The Demise of America: Never Before Has America Been So Close To War On U.S. Soil, Right Now, Right Before Your Eyes, Yet People Refuse to See

If there’s anything that certain, it’s that nothing is permanent. When we look back through history, we find that many great societies succumbed to societal collapse. Some have been conquered by outside forces, while others have decayed from within. In either case, the society or civilization has ceased to exist as it was once known. To think that the same can’t or won’t happen to us, is to deny one of the most important lessons of history.

The big question for you and I to consider, is whether it will be internal or external forces that ultimately bring about the demise of the United States of America. Currently there are no nation-states with a large enough or powerful enough a military to defeat us. Even if Russia and China were to join together to attack us, it is unlikely that they could mount a big enough amphibious force to guarantee success in invading our shores. The two nations together don’t have anywhere near the amphibious capability that was required to invade Europe on D-day, during World War II.

About the only way that a foreign nation could successfully attack the United States and defeat it would be via an attack by high-altitude EMP. That’s a very real possibility, which has been discussed elsewhere; so, I’m not going to bother spending time on it here.

But it may not be necessary for any foreign power to attack the United States, as we may very well tear ourselves apart, without their help. The political divide that is so prevalent in the US today is tearing this country apart, without any other help. The big question now, is whether it will continue or whether we will find some common ground again, where we can continue functioning as a nation.

We were treated to a sample of how this country could be torn apart a couple of years ago with all the Black Lives Matter demonstrations, a fair number of which turned into riots. I have nothing against demonstrations and believe that our First Amendment right to Freedom of Speech includes the right to peacefully protest. But that’s not the same as having a riot, especially a riot that is identified by theft, destruction and arson.

Unfortunately, we have those in the political system who see it as their duty to use their position to encourage unstable people in their following to engage in these sorts of activities. Not only that, but they are protecting those followers from paying the price for their crimes, while at the same time calling the January 6^th incursion in the Capital building an “insurrection,” even though it was unarmed and the only person who was killed was a veteran woman, shot by the police. Justice in this country, at least when it is connected to politics, has become a two-tiered system, with the enforcement of the law being based on one’s political affiliation.

With that being the case, there are more and more people saying that we are headed towards another civil war. Should that war break out, it will be much nastier than the previous one, simply because the battle lines won’t be as obvious. Rather than the north verses the south, it will be the political left verses the political right and while there is some territorial division between the two, it isn’t as clear as it was in the last Civil War.

That lack of clearcut battle lines is what’s going to cause the biggest problem with the next civil war. Battles will break out in random places, as the opposing sides bump up against each other. Little of it will be cohesive warfare, fought by organized troops. Rather, it will be more on the order of ongoing riots, like what we saw with Black Lives Matter.

Should such a war start, it will not only take many lives, but destroy American society as we know it today. Law and order would be largely out the window, not only from the fighting, but from bureaucrats who try and use their position to further the cause of their side. We can pretty much forget about being able to count on the government for anything.

When Might This Happen?

The truth of the matter is that we have no way of knowing when such a breakdown might happen. From what we’ve seen in the last several years, there are plenty of people on both sides of the political divide who are more than ready to turn to violence when things don’t go their party’s way. While almost all of the rioting that has happened can be attributed to one side of that divide, most of the guns belong to the other.

One likely scenario is for the riot side to start tearing things up, due to something happening in the country which they don’t believe in. Interestingly enough, they only seem to do that in cities which are controlled by politicians who are agreeable to their cause. You don’t find such riots happening in cities where law-and-order politicians are in control, because they know that the price of their rioting will be a trip to jail.

If you don’t believe me, just look at what happened in Washington, DC on January 6^th and the Congressional hearings that followed. The DC city government is in the hands of Democrats, as was Congress at that time. So the same politicians who winked at the riots which sprung out of the Black Lives Matter protests, were quick to arrest those who unlawfully entered the capital, calling it an “insurrection,” and spreading stories about how dangerous it was for Congress, even though none of those who entered the capital were apparently armed.

If there’s anything in this country which could lead to mass rioting it would be former President Trump winning the 2024 general elections. There is so much hatred focused against Trump in our country today, that there’s a good chance of his winning being all that is needed to cause widespread rioting. Considering how the hate towards him continued through his presidency, I doubt that there’s much anyone can do to keep almost constant protests and rioting from happening during his second term in office.

