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Many Christians, who study current events and are discerning of the events in our world (physical and spiritual), are often concerned about what they can do to provide for their family. Proverbs 22:3 & 27:12 talk about the prudent man, who "foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished." (Word study on this verse) In the Bible, Joseph was prudent in preparing for the economic and food disaster that hit the nation of Egypt for seven years.

These resources are not on how to be a 'survivalist', or to rehash Y2K; but to serve as advice on how Christians can be responsible watchmen and stewards with our families I Timothy 5:8 - “But if any provide not for his own and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.”

PRUDENT ALERT
In light of the current economic crisis unfolding in our country and world, informedchristians.com is now highly urging serious prudence in prioritizing and preparing for increased food and energy prices in the very near future.

New Article: Prudent Choices In Light Of Looming Financial Disaster
Updated 3/10/8 with reader tips. Let's hear from you!

Article Sections

	Getting Started... (8)
	Food (12)
	Health / Medicine (2)
	Social / Mental (1)
	Money Matters (2)
	Power / Energy (1)
	Miscellaneous (7)
	First Aid (2)

Related News

	Zim bans 'unlawful hoarding' news24.com 3/5/8 ["Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's government has made it illegal to possess more than Zim$500m in cash, it emerged Monday -the equivalent of 21 US dollars. ...The authorities want to encourage use of cheques and cards."]
	Food aid slashed as price of grain soars mg.co.za 3/4/8 ["...the United States is to slash the amount of food aid it gives to some of the poorest countries in the world. The US Agency for International Development (USAid) said rapidly rising prices of basic commodities, especially grains, have devoured an increasingly large part of its budget and left it with a $120-million black hole. The past six months has seen a 41% surge in prices for wheat, corn, rice and other cereals. In the face of the spike in its costs, the US is now drafting plans to cut the number of poor countries it gives emergency aid to and also scale down the amount of food it gives."]
	NJ Gov's "cold turkey" budget slashes spending reuters.com 2/27/8 ["A slowing economy has also damaged the state's tax revenue. ...The $500 million cut reflected a downturn in revenue from income and other taxes because of the slowing economy. ...He also renewed an appeal to legislators to back his efforts to pay down debt and fund transportation infrastructure renewal by handing management of the state's major toll roads to a public benefit corporation that would issue bonds based on sharply increased toll revenues."]
	Wheat shortage gets bakers right in the bread basket pressofatlanticcity.com 2/25/8 ["ike flour-dependent businesses all over the country, Formica Brothers has been hit hard by the drastically rising price of flour, which has increased by about 250 percent in just six months. "In August, a 100-pound bag of flour cost about $15. Today it's over $50," said Formica, of Margate. "For us, that means we went from paying $7,500 a week for a shipment of 500 pounds of flour to now paying over $25,000.""]
	Wall Street Bank Run washingtonpost.com 2/25/8 ["As each financier tries to protect against the next one's mistakes, the whole system begins to sag. That's what we're seeing now, as credit market troubles spread from bundles of subprime residential mortgages to bundles of other kinds of debt -- from student loans to retailers' receivables to municipal bonds. Investors are nervous because they aren't sure how to value these bundles of securitized assets. So buyers stay away, prices fall further, and the damage spreads. "]
	More people are tapping their 401(k) for cash msnbc.msn.com 2/22/8 ["...if the trend grows, many Americans will risk coming up short on retirement savings or may have to rely on an overburdened Social Security system. "People who take out a loan or withdrawal are adding to a looming retirement crisis over the next 30 to 40 years," said Eric Levy, a partner at global consulting firm Mercer. "And what implications will that have (for) our economy?""]
	Famines May Occur Without Record Crops This Year, Potash Says bloomberg.com 2/22/8 [" Global grain stockpiles fell to about 53 days of supply last year, the lowest level since record-keeping began in 1960, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. ``If you had any major upset where you didn't have a crop in a major growing agricultural region this year, I believe you'd see famine,'' Doyle, 57, said in New York. "]
	Oil Jumps Above $100 on Refinery Outage ap.google.com 2/20/8 ["A weekend refinery explosion in Texas and the possibility that OPEC will cut production next month are driving prices higher, although analysts say there isn't a single factor to explain the move."]
	Wheat hits $20 northlandag.com 2/19/8 ["The wheat market moved into historic ground Friday in North Dakota and Minnesota, as short-term demand from mills pushed prices up to $20 a bushel at one elevator in an after-hours scramble. Most elevators in northeast North Dakota and northwest Minnesota posted prices of $16.70 to $17.30 Friday, according to an Agweek survey; that's four times as high as a year ago and the highest figures ever seen."]
	Dozens of U.S. banks will fail by 2010: analyst reuters.com 2/14/8 ["...as losses from soured loans mount and regulators crack down on lenders that take too much risk, especially in real estate and construction..." Editor: Probably sooner than that...]
	Fed auctions another $30 billion to combat severe credit crisis iht.com 2/14/8 ["It marked the fifth in a series of auctions that so far have pumped $130 billion (€89.42 billion) in money into the U.S. banking system in an effort to provide cash-strapped banks with extra reserves. The Fed's hope is that the increased resources will keep banks lending and prevent a severe credit squeeze from making the current economic slowdown worse."]
	America’s economy risks mother of all meltdowns ft.com 2/21/8 ["Professor Roubini’s scenarios have been dire enough to make the flesh creep. But his thinking deserves to be taken seriously. He first predicted a US recession in July 2006. At that time, his view was extremely controversial. It is so no longer. Now he states that there is “a rising probability of a ‘catastrophic’ financial and economic outcome”*. The characteristics of this scenario are, he argues: “A vicious circle where a deep recession makes the financial losses more severe and where, in turn, large and growing financial losses and a financial meltdown make the recession even more severe.”"]
