just been trained by your handlers to recoil in horror at them if you're afraid of them. Not only does the AR-15 look cool or scary, depending on your perspective, but it is just about the best bang for your buck, the AR-15. Then there's also the shotgun. This American standard is good for self-defense and small game hunting too.

The options are endless for shotguns, so do your homework and get one. Then there's the handgun. Once again, the options are vast. Pistol or revolver, plastic or metal, what caliber is best for me? These and many other questions must be answered to your satisfaction before you feel comfortable with one, but get a handgun too.

Then there's the hunting rifle. This weapon is less efficient in an urban or suburban environment, but still useful. And it's good for taking down that buck when those hunger pangs are gnawing away at your family's bellies. If you have access to the great outdoors, that is where you live. And then finally, there's a high quality knife.

Once again, it's covered briefly in tools. Almost all the videos on tools cover a high quality knife. And it is the necessity. The necessity of this tool goes without saying, and so we must say it again, frequently and with great emphasis. The only substitute for a good knife is a better one.

And hopefully, you'll never need to use a knife for nasty close-in encounters, but you will always need a knife to cut a branch or skin a buck or carve a roast over the fire. Do your research on the specifications for these arms. Find someone who's knowledgeable in this area. And most of all, train, train, train. That's so important.

Use your weapons in training. Train with somebody else. Train with somebody who knows more than you do. If you wait until the proverbial wolf is at your door to fumble for your weapon in the safe, still in the box you bought it in, well, then we will most likely read about you in the obituary section of the newspaper if the newspaper is still printing. Oh, okay.

Well, arms. Then also, number six, medicine and first aid. Medicine and first aid. In the circumstances we are assuming will eventually obtain, the emergency room in your local hospital or the urgent care service down the street will be overwhelmed and probably non-functional. You will need to set that broken limb.

You will need to suture that deep wound or soothe that fevered brow of your child. And so, here are some suggestions for serving this need, that of medicine and first aid. First of all, get a kit. Get a first aid kit. And the options here are endless.

Do your homework again. Do some research. You can go from anything from that simple first aid kit that you can buy at the grocery store to what I love, what I hope to get one of these days is that well-stocked military-grade backpack that medics use in the field. Do some homework on this. The military-grade medic pack is expensive, but it's worth it.

Do some homework on these things. Find out the specs for the various first aid kits that are out there. The only regret you will have in this area, in those situations, grid-down, desperate situations, is not having stocked more fully. You'll never regret well-stocked first aid kits. Then, you must also think ahead and stock meds.

If you're on meds and you need them, then begin stocking up on them. Build up a store of those prescription meds that you're already on. Then also, I would do this as well. My wife and I have been at this for some time now, and that's stock supplements. And learn fundamental nutrition.

Learn fundamental nutrition. You'll be less likely to get sick in grid-down situations. The old naturalist's maxim still holds true. Eat your medicine. Eat your medicine.

Eat your way to wellness. Essential oils, herbs, vitamins and minerals, teas, even that exotic potion that your eccentric ant concocts for when you get a fever. Even that exotic potion. All those things are better than most anything that your doctor or big pharma might prescribe. I have come to this conclusion, and I have come to this place in my life.

Stock supplements. Learn fundamental nutrition, and you won't get as sick as you would otherwise. And then finally, train. When you're talking about, indeed, first aid and medicine and treatment, train. Learn basic skills that will save a life or treat an injury.

Now, while you still can, and the service is yet available, take an EMT course, maybe, or at least a basic Red Cross first aid course, you and your family and your neighbors, for that matter, will be eternally grateful, and you will always be able to use those first aid and medical skills. Number seven, mediums of exchange and barter. Mediums of exchange and barter. Even the proud prepper who has prepared for every contingency and has enough of everything to last until the second coming, will find that eventually, even he needs something. And consequently, you'll need something of value to exchange for it.

If the grid and cell towers are down, then your credit card or your Venmo or any other electronic currency, for that matter, will be useless. Depending upon the political situation, in the very near future, too, even your cash might be trash. So I have some suggestions then as mediums of exchange. First of all, tradable everyday items. With the increasing breakdown in and unreliability of supply chains, store shelves may soon be empty anyway, but certainly will be if the shiitake mushroom hits the fan.

One of my favorite YouTube videos is of two grizzled preppers discussing their top 10 items for barter. Key this in and it'll come up. It's still up there. Top 10 items for barter. They mentioned, for example, salt and sugar to barter with.

