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

A Rise In Crime - Lawlessness In The Last Days

It was about 9:00 PM Sunday night.
Tracye got a post on her Facebook from a friend here in town.
A woman texted her fiancé the words "HELP ME"
The lady had been missing since Friday afternoon.  She left work at the Scooter Store in New Braunfels to pick up her son at school in San Antonio, but never made it. (1)
This morning she is found in a Laredo Hospital. That is almost 200 miles away.
What has happened is unknown at the moment, all we know is that her fiancé  got texted those words.
This really concerned Tracye and I because we live in a pretty small town.
But that is not all, here is another head line...

Man stabs woman outside New Braunfels Walmart

A woman was stabbed in an attempted purse snatching outside of a New Braunfels Walmart early Sunday.

The stabbing took place just before 11 a.m. in the parking lot of the Walmart off of I-35.

Police say the suspect tried to swipe a 64-year-old woman's purse. He also stabbed her several times before fleeing the scene.

The woman was air lifted to University Hospital and is in stable condition. (2)

Here is one more...

Man Shot in an Attempted Brutal Kidnapping

NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas -- Glenn Shane Godden, 39, of Seguin, was killed by police after attempting to kidnap a woman.

According to police, it all started when a man called authorities and said his door had been kicked in and his 32-year-old daughter was missing.

When officers arrived, they saw a white van speeding away from the area, dragging a woman (outside the car window and being held by her hair from the driver's side door.

According to police, Godden drove past one cruiser, but then rammed head-on into another police cruiser, landing on top of the hood.

The woman became pinned underneath both vehicles.(3)

New Braunfels is a very small town. Our population is around 45,000 people and yet Tracye and I are astounded at the violent crime that is taking place. Especially in such a rather small quiet conservative town.
But what is worse is that this is more and more becoming the norm no matter where one lives.
In fact it is getting worse all over the nation.
The Index of Leading Cultural Indicators
In the early 1960s, the Census Bureau began publishing the Index of Leading Economic Indicators. These 11 measurements, taken together, represent the best means we now have of interpreting current business developments and predicting future economic trends.
From this idea The Index of Leading Cultural Indicators, a compilation of the Heritage Foundation and Empower America, attempts to bring a similar kind of data-based analysis to cultural issues.
This report is a statistical portrait (from 1960 to the 1990s) of the moral, social and behavioral conditions of modern American society--matters that, in our time, often travel under the banner of ``values.''
It should not surprise you to learn that according to The Index of Leading Cultural Indicators, America has been deteriorating socially, morally and I believe spiritually over the past 30+ years.
Since 1960, the U.S. population has increased 41%;the total social spending by all levels of government  has risen from $143.73 billion to the unimaginable $112 Trillion an increase that people can not even wrap their brains around.
Inflation-adjusted spending on welfare has increased by 630%+, spending on  education by 225%.
But here is a shocker, over this 30-year period and again this report was published in the 1990s, there was an increase in violent crime by 560%, a 419% increase in illegitimate births; a quadrupling in divorce rates; a tripling of the percentage of children living in single-parent homes; more than a 200% increase in the teenage suicide rate; and a drop of almost 80 points in SAT scores.
That was over a course of 30 years. We are now 10+ years past that and without knowing the statistics, one can just tell that it has gotten even worse.
The fact that violent crimes are on the increase here in our sleepy little town tells me that lawlessness is on the rise and getting worse by the day.
I mean should we expect it to be any other way when murder, violence, aggression and such is on TV 24/7/365?
I am going to go out on a limb here and say that based on the last 100 years, one can clearly see that violence, lawlessness and the lack of "natural love" for one another has reached epidemic proportions.
It has gotten to the point that literally no place is safe... and it is getting worse.
Public schools resemble prison yard territories, kids are basically forced to join this social group or the next. On the streets gangs are rampant. In fact children are not safe in their own homes anymore.
They are beaten, maimed, raped, held as prisoners for sexual pleasure, then murdered because they become a burden and discarded as trash.
Remember the Caylee Anthony case?
Even though she was found not guilty, I honestly believe that it was the jury being lazy and not wanting to do their job properly. They opted for the desire to no longer be sequestered by the court instead of doing their proper job and issuing true justice.
Teenagers have lost all respect for authority, they have become cold, hard hearted, self centered, selfish and violent.
"The increases in violence we're observing are among very young people and they are very dramatic," said Glenn Pierce, the director of Northeastern's Center for Applied Social Research.
This crime wave isn't confined to inner-city neighborhoods in large urban areas. Cities with populations of 25,000 saw a 40 percent increase in homicides - the same as cities 10 times their size.
Want proof, here is a short list...

