Righteous Preparation

Joseph Herrin (09-29-2014)

View Inside My Trailer

I believe the majority opinion regarding people who are making preparation for societal unrest, political upheaval, financial meltdown, or any of a range of calamities (famine, plague, earthquakes, nuclear war, etc.) is that people who do such things are a bit off in the head. This view prevails even in the church where such individuals are frequently considered “fringe” and “deluded.” Unfortunately, there are a significant number of “doomsday preppers” around who give credence to their reputation of being extremists, and mentally unstable. What I would bring to the attention of readers of this blog, however, is that being prepared for a time of calamity has a solid Biblical history from both the Old and New Testaments.

Perhaps because my birth name is Joseph, and the Father told me in 1999 that He had given me this name for a significant reason, I have been more attentive than most believers to the accounts of men in the Bible named Joseph. Most Christians have heard the story of Joseph in Egypt. Joseph was the eleventh of twelve sons of Jacob. Out of jealousy, Joseph’s brothers hated him and sold him as a slave into Egypt. In Egypt Joseph knew many trials and sorrows while also experiencing the grace and favor of Yahweh. When Joseph was thirty years old he was summoned before Pharaoh because his ability to rightly interpret dreams had reached the ears of the ruler of this great empire nation.

Pharaoh had dreamed two dreams that he did not understand. His wise men could not interpret the dreams for him. Joseph was given the interpretation by God, along with the wisdom to know what to do in response to the divine message. Yahweh was revealing that there would be seven years of plenty in the land followed by seven years of severe famine. Joseph gave the following counsel to Pharaoh.

Genesis 41:33-36
“And now let Pharaoh look for a man discerning and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt. Let Pharaoh take action to appoint overseers in charge of the land, and let him exact a fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt in the seven years of abundance. Then let them gather all the food of these good years that are coming, and store up the grain for food in the cities under Pharaoh's authority, and let them guard it. And let the food become as a reserve for the land for the seven years of famine which will occur in the land of Egypt, so that the land may not perish during the famine.”

Here, in the opening book of the Bible, we find the account of one of the first preppers (Noah was a prepper too). Joseph was set in charge of storing up grain in Egypt. When the famine came just as predicted, Joseph was able to open the storehouses and save the lives of many people. Similarly, the Spirit of Christ directed me to store up grain. In my trailer I have 42 buckets that are filled with grains and legumes. Among the things I have stored are the following:

Grains:
Hard Red Wheat: 150 pounds
Hard White Wheat: 150 pounds
Corn: 100 pounds
Rye: 50 pounds
Spelt: 50 pounds
Brown Rice: 100 pounds
Oat Groats: 100 pounds

Legumes:
Black Eyed Peas: 100 Pounds
Chick Peas (Garbanzos): 25 pounds
Kidney Beans: 25 pounds
Great Northern Beans: 50 pounds
Pinto Beans: 50 pounds
Green Split Peas: 50 pounds
Lima Beans: 50 pounds
Black Beans: 50 pounds
Red Lentils: 50 pounds

Wheat in Buckets

It is important for me to establish that it was not human reasoning that led me to store up these supplies. It was not due to alarm at the calamities I perceive to be coming upon the nations that I acted to store up grain. Neither did I seek to fulfill some perceived spiritual parallel between my life and that of Joseph in Egypt. The Spirit of Christ guided and enabled me to perform this work which has both a natural and spiritual component (I have been storing up much spiritual grain in recent years as I have now authored 19 books and hundreds of shorter writings).

Bus with New Trailer in 2012

Consider that the Lord directed me to leave my employment as a computer professional in 1999. I had no money in the bank, no church to support me, no material resources to sustain me. When I liquidated my assets fifteen years ago the Lord had me start over with a fresh ledger. All my debts were terminated, but in the process I also relinquished all my worldly possessions (house, vehicles, furnishings, etc.). I have been on a journey of faith ever since, following the Spirit of Christ wherever He leads while looking to Him to supply every need.