What Should We Do?

I think it’s necessary to say that it’s not our job to keep the peace or defend our country from those who would destroy it. As tempting as it might be to get directly involved, doing so carries a lot of risk. Remember Kyle Rittenhouse? He eventually won in court, since he didn’t break any laws and only shot in what can very clearly be seen as self-defense. But it could very easily have gone the other way. The mainstream media attempted to try him in the court of public opinion and had declared him guilty even before the bodies could cool. That attempt has cost those news outlets plenty, settling with Kyle for their underhanded attempts at character assassination.

On the other hand, we all have a God-given right to defend home and family. So, regardless of where you live, you need to be ready to do just that. If you happen to live nearby potential targets areas for rioting, either due to the political leadership there or the potential targets for the rioters to go after, you want to be doubly sure that you’re ready to defend your home.

Even with being prepared, the best protection you can possibly have isn’t standing there with guns locked and cocked, it’s not letting the rioters know that you are there. If they don’t know you’re there, they’re much more likely to leave you alone.

That means being able to lock yourself in your home and not come out until the riots are over. More than that, you need to be able to make it look as if nobody is home. That requires things like blackout curtains over the windows and noise discipline to keep them from hearing your television and your kids. At the same time, you don’t want to leave anything outside where they can steal it. Even your cars should be in the garage or hidden away behind the fence, in your backyard.

It’s hard to say just how long you need to be prepared to stay hidden away like that; but figure on a couple of weeks. If there’s one thing that can be said for any mob, it’s that they lose interest just about as fast as they come together to destroy. It’s unlikely that any riot will last more than a couple of days; but as I said, be ready for a couple of weeks.

The other thing we have to realize is that it may take months for any sort of true stability to be reestablished. If the rioting starts because of Donald Trump being elected as president, then it might very well continue throughout his term in office. That will make for a very long four years for anyone living in cities controlled by his political opposition. It’s really hard to estimate just how big the price tag will be on the destruction that is wrought by those who are enraged by his success.

THE INVASION IS COMING: DESTROY ALL HUMANS! WE ARE DESTINED TO FIND OUT THE HARD WAY THAT THIS IS A SATANIC DECEPTION, A HORRIBLE DYSTOPIAN NIGHTMARE, A NEW DARK AGE

The world’s great powers are in a race to create a powerful new species of humans that are not human at all, but they will be used as powerful tools of intimidation and deception.

China has published plans to mass-produce humanoid robots by 2025, as Western companies including Elon Musk‘s Tesla race to produce their own humanoids, The Daily Mail reports.

The British news outlet spoke to leading experts on how humanoid robots could change the world – with one expert saying that the tech will grow exponentially this decade.

Goldman Sachs has predicted that the market for humanoid robots could be worth $150 billion a year worldwide within 15 years — and that humanoid robots will be viable in factories between 2025-2028 and in other jobs by 2030-2035.

The technology will have a positive impact in many fields, believes Marga Hoek, author of “Tech for Good,” but people need to prepare for it.

Hoek said that predictions suggest that up to a quarter of all jobs could be lost to robotics and AI technology. But that’s not a bad thing, she says. We must embrace it.

Hoek told the Daily Mail: “My biggest worry is that all humankind spends a lot of time on fearing, instead of accepting and anticipating.”

Hoek said we need more research to be done on which job roles will still “add value” in a world of humanoid robots. She said, “If we don’t train people, if we don’t anticipate, if we don’t radically change around the school programs, for instance, we’ll be too late.”

What she seems to be saying is, we need to train people to accept their fate. You will be obsolete and learn to like it? Even Yuval Harari admits this is a big problem in a world being taken over by AI. Harari has said that the human feeling of not being needed is even more difficult than the feeling of being oppressed or taken advantage of.

Yes, it’s a natural human tendancy to need to be needed — in our personal and professional lives. But the technocrats want to steal that from us and then shame us if we don’t go along.

Hoek predicts that rather than human caregivers, humanoid robots will look after the elderly as well as young people with disorders such as autism.

Doesn’t that sound like something to eagerly look forward to? You get old and fragile, so instead of a family member or a caring nurse, you get a machine to look after your needs. Oh boy, I can’t wait.