# March 2009: Fifteen people were shot and killed at Albertville Technical High School in southwestern Germany by a 17-year-old boy who attended the same school.

# November 2008: 15-year-old Teah Wimberly was charged in the shooting death of Amanda Collette, 15, on the campus of Dillard High School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

# October 2008: Four suspects, Kawin Brockton, 19, Kelsey Perry, 19, Mario Tony, 20, and Brandon Wade, 20 were charged in a shooting that took place on the University of Central Arkansas campus in Conway AR. Two students – Ryan Henderson, 18, and Chavares Block, 19 – were fatally shot. A third person, 19-year-old Martrevis Norman, a non-student visiting the campus, was shot in a leg and was treated at the nearby Conway Regional Medical Center.

# August 2008: Fifteen-year-old sophomore Ryan McDonald, was shot and killed by fellow sophomore student Jamar Siler, also 15 in the school cafeteria at Central High School in the Fountain City neighborhood of Knoxville, Tennessee. The two had been in previous altercations, the details of which were not released to the general public.

# February 2008: Steven Kazmierczak shot multiple people on the campus of Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois, United States, killing six and wounding eighteen.

# February 2008: Fourteen-year-old Brandon McInerney, a student at E.O. Green Junior High School in Oxnard, California shot and killed fellow fifteen-year-old student, Lawrence "Larry" Fobes King.

# February 2008: 17-year-old student Cornelius Cheers opened fire in the Mitchell High School cafeteria in Memphis TN, critically wounding 19-year-old student Stacey Kiser. The school was locked down for the rest of the day and the perpetrator was arrested and taken into custody.

# February 2008: 23-year-old nursing student, Latina Williams, opened fire six rounds with a .357 revolver in a second-floor classroom at the Baton Rouge campus of Louisiana Technical College before turning the gun on herself and committing suicide. The two victims were Karsheika Graves and Taneshia Butler, who were both fatally shot.

# October 2007: Two teachers and two students were shot at SuccessTech High School in Cleveland, Ohio before shooter, Asa Coon, committed suicide.

# September 2007: Delaware State University student, Loyer Braden, shoots two fellow students, killing one.

# Cho Seung-HuiApril 2007: 33 people are dead after two separate shootings at Virginia Tech, making it the worst school shooting in US history. On April 16, 2007, Cho Seung-Hui, a senior in the English department, who the South Korean Foreign Ministry said had been living in the United States since 1992, was the only suspect named in connection with the deadliest shooting rampage in modern U.S. history. (4)

Folks, this was just a small sample that I pulled.
Here is what Scripture says...

Matthew 24:12  And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

2 Timothy 3:1  This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.

So should we be surprised at this getting even worse?
Folks, I am not one who believes that one day the rapture takes place and then the very next day all the earth goes to hell in a hand basket.
I believe that we are seeing AND WILL CONTINUE TO SEE an ever growing foreshadow of things to come.
In other words, it is going to get worse and worse as days go by.
What Do We Do?
Over the years men of God have dropped the ball. They have allowed what I believe a "feminization" of the church to take place. More and more women "wore the pants" in churches than men. It is still that way today. More women attend church, are involved in church and help direct church while basically men just hang home to watch their football, baseball and basketball games on TV.
We as men of God have neglected our proper role and because of that society has taken on a more "feminized" viewpoint over what God's Word states.
Now I know that I may be upsetting some folks out there, but this is a fact and has been the fact for the past 125+ years.
Somewhere along the way, men lost their back bone.
The whole foundation of the family structure is based upon the man of the home doing the right thing, being a loving father and husband and disciplinarian, but also the Christian warrior he is called to be to guide and protect his family as well as his community.
What does God's Word say?

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

Jeremiah 48:10  Cursed be he that doeth the work of the LORD deceitfully, and cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood.

Luke 22:36  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.

And one that really hits home very hard...

