My Story

On By The Girl Who Doesn't ExistIn Uncategorized

For some not having a social security is a novel or foreign concept.

For me, I know no other way.

Truman Lamb is the one that set my story, as all great grandfathers do for their descendants. It started with a decision that involved a conflict between his convictions toward God and life and his oath and love for his wife in 1929.

It was during the heat of the great depression, and my great-grandfather lived in Kansas City, Missouri. He had his own business raising poultry, and he suffered with the rest of the United States as the banks crashed. City ordinances enacted programs to offer help and work to the people through a welfare system and work force.

All people had to do was sign up. And many did, because it was desperate times.

But Truman Lamb was one of the very few who chose to not put himself under the government’s assistance and charity. He strongly believed that he should “have no other gods before me {Yahweh/ God}” ( Exodus 20:3).

He believed that we were to have no league or covenant with other gods/ governments outside of our own God. It was one thing to respect them and obey them, it was another to sign a contract with them to serve them. (Judges 2).

And when a number was involved he believed that it would eventually lead to the beast’s mark. (Revelation 13:17-18). People thought he was crazy, as this number wasn’t used for identification until the 70s. But he saw it and knew it would be a number the government would use as a “mark of their ownership” and that someday it would be hard to “buy or sell” without it. People remembered their number in their heads and would use it with their hands to secure their place in a system that wasn’t of God’s making.

But my great-grandfather’s wife was not happy that he refused welfare help. She reported him to the local authorities. His business was threatened and he was threatened with jail-time and fines. But he never gave in or complied with their demands, and because there was no law against what he did at the time, they could not make good on any of their threats.

Was he tempted? Of course. Food was scarcer as was money, and the government seemed to offer everything for a reasonable trade. But he chose to trust his God for everything, and stayed true to his beliefs. As a result along with other religious matters, he lost his first wife and married my great-grandmother.

Truman and Willa Lamb had thirteen kids, and my grandfather was one of his children. And he passed it on that each of his children should follow in his footsteps and remain separated from the rulers of this land and true to Yahweh.

Truman A. Lamb, born October 4, 1900.

Of course, not all of his children chose to do as he did, but my grandfather was one who refrained from securing himself to the “promises” of our government and struck out to be self-sufficient under God’s will.

My grandfather, Stephen Lamb, took the passage of the Rechabites in Jeremiah 35 to heart, and passed it on to his own children. It is a story of a grandfather warning his children that a war would come and that they needed to be prepared. He commanded them not to drink wine or plant vineyards or build houses, but to live in tents always ready to move when the time came to do so. Jeremiah put the descendants to a test, which they passed. When a war came they survived as their grandfather had predicted “that you might live long in the days you sojourn”.

My dad has always told us that we have two commandments passed on to us from our great-grandfather:

  1. To never drink alcoholic beverages
  2. To never get a social security number

Not every family member has obeyed these commandments, but those of us that have are blessed and live productive, respectful lives.

But my story isn’t just from my father’s side, but my mother’s, too.

My mother’s father was not raised the same as my dad’s father, but when he found salvation and learned from various people that it was better to trust in God’s provision than man’s, and he chose to not give his children SSNs or buy any sort of insurance. He became a Naturopathic doctor and spread education for health that has saved many people physically and spiritually, and is still highly respected today in his field.

So when my mom and dad married, I was born into an even lesser minority having several generations of experience behind how I was brought up.

I did not at first understand what it meant to be and live as I did until my mid-teens. My life was normal to me and I never questioned it for the longest time. In my future posts I’ll share stories on how I questioned and doubted the way I was born and raised, and how I eventually came to embrace it.

I’ll also share what sort of birth certificate I have, how I got my ID and driver’s license, how I got a passport, my beliefs on capitalism and what that means for income taxes, what it means to respect God’s ordained rulers vs. our own government, and more.

For now, I’d like to hear YOUR story, whether you have a number or not and how you are living a life fully for God no matter the circumstances you were born into.

Share with me in the comments, or email me if you have a story you’d like to share personally with me, or if you have a story you’d like featured on this blog. My email is in my bio page. Also, please share with your friends and family!

