Why Are So Many Conservatives, Preppers and Christians Moving to the Great Northwest? - MICHAEL SNYDER CHARISMA NEWS

Over the last several years, my wife and I have met countless numbers of people that have moved up to the Great Northwest. All of their stories are different, but there is one common theme that we have noticed. (Brian Wolfe/Flickr/Creative Commons)

Why Are So Many Conservatives, Preppers and Christians Moving to the Great Northwest?

 9/13/2016 MICHAEL SNYDER  CHARISMA NEWS

Thousands of Americans are flocking to "Big Sky" country, and this movement has become so prominent that it has even caught the attention of the mainstream media. Within the last several weeks, both the Chicago Tribune and the Economist have done major articles on this phenomenon. From all over the country, conservatives, preppers and Bible-believing Christians are moving to Montana, Wyoming, Idaho and the eastern portions of Oregon and Washington. As you will see below, this region has become known as the "American Redoubt," and for a variety of reasons it is considered by many survivalists to be one of the top "safe zones" for when things really start falling apart in this nation.

Many of you that are reading this article may think that it is quite strange that families are quitting their jobs, packing up everything they own and moving to the middle of nowhere, but for those that are doing it this actually make perfect sense. A recent Chicago Tribune article on this phenomenon began by profiling an ex-California couple that decided to flee the state for the friendly confines of north Idaho:

Don and Jonna Bradway recently cashed out of the stock market and invested in gold and silver. They have stockpiled food and ammunition in the event of a total economic collapse or some other calamity commonly known around here as "The End of the World As We Know It" or "SHTF" – the day something hits the fan.

The Bradways fled California, a state they said is run by "leftists and non-Constitutionalists and anti-freedom people," and settled on several wooded acres of north Idaho five years ago. They live among like-minded conservative neighbors, host Monday night Bible study around their fire pit, hike in the mountains and fish from their boat. They melt lead to make their own bullets for sport shooting and hunting—or to defend themselves against marauders in a world-ending cataclysm.

And of course the Bradways are far from alone. Over the past 10 years, approximately five million people have fled the state of California. If I was living there, I would want to move out too. Once upon a time, countless numbers of young people were "California Dreaming," but those days are long gone. At this point, the California Dream has become a California Nightmare.

Only a very small percentage of those leaving California have come up to the Great Northwest, but it is a sizable enough number to make a huge impact. Unfortunately, many of those that have come from California want to turn their new areas into another version of what they just left, and that is often firmly resisted by the locals.

But it isn't just California; there are people streaming into the "American Redoubt" from all over the nation, and many of them are some of the finest people that you could ever hope to meet.

An article in the Economist points to a 2011 manifesto posted by James Wesley Rawles as the beginning of the "American Redoubt" movement:

In a widely read manifesto posted in 2011 on his survivalblog.com, Mr. Rawles, a former army intelligence officer, urged libertarian-leaning Christians and Jews to move to Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and a strip of eastern Oregon and Washington states, a haven he called the "American Redoubt."

Thousands of families have answered the call, moving to what Mr Rawles calls America's last big frontier and most easily defendable terrain. Were hordes of thirsty, hungry, panicked Americans to stream out of cities after, say, the collapse of the national grid, few looters would reach the mostly mountainous, forested and, in winter, bitterly cold Redoubt. Big cities are too far away. But the movement is driven by more than doomsday "redoubters," eager to homestead on land with lots of water, fish, and big game nearby. The idea is also to bring in enough strongly conservative voters to keep out the regulatory creep smothering liberty in places like California, a state many redoubters disdainfully refer to as "the C-word."

Who wouldn't want to live where the air is clear, the water is clean and the sky is actually brilliantly blue and not the washed out grayish blue that you get in most major cities?

And just having some breathing space is reason enough for some people to move to the Great Northwest. If you can get at least a few acres, you will quickly discover the joy of not having neighbors crammed in around you on every side.

Others wish to move to an area with a low population density for more practical reasons. As the New York Times recently reported, crime is rising in large cities all over America:

Murder rates rose significantly in 25 of the nation's 100 largest cities last year, according to an analysis by the New York Times of new data compiled from individual police departments.

The findings confirm a trend that was tracked recently in a study published by the National Institute of Justice. "The homicide increase in the nation's large cities was real and nearly unprecedented," wrote the study's author, Richard Rosenfeld, a criminology professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis who explored homicide data in 56 large American cities.