Some Japanese robotics firms already have developed female “sex robots” that are said to be near life-like. Now men who are into this sort of thing are saying they don’t need a real woman, who presents all sorts of emotional and personality challenges that they’ don’t want to deal with.

Are you noticing a pattern here? All of the God-ordained behaviors for humanity, whether it be a caregiver for the elderly, a spousal relationship, a worker-employer relationship, they’re all going to be replaced by humanoid robots.

This is a Satanic mockery of humanity, and like everything Satan proposes, it’s a poor immitation, a counterfeit doomed to fail.

If we listen to the world’s “experts” we are destined to find out the hard way that this is a satanic deception, a horrible dystopian nightmare, a new dark age.

All of us who wish to retain our humanity must hold fast to the authentic and resist the counterfeit. Hopefully I’m not alone in my rejection of this anti-human, anti-God, anti-Christ new world order run by AI, which will be under the control of an elite group of globalist technocrats. I don’t think I am. We can all say, thanks but no thanks to the globalists trying to convince us that the future will be bright if we just lay down, roll over and accept all of their diabolical transhumanist lies.

The book of Revelation speaks about apparent miracles being performed by the antichrist and his false prophet. These powerful “miracles” will in my opinion most likely involve advanced technology. They will deceive many. Part of technology’s power is that it engenders a feeling of inferiority and helplessness on the part of all those who refuse to jump on the bandwagon. There’s a special invective for those who warn about a technology’s potential for misuse. You can here the mocking, condescending tone in Dr. Marga Hoek’s quotes above. Those who “fear” that AI will be used for evil are branded as a backward and dangerous lot who just need to get over themselves. They intend to otherize all of us who send up red flags of caution about the advancing beast system.

No offense to the Daily Mail and their so-called expert, Dr. Marga Hoek, but this is something that we need to not only fear, but resist and fight against with every fiber of our being.

THE PROPHET ISAIAH WARNS US THAT IN THE LAST DAYS GOD IS GOING TO ‘TURN THE WORLD UPSIDE DOWN: The Whole World Will Witness Fast-falling Destruction Upon AMERICA! But There Are Many More Abominations to Come in This Country and Then His Final Judgment Will Come

The prophet Isaiah warns us that in the last days God is going to “turn the world upside down.” He declares, “Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down” (Isaiah 24:1).

According to this prophecy, sudden judgment is coming upon the earth, and it will change everything in a single hour. Within that short span, the whole world will witness fast-falling destruction upon a city and a nation, and the world will never be the same.

If you are attached to material things — if you love this world and the things of it — you won’t want to hear what Isaiah has prophesied. In fact, even to the most righteous of God’s people, what Isaiah says might seem unthinkable. Many would surely ask, “How can an entire world be stricken in one hour?”

If we didn’t believe the Bible is God’s pure Word, few of us would take Isaiah’s prophecy seriously. But Scripture makes it clear: in a single hour, the world is going to change. The church is going to change. And every individual on earth is going to change.

The apostle John gives a similar warning in Revelation. He speaks of destructive judgment coming upon a city and nation: “In one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her…. For in one hour so great riches is come to nought” (Revelation 18:8, 17).

In Isaiah’s prophecy, the city under judgment is cast into confusion. Every house is shut up, with no one coming or going. “The city of confusion is broken down: every house is shut up, that no man may come in” (Isaiah 24:10). The entire city is left desolate: “In the city is left desolation, and the gate is smitten with destruction” (24:12). All entrances and exits to the city are gone. The passage indicates that a fire has come, a blast that has shaken the very foundations of the earth (see 24:6).

We who live in New York City know something about this kind of scene. When the Twin Towers were attacked, the ominous fires and smoke could be seen ascending to heaven for miles. Recently, New Yorkers panicked as a mass of steam erupted from below a city street. People ran in all directions screaming, “Is this it? Is this the end-all attack?”

Today, multitudes of secular prophets are saying a nuclear attack is inevitable. The target they mention most often is New York, but it could happen in any major city: London, Paris, Tel Aviv, Washington. Neither Isaiah nor John names the city upon which destructive judgment falls.I don’t intend this message to frighten anyone.

