As I mentioned in part one of this series I heard about "One Second After" during one of Steve Quayle's more recent radio appearances. I am mentioning this again because Steve wholeheartedly recommended the book and said, "Everyone needs to read that" without any appropriate context to the recommendation, or mention of the dangerously deceptive programming elements contained therein.My initial assessment upon hearing Steve's recommendation was that the book was simply a story extolling the benefits of patriotism and prepping. However, it is my opinion that "One Second After" is an extremely effective and dangerous programming tool that will deceive the vast majority of those who read it. It has become quite clear that I need to address the patriotism and prepping propaganda contained within the book, as well as addressing the the snare of survivalism in general.
In the interest of full-disclosure I must admit that I too was once ensnared in the survivalist mindset. Immediately after my conversion in the spring of 2009 when the Lord granted me eyes to see what was transpiring in the world I became obsessed with prepping. For nearly 18 months my primary focus was on preparing in order to ensure the survival of my loved ones and myself. As a very young follower of Jesus Christ it was a logical response because I was not yet aware that the Lord had something better in mind.
I have been there, done that and it was only by the love, mercy, patience, and grace of my God that I was pulled through my prepper mindset and taught to embrace sacrifice instead of survival. When you are unaware that there is something much better than this life to hold onto, it is only logical to do all that one can in order to hold on to what they have. It is my sincerest prayer that this message may reach those still in that mindset who the Lord is calling so that they may have something far better that the Lord wishes to give them.
There is a significant overlap between the patriotism and prepping movements. Food, water, guns, and gold seems to be the mantra that is equally acceptable to patriots and preppers alike. It appears that those who have become snared in the net of patriotism are operating under the delusion that there is something that can be done to protect, rebuild, and restore America to the God-fearing country founded by our forefathers.
Complete nonsense.
Many others have addressed the fact that our founding fathers were not Bible-believing followers of the True Jesus Christ, and if you still doubt that fact you have some serious catching up to do.
The Patriot movement extols the virtues of self-defense and guns, or "the sword" to hold on to and protect what is theirs. In essence, this is the carnal thinking of those who are not yet willing or able to let go of their lives, possessions, ideas, dreams, and hopes. The connection between patriotism and prepping lies in the fact that they both aim to preserve something, while the directive of The Sovereign God is to let go of everything and hold fast only to Him.
The mindset of prepping goes far beyond the decision to store food, water, guns and gold. A consuming preoccupation with survival is the root of the carnally driven prepping movement, and that will only ever bring forfeit. If you are currently engaged in some sort of preparedness program that was not specifically directed by the Lord then you are acting carnally out of a desire to save your life and the lives of those you hold dear. It is my sincerest prayer and hope that those of you who can be spared from the snare of survivalism will be.
Those who still hold their lives dear will twist various scriptures in various ways in a futile attempt to prove their point that all prepping is prudent and God-directed. I couldn't disagree with that more. While I will allow that the Lord is in fact directing some to make preparations, the patriotism and prepping movements at large are nothing more than a means of filtering out people who refuse to let everything go and lay down their lives.
Sadly enough, the entire prepping debate rages on and men like Steve Quayle and Tom Horn fuel that fire with their constant marketing of family food storage plans, bison chili, Survivor Mall preparedness giveaways, etc. Other big names like LA Marzulli also get into the act, but from all appearances Steve and Tom are the most egregious offenders.
I would like to say up front that I have absolutely nothing personal against Steve Quayle and what I present here should not be interpreted as any sort of vendetta, attempting to "take him down", or that I am under any delusion that I am going to have any impact on him whatsoever. Steve is doing what the Lord has appointed him to do, which is to be a big name Head-of-House in place to filter out those unfit for the Bride of Christ. If you find this statement somewhat confusing, you may find what Bob wrote in Will We Have Need of Anything to be Written to Us About Times and Epochs? extremely helpful.
