tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63491938507788140052024-02-20T00:38:21.644-08:00Rural EconomyKen LeBrunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968227193387417233noreply@blogger.comBlogger32125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349193850778814005.post-76228594617290044552015-01-07T08:08:00.000-08:002015-01-07T08:08:12.605-08:00Rural EconomyHere, in a compilation of quotations and Bible verses, you will find practical, biblical instruction for life:<br />
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<b>Custom vs. Inspiration</b><br />
<a href="http://thelostlaw.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-folly-of-popular-customs.html" target="_blank">The Folly of Popular Customs</a><br />
<a href="http://thelostlaw.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-validity-of-scriptures.html" target="_blank">The Validity of the Scriptures</a><br />
<a href="http://thelostlaw.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-testimonies-and-today.html" target="_blank">The Testimonies and Today</a><br />
<a href="http://thelostlaw.blogspot.com/2014/11/discovery-of-lost-law.html" target="_blank">Discovery of the Lost Law</a><br />
<a href="http://thelostlaw.blogspot.com/2014/11/gods-covenant-with-us.html" target="_blank">God's Covenant With Us</a><br />
<a href="http://thelostlaw.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-strongest-meat-not-for-babes.html" target="_blank">The Strongest Meat Not For Babes</a><br />
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<b>The Biblical Lifestyle</b><br />
<a href="http://thelostlaw.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-most-favorable-occupation.html" target="_blank">The Most Favorable Occupation</a><br />
<a href="http://thelostlaw.blogspot.com/2014/11/land-based-economy.html" target="_blank">Land-Based Economy</a><br />
<a href="http://thelostlaw.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-inheritance.html" target="_blank">The Inheritance</a><br />
<a href="http://thelostlaw.blogspot.com/2014/12/meeting-problems-of-farmers.html" target="_blank">Meeting the Problems of Farmers</a><br />
<a href="http://thelostlaw.blogspot.com/2014/12/promises-for-land.html" target="_blank">Promises for the Land</a><br />
<a href="http://thelostlaw.blogspot.com/2014/12/diligence-vs-slothfulness.html" target="_blank">Diligence vs. Slothfulness</a><br />
<a href="http://thelostlaw.blogspot.com/2014/12/stewardship-of-land.html" target="_blank">Stewardship of the Land</a><br />
<a href="http://thelostlaw.blogspot.com/2014/12/gods-care-for-poor.html" target="_blank">God's Care for the Poor</a><br />
<a href="http://thelostlaw.blogspot.com/2014/12/family-businesses.html" target="_blank">Family Businesses</a><br />
<a href="http://thelostlaw.blogspot.com/2014/12/home-center-of-education.html" target="_blank">Home, the Center of Education</a><br />
<a href="http://thelostlaw.blogspot.com/2014/12/parents-their-childrens-physicians.html" target="_blank">Parents, their Children's Physicians</a><br />
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<b>Economic Principles</b><br />
<a href="http://thelostlaw.blogspot.com/2014/12/wealth-and-riches.html" target="_blank">Wealth and Riches</a><br />
<a href="http://thelostlaw.blogspot.com/2014/12/usury.html" target="_blank">Usury</a><br />
<a href="http://thelostlaw.blogspot.com/2014/12/financial-slavery.html" target="_blank">Financial Slavery</a><br />
<a href="http://thelostlaw.blogspot.com/2014/12/borrowing-and-lending.html" target="_blank">Borrowing and Lending</a><br />
<a href="http://thelostlaw.blogspot.com/2014/12/making-money-without-working.html" target="_blank">Making Money Without Working</a><br />
<a href="http://thelostlaw.blogspot.com/2014/12/where-to-put-your-money.html" target="_blank">Where to Put Your Money</a><br />
<a href="http://thelostlaw.blogspot.com/2014/12/honesty-in-trade.html" target="_blank">Honesty in Trade</a><br />
<a href="http://thelostlaw.blogspot.com/2015/01/relieving-oppressed.html" target="_blank">Relieving the Oppressed</a><br />
<a href="http://thelostlaw.blogspot.com/2015/01/suretyship.html" target="_blank">Suretyship</a><br />
<a href="http://thelostlaw.blogspot.com/2015/01/forbidden-partnerships.html" target="_blank">Forbidden Partnerships</a><br />
<a href="http://thelostlaw.blogspot.com/2015/01/separation-from-world.html" target="_blank">Separation from the World</a><br />
<a href="http://thelostlaw.blogspot.com/2015/01/worldly-protection-policies.html" target="_blank">Worldly Protection Policies</a><br />
<a href="http://thelostlaw.blogspot.com/2015/01/the-christians-protection-plan.html" target="_blank">The Christian's Protection Plan</a>Ken LeBrunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968227193387417233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349193850778814005.post-16911008841991206692015-01-06T07:37:00.000-08:002015-01-06T07:37:25.520-08:00The Christian's Protection Plan<div class="p1">
"The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them." Psalm 34:7</div>
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"How graciously and tenderly our heavenly Father deals with His children! He preserves them from a thousand dangers to them unseen." 3T 373</div>
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"We cannot know how much we owe to Christ for the peace and protection which we enjoy." GC 36</div>
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"The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand." Psalm 37:23, 24</div>
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"Then, as now, persons were subject to misfortune, sickness, and loss of property; yet so long as they followed the instruction given by God, there were no beggars among them, neither any who suffered for food." PP 531</div>
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"With Him there can be no such thing as failure, loss, impossibility, or defeat." DA 490</div>
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"If we surrender our lives to His service, we can never be placed in a position for which God has not made provision." COL 173</div>
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"I have been young and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread." Psalm 37:25</div>
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"Whatever may come, strength proportionate to the trial will be given." SC 125</div>
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"He guards His children's still. . . . He measures every trial. . . . His people will be safe in His hands." MB 121</div>
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"The Father's presence encircled Christ, and nothing befell Him but that which infinite love permitted for the blessing of the world. Here was His source of comfort, and it is for us. He who is imbued with the Spirit of Christ abides in Christ. . . . Nothing can touch him except by our Lord's permission, and 'all things' that are permitted 'work together for good to them that love God.'" MB 71</div>
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"The poor committeth himself unto thee; thou art the helper of the fatherless." Psalm 10:14</div>
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"The Lord preserveth the strangers; he relieveth the fatherless and widow: but the way of the wicked he turneth upside down." Psalm 146:9</div>
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"And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you." Isaiah 46:4</div>