Sadly, this is just the beginning. The chaos that we have seen in Dallas, Baton Rouge, Milwaukee, Ferguson, Baltimore, Chicago and elsewhere is going to get much worse. As the economy continues to unravel, we are going to see civil unrest on a scale that none of us have ever seen before. When that time comes, those that have moved to the middle of nowhere will be very thankful that they got out while the getting was good.

Over the last several years, my wife and I have met countless numbers of people that have moved up to the Great Northwest. All of their stories are different, but there is one common theme that we have noticed.

In the vast majority of cases, families tell us that they moved to the Great Northwest because they felt that God was calling them to do so. Individuals from many different churches and denominations have all felt the same call, and that creates a sort of kinship that is quite unusual these days.

Something big is happening in the Great Northwest. If you have never been up here, you might want to check it out some time.

And once you get here, you may never want to go home ever again.

Michael Snyder is the founder and publisher of End Of The American Dream. Michael’s controversial new book about Bible prophecy entitled "The Rapture Verdict"is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.

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Cities Of Refuge: Why Are People Creating Hundreds Of Places Of Refuge All Over America? - Michael Snyder THE ECONOMIC COLLAPSE BLOG

Cities Of Refuge: Why Are People Creating Hundreds Of Places Of Refuge All Over America?

Posted: 28 Feb 2016   Michael Snyder  THE ECONOMIC COLLAPSE BLOG

All over the United States, cities of refuge are being created.  Now when I say “cities”, I don’t mean vast areas of land that can hold hundreds of thousands or millions of people.  Rather, I am talking about much smaller places of refuge that can accommodate dozens or hundreds of people.  In a few cases, I know of places of refuge that will be able to take in thousands of people, but that is about as big as they get. 

There are individuals all across America that have specifically felt called to build communities where large numbers of people will be able to gather when society totally collapses.  So why is this happening?  Why do so many people feel such an urgency to create cities of refuge that would presumably never be used if we don’t ever see full-blown societal breakdown?

In the headline, I claimed that hundreds of these “cities of refuge” are being created, but the truth is that it could easily be thousands.  I have personally talked to countless numbers of people that are like my wife and I and are planning to be able to take in members of their own extended families when things get really crazy.  But there are others that are taking things to an entirely different level.

I was recently contacted by a man in New York state that plans to convert a hotel and surrounding facilities into a place of refuge that could potentially accommodate hundreds of people for an extended period of time.  I know of a ranch in southern Idaho where the staff has been feverishly preparing to take in thousands of people when society starts completely falling apart.  And I have corresponded with so many others both inside the United States and outside the country that are creating these types of communities.

It has been estimated that there are three million preppers in America today.  But those that are creating these places of refuge are not just “prepping” for themselves.  Instead, they feel called to prepare a place of safety where others will be able to gather when times get really crazy.

Due to the wide reach of my articles, I have had a lot of people involved in these communities reach out to me over time.  Some have graciously let my wife and I know that there is a place for us if needed during a major emergency, and others have wanted for us to become personally involved in what they are doing.  I wish that I could get involved in all of them, but there is a limit to what any one of us can do.  But I always encourage people to keep pressing forward with their preparations, because without a doubt they will be needed someday.

In addition to what is happening inside the United States, there are others that have already left this country and are creating places of refuge abroad.  There are people that are doing this in South America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the Middle East.

And of course every “place of refuge” looks different.  As I mentioned above, some plan on transforming existing hotels or ranches into places of refuge.  Others plan to use open land to host large numbers of RVs or to construct vast tent cities.

But there are five big things that all places of refuge need to be thinking about…

1. Food – It is going to take vast quantitites of food to even feed dozens of people.  When you are talking about hundreds or thousands of people, the amount of food required for a place of refuge will be off the charts.

2. Water – None of us can live without water, and it has been estimated that the average American uses 80 to 100 gallons of water every single day.  Of course we would all use a lot less during an emergency situation, but if your “place of refuge” does not have easy access to water that could become a major problem very rapidly.

3. Shelter – It is nice to think that you are going to take in a lot of people, but where are all of them going to sleep?  Most people don’t think of mattresses or cots as “survival items”, but the truth is that they are going to be greatly in demand when things get crazy.

4. Power – If the electricity goes off and stays off for an extended period of time, what are you going to do?  How will people stay warm, how will you cook food, and how will your community function without any artificial light whatsoever?  Having an alternative source of power for your place of refuge is very important.

5. Security – If there was a full-blown collapse of society, any place that still has ample resources is automatically going to become a target.  So it is great if you have everything that your community will need, but if you have no way to protect it you can end up losing it all very quickly.

For even more tips on preparing for what is ahead, please see my recent article entitled “70 Tips That Will Help You Survive What Is Going To Happen To America“.