I feel that I must also point out a seemingly glaring conflict of interest that no one else, to my knowledge, has pointed out publicly. Steve Quayle proudly boasts that he is the marketing director for Dri Harvest foods, and then proceeds to tell folks about how important it is to buy as much food as you are able, and if you buy food then you will not be starved into the FEMA Camps. Is it me, or is there a problem with that?
Steve has said on many occasions that he hopes the Lord rebukes all those who would speak out against him and cause people to not buy food, guns, gold, silver, etc and thus not survive. While I offer no direct response to Steve's rebuking, I would like to point out that my main focus is not those who will do anything to survive but those who will do anything to lay down their lives and trust the Lord to fulfill His Word.
25 "For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. ~ Matthew 16:25
I love Steve, Tom, LA Marzulli and the others and I am very appreciative of all they have done. However, they are not my friends and I must say that if you find yourself desiring to be counted among the Bride of Christ these men are not your friends either. The big name Heads-of-House are there to fulfill a crucially important role the Lord has ordained for them. As I have said before, their role is to filter out the unworthy and they will do exactly that to all those who cast their lot with them. It is my intent to reach those for whom this message is intended, those whom the Lord is calling out of the mindset of survival and into the mindset of sacrifice.
One of the strongest messages in "One Second After" is the false notion that engaging in patriotic activities and deciding to "live by the sword" is not only the duty of every citizen, but an engagement worthy of the highest honor. The following set of excerpts highlight the patriotic sentiment and propaganda present in the book from start to finish:
“The first time he had come to this office to be interviewed for the job that Bob Scales had engineered for him, what caught his eye were the three paintings, far wall. The first was what was to be expected of the president of a Christ-centered college, a nicely framed section from Michaelangelo’s Sistene Chapel, the hand of God reaching out to touch Adam.
The other two, though…The second was a sort of transition between religion and the military, a painting of Washington kneeling in the snow at Valley Forge, praying. The third was Howard Pryle’s “The Nation Makers”, a stunning portrait of a line of Revolutionary War infantry going into battle, men tattered but defiant, the American flag little more than a rag but moving forward relentlessly to what could only be ultimate victory.
The paintings were still there, as always, but as John turned to look back out the window at the students drilling (military drills), Pryle’s work took on a whole new meaning.
Those kids out there are nation makers, John. Some of our profs might think I’ve sold this college to the community, but the hell with them. I know a college nearby, one that put out a lot of majors in peace studies, and if there was a protest anywhere against our military, they’d show; it was almost required. If an army recruiter ever showed up there, they’d get mobbed, all in the name of peace of course. Can you imagine you or me ever getting a job there? Diversity worked for them only as long as you towed the line of their views, and now the whirlwind is upon us.” He sniffed defensively. “They’ll never make it now. I bet on that campus, today, they’re sitting around like the French nobles did at Versailles even as the mob swarmed over the gates. I bet their singing give peace a chance even as they starve to death.
“Well that’s not going to happen to my kids,” Dan said coldly, “and if we save them then maybe we’ll save our community as well…"
“Well, that was a disorganized mob. Word is starting to filter in that groups are starting to come together. Most are just scared people banding together for survival and mutual protection, exactly what we are doing here...
“Just remember Ecclesiastes, John: “A time for war and a time for peace…’”
“So now it’s back to this. And back to kids drilling on the town green. I want to think that across America, today, there’s a thousand such groups drilling in order to keep civilization intact so that we don’t become a mob where one eats only because he is stronger than others or we kill each other in an insane frenzy of crazed beliefs.
John, we dream of America. We want America to come to us. But I think it never will. The America we knew died when those warheads burst. If so, then it is up to us not to wait but to rebuild America as we want it to be.”
William R. Forstchen -"One Second After" - Page 206-216
The other two, though…The second was a sort of transition between religion and the military, a painting of Washington kneeling in the snow at Valley Forge, praying. The third was Howard Pryle’s “The Nation Makers”, a stunning portrait of a line of Revolutionary War infantry going into battle, men tattered but defiant, the American flag little more than a rag but moving forward relentlessly to what could only be ultimate victory.
