Surviving Off Off-Grid: Chapter 2 - Revolution
***Welcome to the Book Project. I am writing the book Surviving Off-Off-Grid. Please read the participation rules HERE. Remember that the work is unedited when posted and is subject to change until final publication***
FIRST GO READ THE INTRODUCTION
THEN GO READ THE FIRST CHAPTER
What is Power?
For most of the last six thousand years the world has lived without electrical power. Cheap electrical power has only been readily available for less than 100 years, and only appeared in most of rural America about 30 years before I was born. This means that likely over 100 billion people were born, lived their whole lives, and died on this earth having never made use of electrical power. Yet, as we have said, if the electrical power grid was to collapse today, and if it was to remain unavailable for some great amount of time, it is likely that a majority of the people alive would die within a year. Readily available and cheap grid electricity has regrettably resulted in a world filled with unviable slaves, and it has made man dangerously dependent on a system that has proven itself to be unreliable and contrary to man’s eternal best interests.
It is very interesting that we call both the electricity that supports and enables life today, and the force that keeps people under the sway and thumb of the world, by the same name!
“Power”
I can think of no more deliciously appropriate irony. Let us take a look at a few relevant definitions of the word “power” from Dictionary.com :
All Carnal Power is Coercion!
Write that down. You’ll need to remember it. Some coercion is good and legitimate, such as when we teach and train our children up in the way they should go (according to the Bible this way would be “the old ways”, “the old paths”). Coercion can be brutal and tyrannical, or in other forms it can be benevolent, or subtle, or political. When we use means to bring about good and Biblical ends, we are exercising coercion. When the world uses marketing, advertising, and trickery, and when it plies the lusts, the carnal desires, or fears in order to bring about cultural or social change, it is using coercion. Never deny, even for a moment, that carnal power utilizes coercion. To deny it is just to stick ones head in the sand.
As we mentioned, man has chosen to use a word (power) to describe the force and energy that travels through cables and machines, a force that supposedly makes life easier and more comfortable and more fulfilling; and he has chosen to use the same word to define and represent the authority that coercive energy holds over his mind and life. It is fascinating to note the Bible teaches that Jesus came to His people, “to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God” (Acts 26:18). Satan has coercive power over the people and that power is used to keep them in darkness. Likewise, mankind has become totally dependent upon earthly electrical power to supply and maintain his desires. Grid electricity is only a part of the overall coercive grid “system” in the world today, but it is inarguable that grid electricity has made man dependent on it for his survival, and it has, in the past 100 years, become the basis for earthly political and social power. I guess it could be said today that POWER is POWER.
When grid power is used to coerce and enable the lusts and desires of man, political and social power results. One hundred years ago, much of America, indeed much of the world, lived independently from any system of grid power. Under that system, most rural people lived lives of relative freedom. It is true that forced slavery has existed throughout history, and it is true that rural people, like urbanites, have been enslaved and colonized by others throughout history. However, it is notable that historically (before the advent of grid power) the people could only be subjugated by military power, or by the persuasive power of ideology, philosophy or religion. Historically, coercion had to come from outside the individual person, group, or society. It was readily identifiable. If the people were slaves, they were slaves to superior might and strength. They could see their masters, and they could see their chains. They were slaves to superior might and not slaves of themselves and of their own material and carnal lusts. Contrarily, under the system of cheap and ubiquitous grid electrical power, the people became enslaved to the philosophy and religion of this world, and they submitted willfully to it, because by it they were enabled to fulfill their carnal desire for temporal comfort and security. The slave is held most securely when he is held by the chains of his own will and of his own fears, and when he is locked down by his own slavish desires for a comfortable life. For a slave mind to turn against his master and seek to return to a life of freedom a revolution is in order.
In the last chapter I said that when illegitimate power is overthrown by those with legitimate power you have a revolution. A quick word about Revolution:
I don’t want people to be confused. Many conflicts are called revolutions that are not revolutions at all. When one tyrant is overthrown and replaced with another one, one that has the same ends or the same goals and the same basic philosophy, you have had a coup d'état or a rebellion, but not a revolution.
The overthrow of the Russian Czar system that began in 1917 is called The Russian Revolution, but the results show that it was really a coup d'état and not a proper revolution. The Russian people, poor and powerless after centuries of life under the thumb of the Russian Czars, threw off the shackles of the czar only to find themselves under the thumb of the Communists. While it is true that many Russians did have hope that things would get better and that they would be afforded basic freedoms and that their conditions would improve, in reality, after the revolution, they wanted the same things they had always wanted. There was no real change. There was no revolutionary change in the overall philosophy of living. If the Czar had offered the peasants some fundamental freedoms they would have been more than happy to continue under the Czar. The people had not experienced a wholesale change of heart and mind, they had just had enough. Most Russian peasants wanted one simple thing, and that is the thing most Americans and westerners want; the Russian people just wanted the government to get off their backs. The average Russian countryman didn’t have an overwhelming love and admiration for the Bolsheviks or the Mensheviks or for any other new political voice or party. The people just figured that any government that promised them freedom had to be better than what they had been experiencing. Freedom sounded better than the serfdom they had experienced under the Czar. This is, unhappily, the truth behind most so-called “revolutions” and it ought to be a cautionary tale for all history students. When the people find their current state intolerable, they are likely to go along with whoever might overthrow the latest tyrant. We will examine these motivations and their results more later on in this chapter.
If the people of Russia had been truly converted to a whole worldview of freedom; if they had individually and corporately experienced a conversion to a compelling and complete philosophy of freedom; if the average Russian (and the people as a whole) had been committed and irrevocably bound to a truly revolutionary idea of freedom, then the Communists would have quickly gone the way of the Czar. Once a man is wholly and truly converted to a right philosophy of freedom and life, he is never going to be satisfied with less than that. A true revolution, then, is founded on conversion in the mind and heart. When the mind is converted, the man naturally follows. Tyrants know this. Colonizers know this. Why do you think that the prophets of industrialism and consumerism spend billions and billions of dollars on converting minds? What do you think advertising is? The industrial consumer society is built wholly on consumption, and the minds of consumers must be completely and utterly colonized in order to make the people true believers in the consumptive gospel. Jesus Christ knew the power of the marketing forces of the world and He rejected them. This is why His apostles warned “we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content” (1Ti 6:7-8). Jesus brought a revolution, and He did it by converting the minds of men. He and His messengers taught men that worldliness (the world’s way of doing things) was folly, and could lead only to eternal disaster. His philosophy was revolutionary in that those who were converted to it valued nothing (even their lives, families, etc.) more than they valued obedience to Him and His Word.