There are a lot of preppers out there that are only preparing for themselves and their immediate families, and anyone else that comes looking for assistance when things get really hard will end up looking down the barrel of a shotgun.

But there are so many others that feel called by God to prepare a place for large numbers of people to gather during the coming storm.  They are doing this by faith, because such places have never been needed before in modern American history.  Perhaps if you go all the way back to the Great Depression of the 1930s you could find large groups of people that needed somewhere to go, but since that time we have generally been regarded as the wealthiest and most prosperous nation on the entire planet.

Unfortunately, things are rapidly changing in this country.  Our economy is in the process of crumbling, there is evidence of social decay all around us, natural disasters are increasing in frequency and intensity, and World War 3 could erupt in the Middle East at any time.
If I am right, the time when these cities of refuge will be needed is not that far away. 

Unfortunately, the vast majority of Americans are not preparing for what is ahead, and so most of them will be absolutely devastated by the great trials that are directly ahead of us.

Why I Have No Fear of Economic Collapse - Michael Snyder

The inevitable stock market crash is nothing to fear if you're in the right place with God. (Flickr/Creative Commons)

Why I Have No Fear of Economic Collapse

 9/21/2015 MICHAEL SNYDER  charisma news

I am not afraid of an economic collapse. Coming from someone that runs "The Economic Collapse Blog", I am sure that sounds like a very odd statement. But it is true. I have no fear of economic collapse, even though I am fully convinced that the hardest times that any of us have ever experienced are ahead.

I spend countless hours in front of my computer immersed in deeply disturbing information, and yet I sleep more soundly at night than I ever have before. In fact, my wife and I seek to live in a constant state of "shalom," which is the Hebrew word for peace. So how is this possible? How can "the economic collapse guy" not be absolutely overwhelmed by fear, depression and paranoia?

Unlike so many who write about these things, I believe that preparation for what is ahead goes far beyond the physical. So I am constantly stressing the need for mental, emotional and especially spiritual preparation. Personally, I have absolutely no idea how atheists are going to make it through what is coming.

They don't understand why they are here, they don't understand why history is unfolding the way it is, and they have absolutely no hope for the future beyond this life. If you greatly fear death and you can't stand to lose the possessions that you have accumulated, the years ahead are going to be exceedingly difficult for you.

My relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ gives my life meaning and purpose. He took the broken pieces of my life and turned them into a beautiful thing, and He can do the same for you.

I also strongly advocate physical preparation for the hard years that are coming. My wife and I work very hard to store up food and supplies. The funny thing is that there are Christians out there that actually accuse me of being "anti-faith" for doing these things. Apparently they believe that we should all just sit around watching television while we wait for God to do everything for us.

But that isn't how it works. In the Bible, we see that exercising faith almost always involves action. Noah, Joseph and others acted in faith based on the warnings that they had received, and they were commended for it.

Are we acting on the warnings that we have received? For much more on this subject, please see my previous article entitled "Is It 'Anti-Faith' to Prepare for the Coming Economic Collapse?"

Knowledge and preparation help to eliminate fear. If you understand what is happening, and you know why it is happening, and you have prepared for what is happening, it makes the challenges that are ahead of you easier to tackle.

When you were in school, who got the most freaked out by quizzes and tests?

It was those that were not prepared for them of course.

In the years ahead, a lot of people are going to be jumping off of buildings, jumping in front of trains and so on. Others will plunge into a dark hole of depression and despair that they will never come back from.

The vast majority of those people will have never listened to the warnings and will have done nothing to get prepared.

Those who accuse me and others like me of "spreading fear" have got it completely backwards.

We are not "spreading fear" at all. We are spreading hope. There is hope in understanding what is happening and there is hope in getting prepared.

The preparations that are being made right now all over the nation are going to save countless numbers of lives. Those who are mocking preppers and that are telling everyone that everything is going to be just fine are going to deeply regret doing so someday.

Although I will admit that sometimes preppers are prone to a "bunker mentality", and that is not the right approach.

Now is not the time to dig a hole and try to hide from the world.

You were born for such a time as this. It is when times are the darkest that the greatest heroes are needed. Personally, my wife and I believe that the greatest move of God the world has ever seen is coming, and we very much want to be part of it.

Yes, the years ahead are going to be extremely challenging. In fact, I don't think that any of us can truly grasp the horror that is coming because we don't really have any frame of reference for it.

It is kind of like trying to explain to someone that was blind from birth what a tree looks like. You can spend hours describing the tree, but unless you have some sort of frame of reference, the understanding simply is not going to be there.