The paintings were still there, as always, but as John turned to look back out the window at the students drilling (military drills), Pryle’s work took on a whole new meaning.
Those kids out there are nation makers, John. Some of our profs might think I’ve sold this college to the community, but the hell with them. I know a college nearby, one that put out a lot of majors in peace studies, and if there was a protest anywhere against our military, they’d show; it was almost required. If an army recruiter ever showed up there, they’d get mobbed, all in the name of peace of course. Can you imagine you or me ever getting a job there? Diversity worked for them only as long as you towed the line of their views, and now the whirlwind is upon us.” He sniffed defensively. “They’ll never make it now. I bet on that campus, today, they’re sitting around like the French nobles did at Versailles even as the mob swarmed over the gates. I bet their singing give peace a chance even as they starve to death.
“Well that’s not going to happen to my kids,” Dan said coldly, “and if we save them then maybe we’ll save our community as well…"
“Well, that was a disorganized mob. Word is starting to filter in that groups are starting to come together. Most are just scared people banding together for survival and mutual protection, exactly what we are doing here...
“Just remember Ecclesiastes, John: “A time for war and a time for peace…’”
“So now it’s back to this. And back to kids drilling on the town green. I want to think that across America, today, there’s a thousand such groups drilling in order to keep civilization intact so that we don’t become a mob where one eats only because he is stronger than others or we kill each other in an insane frenzy of crazed beliefs.
John, we dream of America. We want America to come to us. But I think it never will. The America we knew died when those warheads burst. If so, then it is up to us not to wait but to rebuild America as we want it to be.”
William R. Forstchen -"One Second After" - Page 206-216
The “nation makers” is a telling reference as it is a depiction of soldiers of the Revolutionary war. Regardless of the false-glory and honor attributed to it, the war of 1776 was one of rebellion and appropriately named the "American Revolution". Referencing "the nation makers" in this context is appropriate as it is an accurate assessment of the Antichrist spirit of rebellion that is going to be the driving force aiding in the restructuring of the entire world with the “new” America rising from the ashes with the Antichrist at the helm. America is going to fall and whatever portion of it that is rebuilt will be done so to further the global Antichrist Beast system.
Some will argue with my presentation and will choose to believe that America can be saved. Some will also believe that they can alter their fate and the fate of this nation by picking up their guns and fighting to preserve their ill-conceived notion of freedom. For some the allure of "the sword" will be too strong to resist. If you find yourself among those I just described, please allow me to offer the following:
51 And behold, one of those who were with Jesus reached and drew out his sword, and struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his ear. 52 Then Jesus *said to him, “Put your sword back into its place; for all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword. 53 Or do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels? 54 How then will the Scriptures be fulfilled, which say that it must happen this way?” ~ Matthew 26: 51-54
10 If anyone is destined for captivity, to captivity he goes; if anyone kills with the sword, with the sword he must be killed. Here is the perseverance and the faith of the saints. ~ Revelation 13:10
It's a matter of Sovereignty. The Sovereign God of the universe is in complete control and has seen all of this coming. The majority of those who profess to believe that God is Sovereign betray that profession with just about every action.
The Bible makes it rather clear that if you choose to go the way of the sword there is only one way that is going to go for you. Forfeit. Loss. Please, exercise the option to let go of what you hold dear now while there is still time. Trust not in what you can see, but in what the Lord promises. Opt in for whatever it is the Lord may have for you, because I can assure you it is far better than anything you can provide for yourself in this life.
While the patriotism movement extols the virtue of going the way of "the sword", the prepper movement focuses more on preparing by collecting food, water, other items necessary for survival, and skills necessary to survive in a post-apocalyptic world. "One Second After" has a great deal of this permeating the work and I would like to point out a small excerpt here:
“We already have a crew of kids starting to cut firewood for the winter. Professor Daniels with the outdoor department figures we can retrofit a couple of the old boilers to burn wood in this building and the library to have steam heat…Professor Lassiter is talking about rigging up a water turbine in the dam at Lake Susan. He thinks we could have it up and running by autumn and have electricity.”
