Tag Archives: Preparation

Target says shoppers stocking up on essentials over coronavirus fears

Target says shoppers stocking up on essentials over coronavirus fears
(Reuters) – Target Corp said on Tuesday it was seeing a surge in U.S. store traffic as people stockpile disinfectants and food amid fears of the coronavirus outbreak.

“We’ve certainly seen a U.S. consumer that’s starting to stock up on household essentials, disinfectants, food and beverage items, all those staple items that the CDC has recommended…,” Chief Executive Brian Cornell said on a post-earnings call with analysts.

“We’ve seen aggressive shopping across the country in our stores.”

However, the company said the epidemic has not so far impacted its business.

(Reporting by Uday Sampath in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)

Too little too late? No-deal Brexit planning shakes service suppliers

FILE PHOTO: Protesters demonstrate against the possible stockpiling of medicines and food in the event of a no-deal Brexit in London, Britain. Aug 22, 2018. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls/File Photo

y Elisabeth O’Leary

LONDON (Reuters) – From Britain’s hospitals and schools to its prisons and armed forces, firms supplying essential public services have been asked by the government to outline plans for a no-deal Brexit.

But with exit day set for March 29, Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May has yet to strike a deal to leave the European Union which is acceptable to parliament, leaving the companies worried that the government is doing too little too late.

“The government has written to some of us asking us ‘what are you doing in preparation for a no-deal?’ – which is timely, at eight weeks to go,” one industry source told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“I have never been in such an unknowing place in all of my corporate life,” the source added.

Private firms including Babcock, Capita, Serco, G4S, Mitie and Compass play a central role in providing Britain’s public services, which means they have to procure medicines, toiletries, food, spare parts and labor, much of which come from the EU.

Britain began outsourcing in the 1980s and private firms now carry out work with contracts valued at 250 billion pounds ($324 billion) for the government each year.

But their role has come under scrutiny since the collapse of Carillion last year, sparking a debate about how much public work should be done by private contractors.

Britain’s government has allocated 2 billion pounds funding to support Brexit preparations for 2019/20 which reaches across 25 government and arms-length bodies for both “deal” and “no-deal” scenarios. 

NO-DEAL NERVES

While the government says it is confident it will strike a deal with the EU, companies worry that may not be the case. If Britain exits abruptly, new customs checks could lead to major delays at ports with a knock-on effect on the supplies needed for them to provide day-to-day services.

“Companies are getting more and more nervous (about a no-deal Brexit),” a second industry source said, echoing fears raised by Serco’s CEO Rupert Soames who in December described the British business climate as “bad and getting worse”.

“I am increasingly worried we are now in a place where people are talking about supply chains and trying to guarantee them. But beyond stockpiling, nobody actually knows what no-deal might mean,” another source in the sector told Reuters.

A survey last week showed that factories had stockpiled goods in January at the fastest rate since records began in the early 1990s in case of a chaotic Brexit.

“Leaving the EU with a deal remains the government’s top priority – but in December, we took the decision to step up no deal planning to ensure we are fully prepared,” a government spokesperson said of its plans.

Providers of services for the defense sector are among those who have been asked to share contingency plans.

Three sources said they had received a letter from the Ministry of Defence’s (MoD) Chief Commercial Officer Andrew Forzani last week asking about their efforts.

“As part of our no deal preparations, we are talking to suppliers to ensure any potential challenges or impacts are addressed. This is routine contingency planning,” an MoD spokesperson said.

($1 = 0.7710 pounds)

(Reporting by Elisabeth O’Leary; Editing by Georgina Prodhan and Alexander Smith)

U.S. survivalists stock up as disasters roil the planet

U.S. survivalists stock up as disasters roil the planet

By Barbara Goldberg

(Reuters) – Two earthquakes, three monstrous hurricanes and the North Korean missile crisis have U.S. survivalists convinced that the end of the world is nigh. And they are clearing store shelves to stock bunkers in anticipation of Earth’s final chapter.

Sales of freeze-dried food, gas masks and other survival equipment have spiked in recent weeks as so-called “preppers” get ready to ride out any disaster, whether natural or man-made.

Inspiring their actions: images of people helpless against floodwater from Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria and island towns obliterated by their fury. People buried in rubble after earthquakes rattled Mexico. Footage of North Korea’s missiles blazing into the sky.

“It’s been a very busy six or seven weeks here – sales tripled practically overnight,” said Keith Bansemer, vice president for marketing for Idaho-based My Patriot Supply, an online store catering to preppper needs.

