QUOTES TO PONDER
- We have many lessons to learn, and many, many to unlearn. God and heaven alone are infallible. Those who think that they will never have to give up a cherished view, never have occasion to change an opinion, will be disappointed. As long as we hold to our own ideas and opinions with determined persistency, we cannot have the unity for which Christ prayed.
- “There should be no poor among you…You will receive this blessing if you are careful to obey all the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today.” Deuteronomy 15:4-5
- And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need…And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.“Acts 2: 45-7
- “There were no needy people among them, because those who owned land or houses would sell them 35 and bring the money to the apostles to give to those in need.” Acts 4:34-5
- When those who profess the name of Christ shall practice the principles of the golden rule [as the Acts church did], the same power will attend the gospel as in apostolic times.” Ellen White, Mount of Blessing, p. 138-9.
- “For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.” 1 Timothy 6:10 (NLT)
Did you know that the Bible has ~30 principles in the area of economics and how we use our money and material resources? There are principles for every level of society including the government, the wealthy, the church and each individual (examples of each are listed below). Did you know that the Bible speaks of economic topics in 2,000+ verses, more than on any other topic except idolatry (which also is often dealing with economic injustice and it’s consequences. Dr. Pedrito Maynard-Reid speaks about this at Walla Walla University in an eloquent lecture here.
God sure seems to think there’s something important about how economic resources are used at all levels of society. Why don’t most denominations and most Christians listen to what He says? Why are there no economic justice doctrines in the fundamental beliefs of nearly all churches? Is it because they do not understand the concept of biblical justice? Is it because pastor’s and Christians (and atheists/secularists even more so) have not learned or taken seriously Bible doctrines of love and economics such as this:
“If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion—how can God’s love be in that person?” 1 John 3:17
The Bible and Ellen White clearly say that all levels of society from government on down to individuals and even the poor are responsible to strenuously oppose greed and poverty (as well as pride and inequality), which are the roots of all evil (1 Tim. 6:10) and to contribute to the welfare of others after their own family needs are taken care of.. Research by numerous scientists around the world confirms God’s claim that greed and economic inequality as well as other types of inequality are the roots of all evil (see a little more on this here). They are the the root cause of a myriad of social problems and destructive evils in societies including
1) HEALTH: Poverty creates bad health because it forces people to make ignorant or risky choices in where they live , what they eat and others. They often then lack decent shelter, clean water or adequate sanitation. The documentaries “American Winter” and “A Place at the Table” cite research that show that up to 16% of American kids are malnourished in various ways (lack of food or eating junk food that isn’t nutritious or good for development) due to poverty.
2) FAMILY: Poverty and money problems are the #1 cause of broken marriages and families. These are then a primary cause of many addictions and abusive behaviors.
3) EDUCATION: There are at least 5 different types of education. Some only train people to be unthinking workers, never teaching them how to think critically or based on truth or how to protest against injustices. The best education teaches principles of truth from God and science. But it often costs more money. Most poor can’t access it. Poverty also forces people into debt where they don’t have time to learn important knowledge and truths or even how they are being exploited. It makes them vulnerable to many types of societal deceptions (aka propaganda)
4) PREJUDICE/RACE/SEXISM, ETC. When a few people unjustly hoard a lot of money, one of the first things these plutocrats try very hard to divide and conquer everyone else, influencing and even paying people to cause conflict of many kinds so that people won’t have time or energy to think about the elite rich thieves. They manipulate laws and media to encourage racism, sexism towards women, economic injustice towards the poor and many things like this that result in the repression of minority races and women.
5) UNJUST/DISCRIMINATORY LAWS/PRISON: Concentrated wealth has resulted in many unjust laws towards minorities and the poor. These discriminatory laws and the prison for profit system have ruined many families and even leading white judges and politicians in both parties have condemned this injustice.
6) CRIME: The Bible, and leading thinkers throughout history agree that poverty causes many crimes. Marcus Aurelius (121-180 A.D.) declared, “Poverty is the mother of crime.” “Starting from the 1970s, studies in the US pointed more and more at the link between unemployment, poverty and crime… what reveals the unmistakable connection between poverty and crime is that they’re both geographically concentrated – in a strikingly consistent way. In other words, where you find poverty (minority neighborhoods) is also exactly where you find crime.” It also is sometimes true that crime is a factor in causing poverty as well.