1 Timothy 5:8  But if any provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.

Godly men's apathy has grown so bad, we are now suffering the consequences due to our neglect.
Instead of standing and doing the right thing, we have gotten used to illicit sexual relationships, adolescent promiscuity, abortion, cheating, lying, stealing, prostitution, rape, divorce, and even murder.
All of this has taken place because we as men of God have refused to stand in the gap and do what is right in light of God's Word.
We have gotten used to financial mismanagement on both civil and personal levels. We have accepted political corruption. We have rejected personal and social responsibility and learned to blame anyone or anything else for our problems and failures. We have traded in our infinitely valued divine image for a nickel-plated pagan shrine erected in honor of self-interest, immorality, and social apathy.
What we need to do as men of God is to draw the line in the sand and say "no more."
Men of God need to learn to grow their back bone again and start being the men of God they are called to be.
We are at a stage in time where the wolves are becoming a serious menace on society and the only way to combat that is to once again become the "sheepdogs" that we were once many years ago.
We need to relearn what we have lost. How to the proper leaders and not dictators. How to defend our families, and if called upon, to offer the ultimate sacrifice to protect them.
When walking in the parking lot with your family, let your body language state that you are the sheepdog and no one is going to accost those you have stewardship over.
Better yet, we need to obey Christ himself and if we do not own a weapon, do what we need to do so that we can protect our families.
This does not mean go buy a gun and then stick it in the night stand drawer. We as Christian warriors need to train and become proficient so that when that evil day comes, we are able to stand and fight.(Eph6:13)
Our nation is going down the tubes, we are called as Christians to "occupy till He returns." That is our marching orders. We need to return to our duty till that time of our appointment with Him comes or till He calls His church home.
No matter what, we have a responsibility to ourselves and to our families.
Times ARE getting bad and they will get even worse than what we have been seeing already. Scripture tells us that this will take place and God does not lie.
Therefore till that time comes, we must be ready to stand for what is right and return to our heritage, that being the Christian Warrior God called us to be and stop neglecting the duties He has placed upon us.



By Ray Gano







ENDNOTES
1 - http://m.foxsanantonio.com/news/Missing_S.A._Mother_Found_In_Laredo_Hospital
2 - http://www.kens5.com/home/Man-stabs-woman-outside-New-Braunfels-WalMart-99203059.html
3 - http://www.ksat.com/news/26004360/detail.html
4 - http://www.jeremiahproject.com/prophecy/school-violence.html

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?

The Coming Storm - How Did We Get Here

How many of you listen to talk radio? I was in the car listening to the local DJ and something, peaked my interest. What caught my attention was the topic; they were talking about dealing with finance, oil, the future, ect.
There really was not much else on and I had a good hour drive. Needless to say, I was disappointed.
It was an hour of the typical corporate financial spiel. The sad thing is that someone who was listening and did NOT know how the corporate financial world worked, they would have been really impressed.  The guest on the show had all the titles, letters behind their name and “years of experience.”
Needless to say I wasn’t impressed. In fact I was kind of upset. The guest was selling the audience down the proverbial river.
So what was the guest selling? The typical mantra of get out of debt, invest for the long term, and diversify, diversify, diversify.”
Warren Buffett, one of the world's greatest investors, said, "Diversification is a protection against ignorance. It makes very little sense for those who know what they are doing."
The corporate financial mantra is for those who don’t know what they are doing. People have allowed the fox to guard the hen house and did not even realize it. Look at today and what is taking place. Feds tell us there isn’t any inflation and yet gas costs $3.50, milk is $4.25, in fact there are probably a lot of things that you notice that have gone way up in price, especially food.
But they tell us that there is no inflation.
We were “forced” as tax payers to accept a 700 Billion bailout, then QE1 with trillions and QE2 with yet more trillions. Who is going to carry that burden? Nope, not us, but our kids and grand kids. The taxpayers of the future.
But worse, look at the corporate pirates walking away from it all with golden parachutes.
According to recent press reports, a number of Wall Street senior executives were highly compensated before their companies began failing including Bear Stearns CEO, ($35 million), Lehman Brothers CEO ($40 million) and AIG's CEO ($47 million).
Sure Congress and Senate talked about stopping these corporate barons, but it was a little too late. They have already taken their pounds of flesh and are waiting for more from QE3 that is coming soon.
Think about this for a moment. All these companies have also gone bankrupt or were bailed out behind closed doors. All these financial companies should have died and been buried. But they weren't.
Question - All these smart guys who run all these finance places, well their companies are bankrupt. They "ran their ships aground." If they bankrupt their companies and much of the financial downfall we are already experiencing today is due to them….
Why are we still taking our money to them so that they have stewardship over it?
How many people lost everything because of these "smart financial guys"?
Why do we have 401Ks, IRAs, even savings accounts when all these "smart financial guys" who could not manage their own companies?
These financial guys are out and out crooks and we still take our money to them like moths drawn to the fire.
WHY?
Is this a surprise?
No it isn’t. Man left to his sin nature and without Christ in his life is doing what comes natural.
We are drawn to the ways of Mammon. It is natural, it is who we are. It is also due to not understanding what God's Word says and being trained to be followers of Mammon.
But Ray - How am I trained to follow Mammon?
It is hammered into your heads almost from the day we are born.
Go to school, graduate from college, get a good job, work all your life and save..save..save.
Let me prove it to you and have you take a test.
We have been trained and not even know it.
Just for fun finish the sentence…. "A Winston Tastes Good Like a _________________."
Now, if you were born after 1970, odds are you can't answer that.
If that is the case, go to You Tube and type in Fred Flintstone and Winston. You will be amazed.
With that example let's take a little test.
Fill in the blanks…

