A Christian Warriors Greatest Asset

 I am going to write on something a little different.
In fact, today I am really addressing my article to all the godly men out there reading this at this moment.
Now ladies, I encourage you to read this as well, but a lot of what I am saying here is addressed to the husbands /fathers / providers. We are the protectors of our family and we should be standing at the ready to intercede and protect.
We are Christian Warriors.
As many of you know I am a "prepper" / surivivalist. One thing that I try to always teach is to maintain readiness.
Example, always have at least a 1/2 tank of gas in the car at all times. A full tank is better, but that is hard to do. Always have extra food, meds, supplies, everyday needs, etc on hand. This way you are not caught off guard and come up wanting.
The Boy Scouts said it best with their motto : Be Prepared
We need to be prepared because we do not know what tomorrow brings. But there is a lot more involved in being prepared besides having some extra food and supplies on hand.
We need to be spiritually prepared as well.
Imagine if you will our Christian walk equating to that of little energizer bunnies. We run around all day long, sometimes for weeks at a time on a charge. We keep going and going and going and going.
Sooner or later we need to recharge our batteries.
We find that we are losing our patients a little more often, mentally sluggish, mentally tired, hard to focus, lacking love, compassion, not enough kisses and hugs to the wife, etc, etc, etc.
We are like this because our spiritual batteries are low.
When our spiritual batteries are low, well that rolls down hill to our families and their spiritual batteries get low as well.
Soon everyone is like the energizer bunny running out of battery power.
We Need A Recharge
See we as leaders, as long as we are doing the right thing, living a right life, having the right fellowship with our Lord, that trickles down to our family and they are then able to charge their batteries off of us because we have been doing the right thing and in tune with the Lord.
So how do we charge our batteries?
By spending time with Him.
We do this in prayer (us talking to Him) reading His Word (God talking to us) and if we are able, fellowship with others who are like minded.
When our batteries are fully charged, God's power and love works through us and in that we influence and effect the world around us.

The problem is that we don't spend enough time with God, so many of us are running around on a half charge. Since we are half charged, our family is also half charged.
Now, if ever we are called upon to do battle be it spiritual or physical, we will want to have the full charge. It will make the difference...believe me it will.
What we need to remember is that we do not know when the battles will come, almost always we will be ambushed. That is the favorite tactic of the enemy as well as the thug on the street.
What separates the Christian Warrior from the common ghetto thug is accountability to God. Not "a god" but "The God", Jehovah.
Our strength, determination and fighting spirit derives from Him and His power working through us.  We are able to stand against quite a bit, but we don't do it in our own power, it is through the Power of God working through our lives.

Being prepared in the physical is important, but often we neglect the spiritual. We run our batteries down and then when the enemy hits us with both barrels, we buckle under the barrage of fire that the enemy shoots in our direction.
Men, Husbands, Fathers, I am talking to you. We are Christian Warriors. We know that we are facing perilous times. We clearly see that right is being made wrong, and is wrong is being made right.

In Ephesians 6:13 it tells us...
"Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. "
We need to be wearing His armor daily so that we can train daily and get used to the extra weight it entails.
Time To Train
I am one who takes combative training. Why? Because I want to be able to stand and protect my family if and when the need arises.
I am involved with a group of people here in Texas and we often will meet on a Saturday and conduct what is called "Force on Force" training. What I really like is that a lot of this training is free and we get together to test out different tactics and really see if they work out or not.
In fact here is some brief info…
Central Texas Combatives Training Group: Source - http://www.combativestraininggroup.com
Often when we get together we will role play a scenario, most likely the Walmart parking lot and some bad guy is coming at you.
He may pull a knife, he may pull a gun, he may walk by you and do nothing.
But he also may walk by you and then turn around and ambush you.
Don't think this happens? It happens every day, in fact more often than people realize.
Now why am I going into this sort of detail and what does this have to do with prayer?
We train in the physical world honing our skills, why are we not training the spiritual?