Most of the towns in the area, back a hundred or more years ago, first got their electricity that way. Entrepreneurs would come in, sell the community a generator, show them how to hook it up to a mill dam, string some wire, and viola, what was then the miracle of electricity arrived.
“Professor Sonnenberg tells me that in our school library we have back issues of Scientific American all the way back to the 1850’s. Also popular Mechanics. In those golden pages are plans from eighty years ago, a hundred years ago, to build radios, telegraphs, steam engines, batteries, internal combustion engines, formulas for nearly every advance in chemistry.
“In our library we have darn near every issue of Mother Earth News, and Foxfire books. Dan chuckled at that. “Most of the other profs viewed such publications with disdain, but on the faculty was a beloved old professor from before your time now dead, who was, as the kids say, a granola eater. The prof left us a gold mine. How to find food, how to preserve it, how to store it up. We have several groups out now, with those books in hand, harvesting enough to keep us alive. Hard to believe, John, but Rattlesnake shish kebab isn’t all that bad.
“It’s all at our fingertips if we would only look down at our fingertips to see it.
“But the kids need to keep this place secure to buy us time…”
William R. Forstchen -"One Second After" - Page 212
Most of the towns in the area, back a hundred or more years ago, first got their electricity that way. Entrepreneurs would come in, sell the community a generator, show them how to hook it up to a mill dam, string some wire, and viola, what was then the miracle of electricity arrived.
“Professor Sonnenberg tells me that in our school library we have back issues of Scientific American all the way back to the 1850’s. Also popular Mechanics. In those golden pages are plans from eighty years ago, a hundred years ago, to build radios, telegraphs, steam engines, batteries, internal combustion engines, formulas for nearly every advance in chemistry.
“In our library we have darn near every issue of Mother Earth News, and Foxfire books. Dan chuckled at that. “Most of the other profs viewed such publications with disdain, but on the faculty was a beloved old professor from before your time now dead, who was, as the kids say, a granola eater. The prof left us a gold mine. How to find food, how to preserve it, how to store it up. We have several groups out now, with those books in hand, harvesting enough to keep us alive. Hard to believe, John, but Rattlesnake shish kebab isn’t all that bad.
“It’s all at our fingertips if we would only look down at our fingertips to see it.
“But the kids need to keep this place secure to buy us time…”
William R. Forstchen -"One Second After" - Page 212
"One Second After" reinforces the foolish notion that somehow we can skirt whatever it is the Sovereign God has planned for us by taking matters into our own hands. People are all too willing to believe that if they can only store enough food, water, guns, and gold that they will be able to defeat famine, cheat scarcity, avoid captivity, fend off any bioweapon, defeat any fighting force, and above all survive all hardship and make it through.
One again I would like to refer to God's Word and present the following:
Then the LORD said to me, “Even though Moses and Samuel were to stand before Me, My heart would not be with this people; send them away from My presence and let them go! 2 And it shall be that when they say to you, ‘Where should we go?’ then you are to tell them, ‘Thus says the LORD:
“Those destined for death, to death;
And those destined for the sword, to the sword;
And those destined for famine, to famine;
And those destined for captivity, to captivity.”’
3 I will appoint over them four kinds of doom,” declares the LORD: “the sword to slay, the dogs to drag off, and the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy.
~ Jeremiah 15:1-3
“Those destined for death, to death;
And those destined for the sword, to the sword;
And those destined for famine, to famine;
And those destined for captivity, to captivity.”’
3 I will appoint over them four kinds of doom,” declares the LORD: “the sword to slay, the dogs to drag off, and the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy.
~ Jeremiah 15:1-3
It's a matter of Sovereignty, folks. God has it and we don't. That's a good thing. The Lord loves us too much to not give us the opportunity to demonstrate our love for Him in the face of extreme trial and testing. Regardless of how much bison chili you have in your bunker, if you are destined for famine then famine you will have. Regardless of how remote your hideout, or fortified your compound if you are destined for captivity to captivity you will go. If it is your time to die, then die you shall. It really is this simple. Some will accuse me of fatalism, but this is not that.