20 thoughts on “My Story”

  1. tastethesea

    I’ll be interested to hear your story! My parents didn’t get us SS #s when we were born, but did when we were teens and my older siblings were trying to get jobs (and couldn’t.) I’ll be interested to learn how you circumvented the need for one. I’m sure it wasn’t easy!

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    1. Hey, thanks for joining me!
      First, being self-employed helps a ton. I make $20-30 an hour cleaning houses … better than you’ll make at many college degree jobs 😉
      Second, it’s possible to work for for other. But many will be too scared to hire you. They can legally hire you as a private contractor. But it just means a bit of paperwork for both of you.

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      1. tastethesea

        Yeah, I’m self-employed (now), but we also own businesses w/ employees, etc…I wonder can you do all of that stuff w/o one? I guess I’m curious if you’ve found stuff you just couldn’t do without one. I know even once our businesses have an FEIN, often a SS# is still required on many state/federal forms to file various taxes, etc. Do you even have to file taxes? Are you still considered a US Citizen? I have so many questions, lol.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Haha! Yes I’m a US citizen 😉 But more of what you’d call a sovereign citizen… I’ll write more on that eventually. You can hire and pay people under you as private contractors, which is how I’ll be hiring people that clean under me this next year. We aren’t obligated to file for taxes, so we don’t. And we have never been required to fill out any federal forms. Of course, I’ll write all of this in more detail. Also, feel free to email me if you want more detailed answers. I really want I email from you, as I’m curious about your publishing journey and if you’ve done that without a number?

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  2. Before this blog, I actually didn’t know this was possible?? I guess one learns something new every day. I’m curious to read how life works without a social security number, I use mine all the time, and I had to in order to get into community college this year, although I suppose there have to be ways.

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    1. College used to be my dream and the reason I considered getting a number. But then I realized I can learn just as much on my own and not pay any school fees/ debts by listening to podcasts and audiobooks as I clean houses. Not for everyone, but works for me. There are ways around it. I have friends that have done so 😉 And I’m hoping to have interviews with them on here!

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  3. Olivia F.

    Wow! I never even considered that US citizens could legally go without SS numbers. I’m really interested in hearing more of your story and how this works.

    Liked by 1 person

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  4. Derek and Joyti Lermeny

    We are so interested in learning all about surviving without getting a SSN. We have always had a huge respect for the way the Amish have kept a separateness from modern society. Thank you for sharing your life with us, and we look forward to being educated by you. We love your dad and all that he has done for complete strangers with the support of his loving family. God bless you all abundantly.

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  5. This is so interesting! I was always told that you couldn’t get a driver’s license or a job or live basically, lol, without an SSN. It never even occurred to me that it was optional! I’m super interested to learn how you managed everything!

    Alexa
    thessalexa.blogspot.com
    verbosityreviews.com

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  6. Francesca

    Hi! I’m fascinated by the fact you and your family have been able to live without social security numbers for generations. Your great-grandfather was quite the visionary.

    I followed your father’s coverage of the illegal trials of the Bundys. I prayed for him when he was involved in his terrible car accident. I seem to remember your father having to get Medicaid in order to qualify for the indigent patient fund to cover his stay in the hospital and his subsequent rehab and additional surgeries. Just out of curiosity how was he able to get the Medicaid without a social security number?

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      1. Francesca

        You’re welcome for the follow. I look forward to your journey. An indigent patient fund in a hospital is a pool of funds to cover the cost of a hospital stay if the person doesn’t have health insurance. The reason I am curious is because I am thinking about no longer using my social security number and I don’t have health insurance. I worry if I get so sick I have to go to the hospital they won’t let me stay.

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      2. I actually am not a fan of insurance for religious beliefs. We had car insurance that covered most of the bills. If you want help navigating this, you can always message my dad. But it’s not my area of expertise, and I’m also against insurances of all sorts and support having a savings/ being self sufficient.

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  8. We actually use Medishare for similar reasons re: insurance. We have regular insurance for car and are required to have it for the businesses we own, but we do what we can! We seem to have a lot of similar viewpoints! 🙂

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