Let me make clear at this point: I don’t intend this message to frighten anyone. Paul tells us that as disciples of Jesus Christ, we have already passed from death into life. We who call on Jesus as Lord should be confident that no matter what happens in this world, his shed blood saves and redeems us.

Therefore, we are not to fear any newscast, but rather to be attentive to what the Lord is doing in the world. Like many people, I hear grievous reports that make me want to tune everything out. But the truth is, God moves in the midst of such times, and through them he speaks warnings to all who would hear his voice.Isaiah’s prophecy points clearly to our generation.

I believe, along with many eminent Bible scholars, that Isaiah’s prophecy points to the last days. By that, I mean our present time. In short, sudden judgment is coming, and Scripture strongly indicates it is now at the door.

At this point you may be wondering: “How can we be sure we’re the generation this prophecy points to?” We can know by two reasons that such judgments are imminent:

1.A growing number of prophets warn of an apocalyptic disaster at the door. When I use the word “prophets,” I speak not just of those in the church. I’m talking also about “secular prophets.”

There are several precedents for secular prophets in Scripture. God used Assyria as his rod of correction with Israel. And he appointed King Cyrus as his servant to assist Israel: “(The Lord) saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure” (Isaiah 44:28).

Likewise today, God uses secular prophets to send warnings. These become “his prophets” for a season. And their prophecies can be harder than those delivered by believers. The message I’m writing here is mild compared to the prophecies being delivered by all manner of secular voices. Just check your newspaper or radio reports.

“Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7).

2.Sudden destruction comes when the cup of violence overflows. Sensuality, perversion and greed are running rampant throughout our society. Yet, when God sent the Flood upon the earth, it was because of a worldwide eruption of violence: “The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence” (Genesis 6:11).

Right now, there are numerous wars and bloody uprisings taking place around the globe. Yet foremost in my mind is the violence being waged against children worldwide:

I think of the sexual violence of pedophiles. Children all over the world are being raped, kidnapped and forced into enslavement in the global sex trade. Recently, a pedophile in the U.S. was discovered running a web site that advises other pedophiles on the easiest places to pick up children. There is no law in place to stop this man. The world’s largest church denomination has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to settle the claims of those who were molested in childhood by clergy. Tell me, how long will God endure the pitiful cries of children who are molested by those who would represent Christ?
Thousands of children in Africa are being slaughtered in tribal wars, hacked to death by machetes. Young boys — even those under ten years of age — are enlisted into tribal militias and forced to murder men in initiation rites.
Here in the U.S., the blood of millions of aborted babies cries out from the ground.
Reports of school murders no longer shock many of us but continue to terrorize our children. We may grow hardened to such reports, but God’s heart is grieved by them.

I tell you, there is no worse violence than the brutalizing of children. Heaven is crying out, “Woe, woe! Your judgments have no cure.”1. In one hour, God is going to change the whole world.

A sudden cataclysmic event will strike, the first of the final judgments of God. This great event will cause the earth to reel. And Isaiah says that when it hits, there will be no place to escape: “The lofty [proud] city, he layeth it low…even to the ground; he bringeth it even to the dust” (Isaiah 26:5). “The inhabitants of the earth are burned” (24:6).

Once this happens, utter chaos will erupt. All civic activities will stop, and society will descend into massive disorder. Government agencies will be helpless to restore any kind of sanity. No state troopers, no national guard, no army will be able to bring order to the upheaval.

You well remember that when the Twin Towers were destroyed, help poured into New York from all over the world. An army of people came to assist in whatever way they could. But the scene in Isaiah’s prophecy is different: this calamity is clearly beyond humankind’s capacity to respond.

Once this judgment strikes, it will devastate the economy. Rich merchants will stand by watching in torment, weeping and mourning, as they face bankruptcy. In an instant, all the wealth they amassed will be reduced to nothing. John describes the scene: “The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city… For in one hour so great riches is come to nought” (Revelation 18:15–17).

Overnight, all buying and selling will cease. Every restaurant and bar will be shut down, and all drinking and music making will end. Indeed, every trace of mirth and delight, joy and gladness, will vanish: “All the merryhearted do sigh. The mirth of tabrets ceaseth, the noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the harp ceaseth. They shall not drink wine with a song…. The mirth of the land is gone” (Isaiah 24:7–9, 11).