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"Not one soul who in penitence and faith has claimed His protection will Christ permit to pass under the enemy's power. His word is pledged. . . . The promise given to Joshua is given to all: 'If thou wilt keep My charge, . . . I will give thee places to walk among these that stand by.' Zechariah 3:7. Angels of God will walk on either side of them." PK 587</div>
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"God's people . . . are assured of the unceasing guardianship of heavenly angels." GC 513</div>
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"There shall no evil happen to the just: but the wicked shall be filled with mischief." Proverbs 12:21</div>
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"But against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast: that ye may know how that the Lord doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel." Exodus 11:7</div>
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"The curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked: but he blesseth the habitation of the just." Proverbs 3:33</div>
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"Whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil." Proverbs 1:33</div>
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"Call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me." Psalm 50:15</div>
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See also Psalm 121; Proverbs 2:8; 3:6, 24-26.</div>
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"When the children of Israel were journeying through the wilderness, the Lord protected them from venomous serpents; but the time came when, because of Israel's transgression, impenitence, and stubbornness, the Lord removed His restraining power from these reptiles, and many of the people were bitten and died." 8T 50</div>
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"By stubborn rejection of divine love and mercy, the Jews had caused the protection of God to be withdrawn from them." GC 35</div>
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"Though surrounded by unconquered foes, they were safe under the protection of God as long as they were faithful to Him." PP 499</div>
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"To this people were committed the oracles of God. They were hedged about by the precepts of His law, the everlasting principles of truth, justice, and purity. Obedience to these principles was to be their protection." COL 287</div>
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"The Lord has given His holy commandments to be a wall of protection around His created beings." 1BC 1105</div>
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"The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide." Psalm 37:31</div>
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"Those who take God at His word, and obey His commandments with the whole heart, will be blessed. He will be their shield of protection. But the Lord will not be trifled with." CD 411</div>
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"There is danger in departing in the least from the Lord's instruction. When we deviate from the plain path of duty, a train of circumstances will arise that seem irresistibly to draw us farther and father from the right. . . . Angels of God will preserve His people while they walk in the path of duty; but there is no assurance of such protection for those who deliberately venture upon Satan's ground." Ev 607</div>
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"To connect with an unbeliever is to place yourself on Satan's ground. You grieve the Spirit of God and forfeit His protection." 5T 364, 365</div>
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"It is God that shields His creatures and hedges them in from the power of the destroyer. But the Christian world have shown contempt for the law of Jehovah; and the Lord will do just what he has declared that He would--He will withdraw His blessings from the earth and remove His protecting care from those who are rebelling against His law and teaching and forcing others to do the same." GC 589</div>
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"The Lord is removing His restrictions from the earth, and soon there will be death and destruction, increasing crime, and cruel, evil working against the rich who have exalted themselves against the poor. Those who are without God's protection will find no safety in any place or position." 8T 50</div>
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"That time will soon come, and we shall have to keep hold of the strong arm of Jehovah. . . . Our minds must be stayed upon God, and we must not fear the fear of the wicked, that is, fear what they fear. . . . Could our eyes be opened, we should see forms of evil angels around us, trying to invent some new way to annoy and destroy us. And we should also see angels of God guarding us from their power; for God's watchful eye is ever over Israel for good, and He will protect and save His people, if they put their trust in Him." EW 60</div>
Ken LeBrunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968227193387417233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349193850778814005.post-65610813567590662652015-01-05T12:40:00.003-08:002015-01-05T12:40:55.380-08:00Worldly Protection Policies<div class="p1">
"It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes." Psalm 118:8, 9</div>
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"Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help." Psalm 146:3</div>
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"Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain." Psalm 127:1</div>
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"I was shown that Sabbathkeeping Adventists should not engage in life insurance. This is a commerce with the world which God does not approve. Those who engage in this enterprise are uniting with the world, while God calls His people to come out from among them and to be separate. Said the angel: 'Christ has purchased you by the sacrifice of His life. "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." "For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory." ' Here is the only life insurance which heaven sanctions.</div>
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"Life insurance is a worldly policy which leads our brethren who engage in it to depart from the simplicity and purity of the gospel. Every such departure weakens our faith and lessens our spirituality. Said the angel: 'But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.' As a people we are in a special sense the Lord's. Christ has bought us. Angels that excel in strength surround us. Not a sparrow falls to the ground without the notice of our heavenly Father. Even the hairs of our head are numbered. God has made provision for His people. He has a special care for them, and they should not distrust His providence by engaging in a policy with the world.</div>
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"God designs that we should preserve in simplicity and holiness our peculiarity as a people. Those who engage in this worldly policy invest means which belong to God, which He has entrusted to them to use in His cause, to advance His work. But few will realize any returns from life insurance, and without God's blessing even these will prove an injury instead of a benefit. Those whom God has made His stewards have no right to place in the enemy's ranks the means which He has entrusted to them to use in His cause.</div>
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". . . Through this union with the world, faith becomes weakened, and means which should be invested in the cause of present truth are transferred to the enemy's ranks. Through these different channels Satan is skillfully draining the purses of God's people, and for it the displeasure of the Lord is upon them." 1T 549-551</div>