The First Revolution: Revolution in the Mind and Heart
When I teach that the mind has to be decolonized, I am teaching and advocating nothing less than true revolution. This revolution must take two forms. The first revolution is internal. It is a conversion of the mind; an overthrowing of the old way of thinking, of the old lusts and desires, and of the old worldview. The second revolution is external. It shows forth the product of different wants and desires; different principles and a different worldview. Decolonization is revolution. Decolonization is the process of coming to a different conclusion based on the facts in evidence. It is the process of having our minds rewired so that we think differently, so that we want different things, and it is the process of shedding the lifetime of false conclusions we have reached based on false and misleading evidence. Every element of the industrial system (which is the prevailing system of the world today), its foundations, its systems of survival, its methods and maxims, must be examined. From our youth, when our carnal minds were first encouraged to abandon the old paths and constantly seek whatever new and modern wisdom was being preached by the prophets of “success” and “comfort”, we have been undergoing training and indoctrination into the global industrial system. The world calls us “consumers” because that is what we are. The world system needs eaters and buyers, so it creates and trains them. Colonizing and training minds is the ultimate purpose behind public education. In an industrial/consumer society, the mind must be colonized, and that colonization must begin at an early age, so that real production forever remains in the hands of the elite, and so that no one ever dares examine or question if the emperor is actually wearing any clothes. Only if you have followed the world’s system of colonization, and only if you have succeeded in showing yourself an apt and able proselyte of the consumer religion, will you ever be accepted (or even tolerated) by the world system.
As I mentioned in the last chapter, words have been redefined, reality has been obscured, and old truths have been convoluted and twisted until people actually believe that they are the philosophical offspring of their forefathers. Every American child is told, “If you work hard and excel and do what the world expects from you, why, you could grow up to be the President!” Hereby the child is trained to believe that freedom exists in the possibility that right behavior (meaning behavior consistent with the desires of the colonizer) can ultimately lead to political power and the authority to coerce others. These children are not told that most of their ancestors came to North America because they had had enough of government coercion (and the coercion of government churches, by the way), and that they wanted nothing more than to be left alone so that they could farm and be free. We have been taught what to want, and we have been taught that wanting the right things is what makes us good and valuable to the system. Our first revolution, then, must be in the mind and heart. We must be converted. Our wants must change and we must be convinced – not just in our minds and in our hearts – but we must be spiritually convinced of the dangers and death that accompanies the old way of doing things. Only when it is given to us to see the world as it is, will we be made willing to engage in revolution.
A Second Revolution: Overthrowing the System
The second revolution is external. When the colonizer finds out that revolution is afoot, he becomes very, very angry. When the slave-holder comes to learn that his slaves have been turned against him, he will become distressed and fearful. When the proselytes of the industrial/consumer religion see that you have become a renegade to their cause, they become avowed enemies.
The first step in the Second Revolution (and that is what this book is ultimately about) is the recognition that something must be done. Decolonization starts as an internal process, but at some point it must break outwards into the world in which we live. If the mind and heart are converted, the body will inevitably begin to obey its new operating system. Ultimately, if there is no obedience, then there has been no conversion. Once we learn and believe that our system has produced death, destruction, cultural and social decay, slavish dependence, and an unviable life, it is natural that we will want to begin to exit that system and free ourselves from its influence.
In order to extricate ourselves from our dependence on the world and its consumer system we have to recognize that we are slaves to it. That is the purpose of the first few chapters of this book. If we do not recognize our slavery, we will never move towards freedom.
A Pair of Tests
Here are a couple simple tests that you can use to judge your dependency level, and whether or not you are a slave to the current system. In order for these tests to provide useful information for you, you must be totally and brutally honest with yourself. The tests are shockingly simple, but it is also remarkably easy to cheat on them. Remember, the carnal mind is capable of rationalizing any behavior and any lie. So if you cheat or lie to yourself, you will only be harming yourself.
Ok, here is the first test. We’ll call this first test the Dependency Test. Answer each question honestly. I recommend that you get a pen and paper and that you write down each answer fully and thoughtfully:
**Would you call the world we live in today morally and culturally good? Or morally and culturally corrupt? Are you and your generation more wholesome, holy, and righteous – or do you believe that society and the culture has degraded through time?
**If you know anything about your own history or your own ancestry, would you say that you are more or less dependent on the world “system” than your ancestors were?
**Can you feed and clothe yourself? Can you provide heat, light, shelter, etc. for yourself and your family? If the world grid system (electricity, “just in time” food, water, etc.) was to collapse, and no outside help was forthcoming, would you be likely to perish? Be honest here, because here is where the mind is able to fantasize and create unrealistic “solutions”. If today or tomorrow, starting at noon, your electrical power was cut off, you had no access to the “just in time” food and water delivery system, would you survive? If so, for how long?
**If you were able to survive for awhile (maybe you are a survivalist, or a “prepper”, or maybe you have access to survival material sources, or stored food, and maybe you live next to clean water source) is your survival temporary or is it sustainable? Is it based on “pulling through” or bare survival, for example – making it until the grid system comes back or until help arrives from outside?
Now, depending on how honestly you have answered each of these questions, you ought to have some kind of indication of how viable you are in your current situation and how dependent you are on the world system for your well-being and survival. Many, many people are as deceived about their physical condition as they are about their spiritual condition. I hear it all the time, people will say “I have 3 months (or 1 year or 7 years) supply of dehydrated food”, or “I live where there are a lot of deer and other game animals”, or “I took some survival courses”, or my all time favorite, “I will just go into the woods or the wilderness and survive off the land”. Right. Anyway, as we mentioned in the last section, the concept that “survival” is just a way to temporarily bridge the gap during a crisis situation until things return to “normal” is a failed survival philosophy. It insists that the anomaly of grid living experienced during the last century is “normal”; it presupposes that the industrial/consumer grid system is morally “good”; and it absolutely rests on the ridiculous notion that the industrial/consumer Ponzi scheme can continue indefinitely without collapsing.