Yes, this is a picture of gloom and doom. But it is not my prophecy. This word was given by the Holy Spirit of Almighty God, to be delivered by his righteous prophet Isaiah. Even the secular world is preparing for it to happen. Billions are being spent on homeland security in the U.S., England, Europe and Israel. Why? Military experts warn that a world-impacting terrorist attack is sure to come.

You may ask: “Why would the whole world change, if a nuclear attack occurs in just one city?” It will happen because of the fear of retaliation. If a rogue nation sends such an attack, you can be sure that within hours that nation will be wiped out. Consider the plan Israel has in place, known as the Samson Option. The moment a nuclear warhead is launched against them, within moments Israel will unleash nuclear missiles to devastate the capital cities of all enemy states.

The world has become a ticking bomb, and time is quickly running out.2. In one hour, God is going to change the church.

This hour of devastation will suddenly change churches, whether they are alive or dead. Isaiah writes, “There shall be the shaking as of an olive tree” (Isaiah 24:13). The image is of God shaking an olive tree after it has been picked of fruit. In short, he’s going to shake everything that can be shaken, sparing nothing. It will be a time of cataclysmic destruction and overwhelming darkness.

So, you ask, “What about God’s people in the midst of all this? What will happen to the church?” Isaiah gives us an incredible word about what will happen with believers.

In the midst of the terrible shaking, a song will be heard, and its sound will grow steadily stronger. Suddenly, in that darkest of hours, a worldwide chorus of voices will sing praises to the majesty of God: “They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing for the majesty of the Lord, they shall cry aloud from the sea” (24:14).

Do you get the picture? There will be panic everywhere. Men’s hearts will fail them for fear, as fires belch smoke seen for hundreds of miles. Disorder and chaos will reign on all sides. Yet amid the devastating fires and calamity, the world will hear a glorious song being sung: “Glorify ye the Lord in the fires, even the name of the Lord God of Israel… From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs, even glory to the righteous [One]” (Isaiah 24:15–16).

A holy remnant is going to awaken, and a song will be born in the fire. Instead of panicking, the people of God will be praising his awesome majesty. Imagine it: in the darkest hour of all time, a collective voice will rise by the millions out of every nation, not in fear or agony, but in joyful praise to the Lord.

How will this happen, you ask? In one hour, God is going to regenerate and restore his church. Dry bones will shake and rattle, and the righteous will be awakened, as the Holy Spirit calls multitudes of lukewarm believers back to their first love. In his mercy, he’s going to rouse those who have neglected him, ignoring his Word, avoiding prayer, perhaps even contemplating divorce. Suddenly, their souls will be flooded with pangs of remorse and godly sorrow. And many will fall on their knees, crying out in repentance.

There will be a revival of glorifying God’s majesty. And the song of this revival will be heard from the uttermost parts of the earth. East, west, north and south — from Arab lands to China, Indonesia, Africa and all parts of the earth — a glorious song will rise up from the midst of the fires. In one day’s time, those who survived the fires are going to be singing a new song throughout the world.Isaiah 25 tells us wonderful miracles will come in this time, as “God makes all things new.”

All around the world, the Lord’s people are going to “feast” on his Word: “In this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined” (Isaiah 25:6).

“And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations” (25:7). Right now, in this time of prosperity, the world’s masses seem to be covered with a veil, unable to see the truth of Jesus Christ. But when God rises up to shake the world through judgment, the shrouds covering the minds of billions will be cast aside. The veil of darkness will be removed, and many will see the Lord in his glory. The Holy Spirit won’t force Christ upon these opened eyes and hearts; rather, a remnant is going to rise up from among them.

I believe the darkest shroud-coverings today are over the eyes and hearts of youth worldwide. This is especially true of college-age students, whose faith has been bombarded for up to four years. Over that time their minds have been indoctrinated by godless professors in classrooms where belief is attacked, mocked and scorned. Now these young men’s and women’s faith has been shipwrecked. They leave college convinced God is dead.

But in one hour of devastation — nuclear, economic and social — all such hypocritical veils are going to fall away. Those same professors who mocked them will realize, as they face the possibility of death, a choice must be made: “What about eternity? Is there life after death?” They’re going to look for someone to explain to them all that’s happening.