There are choices to be made now that will greatly impact how it goes for you later. I would like to close this post by revisiting something Bob wrote recently that addresses all that we have discussed here:
“Most would argue, but I believe a prophecy picturing a militant op may be seen in the Bible when the Lord was preparing to go to Gethsemane on the 13th day of the first month.
Luke 22
35 And He said to them, “When I sent you out without money belt and bag and sandals, you did not lack anything, did you?” They said, “No, nothing.” 36 And He said to them, “But now, whoever has a money belt is to take it along, likewise also a bag, and whoever has no sword is to sell his coat and buy one. 37 For I tell you that this which is written must be fulfilled in Me, ‘And He was numbered with transgressors’; for that which refers to Me has its fulfillment.” 38 They said, “Lord, look, here are two swords.” And He said to them, “It is enough.”
This is appointed for a very specific time, which is not yet, but there is in this a principle that applies today. You see here that the swords were required to fulfill prophecy. It was not just so we could check the box for - "yup, that Old Testament Prophecy was fulfilled." Both look to what is yet future and there's a lesson in it for us. You have to identify those with swords as the transgressors. There's no other way to see that. There will be those who go with Christ in that day who will have no money belt, bag or sword. That is the time and people the greater work The Open Scroll is for. There are plenty of ministers who encourage equipping with provisions of all kinds, but that's not the "Bride prep."
Matthew 26
51 And behold, one of those who were with Jesus reached and drew out his sword, and struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his ear. 52 Then Jesus *said to him, “Put your sword back into its place; for all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword. 53 Or do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels? 54 How then will the Scriptures be fulfilled, which say that it must happen this way?”
Which way you will go, brother? This choice remains before you.
Blessings in His Shalom,
Bob
Bob's comment posted on Secession? Really?
Luke 22
35 And He said to them, “When I sent you out without money belt and bag and sandals, you did not lack anything, did you?” They said, “No, nothing.” 36 And He said to them, “But now, whoever has a money belt is to take it along, likewise also a bag, and whoever has no sword is to sell his coat and buy one. 37 For I tell you that this which is written must be fulfilled in Me, ‘And He was numbered with transgressors’; for that which refers to Me has its fulfillment.” 38 They said, “Lord, look, here are two swords.” And He said to them, “It is enough.”
This is appointed for a very specific time, which is not yet, but there is in this a principle that applies today. You see here that the swords were required to fulfill prophecy. It was not just so we could check the box for - "yup, that Old Testament Prophecy was fulfilled." Both look to what is yet future and there's a lesson in it for us. You have to identify those with swords as the transgressors. There's no other way to see that. There will be those who go with Christ in that day who will have no money belt, bag or sword. That is the time and people the greater work The Open Scroll is for. There are plenty of ministers who encourage equipping with provisions of all kinds, but that's not the "Bride prep."
Matthew 26
51 And behold, one of those who were with Jesus reached and drew out his sword, and struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his ear. 52 Then Jesus *said to him, “Put your sword back into its place; for all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword. 53 Or do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels? 54 How then will the Scriptures be fulfilled, which say that it must happen this way?”
Which way you will go, brother? This choice remains before you.
Blessings in His Shalom,
Bob
Bob's comment posted on Secession? Really?
The choice indeed remains before us, and it is my prayer that the Lord will grant us all the strength, courage, wisdom, and grace to choose Him and His way. Lord, please help us all. Amen.
By Aaron Hermann
Bob Schlenker (theopenscroll@) and Aaron Hermann (theultimateplan@)
Please feel free to contact us through our Gmail accounts.
Thanks Nina! Blessings to you too!
ReplyDeletethanks Bob, I really needed that!
ReplyDeleteAnother great job guys!
ReplyDelete