The first test was the Dependency Test and it was designed to make you consider how dependent you are on the system. This next test can be a little more painful. I call it the Slavery Test, and I am hopeful that it will cause you to think very carefully on how enslaved you are to the current system. This test necessarily rests upon the previous test.
Ok, here we go:
**If you were to determine through prayerful consideration that the current industrial grid system is dangerous for you and your family and harmful to your physical and spiritual condition, could you walk away? Immediately?
**Write down what conditions hinder you from walking away. Are you broke? Are you deep in debt? Are you locked into a long-term mortgage or some “obligation” from which you feel you cannot walk away?
**If you became convinced that moving to an off-grid or off off-grid lifestyle was the thing to do, would you be hindered from doing so by your family? By your friends? Would you be threatened with the loss of the ties of family and friends if you rejected their lifestyle and moved away from it? Would the persecution you would suffer from renouncing the world’s way of doing things keep you from obeying your conscience?
**Are you hindered by your ignorance? Do you feel like you don’t have the skills, the strength, the know-how, or the courage to leave the grid system?
**Are you hindered by your condition or circumstances? Are you physically or mentally unable to make a change in your lifestyle? Are you suffering from the circumstances brought about by your poor or unbiblical decision making? Are you hindered by an unbelieving spouse, or some other circumstance that is regrettable, but of your own making?
**Are you paralyzed by fear? Does the thought of leaving your comfort zone keep you from ever challenging the things you have believed all of your life?
Now we have arrived where the rubber meets the road. I hope you have been honest in taking these two tests, and I hope you have written down your answers. Now it is time for us to identify our chains. Slavery is often identified by the use of chains. Chains represent the restriction of movement, and their use represents the submission of the slave to the one who has the power to put him in chains. Chains can be physical, mental, or spiritual. There are multiple types and kinds of chains used by the world to keep folks under the impression that they are helpless or powerless to change their condition, and it would serve us well to do a quick study on these methods (or chains).
Blind Mice Get The Carving Knife
Secular government intelligence agencies learned decades ago that there are basically four factors that motivate individuals to join or support certain causes or movements. Agents can be recruited or manipulated by using these four principle motivations. These motivating factors (or chains) are used by intelligence agencies, politicians, individuals, corporations, cults, religions, families, and nations to motivate individuals and groups towards certain actions or behaviors. In the espionage business, these four motivations are known by the acronym M.I.C.E. Knowing what M.I.C.E. means, and being able to recognize what motivates people (and ourselves) will go a long way in helping us to identify and quantify the chains that bind us:
M – Money (includes Debt, Comfort, Leisure, “Stuff”, etc.)
I – Ideology (Patriotism, False Religion, Philosophy)
C – Coercion (Compromise, Fear, Force, Hostility, Grudges, Disaffection)
E – Ego (Excitement, Position, Status, Importance)
Understanding M.I.C.E. helps us get a grasp on what motivates people, and a thorough study of it can help us identify what chains are being used to attempt to hold us or manipulate us. Go back through your answers on the Slavery Test and next to your answers try to identify and write down which motivational chain is being used to keep you enslaved. Every spy in history was recruited according to a motivational propensity or predilection. One or more of these motivational categories was used in the recruiting. Likewise, Satan uses all of the tools in these categories to motivate worldlings to operate according to his power. Every world religion and cult (except True Christianity) uses one or more of these categories (and the elements within those categories) to motivate to action to bring about loyalty.
True Christianity is the only religion that concedes in its doctrines that these motivations are inadequate for the production of true, spiritual loyalty and love. True Christianity teaches that a love of money is the root of all evil, and that the desire to operate according to the principles of mammon is a sign of the damned and not of the elect. Jesus Christ taught that feigned or human loyalty would crumble under pressure and stress. True Christianity teaches that there is a new and spiritual Kingdom, not of this world, and that the desire for the things of this world (money, position, power, status, etc.) will be one of the first things slain in the heart of the regenerate. Jesus Christ and His Apostles taught that we could not obey or love Him without His gifts of Grace and Mercy, and that we must receive a new heart and a new mind from Him in order to see and hear clearly and to obey Him. The Bible teaches that coercion or servile fear (like that used by modernist “christianity” to motivate or “save” people) is insufficient to move people to Godliness and obedience, and that we must have the gift of new operative principles divinely imputed and imparted to us in order for us to operate truly as Christians. Jesus Christ taught that the low and humble would be made high, and that the meek would inherit the earth. He taught that those who would be rich will be made eternally poor, and that the poor in spirit would be the rich in His Kingdom. Jesus taught us that if we follow and obey Him we will receive persecution and tribulation in this world. He taught that we are of a different country, and that we are ambassadors of a different and spiritual nation. In light of this wisdom, it can be a very valuable for us to re-examine our motivations and see how we are shackled by our own sinful principles.
Let’s do some exercises. Here are some other things I hear or read almost every day when I am contacted by people who read the things I write. Pay attention to what people are saying, and see if you can identify the motivation(s). Then, maybe write down some things you yourself have said or thought, or some things that others have said to you that expose and uncover true motivations. Here are a few examples:
“I have a family to support and debt to pay off” – (Money, Fear, Philosophy, Coercion)
“I have a job and things are tough out there. How would I survive?” - (Money, Fear, Philosophy, Position)
“My family (friends/church) would disown me. My children will think I’m crazy. My wife will leave me.” – (Fear, Position, Status, Philosophy, False Religion, Ideology, Ego, Compromise)
“I don’t have any skills. I would be lost. I’m old/young/single and unable to do what I would like” – (Fear, Compromise)
“I was always taught that this (the way of the world) is the way to live. If it was good enough for my parents then it is good enough for me” – (Ideology, Philosophy, Status)
There are no lies as dangerous as those we tell ourselves about ourselves. Most slaves and most colonized people are not willing to rise up and overthrow their oppressors for a few basic reasons:
First, they do not believe that they are slaves, or they think that their condition of bondage is acceptable, or that slavery is better than freedom. In some cases, the mind is so thoroughly colonized or the slave has been so thoroughly brainwashed that he actually comes to have the same mind as the slave-holder or the colonizer. There is a term in psychology called The Stockholm Syndrome. The term “Stockholm Syndrome” was coined to identify a psychological reaction often seen in abducted hostages. Quite often, when a person is captured, enslaved, or abducted against his or her will, after a time they will come to identify and show loyalty to their captor or hostage-taker. Although the psychological response has been around forever, the term was first used after a bank robbery in Stockholm, Sweden in 1973. In that case bank robbers held the employees of the bank hostage for six days, and during that time many of the hostages became loyal and emotionally attached to their captors. Some of the hostages even fought to defend their captors after they were freed. I believe that most of the people who defend this current world, who love it and become emotional or defensive when it is disparaged, or who advertise for it and who are loyal to it – suffer from a mental condition that is identical to Stockholm Syndrome.