The Mall Ninja
Let's look at a mall ninja. This is the guy who has all the cool gear and stuff. He never takes the time to train with all that cool gear, but he has it.
What chances will the "Mall Ninja" have against the thug in the parking lot intent on attacking him?
Pretty much zero chances to win.
Just because you may have a lot of cool gear, and until you wipe the dust off it and actually train with it, it will not amount to a hill of beans what you have.
When the battle comes to you, and it will, you will most likely fold under the attack.
Why? Because you do not train with the tools / gear that you own.
The same goes in the spiritual. Prayer is probably the greatest tool that we have at our disposal. It is prayer that will help keep our spiritual batteries charged.
In fact prayer is part of what strengthens the armor of God.
See, I get a laugh when I hear people talk about putting on and off the armor of God.
"Oh, just put on the armor of God and you will be ok Joe."
" The armor of God will protect you Bob, just put it on."
Folks, this is "Mall Ninja" talk.
See you do not put on and take off the armor of God as if it is some suit or something. If you are a born again, washed in the blood Christian, you wear it all the time 24 / 7 / 365.
The difference is the strength of the armor with which we wear.
Big Boys Playing With Swords
Here is a little story that some of you may have heard before.
Back in my college days I used to be involved with group that is called the SCA, also known as the Society For Creative Anachronism.
Those involved would role play as if they were living in the King Arthur days. They would wear armor of all sorts and go bash each other over the head with ratan swords. What is interesting is that today it is actually seen as a form of martial art.
Well, I was one of those guys who enjoyed beating each other senseless. Now to be honest I was getting beaten on more than I was beating on others.
At one of these events I happened upon one of the well known "knights" and struck up a conversation. One thing led to another and he let me hang out with him for the weekend, kind of being his "squire." See in these circles this was seen as pretty cool, specially if your knight was well known. Mine, he was well known.
See this guy was really into the SCA thing, he owned a complete set of full plate armor. In fact he built it himself and was actually world renown for his ancient armor work. Rumor had it that he has even worked on some of the armor that is in the tower of London. Yep, he was that good.
Well, I got a chance to try on his armor. It was about 50-60 lbs of steel wrapped all over my body from head to toe. Wow… it was pretty cool.
Now here is what was interesting. Here I am in this armor and he comes over and barely pushes me with his index finger.
I just about fell over backwards because I was not used to wearing so much weight let alone know how to fight in it. He laughed and kept me from falling over backwards.
In that short moment he taught me a very valuable lesson that still sticks with me today.
What I learned was that it was different for him because when he was out on the "battle field" he was running and jumping and hitting people with his sword, bashing people with his shield, going full bore. He was also often the winner of the tournaments and have been made "king" of the local SCA group several times. This is a very high position in the SCA and it also meant that you were a true warrior.
So why could he run around in this armor and I barely was able to stand?
Several things.
1 - He literally wore his armor everyday in one form or another, so it became a part of him.
2 - Because he and his armor were one, this "trained" his body. This in turn conditioned him and he was always ready for the fight.
See, the armor of God is the same way. It is not something that you just don't "throw on" and then think you are going to go out and do battle.
You need to train and live in the armor at all times.
Why? So when that evil day comes, you have done all that you can to train...and having done all, then stand and fight.

I say all this because prayer is critical along with spending time in His Word.
See prayer and spending time in His Word is what gives the armor of God its strength. It is what helps charge our spiritual batteries.
So knowing that we are wearing the armor daily, if we do not strengthen it, when that day comes to do battle, we and the armor will fail.
The armor will not protect us as much as it should have if our "spiritual batteries" were charged up as much as they should be.
Another point that I want to make is that we to also be in fellowship with other Christian warriors who love the Lord. This too is what helps keep our spiritual batteries charged to the fullest. This is because we then become accountable not only to God, but to other warriors.

Many of you know that we are living in the last days of the last days. We are sitting upon the razor's edge. Now more than ever we need to keep the batteries charged at full, the powder dry and ready for the fight.

We do not know when we will be called upon to fight, but when we do, we want to be completely ready, and not be that "mall ninja" who has all the cool guy stuff, but never trains. He will lose the battle and become a casualty of the battlefield.
The enemy, when he comes, he will most likely ambush us. So when the fight comes to us, and it will, there will be no time to "put on" the armor. By that time it will be to late. If we do not have the armor on at the time of the ambush, we will become just another casualty of war.
So I challenge you husbands, fathers out there to always be ready for the fight. The fight will come to you. What you need to ensure is that when that evil day comes, having done all, to stand.
I want to leave you with some scripture out of His Word...

Psalms 144:1 Blessed be the LORD my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight.

Joel 3:9-10  Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up: 10  Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.

2 Timothy 1:7  For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
Finally, if you live in the Central Texas area and want to learn more about Central Texas Combatives Training Group, please feel free to contact me or go to their forum at….

http://www.combativestraininggroup.com

Age, sex, size, nor physical fitness shape matters. We have all sorts from all walks of life. We have had Sr. warriors in their 70's to warriors who have been sitting on the couch for too many years. Let's just say that it's hard to fit in the armor still, if you get my drift.

