The guidance of Scripture is not that hard to fathom. The real question is whether you believe strongly enough to obey it. I’ve said it often enough: The issue is not success in the real world. The issue is making peace with God regardless how He wants to use you and your actions to testify of His glory. Nothing is better for us in the long run than peace with Him.
A part of the oppression built into our current system is gate-keeping. That’s pretty much the whole point of John mentioning the Mark of the Beast in Revelation. The system seeks to make us dependent, and part of that dependency is convincing you that you cannot survive without their provision. They seek in many ways to foster a desire — an addiction — for things they alone can offer.
I’m convinced that, once we understand the underlying theory, God can guide His people into specific applications. Sometimes it’s useful to share specific tactics as a way of illustrating the theory, but the focus is you having inside of you the frame of reference that allows you to glorify God in your specific choices.
Thus, the answer is to recognize the tactics of oppression. To what goal are they trying to herd us? There are times when it’s alright to play along, if that puts you in the place for your mission and calling. However, in a broad general sense, the proper goal of Biblical Law is building a way of life that is holy unto the Lord, a measure of separation and distinction. This is the symbolism of the lamb’s blood on the door frames of Israel during the Passover event in Egypt. We want to prepare a context in which God’s wrath passes over us when He’s destroying the works of sin. Alternatively, we want to build up the hedge that keeps the Enemy away.
Thus, to the degree possible, we need to opt out of the mainstream system and create our own parallel provision for life. That way, their gate-keeping won’t affect us.
Now, I realize that it’s very possible we could all come together and agree on certain specifics about how to build our alternative world. We could learn a lot from the Amish, the Roma (Gypsies), or even modern Orthodox Jews. Not so much their motives and specifics, but in the broader image of refusing to assimilate, and always seeking a way around the system. However, I am convinced that we are far better off implementing our societies in smaller sizes, not such massive wholesale uniformity.
Our one criticism is that each of those three examples is how little variation there is between the various centers of their populations. That’s a human tendency, and not the way God leads in His Word. They focus on uniformity in the wrong areas. That has been the subject of hundreds of posts on this blog.
But today I was inspired by events in Canada, how the protesters remain dependent on the system to fight the system. I applaud their efforts, but I am skeptical about their prospects. One court victory does not give me much hope that the system is not essentially turned against the people. A major point of all this activity is that the protesters remain vulnerable to the leveraging of all the things on which they depend for their daily lives.
It’s not as if everything could be replaced; that’s not practical. I’m not convinced that they are looking at the few things they could do to become more independent of the system. Yes, I know that’s the way Canadians are, socialist to the core and believing very much in democratic government. But we are only slightly less dependent here in the US. The only good answers have been the rumblings of smaller regional governments defying the central government. There’s a very good reason to promote local governments that are willing to fight back.
But in a much broader sense for us as covenant people, we need to pray long and hard about what we depend on, and over which we have zero control. How much can we break from that system?
On a much more personal level, I’ve run into this issue a lot lately. I’m compelled by my own body to reduce sugar and sodium consumption. Do you realize just how hard it is to find food that hasn’t had way too much of those two items added? Think about this: a simple flour tortilla has almost 600 mg of sodium. That’s about a quarter of what’s recommended for the whole day (2300 mg). Check the labels in any grocery store; you can scarcely escape added salt. Even if you are careful, the mindlessly added salt to our food supply will guarantee you hit over 5000 mg daily, and that means high blood pressure. Just a single meal at a restaurant can carry that much.
I don’t care why they do it; it’s going to kill me. It means I have to cook far more from scratch, and that means in batches that I freeze or otherwise put away for later consumption. For someone with all the distractions of my daily calling and mission, that’s a big time sink. I don’t really enjoy that kind of activity, but I know how to do it and have no choice.
By the way, my conversations with my primary care physician reveals that the vast majority of the US population suffers from this salt sensitivity, and they do nothing about it except consume palliatives like diuretics, which are a danger in themselves. People die early every year because they can’t be bothered to watch their salt intake, and thus can’t be bothered to demand changes in the food supply.
Thus, doctors say that hypertension is the silent killer. Most people don’t notice it. I’m trying to become sensitive to it. I want to give back to my Father the full life of service I can render to His glory.
I’ve found there are five aspects of food that need to be considered, whenever you are buying food and constructing a meal plan or a diet plan.
Calories – less is better
Nutritional Content – more is better
Taste – Do you really want to eat this?
Expense – lower is better
Convenience – Shopping; finding special ingredients; preparation, cooking skill and time, and cleanup time.
It is very difficult to find the ideal combination of all the above. Obtaining and consuming food with all of the above qualities — low-calorie, nutritious, delicious, cheap, and easy — is very challenging and in reality, it always comes with a trade-off. For example, cheap food tastes good but it is high in calories and low in nutrition. Delicious, nutritious food costs more and requires more preparation.
Personally, low calories, nutrition, and taste are important to me, so I spend more time and money on food. I eat a lot of beef, chicken, fish, scallops, shrimp, and fresh fruits and vegetables.
You have some additional considerations that I didn’t consider in my breakdown (salt, sugar), but I guess it would be included in Nutritional Content with it being a necessity. That means the trade-off has to come from another category. If Convenience is important to you, you might consider spending more money on less but better food and/or sacrificing taste. Also consider taking supplements / vitamins.
Then there is the question you addressed in your post. How do you procure this food without being dependent on a corporate system? Have a home garden, or buy through your local farmer? In Taiwan, there are farmers and small food companies that will deliver eggs, fresh produce, and frozen meat directly to your home through the mail or via delivery truck. Maybe you could find that where you live. Get a large freezer and save money by buying in bulk.
^ Buying and cooking in bulk is a good idea, especially if you’re doing it just for yourself, since it will be a little easier.
I normally don’t consume sugar but the other day I felt compelled to make sure I don’t eat any for a certain time. I found myself having to stop from eating a random food item absentmindedly, usually at the office but sometimes at home, because it had sugar. It’s pretty much everywhere, but salt is probably much more pervasive. Salt doesn’t have quite the stigma attached to it that sugar does, probably because of the weight gain factor. Consuming sugar is a direct obesity vector, not so much salt.