Today Japan made history for having the fifth largest earthquake known since we’ve started recording the event scientifically. Some people are blaming global warming (you have to question their reasoning). Another concern is that Japan houses several nuclear power plants and aftershocks can cause some difficulty. Greenpeace tree-hugging tie-die aficionados are saying “we told you so”, but the reality is that nuclear energy itself is still safe and the concern raised was just to alert of the possibility and how Japan is forthcoming with its precautions. I applaud that responsible measure rather than angrily shoot the messenger.

With all that said, It’s worthwhile to notice that something is going on with our planet over the past couple of decades.

Most of the larger earthquakes as well as some interesting volcanic activity over the past few months have been occurring over an area of plate tectonic activity called the “Ring of Fire”.

Here’s a short list of some notable earthquakes so far this year.

2011-01-02 Chile Earthquake 7.1
2011-01-18 Pakistan Earthquake 7.2
2011-01-19 New Zealand 7.4
2011-02-04 Myanmar India 6.4
2011-02-21 Suez Canal 5.9
2011-02-22 Christchurch New Zealand 6.3
2011-02-25 Gulf Coast 5.7
2011-03-06 Volcano in Kilauea Hawaii erupts and creates a fissure in the crust
2011-03-06 Chile Earthquake 6.2
2011-03-06 South Sandwich Islands (Africa) 6.5
2011-03-10 Yunan China 5.4
2011-03-10 Volcano in Kilauea stops and drains, collapsing
2011-03-11 Japan 8.9

This has nothing to do with global warming or radio waves or martians. It’s interesting to note, however, that the number of earthquake occurrences and the number of large earthquake occurrences are increasing over these past 20 years compared with the twenty years before it. I don’t know if that means earthquakes have a snowball effect (implying they’ll only get worse without receding) or a cycle (implying the time frame of this cycle is beyond when we started recording earthquakes with precision equipment), but it looks that either way it’s going to get worse before it gets better.

It’s just a hunch, but looking at the record of recent earthquakes and magnitudes, I’d say either Saudi/Iraq or California are in for a hit in a couple of weeks.

As to the idea that our records of seismic activity has increased solely on the advancements of technology and science, these two following sites make a compelling argument that this idea needs to be scrutinized. The first one points out that records for major ‘quakes were fairly good from the 1880s onwards so anything in the 6.5~7.0 range and above would be detected and recordable. The second one makes a scientific case based on the data centered around 5.x magnitude earthquakes.

A couple of interesting sources on the matter:
Earthquake Frequency Trends
International Earthquake Frequency

And now for some uplifting, once famous, quotes brought about by and for the educational system of a world superpower.
These are core values and morals that should be clearly taught in all schools.

“Live Faithfully, Fight Bravely…”

“Be Faithful, Be Pure…”

“He who serves … [their country] … serves God.”

“[To] my magnificent youngsters! Are there any finer ones in the world? Look at these young men and boys! What material! With them, I can make a new world. This is the heroic stage of youth. Out of it will come the creative man…”

“…youth must be slender and supple, fast as a greyhound, tough as leather, and hard as Krupp steel. He must learn to do without, to endure criticism and injustice, to be reliable, discreet, decent, and loyal.”

What happened to faithfulness, bravery, purity, grace, dependability, responsibility and loyalty? They should certainly be taught, but parents are mistaken if they think the school, typical Sunday school or material synagogue/schule takes this effort. Let me shed some light to the aforementioned quotes by filling in their ellipses.

“Live Faithfully, Fight Bravely, and Die Laughing! We were born to die for Germany!”

“Be Faithful, Be Pure, Be German!”

“He who serves Adolf Hitler, the Führer, serves Germany, and whoever serves Germany, serves God.”

“I begin with the young. We older ones are used up. We are rotten to the marrow. We are cowardly and sentimental. We are bearing the burden of a humiliating past, and have in our blood the dull recollection of serfdom and servility. But my magnificent youngsters! Are there any finer ones in the world? Look at these young men and boys! What material! With them, I can make a new world. This is the heroic stage of youth. Out of it will come the creative man, the man-god.”

“The German youth must be slender and supple, fast as a greyhound, tough as leather, and hard as Krupp steel. He must learn to do without, to endure criticism and injustice, to be reliable, discreet, decent, and loyal.”

Oops! Doesn’t sound so Utopian, anymore, now that we know the source of the statements.

Hitler certainly had a masterful influence over people. He convinced them through his charisma, education, grace, talent and diplomacy to unite and wreak havoc on the world, not excluding attempted genocide. Many politicians looked to him, his influence and his failures as examples of how to control the masses. People were dazzled and blinded by the hateful intent and destructive force this leader was spewing… not least of them were teachers.

So what makes teachers, or anyone for that matter, think they are impervious to the same forces taking power in America and across other world power governments today? All adults from the past three generations have been raised and educated in such a way that it systematically strips our independence and self-sufficiency, making us dependent on the government. Furthermore, it’s been done in a way that, for the most part, we don’t know what we’re missing.

