After somewhat of a break where I purposefully did not look at what I missed in terms of Security Saturday and Theology Tuesday, I am back. I am back with chronic headaches now, which is tons of fun, but alas I used to have migraines so the pain is generally ignorable.

For those who worry: Don't. I have a doctor's consult next week.

So we move on to a new Security Saturday!

My wife and I have been working on a few projects. Both of us volunteer with scouting and both of us have our doubts about the current state of the world (we believe we are slowly going further down the path laid out by Jesus in Matthew 24). So, as the people we are, we looked into getting some legal Personal Defense items here in the Netherlands.

As my karate teacher used to say: You prepare for the emergencies that you hope never come. So too we never hope to need the crossbows we are planning to buy (like, seriously, those are legal in the Netherlands and Germany as far as we could tell), nor do we want to use the scouting knives against people.

But we did think about it, and we are pretty sure that the best option is to have a backpack with the bare necessities, and then a few more items (like a big tent) to pick up on the way out of the house if things ever go really wrong.

It really is fun to look into this kind of security, working within the constraints of the law, but allowing yourself just the edge you need. One lucky thing in the Dutch law is that several items (such as heavy flashlights and big axes) are freely available and only fall under the category "weaponry" if it is used in a violent crime, or a case of self-defense. Meaning you can buy and use these items and you only get really into trouble if the state can prove malicious intent in a case where crime happened.

It is a little disconcerting that the general law against weapons (brought into effect in Dutch law in 1918) is expressly said to "protect the authority of the state", but hey, as one of the last old-skool hackers I have the inherent assumption that the state is, or at least will prove to be over time, completely authoritarian and evil. To be played at their own game at every step.

Indeed, one of the guys that introduced me to hacking had a history of playing local government at their own game, and winning all cases he made.

So what exactly is legal and what are we getting?

Well, for starters, folding knives (not to be confused with butterfly knives). These knives fold the blade inside the grip and are small enough to fit in a normal men's jeans pocket. I have carried one with me for years now for scouting, and it is awesome. Recommendation is to always have a cloth (for cleaning) a whetstone (or similar) and a lighter (for sterilization). Use it for food, emergency medical procedures (oh the blisters I popped :P) use it as a knife! These are generally not very large (about 20cm total, up to 10 cm of knife blade).

You can go a little larger with hunting knives, with blades up to 25cm. I do not have one yet, but since it should be handy to have a two-edges knife that is a little better at disassembling fish and small animals, as well as looking threatening enough to make you a less likely target for thugs, I am looking to get one shortly.

Crossbows are legal in the Netherlands because they fall, officially, under sports weaponry (just like compound bows and classic bows) but it might be frowned upon if you buy them with accessories (like scope sights and laser pointers). A German legal weapon supplier stopped making package deals because this would classify them differently under German law (but now I can't find the article in which they explained this).

But Nevy, you say, are you a prepper? No, no by no means. My point on this earth is not to survive for as long as I can. This is a fun what-if project and I am sure it can help to be a little prepared, but since I firmly believe that my opponent in this all is from the spiritual realm (have you ever done a risk analysis on spiritual opponents? It's terrifying when it comes to normal security controls). So the real security comes from having your soul safely stored away with God through the acceptance of Jesus' sacrifice. Jesus is not going to care how well I am prepped to survive, He is going to care if I warned others to seek a safe refuge with Him before doing anything else for their earthly survival.

What you do to survive spiritually? Repent, accept Christ, be baptized, put on the whole armor of God, find fellow disciples and bring the fight to the enemy. Does this involve physical survival, like having a crossbow? No. Does that mean you should not have a crossbow? No. David slew Goliath (whom I believe was a result of demonic activity), with a normal, physical weapon that he was used to. God uses everything that you are, can, and know for His plan. You learn something? He'll use it. You're terrible at something? Watch Him glorify Himself by providing His power in your weakness. You have a crossbow? He'll use that for his glory too, one way or the other.

And that's awesome, if you ask me.

Stay safe and vigilant out there!