“It all started when North Korea shot the missile that was capable of reaching the U.S. Then the hurricanes and two Mexican earthquakes increased sales from California and Cascadia in the Northwest,” he said, referring to the corner of the country where many survivalists have settled because of its relative isolation.

David Yellin, a self-described prepper who lives in California’s San Diego County, said his main concern was the long-expected “big earthquake” along the West Coast.

The 31-year-old police officer has piled enough survival supplies in a closet of the apartment he shares with his fiance and their two dogs to allow them to hunker down for a month.

If disaster forces the couple to flee, each has a “bug-out bag” stuffed with three days of food, water, first aid and water purification supplies, fire-starting materials, a tent and sleeping bag, change of clothes and important documents.

At Ready To Go Survival, founder and chief executive Roman Zrazhevskiy said gas masks were quickly moving off the shelves and overall sales “are up like 700 percent over the last two months.”

A prepper himself, he said his greatest fear was a U.S. economic collapse as a result of the country’s unsustainable debt.

“Once people go hungry, they are going to get to the streets and look for food,” said Zrazhevskiy, 31, who grew up in New York City’s borough of Brooklyn and now lives in Texas.

Customers were snapping up $500 CBRN suits to withstand chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear attack and $200 gas masks in sizes that fit children as young as 5.

“Gas masks? I’ve got tons of those,” said prepper Jerry McMullin, 62, a retired risk assessment analyst whose bunker-like home in Yellow Jacket, Colorado, was built to withstand nuclear attack, biological warfare and a range of natural cataclysms.

Although North Korea is one of his biggest concerns, McMullin is also worried about political instability in Washington leading to riots and mayhem in the cities, he said.

“I’m not a paranoid guy. I just want to be in a position that when it does go to Hell, I’m in a good location to get whatever I need,” said McMullin, who has his own water filtration system and burns his own trash in his solar-powered home.

In recent weeks, some doomsayers have expressed a belief that according to Biblical prophesy Saturday, September 23, would kick off seven years of catastrophic events that would lead to the end of the world as we know it.

David Meade, a Christian numerologist and author, has said that, based on the Book of Revelations, a constellation would appear over Jerusalem on Saturday that would start the seven years of mayhem.

But McMullin said his own respect for Bible prophesy assures him that disaster is not around the corner.

“As far as getting wiped out this weekend, I’m not too worried about that,” McMullin said.

“Maybe it’s a timeline marker and things are going to start getting really ramped up. We are not about to go through mass destruction and fatality. I think people are a little more stable – except for Kim,” he said, referring to North Korea’s President Kim Jong Un.

Preppers including Yellin and McMullin said images of people incapacitated by recent natural disasters left them feeling vindicated about the stockpiles they keep, which raise eyebrows among those who consider their planning extreme.

“I’m more of what I consider a common sense prepper,” Yellin said. “Because at the end of the day, we are responsible for our own safety.”

(Reporting by Barbara Goldberg in New York; Editing by Frank McGurty, Toni Reinhold)

Hurricane Irma kills 10, may hit Florida Sunday as Category 4

The aftermath of Hurricane Irma on Saint Martin.

By Jorge Pineda

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (Reuters) – Hurricane Irma plowed past the Dominican Republic toward Haiti on Thursday after devastating a string of Caribbean islands and killing at least 10 people as one of the most powerful Atlantic storms in a century took aim at Florida.

With winds of around 175 mph (290 kph), the storm lashed several small islands in the northeast Caribbean, including Barbuda, St. Martin and the British Virgin Islands, tearing down trees, flattening homes and causing widespread damage.

The eye of the hurricane did not directly hit Puerto Rico, passing north early Thursday, battering the U.S. territory with high winds and heavy rains. Three people were killed and around two-thirds of the population lost their electricity, Governor Ricardo Rossello said.

The eye of Irma was moving west-northwest off the northern coast of the Dominican Republic, heading slightly north of Haiti, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.

The United Nations Children’s Fund warned that millions of children could be at risk in the two countries, which share the island of Hispaniola. Impoverished Haiti has been particularly vulnerable to hurricanes and heavy rains.

Irma’s eye was forecast to pass over the Turks and Caicos Islands, a British territory, and the Bahamas before moving towards Cuba’s keys.

Irma will likely hit Florida as a very powerful Category 4 storm on Sunday, with storm surges and flooding beginning within the next 48 hours, according to the NHC. Gas shortages in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area worsened on Thursday, with sales up to five times the norm.