1 - Go to school, get good grades, and get a _ _ _.

2 - Work _ _ _ _.

3 - Save _ _ _ _ _.

4 - Buy a house because your house is an _ _ _ _ _ .

5 - Invest for the _ _ _ _ term in a well-_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ portfolio of _ _ _ _ _, bonds, and _ _ _ _ _ _ funds.

Odds are you made a 100% or came close right?
We have been trained to serve Mammon by getting a job, working hard, saving money, our house is an asset and investing in the long term in a well diversified portfolio of stocks, bonds and mutual funds.
Many people consider the above a solid financial education. It isn't, it is financial training, training in the ways of Mammon.
The coming financial storm that I have been preaching about for the past 5-6 years is not one of chance. It has been created… on purpose.
See, being  a student of bible prophecy I have the privilege in knowing what God’s word says.  Knowing that the Bible is the sovereign Word of God, the Bible tells me where the future is going, and it is not going where all the so called financial experts say it is going.
A History Lesson and The Road Ahead
As some of you may know I do not have much faith in the US economy maintaining strong stability. Watch the news today for 5 minutes and you can see we are in a heap of trouble.
In fact being a student of Bible Prophecy I do not have any faith in any economy maintaining stability in these last days at all because God’s Word says that it won’t.
For some of you, you may remember the 1970’s. A lot of very interesting things took place in the 1970’s that are now effecting the US and the world.
In the 1970s OPEC and the US created the Petrol Dollar. What this did was provide the US a virtual monopoly. Having oil being traded in dollars allowed the US to run huge account deficits. Countries needed oil, thus they had to have US dollars on hand so that they could purchase oil. What happened is that the US dollar became the standard and global currency reserve. In having the US dollar as the global standard currency reserve the US could spend without the fear of crippling interest rate hikes. And spent we have, to the point of self destruction and the creation of a fiat currency.
Fiat Currency
In economics, fiat currency or fiat money is money whose purchasing power derives from a declaratory fiat of the government issuing it. It is often associated with paper money unbacked by fixed assets, issued without the promise of redemption in some other form, and accepted by tradition or social convention. Fiat money is called fiduciary money in many languages.
The widespread acceptance of a fiat currency is enhanced by a central authority mandating its acceptance under penalty of law and demanding it in payment of taxes or tribute. Fiat money can be contrasted with alternative forms of currency such as commodity money and private currency.
Most currencies in the world have been fiat money since the end of the international gold standard of the Bretton Woods system in 1971. However, some of the major currencies today, despite being based essentially on arbitrary decree, have become so trusted that they are termed hard currency. (2)
Thomas Jefferson is attributed for stating the following:

“If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their money, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.”

We know that in history Jefferson fought and warned us about the creation of The Federal Reserve or any private bank which would control the United States’ money.  Jefferson was well aware of this because in his day the international bankers were trying to establish a central bank or Federal Reserve.
Here is how Blakes Dictionary of Law defines “Fiat”

“A command or order to act.  Arbitrary or authoritative order or decision.”  “Fiat money” is likewise defined as, “inconvertible paper money made legal tender by a government decree.”  Inconvertible to, for example, gold or silver.  Made legal only by government decree.  “Colored money”, i.e. money with the “deceptive appearance, assumed exterior, concealing a lack of reality.”   (3)

The money that we use today is called Federal Reserve Notes and they are colored money. If you do not believe me, whip out a $20.00 and look for your self. In fact look at the really new money that is now out there, it is a lot less green than days gone by. They also have no value, except by virtue of a government decree.
Here is another interesting point. All fiat currencies eventually go belly up and with them the countries that produce them.
But quickly back to OPEC and the Petrol Dollar.
Bill O’Grady of A.G.Edwards stated the following:

