An earthquake notice—and advice to be prepared

Post-it GN 24 FD/MM/FM

By Maria 3609 8/06

Dear Family‚

1. I love you and pray that this Letter finds you well and happy!

2. I would like to share with you something that the Lord recently brought to our attention—initially through a prophecy that one of you received‚ which we confirmed in praying further about it. He said that there would be an earthquake in or near Taiwan, and confirming prophecies indicated that while the earthquake won't necessarily be big, its effects will likely be very big. You'll be glad to know that He specifically said He would protect our Family members in that region.

3. The Lord didn't say when this earthquake would happen, so all we know at the moment is that it will happen sooner or later. This might not seem like too big a prediction, because Taiwan is part of the Ring of Fire, an extensive zone of volcanic and seismic activity around the borders of the Pacific Ocean. I had my channels ask the Lord why He told us about this earthquake and what we stood to gain from knowing this.

4. The Lord emphasized the need to prepare, and to seek Him and find out what that means in your situation. He said:

Being prepared is the message that I have for you

5. (Jesus:) The Ring of Fire is an area that is prone to earthquakes, so you probably don't consider it too far-out that I've predicted an earthquake there. But My reason for giving you this forewarning is to remind you‚ My worldwide Family, to be prepared. This is the Time of the End, a time of earthquakes in diverse places, and all sorts of disturbances and problems (Mat.24:7). I wish for all My brides to take on more of a precautionary approach. I wish for you to be prepared.

6. Calamities can happen anywhere. Look at the situation in Lebanon. It had been fairly peaceful, but one little incident produced a war that became a national and international emergency. My message to you is that this can happen anywhere. Earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, riots and civil unrest‚ war, or a number of other emergencies could happen in your country, and something like that could very well take you by surprise and find you unprepared.

7. Being prepared to survive, and not just to survive, but to thrive and be able to reach out and help in some way, is the message that I have for you in this. I want your Homes to always be ready and prepared for whatever comes up.

8. Your primary preparation is of course spiritual—being obedient and spiritually prepared for whatever might come your way—and that is why I have given you an intensified course for this next 18 months. When times of crisis arise, your job intensifies, and My plan for you goes far beyond keeping you personally safe, and extends to giving many others the answers and life-saving comfort and instruction that I can pour through you.

9. At the same time, there is a time and place to be prepared physically with a survival stock of basic essentials—which could include food, water, and whatever else I show you is necessary.

10. Preparations for survival–type situations, and having some stock of essentials on hand, is not a thing of the past. There will be times when you will find it helpful and even essential, and if it becomes necessary in your situation, you'll want to be prepared, and not be caught short when it's too late. It's important to seek Me now as to how I would have you prepare for this event. My counsel on this is not limited to Taiwan. Homes in other parts of the world, which will likely not be affected by this earthquake, should also ask Me if there's anything they should do to prepare for emergencies.

11. I have important advice for each person and Home, guidance that will be vital. So seek that guidance by asking Me what you should do and what your Home should do. It will make the difference between surviving and even suffering during a time of emergency, or being prepared and ready not only to take care of yourselves, but to go out and minister to the afflicted, as you have done after other natural disasters.

12. So be wise, I say, and be prepared! Preparation, in most cases, will include many different aspects, not just one or two. It may include preparing yourselves spiritually, preparing your work and your flock, setting aside an extra stock of food, water, and supplies for emergencies, making contacts and winning friends, getting legal work in order, and more. Be open to what I show you is best in your situation, and have faith that I will both lead as well as provide for these preparations.

13. (Mama:) Emergencies and disasters can happen anywhere, whether or not they seem likely. Only the Lord knows what may happen, and He is willing to tell us and help us to be prepared. The Lord wants all of us to seek Him and find out if there are any preparations we should make, and to be open to whatever He shows, and then to take those preparations seriously.