I welcome you to come train with us and in fact it is my desire to start holding training here at the Gano homestead.

You will have a lot of fun and will also learn your vulnerabilities. You will probably walk away with some bruise and welts from the air soft pistols too, but it isn't that bad.

The goal is to better ourselves so that we may be better to serve those around us.


In His Service,

Ray Gano
Husband, Father, Christian Warrior

What Did You Do To Prep This Week?

By Ray Gano

With the fires in Texas taking place, I ran through our preps and looked at what "holes" we had and what did I need to do to fill them.

A MAJOR hole that I discovered is that we do not have Bug Out Bags.

Yea, believe it or not, we don't have the basic B.O.B.

Why?

Well since we live in the country I have always planned to Bug Out in Place. We live on high ground, so no need to worry about floods; which happen a lot if we get any rain.

I got four neighbors with the nearest being about 1/8 mile away.

We live on a "hill" so I have full field of view almost 360 degrees around us.

So why the need to bug out?

Fire.

Wow.. Something that I did not even think about. It is strange because twice we have had fires here at the ranch but never needed to bug out.

So I started preparing my B.O.B list and starting to compile a budget to start saving for.

Interesting how events 40 miles away can get you thinking again.

It is always good to review your preps at least once every three months. Look over what you have, where you can improve, what you need to add and then put it on a list.

There is a GREAT little app for all you who have smart phones it is called Cozi and it is a great little app that also allows everyone in the family to share a Calendar, TODO, Shopping, and Journal. It is updated in real time and you can access it via the Internet or your smart phone. I think you can even access it via these smart pads / iPad as well. You can learn more by going to - http://cozicentral.cozi.com

So I have started a list to start compiling our Bug Out Bags and now when I am out and about, I can slowly acquire what we need and start putting them together.

So what did you do to prep this week?

Become The Gray Man

By Ray Gano

A man who can blend in to any scene or situation without standing out , hiding his skills and qualities. Source - urbandictionary.com

Becoming the gray man, it will be an important skill; a skill you will need in the future days to come. You will need to learn how to blend into your environment, look like everyone else, and become the "average looking Joe."

But what makes you different is that you are alert to your surroundings, you suspect everyone that comes within your 20 foot perimeter and you are ready to react if need be. The real mission is to just be left alone while putting off that "sheepdog" disposition instead of being one of the sheep.

You are not some weekend warrior or paramilitary nut, you are just like everyone else except your every day carry gear probably includes keys, cell phone, wallet, wrist watch.... a folding lock blade knife, multi-tool, pepper spray, maybe even a flashlight and if you are C&C licensed, a handgun with an extra loaded magazine.

This is today and you have adapted to the "new normal" that we now call America.

Crime, looting, blocked roads due to riots, muggings, theft, rape and murder. These are more common place today than the days of yesteryear.

Luke 22:36 (KJV) Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one.

We live in a time where going to the mega-mart or the grocery store is an act of bravery, determination, logistics and security. No longer is it just running to get a gallon of milk and a dozen eggs.

Not that way in your area yet? Just wait.

How To Be The Gray Man

Look around, what are all the guys wearing? Now I am focusing on the guys because I am a guy. Ladies, this is for you also, take my examples and adapt them to what you would wear and so forth.

Here in the Texas Hill Country, the majority of men wear some sort of "cargo" shorts. They go to just above the knee and tend to be a little baggy. Beige, brownish red, or blue jeans tend to be the color of choice.

For a shirt, one will wear a common "T" shirt that is lose fitting sometimes with a pocket on the left breast. Or if they want to dress it up a little, a button up short sleeve. Usually some sort of cotton print.

When it gets close to hunting season, around the beginning of August, the "Real Tree" cammo "T" shirts become the norm. See here in Texas, hunting is a big deal and everyone gets in the mode. It also helps that the local Walmart sells these cammo "Beefy T's" for only $6.00 each.

On his feet, are ankle socks or rolled over tube socks under sneakers or some form of work boots.

Finally the common baseball cap on top of the head and sporting sunglasses.

This is what an "average Joe" looks like when he is in his casual dress out on the street.

This is how I dress, except I try not to wear loud logo based shirts, no jewelry except my wedding ring, nothing that makes me stand out.

If someone asked about you, could they describe you or would they be describing just about everyone else, the average Joe?

How you DON’T want to dress

Like I said You don’t want to attract attention towards yourself. Don't wear bright colors or "haute de couture" fashion, nothing that makes you stand out.