Second, they have been taught from a very young age that conformity and syncretism are good and right and that they will lose everything and be poor, hungry, and miserable if they do not conform to the world’s way of doing things.
Third, their consciences are seared. To admit that they are slaves, or that they are helpless to improve their condition, or that the philosophy and ideology on which they have based their worldview and lived their lives is wicked, would be a final burden on a conscience already seared by a lifetime of compromise.
Revolutions are bloody things, and they can never be done half-way. A revolution will (and ought to) cost us everything. Jesus said, “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it” (Matt. 10:34-39).
I said towards the beginning of this chapter that the Second Revolution begins when we admit that something must be done. That is the topic and title of our next chapter.
GO TO CHAPTER 3
FIRST GO READ THE INTRODUCTION
THEN GO READ THE FIRST CHAPTER
Chapter 2: Revolution
What is Power?
For most of the last six thousand years the world has lived without electrical power. Cheap electrical power has only been readily available for less than 100 years, and only appeared in most of rural America about 30 years before I was born. This means that likely over 100 billion people were born, lived their whole lives, and died on this earth having never made use of electrical power. Yet, as we have said, if the electrical power grid was to collapse today, and if it was to remain unavailable for some great amount of time, it is likely that a majority of the people alive would die within a year. Readily available and cheap grid electricity has regrettably resulted in a world filled with unviable slaves, and it has made man dangerously dependent on a system that has proven itself to be unreliable and contrary to man’s eternal best interests.
It is very interesting that we call both the electricity that supports and enables life today, and the force that keeps people under the sway and thumb of the world, by the same name!
“Power”
I can think of no more deliciously appropriate irony. Let us take a look at a few relevant definitions of the word “power” from Dictionary.com :
Power: Great or marked ability to do or act; strength; might; forceIsn’t it ironic that we have come to believe that electrical power frees us and gives us comfort and leisure, when in fact it is the primary means by which we have been colonized and enslaved by the world “powers”?
Power: The possession of control or command over others; authority; ascendancy: power over men’s minds.
Power: Work done or energy transferred.
Power: Energy as distinguished from hand labor.
Power: A person or thing that exercises authority or influence.
All Carnal Power is Coercion!
Write that down. You’ll need to remember it. Some coercion is good and legitimate, such as when we teach and train our children up in the way they should go (according to the Bible this way would be “the old ways”, “the old paths”). Coercion can be brutal and tyrannical, or in other forms it can be benevolent, or subtle, or political. When we use means to bring about good and Biblical ends, we are exercising coercion. When the world uses marketing, advertising, and trickery, and when it plies the lusts, the carnal desires, or fears in order to bring about cultural or social change, it is using coercion. Never deny, even for a moment, that carnal power utilizes coercion. To deny it is just to stick ones head in the sand.
As we mentioned, man has chosen to use a word (power) to describe the force and energy that travels through cables and machines, a force that supposedly makes life easier and more comfortable and more fulfilling; and he has chosen to use the same word to define and represent the authority that coercive energy holds over his mind and life. It is fascinating to note the Bible teaches that Jesus came to His people, “to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God” (Acts 26:18). Satan has coercive power over the people and that power is used to keep them in darkness. Likewise, mankind has become totally dependent upon earthly electrical power to supply and maintain his desires. Grid electricity is only a part of the overall coercive grid “system” in the world today, but it is inarguable that grid electricity has made man dependent on it for his survival, and it has, in the past 100 years, become the basis for earthly political and social power. I guess it could be said today that POWER is POWER.
When grid power is used to coerce and enable the lusts and desires of man, political and social power results. One hundred years ago, much of America, indeed much of the world, lived independently from any system of grid power. Under that system, most rural people lived lives of relative freedom. It is true that forced slavery has existed throughout history, and it is true that rural people, like urbanites, have been enslaved and colonized by others throughout history. However, it is notable that historically (before the advent of grid power) the people could only be subjugated by military power, or by the persuasive power of ideology, philosophy or religion. Historically, coercion had to come from outside the individual person, group, or society. It was readily identifiable. If the people were slaves, they were slaves to superior might and strength. They could see their masters, and they could see their chains. They were slaves to superior might and not slaves of themselves and of their own material and carnal lusts. Contrarily, under the system of cheap and ubiquitous grid electrical power, the people became enslaved to the philosophy and religion of this world, and they submitted willfully to it, because by it they were enabled to fulfill their carnal desire for temporal comfort and security. The slave is held most securely when he is held by the chains of his own will and of his own fears, and when he is locked down by his own slavish desires for a comfortable life. For a slave mind to turn against his master and seek to return to a life of freedom a revolution is in order.
In the last chapter I said that when illegitimate power is overthrown by those with legitimate power you have a revolution. A quick word about Revolution:
I don’t want people to be confused. Many conflicts are called revolutions that are not revolutions at all. When one tyrant is overthrown and replaced with another one, one that has the same ends or the same goals and the same basic philosophy, you have had a coup d'état or a rebellion, but not a revolution.
