Striking a Balance: Staying Informed, Prepping, and Living Life!

There is a dilemma that mature preppers have to deal with eventually, “how much news is enough to keep me informed but doesn’t keep me glued to the television or computer?”  This is exacerbated when the news is all gloom and doom like it’s been for a while now.  How much chaos can one take?  And does the intake of all that doom give us a false sense that SHTF is already here?  There is a balance that preppers need to keep and it can be done with specific resources!

News Junkie

As a recovering news junkie, I understand the need to be balanced.  When I was a teenager, before the internet and 24 News, I loved watching Nightline with Ted Koppel.  I wanted to know what was going on.  Talk Radio fueled my passion for news and then social media and alternative news sites took it to a whole different level.

But life shouldn’t be one big news cycle!  However, I still feel the need, as a prepper, to stay informed and at the same time not get sucked into hours and hours of news.  

Adjustments

Through the years, I have managed to watch my time more carefully.  I have also leveraged different media sources to stay informed and know what is going on.  These are not your traditional media sources, TV, radio, and newspaper.  They are usually quick hits and give me important information, which allows me to digger deeper if I feel I need to.

I would like to share some of these resources with you.  Hopefully, some of these help you too.

Email Newsletters

The most recent addition in my arsenal to staying informed comes from email newsletters.  This makes sense because I can easily access my email from my phone, wherever I am, even if I have a few minutes.  This is one of the reasons why the Exclusive Email Group works so well for Preppers!

1440 Daily Digest – Is a daily email that covers headlines from around the world.  It claims to be unbiased in its approach to the news.  It gives you a “Need to Know” section with hard news, followed by an “In the Know” section that covers topics like sports, science, business, markets, and more.  

Their website states, “We scour 100+ sources so you don’t have to. Culture, science, sports, politics, business, and more—all in a five-minute read.”

1440 is free! To sign-up, visit their site – 1440 Daily Digest.

The Pour Over – Is a Christian-based email newsletter.  It claims, “Your politically neutral, Christ-first, news source.”  It also states on the website, “The biggest news of the day, summarized in a way you’ll actually understand and enjoy, paired with brief Christian perspectives.”

Like 1440, you’ll find some big headline news stories, with a Christian perspective and Scripture at the end.  You also find a section called, “Other Brews” that covers small news stories.  

I don’t always agree with their Christian perspective view, meaning I think they take a middle-of-the-road view and don’t want to appear to lean left or right.  However, I haven’t found their views to be theologically incorrect.  

The Pour Over is free.  You can sign up here – The Pour Over.

News App

If you’re looking for an APP, then you will want to check out Ground News.  Ground New will let you know if the article you are reading leans left or right or center.  It gathers this information based on the source that it is using.  It is possible to have two news articles on the same topic, but come from different perspectives depending on how they lean politically.

You can set your location, so you can get news that is local to you.  Ground News also provides  “Blind Spot” articles.  These are, “Stories from one side of the political spectrum or the other that had little to no reporting.”

Ground News is free, but it also offered a premium account.  You can download the APP for iOS and Android devices.

Prophecy Preachers

Ok, you might think this one is weird, but hear me out!  Prophecy preachers look at current events and evaluate them in light of Bible Prophecy.  Some of these Bible Prophecy Preachers have really big followings from all over the world.  These followers share news stories that are happening where they live.

So what you get is an alternative news source that is often sourced by boots-on-the-ground Christians.  The thing is, if you are not a Believer, just listen/watch them for the information they are sharing.  

Now, there are many Bible Prophecy Preachers out there.  And every one of them has a YouTube channel. I’m careful who I watch because it is easy to get sucked in and spend a lot of time bouncing around from the content they produce.  But here are three that I would recommend.

John Haller – I’ve had John on the podcast before.  I believe it was a two-hour episode.  He is a retired lawyer and has been teaching Bible Prophecy for many years bi-vocationally.  You can find him on YouTube LIVE on Sunday mornings.  He also streams his LIVE update on Facebook.  Since retiring, he has been doing a lot of guest appearances that he shares on his Facebook page and during his update.

Watch John on the Fellowship Bible Chapel YouTube Channel.

James Jacob Prasch – Is a preacher/evangelist and puts out a lot of Prophecy Updates.  He often does the update with others who chime in and give commentary on the topics or news stories they are discussing.

The updates also get converted to audio so you can listen to them as a podcast if you don’t have time to watch a YouTube video.  

Watch Jacob on the Moriel YouTube Channel.  You can search “Moriel Ministries” in your podcast catcher to listen to the podcast.

Jan Markell  – Is the person behind the microphone for Olive Tree Ministries.  Her show is on radio and podcasts.  A few years ago she started sharing her show on YouTube.  She does focus more on End Times than John Haller and Jacob Prasch.  But it still applies to what is going on in the world.  

Watch Jan on the Olive Tree Ministries YouTube channel. You can also search for Olive Tree Ministries in your podcast catcher.

Social Media

Social media is a blessing and a curse.  You can get a lot of information on the platform, but you can also get sucked in and spend hours of your day on it as well.  You need to be purposeful to set a timer or “get in and get out” quickly.

Twitter – I’ve always been a proponent of Twitter.  If you go to my account profile, you will notice that I don’t follow a bunch of people.  I’m not interested in what the Kardashians are doing, know what I mean?  But I do follow news organizations of all sorts.  That way, when I hit Twitter, the only thing in my feed is news.  And, I follow both sides of the aisle so I know what both are “putting” out as far as their agenda goes.  

If you are interested in using Twitter, you can go to my profile and click on who I’m following.  Then you can follow all those news organizations right from there.

Telegram – I’ve recently started using Telegram.  Telegram is supposed to be an encrypted instant messenger.  I don’t use it for messaging, but I do follow channels that share a lot of current events  Here are some.

Moriel Ministries – They share a bunch of news from alternative news sources.  The news stories are varied.

Amir Tsarfati – This channel shares a ton of material too.  However, they seem to be more focused on the Middle East.

Paul T. Martin – I’ve had Paul on the podcast as well.  He doesn’t share as many articles as the other two above, but the articles are worth reading to preppers.  I couldn’t find a link for Paul’s channel.  You will have to do a search for him.  It’s easy though!

Ready Your Future – And of course, while you’re at it, join the RYF Telegram channel.

Alternative News Sites

I didn’t cover the multitude of Alternative News Sites that are out there. You could use an RSS reader to follow all the Alternative News Sites that you want to read so you can read them in one spot.  But speaking from experience, you can spend hours reading articles!

Conclusion

There are many options out there for the prepper who wants to stay informed.  As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, you need to keep a balance.  You don’t want life to pass you by while you’re reading about the “war over there” or the possibility of “that thing happening” or “this time it is different because…”

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