14. In most emergencies or natural disasters, the Lord usually leads the Family to reach out and help in any way they can‚ and the Family is often among the first to respond and help in some way. The Lord may lead your Home to reach out and help when this earthquake occurs, or when other disasters occur. If the Lord leads you in this way, you would want to be prepared to do so. If your Home is somewhere that might be affected, this would include being prepared to survive without shopping or provisioning for days or even weeks, while the area gets back on its feet. Most of all‚ it's important to seek the Lord and find out how He would have you prepare.

15. I think that, in some ways, we need to go back to some of Dad's teachings on survival. There were many instances in the past when survival stocks were a huge blessing or even lifesavers, and I believe that the Lord will confirm to many of you that it's His will that your Home be prepared, at least to some extent, in this way—both for your Home's sake and so that you can go out and minister to others as much as possible, having your own physical needs met.

Why survival stocks?

16. A question some of you might have is regarding how efficient or necessary survival food is. In the past, the Family has often been encouraged to stock up on food or other items, and while there were many times when those stocks were a huge relief and very necessary, in most cases the survival probably ended up being recycled into the Home‚ or sold, or otherwise eliminated. Before Y2K, for example, the Lord recommended that we be prepared and stock up on survival. Most Homes probably didn't use those stocks for survival.

17. Why did the Lord recommend stocking up when He knew that most of us wouldn't need those stocks for survival? What was His reasoning, and were there any benefits involved that we haven't seen?

18. (Dad: ) As the saying goes, "It's better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it." When the crunch comes and you really do need it, you'll be very thankful that you have it.

19. When it comes to survival stocks and being prepared, you never know when you are going to need it, but you have to realize that world events can hinge on something very small. Emergencies hit suddenly, and if you wait until the last moment to prepare, you aren't going to have time to get ready. When everyone else around you is rushing to get supplies and stock up on necessities, that's when things get scarce and when you wish you'd been a little more prepared.

20. Being prepared is never a waste! Don't be too quick to put it down as something wacky that the Family used to do in the past, thinking that it's not for today and it wasn't a smart thing to do. Being prepared for any eventuality is not only wise, but it's something that even the world promotes and spends a lot of capital on. They've learned from experience. If being prepared for any eventuality wasn't a smart idea, why do you think insurance is such big business? It's because unexpected things happen.

21. A homeowner may pay insurance on his house for years without ever needing it, and you might say that money went to waste. But in the eyes of someone who watches their house burn down and loses everything, having that insurance would have been a lifesaver. It doesn't cost that much to save for some eventuality, but it costs a whole lot if you don't save and aren't prepared when an emergency does arise.

22. Those of the world don't have the Lord to trust and lean on, and they have to have the security of the world to be a "safety net" for them. But while you do have the Lord's protection and provision, He still requires that you do your part. When big events hit in your part of the world—and to tell you the truth, they are hitting more and more these days as the End draws near—you need to be ready so that you can continue to do what the Lord has called you to do, and that's to be a beacon of light in the darkness and to reach out and minister and help the needy.

23. I realize that in the past there were many times when there were survival stocks in Homes that weren't used; they weren't needed for emergency situations and they ended up getting used up in the Home as time went on. For example, maybe you had to eat the same thing over and over again in order to use up the stocks when you moved. That may have turned you off to keeping survival stocks.

24. The Family can be a bit extreme at times. I was a bit extreme sometimes. But in this case I'm not really sorry about it, because it was a wise thing to do. Regardless of whether your survival stocks were needed then or not, it was wise to be prepared. And there were situations when they were needed and the folks were prepared, and it made a huge difference. For even those few situations it was worth advocating it, because those were the situations it was for.

25. There were also times when it was needed and Homes weren't prepared‚ and they had it much more difficult than they should have. The Lord supplied, of course, but they had to be much more focused on their own survival and how they would get their needs, rather than being able to reach out to others, minister and be the Lord's representatives as much as He would have wanted them to.

