Off-Grid Living for Agrarians, Part 1: The Grid

I've had some questions about Agrarianism and off-grid power, so I thought I'd address them in a special edition of the blog. Basically this will just be a discussion of the whole concept of alternative power, and how it fits into the Agrarian "off-grid" ideal. It will likely be a many part series, and we will conglomerate all the parts into a single tract sometime later. So consider this OFF-GRID LIVING, PART 1.

First, the concept. Why is living "off-grid" so central to the idea of Biblical Agrarianism?

It is our opinion that industrialism and the inter-connected/inter-dependent world it requires to support it, is responsible for most of what is wrong with the world. Ok, sin is what is wrong with the world, but industrialism is the coalescence of all that sin does and can do in the world. It is distilled sin, in that it perpetuates and allows all that man imagines, and therefore, in industrialism nothing is restrained from man that he might imagine to do:

And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. (Gen 11:6)

Now this, then, makes industrialism the modern tower of Babel. It is the one language of the world, and it is the result of the carnal man saying "Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven". Of course the city is urbanism and the tower is industrialism.

Ok, so if you disagree with that, then you have no reason to read further or to investigate Agrarianism. Your system (urban industrialism) is already here and is already out there on the plain of Shinar and you may go get your fill of it. If, however, you agree with what I have said, then Agrarianism is God's alternative. And, we should note, disconnecting from the current system is necessary for our spiritual safety, our physical well-being, and for our good. The "connection" that ties people into this system is the system we call "the grid". That grid consists of physical and spiritual connections and services that intertwine us with the world, and cause us to rely on the world system instead of on God. There is a huge difference between utilizing some aspect of the world system, as necessary, for the purpose of further separating from it (much as you would, if you were in a small boat, push off from a dock in order to gain speed to separate from it), and loving the world by being tied to it - so do not let naysayers and illogical barkers convince you that if you believe in separation, that this separation must be complete, total, and immediate - or else you are a hypocrite. Let dogs bark. You just go on about the business of being obedient. Dogs defend what they love - never forget that. A barking dog is just defending its first love.

Ok, so this world "grid" system is most perfectly represented by the electrical grid. In the electrical grid, everyone is tied together and reliant on some mega-corporate (or fascist state/corporate conglomerate) system to provide them with power. Now, the trick is to provide sooooo much power, and at such a seemingly low cost, that people will go out into the corporate industrial stores and buy tons of "stuff" that can be plugged eternally into wall sockets. Each one of these things in and of itself uses only a nominal amount of power, but each is designed to accomplish several things:

1. To cumulatively provide huge amounts of money to the power company.
2. To make us daily MORE dependent on the power company for the maintenance of a certain "standard of living".
3. To make us daily LESS viable as creatures dependent on God alone for our provision, safety, happiness, and well-being. In other words, each generation is less and less able to survive without the comforts and conveniences provided by grid power.
4. To enslave us to our baser lusts. The system itself is designed to provide proxies for all that God would have for His children. The grid-system provides a perpetual 72 degree womb where every carnal need is met instantly by the world system.

So, after fallen man discovered the ability to create electrical power and to channel it down long power lines to each individual dwelling, the marketing arm of Satan clicked into business. Daily, more and more power gulping systems and gadgets are provided which take mankind farther and farther away from the way that God has ordained that His people live. The Bible says this was the job of man before the fall:

And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. (Gen 2:15)

And this was the job of man after the fall:

Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. (Gen 3:23)

We are to work with our hands (1 Thess. 4:11), in the ground/soil (Gen. 3:23), and to be content with food and raiment (1 Tim. 6:8). The lie of the industrial grid system is that if you will enslave yourself to your baser lusts (for comfort, leisure, entertainment, sin) then you will not have to labor in the soil. That is basically the gist of it. That is why your parents always told you to go to a worldly college to get a degree... so you won't have to dig ditches. The world hates the idea of working in the soil, because that is what God has decreed for man. Anyway, I digress...

So this grid system is a tool of the world for the enslavement of the minds and hearts of the people. Once again, if you do not agree, you may go your way... your system is out there and you may go have your fill of it. If, however, you still agree - we can move on to the next step.

GETTING OUT

Getting "off-grid" looks like a monstrous and overwhelming task. It is the giant in the land that keeps us from going in and taking the good land that God has promised us. The grid system is easy and relatively cheap (when you consider that you are already in it, and enslaved to it) in that it will cost you more to get out than to stay in. To be honest, our flesh LOVES air conditioning and microwaves and hair dryers and such things. All the junk we plug in to outlets is designed to please our flesh. That is why they are so hard to get rid of. The first task in getting off-grid is to fall out of love with these things. To realize that they enslave us and they are poisonous to our souls and to our hope of eternal life. Not that going off-grid will save us - but be assured of this one thing, living for our flesh will certainly damn us. Think of going off-grid as going into a lifeboat from a sinking ship. You may not be saved if you go off the ship, but you will surely die if you stay on it. Anyway, we have to fall out of love with these things that pamper and cater to the flesh. We have to look at them with a true and pure eye and convince ourselves that these things are poisonous to our well-being. Then we can more easily toss them. Those things that are conducive to off-grid living, or that can be used to our benefit, or that can be used to help us on our pilgrimage OUT of the system - we can retain. The next step is to train ourselves to go without these things, and train ourselves on older and better ways of doing things:

Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein (Jer. 6:16).

Don't be one of those people who says "we will not walk therein. God has said that the old paths are better than the new ones. That is a fact declared from heaven. Learn it and love it.

The next step is to practice and begin to live the things we say we believe. This is the first real step on the pilgrim's progress. Step out and start to practice and live it. I mentioned in the last email that you can start by cutting your power off at the box. First for a few hours maybe. Then for a day. Then for a couple of days. Then for a week. Then for a month. Do this and learn how to get along fine without it. It doesn't count if you do it while you are on vacation, or when the weather is 72 degrees outside for a week. Do it and practice living off-grid. Encourage yourself to keep pushing it farther until you learn the skills you need to have to get along without grid power. Sell all of the junk you don't need and begin to procure those things that will help you to live off-grid... which means you need to sell almost everything you own. Best get used to it, since you won't take any of that stuff to wherever you go after you die. Get rid of it and start to make it without it.

That's all for today. More in the next episode.

Michael Bunker