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"What if life should be prolonged? What if temporal gain should be secured? Will it pay in the end to have disregarded the will of God? All such apparent gain will prove at last an irrecoverable loss. We cannot with impunity break down a single barrier which God has erected to guard His people from Satan's power." Ev 606, 607</div>
Ken LeBrunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968227193387417233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349193850778814005.post-46564547026060594192015-01-04T08:20:00.000-08:002015-01-04T08:20:04.486-08:00Separation from the World<div class="p1">
"The people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations." Numbers 23:9</div>
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"The question may be asked, Are we to have no union whatever with the world? The word of the Lord is to be our guide. Any connection with infidels and unbelievers that would identify us with them, is forbidden by the Word. We are to come out from among them, and be separate. In no case are we to link ourselves with them in their plans of work. But we are not to live reclusive lives. We are to do worldlings all the good we possibly can." GW 394</div>
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"The Lord himself has established a separating wall between the things of the world and the things which he has chosen out of the world and sanctified to himself. The world will not acknowledge this distinction; they claim that it is needless. The servants of mammon make every effort to break down the barriers, and destroy the line of demarkation between the holy and the profane. Many of the professed followers of Christ are determined to break it down, and to maintain concord between Christ and Belial. But God has made this separation, and he will have it exist. In both the Old and the New Testaments the Lord has positively enjoined upon his people to be distinct from the world, in spirit, in pursuits, in practice, to be a holy nation, a peculiar people, that they may show forth the praises of him who hath called them out of darkness into his marvelous light. The east is not farther from the west than are the children of light, in customs, practices, and spirit, from the children of darkness. This distinction will be more marked, more decided, as we near the close of time." RH January 8, 1884</div>
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"False brethren who, while at heart friends of the world, exert an influence in the church. These are the most efficient workers that the great deceiver can employ. They are constantly seeking to lessen the enmity between the church of Christ and his deadliest foe. They supply the connecting link whereby he can unite the church and the world. Here lies our present danger,--a danger against which we must constantly guard." RH July 18, 1884</div>
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"The Israel of God in these last days are in constant danger of mixing with the world and losing all signs of their being the chosen people of God. . . . The same injunctions rest upon God's people now, to be separate from the world, as rested upon ancient Israel. The great Head of the church has not changed." RH June 25, 1861</div>
Ken LeBrunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968227193387417233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349193850778814005.post-31769440605632213182015-01-03T08:39:00.002-08:002015-01-03T08:40:36.145-08:00Forbidden Partnerships<div class="p1">
"Those who had recently rededicated themselves to the Lord at the altar set up before the ruins of His temple, realized that the line of demarcation between His people and the world is ever to be kept unmistakably distinct. They refused to enter into alliance with those who, though familiar with the requirements of God's law, would not yield to its claims." PK 570</div>
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"The principles set forth in Deuteronomy for the instruction of Israel are to be followed by God's people to the end of time. True prosperity is dependent on the continuance of our covenant relationship with God. Never can we afford to compromise principle by entering into alliance with those who do not fear Him." PK 570</div>
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"It is not the open and avowed enemies of the cause of God that are most to be feared. Those who, like the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin, come with smooth words and fair speeches, apparently seeking for friendly alliance with God's children, have greater power to deceive. Against such every soul should be on the alert, lest some carefully concealed and masterly snare take him unaware. And especially today, while earth's history is closing, the Lord requires of His children a vigilance that knows no relaxation." PK 570, 571</div>
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"Sabbathkeepers should not be in partnership with unbelievers. God's people trust too much to the words of strangers, and ask their advice and counsel when they should not." 1T 200</div>
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"Can two walk together, except they be agreed?" Amos 3:3</div>
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"Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?" 2 Corinthians 6:14, 15</div>
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"The world is to be warned, and God's people are to be true to the trust committed to them. They are not to . . . enter into business enterprises with unbelievers; for this would hinder them in their God-given work." 9T 19</div>
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"Thou shalt make no covenant with them." Deuteronomy 7:2</div>
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"Whoso is partner with a thief hateth his own soul." Proverbs 29:24</div>
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"Their disposition to form alliances with the heathen and adopt their practices, was the cause of their sojourn and bondage in Egypt." PP 363</div>
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"Christ will never lead His followers to take upon themselves vows that will unite them with men who have no connection with God, who are not under the controlling influence of His Holy Spirit." Ev 620</div>
Ken LeBrunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968227193387417233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349193850778814005.post-14035883579842921202015-01-02T09:20:00.002-08:002015-01-07T07:36:42.166-08:00Suretyship<div class="p1">
"Be not thou one of them that strike hands, or of them that are sureties for debts." Proverbs 22:26</div>
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"A man void of understanding striketh hands, and becometh surety in the presence of his friend." Proverbs 17:18</div>
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"He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it: and he that hateth suretyship is sure." Proverbs 11:15</div>
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"Take his garment that is surety for a stranger: and take a pledge of him for a strange woman." Proverbs 20:16</div>
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"I saw that God was displeased with His people for becoming surety for unbelievers. I was directed these texts: Proverbs 22:26 . . . Proverbs 11:15. . . . Unfaithful stewards! They pledge that which belongs to another,--their heavenly Father,--and Satan stands ready to aid his children to wrench it out of their hands." 1T 200<br />