Example: Here in Texas everyone thinks of the cowboy. We have a lot of cowboys walking around, but they are not dressed in the "A" typical cowboy dress.

The cowboys here are not wearing the long sleeved shirt with fringes dangling, no 10 gallon cowboy hat, nor fancy rhinestone pants. Everyone imagines the average cowboy looks like Roy Rogers or Hop-along Cassidy but they don't.

The average cowboy looks just like the person that I described above except that he probably wears some sort of work jeans. Come fall and winter here in Texas, we all look like the average "cowboy."

Once in a while you will see someone wearing a cowboy hat. Straw cowboy hats are acceptable for guys over fifty during the summer time. During the winter everyone switches from straw to a black felt hat.

Believe me, if you step out of this mold, you will get noticed and that is not what you want to do.

If you are a prepper, you do not want to be dressing in some sort of combat BDU pants, army boots, and definitely no shirts with paramilitary sayings like "death from above" or pictures that you see at all the gun shows. This is a dead give-away and shouts "HEY... Look at me, I am a weekend warrior."

Become The Gray Man

Become the average Joe, blend into your surroundings. But walk with a purpose and be alert to what is going on around you.

While you want to look like the average person, you want to project a demeanor about you that tells the wolves "to leave you alone, you are not one of the sheep, don't mess with me."

See, the sheep will not notice you, just like real sheep, they do not really notice the sheepdog. But the wolves will see you. Wolves are cowards and seek out the weak, frail and innocent. They do not want to have to work too hard, they want to be in and out and be done with the job.

So while you don’t what to be wearing some neon sign blinking " GUN... GUN.... GUN … KNIFE … KNIFE … KNIFE … with an arrow pointing at you; you want to be acknowledged as someone who is alert, aware and not some soft target.

How you achieve this is by training yourself. Look like you are someone alive, not some drained zombie who stairs at the ground, shoulders slumped as if he has the weight of the world on his shoulders.

Make eye contact and smile at people, greet them and wish them a good day or just a simple nod of the head will do.

You don't want to seem like some bodyguard type either. You know the guys with the little curly tube sticking out of their ear, dark Ray-Ban glasses, constantly scanning, ready to pounce at a moment's notice. That is going overboard.

I bring up the Mega-stores because that is where America shops, it is also where the wolves hang out for some quick prey.

When walking in the parking lot, have a determination to your step, enter Mega-Store and look the greeter in the eye, nod your head say hello and smile. Then take a basket, eye the cashier and the customers checking out, assess if anyone is out of place then move on for that gallon of milk, dozen eggs and a few extra boxes of ammo.

BUT for example… if you enter the store, scan the area and notice someone wearing a trench coat and it is 90 degrees outside. This should raise your red flags. If this happens, step up the pace and move into the store, get out of the general area and do your shopping.

Every Day Carry - What I wear

I do not want to go into much detail in this article as to Every Day Carry (EDC), that is for another article, but for your E.D.C. kit carry what you want. The items above are what I carry and I don't look like I am wearing Batman's utility belt either. My clothes do not scream "Hey.. It's Mr. Tactical Guy here" either.

I wear Wrangler brand cargo shorts. These have cargo pockets on each side as well as a cell phone pocket that opens above the cargo flap. They have side pockets which the right pocket has a coin pocket inside the deep right. Finally there are left and right rear pockets.

As for a shirt, I wear a common black, blue, beige, Fruit of the Loom pocket "T" shirt or a short sleeve button up with a left breast pocket. If it is hunting season, which at the time of this writing it is. I also wear cammo "Real Tree Beefy T" shirts because just about every other guy is wearing them also.

An important item that I want to touch on is your belt. I wear a double thick "Justin Boots" black leather belt with a common cowboy belt buckle. Your belt needs to be sturdy enough to carry all your gear if you do not put the items in your pockets as well as hold up your pants. So you do not want some inexpensive belt from the big mega stores. Invest some money in this and you will not be sorry. You would be surprised how much a cell phone, buck knife, and a Multi-tool weighs when you are carrying it on your hip. With a heavy duty belt it will also help distribute the weight of these items more evenly and honestly once you get used to them, you forget they are even there. Another thing, my belt is also a last ditch defensive weapon. The buckle weighs a good 10-12 ounces and makes for a mean bludgeon and can help keep someone at arms distance if need be.

How I developed my EDC was that I slowly carried one item, then added another and another. It took time in getting used to carrying gear, finding the spot where it is easy to access and have it not be banging around on my leg or chest. You will find that some things work and some things don't. Carry what tools and gear you need but don’t make it obvious that you are a prepper or you will look like some paramilitary tactical guy.