The overthrow of the Russian Czar system that began in 1917 is called The Russian Revolution, but the results show that it was really a coup d'état and not a proper revolution. The Russian people, poor and powerless after centuries of life under the thumb of the Russian Czars, threw off the shackles of the czar only to find themselves under the thumb of the Communists. While it is true that many Russians did have hope that things would get better and that they would be afforded basic freedoms and that their conditions would improve, in reality, after the revolution, they wanted the same things they had always wanted. There was no real change. There was no revolutionary change in the overall philosophy of living. If the Czar had offered the peasants some fundamental freedoms they would have been more than happy to continue under the Czar. The people had not experienced a wholesale change of heart and mind, they had just had enough. Most Russian peasants wanted one simple thing, and that is the thing most Americans and westerners want; the Russian people just wanted the government to get off their backs. The average Russian countryman didn’t have an overwhelming love and admiration for the Bolsheviks or the Mensheviks or for any other new political voice or party. The people just figured that any government that promised them freedom had to be better than what they had been experiencing. Freedom sounded better than the serfdom they had experienced under the Czar. This is, unhappily, the truth behind most so-called “revolutions” and it ought to be a cautionary tale for all history students. When the people find their current state intolerable, they are likely to go along with whoever might overthrow the latest tyrant. We will examine these motivations and their results more later on in this chapter.
If the people of Russia had been truly converted to a whole worldview of freedom; if they had individually and corporately experienced a conversion to a compelling and complete philosophy of freedom; if the average Russian (and the people as a whole) had been committed and irrevocably bound to a truly revolutionary idea of freedom, then the Communists would have quickly gone the way of the Czar. Once a man is wholly and truly converted to a right philosophy of freedom and life, he is never going to be satisfied with less than that. A true revolution, then, is founded on conversion in the mind and heart. When the mind is converted, the man naturally follows. Tyrants know this. Colonizers know this. Why do you think that the prophets of industrialism and consumerism spend billions and billions of dollars on converting minds? What do you think advertising is? The industrial consumer society is built wholly on consumption, and the minds of consumers must be completely and utterly colonized in order to make the people true believers in the consumptive gospel. Jesus Christ knew the power of the marketing forces of the world and He rejected them. This is why His apostles warned “we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content” (1Ti 6:7-8). Jesus brought a revolution, and He did it by converting the minds of men. He and His messengers taught men that worldliness (the world’s way of doing things) was folly, and could lead only to eternal disaster. His philosophy was revolutionary in that those who were converted to it valued nothing (even their lives, families, etc.) more than they valued obedience to Him and His Word.
The First Revolution: Revolution in the Mind and Heart
When I teach that the mind has to be decolonized, I am teaching and advocating nothing less than true revolution. This revolution must take two forms. The first revolution is internal. It is a conversion of the mind; an overthrowing of the old way of thinking, of the old lusts and desires, and of the old worldview. The second revolution is external. It shows forth the product of different wants and desires; different principles and a different worldview. Decolonization is revolution. Decolonization is the process of coming to a different conclusion based on the facts in evidence. It is the process of having our minds rewired so that we think differently, so that we want different things, and it is the process of shedding the lifetime of false conclusions we have reached based on false and misleading evidence. Every element of the industrial system (which is the prevailing system of the world today), its foundations, its systems of survival, its methods and maxims, must be examined. From our youth, when our carnal minds were first encouraged to abandon the old paths and constantly seek whatever new and modern wisdom was being preached by the prophets of “success” and “comfort”, we have been undergoing training and indoctrination into the global industrial system. The world calls us “consumers” because that is what we are. The world system needs eaters and buyers, so it creates and trains them. Colonizing and training minds is the ultimate purpose behind public education. In an industrial/consumer society, the mind must be colonized, and that colonization must begin at an early age, so that real production forever remains in the hands of the elite, and so that no one ever dares examine or question if the emperor is actually wearing any clothes. Only if you have followed the world’s system of colonization, and only if you have succeeded in showing yourself an apt and able proselyte of the consumer religion, will you ever be accepted (or even tolerated) by the world system.
As I mentioned in the last chapter, words have been redefined, reality has been obscured, and old truths have been convoluted and twisted until people actually believe that they are the philosophical offspring of their forefathers. Every American child is told, “If you work hard and excel and do what the world expects from you, why, you could grow up to be the President!” Hereby the child is trained to believe that freedom exists in the possibility that right behavior (meaning behavior consistent with the desires of the colonizer) can ultimately lead to political power and the authority to coerce others. These children are not told that most of their ancestors came to North America because they had had enough of government coercion (and the coercion of government churches, by the way), and that they wanted nothing more than to be left alone so that they could farm and be free. We have been taught what to want, and we have been taught that wanting the right things is what makes us good and valuable to the system. Our first revolution, then, must be in the mind and heart. We must be converted. Our wants must change and we must be convinced – not just in our minds and in our hearts – but we must be spiritually convinced of the dangers and death that accompanies the old way of doing things. Only when it is given to us to see the world as it is, will we be made willing to engage in revolution.
A Second Revolution: Overthrowing the System
The second revolution is external. When the colonizer finds out that revolution is afoot, he becomes very, very angry. When the slave-holder comes to learn that his slaves have been turned against him, he will become distressed and fearful. When the proselytes of the industrial/consumer religion see that you have become a renegade to their cause, they become avowed enemies.
The first step in the Second Revolution (and that is what this book is ultimately about) is the recognition that something must be done. Decolonization starts as an internal process, but at some point it must break outwards into the world in which we live. If the mind and heart are converted, the body will inevitably begin to obey its new operating system. Ultimately, if there is no obedience, then there has been no conversion. Once we learn and believe that our system has produced death, destruction, cultural and social decay, slavish dependence, and an unviable life, it is natural that we will want to begin to exit that system and free ourselves from its influence.
In order to extricate ourselves from our dependence on the world and its consumer system we have to recognize that we are slaves to it. That is the purpose of the first few chapters of this book. If we do not recognize our slavery, we will never move towards freedom.
A Pair of Tests
Here are a couple simple tests that you can use to judge your dependency level, and whether or not you are a slave to the current system. In order for these tests to provide useful information for you, you must be totally and brutally honest with yourself. The tests are shockingly simple, but it is also remarkably easy to cheat on them. Remember, the carnal mind is capable of rationalizing any behavior and any lie. So if you cheat or lie to yourself, you will only be harming yourself.
Ok, here is the first test. We’ll call this first test the Dependency Test. Answer each question honestly. I recommend that you get a pen and paper and that you write down each answer fully and thoughtfully:
**Would you call the world we live in today morally and culturally good? Or morally and culturally corrupt? Are you and your generation more wholesome, holy, and righteous – or do you believe that society and the culture has degraded through time?