"If OPEC decided they didn’t want dollars anymore, it would be the end of American hegemony by signaling the end to the dollar as the sole reserve currency." (4)

So why do we need to know all this history?
In 1971 President Richard Nixon changed the rules of money. That year, the U.S. dollar ceased being money and became a currency. This was one of the most important changes in modern history, but few people understand why.
Before 1971, the U.S. dollar was backed by gold and silver, which is why the U.S. dollar was also known as a silver certificate. After 1971, the U.S. dollar became a Federal Reserve Note, basically an IOU from the U.S. government. Needless to say, the US has a so many IOU’s out there, the reality of paying them back are next to impossible. The U.S. is the largest debtor nation now in history.
We need to understand this because history repeats itself.
After World War I, Germany's monetary system collapsed. While there were many reasons for this, one major reason was that the German government was allowed to print money at will, like we are doing currently. The flood of money that resulted caused uncontrolled inflation, which is starting taking place right now. If you don’t believe me, when was the last time you bought gas? There were more marks like there are dollars right now, but they bought less and less. In 1913, a pair of shoes cost 13 marks. By 1923, that same pair of shoes was 32 trillion marks!
As inflation increased, the savings of the middle class was wiped out. With their savings gone, the middle class demanded new leadership. Adolf Hitler was elected Chancellor of Germany in 1933 and, as we know, World War II and the murder of millions of Jews followed.
Do you see where it is we are going here? Adolf Hitler was the precursor of whom?.
That was the first part of our history lesson, continuing to our second part of our history lesson.
In the 1970’s there was a law created that when it came out, it was touted as a great law, a law for the people. The law was called “ERISA” or known as the “Employee Retirement Income Security Act. This is the law that gave birth to the 401(k). One of the reasons ERISA is significant is because it forced millions of employees to become investors, investors without any financial training or education. This is why the financial expert’s advice is “Work hard, save money, get out of debt, invest for the long term, and diversify, diversify, diversify.”
Warren Buffet made a great statement that kind of sums this up..

“Wall Street is the only place that people ride to in a Rolls Royce to get advice from those that take the subway”

Many people know that the Baby Boomer generation is the largest generation in history. Many of our companies made millions from the baby boomer wave. When the baby boomers had kids, Gerber made millions. When the baby boomer kids got older Matel, Hasbro, etc made millions. The baby boomer’s lived life at a fast pace, thus was born McDonalds, Burger King, etc. I point these things out because the baby boomers are a generation to be considered.
When the baby boomers bought, companies made millions.
Baby Boomers have money they have saved for retirement via their 401(k), IRAs, ect.
Between 1995 and 2005 the millions of people who followed the “Work hard, save money, get out of debt, invest for the long term, and diversify, diversify, diversify.” advice lost an estimated $7-9 trillion. And much worse than losing $7-9 trillion, the people who followed that advice missed out on what the Economist and other magazines called the biggest financial boom in history. So not only did those investors lose money from the 2000-2003 stock market crash, they failed to make a lot of money in the financial boom in real estate and commodities. That is the price of bad advice and even worse not having the knowledge to know better and the education.
But back to ERISA…
ERISA has a major flaw that many people do not look at or even know of. ERISA has a mandatory withdrawal mechanism at age seventy and a half. At that age you MUST start withdrawing your money from the 401(k)s, IRAs, etc. That means millions of baby boomers will be forced to systematically withdraw from their 401(k), IRAs, ect.
Where is all this money invested? It is in the stock market.
As I stated before, when the baby boomers BOUGHT, companies made millions.
In 2006 the first baby boomers turned 60.
What will happen when the baby boomers start to sell?
In 2016 it is estimated that there will be 2,282,887 baby boomers that are turning seventy. They all must start selling and pulling their money out of the stock market.
In 2017 it jumps to 2,928,818 more people. That is about 700,000 more people than the year before that will start selling and pulling their money out of the stock market too. (1)
That is 5,211,705 people together. That many people will affect the economy and more are added each year for approximately 20 years. We did not count the immigrants either in the mix. (1
All in all, that is a lot of stock being sold, or at least trying to be sold.
What happens when millions of people start selling millions of shares of stock?
The prices start to drop and fast.
The laws of supply and demand will come into effect, and the odds of major panic just increased enormously.
So why is there a mandatory withdrawal? Why not just change the laws?  All that money that was put in was put there tax free. Uncle Sam now wants his due…the taxes. This is another reason why the huge spending, the fiat currency, etc. This is also why we will probably never see the death tax go away any time soon either.
So once the 700 Billion dollar bailout passes, are our troubles over? QE1 came and went, trouble over? QE2 came also?
No… far from it, we still have the ERISA issue to come to full term and no one is even talking about that can of worms.
We think things are bad now
Credit Crisis, Mortgage Crisis, Energy Crisis, and hey while we are talking doom and gloom lets throw in terrorism, avian flu, dirty bombs ect.
But something  is going to start effecting us in the weeks ahead. It is the weapon that has been used over and over again by the king pins of Mammon in days gone by.
Scripture even tells us but it seems we have not been listening.