Cuba started evacuating some of the 51,000 tourists visiting the island, particularly 36,000 people at resorts on the picturesque northern coast, most of them Canadians.

“Canada decided … to evacuate all the Canadian tourists in the country,” said Cuban Tourism Minster Manuel Marrero, estimating they made up 60 percent of tourists in the country’s keys.

Authorities in the Dominican Republic ordered evacuations in towns along the northern Atlantic coast such as Cabarete, a thriving tourist spot where trees were brought down by high winds but no severe damage was reported.

“There is a lot of wind and rain,” Puerto Plata Assistant District Attorney Juan Carlos Castro Hernandez told Reuters by telephone. “We expect things to get worse.”

Cabarete was expected to bear the brunt of the hurricane’s winds and storm surge. Hotel executive Roque Alvarez said most tourists left prior to the storm, either flown or bused out.

A woman walks through a flooded street as Hurricane Irma moves off from the northern coast of the Dominican Republic, in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic September 7, 2017. REUTERS/Ivan Alvarado

A woman walks through a flooded street as Hurricane Irma moves off from the northern coast of the Dominican Republic, in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic September 7, 2017. REUTERS/Ivan Alvarado

“ENORMOUS DISASTER”

French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe lowered the death toll, saying four bodies were recovered on the tiny French-Dutch island of St. Martin, which was hit hard. Earlier, in the confusion surrounding Irma, France’s interior minister had said eight people were killed and nearly two dozen injured.

“It is an enormous disaster. Ninety-five percent of the island is destroyed. I am in shock,” Daniel Gibbs, chairman of a local council on St. Martin, told Radio Caribbean International.

Television footage from the island showed a damaged marina with boats tossed into piles, submerged streets and flooded homes. French President Emmanuel Macron spoke with British Prime Minister Theresa May on Thursday to coordinate an emergency humanitarian response.

Amid criticism from many residents that the British government could have done more to help its territories, Foreign Office Minister Alan Duncan said a Royal Navy ship would reach the affected islands on Thursday with tents, vehicles and other relief equipment.

“Anguilla received the hurricane’s full blast. The initial assessment is that the damage has been severe and in places critical,” he told parliament.

One person was killed on the island and roads were blocked, with damage to the hospital and airport, power and phone service, Anguilla emergency service officials said.

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth said she was “shocked and saddened” by the reports of Caribbean devastation.

In Puerto Rico, Rossello said it was to early to estimate the cost of the damage. The streets of the capital San Juan were littered with downed tree limbs and signs, with many street lights out.

Juan Pablo Aleman, a restaurant owner, said he had ridden out the storm in his 11th-floor apartment.

“The building moved, shook a few times. A lot of shingles came off and some windows broke,” he told Reuters. “If it had gone a little more to the south, it would have been catastrophic.”

The first bands of rain and wind began to lash Haiti’s normally bustling northern port city of Cap Haitien on Thursday.

Authorities went door to door, encouraging people to evacuate voluntarily from exposed areas, said Albert Moulion, a Ministry of the Interior spokesman.

“We’re asking all those living in areas at risk to leave their homes. If you don’t, you’ll be evacuated by force,” President Jovenel Moise said. “When you go to shelters you’ll find food, you’ll have something to sleep on.”

Irma was the strongest hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean and one of the five most forceful storms to hit the Atlantic basin in 82 years, according to the NHC.

Florida Governor Rick Scott said it was unclear whether Irma would hit the state’s east or west coast but told residents to beware of the sea surge caused by powerful winds.

“The storm surge can kill you,” Scott said on the “CBS This Morning” program on Thursday. He urged people to heed local officials and be ready when the call came to leave their area, promising the government would provide transportation to those who need it.

The aftermath of Hurricane Irma on Saint Martin. Netherlands Ministry of Defense/via REUTERS

The aftermath of Hurricane Irma on Saint Martin. Netherlands Ministry of Defense/via REUTERS

“YOU’RE ON YOUR OWN”

With Irma set to become the second hurricane to hit the United States in as many weeks, Florida emergency management officials began evacuations, ordering tourists to leave the Florida Keys.

Roman Gastesi, the administrator of Monroe County, which encompasses the Florida Keys, told CNN that streets were empty in Key West and 90 percent of businesses were closed. County officials, including police and emergency workers, would be leaving, he said.

“If you’re going to stay, you’re on your own,” Gastesi said.