Not everybody's going to have a big stash of salt and sugar and you'll be able to trade for other things. Or coffee. I'll trade for coffee, believe me, in a grid down situation. Or feminine hygiene products or diapers. I don't have any use for those things anymore, but they make good barter items.

Feminine hygiene products and diapers or ammo or batteries or tobacco and alcohol. People will, especially people who are ill-prepared, will all have need for those things. And then there are skills with which you may barter. What you're good at will become increasingly valuable in a grid down situation. Can you make car repairs?

Can you do plumbing or gunsmithing? These are all skills that people will seek out and you can use, too, to trade for other skills, maybe. You're not a jack of all trades, are you? You're not good at everything. Perhaps you can trade what you'll get at with someone else who is good at something else.

Or for other items, too. In fact, go out and acquire a new skill to increase your value in desperate times. And then, of course, for barter and for trade, there are always precious metals, too. Silver and gold are the king and queen of media of exchange, aren't they? They have been since the earliest mists of time of our race.

And they will always hold, yay, they will increase in value as society collapses and people reset to ancient, tried, and true standards. Do your homework, dear listener. Research the strengths and weaknesses of using precious metals. A lot of homework can be done on this, even though gold and silver are becoming increasingly harder to acquire. Don't buy stock in these things either.

Don't buy certificates. If you don't, if you can't handle and hold the silver and the gold in your hands, then you really don't have silver and gold. You must acquire the actual physical objects, coins or objects, silver and gold. And then we're running out of time here, and I want to just reassure you that we are going to have all of this and more, much, much more on our church website. We're building a page where I've been charged with doing this by my church to begin building a page of preparation, especially from a Christian perspective, dear listener.

And we must do this. So you can check out our webpage, newgenevaopc.org, newgenevaopc.org. And we'll be building a proper page from a Christian perspective. And we'll have footnotes, and we'll have important references and resources listed there too, not just the things that I've mentioned here in this broadcast, but we'll have indeed much, much more to add to this. We'll also be covering things like modes of communication, right?

And modes of travel too, in a grid down situation. We don't have time to cover it all right now, but we will have all of these things on our website too, with footnotes, important references and resources that you can access. But in closing, I want to emphasize that when it comes to surviving and thriving in a disaster event or civilizational collapse, the old principle that no man is an island obtains. Yeah, you will not survive alone. We need one another, especially we Christians.

Paul commands us to love one another. The members of the body may have the same care for one another, Paul says. And through love, we must serve one another, bear one another's burdens, Paul says, and so fulfill the law of Christ. And Paul says, he winds it up by saying that we always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. Oh, dear listener, we all have needs.

No one prepares 100% in all areas, do we? In fact, we all have our respective skills and our knowledge and our training and our areas of expertise, and we need to be ready to help one another. Yes, think about your neighbors and your brothers and sisters in the church. We need to work on building networks. Talk to people.

Do build these networks consciously. Get people to think ahead and who they'll call when they have needs, and that they may be called themselves as well when others have needs. People need to be educated in this area and have their awareness gradually raised over time. I have found this. The first time I talked to someone, they may not be aware of or have any clue or have even thought about preparation or networking with others who have skills that they need or letting others know that they themselves have skills that can be tapped as well.

We need to talk to people. Raise their consciousness in this area. Think about your neighbors and your church members and their skills and their resources. Raise their awareness. Get them thinking about the future.

Get them thinking about the desperate situations we will all find ourselves in very, very soon. Get them to think about getting prepared. Remember, the better prepped your fellow brothers and sisters are, the better help they will be to you and to others too. Don't just selfishly zip your lip and hoard stuff that you think you'll be self-sufficient with. You cannot be completely self-sufficient.

You need others. And as a believing Christian, you need to think about others and begin networking with others too to help support them and they, in turn, willing and better prepared to help you as well. The point is we need to learn to love one another, dear brothers and sisters. We need to seek to do good to do good to one another and to everyone for that matter. Indeed, learn the Joseph Reserve principle and prepare not only for yourself, but for others as well to serve them in a Christ-like manner.

This has been Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church. And we have on our website, let me remind you, we're building a page where we'll have this and much, much more building, indeed, in preparation for that day. Our website, newgenevaopc.org. One word, newgenevaopc.org. And New Geneva Meets for Holy Worship on Sunday at 10 a.m. at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard.

And you can call us for more information. And I urge you to visit us, visit us as a church, and come and see who we are. We love to have visitors and love to have others help us, too. If you have suggestions on how to better serve, you have suggestions or corrections, perhaps, in what you've heard these last two weeks, we welcome the input. You can call us at area code 208-523-0196. Call us for input or more information, area code 208-523-0196.