When the song is sung, it’s going to be heard by young people from every walk of life, from every nation under the sun. Many will harden their hearts and curse God at the sound of this song, but multitudes of others will join in singing of his majesty.3. In one hour, God is going to change us as individuals.

In a single hour, the focus of our lives will be changed. We’ll no longer obsess about our own adversities and troubles. Suddenly, so many things that we held dear will no longer be of any value to us. Why? In that hour, everyone will be in the same boat:

“It shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him” (Isaiah 24:2).

The sudden judgment that comes will not be a respecter of anyone. Rather, it is going to touch all who are within the realm of its fury. Presidents, kings, the world’s richest and most famous — all will tremble just like the poorest of the earth. And this cataclysmic event will bring to naught every idol, purging iniquity and tearing down all false altars:

“By this [the calamity] therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this is all the fruit to take away his sin; when he maketh all the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are beaten in sunder, the groves and images shall not stand up [be left standing]” (Isaiah 27:9).

The world’s most prominent idol is money, and right now America is facing a monstrous financial disaster. Investors are scrambling to move their money out of high-risk funds, and mortgage companies are going bankrupt. One recent financial headline read, “Abandon Ship!” Everyone is selling and nobody is buying. Many households are in a panic, as overnight their lives are changing. I think of the president of a multi-billion-dollar hedge fund, who recently put up for sale his 142-foot yacht and his sixteen-bedroom mansion in Aspen, Colorado. His fund had dried up virtually overnight.

The day is coming when sports will be the last thing on people’s minds. I have nothing against sports, but soon there will be no more 250-million-dollar deals for athletes, when so much of the world is starving. All idols will come crashing down, crushed to dust, and the playing field will be leveled. The richest and the poorest alike will face the same conditions.

It will all happen within a day. “When they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape” (1 Thessalonians 5:3).Why such apocalyptic warnings?

You may wonder: what good can come of these prophetic messages? Why should anyone have to live under such anxiety?

I remind you, Jesus warned Jerusalem of sudden devastation to come upon that city. It was going to be burned to the ground, with over a million people murdered. Christ explained his warning: “I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe” (John 14:29). He was saying, in essence, “When it happens, you’ll know there is a God who loves you and forewarned you.”

Paul calls such warnings “light,” insights that expel darkness. He says, in short: “You are children of light, because you know what’s coming in the future. So, when destruction comes, and there’s panic all around, you will have the calm of the Holy Spirit. Something will quicken inside you, and you’ll remember, ‘God warned me.’ This prophecy isn’t a message of wrath to God’s people, but a wakeup call to begin preparing.”

“God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him” (1 Thessalonians 5:9–10). Paul is speaking here of a time of possible destruction. Therefore, he says, “Comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do” (5:11).

In this day of prosperity, nobody wants to hear a message like Isaiah’s. I certainly don’t want to hear it. But we cannot ignore it, because it is here at our door. In such times, Paul says, when we have knowledge that sudden destruction is coming, we are not to tremble or sorrow as the world does. Instead, we are to comfort one another in faith, knowing that God rules over every aspect of our lives.

“Be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation” (5:8). Paul instructs, “Arm yourself with faith. Build up your belief now, before the day comes. Learn your song, and you’ll be able to sing it in your fire.” “Glorify ye the Lord in the fires, even the name of the Lord God of Israel” (Isaiah 24:15).

This is the hope of our most holy faith: our Lord causes a song to come out of the darkest of times. Start now to build up your holy faith in him, and learn to praise his majesty quietly in your heart. When you sing your song, it will strengthen and encourage your brothers and sisters. And it will testify to the world: “Our Lord reigns over the Flood!”

FAMINE,PLAGUE WAR AND EMPTY SHELVES AT THE STORE, NOT TO MENTION PENDING NUCLEAR WAR!

I have always thought that the pictures people used showing empty store shelves were faked somehow. But now I have a nice collection of pictures of empty store shelves, all of which I can guarantee you are quite real.

But what’s surprised me more than the stores emptying out is that after two years, things still aren’t back to normal. There’s been one thing after another that has kept our supply chain from operating as we are all accustomed to it happening, and to be honest, there doesn’t seem to be any end in sight. If anything, I would say that we can expect the shortages to continue and even get worse.