**If you know anything about your own history or your own ancestry, would you say that you are more or less dependent on the world “system” than your ancestors were?
**Can you feed and clothe yourself? Can you provide heat, light, shelter, etc. for yourself and your family? If the world grid system (electricity, “just in time” food, water, etc.) was to collapse, and no outside help was forthcoming, would you be likely to perish? Be honest here, because here is where the mind is able to fantasize and create unrealistic “solutions”. If today or tomorrow, starting at noon, your electrical power was cut off, you had no access to the “just in time” food and water delivery system, would you survive? If so, for how long?
**If you were able to survive for awhile (maybe you are a survivalist, or a “prepper”, or maybe you have access to survival material sources, or stored food, and maybe you live next to clean water source) is your survival temporary or is it sustainable? Is it based on “pulling through” or bare survival, for example – making it until the grid system comes back or until help arrives from outside?
Now, depending on how honestly you have answered each of these questions, you ought to have some kind of indication of how viable you are in your current situation and how dependent you are on the world system for your well-being and survival. Many, many people are as deceived about their physical condition as they are about their spiritual condition. I hear it all the time, people will say “I have 3 months (or 1 year or 7 years) supply of dehydrated food”, or “I live where there are a lot of deer and other game animals”, or “I took some survival courses”, or my all time favorite, “I will just go into the woods or the wilderness and survive off the land”. Right. Anyway, as we mentioned in the last section, the concept that “survival” is just a way to temporarily bridge the gap during a crisis situation until things return to “normal” is a failed survival philosophy. It insists that the anomaly of grid living experienced during the last century is “normal”; it presupposes that the industrial/consumer grid system is morally “good”; and it absolutely rests on the ridiculous notion that the industrial/consumer Ponzi scheme can continue indefinitely without collapsing.
The first test was the Dependency Test and it was designed to make you consider how dependent you are on the system. This next test can be a little more painful. I call it the Slavery Test, and I am hopeful that it will cause you to think very carefully on how enslaved you are to the current system. This test necessarily rests upon the previous test.
Ok, here we go:
**If you were to determine through prayerful consideration that the current industrial grid system is dangerous for you and your family and harmful to your physical and spiritual condition, could you walk away? Immediately?
**Write down what conditions hinder you from walking away. Are you broke? Are you deep in debt? Are you locked into a long-term mortgage or some “obligation” from which you feel you cannot walk away?
**If you became convinced that moving to an off-grid or off off-grid lifestyle was the thing to do, would you be hindered from doing so by your family? By your friends? Would you be threatened with the loss of the ties of family and friends if you rejected their lifestyle and moved away from it? Would the persecution you would suffer from renouncing the world’s way of doing things keep you from obeying your conscience?
**Are you hindered by your ignorance? Do you feel like you don’t have the skills, the strength, the know-how, or the courage to leave the grid system?
**Are you hindered by your condition or circumstances? Are you physically or mentally unable to make a change in your lifestyle? Are you suffering from the circumstances brought about by your poor or unbiblical decision making? Are you hindered by an unbelieving spouse, or some other circumstance that is regrettable, but of your own making?
**Are you paralyzed by fear? Does the thought of leaving your comfort zone keep you from ever challenging the things you have believed all of your life?
Now we have arrived where the rubber meets the road. I hope you have been honest in taking these two tests, and I hope you have written down your answers. Now it is time for us to identify our chains. Slavery is often identified by the use of chains. Chains represent the restriction of movement, and their use represents the submission of the slave to the one who has the power to put him in chains. Chains can be physical, mental, or spiritual. There are multiple types and kinds of chains used by the world to keep folks under the impression that they are helpless or powerless to change their condition, and it would serve us well to do a quick study on these methods (or chains).
Blind Mice Get The Carving Knife
Secular government intelligence agencies learned decades ago that there are basically four factors that motivate individuals to join or support certain causes or movements. Agents can be recruited or manipulated by using these four principle motivations. These motivating factors (or chains) are used by intelligence agencies, politicians, individuals, corporations, cults, religions, families, and nations to motivate individuals and groups towards certain actions or behaviors. In the espionage business, these four motivations are known by the acronym M.I.C.E. Knowing what M.I.C.E. means, and being able to recognize what motivates people (and ourselves) will go a long way in helping us to identify and quantify the chains that bind us:
M – Money (includes Debt, Comfort, Leisure, “Stuff”, etc.)
I – Ideology (Patriotism, False Religion, Philosophy)
C – Coercion (Compromise, Fear, Force, Hostility, Grudges, Disaffection)
E – Ego (Excitement, Position, Status, Importance)
Understanding M.I.C.E. helps us get a grasp on what motivates people, and a thorough study of it can help us identify what chains are being used to attempt to hold us or manipulate us. Go back through your answers on the Slavery Test and next to your answers try to identify and write down which motivational chain is being used to keep you enslaved. Every spy in history was recruited according to a motivational propensity or predilection. One or more of these motivational categories was used in the recruiting. Likewise, Satan uses all of the tools in these categories to motivate worldlings to operate according to his power. Every world religion and cult (except True Christianity) uses one or more of these categories (and the elements within those categories) to motivate to action to bring about loyalty.
True Christianity is the only religion that concedes in its doctrines that these motivations are inadequate for the production of true, spiritual loyalty and love. True Christianity teaches that a love of money is the root of all evil, and that the desire to operate according to the principles of mammon is a sign of the damned and not of the elect. Jesus Christ taught that feigned or human loyalty would crumble under pressure and stress. True Christianity teaches that there is a new and spiritual Kingdom, not of this world, and that the desire for the things of this world (money, position, power, status, etc.) will be one of the first things slain in the heart of the regenerate. Jesus Christ and His Apostles taught that we could not obey or love Him without His gifts of Grace and Mercy, and that we must receive a new heart and a new mind from Him in order to see and hear clearly and to obey Him. The Bible teaches that coercion or servile fear (like that used by modernist “christianity” to motivate or “save” people) is insufficient to move people to Godliness and obedience, and that we must have the gift of new operative principles divinely imputed and imparted to us in order for us to operate truly as Christians. Jesus Christ taught that the low and humble would be made high, and that the meek would inherit the earth. He taught that those who would be rich will be made eternally poor, and that the poor in spirit would be the rich in His Kingdom. Jesus taught us that if we follow and obey Him we will receive persecution and tribulation in this world. He taught that we are of a different country, and that we are ambassadors of a different and spiritual nation. In light of this wisdom, it can be a very valuable for us to re-examine our motivations and see how we are shackled by our own sinful principles.