The Father did direct me to take employment with an inner city rescue mission for three years, but that employment ended in February of 2008. Since then I have had no employer, no paycheck, looking only to Yahweh to sustain me. It is therefore remarkable that in 2012, having been unemployed in the eyes of the world for more than four years, the Father provided the funds to purchase a new 16 foot trailer to pull behind my bus, and to fully stock it with foodstuffs and a variety of items such as a grain mill, a roller/flaker, and a 12 volt DC freezer/refrigerator. It was also at that time that I purchased my solar panels. All of this was paid for in cash, as I have not had a penny’s worth of debt since 1999.

I sense that a time of transition is at hand in my own experience. At the beginning of the summer I announced that I was led to complete the book titled FOUNDATIONS. It was on my heart to afterwards complete some other projects related to taking the many writings the Father has guided me to produce and prepare them for wider distribution. One of these projects is to expand the Parables Newsletter series that I send out to men in prison. The newsletters contain the books I have written in serial form. I have about half a dozen books yet to be put into this format. I also had it in mind to produce audio books from each of these writings.

As I have prayed for Yahweh’s direction and understanding regarding the present day and how to prepare for things to come, I was led to reflect upon the time since the Father led me to leave the employment of the rescue mission. This upcoming February will mark seven years since I left the mission to return to the full-time ministry of writing and teaching. It came to mind how Joseph’s life was also marked by sevens. He stored up grain for seven years. He then distributed grain to the people for seven years.

Since I left the rescue mission in 2008 I have been storing up both spiritual and physical grain. This has led me to consider whether February will mark a transition of some sort. I cannot say for certain, but there is much evidence to suggest that transitional events are soon to occur in the nations. It is significant that Joseph had no one coming to him asking for grain until the famine began. Only in a time of great distress and worldwide calamity did people find that which Joseph had stored up to be valuable. Similarly, I believe the greatest time of ministry lies ahead and will be found during a time when the world is experiencing great distress.

Before citing some of the signs of disruption coming to the nations, I want to mention the pattern observed in the Bible of men named Joseph being used to deliver a remnant in a time of great distress. Joseph, the son of Jacob, evidently fits this pattern. In the second year of the famine, Joseph’s brothers appeared before him in Egypt, and he spoke the following to them.

Genesis 45:4-8
“I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. And now do not be grieved or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to keep you alive by a great deliverance. Now, therefore, it was not you who sent me here, but God...”

There are several men named Joseph in the New Testament, the most well known being the husband of Mary who was given the role of being a father to the Son of God. This Joseph too was given dreams which foreshadowed things to come. These dreams often served as warnings of upcoming events, and divine wisdom was given to him to know what to do.

Matthew 2:13
An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise and take the Child and His mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is going to search for the Child to destroy Him.”

Matthew 2:19-23
An angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, “Arise and take the Child and His mother, and go into the land of Israel; for those who sought the Child's life are dead.” And he arose and took the Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And being warned by God in a dream, he departed for the regions of Galilee, and came and resided in a city called Nazareth...

No doubt, Yahweh will warn many of His people in coming days to depart suddenly and relocate to areas where they will be out of the reach of those who seek their lives. Will you be able to drop everything and go? Will your settled manner of living and many possessions prevent you from heeding the warnings of God? Those who are the least attached to this world and its cumbersome possessions will find it the easiest to follow the Spirit’s leading.

There was cost involved in traveling to a foreign nation and dwelling there for years. How was Joseph to pay for it all? Remember the magi who brought with them gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh? Yahweh always makes a provision when He puts it into the heart of a man to perform some task, particularly a task that involves preserving a remnant alive.

The other two Josephs in the New Testament opened their storehouses after their own fashion in order to accomplish a work of God. Joseph of Arimathea donated his freshly hewn tomb for the body of Christ to be buried (Matthew 27:57-60). Joseph, who was also called Barnabas, a disciple from Cyprus, sold a tract of land and brought the money and laid it at the disciples’ feet (Acts 4:36). The money was used for the care of widows and orphans.