Before getting into specifics, allow me to say that I would never have thought that one food processing plant going down would really make that much difference. There were a number of food processing plants that shut down during the pandemic, but there was so much going on that it was impossible to see the impact of any one factory. Yet we are now faced with a nationwide shortage of baby formula because of one factory being shut down due to the risk of a bacterial infection.

Granted, that one factory produced about 40% of the baby formula used in this country; but that’s part of the surprise. Even though we’re all used to nationwide brand recognition, I never realized just what that meant from a supply point of view. If the plant producing any one major brand of anything goes down, for whatever reason, it has a wide-reaching impact.

That’s the risk we’re facing right now, and it exists for just about anything you can think of. Many small, local brands are nothing more than national brands that have been packaged for local grocery chains, putting their label on the nationwide brand’s product. So, what we might think of as an alternate source, really isn’t one. That leaves us vulnerable to more shortages.

But just where are these shortages coming from? There are lots of different places, but I’d like to examine just a few.

The War

The most obvious problem that’s currently going on is the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Between the two countries, they account for a large amount of the world’s wheat and fertilizer production, along with a number of other agricultural products. While we don’t use most of those products here, they do affect the world food market. That means that we’re likely to end up providing some food to countries that are affected, which could drive food prices up even more here at home.

There is one thing that we apparently do use from Russia, which could cause some major problems for our agricultural industry; that’s potash for fertilizer. Something like 92% of our agricultural fertilizers depends on Russian supplies. As of right now, the State Department has exempted Russian fertilizer products from the embargo, so we’re okay. But that could all change if Putin decides to “punish us” by cutting off shipments to us.

Fires

Now let me go onto what I think is the most curious of the current problems; that of so many food processing plants catching fire. If you search for this online, you’ll get swamped by articles from “fact-checkers” who are saying that all the conspiracy theories are false. They never seem to deal with the 25 different food processing plants that have caught fire since December. I have the list of them.

According to Snopes (who I normally don’t believe), none of those fires were started as an act of arson. They’re supposedly basing that on reports from investigators on the scene. So, until I hear otherwise, I’m going to give Snopes the benefit of the doubt on this one; but it still smells fishy.

I’m not one to pay much attention to conspiracy theories, but if I was, this just might get me believing in them. While fires in such plants are supposedly not something uncommon, so many of them happening in such a short period of time seems extremely suspicious. I don’t know if these fires are going to continue or not, but the probabilities are stacking up.

One thing that has occurred to me is that if an enemy wanted to do us harm on the cheap, this would be a good way to do so. With our southern border as porous as it is right now, it wouldn’t be hard for a terrorist organization or some country’s intelligence organization to infiltrate a couple dozen operatives into our country. Those facilities can’t be guarded all that well, so starting a fire wouldn’t be any big deal. The only question is whether they could manage to start the fire in such a way that investigators wouldn’t be able to tell what they were doing.

Please note that I’m not proposing that as a conspiracy theory; I’m just stating that the risk exists. With everything else going on and the current state of our supply chain, a rather small group of trained people would have the potential to wreak havoc on our supply lines. As it is, the fries we’re having are probably already having more of an impact than we see.

Cyberattacks

While we’re talking about enemy attacks, we must include cyberattacks. The news media has been keeping quiet about it, but there are constant cyberattacks going on against our farmers and our food processing plants, just like there are against lots of other businesses here in the states.

Remember the ransomware attack against Colonial Pipeline last year? That one gained the hackers 4.4 million dollars. But it wasn’t the only company that had been attacked in that way. There have been a lot more of these attacks than any of us realize, including some against food companies.

Ransomware attacks are a particularly difficult type of cyber attack to protect against. To start with, most companies’ computer networks are old, or at least contain a lot of old components. Even when the company has the latest and greatest for their main computer center, they likely have a lot of outdated equipment feeding information into their main systems, often from automated operations. It’s not physically or financially practical to update those system components every time there’s a new threat, so most companies leave them in place and in the process, leave an attack vector open.

Hackers have become extremely astute in how they use ransomware. Often, it’s installed into the system as a software update. Then it’s allowed to sit there quietly for months. That way, when they trigger the ransomware, the IT department can’t just upload the backups from the day before. It might take them a week to figure out how far back they would have to go in their backups, and that probably won’t help them, as using backups a few months old means losing all the data from the business’ operations in the meantime.

