American Exit Strategy: Book 1 (4 page)

CHAPTER 7

"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not."

-Thomas Jefferson

Matt woke up late. He had started working from home two days a week. The office was closed on Tuesdays and Thursdays now to conserve electricity and support staff expenses. He did his morning routine. Every day he started with a few minutes of prayer before he got out of bed. He listened to a couple of worship songs as he did his morning stretches. He started his coffee and sat down to have cereal with some fruit, usually an apple or blueberries. As he ate his cereal, he would read a chapter or two from the Bible. This morning he was reading Deuteronomy 28.

“Blessings for Obedience

28:1 If you fully obey the L
ORD
your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the L
ORD
your God will set you high above all the nations on earth.
² 
All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the L
ORD
your God:

³
 
You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country.

⁴
 
The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.

⁵
 
Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed.

⁶
 
You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.

⁷
 
The L
ORD
will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven.

⁸
 
The L
ORD
will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The L
ORD
your God will bless you in the land he is giving you.

⁹
 
The L
ORD
will establish you as his holy people, as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the L
ORD
your God and walk in obedience to him.
¹⁰ 
Then all the people on earth will see that you are called by the name of the L
ORD
, and they will fear you.
¹¹ 
The L
ORD
will grant you abundant prosperity—in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your ground—in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you.

¹²
 
The L
ORD
will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none.
¹³ 
The L
ORD
will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the L
ORD
your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom.
¹⁴ 
Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the right or to the left, following other gods and serving them.

Curses for Disobedience

¹⁵ 
However, if you do not obey the L
ORD
your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come on you and overtake you:

¹⁶
 
You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country.

¹⁷
 
Your basket and your kneading trough will be cursed.

¹⁸
 
The fruit of your womb will be cursed, and the crops of your land, and the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.

¹⁹
 
You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out.

²⁰
 
The L
ORD
will send on you curses, confusion and rebuke in everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin because of the evil you have done in forsaking him
²¹ 
The L
ORD
will plague you with diseases until he has destroyed you from the land you are entering to possess.
²² 
The L
ORD
will strike you with wasting disease, with fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, with blight and mildew, which will plague you until you perish.
²³ 
The sky over your head will be bronze, the ground beneath you iron.
²⁴ 
The L
ORD
will turn the rain of your country into dust and powder; it will come down from the skies until you are destroyed.

²⁵
 
The L
ORD
will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will come at them from one direction but flee from them in seven, and you will become a thing of horror to all the kingdoms on earth.
²⁶ 
Your carcasses will be food for all the birds and the wild animals, and there will be no one to frighten them away.
²⁷ 
The L
ORD
will afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors, festering sores and the itch, from which you cannot be cured.
²⁸ 
The L
ORD
will afflict you with madness, blindness and confusion of mind.
²⁹ 
At midday you will grope about like a blind person in the dark. You will be unsuccessful in everything you do; day after day you will be oppressed and robbed, with no one to rescue you.

³⁰
 
You will be pledged to be married to a woman, but another will take her and rape her. You will build a house, but you will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will not even begin to enjoy its fruit.
³¹ 
Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will eat none of it. Your donkey will be forcibly taken from you and will not be returned. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and no one will rescue them.
³² 
Your sons and daughters will be given to another nation, and you will wear out your eyes watching for them day after day, powerless to lift a hand.
³³ 
A people that you do not know will eat what your land and labor produce, and you will have nothing but cruel oppression all your days.
³⁴ 
The sights you see will drive you mad.
³⁵ 
The L
ORD
will afflict your knees and legs with painful boils that cannot be cured, spreading from the soles of your feet to the top of your head.

³⁶
 
The L
ORD
will drive you and the king you set over you to a nation unknown to you or your ancestors. There you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone.
³⁷ 
You will become a thing of horror, a byword and an object of ridicule among all the peoples where the L
ORD
will drive you.

³⁸
 
You will sow much seed in the field but you will harvest little, because locusts will devour it.
³⁹ 
You will plant vineyards and cultivate them but you will not drink the wine or gather the grapes, because worms will eat them.
⁴⁰ 
You will have olive trees throughout your country but you will not use the oil, because the olives will drop off.
⁴¹ 
You will have sons and daughters but you will not keep them, because they will go into captivity.
⁴² 
Swarms of locusts will take over all your trees and the crops of your land.

⁴³
 
The foreigners who reside among you will rise above you higher and higher, but you will sink lower and lower.
⁴⁴ 
They will lend to you, but you will not lend to them. They will be the head, but you will be the tail.

⁴⁵
 
All these curses will come on you. They will pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the L
ORD
your God and observe the commands and decrees he gave you.
⁴⁶ 
They will be a sign and a wonder to you and your descendants forever.
⁴⁷ 
Because you did not serve the L
ORD
your God joyfully and gladly in the time of prosperity,
⁴⁸ 
therefore in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and dire poverty, you will serve the enemies the L
ORD
sends against you. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you."

Matt rarely got emotional, but today's scripture and the reality of what was happening to America and why it was happening hit him like a ton of bricks. He couldn't put his finger on why this passage of scripture had disturbed him so much today. Was it because he loved his country? Indeed, he did love it, but he had come to terms with the decay long ago. Was it because his country had disappointed God? Perhaps it was because of the pain he knew was just over the horizon. Maybe it was the understanding that it did not have to be this way if the United States had just been faithful to their God. If they had continued to serve God faithfully, they would still be enjoying the blessings of obedience, but now America was certainly reaping the curses of disobedience. Now the sky above is bronze and the earth beneath is iron. We are borrowing from many, yet lending to none.  Maybe it was the overwhelming tragedy of the entire situation that had unsettled him.  Indeed, it seemed it would not be long before we would be in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and dire poverty.

He shook off the unpleasant thoughts and poured his coffee. He went to his office and as usual, started his morning news routine with Drudge Report. The top story was the federal food stamp program. SNAP benefits had been slashed in half with no advance warning. There was simply no funding to fully resupply them. Users whose cards ended in the digit "1" had their EBT cards reloaded with the SNAP benefits on the first of each month. Today was November 1st. The administration had not mentioned anything prior to today because they were obviously trying to push the event past the election. All the midnight, backroom deals could not buy them one more week. Exactly seven days to Election Day and the mother of all financial disasters had just hit.

Matt and Karen were preppers, but there was no way to prepare for what was coming. Matt did not hesitate. He texted Karen and told her to tell everyone at work that she was not feeling well and to come straight home. He preceded the message with the term "CODE RED". They knew this meant get home right away.