Does Yahweh intend to preserve a remnant alive through days of great tribulation that are coming? I believe He does.

Mark 13:19-20
“For those days will be a time of tribulation such as has not occurred since the beginning of the creation which God created, until now, and never shall. And unless the Lord had shortened those days, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect whom He chose, He shortened the days.”

Revelation 12:14
And the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, in order that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she was nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent.

It is interesting that the time of tribulation at the end of the age is to be a seven year period. This finds some correspondence with the seven year famine in Egypt during the days of Joseph. If the Father shows us that such days are near at hand, and He also gives us understanding to know how to prepare for such a time, is it not both wise and righteous to prepare?

Proverbs 6:6-8
Go to the ant, O sluggard, observe her ways and be wise, which, having no chief, officer or ruler, prepares her food in the summer, and gathers her provision in the harvest.

Proverbs 22:3
The prudent foresees evil and hides himself, but the naive go on, and are punished for it.

Understand that I am NOT advocating works of a man’s own initiative. A man or woman, foreseeing evil, should not set about to prepare for it any way their soul determines. Christians are to be led of the Spirit in all they do. What the Father directs you to do, you should do. Many Christians in their naivete and carelessness assume that the days of prosperity will never end. They think something will occur to preserve the status quo. Many believe it to be folly to prepare for TEOTWAWKI (the end of the world as we know it).

Proverbs 1:32-33
“The complacency of fools shall destroy them. But he who listens to me shall live securely, and shall be at ease from the dread of evil.”

As I have recently been seeking the Father to know the days we live in I watched a video by Jonathan Cahn, the author of The Harbinger. He was speaking of the seven year pattern of the Shemitah. I found what was shared to be thought provoking. Could it be that we are entering into the last seven year period at the end of the age? Will this Shemitah year of Sept. 24, 2014 to September 13, 2015 be a year of great collapse in America? Jonathan Cahn shares that the word Shemitah means “collapse.” In 2001 America experienced a great collapse as the World Trade Towers fell. This occurred during a week in which the stock market had been falling drastically. After the towers collapsed the Stock Market was shut down for a week in an unprecedented move to stabilize the market. This occurred in the final week of a Shemitah year. In 2008 America’s stock markets experienced another collapse. This too was a Shemitah year. We are now one week into the next Shemitah (collapse). Will this Shemitah year that is fourteen years after 9-11 reveal another collapse of historic proportions for this nation? We won’t have to wait long to find the answer to the question.

http://youtu.be/W8B14NSIWc8



At this same time Rick Joyner has posted a message that has gone viral. In the video he shares a recent dream of great terror and distress coming to the nation of America. Rick Joyner states that he was shown a vision of a gang who came across America’s southern border and slaughtered the people on a ranch in Texas. He describes the gang of terrorists as diabolical, demon possessed, committing acts of atrocity that make the ISIS terrorists seem mild by comparison. Rick Joyner foresees martial law coming to the United States due to an overreaction by Americans who begin targeting and striking back at all Hispanic people in the U.S.A.. He is prophesying a form of civil war based upon racial and religious lines. You can view the two parts to this message below.

Although the things Rick Joyner foresees may indeed occur, I am fully convinced that he is an instrument of Satan to deceive the people of God. He may be right about what is coming, but his patriotism, his belief that America’s government can solve these security problems (they are in fact the ones who have intentionally created the security problem), his suggestion that martial law may be in the best interests of Americans, are all demonic deceptions. Rick Joyner long ago fell under the influence of deceiving spirits as his embrace of Bob Jones and Todd Bentley demonstrate.

http://youtu.be/prIQR7pxyZ0



http://www.morningstartv.com/prophetic-perspective-current-events/warning-continued

With the global elite’s creation of ISIS (see my recent post “Have You Been Played Lately?” and the links below), and the hyping of the Ebola outbreak in Africa, it is evident that the world is being prepared to experience calamities with a back story that will lead the masses to respond according to the globalists agenda.

