The Story of How We Moved to Northern Arkansas from Illinois
My pastor in St. Louis taught that every Christian has a calling, a ministry of our very own. That was news to me, so for many nights I went for a walk to ask the Lord what mine was. When He finally told me it didn’t seem believable at the time, and over the years I rejected it several times, only for the Lord to rebuke me and give me even more direction.
In the summer of 1971 I received my live mission from the Lord, when I lived in St. Louis, the Lord told me that an economic crash was coming. I was told it would be much worse than the great depression of the 30’s, and would involve much more than just the economy.
This will be a progressive social, economic and political… and spiritual crash, unprecedented in history. Society will fall apart into chaos.
My mandate came in just three words; “Feed My Sheep.” I knew that meant both physically and spiritually. At the time it never occurred to me that this coming calamity sounded like the seven year Tribulation period.
I was told that the church would not be prepared in any way for such a time, and they will not believe it until it actually fell upon them and left them cold, hungry and desperate. I got the impression that a lot of people may die when this calamity hits, like when those two planes –SUDDENLY– flew into the unsuspecting occupants in twin towers in Manhattan.
My instructions were to put out the warning until that time. But I was to be ready to comfort and rescue that multitude who would not receive the warning before the crash dose come.
Many will feel that their pre-trib-rap & Partial Preterist teachers lied to them, and they will leave their teachers and churches in droves. Some will leave the faith, blaming Jesus for not telling them the truth. This will be a desperate time for them and the worldly who did not hear or heed the warning.
But this message was way over my head at that time
It took another 10 years for me to comprehend it. It didn’t seem real to me for the same reason it doesn’t sound real to most Pre Tribulation Rapture & Partial Preterists believers.
The only part I understood at the time was to turn my back yard into a large natural and organic garden. Why? Because food and gardening chemicals would become scarce in such a time. No Wal-Mart’s. No farmers markets. No pharmacies.
It took a rebuke to open my eyes to what the Holy Spirit had told me so many years before. This happened when my pastor and mentor, Dr. Charles Schism, gave me permission to give this testimony to the church deacon board. As I was waxing elegant, the senior board member interrupted me and said mockingly, “Well Ken, it sounds like you plan on missing the rapture.”
What!!!? Absolutely not!!
My pastor could see I was in trouble, so he drew me aside and handed me a book that changed my life and opened up my ministry to me. He handed me a book published in 1978 by Jim Mc Keever titled, “Christians Will Go Through the Tribulation, And How To Prepare For it”. It turns out that when Mc Keever came into this revelation he bought a ranch in Oregon (as I recall) and prepped it so he could live completely off the grid.
With Mc Keever’s book I suddenly realized why my calling hadn’t made much sense to me. I had no idea—till then—that the church would go into the Tribulation; the Seventieth Week of Daniel (Daniel 9:24-27). This contradicted everything I had been taught about the Second Coming.
I then understood why I was called to warn and prepare God’s people before this prophetic time was upon us. That’s when I started teaching and practicing a homesteader lifestyle as best I could, and could see the need to establish a self-sustaining community of like minded Christians for the times we are in… and are coming into.
[See my footnotes at the bottom of this article where I give some reference material and further explanation]
Very few Christians believed this prepper message from the Lord in 1971, 1981, or 1991, but in 2001 some did, and now millions do. Many professing Christians are now aware of the imploding of our economy and corrupt government, as well as the impending wars and worldwide economic collapse. Pitifully… very few see the coming persecution and the need to prepare spiritually for that. But how does not prepare for that? Think on this warning from Jesus…
But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.
“Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name.
At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another.
~Matthew 24:8-10 (NASB)
Sharks look more sinister when you are walking the plank than they do when you are safely on deck. The problem is that millions of blind-folded brethren still don’t know they are already walking the plank. At some point, reality will awaken a few of them and they will have spiritual eyes to see and spiritual ears to hear those Great White sharks biting chucks out of that flimsy plank under their unsure feet (Matthew 13:14-15). We are talking about a small minority, a remnant who will awaken, brethren.
