29 March 2023
Civilizations always destroy themselves because they stand on the same pretense as Babylon.
We don't have to lift a finger. The West is destroying itself already, and God will finish the job with solar catastrophes. Western Civilization has been particularly evil, so it warrants God's extreme measures to wipe it from human memory.
You should not get the idea I promote moving out into the country and raising sheep. Right now, it's virtually impossible to escape the filthy human hive of civilization. There is only a very slender moral advantage of rural over city life. You would still rely heavily on civilization, with your rural convenience store, or driving to Walmart in the big city. There's also the civilized utilities services like electricity, water, phone/Internet. In most jurisdictions, the only way to live off-grid is to live in a mobile residence of some kind.
I've seen quite a few homeless along the river banks near big cities. Most of them are quite harmless, just trying to make it on whatever they can scrape together legally. The police in my area don't relish harassing them. You can tell the difference between those who mind their own business and the criminal element: the latter always trash their hideouts in the woods. Yes, there are other complications to the story (many businesses lock their dumpsters), but I've seen homeless people clean up their campsites before moving on. Where I live, being homeless is not a crime, but there are controls. What's the difference between an old cart next to a ragged tent versus a land-yacht RV? I'm not saying there is none, but we should think for a moment about the answer. Sin and poverty do not correlate that clearly. Lots of people are going off-grid in various ways these days.
Given that our economy will grind to a halt, there may well be a sharp rise in the ratio of homeless people. The complications of nested corporate ownership of commercial real estate will see some very unpredictable seizures and closures of housing and trailer parks. And how many will be forced to jack up rates to the point no one can pay? It's wise to think about such things. A great many of us are vulnerable in that sense.
I'm not going to lie and tell you the Covenant protects you from that kind of thing. Rather, I'll tell you that faith always comes up with an answer that glorifies the Lord. The issue is not seeking your own welfare, but of seeing that whatever you go through, there are temptations in all directions. The issue is moral obedience to God for the sake of His glory, not whether you die in a sumptuous private hospital room or in a stinking dirty bedroll on the ground somewhere. The net result is the same for both, but peace with God outlasts this life.
I've written that the Covenant covers all the generalities of life. I've also written that God always grants to a covenant community some way of getting a Word from Him on dealing with specifics that aren't obvious from the Covenant. What do you do without a covenant community? You have only your convictions. Yes, it is admittedly dicey. The only way you can read your convictions is through your conscience, and your conscience can be quite defiled. The idea is not arriving at some point of purity of conscience, but that you are making progress throughout life. But without a covenant community, you are limited to what you can discern alone. You should know such a situation is not ideal.
There's a similar principle regarding the miracles promised in the Covenant. Miracles are the norm under the Covenant. How many you see depends on your perception along with God's plans for you. In a covenant community, miracles will proliferate much more. If there was no difference between being alone and being in a community, we would never learn the importance of fellowship and community. How else can we learn the difference between a "neighbor" and a "resident alien" in biblical terms? A great deal of Jesus' teaching hangs on understanding the distinctions between those two. Avoid the temptation to confuse your perceived personal needs and the boundaries of the Covenant. Without the tension that comes from your convictions and those of others, you'll never understand the meaning of sacrificial love -- agape.
The difference between civilization and community is that the former is impersonal. It isolates us from each other; it weakens the bond between souls that God says we must have. Community is not simply a strong positive emotional connection; it's a commitment of lives to the common welfare. It's the reality of "loving your neighbor as yourself". This is where religious institutions ("churches") fail here in the West. Most of them foster an isolation of the soul through building an atmosphere that frankly discourages a familial bonding. All the rhetoric of "church family" doesn't change the situation much; the other folks in your church are not really engaged in your life according to the Covenant. Get what I'm saying: church folks often come close to community in spite of the organizational structure of the church because of the drive in their convictions. Still, they are not one household.
And as long as we are not one household, the divine power to resist evil from the outside is tragically weakened. Creation itself is feudal; a covenant community is the joining of feudal domains. The voluntary blending of domains makes us exponentially stronger than the dominion of a single righteous servant of the Lord. At least, the potential is there, if we can learn to unlock it.
Don't just uproot and run away from a dying civilization. Rather, exploit it's collapse. Be aware of what is crashing down and don't stand where it can fall on you. Still, watch for people who are open to your message. It's not whether we are physically homeless, but whether we seeking to reside in His spiritual tent as aliens in this world.
Seek to establish a covenant community whether in your urban apartment or camping out in the boonies. The simple openness, the expectation that God will fulfill His covenant promises, is the key. God is watching to see whether you have made room for Him to work in your life. Yes, there are many who would seek to exploit openness for predatory gains; Satan has many servants. Only a few of them are conscious of their servitude. Most simply assume selfish motives without any moral awareness at all. When such people steal your blessings, it turns into a curse for them. God will restore anything you've lost that way. Give Him room to choose who your brothers and sisters will be.
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