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"My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger, thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth. Do this now, my son, and deliver thyself, when thou art come into the hand of thy friend; go, humble thyself, and make sure thy friend. Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids. Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler." Proverbs 6:1-5</div>
Ken LeBrunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968227193387417233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349193850778814005.post-91478583040100259542015-01-01T11:07:00.002-08:002015-01-01T11:08:07.742-08:00Relieving the Oppressed<div class="p1">
"We might learn much also from the Old Testament in regard to the labor problem. If men would follow the directions of Christ in regard to remembering the poor and supplying their necessities, what a different place this would would be!" FE 323</div>
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"Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard." Proverbs 21:13</div>
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"Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble." Psalm 41:1</div>
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"He that giveth unto the poor shall not lack: but he that hideth his eyes shall have many a curse." Proverbs 28:27</div>
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"He that oppresseth the poor to increase his riches, and he that giveth to the rich, shall surely come to want." Proverbs 22:16</div>
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"Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily." Isaiah 58:6-8</div>
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See also Ezekiel 18:5-17.</div>
Ken LeBrunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968227193387417233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349193850778814005.post-52303644053066583722014-12-31T09:46:00.001-08:002014-12-31T09:46:16.600-08:00Honesty in Trade<div class="p1">
"The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a vanity tossed to and fro of them that seek death." Proverbs 21:6</div>
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"Some . . . give way to their natural feelings, and barter and trade, and are a proverb among unbelievers for their keenness in trade, for being sharp, and always getting the best end of a bargain. Such would better lose a little and exert a better influence." 1T 150</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
"It is naught, it is naught, saith the buyer: but when he is gone his way, then he boasteth." Proverbs 20:14</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
"Every sharp transaction, every attempt to take advantage of a man who is under pressure of circumstances, every plan to purchase land or property for a sum beneath its value, will not be acceptable to God, even though the money gained is made an offering to His cause." CS 145</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
"Thou hast taken usury and increase, and thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbors by extortion, and hast forgotten me, saith the Lord God. Behold, therefore I have smitten mine hand at thy dishonest gain which thou hast made." Ezekiel 22:12, 13</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
"Every transaction in buying and selling must be characterized by strictest integrity." CS 240</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
"Some of those who know the truth, but do not practice it, are trampling upon the law of God in their business transactions." TM 87</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
"Their course may be perfectly lawful, according to the world's standard of right, and yet not bear the test of the law of God." CS 236</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
"Worldly policy and the undeviating principles of righteousness do not blend into each other imperceptibly, like the colors of the rainbow. Between the two a broad, clear line is drawn by the eternal God. The likeness of Christ stands out as distinct from that of Satan as the midday in contrast with midnight." DA 313</div>
Ken LeBrunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968227193387417233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349193850778814005.post-57420840770546031342014-12-30T08:28:00.005-08:002014-12-30T08:28:38.167-08:00Where to Put Your Money<div class="p1">
"If riches increase, set not your heart upon them." Psalm 62:10</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
"Of God's people He says, 'Her merchandise and her hire shall be holiness to the Lord: it shall not be treasured nor laid up.'" (Isaiah 23:18) TM 335</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
"It is time that deep, earnest thought should be given to laying up treasure in heaven." CS 232</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal." Matthew 6:19, 20</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
"Give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven." Matthew 19:21</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
"Last night in vision, I was raising my voice in warning against worldly speculations. I said, 'I invite you to take shares in the greatest mine that has ever been worked.' . . . If we will invest in God's mining stock, the return is sure. . . . By placing it in God's treasury you may ensure for yourselves a revenue from the inexhaustible treasures of His kingdom." CS 243, 244</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
"Those who really feel an interest in the cause of God, and are willing to venture something for its advancement, will find it a sure and safe investment." 1T 226</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
"The money which we refuse to invest in the work of the Lord, will perish." 9T 131</div>
Ken LeBrunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968227193387417233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349193850778814005.post-72439888733834423472014-12-29T17:12:00.000-08:002014-12-29T17:12:39.857-08:00Making Money Without Working<div class="p1">
"Many look upon labor as drudgery, and they try to obtain a livelihood by scheming rather than by honest toil. This desire to get a living without work opens the door to wretchedness and vice and crime almost without limit." MH 189</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
"Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished: but he that gathereth by labor shall increase."Proverbs 13:11</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
"The old safe, healthful paths to competence are losing their popularity. The idea of accumulating substantial means by the moderate gains of industy and frugality, is an idea that is scorned by many, as no longer suited to this progressive age. The desire to engage in speculation, in buying up country and city lots, or anything that promises sudden and exorbitant gains, has reached a fever heat." CS 231</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
Speculation: "The act or practice of buying land, goods, shares, etc., in expectation of selling at a higher price, or of selling with the expectation of repurchasing at a lower price; a trading on anticipated fluctuations in price, as distinguished from trading in which the profit expected is the difference between the retail and wholesale prices." Webster's 1913 Dictionary</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
"They wish to obtain means without waiting the slow process of persevering toil." 1T 480, 481</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
"Christians are safe only in acquiring money as God directs, and using it in channels which He can bless." TM 335</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