Of course, many survivalists and preppers (and a vast majority of comatose society) are not Christians and could care less what we say here. Now this brings up another point of which we all are painfully aware. All of the Christian preppers and survivalists combined make up but a tiny minority in society. But as Lazarus Long said, “Does history record any case in which the majority was right?” And doesn’t the Bible tell us that a huge majority of society rejects Jesus?
Think about it, Noah’s crew constituted a tiny minority of eight people among the millions that perished in the flood they were warned about. They were told to repent and prepare for a flood that would kill everything that was not inside the Ark, but they chose to parish. The truth is most people don’t want the truth. I sometimes wonder if I do. How about you?
The world population at that time was estimated by Henry Morris to be around 10 billion. He published this formula to calculation the pre-flood world population. P(n) is the population after n generations which begins with one man and one woman. The number of generations is represented by n. A value for n can be obtained by dividing the total time period by the number of years per generation. (The Biblical Basis for Modern Science, Baker Book House, 1984, p.417.)
I believe the Holy Spirit told me to call the church to be prepared physically, mentally, and spiritually for what will transpire in these end times. Without proper spiritual preparation and maturity we will not be prepared for anything life throws at us, much less the events Bible prophecy says are coming, and in fact, are already here. The spiritually mature will be led of the Holy Spirit as to where they are to be and how they are to prepare.
The safest place in the world is in the center of God’s will for your life.
At that time He told me I was to prepare His people for a coming financial depression. This anticipated depression is in all probability going to happen BEFORE the tribulation period begins. There are those who say we are not only in a depression right now, but that we are plummeting downhill towards much worse social, economic, political and spiritual time until we slide into the Tribulation and the time of the Second Coming. Again, keep in mind that our nation has suffered three wars on this continent, as well as a depression, a dust bowl, 9/11, and Katrina. To say any of these historical disasters won’t or can’t happen again in America is foolishness.
God is not calling all Christians into this kind of a ministry, but God is telling all of us to prepare as He would have us prepare (physically, mentally, and spiritually) for the coming economic meltdown. A time will come in our beloved America when some will be called to the high calling of martyrdom, and others to the terrible task of surviving so as to minister to those Christians who were absolutely sure such things could not happen to Christians in America, and to the lost who were also put to sleep by the system keepers.
[FOOTNOTE: To the best of my understanding, some version of the Pre Wrath eschatology will prove to be what Jesus does towards the end of the 7 year Tribulation period. I recommend this book and these videos because the author received the same calling verbatim. I am sharing this because the Lord told me verbatim (in 1971) what He told Michael Snyder just recently. On this show Michael Snyder talks about his new book on the Pre Wrath rapture teaching titled, “The Rapture Verdict.”]
PREPARING FOR THE TRIBULATION VS FOR A DISASTER
I am preparing for the tribulation (not a disaster), but that comes from the perspective of a post-triber (pre-wrather). Pre-tribers and Partial Preterests have no such perspective (they don’t need to), but they may see the need to prepare for a disaster of some sort that is in deed likely. To be prepared for the tribulation is to be inadvertently prepared for any disaster than God will allow to happen. And if the pre-tribers are right (and we all hope they are) then a weeks supply of food and water in the pantry will be all we ever need. But I feel compelled to ask; but what if they are wrong?
I advocate an ancient, peaceful agrarian lifestyle that historically has sustained people since Adam and Eve. Those who operate out of fear and paranoia are operating out of the wrong spirit. In Christ there is peace… no fear. I am not trying to save my life or possessions. I invite death, but more importantly, I just want to be able to minister Christ to those God sends to me. And if a Biblical generation is 70 years (since Israel became a nation again in 1948), then we surely in the likely time frame for the tribulation to begin.
I do not speculate much on eschatology. To me they all are wrong to some degree or another. The question is… which one is the wrongist and which one is the rightest. LOL. So I say… be informed… know them all… don’t depend on any of them. But if you take this advice then you are more likely to see what REALLY is happening and not be caught off guard… as so many will be. He who has it all figured out DOESN’T. LOL. Ultimately I am preparing to be in the Bridal company when Jesus comes at some future midnight hour to catch us away. If that be so, then preparing for the tribulation period is just preliminaries to that biggy.
