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Our recent community garage sale sent me to my attic to ask myself again "Why do I still have that?" I have always used garage sales to purge stuff I no longer need.
This year I saw something in the corner of my attic that I put together some 30 years ago. It was my Mal-Pak survival kit. Around 1982 we were led to believe the end of our country was near. There was going to be an inevitable collapse of everything. The best plan was to head to the wilderness and live off the land when (not if) things collapsed. This was before the internet and cell phones. The advice was to become expert at survival techniques, move out to some remote area and fend for yourself if not defend yourself. What's not shown in the picture are my gun and bullets.
It was a scary time, not because of the condition of our country. It was scary because of what we were being told was coming.
The months and years rolled by and so did everyday life. Nothing happened. In fact our country experienced great prosperity and economic growth unlike we have seen since. Meanwhile my Mal Pak collected dust in the attic.
Turns out the best advice would have been to invest in America and buy stocks of little known or smaller companies at the time like Wal Mart, McDonalds, Apple and Microsoft among dozens of others. (Glad I did later.) The more conspiratorial among us could have even hoarded gold and not done too bad.
I feel we are at another turning point in this great country and that good times are ahead. Though some may disagree and say to "head for the hills", I am looking forward to seeing what God will do for us in the next 30 years.
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Great to see you again Ken. Thanks for the post. But I disagree respectfully. I was informed really. I was not in the meetings and being prepared for a financial crash is always, always, always a good idea. I follow stocks so it is sound advice to prepare for a downturn. Diversify, maybe own some gold, maybe have some of your funds in cash in a safe bank.
Trust me...that which was conveyed to us on the field and to some on staff that I knew in Emporia was way beyond preparation. It was doom and gloom and downright scary! It was conveyed as be ready to head for the hills, maybe even have a gun because of potential riots, OMG it was insane. And I was on the field here in Florida where there were thousands of believers if I recall at the time. Our Limb Leader stored gasoline underground in undisclosed locations because he had an RV and wanted to be able to travel and teach the word when the crash happened. Bo told me that the ministry went all physical gold! (never a good idea) and that they distributed physical bars of gold throughout the country to Limb Leaders for decentralization of funds in case they were riots, banks crashing, etc.
That's crazy and in my opinion, irresponsible at best. VPW knew of these things. Had to. He was conspiratorial at times as was LCM. but I believe his "intelligence" people were the real culprits who fed him some of the BS. This included the infamous CG who was insanely conspiratorial. .
By the way Bo told ne that when the dust settled they asked for all the bars of gold back. All were returned except one. Ha, ha. That abundant sharing money was gone with the wind.
I am no financial expert but I can tell you that I was in a growing business at the time here in Florida. Times were good. Money Market funds paid 7.5% interest! Today they pay .01% interest. Real estate was cheap and booming. However real estate loans were over 10%. Stocks were cheap and booming. Great tech companies were springing us such as Microsoft and CIsco and Apple and Dell. People made lots of money off those companies (as long as they sold some of it in a timely manner.) They was nothing as I recall in the newspaper or nightly news about this "coming potential crash.
When the dust settled TWI claimed responsibility for averting said disaster because of our prayers and preparation. Prayer for our country is good. But I do not believe there was a any single looming disaster that we thwarted. I believe there are always looming disasters and I believe other Christians pray too.
I just did a Google search for more details of this looming dark time in 1979 or was it 1980?? I can't find anything. Maybe others can provide more research.
However I did find this link which reminds me of that time:
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/doomsday-preppers/
Hey John, I was on the floor of the stock exchange the day the gold price peaked and began to subside. Casual visitors are not allowed on the floor. I had a pass given to me by believers who worked there. They had asked me to come to pray. They were concerned, and it wasn't just the believers who were concerned. It seemed that everyone was. The dollar could have crashed that day. It didn't. Things went the other way. I was in the Mal-Pak meetings in Emporia. You were never told that a financial crash was inevitable, only that it would be disastrous if it happened, and there was a grave possibility of it happening.There was indeed a grave possibility. So now you mock those who sounded the warning and tried to help people be prepared. You probably were confronted with some people who were utter idiots. I heard some of them, but from the top (VPW), all you got was that we were facing a potential disaster and should endeavor to be prepared, and that was true. Your personal experience undoubtedly differs from mine. But your making a mockery of the whole idea is shallow, uninformed.
WOW - I love Grandma Gatewood!
One of the most enjoyable books I have read regarding hiking the AT is Bill Bryson's "A Walk in the Woods". I have read it a number of times and each time I want to pick up and go. By the way, he is a wonderful writer with many very readable and enjoyable books.
That sounds like a lot of fun Carol. Be sure to send us Tweets and pictures from the wilderness so we can keep track of your travels while wishing we were there.
I always wondered about all of that also. I lost my Malpack in a move about 1985. It disappeared somewhere. We were actually woken up in the middle of the night and told to get ready. Or maybe it was 5 am. I don't quite recall all of that now.
OMG Steve. What is that show? Looks like some of the people I grew up around in KY. Another reality show? Looks funny.
My wife likes all those storage wars and picking shows and pawn stars.
Y'all need to chill a bit and watch Duck Dynasty :-)
The Certificate of Death filed with the Ohio Department of Health on May 20, 1985 states that the immediate cause of death was metastatic liver cancer which set in a month before his death. It began with eye cancer about 18 months before, which then spread to his liver. Anyone can easily obtain a copy.
When Hope and I saw him and spoke to him that year in Atlanta we were shocked. He looked like a man dying of cancer what with his weight loss and frailty and the whole thing going on with his eye was obvious.
Emil, to say that he was murdered is an absurd claim and one with not a shred of evidence. In my opinion that claim is an insult to his family and relatives. Ask them. They would agree with me. No don't.......I dont want you to make a fool of yourself.
Yes, conspiracies will always be among us it seems.
Emil there are too many questions in your inquisition for me to answer here. I dont want to bore people with my personal life. You are welcome to call me, though, and I promise to answer all of them.
I try to be a godly man but mostly fall short. However I always try to be kind to people and help them if I can. I started this site. Some think that is cool. You are here for some reason. Hmmm.
One thing you sparked in my mind is I think there was too much talk in our former ministry and not enough good works. I think now a lot of those good works are being done by a lot of great people, Way Corps Alumni included.
I am reminded of Jazz'd 4 Life, a wonderful non profit started by Catherine Yaghsizian and her now deceased husband, Arne Yaghsizian. I was in the 7th Corps with Catherine. She is a wonderful person who is changing lives across the world and making known God to those who care to hear. How can you ciritcize that?
Furthermore, I think the gospel is being spread better than ever due to the tools we now have such as FaceBook, Twitter, websites and mobile devices. The truth is easier to find today than it has ever been in my opinion.
Thanks for your replies on my blog.
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