If you can get away with it, use a back pack or messenger bag. Look at what others are carrying in your area and adapt to the look. If everyone carries a back pack, carry a back pack. If they carry a messenger bag, well then messenger bag. With this you can also carry a water bottle, small first aid kit and any other gear that is important to you.

Just remember to keep it light, you do not want to turn yourself into some pack mule.

When I dress up, I usually wear black jeans, black cowboy boots, a black long sleeve shirt and a tie. If need be and I need to dress up more, I wear a beige twill sport coat and in all of this, I can still carry most of my gear. This is what the average guy wears here when they dress up, so I am still blending in and looking good too.

If someone would describe me, they would say he had on black shirt, pants and cowboy boots. In other words I look like every other Joe that walks into a nice restaurant or business meeting.

Becoming the gray man will be an important skill for you to develop, specially as crime starts to rise, which it will. You will need to be equipped to protect yourself and possibly others if needed. You will also want to blend in the background.

Above all, your goal is to get home safely that day. You are not some super hero nor are you there to protect the world. You are ready to defend yourself if you have to, but your goal is not having to resort to that.

Finally...

Tactical retreats, AKA running away is totally acceptable. The only one who didn't walk away was John Wayne and that was in the movies. You are not bullet proof nor knife proof, so run don't walk if you think you need to get out of the area fast. Your spouse will be glad you did and so will you.

And as a last resort, always remember it is better to face 12 than to be carried out by 6. So if you have to protect yourself, fight to win because you will be fighting for your life.

NEW S4C Contest - PZ FIRESTEEL KIT is The Prize

It's time again for another Survival 4 Christians Contest. 

Last time we gave away a great 4 DVD collection from Cloud Ten Productions to Denise L. It was a lot of fun and a lot of folks got involved.

This time we are giving away a PZ FIRESTEEL Kit. If you look on the right hand side, our top video you can watch the PZ FIRESTEEL IN ACTION. This is a must have for everyone who has an Every Day Carry kit (EDC). I have to also say that it is a pretty cool tool to have. Summer is still here and BBQs are still needing to be lit. Lite it with the PZ FIRESTEEL and you to can be Rambo for the day. 

 

Ok all kidding aside, this really happened to me.

 

Church Guys BBQ. I am in charge and we have everything ready except there is no fire. See we Independent Fundamental Baptists are not known to be carrying a pack of cigarettes. So no one really has the need to have a lighter or matches. 

 

Yep, here are about 30 -40 guys and no one has fire and guess who left his multi-tool at home which has his PZ FIRESTEEL? 

 

Yea... big time lesson learned. Multi-tool is now EDC with PZ FIRESTEEL attached.

 

Ok, enough of the stories.

 

How To Win

 

All you have to do is go to our YOU TUBE page and SUBSCRIBE to our Survival 4 Christians Channel.  

 

It is our goal to report on the worlds problems from a Christian perspective, but not only that, we are going to report on what you can do to better prepare for these problems with real world solutions.

 

So many folks out there have real concerns about what is coming down the pipe. We know Christ is returning, but to be honest we do not know when. I am one who does not believe that one day we are here, life is grand and the next day we are raptured out and all of a sudden the AC is on the scene and it is hell on earth. 

 

That is not realistic thinking. 

 

Like everything, things take time to be put in place. As things are put in place, we will see drastic changes in politics, religion, economy, generally how this world is run. 

 

Without going into details, it is getting tough out there and we need to know how to deal with it. 

 

We are not in the Tribulation, but we are on the path to it. How we navigate that path is also our decision. We can take the hard road and do nothing or we can try to do the best we can with our brains and hands God gave us and prepare for hard times.

 

I want to offer solid information that is helpful to every day people. That is why I have set up Survival 4 Christians.

 

So please go to our You Tube Page   

 

AND SUBSCRIBE NOW AND YOU COULD WIN  >>> http://www.youtube.com/user/survival4christians

By subscibing you will be automatically put into the drawing for the PZ FIRESTEEL. 

The Prophezine Channel has over 600 subscribers. I would like to keep things simple and shoot for 150 for Survival 4 Christians.  BUT if we go over 600, that is even better.

By doing this you are helping us get higher on the You Tube ratings. When we are higher, more people watch us. When more people watch us it opens the doors to share the gospel and people being effected.

 Thanks for being a Prophezine supporter and supporting our new outreach, Survival 4 Christians.

In His Service,

Ray Gano
Executive Director
Prophezine / Survival 4 Christians