http://on.rt.com/wxfo1x

http://youtu.be/8LSIwvE0Nvo

If these possibilities are not enough to give one pause to consider what is coming, I will mention the unsustainability of America’s financial policies, and that of other Western nations. They must soon implode under the weight of their massive debt burdens. One financial analyst has suggested that the U.S. and its NATO allies are fomenting crisis in Ukraine and in the South China Sea at this time to draw these nations into war to hide the truth of the financial bankruptcy of Western nations and their inability to meet their financial obligations to Russia and China.

http://youtu.be/aZwSiHBxm0c



Whether or not Harvey Organ’s analysis is correct, it is certain that the global financial situation is perilous. Sooner or later the entire global system will collapse so that the New World Order can arise out of the ashes of the old system. The world is standing on the precipice and a great fall (Shemitah) is assured. The global elite want to eradicate more than 90% of the world’s population and rule the remainder as serfs in a new feudal system. The transition from this present world system into the next will be very ugly. The Bible testifies of that which is to come.

I would ask Christians whether they believe God will give them warnings when things are about to collapse so that they might prepare themselves both spiritually and physically? In the book of Acts we have a record of a famine coming to the world which affected the Christians in Jerusalem. Yahweh gave the church a forewarning of this event so they could make preparation and send relief to the saints in this region.

Acts 11:28-30
And one of them named Agabus stood up and began to indicate by the Spirit that there would certainly be a great famine all over the world. And this took place in the reign of Claudius. And in the proportion that any of the disciples had means, each of them determined to send a contribution for the relief of the brethren living in Judea. And this they did, sending it in charge of Barnabas and Saul to the elders.

Interesting, isn’t it, that Barnabas (whose actual name was Joseph) was a chosen vessel of God to help sustain people alive in a time of famine following the same pattern as Joseph in Egypt? People of God, I would not instruct you to do the same specific things I am doing in preparation for the coming days. Yahweh may not direct you to convert a bus to a motorhome, or store up grains, or outfit a motorhome for off-grid living. He may lead some to do similar things, but He may have another provision for you. He may direct you to other specific actions that you might be prepared. A universal principle for all of God’s people to follow is to surrender your life to go WHEREVER Yahweh directs, and to do WHATEVER He commands you to do. If you are being led of the Spirit, Yahweh will have you in readiness for the coming days.

When Yahweh spoke to me in 1999 and told me to begin using my first name of Joseph, for up until then I had been called by my middle name of Bradley (Brad), I had no idea how many of the events in the life of Joseph recorded in the book of Genesis would find their counterparts in my own life. I had yet to be rejected by my brothers in Christ, who like Joseph’s brothers were employed as shepherds tending their father’s sheep; I had not yet been falsely accused by a woman who wanted something I could not give to her (in my case it was money rather than sex); I had not yet been cast into jail; I was not at the time active in serving those in prison; I had not stored up grain (spiritual or physical). Yet all of these things have since occurred in my life. I do not doubt that I will also be present during a time of great worldwide calamity, one that surely will include famine due to either the breakdown of the just-in-time supermarket food chain, droughts, pestilence, or unavailability of seed to plant.

As I look at the specific things the Father has led me to do, and to continue to do such as completing my solar auxiliary power system, I am led to consider the relationship between these actions and a time when the whole world will be shaken. Should you not be seeking the Father to know what the future days hold and what you should do to prepare as well?

What I would specifically counsel you to do is to cast off complacency, and a tendency to conform yourself to this fallen world system. If your life is following the pattern of this world with its debt fueled consumerism and you have a home with a mortgage, vehicles financed by the banks, credit cards, or other forms of debt; if you are living large (literally) with more space than you need, a heavy dependence upon power consumption to heat and cool your living space, and many wasteful inefficient appliances, you will be a prime candidate to suffer the full effects of the coming collapse.

The end is near. Will you be prepared?

Heart4God Website: http://www.heart4god.ws    

Parables Blog: www.parablesblog.blogspot.com    

Mailing Address:
Joseph Herrin
P.O. Box 804
Montezuma, GA 31063