U.S. President Donald Trump was monitoring Irma’s progress. The president owns the waterfront Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.

Trump approved emergency declarations for the state, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, mobilizing federal disaster relief efforts.

The island of Barbuda, one of the first hit by the storm, was reduced to “literally rubble,” said Gaston Browne, prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda, adding that one person was killed and that the tiny two-island nation will seek international assistance.

Browne told the BBC that about half of Barbuda’s population of some 1,800 were homeless while nine out of 10 buildings had suffered some damage and many were destroyed.

“It was easily one of the most emotionally painful experiences that I have had,” Browne said in an interview on BBC Radio Four, adding that it would take months or years to restore some level of normalcy to the island.

A surfer was also reported killed in Barbados.

Two other hurricanes formed on Wednesday.

Katia in the Gulf of Mexico posed no threat to the United States, according to U.S. forecasters. Hurricane Jose was about 815 miles (1,310 km) east of the Caribbean’s Lesser Antilles islands, and could eventually threaten the U.S. mainland.

The storm activity comes after Harvey claimed about 60 lives and caused property damage estimated to be as much as $180 billion in Texas and Louisiana.

(For a graphic on storms in the North Atlantic click http://tmsnrt.rs/2gcckz5)

(Reporting by Scott Malone in San Juan, Jorge Pinedo in Santo Domingo, Makini Brice in Cap Hatien, Guy Delva in Port au Prince, Sarah Marsh in Havana, Susan Heavey and Ian Simpson in Washington, Brendan O’Brien in Milwaukee, Estelle Shirbon in London, Matthias Blamont and Jean-Baptiste Vey in Paris, Toby Sterling in Amsterdam; Writing by Daniel Flynn and Frank Jack Daniel; Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg and Jeffrey Benkoe)

Minutes from missiles, Guam islanders get to grips with uncertain fate

By Martin Petty

GUAM (Reuters) – Fourteen minutes is not long to prepare for a potential catastrophe. That’s the estimated time taken from a launch of a mid-range ballistic missile in North Korea until impact on Guam, where residents seem resigned to the belief that their fate is out of their control.

The local government of this tiny U.S. Pacific island issued preparation guidance to its 163,000 people on Friday on how best to hide and deal with radiation after threats by Pyongyang to strike Guam, or test its missiles in its surrounding waters.

But islanders don’t seem in a hurry to get ready.

Mike Benavente, 37, who maintains air conditioners, said he saw the advisory on Facebook, but preferred family time at a beach barbecue to stocking up on supplies and thinking about suitable shelter options.

“Preparation for attack? I’m doing it!” he said, pointing to a grill he was readying for burgers and hot dogs. “If we have a big missile coming here, everyone’s gonna die. How can I prepare for a missile?”

In a guidance note titled “Preparing for an Imminent Missile Threat”, Guam Homeland Security advised seeking out in advance windowless shelters in homes, schools and offices, with concrete “dense enough to absorb radiation”.

It said if an attack warning came, residents should seek shelter and stay there for at least 24 hours. Those caught outside should lay down, cover their heads and “not look at the flash or fireball” to avoid going blind.

Plush hotels along Guam’s Tumon beach didn’t seem in a rush to prepare either. Staff at several hotels and resorts said they knew guidelines had been issued but already had procedures in place for emergencies.

“We have an evacuation plan for typhoon, tsunami, terrorism, but we don’t have anything for a North Korean missile attack,” said a supervisor at one resort, who asked that neither he nor his hotel be identified because he wasn’t authorized to speak to the media.

A manager at a hotel nearby had a printed copy of the guidelines, but said there was no instruction yet to distribute it to guests.

 

TIME LIMITED

North Korea on Thursday said plans would be completed by mid-August to fire four intermediate-range missiles to land near Guam, some 3,500 kilometers (2,175 miles) away, after U.S. President Donald Trump said any threat would be “met with fire and fury like the world has never seen.”

Guam, an island half the size of Hong Kong and some 7,000 km from the U.S. mainland, is a target because of its naval base and air force base, from which two B-1B supersonic bombers were deployed close to the Korean peninsula on Tuesday.

It is also a permanent home to a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptor.

Local authorities have been reassuring residents and tourists that a “strategic defense umbrella” across the Western Pacific can counter any missile attacks, and the chance of a successful North Korean strike on Guam was minimal.

“Our confidence is it’s point zero zero, zero zero, zero – that’s five zeros – and a one,” the governor’s homeland security advisor, George Charfauros, said on Friday.