"They had gotten into speculation, and they liked that plan better than hard work and going right on as we have done usually, laboring perseveringly and trusting the Lord." CS 234</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
"Many times . . . the agents of Satan have presented some enterprise by which they were positive the brethren could double their means. They take the bait; their money is invested, and the cause, and frequently themselves, never receive a dollar." CS 235</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
"Instead of entering into speculation, let those who know the truth find some steady, honest employment, in which they can earn their living in a way that glorifies God. . . . Carefully and prayerfully studied, God's Word keeps men well-balanced. In this Word we find God's way clearly defined." UL 21</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
"Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord; that walketh in his ways. For thou shalt eat the labor of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee." Psalm 128:1, 2</div>
Ken LeBrunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968227193387417233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349193850778814005.post-56470611836367906272014-12-28T13:22:00.001-08:002014-12-28T13:22:12.364-08:00Borrowing and Lending<div class="p1">
"Owe no man any thing, but to love one another." Romans 13:8</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
"One should not manage his affairs in a way that will incur debt." CS 256</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
"When one voluntarily becomes involved in debt, he is entangling himself in one of Satan's nets which he sets for souls." CS 254</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
"He lieth in wait secretly as a lion in his den: he lieth in waith to catch the poor: he doth catch the poor, when he draweth him into his net." Psalm 10:9</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
"Shun the incurring of debt as you would shun leprosy." CS 272</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
"The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again: but the righteous sheweth mercy, and giveth." Psalm 37:21</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
"A good man sheweth favor, and lendeth." Psalm 112:5</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
"He is ever merciful, and lendeth; and his seed is blessed." Psalm 37:26</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
"Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away." Matthew 5:42</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
"Say not unto thy neighbor, Go, and come again, and to morrow I will give; when thou hast it by thee." Proverbs 3:28</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
"When thou dost lend thy brother any thing, thou shalt not go into his house to fetch his pledge. Thou shalt stand abroad, and the man to whom thou dost lend shall bring out the ledge abroad unto thee. And if the man be poor, thou shalt not sleep with his pledge: In any case thou shalt deliver him the pledge again when the sun goeth down." Deuteronomy 24:10-13</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
"No man shall take the nether or the upper millstone to pledge: for he taketh a man's life to pledge." Deuteronomy 24:6</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
"If thou at all take thy neighbor's raiment to pledge, thou shalt deliver it unto him by that the sun goeth down: For that is his covering only, it is his raiment for his skin: wherein shall he sleep? and it shall come to pass, when he crieth unto me, that I will hear; for I am gracious." Exodus 22:26, 27</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
"Thou shalt not . . . take a widow's raiment to pledge." Deuteronomy 24:17</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
"At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release. And this is the manner of the release: Every creditor that lendeth ought unto his neighbor shall release it; he shall not exact it of his neighbor, or of his brother; because it is called the Lord's release. Of a foreigner thou mayest exact it again: but that which is thine with thy brother thine hand shall release." Deuteronomy 15:1-3</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
"If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren . . . thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother: But thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and shall surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth. Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother, and thou givest him nought; and he cry unto the Lord against thee, and it be sin unto thee. Thou shalt surely give him, and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him; because that for this thing the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto. For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land." Deuteronomy 15:7-11</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
"Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again. . . . If ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? For sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great." Luke 6:30-35</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
"Christ does not teach us to give indiscriminately to all who ask for charity; but He says, 'Thou shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need;' and this is to be a gift, rather than a loan; for we are to 'lend, hoping for nothing again.'" MB 73</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
"He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord; and that which he hath given will he repay him again." Proverbs 19:17</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
"Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again." Luke 6:38</div>
Ken LeBrunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968227193387417233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349193850778814005.post-31065465623989291642014-12-21T08:32:00.002-08:002014-12-21T08:32:27.190-08:00Financial Slavery"The rich man ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender." Proverbs 22:7<br />
<br />
"Some also there were that said, We have mortgaged our lands, vineyards, and houses, that we might buy corn, because of the dearth. There were also that said, We have borrowed money for the king's tribute, and that upon our lands and vineyards. Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children: and, lo, we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants, and some of our daughters are brought unto bondage already: neither is it in our power to redeem them; for other men have our lands and vineyards. And I was very angry when I heard their cry and these words." Nehemiah 5:3-6<br />
<br />
"If thou hast nothing to pay, why should he take away thy bed from under thee?" Proverbs 22:27Ken LeBrunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968227193387417233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349193850778814005.post-42176727226377119502014-12-19T12:43:00.000-08:002014-12-19T12:43:08.775-08:00Usury<i>"Usury: The sum paid for the use of money, hence interest; not, as in the modern sense, exorbitant interest. The Jews were forbidden to exact usury in their dealings with each other." Easton's Bible Dictionary</i><br />
<br />
"I was shown that the subject of taking usury should be considered by Sabbathkeepers." 1T 534<br />
<br />
"If thou lend money to any of my people that is poor by thee, thou shalt not be to him as an usurer, neither shalt thou lay upon him usury." Exodus 22:25<br />
<br />