If we are on the very cusp of the tribulation, and if we think Christians will go through the tribulation then this agrarian lifestyle sounds more than sane, it sounds desirable. I was raised in the country and long to be back in the country raising my own food. People lived off the grid for centuries before there was a grid, and they can live off the grid again IF they prepare for that eventuality.
Oh, and something I think will throw some Christians off is what I sense will be a coming time of peace and prosperity in the tribulation period when Christians are marrying and partying again. Most presume that the tribulation will be an ever intensifying hell on earth, when in fact the Antichrist wants to counterfeit the second coming and millennium.
If a one-world currency comes on the scene to correct a one-word (self imposed) economic crash, that will bring peace and prosperity… and a contract. Such a time will mean the Antichrist has gained world dominance. He who controls the money controls the governments and the people whether that currency be printed or crypto currency.
To share in this peace in prosperity everyone will be required to sign a contract (so to speak) in order to get the “mark” (password) that will give us access to that money and a bank account, drivers license, travel permits, etc. Many “Christians” will rejoice and will mock fools like me. But those who are off the grid will not need to buy or sell to live. They just go out to their garden to shop. Over simplified I know, but I know you got it.
There is another necessity. Without that Rev 7:3 mark/seal few will survive till the end… till the catching away… very few. As you can see, I am a little different than the run-of-the-mill eschatologist. I am either mad or prophetic… or pathetic. Maybe all three, LOL!
Sooooo my focus now days is on preparing the bride, which includes preparing myself for our coming husband, King, and God. LOL. So, how do we do that? If I am not mistaking, this all falls under spiritual maturity.
To the point: we all must know what is coming down and how God would have each of us be prepared for that time. Obedience entails knowing His voice, and then obeying His instructions. Again, the safest place on earth is in the center of God’s will.
Why We Moved To North West Arkansas
My testimony as to why we moved to north-west Arkansas from Illinois in 1985 is so unusual and so miraculous that you may have a hard time believing it.
If you believe that God has moved you to North West Arkansas as well, our testimonies may confirm to each other that God did indeed move us here.
In 1982 the Lord began telling me to move my family to north-west Arkansas to start my end-time ministry. He said He was opening the doors for me to become established there. He told me this area was “a green island of survival,” and He called the community concept “a community of intentional neighbors.”
At the time I was a civilian employee at Scott Air Force base in Belleville, Illinois, serving as a computer programmer. Our testimony of how God moved my family here from Belleville, IL is as inspiring as they get. God put together a series of events that made the move come together in minute and miraculous detail.
Here is our testimony.
On one of my trips to Arkansas in 1983 I felt led to stop at a real estate office. I asked the agent if there was a small natural and organic farm for sale. She told me all about a four acre Blueberry farm, but the information was useless to me at the time. I felt foolish as I walked out of that office … with her business card in hand.
Then I felt led to go to Green Forest, Arkansas to see if a friend of mine still lived there. He was a Chiropractor I knew back when we all went to church together in St. Louis years before. Well, I found his clinic, and he invited me to spend the night so we could talk. Over dinner I told him about the natural and organic Blueberry farm in Springdale that was for sale. It turns out that he knew all about that farm. What a coincidence! The owners traded Blueberries for Chiropractic treatment, and they were Christians. The next day I went to visit that farm, but this was just a far-fetched dream at the time.
The only government job I could transfer to in my profession was at the Veteran’s Hospital in Fayetteville, so I filled out a job application there and went home. Nine months later the Veterans Hospital in Fayetteville asked me to come for a job interview. The interview went well, and before I could get home they had already called ahead and said I was accepted.
I called the Blueberry farm to find that the owners had moved to Georgia and left a young couple to run the farm. So I called the owner in Georgia. He was glad to hear from me because the young couple had also accepted a new job, but in Kansas City. And his reporting date was August the 5th. My reporting date at the VA Hospital was—you guessed it—on August the 5th as well. For this reason I am convinced that God did in deed move us here. Can you believe such a string of divine appointments? To me this was an overwhelming confirmation that God indeed moved me to this green island of survival!
How ArkHaven Got its Name
The name “ArkHaven” is in reference to the Ark of the Covenant and to Noah’s Ark. Both of these Arks were covered with God’s promise, protection, and provision.