	OPEC Rattles the Dollar wsj.com 2/9/8 ["The possibility that OPEC would make an active decision to price oil barrels in a currency other than the dollar has been bandied about, but never spoken of by anyone with any real power. That changed today, after OPEC Secretary-General Abdullah al-Badri was quoted in the Middle East Economic Digest, saying “maybe we can price the oil in the euro.”"]
	UK: Flood victims told not to panic as bowsers run dry guardian.co.uk 7/26/7 ["Mr Payne insisted there was water for everyone. Up to 3m bottles of drinking water were available each day and by this morning 900 bowsers were set to be on street corners. Eighty water tankers were keeping them topped up. Still, in some places they ran out and volunteers began rationing supplies - two 1 litre bottles to households where young children and elderly people lived."]
	Spinach Salad Anyone? newswithviews.com 9/21/6 [By Frosty Wooldridge "How do you think this disease outbreak occurred? To bring it into sobering focus, please understand that 20 million illegal aliens crossed into America in the past 20 years without any kind of health screening. They work picking our food, washing our dishes in restaurants and, as is the norm in Third World countries, rarely if ever wash their hands after using the toilet. Additionally, most of them suffer functional illiteracy. They do not practice personal hygiene or health habits most Americans assume as a normal aspect of living. ...Might dozens or more do their morning constitutional amongst the crops for lack of a porta-potty? Might the contamination be spread across the fields by the common practice of “flood irrigation?” Would flooding spread the contamination further? ...When you degrade health standards, hire illegal aliens carrying multiple of diseases or disease provoking habits, you’ve got a national crisis in the making."]
	Consider Storing Food Now newswithviews.com 9/20/6 [By Dr. James Howenstine, MD. "The United States has become a net importer of food for the first time in it’s history. Remember also that the major foods grown and exported by the U.S. are GMO wheat, corn and soy which are very deleterious to human health. ...North American soil is now the most depleted of all the continents on the globe. This ill advised, but probably carefully planned, introduction of poor fertilizer has been associated with failure to provide trace minerals to the soil probably for financial reasons. Since human enzymes only work when the body contains adequate amounts of trace minerals the disappearance of zinc, magnesium, selenium, iodine, manganese etc. has led to more disease. ...Farmers report that deer, raccoons, and rabbits will walk through a field of GMO corn to reach a field of conventional corn, which they continue to eat."] Beirutis brace for battle - begin stockpiling food, fuel khaleejtimes.com 7/15/6 ["Most residents of the capital have already fled the city for safer mountain areas to the north- and south-east. Those who have decided to stay put began preparing for what could be a lengthy siege as Israel tightens its air, road and sea blockade on the country."]
	3 million still lack shelter in Kashmir iht.com 11/8/5 ["out in the open, one month after the disaster struck the mountainous region, where subzero temperatures will start being felt soon in some areas, the United Nations said Tuesday."]
	Chertoff: Preparedness Depends on People news.yahoo.com 11/1/5 ["Stockpiling supplies and developing family response plans in case disaster strikes not only might save lives — it's also a civic duty ..."The great lesson of all of these events is interdependence," Chertoff said. "We're all dependent on everybody else. Everybody has their role to play, and if people fail in their role, it's going to have a cascading effect.""]
	Scientists: Get used to tropical storms detnews.com 7/14/5 "Expert says the Atlantic's pattern of warmer temps, like last year, is helping to stir more hurricanes"
	Gas is scarce after Dennis newsday.com 7/14/5 "Authorities acknowledged that many residents are growing frustrated about closed gas stations because of low supplies and power outages."
	World's biggest rescue mission news.scotsman.com 12/28/4 "But the United Nations says it faces an unprecedented challenge in co-ordinating the distribution of aid to survivors. Hundreds of planes carrying emergency aid will be airborne within the next couple of days, the UN’s emergency relief co-ordinator Jan Egeland said. "
	Deadly hurricane sweeps across Florida abc.net.au 8/15/4 "Fallen powerlines left an estimated 2 million people without electricity. ...In one area, three hospitals have been put out of action and a fleet of 200 ambulances were mobilised to move patients to other facilities."
	UK: 'Don't panic' plea as terror leaflet issued news.scotsman.com 7/26/4 "Advice leaflets will be sent to every UK household and a series of radio and television adverts will be broadcast from tonight. "
	Flood chaos continues in India, Bangladesh abc.net.au 7/26/4 "estimate a quarter of the state's 80 million people were affected by the flooding that struck more than 7,000 villages."
	Kenya: Food shortages force coastal residents to eat wild roots irinnews.org 7/24/4 ["The Kenyan ministry of agriculture has estimated that food production this year in five of the country's eight provinces will be at least 40 percent below normal, while drought conditions in pastoral areas have rendered nearly a million people severely food-insecure."
	Cubans race to buy necessities azcentral.com 5/13/4 "Fearing steep price hikes and sold-out stores"
	American Red Cross: US Public Not Ready for Disaster Situations voanews.com
	Defense against terror? Keep a loaded pantry sptimes.com "When it comes to disasters, few people are as ready as Mormons."
	For some, preparedness a matter of faith rgj.com "Our emphasis is what we have in our individual homes and what we do for our own lives; that is our preparedness more than depending on the government or the church."
	Laying in provisions for rainy day, not Doomsday usatoday.com "On the plus side, I think people realized that our society exists on a complicated web of services, which can be interrupted without notice"