7) SEVERAL TYPES OF SLAVERY: chattel/labor slavery, debt slavery, sex slavery, and more. Many scholars like Christian professor Kevin Bales point out that economic desperation (due often to being robbed of land rights) is a primary factor in forcing people to take risky jobs to meet basic needs for their families. These often end up forcing them into real slavery no different from the Israelis in Egypt. This is why there are ~46 million slaves around the world now (~73 million children live/work in slave-like/hazardous conditions). There are even ~57,000 slaves in America at present (see how many are in each country here).
Poverty is a primary factor in many other evils as well such as terrorism, war, and many others.
Did you know that God promised that following His economic principles would end poverty (Deut 15:4) and that Israel eliminated poverty and had great peace and safety as a result when every family had their own home and garden (1 Kings 4:25), a principle God repeatedly insisted on throughout the Bible. Did you know that the early church also beat poverty in the church by following godly economics (Acts 2:42-27, 4:32-25) when the governments were too corrupt and and refused to follow God’s way and that this was a major reason why they turned the world upside down (Acts 17:6) and they won so many souls to Christ? Did you know that Ellen White says that we can have the same results if we follow the economic principles they did (MB p. 137-9)?
Did you know that unfortunately, our denomination like almost all others, has no fundamental belief statement regarding economics beyond brief mentions in belief #21 about of tithe and offering and being generous that don’t even cover 10% of the principles on economics in the Bible Did you know that Ellen White said that farming and gardening could seriously change our finances and health? Did you know that many countries are trying to push people hard into cities (China is planning to pressure 900 million into cities in the near future), since people can be easily monitored and made dependent on governments, corporations, the wealthy or all three?
Do you think it’s about time our church and its members should change and take God’s economic policies seriously as we have His health principles, especially since so many people are desperately looking for answers to the unrivaled economic injustice that we face in the present time? I do. If you think so too, read on for the problems, God’s solutions and some of the science that backs up why it’s so crucial (and check back for a link to a petition you can sign your name to in the near future).
The 1% now own more wealth than the 99% combined which causes a myriad of injustices and abuses everywhere as Oxfam, the World Bank and others report (https://www.oxfam.org/sites/www.oxfam.org/files/cost-of-inequality-oxfam-mb180113.pdf) as well as significant unbelief in God and it also seriously cripples church finances.
We SDAs have God given simple solutions in health, economics and other areas that can save millions of lives and trillions of dollars per year according to research. We promote our NEWSTART health principles fairly well, principles that research shows can save up to 40 million lives and $6 trillion dollars per year if everyone followed them. But we have many other truths, such as in economics and in biblical justice areas and many others, that can also do an enormous amount of good.
Non-SDAs all over the world are starting to do what Ellen White told us to do long ago in the face of obscene economic injustice and science that is pointing out why it is so important. If you watch nothing else this week, make sure to take time to watch this documentary “The Economics of Happiness” which shows extensive examples from the modern world of how important land rights and gardening are, things we were told about by Ellen White way back in the 1800s. At minute 21-30 for example, it shows how a culture that was peaceful with people from several religions and ethnic backgrounds was transformed into a high stress environment with far higher rates of violence, crime and even killings largely due to depriving people of land rights and the invasion of materialism. In addition, there have been over 200,000 suicides in India alone because of the robbery of economic rights.
“The Economics of Happiness”
Research has shown a very serious problem:
- Faith Communities Today is the largest survey of religious congregations ever conducted in the United States (95% representation). www.creativeministry.org/article/27/research/faith-communities-today
- “51% of Adventist pastors report that they seldom or never preach on topics related to social concerns.”
www.creativeministry.org/article/347/research/faith-communities-today/new-fact-information/social-justice-and-the-adventist-church
This is a travesty and just ungodly. Why does this reality exist? When I protested to Dr. John Webster (now at La Sierra) about having to study philosophy long ago as a university student, he responded, “Sometimes there’s nothing as practical as a good philosophy”. This is true. When people accept the fallacious philosophy of methodological naturalism (which says that no evidence can point to God or creation no matter what), the only possible conclusions of the evidence will be some form of Darwinism or universal common descent. Tragic injustices have ensued in many areas because of this betrayal of truth as Dr. Weikart points out here:
Similarly, even though the Bible speaks about economic justice, human rights and godly social justice in over 2000 verses, far more than almost any other topic in the Bible (partly because nations as well as churches rise and fall largely based on how carefully they follow these principles as Prov. 14:34, Hosea 8:2-4,11,12 and Lev. 25:18-19 say. See also Acts 2:42-47, 4:32-35), we as an SDA church have still not integrated any solid statement on these areas into our fundamental beliefs. This is a travesty and needs to be changed as soon as possible. Ellen White has said that these are crucial things for churches to be alive and vibrant and one of the most important types of mission work as well (quotes coming soon).