"And if thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay with thee; then thou shalt relieve him: . . . Take thou no usury of him, or increase: . . . that thy brother may live with thee. Thou shalt not give him thy money upon usury, nor lend him thy victuals for increase." Leviticus 25:35-37<br />
<br />
"Thou shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother; usury of money, usury of victuals, usury of any thing that is lent upon usury." Deuteronomy 23:19<br />
<br />
"He that by usury and unjust gain increaseth his substance, he shall gather it for him that will pity the poor." Proverbs 28:8<br />
<br />
"And it shall be . . . as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him. . . . Because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth." Isaiah 24:2-6<br />
<br />
"I have neither lent on usury, nor men have lent to me on usury." Jeremiah 15:10<br />
<br />
"And I rebuked the nobles, and the rulers, and said unto them, Ye exact usury, every one of his brother. . . . I pray you, let us leave off this usury." Nehemiah 5:7, 10<br />
<br />
"Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill? . . . He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be moved." Psalm 15:1, 5Ken LeBrunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968227193387417233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349193850778814005.post-26180564687531979032014-12-16T13:17:00.000-08:002014-12-16T13:27:15.995-08:00Wealth and Riches"Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: Lest I be full, and deny thee, . . . or lest I be poor, and steal." Proverbs 30:8, 9<br />
<br />
<i>The false security of wealth:</i><br />
<br />
"The rich man's wealth is his strong city, and as an high wall in his own conceit." Proverbs 18:11<br />
<br />
<i>The instability of wealth:</i><br />
<br />
"Riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven." Proverbs 23:5<br />
<br />
"For riches are not for ever: and doth the crown endure to every generation?" Proverbs 27:24<br />
<br />
"The wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just." Proverbs 13:22<br />
<br />
"The fool and the brutish person perish, and leave their wealth to others. Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever, and their dwelling places to all generations. . . . Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased; for when he dieth he shall carry nothing away: his glory shall not descend after him." Psalm 49:10-17<br />
<br />
"Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days." James 5:1-3<br />
<br />
<i>The undesirability of wealth:</i><br />
<br />
"Labor not to be rich." Proverbs 23:4<br />
<br />
"How much better is it to get wisdom than gold!" Proverbs 16:16<br />
<br />
"Better is a little with righteousness than great revenues without right." Proverbs 16:8<br />
<br />
"Better is a little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble therewith." Proverbs 15:16<br />
<br />
"He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity. When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: and what good is there to the owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes?" Ecclesiastes 5:10, 11<br />
<br />
<i>The virtue of contentment:</i><br />
<br />
"Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." Hebrews 13:5<br />
<br />
"Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness." 1 Timothy 6:6-11<br />
<br />
<i>The results of greed:</i><br />
<br />
"He that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house; but he that hateth gifts shall live." Proverbs 15:27<br />
<br />
<i>Trying to make money fast:</i><br />
<br />
"He that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent." Proverbs 28:20<br />
<br />
"He that hasteth to be rich hath an evil eye, and considereth not that poverty shall come upon him." Proverbs 28:22<br />
<br />
<i>Trust in God to provide:</i><br />
<br />
"But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth." Deuteronomy 8:18<br />
<br />
<i>True riches:</i><br />
<br />
"There is that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing: there is that maketh himself poor, yet hath great riches." Proverbs 13:7<br />
<br />
"In the house of the righteous is much treasure: but in the revenues of the wicked is trouble." Proverbs 15:6<br />
<br />
"When God gave His Son to our world, He endowed human beings with imperishable riches--riches compared with which the treasured wealth of men since the world began is nothingness. Christ came to the earth and stood before the children of men with the hoarded love of eternity, and this is the treasure that, through our connection with Him, we are to receive, to reveal, and to impart." MH 37Ken LeBrunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968227193387417233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349193850778814005.post-88313703639479558962014-12-14T07:31:00.001-08:002014-12-14T07:31:11.488-08:00Parents, Their Children's Physicians"No woman should become a mother unless she is capable of being physician to her offspring. How can mothers turn over their tender children to the care of a strange physician, for him to dose them with drugs, the nature of which she has no knowledge. Such a course is a sin in the sight of Heaven. Ignorance is no excuse for parents. Why do not those who take such responsibilities, educate themselves? They should read and investigate with a prayerful heart, until they can understand the wants of their children, and watch with jealous care, least these little sunbeams, which are given them to lighten their pathway, be shrouded in darkness by disease and death. No stranger's hand should be trusted to perform those services for dear ones, which a mother's affection alone can understand. Parents and children should educate themselves in all that concerns their life and health. When children understand the science of human life, then, and not till then, are they prepared to attend to the sciences as taught in the common schools.<br />
<br />
"Parents have frequently told me that they knew nothing of the nature of disease, and were their children sick, they should not know what to do for them,--that they had always trusted a physician. Mothers ought to know what to do in any common case of sickness of their children. It is a sin for them not to know. Who should better understand the wants of a sick child than its parents, especially the mother? And yet parents plead ignorance, and if their dear children are slightly indisposed, they do not know what to do, and send for the doctor, who deals out his concentrated poison with a lavish hand. These lessen the child's hold on life, and if they do not actually cause it death, they obstruct nature's efforts, and break down some part of her fine machinery, which can never be repaired, and the victim is a sufferer as long as life lasts.<br />
<br />
"In nine cases out of ten, the indisposition of children can be traced to some indulgence of the perverted appetites. Perhaps it is an exposure to cold, want of fresh air, irregularity in eating, or improper clothing; and all the parents need do, is to remove the cause, and secure for their children a period of quiet and rest, or abstain for a short period of time from food. An agreeable bath of a proper temperature, will remove impurities from the skin, and then unpleasant symptoms may soon disappear; and all of this, too, without poisonous drugs, or having a doctor's fee to pay.<br />
<br />
"Many parents, rather than to take the trouble to thoroughly investigate the cause of their children's indisposition, turn them over to the doctor, and administer anything he may choose to prescribe. If the anxious parent ventures to make an inquiry in regard to the drug, she is told it is 'perfectly harmless;' that if it does them no special good, 'it will not injure them.' Concentrated poisons are dealt out, the names of which are concealed in some technical terms, which the parents know nothing of; and because of their inexcusable ignorance, the lives of their children are sacrificed, and the parents too frequently charge their afflictions to Providence.<br />