Reader Accounts

This section contains brief accounts by readers who have tell about a situation where prudent foresight helped. If you have an account that you wish to share with us, fill out the comment box below! We want to hear from you!

Just talked with my daughter who resides in Port Charlette Florida , and
was there when Charlie came thru ; quite the mess, thankfully she and
children are ok , property loss extensive for them in Punta Gorda where
they have a business.
one thing she mentioned was " charcoal " ( of all things) and how useful it
was when all the power was out . I began thinking about this and how safe
charcoal would be in comparison to flammable liquids, etc. I will be adding
this to my list and stocking some as well .
She was well supplied for the storm ,but had to leave because they had no
generator to run the air conditioner; and no water to shower. She made the
comment " it looks llike a bomb hit Punta Gorda". We lived in Naples 30 years and never seen anything like
this, . She can't believe the total devastation and how mean-spirited some
of the people have been , most she said were nice and helpful, but some of
those reactions frightened her. I know this experience will stay with her
for a very long time to come ....I live in Pa and and missed all the action
...I spent my time praying for my family's safety . Lost communications in
the afternoon and that's a very scary situation....

"Winter 2002 late December we were without electricity for 24 hours, and no water due to the electricity being out. I was cold, miserable, but I had water stored, and I had propane to cook, and heat up water for sponge bathing, and keeping my hands clean. A week of that would have been a challenge!" [11/22/4]

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If this article made you think about your role, ministry, and purpose as a Christian, I would love to hear from you! Questions, suggestions, and comments are also welcome.