The Lord is certainly pressing His preparation into the hearts and minds of those who have an ear to hear. Are you one of them?
My vision is to form a community of “a fellowship of intentional neighbors” that will be totally self sufficient, self reliant, and able to operate outside the system when the economy crashes. Some use terms like “Christian sanctuary”, or “Christian covenant” or “Christian centered”, to describe this lifestyle.
We use such thoughts as self sufficient, frugal, frugality, self-reliance, and sustainability to define what ArkHaven is all about, but ArkHaven is Christ centered and therefore much bigger than what those words can convey.
Here is the testimony behind receiving this name. I like to walk in a natural setting when I pray. On this occasion I was walking in my four acres of blueberry bushes, up one row and down the next, and my entourage of our dog and several cats tagging along behind me. That is the setting where the Lord gave me this name. I cherish that memory.
ArkHaven is a reference to the Ark of the Covenant and to Noah’s Ark. Both of these Arks were places of God’s promise, protection, and provision. The ultimate and future goal of ArkHaven Ministries is to form a Christian community—a haven for end-time ministry purposes.
The original name was Ark-Ten, but God allowed me to change it to a more understandable name—ArkHaven. When the Lord first told me this name I mistakenly assumed that “ark” was an abbreviation for Arkansas, and that “ten” was a colloquialisms for “town,” or Arkansas Town.
But the Holy Spirit quickly corrected me. He said that this community is an “Ark” as in Noah’s Ark and the Ark of the covenant, and that “ten” is the number 10. I had to look up the number 10 in Bible symbolism to see what it means. Ten implies completeness of order, nothing lacking and nothing over. It signifies that the cycle is complete and that everything is in its proper order. Thus ten represents the perfection of divine order.
When we combine the two words (ark + 10) we get this definition: God’s place of provision protection and promise, nothing lacking, until completeness of order is seen.
Green Island of Survival
The Lord impressed me to call North West Arkansas a “Green island of survival.”
In 1983 as I drove into the Arkansas Ozarks for the first time the Holy Spirit came over me so powerfully that I should have stopped the car. The Holy Spirit was giving me confirmation that I was “home” and I knew beyond any doubt I was to move my family here. One of the things the Holy Spirit told me under that anointing has stuck with me to this day (I forgot all the rest). He said this area He was sending me to is a “Green Island of Survival.” Since then there have been many prophecies and visions that show this is indeed a green island of survival. I interpret that island as being the Ozark Plateau.
I believe there are probably other such green islands in the world, but the Lord sent me to this specific one.
In 1990 the Lord Told Me to Study Church History
The extensive studies I made over a two and a half year period (and ever sense then) gave me a lot more perspective into the mission of preparing His people.
For those first 2.5 years I studied around 40 hours a week reading stacks of books on church history.
Those last 6 months were devoted to studying the origins and founders of all the schools of eschatology.
I read the church historians work from eight different denominations. That is the only way one can get a well rounded and fair take on what actually happened. Every doctrinal group has their mindset and their interests to defend. Talk about an eye opener! Seminaries usually only provide/recommend only history books written by scholars in their denomination, robbing their students of that more rounded overview I got.
All the pre millennial views (verses post millennial and amillennial views) are less than 200 years old. Even though all the church fathers for the first 400 years were pre millennial, none of them made it clear whether the rapture (catching away) would happen at the beginning or middle or end of the 7 year period.
Augustine gave the church world the amillennial doctrine (known as Preterist and Partial Preterist doctrines) around the year 400 A.D. Most of the Reformation churches still hold those views.
There is where I saw the Acts model for Christian community and how it helped early Christians cope with severe persecution, tribulation, and martyrdom through the first three centuries.
Here is some background to this story of when the Lord told me to study church history.