<br />
"In such cases perhaps, if nature had been left to herself, she would have recovered the abuse the system had suffered, but she was not allowed the privilege. A poisonous drug is introduced into the system, binding down the effects of nature, until she is compelled to give up the struggle. Do the parents then see their folly, and awake and investigate for themselves, feeling that their children are too dear to be trusted in a stranger's hands to receive any mixture he may please to deal out? No, they seem blinded, and infatuated; habits and customs, like iron bands, gird them about, and they make no effort to break them." <i>The Health Reformer</i>, Volume 1, Number 3, October, 1866.<br />
<br />
"When Moses presented before the Lord the sad difficulties of the children of Israel, He did not present some new remedy, but called their attention to that which was at hand; for there was a bush or shrub which He had created that was to be cast into the water to make the fountain sweet and pure. . . . God has provided a balm for every wound. There is a balm in Gilead, there is a physician there." 1BC 1102.Ken LeBrunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968227193387417233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349193850778814005.post-53605030453058235612014-12-11T08:14:00.002-08:002014-12-11T08:14:36.076-08:00Home, the Center of Education"The system of education established in Eden centered in the family." Ed 33.<br />
<br />
"It was God's plan for the members of the family to be associated in work and study, in worship and recreation, the father as priest of his household, and both father and mother as teachers and companions of their children." Ed 250, 251.<br />
<br />
"The system of education instituted at the beginning of the world was to be a model for man throughout all aftertime." Ed 20.<br />
<br />
"It was His purpose that, as the human family increased in numbers, they should establish other homes and schools like the one He had given." Ed 22.<br />
<br />
"In the divine plan of education as adapted to man's condition after the Fall . . . the family was the school, and the parents were the teachers." Ed 33.<br />
<br />
"Every father was required to see that his sons learned some useful trade." CT 276.<br />
<br />
"The father to the children shall make known thy truth." Isaiah 38:19.<br />
<br />
"Children should virtually be trained in a home school from the cradle to maturity." CG 26.<br />
<br />
"Neither the church school nor the college affords the opportunities for establishing a child's character building upon the right foundation that are afforded in the home." CG 170.<br />
<br />
"The dangers of the young are greatly increased as they are thrown into the society of a large number of their own age, of varied character and habits of life." AH 468.<br />
<br />
"Send the children to schools located in the city, where every phase of temptation is waiting to attract and demoralize them, and the work of character building is tenfold harder for both parents and children." FE 326.<br />
<br />
"John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ, received his early training from his parents." AH 133.<br />
<br />
"The greater portion of his life was spent in the wilderness. . . . Here his surroundings were favorable to habits of simplicity and self-denial. Uninterrupted by the clamor of the world, he could here study the lessons of nature, of revelation, and of providence." AH 133.<br />
<br />
"So with the great majority of the best and noblest men of all ages. Read the history of Abraham, Jacob, and Joseph; of Moses, David, and Elisha. Study the lives of men of later times who have most worthily filled positions of trust and responsibility. How many of these were reared in country homes. They knew little of luxury. They did not spend their youth in amusement. Many were forced to struggle with poverty and hardship. They early learned to work, and their active life in the open air gave vigor and elasticity to all their faculties. . . . They learned the lessons of self-reliance and self-control. Sheltered in a great degree from evil associations, they were satisfied with natural pleasures and wholesome companionships. They were simple in their tastes and temperate in their habits. They were governed by principle, and they grew up pure and strong and true." AH 134.<br />
<br />
"The education centering in the family was that which prevailed in the days of the patriarchs. For the schools thus established, God provided the conditions most favorable for the development of character. The people who were under His direction still pursued the plan of life that He had appointed in the beginning." Ed 33.<br />
<br />
"God commanded the Hebrews to teach their children His requirements, and to make them acquainted with all His dealings with their people. The home and the school were one. In the place of stranger lips, the loving hearts of father and mother were to give instruction to their children. Thoughts of God were associated with all the events of daily life in the home dwelling." RH Oct. 30, 1900.<br />
<br />
"Wherever in Israel God's plan of education was carried into effect, its results testified of its Author. But in very many households the training appointed by Heaven, and the characters thus developed, were alike rare. God's plan was but partially and imperfectly fulfilled. . . . Fathers and mothers in Israel became indifferent to their obligation to God, indifferent to their obligation to their children. Through unfaithfulness in the home, and idolatrous influences without, many of the Hebrew youth received an education differing widely from that which God had planned for them. They learned the ways of the heathen." Ed 45, 46.<br />
<br />
"To meet this growing evil, God provided other agencies as an aid to parents in the work of education. . . . Samuel by the Lord's direction, established the schools of the prophets." Ed 46.<br />
<br />
"The pupils in these schools sustained themselves by their own labor in tilling the soil or in some mechanical employment." Ed 47.<br />
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"The discipline and training that God appointed for Israel would cause them, in all their ways of life, to differ from the people of other nations. This peculiarity, which should have been regarded as a special privilege and blessing, was to them unwelcome. . . . To be 'like all the nations' (1 Samuel 8:5) was their ambition. God's plan of education was set aside, His authority disowned." Ed 49, 50.<br />
<br />
"In the rejection of the ways of God for the ways of men, the downfall of Israel began. Thus also it continued, until the Jewish people became a prey to the very nations whose practices they had chosen to follow." Ed 50.<br />
<br />
"The experiences of Israel were recorded for our instruction. 'All these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.' 1 Corinthians 10:11. With us, as with Israel of old, success in education depends on fidelity in carrying out the Creator's plan. Adherence to the principles of God's word will bring as great blessings to us as it would have brought to the Hebrew people." Ed 50.<br />
<br />