Our fundamental beliefs do admirably mention the equality of all, but there is not much more specific than that. Nothing about the crucial importance of economic or land rights (Nehemiah 5, Ezekiel 45:1-13, 47:22-23), nothing about church responsibilities for the poor and mistreated (James 1:27) or governmental responsibility to ensure the rights of the poor(Daniel 4:27). They rightly speak of the danger of alcohol, but not the injustice of racism. They speak helpfully about modest dress, but not the abuse of poverty. They speak about the danger of jewelry, but not the cruelty of debt slavery that destroys countless families. They speak about tithe, but say nothing about corporate greed/crime that ruins millions of lives. Why don’t we have any significant education or efforts in every church and school in the area of economic justice since Ellen White advocated them extensively, especially in the most crucial area of biblical Jubilee economics/land rights/protecting people from losing their homes (1 Kings 21, Nehemiah 5, Ezekiel 45:1-13, 47:22-23) which involves over $217 trillion dollars and is a major prevention of plutocracy?
HOW GARDENING CAN HELP CHURCHES COMPENSATE FOR GOVERNMENT REJECTION OF BIBLE ECONOMICS.
Probably, most governments will not follow land rights as God required countless times in the Bible. But as the church in Acts did, we can compensate for what the government refuses to do and still beat poverty and injustice.
When nations rejected God’s wisdom, the early church followed it in the church and beat poverty there and turned the world upside down (Acts 2:42-47;4:32-35, Acts 17:6). EGW says that if we follow their example, we will have the same results. (MB. 137-139). And it starts with land and gardening.
Ellen White, a godly American theologian and a founder of the Seventh Day Adventist Church Ellen White was well aware of the economic arguments of her time in regard to capitalism and communism. She criticized both and pointed people to God’s simple Jubilee economics and land rights as the solution and also said that disregarding them was the source of nearly all evils in modern times. She wrote saying that no system had yet equaled God’s Jubilee system:
“If men would give more heed to the teaching of God’s Word, they would find a solution of these problems that perplex them. Much might be learned from the Old Testament in regard to the labor question and the relief of the poor. In God’s plan for Israel every family had a home on the land, with sufficient ground for tilling. Thus were provided both the means and the incentive for a useful, industrious, and self-supporting life. And no devising of men has ever improved upon that plan. To the world’s departure from it is owing, to a large degree, the poverty and wretchedness that exist today.” Ellen White, Welfare Ministry, p. 195
She acted on this personally too. She wrote,
“I am straining every power I possess to help different families to obtain a spot of land, where they can support themselves and obey the truth. I wish you could see some of these families. Lt 72, 1898 and
And she advised others that this was one of the most important types of mission work to do.
There are multitudes of poor families for whom no better missionary work could be done than to assist them in settling on the land and in learning how to make it yield them a livelihood. {MH 192.2}
Cut off to a great degree from contact with and dependence upon men, and separated from the world’s corrupting maxims and customs and excitements, they would come nearer to the heart of nature. God’s presence would be more real to them. Many would learn the lesson of dependence upon Him. Through nature they would hear His voice speaking to their hearts of His peace and love, and mind and soul and body would respond to the healing, life-giving power. {MH 192.1} [See also MR. 8 [Nos. 526-663], p. 143]
Many do not see the importance of having land to cultivate, and of raising fruit and vegetables, that their tables may be supplied with these things. I am instructed to say to every family and every church, God will bless you when you work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, fearing lest, by unwise treatment of the body, you will mar the Lord’s plan for you.—Letter 5, 1904
Many professors show that governments and corporations are trying to pressure people to live in cities because they then become dependent on corporations for a job and the government for sustenance and where surveillance can easily be done on them as Edward Snowden and others have shown. China is trying to move 900 million into cities in the next few decades, following the west as the documentary “Economics of Happiness” Shows. It is no accident that EGW tells us to do exactly the opposite…move to the countryside. This is the only way to really be free and independent. She says:
“Study in agricultural lines should be the A, B, and C of education given in our schools.” (Testimonies for the Church, vol. 6, p. 179).
She also tells us that when schools have a farm/garden associated with them, that they will be able to solve many of their problems much more effectively, including financial ones.