Let’s do some exercises. Here are some other things I hear or read almost every day when I am contacted by people who read the things I write. Pay attention to what people are saying, and see if you can identify the motivation(s). Then, maybe write down some things you yourself have said or thought, or some things that others have said to you that expose and uncover true motivations. Here are a few examples:
“I was raised on a farm, and I would never want to go back to that life I love the conveniences of modern society and don’t want to change anything”From this we can determine that this person is motivated by category “M”, specifically leisure, comfort, and money. Let’s do a quick rundown of many of the excuses. The motivational chains will be listed in parenthesis:
“I have a family to support and debt to pay off” – (Money, Fear, Philosophy, Coercion)
“I have a job and things are tough out there. How would I survive?” - (Money, Fear, Philosophy, Position)
“My family (friends/church) would disown me. My children will think I’m crazy. My wife will leave me.” – (Fear, Position, Status, Philosophy, False Religion, Ideology, Ego, Compromise)
“I don’t have any skills. I would be lost. I’m old/young/single and unable to do what I would like” – (Fear, Compromise)
“I was always taught that this (the way of the world) is the way to live. If it was good enough for my parents then it is good enough for me” – (Ideology, Philosophy, Status)
There are no lies as dangerous as those we tell ourselves about ourselves. Most slaves and most colonized people are not willing to rise up and overthrow their oppressors for a few basic reasons:
First, they do not believe that they are slaves, or they think that their condition of bondage is acceptable, or that slavery is better than freedom. In some cases, the mind is so thoroughly colonized or the slave has been so thoroughly brainwashed that he actually comes to have the same mind as the slave-holder or the colonizer. There is a term in psychology called The Stockholm Syndrome. The term “Stockholm Syndrome” was coined to identify a psychological reaction often seen in abducted hostages. Quite often, when a person is captured, enslaved, or abducted against his or her will, after a time they will come to identify and show loyalty to their captor or hostage-taker. Although the psychological response has been around forever, the term was first used after a bank robbery in Stockholm, Sweden in 1973. In that case bank robbers held the employees of the bank hostage for six days, and during that time many of the hostages became loyal and emotionally attached to their captors. Some of the hostages even fought to defend their captors after they were freed. I believe that most of the people who defend this current world, who love it and become emotional or defensive when it is disparaged, or who advertise for it and who are loyal to it – suffer from a mental condition that is identical to Stockholm Syndrome.
Second, they have been taught from a very young age that conformity and syncretism are good and right and that they will lose everything and be poor, hungry, and miserable if they do not conform to the world’s way of doing things.
Third, their consciences are seared. To admit that they are slaves, or that they are helpless to improve their condition, or that the philosophy and ideology on which they have based their worldview and lived their lives is wicked, would be a final burden on a conscience already seared by a lifetime of compromise.
Revolutions are bloody things, and they can never be done half-way. A revolution will (and ought to) cost us everything. Jesus said, “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it” (Matt. 10:34-39).
I said towards the beginning of this chapter that the Second Revolution begins when we admit that something must be done. That is the topic and title of our next chapter.
GO TO CHAPTER 3
posted by Michael Bunker at 6/25/2009 03:48:00 PM
15 Comments:
This is a place where I got hung up, or lost the point, because I was thinking about the word that was used, instead of the intended point being made.
When the world uses marketing, advertising, and trickery, and when it plies the lusts, the carnal desires, or fears in order to bring about cultural or social change, it is using coercion.
The word ‘plies’ makes me think ‘joining together’, so the words ‘or fears’ felt like they should be ‘and fears’ ~ to me.
Plies:
VERB (used with object
1. to work with or at diligently; employ busily; use: to ply the needle.
2. to carry on, practice, or pursue busily or steadily: to ply a trade.
3. to treat with or apply to (something) repeatedly (often fol. by with): to ply a fire with fresh fuel.
4. to assail persistently: to ply horses with a whip.
5. to supply with or offer something pressingly to: to ply a person with drink.
6. to address (someone) persistently or importunately, as with questions, solicitations, etc.; importune.
***don't know if this clears it up, but let me know
Yes, I looked it up (ply) in the 1828.
Apparently my small world only allows ply to be associated with pliers, the tool that joins or squishes things together.
Thanks for your patience.
By the way. I had trouble reading because of tears. It's hard to be forced to look in the mirror when what you see is ugly.
Maybe that's why the others can't comment. Busy with gardens,summer chores, and wiping tears.
Or - maybe it's just me.
Stayed up late last night. Couldn't stop reading chapter 2. Wow, never thought of Power having such implications, nor the completeness of the power grid making us slaves of "the system", nor how the colonized mind is programmed in us and our children from such an early age... No wonder it takes a revolution to get on the narrow path to escape. This is the best chapter yet, full of meat.
Thanks,
William
As I told you in person, Michael, this may be your best chapter/article/blog entry, ever, on this topic, in that, as far as I can see, it leaves the wishful worldling apologist without an honest leg to stand on.
This chapter covers every base, from exposing all the lustful motivating forces that keep the xtian worldling IN the world system, to exposing how that system is set up to perpetuate itself, through the colonizing of the mind beginning pretty much at birth.
If the xtian worldling actually comes up with honest answers to the questions you've posed, then they absolutely do not have a leg to stand on in their defense.
Well done.
Billy Bob
Off topic, but what is the purpose of the abbreviation "XTIAN?" I've noticed it used by pagans in other blogs and there seems to be a subtle sarcasm associated with it. Is the intent to imply that an "XTIAN" is something other than a follower of Christ? Thank you for enlightening me!
"Is the intent to imply that an "XTIAN" is something other than a follower of Christ?"
BINGO!