“The threat level has not changed. It’s business as usual.”

That was the case on Saturday in Guam’s malls and along its pristine beaches, where children played in the turquoise sea as parents drank beer and prepared picnics.

“I haven’t really thought about preparation. We really don’t know what to do if there’s a missile attack,” said Marlene, 37, an accountant.

“We get just 14 minutes. The military says they’ll be ready, so we’re banking on them.”

Auto parts seller Mitch Aguon, 51, spent his day off fishing and said preparation was pointless.

“By the time we hear about it, it’ll be too late and there’s no room for us ordinary Joes in the bomb shelters. We’re dead meat,” he said.

 

(Editing by Ian Geoghegan)

 

Preparation and driving tips for incoming Midwest ice storm

By Shirette Stockdall

Multiple weather services (including The Weather Channel, AccuWeather, and the National Weather Service) are reporting a widespread ice storm to hit the U.S. Midwest this weekend. Winter storm watches have been placed in several counties ranging from Texas to Ohio. This storm is expected to bring freezing rain/sleet starting Friday, January 13th and continue throughout the region until Tuesday, January 17th.

The Weather Channel reports that the storm will slowly move north throughout the weekend. Radar shows that the storm will hit Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana with the most ice. By Monday, the freezing rain/sleet will move north, hitting Iowa, Wisconsin, and Michigan until Tuesday.

Despite the storm moving across the Midwest, meteorologists warn that ice accumulation could get up to half an inch. This is more than enough to weigh down trees and damage power lines, meaning that hundreds of thousands could be without power during the weekend, according to The Weather Channel. Ice will also accumulate on the roads, leading to dangerous driving conditions.

The National Weather Service is warning drivers to stay off the roads, but also provided driver safety tips on Twitter for those who do have to brave the storms.

Additionally, multiple weather services are advising residents in these regions to stock up on preparation items for the storm. These items include:

Flashlights, candles
Batteries
Battery powered radio
Extra Prescriptions/medications
First Aid Kit
Bottled Water
Nonperishable Food
Extra fuel for your generator
A cooler with ice to store cold foods
Extra blankets/warm clothes
Extra toiletries
Cash

Other actions can be taken to prepare for the storm. Make sure to charge all electronics before the power could possibly go out. If you have a generator, run it before the storm hits, make sure it has plenty of fuel or is full charged, and train all family members to be able to operate it. Teach family members basic first aid. Unplug sensitive appliances before the storm hits. If your house will be without heat for a couple days, make sure to drain all of your water pipes to avoid bursts. And if you do lose power, keep your refrigerator closed. Frozen food will keep for approximately 48 hours in the fridge, even without power.

Stay safe and stay warm!

White House Prepares for Solar Flares and Other Space Weather Events

The U.S. Government has released its National Space Weather Strategy showing a multiagency plan that details how the U.S. will prepare for and deal with a massive EMP from Space Weather.  

An EMP or geomagnetic solar storm event has long been talked about in the media but steps are being taken now to show how serious this is to the government.

The six-step plan requires government agencies, schools, the media, the insurance industry, nonprofits, and more to work together.

“This is a real and present danger,” the White House’s assistant director for space weather told the Houston Post.   Back in 1859, a huge solar storm did impact Earth and caused some sparking telegraph lines. If a geomagnetic storm as strong as that one were to strike today it would likely cause $600 billion to $2.6 trillion worth of damage in the United States alone, according to a recent study.

NASA says that we had a scary near miss when we were nearly hit by two plasma clouds in 2012.  “If it had been hit, we would still be picking up the pieces,” one physicist says.

According to news reports, the White House’s new plan calls for the U.S. to get better at predicting space weather, shore up our infrastructure against EMPs and more. These plans, may truly be needed: The Post quotes NASA as stating there’s a 12% chance of a giant solar flare in the next 10 years.

In a  report released by the United Kingdom’s Department of Business Innovation and Skills said that the Earth can indeed experience a massive solar storm, with mankind having only 12 hours to prepare for such a potentially disastrous event.

To read the full plan you can go to: https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/final_nationalspaceweatherstrategy_20151028.pdf

“We are All Waiting!” Joel Richardson and Biblical Teaching on the End of Days

Tuesday night, Joel Richardson was welcomed back to the stage as our evening service speaker.  The crowd was riveted and eager to hear his teaching.  Joel began by reminding many of the people about the huge anticipation during the 1980’s regarding the rapture and it’s coming in 1988.  Still having the booklet with him – ”88 reasons why the Rapture will Happen in 1988” – Joel wanted to share with us what occured when that rapture did not occur.  “Many churches simply stopped their message of Christ’s return and many believers lost their faith from their disappointment and disillusion.”

