Contact: Donna Anderson, 417-723-0610

GRESHAM, Ore., Sept., 11, 2012 /Standard Newswire/ -- September is National Preparedness Month, but many believers in God, especially in America, are indifferent to the need to prepare for the unexpected.

An article by Mimi Hall in USA TODAY said it all: "Most Americans haven't taken steps to prepare for a natural disaster, terrorist attack or other emergency, according to a new study on preparedness, and only about a third have made plans with family members about how they would communicate with each other during a crisis."

Part of the reason (which I witnessed during my 25 years of pastoring) regarding why many people of faith neglect preparedness has to do with an odd defeatism that says, "If current events are prophesied to happen, then there's nothing we can do about it anyway."

The notion that calamity is unavoidable if it is divinely predicted is even sanctioned by some expositors who miss the pattern for preparedness in the Bible. While it is true that famine was prophesied for Egypt, it is also a fact that God led Joseph to prepare for it, and, as a result, he saved his family and the nations around about.

Proverbs 22:3 says a prudent person foresees difficulties and prepares for them, while a simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences. This is good advice not only for religious folks, but people of any persuasion.

Another and perhaps greater reason why some people, including religious people haven't made the simplest plans for disaster, is that they view the need to prepare for the unexpected as too complicated and costly. They imagine the back yard being dug up for construction of a massive bomb shelter and the basement crammed with row after row of dry grains and large containers filled with backup water.

The truth is, survival preparation is modestly affordable. Under most circumstances, the ability for individuals to remain mobile for a few days to a week by simply grabbing a "survival bag" and heading out is more important than silos filled with long term storage foods.

Even when a worse case scenario is imagined -- such as a terrorist nuke or ICBM exchange -- low-cost shelters, that can be built at home and combined with a minimal amount of Potassium Iodide, would help keep as much as 99 percent of the population alive according to one synopsis by the Department of Homeland Security. Designs for building such family shelters are available free online at www.SurvivorMall.com.

For National Preparedness Month, people can download these booklets and reports, print them out and place them on a table in a church foyer, hand them to neighbors, give them out during classes, or better yet teach a class on preparedness and tie it in with Scripture.

To view a special video report on these free products and to find additional valuable information on National Preparedness Month, visit www.raidersnewsupdate.com/GodPrepared.htm.