“Had all our schools encouraged work in agricultural lines, they would now have an altogether different showing. There would not be so great discouragements. Opposing influences would have been overcome; financial conditions would have changed.” 6T 177
Some people and churches are making $10-100,000 dollars a year from gardens. Back to Eden (2011)—a Bible based film about how many people and churches are growing gardens easily with Bible principles and producing much better food. It answers most major questions about how to do gardening easily. www.filmsforaction.org/watch/back-to-eden-2011/, How to Make $100,000 Farming 1/2 Acre You Don’t Own. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tP5bOr0aC58
One convention center in New York made a garden on its roof and saved $3,000,000 in heating and air conditioning costs due to the gardens reducing building temperatures in the summer and reducing the cold in the winter, grew a large amount of food, helped relieve stress on the city’s water purification system, reduced pollution, provided an environment for insects and birds and more, reduces some disease agents and more.
Do Cities Need More Green Roofs? | NPR, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlJoBhLnqko
Several SDA organizations teach Ellen White’s method of planting which can increase yield from tomato plants from ~6 pounds to about 100 pounds PER YEAR.
Mountain Media Ministries – Planting by the Blueprint (full version)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JScVVG-i5Qg
http://www.thetomatoproject.net/about-us/project-history
www.iontechcenter.com/suncountrygardens/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/ellen_white_planting_method_02.pdf
If people have enough food to eat, then they are much freer to follow truth and protest injustice.
Fannie Lou Hamer was a voting rights activist who was beaten by police and prisoners in June 1963 in a jail in Winona, Mississippi. She argued that black Southerners would achieve full citizenship only when they controlled their own diet and in particular where their food came from. Raising your own crops was key. Mrs. Hamer said that food ‘allows the sick one a chance for healing, the silent ones a chance to speak, the unlearned ones a chance to learn, and the dying ones a chance to live.’…Mrs. Hamer argued that stewardship of the soil was man’s highest calling. With the help of the singer Harry Belafonte and a charitable group based in Madison, Wis., Measure for Measure, she founded Freedom Farm Corporation in 1969 on 40 to 60 acres of Delta land. The need was urgent, she told Northern supporters: “We must buy land immediately, or our people will die forgotten…If we have that land, can’t anybody starve us out.”
She explained how food gives people independence and more freedom to protest wrongs in society:
When you’ve got 400 quarts of greens and gumbo soup canned for the winter, nobody can push you around or tell you what to say or do.”
Malcolm X said something very similar but more bluntly and something that history has shown is true.
“Land is the basis of all independence. Land is the basis of freedom, justice, and equality.”
The Bible makes it clear that these are essential truths for the survival and security of nations (and Jer. 12:14-17 and other verses tells us that other nations should follow Israel’s principles if they wish to do well). After explaining the concept of permanent land rights for every family, God said that these principles if followed would bring national stability.
- “During the lifetime of Solomon, all of Judah and Israel lived in peace and safety. And from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south, each family had its own home and garden.” 1 Kings 4:25 (see also Lev. 25:18, Prov. 14:34, 29:2, etc.)
- “In God’s plan for Israel every family had a home on the land, with sufficient ground for tilling. Thus were provided both the means and the incentive for a useful, industrious, and self-supporting life. And no devising of men has ever improved upon that plan. To the world’s departure from it is owing, to a large degree, the poverty and wretchedness that exist today.” Ellen White, Welfare Ministry, p. 195
Dr. Pedrito Maynard Reid’s lecture on justice.
www.adventistpeace.org/blogcontent/2017/11/17/adventist-peace-radio-episode-15-pedrito-maynard-reid-lectures-on-justice
Overview of Bible economics and how rejecting them is the root of many current problems and crimes.
http://truth-is-life.org/jubileeeconomics.html
See also:
http://blog.truth-is-life.org/real-science-and-independence/
God’s principles for thriving civilizations (with scientific confirmation)
http://blog.truth-is-life.org/human-rights/gods-principles-for-thriving-civilizations/
Why Land Rights are Crucial for Genuine Freedom
http://blog.truth-is-life.org/human-rights/gods-principles-for-thriving-civilizations/land-rights-most-crucial-for-freedom/
How Korea rose from poverty to riches following Bible economics (at the government level).
blog.truth-is-life.org/human-rights/gods-principles-for-thriving-civilizations/land-rights-most-crucial-for-freedom/how-biblical-principles-economics-helped-korea-rise-from-the-ashes-of-war-to-top-rankings-in-the-world/