Joel acknowledged that there are indeed biblical prophecies being revealed during these times but we cannot mistake any chastisement from God towards the U.S. as being proof that we are in the 7 years of tribulation.   

In 2nd Peter he writes, “Mockers will come with their mocking.’  

The closer we get to the actual day the greater the mocking will become.  It is up to the church to be responsible not to give legitimacy to their mocking.  If we, as believers, do not hold steady we could see a repeat of the aftermath of 1988. I am concerned we are setting ourselves up so at the very moment the Lord is standing at the door, too many will have turned away. Many will call his return a distraction.”  

“I am not saying things are not going to happen. We could see invasion, economic or natural disaster, or even an EMP blast attack. We do need to be prepared for what is coming! But we cannot make those signs point to an ending that has not yet begun.  This is in God’s timing, it is HIS business. We are seeing signs of His coming but we must listen to what God says in His Word, on the events leading up to Jesus coming!”  

Joel carefully went through the book of Daniel, Revelation, Matthew and John revealing the events that must happen before our Lord’s return.  Focused primarily on the antichrist and how he will come to be, Joel noted that at this time the antichrist has not been revealed nor has he begun any of the prophecies that are spoken of in God’s Word.  

Joel also spoke on how God’s teachers and prophets’ inspired words are being twisted to the world by the internet and media.  “Teachers can say one thing and within days, or even minutes, their words will have been twisted into something else. Pay attention to what you are reading on potential issues.” By staying close to God you can discern what is truth.  Read the Bible. KNOW HIS WORD!  And you will be able to see the events unfolding according to scripture.  

“We are all waiting for the time of the Great Tribulation” Joel stated as he posed questions of what we would do when events become much worse than the holocaust on Jerusalem.  “Where will we stand?  How are we preparing besides for our families and communities?  Are we preparing to be a place of refuge?”

Joel Richardson closed his message by reminding us all that we must spend as much time getting ready for our time in heaven as we are for our time on earth; preparing our own hearts, reaching out to others and spreading God’s Word.  

Rick Wiles, “Prepping is Biblical!”

The first day of our Ready Now Expo had the perfect closing.  Rick Wiles surprised the audience with an inspirational message “The Prepper’s Ultimate Survival Kit.”  Rick discussed why he supports prepping by using the story of Joseph who prophesied to the Pharaoh about 7 years of plenty and then famine. He reminded the audience that Joseph stored food in multiple cities, and asked.  “If Joseph hadn’t stored food, how many people would have died? The fact that he was obedient, kept people alive.”

“We are all learning about the Shemitah and we are living in a time of multiple cycles.” Rick explained. “This could be the return of Jesus Christ, or this could be another historical rollover of cycles. Only God knows the timing.”  He added that whether or not we were entering the Tribulation period, something “monumental” was happening in the world. Because of the many events that are coming, he urged the importance of not only preparing for ourselves, but also for the the generations who will come after us.

“Prepping is Biblical!” Showing his support for Jim Bakker and the ministry, Mr. Wiles stated firmly, “ Pastor Jim has been tenacious and obedient in warning people. And because he’s been obedient…I don’t know how many people have stored food!”

Mr. Wiles was wonderful about helping the audience remember that the ultimate survival Kit is from God.  The best security system is when you have the Lord in your heart and it is His wisdom that will guide you through the worst of times.  

Prepping is Biblical.  But, it is most important to prep yourself spiritually.   This message sets the tone of our week together here at Morningside and for the hundreds of people attending our incredible August 2015 Ready Now Expo!  

Be in Command On Being Prepared

How many years have we been talking about preparing?  As the days grow more and more urgent, Lori and I have been stepping up on our preparations, looking for what we may be missing and stocking up on necessities for our family.

In Lori’s last blog she talked about all of the items you need for your car in case of emergencies.  Please understand that this is not just talk.  We DO practice what we preach!  We have spent years gathering information for our family and for you. Over a decade ago God asked me to help prepare you.  He told me that Morningside would be a place for the prophets to come and speak out about what is happening in our world!  We know we are living in the last days, we have studied the prophecies in the bible together and we all know that, like Joseph, we must prepare for what is to come!   Continue reading →