BB
Michael,
Thank you so much for this historically, agriculturally, and Biblical/thus Spiritually correct summary and set of questions related to all the off grid "readiness/ability" of each of us, through the questions in this chapter. It's so unfortunate but true, that world dependency, and only the last 100 years has been so demonically deceitful/destructive to the majority of people now living....though biblically predicted. Hmmm...about the same timeframe during which the True Preserved Word of God was taken out of most persons hands...not a coincidence I'm led to think! As you've expressed; the need for a true revolutionary "back to off grid independency/immediate action to the best degree anyone is capable movement", is truly needed ~ many yesterdays ago!! Thus my recent marriage obligation questions to you as I'm feeling the time is right to do this as our finances would now allow it and we have many basics of what's needed to get a good start; could survive a long while and proceed under Gods... instead of this worlds influence, and His further day by day direction according to His Precious Will thereafter, once moved and initally obeying. Please help me to pray and better teach my children these things I naturally learned on our farm plus had parents/grandparents/aunts and uncles telling me what was the "good life" of simpler times/devices to accomplish an agrarian living by obeying God and to again more fully practice what He's taught me. Then once converted and in God's Preserved Word had reconfirmed for me over and over. As I answered your well written questions, I could honestly say I was not at all fearful, was mostly prepared, but would have to learn or relearn some/perhaps many skills (some that come to mind that I never directly did that my grandparents did for instance, was growing the correct crops/animals for harvesting to make basket weaving materials or more importantly yarns or threads for weaving or making fabrics to then sew clothes with. I had a highschool friend show me his big wooden weaving loom one time that he knew how to use and did make blankets,etc. with; that I'd never seen directly before; and was awed by how/what it could efficiently weave the thin thread spools into, plus was surprised by it's relatively simple construction. Something that with one tall straight oak tree a person with some time and basic skills could hand cut, woodshave, sand and bolt together and have quite the tool. The tougher part for me would be learning the spinning of the sheepswool or other animal furs into the thread, perhaps; though my mom in her youth, had done so, and perhaps Karen had also, and I know Mom said it was quite easy to do and fun to learn, with sheepswool at least. She many times shared her experiences with that craft and explained how the wool/fur was twisted and how more was added as one kept spinning the thread overall. Just need to go buy an antique spinning wheel, for one thing, some sheep to sheer and get learning!! Then with all it's parts start with/and use it as a model for others to be built from....(wink) Enough about my dreams/experiences/or at present~lack thereof.
Thanks so much for this chapter. It was very convicting and convincing, plus for me very extremely motivating and uplifting. Praise God for His miraculous but actually very simple ways. May He grow the seed of desire for independance from this corrupt world in all of us here reading your PDL forum. Please pray doors open correctly to let me, as a married woman, and my family; to proceed according to Gods Will. Thank you for your prayers.
Have a bleesed week.
Beth
Michael
I have spent some time thinking about "power" in regards to my own life in reference to electricity and the power grid. As I have considered this it seems that gasoline/liquid fuel would seem to be a far more addictive and difficult vice to rid one self off. Losing electric lights, kitchen appliances, lighting etc, these things are all obvious luxury that. Getting rid of my refriderator is king of like getting rid of he microwave. For those who still have a microwave they just can't imagine. How do you get along without the convenience. It must be such a hassle to turn on the stove and wait for the water to boil etc....But in truth, when one finally does pitch the microwave in a few weeks it is no big deal. Electric lights and appliances would seem to fit into a similar category. They seem necesary, but with a little thought one's ability to function happily and quite comfortably for that matter is not so difficult.
But try and wean a family off gasoline. Now that is an addiction like no other. Would it not seem that gasoline and other liquid fuels would spell otu an exceedingly more difficult addiction to break. Kind of like comparing coffe to cocaine....?
Not disagreeing that we in the modern world are tied to and dependent upon the electrical grid. Just wondering if perhaps the modern addiction to liquid fuels is not a much bigger hurdle to cross?
thanks,
Chad McCarthy
Michael,
The only thing I found in this chapter was in the paragraph that begins: When grid power is used to coerce and enable the lusts and desires of man, political and social power results...
The last sentence was kind of awkward to me the first few times I read it. Maybe this would be better:
In order for a slave mind to turn against his master and seek to return to a life of freedom a revolution is needed.
Other than that I agree with Bill-this is huge. An awesome chapter and very painful for me to take those tests. You know my situation and this makes me feel really bad about it too. But keep it coming.
Al
Michael,
Dave allowed me to read the notes he gave to you in person and I have nothing to add other than this was an excellent and potent chapter in my opinion. Upon reading each chapter it is so tempting to say to myself "If only I can get so-and-so to read this, they will surely finally understand and agree". But I'm reminded that only God can shine that light and grant understanding. May God use this book for His glory and grant wisdom, understanding and discernment to those whom He would draw unto Himself.
Susan
Well without a doubt this is and excellent Chapter 2 - Revolution"
Thank you for taking the time to write and explain it so well.
Pat Tolbert
Yes, I should have reviewed and edited my last post......:(
Let me see if I can condense my previous comment to a shorter clear question.
I can get along fairly easily without electricity. But I cannot easily get along without liquid fuels (gas/oil etc). So if I am asking the questions of myself to find out how dependent I am upon the "system", does this not lead me (us) to an understanding that the modern "power grid" at its heart is ultimately rooted in liquid fuels. As Kunstler has suggested our crisis is not so much an energy crisis as a liquid fuels crisis.
And if so, then what might be the far reaching implications of widening the grid definition to focus more on liquid fuels versus electricity?
Chad McCarthy
Thank you for this chapter, it is very eye opening. I especially like the M.I.C.E. section, not only can I now see what motivates others by listening to what they say, and matching it up to the formula, but I can now start to see the areas in my life that I have to work on. Looking forward to chapter 3 (if the Lord wills.) Thanks again, Chris Woods
Hi Michael,
I love the book. Hope you will keep posting the book anyway. Can't wait for the next chapter because i started to laugh at myself when you said your all time favorite: "I will just go into the woods or the wilderness and survive off the land”. That's what I said and added that God will take care of us. I mean, when I objectively examine myself, I have no skills at all.
On the side, just a note, the "power" section of the chapter maybe wouldn't work in some other languages.It doesn't work in mine for example.
Great work
Ante Zivkovic
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