26. One of the problems in the past, and why the idea of having survival stocks isn't very appealing to some folks, is that they weren't always handled in the right way. People went overboard and stocked too much, or too much of the same thing, or the wrong things, or did so at the last minute. That happened in many Homes right before Y2K. Many Homes only started stocking up on survival supplies at the last minute, and that led to poor planning and getting stocks and equipment that couldn't be used afterwards in case there wasn't an emergency, or that wouldn't be very appealing to the Home if they had to be used as a regular part of your meal plan. It wasn't that the concept of being prepared was unsound, but it was the way that many went about getting those stocks that was flawed, not really thinking through how you might use them or recycle them if they weren't needed.

27. Being prepared means being prepared for any eventuality, both that something might happen and that something might not. You have to be prepared for both and work that into your plan. If you are going to have survival stocks, you have to plan it right and you have to have a plan for managing those stocks. It's got to be done right and be practical.

28. Don't make the mistakes of the past. Have a plan so that you are truly ready for anything. That's the whole point of survival stocks and the reason that I've pushed for them all along. The Lord has told you to be prepared as well. Just because you haven't needed them in most cases doesn't mean that all things will continue as they have been! You also can't see all the times that disasters were averted and emergency situations were pushed back by the Lord's power because of your prayers and the fact that the Lord was giving you more time.

29. But the End is drawing nearer all the time and things are going to start escalating in order to bring the world to the point where the AC can take over. It's got to happen, and although the Lord has given you time‚ and may yet give you a little more time to reap the harvest, it's not guaranteed, because it depends on a lot of things.

30. Just like I talked about how prayer works‚ and various elements have to be in line in order for the prayer to be answered, so do the events of the future hang on the alignment of various elements and factors and decisions in order for it all to come to pass.

31. The bottom line is that you need to be prepared. Don't look at the past and use that as a reference, but look at the future and the End drawing near. It's coming, and those of you who are prepared are going to be thankful that you are. And if you end up not needing it in your particular situation, well, you can still be thankful that you were wise and you obeyed the Lord and that He blessed you with not needing to use it!

32. Either way, it's better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it. Just do it the right way. Ask the Lord about it! Get a plan from Him‚ and most of all‚ trust in Him and stay close to Him so that He can bless you and keep you and protect you.

Y2K lessons [Box]

Wisdom is to be prepared

37. (Jesus:) Wisdom is to be prepared, not to hope that the worst won't happen. You have to have a contingency plan; you have to at the very least plan for trouble and have an idea of what you'll do. I often keep trouble from you and allow you to focus on your work and the greater job of winning the world. I keep most problems from you, in fact, and take care of them Myself, because I know that's the best way to keep you focused on what you need to do most. But I have to allow you to see and feel some of those problems, and to work your way through them physically—with My help‚ of course.

38. I am wise and I use My foresight when I ask these things of you. I understand very well the time, effort and money that it takes to set up a survival stock, and I don't ask that of you unnecessarily. So believe Me and trust Me that when I ask you to prepare, I have good reasons for it. Learn from your experience too‚ that it's necessary to really seek Me as to what needs doing and saving and what doesn't. Understand that preparedness in spirit and in faith is the ultimate and most important goal in these situations, and then finally, feel free to ask Me any further questions you have, but know that some things you just have to take by faith.

39. (Mama:) In summary, the Lord has confirmed there will be an earthquake in the vicinity of Taiwan at some point, and He wants us to be prepared and to seek Him as to how each of us should go about being prepared, in the event that this earthquake or another emergency affects you. The Lord will speak to you and your Home‚ and show you how to be prepared so that you can not only weather any difficult times more easily, but also be ready to reach out and minister to others.

40. I hope this foresight and instruction from our Husband will help you to be prepared, so that when the time comes, you have what you need to not just survive, but be the lifesavers and help to others that the Lord has prepared you so well to be.

Much love,
Mama

Letter Links

See also The Y2K Personal Survival Guide book summary, available on the MO site.

Copyright © 2006 by The Family International