"Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?" (Matt.6:25, NKJV).

This brother is not the first to be accused of not having proper emunah (faith) for making provision for his household. I was once accused of the same by a former brother who got it into his head that he was some sort of super-apostle whom God had the responsibility to take care of. He had, moreover, abandoned his wife and children and was providing no maintenance for them.

As I have remarked before, leaders - real or imagined - have no 'divine rights' to be taken care of by either the brethren or by Yahweh, especially when they have appointed themselves to positions within the Kingdom and nobody recognises them. Indeed, today's passage has nothing whatsoever to do with storing food. It's about not worrying, remembering that worry is a form of atheism. We are not to worry about being provided for so long as we are trusting in Yahweh, keeping within the hedge of the mitzvot (commamndments), doing what He wants us to do, and doing our part as reponsible providers for our families.

Food storage is common sense, just like having savings, even though in the Obama Soviet you can now be accused of being a counter-revolutionary (terrorist) for doing so. Making sure that a family's needs are being taken care of, anticipating bad times and reacting accordingly, is to show responsibility, care and ahavah (love). Anybody with any common sense knows that word economies are heading for a giant depression and that economies are going to collapse very, very soon. You only have to look at Greece, which has gone bankrupt, to know what's coming. And other countries are on the way. Food is going to cost a fortune and paper money is going to be worthless. It is a wise person indeed who makes sure that his family is provided for by saving food and real money (gold and silver). It is an irresponsible and stupid one who does not.

Now it is another matter if we store food or accumulate wealth with a view to trusting only in our own strength and having a good time. Yah'shua (Jesus) criticised such an attitude in the following parable:

"Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: 'The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, 'What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?' So he said, 'I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, 'Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.'' But Elohim (God) said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?' So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward Elohim (God)" (Luke 12:16-21, NKJV).

Jealous, lawless and foolish believers will always find excuse to accuse those who are walking right with Yahweh. They're usually breaking one commandment or another. Indeed our brother refused to support his relative who was living in an ungodly sexual relationship which was enough to fuel his wrath and provoke the accusation.

Those who refuse to repent are doomed to perish in the Judgment. They have no business judging the Household of Faith. So pay no attention to them. Do what is right, walk circumspectly in Yahweh, making sure that you - like Noah - are prepared for the judgments being meeted out on a wicked world.

Comments from Readers

"The German Luther translation has a problem there. Luther used the word "sorgen" for "to worry". "Sorgen" can also mean "to care". Now it is no wonder the people get this wrong, when the Bible says "do not care for what you will eat". Another translation gets it right, the "Elberfelder". They translate it correct with "seid nicht besorgt" which is unmistakably "Don't worry". And, I think, hoarding food CAN be a sign of wrong and unbiblical worrying, when it is a God-less fear. When one relies with their very life on this food, like on an idol getting comfort for the future. I also think the true and main reason why other people are criticising hoarding is that they can not imagine and don't want to think about the fact that serious times are ahead where the abundance of today will be gone. They are not caring, because they are secretely worrying. We are caring, but we are not worrying" (SW, Germany, 6 December 2011).