I prep for many reasons, but at the heart of it is nothing more than a desire to protect my family and hedge against potential crisis that could impact our lives. I consider it a simple prudent measure of risk mitigation. A kind of life warranty if you will that can act as a safety backstop. I share that up front because it will help you to understand my mind set on the topic. In addition to being a prepper I’m a devoted Christian (by devoted I don’t mean good as I’m far from ‘good’) and like prepping it is an area that I constantly try and weigh my decisions and better my walk in.
The dilemma I speak of in this article is whether or not to cut ties and swim away or try and repair the ship and stop it from sinking as it relates to my Nation and Culture. As one who has spent my entire adult life in service to this Nation it’s fair to say that I’ve earned the title of patriotic; and I certainly love the ideas and concepts this country was founded on. However I am very disheartened by the direction we have taken and the current state of our culture.
It’s over this concern that I have began strongly leaning on expatriating to another country, one that better aligns with our family values and morals. That’s all pretty straight forwards, but here is where the dilemma comes in. From both a patriotic American and a Christian perspective I believe there is merit to the argument that one should fight against oppression and the powers and principalities of evil. With that being the case I ponder whether I’m wrong for my decision to cut ship and leave.
For me though, I’ve wrestled this decision for awhile and believe I’ve come to an acceptable answer for myself. One that at least in my mind justifies my decision to leave. Below I’ll walk through my DMP (Decision Making Process) for an understanding on how I’ve come to my belief. I should note that I’m not afraid of fighting for what’s right (both on the physical and intellectual fronts) and my occupational history at a minimum does support that. So my choice to leave is not based on personal fear of danger. From there I consider whether my choice is based on a desire to protect my family from personal physical danger. In part if I’m honest I would have to say yes, but this isn’t the primary reason. I can honestly say I would rather watch my family mortally perish than to spiritually perish. That statement is the heart of why I believe the right thing to do is leave this falling culture.
While my wife and I strive to be a positive influence in my children’s life, and lead them in the right path I also recognize that influence is minimal when compared to the indoctrination and influence of the surrounding culture. As one who rebelled against my upbringing and embraced the friend and cultural influence rather than the wiser guiding forces available to me I seek to help mitigate this with my children as best I can. I don’t believe the iron hand approach is effective as that often will result in rebellious results. The one way I believe I can best affect this influence is by that of the environment surrounding my children. Obviously invested parents do this all the time by setting the example at home, but as I already stated I fear this can still fall short in such a fallen culture.
We can further address this by private schooling, or homeschooling, but even so the surrounding environment is still the same as that of the culture. Rome creates Romans. As such the one available approach to best influence their beliefs and moral values is to immerse into a culture that better aligns with our family values. It’s not about physical protection near as much as it is about attempting to mitigate indoctrination into beliefs and values that do not align with ours. For this reason we are looking heavily into this choice.
Having said all of that I don’t intend to simply move and walk away from this Nation I love so much either. Given my influence here on this site and other areas I will still fight in my way to encourage a return to American values as well as do my best to represent Christian values in my work and interaction regardless of where I am, as we know all belongs to God so whether I’m spiritually fighting here in America, or elsewhere in another land the cause and powers at hand are ultimately still the same.