Rev 6:5  And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.

Rev 6:6  And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.

The US as well as the world is not sitting in a nice place.
The world is looking for an answer.  But man in his ways never learns.
Scripture says…

Ecc 1:9  The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.

Man continues to repeat himself and his history.
The next decade will be a decade of chaos. This will be the fourth time this nation has gone through something like this.
I know that there are those of you right now saying " Well God is not going to allow us to suffer, He will rapture us out."
Folks I expect to be caught up in the clouds when the Rapture when it occurs.
But what many people forget is that none of us knows just how bad things will get before the Rapture occurs, do we?
I do not think it wise to test the Lord, by throwing caution to the wind and simply saying, “The Lord will provide.”
Yes, He will provide, but He expects us to learn from the ant and do what we can to provide for ourselves.

Prov 6:6  Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise:

Scripture also tells us..

1Tim 5:8  But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.

To not take steps to keep your family safe when we still have the chance if fool hearty and at worse, makes us the infidel.
Christ commanded us to "occupy till He returns." Not bury our heads in the sand.
We still have a short amount of time.
This is why I am writing a series over the coming months.
We are living on the razor's edge and scripture is literally unfolding right before our eyes.


By Ray Gano


Endnotes

1- Adapted from Robert Kiyosaki’s book “Rich Dad’s Prophecy”
2 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_currency
3 - Black’s Law Dictionary [Sixth Edition, 1991]
4 - http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/05/06/news/nation/11_13_325_5_06.txt

The Shotgun and My Reasons Why You Need One

The shotgun is probably the most versatile firearm that you can own and I believe that every prepper needs to have at least one in their home armory.

Now I know that there are folks out there that disagree with me, but it is more powerful than a handgun, but it does not have the range of a rifle. It also lack in its limited magazine capacity.

But what I wanted to do is give you my reasons why you should own a shotgun.

Reason 1 - Price.         

Like it or not, the first question everyone is concerned about is money. Good news is that you can go to just about any sporting goods store that offers firearms and find shotguns. They are everywhere and they are cheaper than the other alternative a AR-15 or a AK-47. 

If you have $200-$300 dollars you can walk into your local sporting goods store, gun shop or megastore and easily walk out with a shotgun under your arm.   

Knowing this, you can quickly save the money needed and within a week or two, you can upgrade your preps plan and add a shotgun in your home armory.

Now I did mention an AR-15 or AK-47, but those cost considerably more and the goal of this book is to get you ramped up with your preps as fast as possible. Once you are adequately prepped, you can then start expanding.

Reason #2 - Diffferent types of Ammunition

As I mentioned in a previous chapter there is a whole mix of different ammo that you can purchase for the shotgun and you can very your loads also.

Assuming you can carry at least 5 in the tube. You can make your first round bird shot for close range. They will not blast through walls and if it does, they lose its velocity really quickly.

Secondly you can put a couple of "00" buck shot followed by a couple of slugs.

Here is a home defense scenario.

It is late at night and you hear a noise in your home. You then hear multiple voices coming from the front of the house. Sitting next to your bed is your trusty Mossberg 500 and you have prepared just for this type of situation.

You know your home so you use the corners and concealment to your advantage. You see the first bad guy and he  has got a gun sticking out of the front of his pants. He is at a close range, and your first round in your shotgun is bird shot. At this range it will cut him to ribbons and take him out.

You fire and bad guy #1 goes down.

The second bad guy you see is coming towards you , he is to be a bit further but that is ok, your second round in the stack is buck shot  and it will take that person out before he reaches you.

You do not know if there is another bad guy, but you have another round of "00" Buck ready and waiting.

All of a sudden bullets are coming through the front window.  There is another bad guy who was driving the car. You have that Buck shot chambered already, so you fire busting out the car windows. But that is not all, you have some slugs that will go some distance in the stack and they do a lot more damage.