Companies are left with two options: either pay the ransom or shut down operations long enough to replace their systems. That can take a considerable amount of time. Just recently, the factory which produces just about all the cream cheese for the country was hit by a ransomware attack. They couldn’t afford the ransom, so they ended up shutting down. There wasn’t any cream cheese in the stores for over three months.

Imagine what would happen if those hackers managed to hit 100 food-related companies at the same time. That would mean 100 companies that couldn’t produce their products. We’d find alternatives, but that would end up causing second-order shortages, as those other companies couldn’t keep up with demand. The entire supply chain could turn into a train wreck.

Shipping

But there’s something still worse than that going on. That’s the shipping problem. While the backlog of ships off California’s coast is reducing, that was only part of the problem. There’s still a nationwide shortage of truckers, and with the price of gasoline and diesel, that’s not likely to clear up anytime soon.

Over 90% of the trucking companies in the country have six trucks or less, and about 93% have less than 20 trucks. Those small companies can’t afford what’s happening with fuel prices today. With diesel selling for a nationwide average of $5.50 per gallon, it costs between $1,200 and $1,600 to fill the tanks of a truck. With an average fuel mileage of about 6.5 miles per gallon, those 150 gallons of fuel won’t quite take that truck 1,000 miles.

There has been an 18.3% increase in the price of shipping by truck and a 29% increase in maritime shipping since January of last year. That might sound like a big increase, but the cost of diesel has more than doubled in the same amount of time. At that rate, the increase in what trucking companies charge is just barely covering the increase in fuel costs.

It’s hard to say how long that can keep on, especially since the various factors that are causing high fuel prices seem like they’re just going to keep prices rising. If diesel prices rise to the point where truckers can’t afford to keep driving their rigs, we won’t be complaining about how the high cost of shipping is pushing up the cost of food, but we’ll be complaining that there’s no food on the shelves once again.

The thing is, this can happen to us at any time. Realistically, it will probably be a gradual thing, as different truckers decide that they just can’t keep on trucking. But each one that does will make it a bit harder for the system as a whole to keep up with our needs. Eventually, we’ll see the impact in the stores.

What Should We Do?

Between all these risks and the rising price of food, I can see only one option that makes sense – buy whatever you can, whenever you can, stocking up as much as possible. I realize that preppers stock up anyway, but maybe your stockpile is a bit low after the lockdowns and shortages during the pandemic. Well, with the current inflation rate, it sure doesn’t make any sense to just sit on money, watching it lose value; you may as well invest it in food and other necessities.

I’ve long said that food is one of the best possible investments for people who don’t have a lot of money to invest. Food typically outpaces the overall inflation rate, and it’s something we can always use. You don’t have to sell food to make money on it, all you have to do is eat it. That saves you money on buying food, which you can then use for other things.

But there’s more to this idea of buying more food than that. I noticed during the pandemic that many preppers didn’t use their stockpiles to meet their family’s needs, even though that’s what we have those stockpiles for. Rather than use them, though, these people decided to save their stockpile for the next disaster. In other words, they didn’t see the pandemic as enough of a disaster to get into their stockpile, even with the stores running out of food.

So, here’s what I recommend; if your stockpile is down, then go ahead and bring it back up to where it needs to be. But if you’re one of those people who didn’t get into your stockpile, then leave it alone and increase your pantry; if possible, increase it to a month’s worth of food. That way, you’ll have more food to eat if something goes wrong before you have to get into your stockpile.

I’ve already done this, including filling my freezer to the bulging point with meat. While most of us don’t normally stockpile frozen meat, the pandemic has shown me that there are some disasters that can occur, that will still leave us with electricity. So, even though I might lose power, I consider it worthwhile so that I can have a stockpile of meat.

That’s also given me the additional responsibility of making sure that I have a plan of what to do with that meat should the power go out. To start with, I have two generators and a supply of gasoline that’s big enough to last several days. That will keep the freezer going while I preserve that meat. I’ll be using a combination of dehydration and smoking to preserve it, as I have two smokers (one wood and one electric), as well as two dehydrators (one electric and one solar). I’m not sure just how much meat I can process in one day, but I’m pretty sure I can preserve it all before I run out of gas for my generators.