Even though I had been a computer professional since 1965, I didn’t own a personal computer until 1990. When I turned on my new computer for the first time I said to the Lord, “Thank you! Now what shall I do with it?” The Lord said to me, “study church history.” That upset me. “History? We are talking boring here!” The Lord retorted, “Ken, what do you know about what has happened in My church over the past 50 years?” I had to admit that I knew very little. Then He really let me have it. “Ken, what do you know of what has happened in Christendom over the past 500 years; the past 1,000 years; the past 2,000 years?” I conceded and straight way went to a seminary library and checked out 8 books. That is where the journey began. And it revolutionized my thinking, my life. I should add that when anyone studies church history that extensively, that person’s understanding will then go beyond the boundaries of any given denomination or doctrinal group. And the more anyone learns, the more they become humbled by the magnitude of how much knowledge they don’t and can’t know. Two pastors with doctorates in theology have agreed with me on that point.)
In 1999 the Holy Spirit told me that Y2K was going to be a non-event, but that it would blind or inoculate people for the REAL event to prepare for.
Testimony of Ken’s Miracle Birth
There were three morbid reasons why Ken should not have been born alive. And at the very best he should have had a severe case of Cerebral palsy. But two praying grandmothers had their churches praying for me. One of them prayed the Hanna prayer. “Oh Lord, save his life and call him from the womb to ministry.” That prayer was answered.
Those three reasons were; he was breach, he was too big for his mothers pelvic (9 ½ lb), and the umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck three times. The only option available to save his life was caesarian section, but in 1936 the caesarean section procedure was not as safe as it is today. Of her four sons, only this one time did she have these difficulties. Ken was her second and largest son (she had 4 sons and no daughters.
His Mothers doctors told his Dad (Ed) that they could save one life but not both. A caesarean section would save Ken’s life, but she (Helen) would die. But if they dismembered Ken, then they could save her life. That is not an option anyone wants to choose between, but Ken’s Dad made the decision Ken would have made. He decided to save his wife and hope for another child. He literally signed Ken’s death warrant by signing a release form giving the doctors permission to dismember him.
When the three Gynecologists had scrubbed they entered the delivery room to dismember him, but upon entering they found Helen in labor and the nurse trying her best to get Ken out of there. These compassionate Doctors were moved by the nurses heroics and Helen’s hopes and threw in with them, and the impossible happened. He had turned and was headed the right way. It was then discovered that the umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck three times. His Mother says his nose was pushed up between his eyes and took three days to come into the right place. You can imagine the pain she went through for a few days.
But that was not the end of the miracle.
Ken was hospitalized for the first time in his life at age 68 (in March 2005) with Streptococci Bacteria in his blood stream, so this was not an illness or injury, but an infection. No surgery was performed. Ken was in ICU for 3 days, and in a VA hospital for 8 days in all. His doctor told him that he came within an hour of dying when the medical team was able to treat him with enough antibiotics to keep his organs from closing down.
All his life he has had no physical conditions of any consequence, and today his health and physical conditioning is excellent (see picture of Ken at age 73 in November 2009). Looking for an explanation, he attributes this miracle to the covering prayed over him at birth by his grandmother Uptegrove. That covering has remained over him to this day. Ken is very much into health, nutrition, and bodily fitness.
Is this covering part of the calling Ken has to form the ArkHaven ministry described above?
Two weeks before Ken was hospitalized, his mother died at age 95, and in December of the same year his wife died. As with Job, God brought good out of all this into Ken’s life to bring a change in his mind-set so that He can bless Ken further. This horrendous year of Job’s crucible taught Ken that life is fragile and death is sure, so we must learn how to lay our lives down and be a dead man before Christ. Then we can become truly committed to our calling.
Very recently the Lord brought a new wife into Ken’s life. They are very suited for each other. They both have the same vision and Spiritual giftings. Her maiden name was Lora Lee Gibson, but now she is Mrs. Lora Uptegrove, Ken’s beloved wife.
But on October 7, 2013 at age 76 Ken had a heart valve replacement, his first surgery ever. He had a heart murmur caused by Rheumatic fever when he was 9 years old. And even though he was able to play basketball for all those years and serve in the Army, old age finally bright that valve to a state that it had to be replaced. The good news is, this new valve will be in great shape for the rest of his life.