Education – TRUE education – isn’t about reading or writing or arithmetic. Those aren’t goals. Those are tools and we should think of them as such. True education is about exploring, experimenting on our own, making mistakes and learning from them. It’s about acknowledging the individuality of people, respecting them and respectfully disagreeing with eloquence. It’s about mastering graceful behavior on our own bodies as an outward expression that we are elite creatures by creation and can master other things as well. It’s about knowing your ground, debating civilly, and assisting others gallantly. It’s about becoming the best person you can be.

The government thinks the best you can be, in the government’s system’s point of view, is a resource … a tool. If the government needs more waiters and waitresses in the future, guess what kind of education you’re children are going to be given. I heard of an interesting society – another experimental system – that molded the western culture. But this system had real education as its underpinnings. They would drop the names of all civilians in a bowl and have lottery-esque drawings for careers. This was not a lottery of children to determine what career to train them for, as the Soviet Union’s communistic government donned out, but a lottery of adults. It was expected of all adults to be completely capable and self sufficient of any task that if the city needed a new army captain or master chef any adult had already risen to that capability and only needed to exercise it. This was ancient Greece.

Hitler, as much a beast as he was, was right about the power of government managed education. If you send your child to Caeser, Kaiser, or der Führer… don’t be surprised when they come home as Romans, Germans or Nazis. Start by being surprised at what the leaders are saying.

Look through history at all the greatest inventors … even at the wealthiest people today … they either didn’t finish public school or they didn’t go to public school at all. Schooling does not equate to education. It is mostly for government indoctrination. Teachers have been used as pawns and most don’t recognize it. The same could be said for any American (or anyone raised under a Prussian-inspired school system).

What should you do to break away from this indoctrination? Put yourself through the type of elite schooling that our politicians and other powerful world leaders receive:

Hone your skills and learn skills that really matter:

• Educate yourself by reading classic literature, philosophy, poetry.
• Exercise yourself through puzzles.
• Expand what you’ve learned through practicing debate, reason and logic.
• Execute your skills by critical examination of the media (they’re mostly wrong … and on purpose, too) and by listening carefully to what world leaders are saying.
• Know what makes people tick.
  • For those who want to learn, show them the way.
  • For those who don’t want to learn, know how to control/seduce/entice their desires to direct them to do justice and righteousness.
  • You’ll find more people want to learn as the unrest continues.

Prepare for the worst, but work for the best:

• Just like the boy scout motto.
• Prepare your hearts – Master your world view. Get right with God
• Prepare your mind – learn survival skills … at least learn to milk a cow
• Prepare your pantry – store food for yourself and others
• Prepare your arsenal – get ready to hunt for and defend your family
• Prepare your finances – save and invest in hard goods and precious metals

Start now. Time is running out. If you have these skills then you can question the world around you to recognize the signs. The red stallion is ready.

So I guess we should begin talking about stockpiling and how it’s different than hording. Those who have collecting skills or miserly qualities should easily move well with this skill provided they have a prepared heart. As God’s Word states, only those who are righteous, industrious and good stewards will end well: Proverbs 10:3, 11:1, 11:24-26.

1. Proverbs 10:3 – The LORD will not allow the righteous soul to famish.
   We need to hold ourselves to high integrity and standards in the beginning of these dark times. Be honest and truthful with our words and actions, courageous and dogmatic about what’s right, loyal and faithful to God at all costs.
   There’s nothing righteous in being angry, inconsiderate, jealous or rude. Righteousness starts by being ready to admit we’re wrong, and by acknowledging natural laws that govern us as being universal with accountability.
2. Proverbs 11:1 – Dishonest scales are an abomination of the LORD, but a just weight is His delight.
   I.E. Don’t clock in time you didn’t work. Don’t say you did something if you didn’t. If the United States economy collapses and bartering becomes a popular way of life, remember that God’s law states that any cheater pays back seven fold what he stole.
3. Proverbs 11:24-26 – There is one who scatters, yet increases more; and there is one who withholds more than is right, but it leads to poverty. The generous soul will be made rich, and he who waters will also be watered himself. The people will curse him who withholds grain, But blessing will be on the head of him who sells it.
   Any man who doesn’t provide for his family’s needs first is a twisted dung heap. After providing for your family, see how you can further sustain your need and others with what you have remaining. Although God blesses those who bless the poor, we need to be industrious in how we help others. Remember the parable of the maids with the oil lamps in Matthew 25:1-13. Although the parable is intended to demonstrate our spiritual preparedness for the tribulation (perhaps even acceptance of the rapture itself) it holds wisdom for other aspects in life. In short, it’s the boyscout motto: be prepared.

What should we stockpile? Nonperishable Consumables. These are items that last long on the shelf that everyone uses: Daily necessities such as toilet paper, shaving cream, razors, toothpaste; Cans or packages of food with more than two or three years of shelf-life such as beans, peanut butter and ramen noodles; Extra batteries; Bottled water and water purifiers; “sinful” pleasures such as cigarettes, wine, bottles of rum.

You might not have interests in these items, but others will in a couple of years.