Bad guy #3 took up a position outside the car and is now shooting blindly through the blown out car windows. He is using the ol' spray and pray method and is not coming even close to where you are. You chamber the slug knowing these will go through walls as well as car doors. BLAM…CLICK CLACK…BLAM. Two slugs down range and both right on target. It is quiet. Taking more buckshot from you’re the rifle butt carrier you load more buckshot into your shotgun.

You have eliminated the bad guys. Your practicing this exercise over and over again has paid off, you and your family are safe and the bad guys are finished.

Yes this is kind of glorified, but this is a good example of stacking the different rounds in your shotgun anticipating the need.

There is bird shot, which is good for small game for food, or can be used for close quarter indoor defense.  There is upland game rounds where the "BB's" are bigger and pack a meaner punch. 00 buckshot, which is like sending 8 rounds of 9mm down range and then there is the slug. I big 50mm hunk of lead that is like a cannon ball hitting you. There is also many different types of rounds in between these I have named.

Shotgun even has the ability to shoot rounds that contain non lethal bean bags, rubber bullets, even small nets that deploy when the exit the shotgun bore.

So the variety of shotgun rounds are pretty extensive and for every need, there probably is a round to meet that need.

Reason #3 - Power and Performance

The power that the shotgun delivers beats a handgun hands down. Where the handgun has maneuverability and high capacity; the shotgun delivers a deadly volly of BBs, Buckshot and slugs .  They have been the weapon of choice for law enforcement. In fact the term "riding shotgun" comes from when there was a driver of the stagecoach and then the person acting as security who carried a sawed off double barrel shotgun. Shotguns were used during the bloody trench warfare  of WWI. The allies brutalized the Germans so badly with the shotgun that they protested their use and threatened to instantly execute any of the troops found in possession of them.

During Vietnam they were used by the tunnel rats who went deep into the Viet-Cong tunnels clearing out the enemy.

Fast forward to today and our military boys stationed in Iraq have used the shotgun effectively to clear out buildings in building to building searches seeking out the enemy.

Reason #4 - Easy To Maintain

Most shotguns are very easy to maintain.  In fact breaking down a pump shotgun is easy and with a little practice you can even change out to a different barrel depending on the situation that you are using your shotgun. There are plenty of different cleaning solvents and oils, that you can use and most if not all can be used on the common shotgun with no problem. In fact if things get bad, you can even use gasoline or diesel fuel with a bamboo pole with a cut up "T" shirt and get your shotgun clean. It isnt rocket science and it is made to keep it simple.

Reason #5 - Different Roles a Shotgun Can Play

The basic pump shotgun can play a vast array of different roles and gladly takes on those roles and performs. For example you can pull your long hunting barrel off and put on the  shorter home defense barrel and already your shotgun has changed from recreation tool to a "get the bad guys" defensive weapon. You can swap out the the common wooden stock and replace it with a cammo or flat black nylon stock and front forearm. You can even get dual pistol grips, one for the trigger and one for the forearm and you have a tactical weapon at the ready.

There are flashlights, lasers, 20 round bandoleer slings. You can get scopes, red dot sights, even holographic heads up sights for your shotgun. You can get a short barrel or a long barrel, even one the is between the two sizes. Folding stocks, collapsible stocks, even no stock using a single pistol grip. If you can think it up, odds are they have it for the shotgun.

The shotgun is capable of wearing many different hats and with each one, be just as effective for the role you have made for it.

Reason #6 - Protected by the Law

Even with all the different roles the shotgun can play, it is still seen as a sporting arm by legislators and because of this it will be the last type of weapon to be banned or have legislation drawn up against it. You can even own a shotgun is some of the most anti-gun havens in the US. New York they are legal to own, even in Chicago where handguns have been completely banned, a shotgun is legal to own.  This in and of itself is something that the modern day prepper needs to remember and why I say every home needs to have at least one shotgun in the home armory.

So we have discussed why "I" think ever home needs a shotgun, now lets talk about the type of gun that is good for you.

Choosing the Gauge

Ok I can hear it now, "what is the gauge?"

The gauge is the size of the diameter of the barrel measured from the rear of the weapon. It is the gauge that determines the size of round your shotgun can fire.

There are different "gauges" of shot gun, the most popular, starting with the smallest is 410, then 20 gauge, then the most popular, 12 Gauge.

There are other big bore gauges like 10 and 8, but these are not very common and ammo is at a premium, if you can find it.