BIOGRAPHY
In 1986, at age fifty, he went into full time ministry, concentrating his efforts on writing a newsletter, articles for a local paper, and working on a book. Since going into ministry work he has studied church history and related subjects extensively, such as Bible manuscript history, Bible translations, and Holy Land archeology. He also is interested in such subjects as cosmology, astronomy, geophysics, paleontology, anthropology, naturopathy, and horticulture. His interest was never of the intellectual sort, quite the opposite. His quest was more of the spiritual sort, wanting to gain a broader and deeper understanding of God and His creation. Leonard Ravenhill said in one of his letters that Ken was “educated in the Holy Ghost school of silence.”
Ken was an honor student and all-conference basketball center in his high school years (1952-56). Then he spent three years in the Army (1957-60), two of which were spent in Germany.
In 1963 Ken married Joyce Smith. In 2005 both his 95 year old mother and his beloved wife of 43 years, Joyce, died. They have three sons and six grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren.
Since then Lora Gibson, another Godly woman came into Ken’s life and eventually got married. Lora is a prophetic lady who has the same vision and giftings Ken has.
Ken’s father graduated from the University of Nebraska in 1934. He was a Golden Gloves boxer in 1932, 33, & 34, and was a successful educator and coach for many years prior to his sudden death in 1955.
Ken believes that anyone who has studied church history extensively will have grown beyond the boundaries of the fellowship of believers they believe God would have them worship with. We can only be in one church at a time, but our paradigm can be much larger than the doctrine of that one church. That is why Ken feels that he can speak to the entire Evangelical Christian community (and Ken considers Charismatics and Pentecostals — all who evangelize — to be Evangelical). This uniquely qualifies Ken to be able to edit the work of fellow writers from many different doctrinal groups.
Ken has been using the ministry name, ArkHaven, and the Noah’s Ark logo since 1986. ArkHaven’s reference to Noah’s Ark (and the Ark of the Covenant) has to do with the protection, the provision, and the promise of God associated with these Arks. Which gets to our next point… tears.
The Tear Drop Vision
Around 1986 I was writing an article when I decided to put a tiny Ichthus icon at the end of it. But as I was drawing the Ichthus I had an open vision. The Ichthus in the horizontal position began to slowly rotate into a vertical position. As it did, the pointed head began to be rounded and the scissor tail began to open until it transformed into a tear drop. I heard these word as it took shape, “The tears you will shed.” I was reminded of Jeremiah who cried because the people rejecting God’s warnings.
A BRIEF SUMMARY OF MY TESTIMONY
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Born in November 1936 in Lincoln, Nebraska to Edward and Helen Uptegrove.
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Received Jesus as my Savior in the summer of 1946
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Was in the Army from 1957 to 1960. Two of those three years were spent in Germany.
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Married darling Joyce Smith in July 1963 and we had three sons.
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Received baptism in Holy Spirit in January 1965 in St Louis, MO.
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Received my calling in summer of 1971 in Richmond Heights, MO.
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Moved to Springdale, AR in the summer of 1985 by leading of the Holy Spirit.
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Was given the name to my ministry and the tear drop vision in 1986.
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The Holy Spirit told me that Y2K was going to be a non-event.
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My mother and wife died in 2005, and I came within minutes of dieing.
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God blessed me with my second wife, my beloved Lora Gibson, in 2006.
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All of these should be expounded upon, and other major events should be included here. Maybe some day I will.
This Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Definition of a Visionary Reflects My Testimony
“Someone, then, must undertake the ungracious task of probing
and laying bare the evils of the age; for men must not be allowed
to congratulate themselves that all is well. If others will not, he will.
If others shrink from the obloquy of such a work, he will not. He
loves the age too well; he loves his nation too well; he loves his
fellow-men too well. They may upbraid him; they may call him a
misanthropist, or a prophet of evil; they may ascribe his warnings
to the worst of motives, such as pride, or arrogance, or self-
esteem, or malice, or envy; but he will give no heed to these unjust
insinuations.He will prefer being thus misunderstood and maligned, to allowing
men to precipitate themselves upon a ruin which they see not.
Rather than that they should perish, he will allow his own good
name to be spoken against. He will risk every thing, even the
hatred of brethren, rather than withhold the warning.”
~Horatius Bonar
(28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) Goethe was a German writer and statesman. A literary celebrity by the age of 25.