Sometimes I try to sit down and write about what is ahead of us, but I find that words fail me. For example, I recently did a piece entitled "The Last Days of Normal Life in America" that was very popular, but the truth is that it was woefully inadequate because I don't really have a good frame of reference for what we are about to face. I don't know that too many people out there actually do.

As "watchmen on the wall," those of us who are trying to warn this nation are just trying to do the best we can with what we have.

And we aren't just sitting behind our computers "cursing the darkness" either.

A few of my fellow "watchmen" have joined with me to try to do something special. Nathan Leal, Benjamin Baruch, Lyn Leahz and I have organized a nationwide call to prayer and repentance on the weekend of Sept. 18-20. It is going to be held at the Sandpoint Events Center in Sandpoint, Idaho, and we already know of people coming in from nine different states and Canada for this event.

In addition, similar gatherings are being organized all around the nation, and thousands that cannot attend an event in person are going to be able to participate by watching the livestream on Lyn Leahz's 69,000-subscriber YouTube channel.

In the end, there is a limit to what each one of us can do individually, but if we work together we can collectively make a great difference.

Now is not a time for fear. Perfect love casts out fear. This is a time for the Remnant to rise up and to spread a message of hope even in the midst of all the chaos and darkness that is coming.

Yes, the times ahead are going to be more chaotic that any of us could probably imagine right now. But let us reject all fear, depression and despair, and let us endeavor to become people of great faith, great hope and great love.

Michael T. Snyder is the publisher of The Economic Collapse Blog and author of The Beginning of the End.

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Biblical Preppers: How to Ready Your Family for the End of Days

Preppers and the Redemption: How to Ready Your Family for What Lies Ahead

By Rivkah Lambert Adler August 31, 2015  BREAKING ISRAEL NEWS

“Guard yourself and watch your soul very well.” (Deuteronomy 4:9)

A young girl plays with a gas mask as Israeli postal workers distribute gas masks to residents of Jerusalem, August 12, 2012. (Photo: Noam Moskowitz/Flash90)

With the recent stock market slump, the dangerous Iran deal, the end of the shmittah year and the final blood moon coinciding, preppers, also known as survivalists, can look to the Bible just in case things get worse before they get better.

Preppers are people who actively prepare for local, national and international emergencies. They were once thought of as conspiracy theorist crazies stocking up hundreds of cans of beans and dozens of rounds of ammunition. Today, preppers are gaining credibility in the increasingly chaotic world in which we live.

Preparation is nothing new to the Jewish people. The Israelite slaves prepared for the exodus from Egypt by taking a year-old lamb into their homes on the 10th of the Hebrew month of Nisan and slaughtering it on the 14th day (Exodus 12:3-6). The Jews prepared for three days at the foot of Mount Sinai in advance of receiving the Torah (Exodus 19:15). And today, Sabbath observant Jews prepare in advance each week for the Sabbath.

If it’s prudent to be prepared, what are some reasonable acts average people can take to ready themselves for what might be coming, as the possible End of Days approaches?

Most people think of food and water first. Water is critical and should be the first thing you store. Calculate a gallon (4 liters) of water per person per day. For most people, that’s going to take a lot of space. As an example, you would need 18 six-packs of 2-liter bottles of water for a family of four for two weeks.

Although recommendations vary from three days to six months, typical advice is to have two weeks worth of canned or other non-perishable food, such as peanut butter, dried fruit, nuts and seeds set aside for emergency use. Honey doesn’t spoil and some people suggest having salt as part of your emergency food kit.

What about cash? Depending on your cash flow, it’s good to keep cash in small bills in a safe place, because banks and ATMs may shut down. Food and fuel shortages could also cause sharp increases in prices.

Fuel could turn out to be life-saving. Keep your car’s fuel tank full and consider storing extra gasoline if you have a way to do so safely. Consider purchasing a generator and definitely keep candles with matches and lighters in your prep kit.

Other things to consider including with your household preparation kit – essential medications, basic first aid supplies and toilet paper. If you live in Israel, it’s important to make sure your gas masks are up to date and are the right size for children.

None of these suggestions are intended to cause alarm and are prudent steps most anyone can take. If you research prepping, it’s easy to get overwhelmed at the number of things that are possible to do to prepare. Don’t get caught up in apocalyptic scenarios.

Bottom line, take reasonable precautions and have faith, along with having a Bible, a prayer book and other religious articles at the ready.

Read more at http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/48003/preppers-redemption-ready-your-family-days-ahead-jewish-world/#B2itr3FEhtESwaJL.99