Doomsday Prepping, Isolationism, & the American Redoubt

The end of the world. As Christians we believe it’s coming. Society as we know it will someday collapse, empires will fall, and the earth itself will dissolve as King Jesus returns in victory to establish His Kingdom and recreate a new earth and new heavens. But what will that collapse- that day of doom- look like? And how can we be ready?

For centuries, people have been predicting the end of the world or some other global catastrophe like a nuclear war, earthquake, or massive societal collapse. Many have tried to prepare for it. Doomsday preppers, as they are called, are known for stockpiling food, weapons, and other supplies as they await the end. Some Christians have gotten swept into the doomsday prepper movement because of the belief that they must physically prepare for Armageddon, the return of Jesus, or World War III. The American Redoubt movement is a migration movement that encourages like-minded people (mostly conservative Christians) to relocate to the Inland Northwest so they can be in a geographically safe area and make that area more conservative. Advocates of this movement encourage Christians to live off the grid, homeschool their children, grow their own food, raise livestock, hunt and fish so they can be self-sustaining in the event of a full-scale societal collapse.

But what about the great commission? Is Jesus’s vision for His people in the last days for them to isolate, or to go into the unbelieving world with the message of the gospel?

We know that Jesus is coming back, and the earth as we know it will someday come to an end, but should Christians be preppers? Does the Bible say anything about doomsday prepping?