The 410 Shotgun

The 410 is a small bore round, about half the diameter of a dime or a little bigger than a #2 pencil is round. This shotgun is usually a boy's first shotgun. Commonly it is a breach break and you have to feed one round per shot. These are good for small game and dove as well as taking  care of vermin like rats, snakes and mice. They have very little kick at all and I do not recommend them to be used in a home defense role. They really do not have the firepower, but can be used as a backup weapon if a fire fight ensues.

Rounds include snake shot, bird shot, upland game, buck shot (3-4 balls) and slug with some other sizes in between.

The problem is that because the round is so small in diamieter, it does not carry enough projectiles to be used as a primary home defense weapon. But I think it is a good weapon to have if you have a young teenage boy or girl learning to hunt and shoot. It is a good gun to start them out with.

Survivor Mall

http://survivormall.com

The 20 Gauge Shotgun

The choice most people get when it comes to a shotgun is usually a 12 gauge, but once they really start shooting it, their shoulders wished they would have taken a 20 gauge.

For a home defense weapon that everyone in the family can use, I recommend a 20 gauge. It has enough fire power to it to be effective but not quiet the kick that a 12 gauge has. This is a very woman and teenager friendly shotgun. Teaching everyone how to use and be effective with a 20 gauge is a very good home defense solution. One can not say that the "man of the house" will be within arms reach of the shotgun. Having one that both the wife and kids can effectively use is a very smart tactical solution. This is why I like the 20 gauge for an all around general home defense shotgun as well as a good weapon to hunt with.

The 12 Gauge Shotgun

For most preppers out there, the hands down standard for the shotgun is going to be a 12 gauge pump. As we discussed you can pick one up just about anywhere that sells firearms.

There is also the semi-auto shotguns which are great, but with more working parts calls for more chance of something going wrong. And you just cant break down a semi auto shotgun and do a quick repair on it; where with a pump you can usually pull it apart, find the problem and get back in the action.

Where pump shotguns are pretty inexpensive, the cost of a semi-auto shotgun is three to four times that of a pump. Sure you can find some that are less expensive, but they jam up, break and aways at the worse possible moment. Now are you willing to bet your life and the life of your family on a cheap semi-auto shotgun?

Then there is the issue of  parts. It takes more parts to cycle that semi-auto than there are parts in the standard pump shotgun. These parts will wear out and eventually break and again usually at the worse possible time.

There is the issue of bad feeds and finicky ammo. Where a pump shotgun will "eat" almost any round you put in the magazine. Semi-autos have been known to not like all rounds or sizes which result in the weapon jamming. If a pump jams up, it is relatively easy to clear, were if a semi-auto jams up, well you are basically out of the fight till you can clear that jam.

My Choices of Shotgun

Well when it comes right down to it, there really are only two choices. The Remington 870 and The Mossberg 500.

Mossberg 500
Personally I like the Mossberg 500 but when you butt up weapon to weapon, both are excellent and dependable shotguns. These two are probably the most famous and the most owned shotguns out there. They are both affordable, you can find them at almost any sporting goods store, mega mart and gun shop out there. Both Mossberg and Remingtion make different varieties of the individual shotgun.

For example, I own a Mossberg 500® TACTICAL TURKEY™ Series pump shotgun.

 

Here is the same model but it has been totally made into a tactical weapon

This Mossberg 500 has a  front and rear pistol grip, a modified butt that holds 6 extra rounds, the Tactical Turkey is already drilled for a scope but this person has added a weaver rail to the top so that they can use a red dot or a holographic rear site. This is a fine example of how one can modify their shotgun, specifically the Mossberg 500 Tactical Turkey series.

Remington 870

The Remington 870 Sportsman Synthetic.

As I have said, it is a toss up between the two. They are both fine weapons and the Mossberg wins by just a hair.

Actually when I was going to purchase my shotgun, I was using an older gun for a trade in. I had limited amount of cash and I had my eye on a Remington 870 Sureshot Super Turkey. I really liked the feel of this weapon with its Monte Carlo stock with built in pistol grip. But it was slightly out of my price range on what I had budgeted myself.

I would recommend it to anyone looking for a shotgun. With the Monte Carlo pistol grip set up, this was a very comfortable shotgun.

Both of these shotguns come in 12 gauge and in 20 gauge. What you need to do head on down to your local gun shop and feel both of these. Look at all their features as well as the third party add ons.

In fact, regarding third party add ons, the Mossberg 500 has a few more things out there over the Remington 870 and besides the price, it was that ability to have the opportunity to add a few more modifications that finally won me over to the Mossberg 500.

Either of these will fit the bill and will serve you for a long time to come.

Get a shotgun while you still can and while they are still affordable. A day may come when you wish you did.