Ever since Herbert Armstrong and Gerald Waterhouse dreamed up fantastical stories about "the place of safety" or the "place of final training", the church has been filled with endless speculation on how this would happen.
We all know that Herb and crew designated Petra as that final place, while a few raving lunatics found other places, like Pella, Utah, in your own home, in the moutnains. and many more crazy ideas. You can now official scratch the mountains as a place of safety.
Juan Raines of Truth Search, a COG splinter, has the reason the mountains CANNOT be the place of safety. Because the mountains are now infected with survivalists, white supremacists, and forest rangers, it will not be safe to hide in the mountains. Leave it up to Smokey the Bear and the forest rangers to kill a good idea!
Another aspect of the argument is that God will protect us wherever we live, in the mountains, etc. Forget that! The mountains of this country are no haven for anyone. They are full of forest rangers and if people started hiding out in the mountains the FBI, and other federal agents, would be swarming in no time. Furthermore, there is the problem of finding food to eat and water to drink. Moreover, let us face it; most of us could not climb a good size hill without having to call in an ambulance with a cardiac massage team! One might say, “But God will have to produce miracles.” True!
Therefore, why does it have to be in the mountain at the back of our home?