"Many parents overrate the stability and good qualities of their children. They do not seem to consider that they will be exposed to the deceptive influences of vicious youth. Parents have their fears as they send them some distance away to school, but flatter themselves that, as they have had good examples and religious instruction, they will be true to principle in their high-school life. Many parents have but a faint idea to what extent licentiousness exists in these institutions of learning. In many cases the parents have labored hard and suffered many privations for the cherished object of having their children obtain a finished education. And after all their efforts, many have the bitter experience of receiving their children from their course of studies with dissolute habits and ruined constitutions. And frequently they are disrespectful to their parents, unthankful, and unholy. These abused parents, who are thus rewarded by ungrateful children, lament that they sent their children from them to be exposed to temptations and come back to them physical, mental, and moral wrecks. With disappointed hopes and almost broken hearts they see their children, of whom they had high hopes, follow in a course of vice and drag out a miserable existence." 3T 149.<br />
<br />
"Keep your children at their home; and if people say to you, 'Your children will not know how to conduct themselves in the world,' tell your friends that you are not so concerned about that matter, but that you do want to take them to the Master for His blessing, even as the mothers of old took their children to Jesus. Say to your advisers, 'Children are the heritage of the Lord, and I want to prove faithful to my trust. . . . My Children must be brought up in such a way that they shall not be swayed by the influences of the world, but where, when tempted to sin, they may be able to say a square, hearty <i>no</i>.' . . . Tell your friends and neighbors that you want to see your family inside the gates of the beautiful city." AH 470, 471.Ken LeBrunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968227193387417233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349193850778814005.post-11045328746967473332014-12-10T09:41:00.003-08:002014-12-10T09:41:50.992-08:00Family Businesses"And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you." 1 Thessalonians 4:11.<br />
<br />
"If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing." Exodus 21:2.<br />
<br />
"Holy angels often visited the garden, and gave instruction to Adam and Eve concerning their employment. . . . The angels warned them of Satan and cautioned them not to separate from each other in their employment, for they might be brought in contact with this fallen foe." EW 147.<br />
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"The family tie is the closest, the most tender and sacred, of any on earth." MH 356.<br />
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"Fathers should train their sons to engage with them in their trades and employments." CG 355.<br />
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"And Pharaoh said unto his [Joseph's] brethren, What is your occupation? And they said unto Pharaoh, Thy servants are shepherds, both we, and also our fathers." Genesis 47:3.<br />
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"While every person needs some knowledge of different handicrafts, it is indispensable that he become proficient in at least one." CG 357.<br />
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"Aquila and Priscilla . . . established a business as manufacturers of tents." AA 349.<br />
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"No man is excusable for being without financial ability. Of many a man it may be said . . . he is not qualified to manage his own business. . . . He has not been brought up . . . to practice the principles of self-support." AH 93.<br />
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"Thousands . . . might achieve self-support in a happy, healthy, independent life if they could be directed in skillful, diligent labor in the tilling of the soil." Ed 220.Ken LeBrunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968227193387417233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349193850778814005.post-43880598579200120792014-12-05T14:33:00.002-08:002014-12-05T14:33:53.738-08:00God's Care for the Poor"And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest. And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the Lord your God." Leviticus 19:9, 10<br />
<br />
(For the details of God's plan of providing for the poor, read <i>Patriarchs and Prophets</i>, chapter 51.)Ken LeBrunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968227193387417233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349193850778814005.post-50540010266960937252014-12-04T12:33:00.002-08:002014-12-04T12:35:45.652-08:00Stewardship of the Land"Replenish the earth." Genesis 1:28.<br />
<br />
"The Garden of Eden was a representation of what God desired the whole earth to become." Ed 22.<br />
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"Families and institutions should learn to do more in the cultivation and improvement of land." CD 312.<br />
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"Through disobedience to God Adam and Eve had lost Eden, and because of sin the whole earth was cursed. But if God's people followed His instruction, their land would be restored to fertility and beauty. God Himself gave them directions in regard to the culture of the soil, and they were to co-operate with Him in its restoration. Thus the whole land, under God's control, would become an object lesson of spiritual truth." AH 143, 144.<br />
<br />
"Men were to cooperate with God in restoring the diseased land to health, that it might be a praise and a glory to His name. . . . In the laws which God gave for the cultivation of the soil, He was giving the people opportunity to overcome their selfishness and become heavenly-minded. Canaan would be to them as Eden if they obeyed the Word of the Lord. Through them the Lord designed to teach all the nations of the world how to cultivate the soil so that it would yield healthy fruit, free from disease. The earth is the Lord's vineyard, and is to be treated according to His plan. Those who cultivated the soil were to realize that they were doing God service." 1BC 1112.<br />
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"Pure, practical religion will be manifested in treating the earth as God's treasure-house . . . lent us in trust." TM 245.<br />
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"Any violation of the laws of nature is a violation of the law of God." 1BC 1105.<br />
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"False witness has been borne in condemning land which, if properly worked, would yield rich returns. The narrow plans, the little strength put forth, the little study as to the best methods, call loudly for reform. The people need to learn that patient labor will do wonders. There is much mourning over unproductive soil, when if men would read the Old Testament Scriptures they would see that the Lord knew much better than they in regard to the proper treatment of land. After being cultivated for several years, and giving her treasure to the possession of man, portions of the land should be allowed to rest, and then the crops should be changed." FE 323.<br />
<br />
"Thy wrath is come, and the time . . . that thou . . . shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth." Revelation 11:18.Ken LeBrunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968227193387417233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349193850778814005.post-17302569579659582332014-12-03T15:40:00.003-08:002014-12-03T15:41:03.450-08:00Diligence vs. Slothfulness"The soul of the diligent shall be made fat." Proverbs 13:4.<br />
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"In all labour there is profit." Proverbs 14:23.<br />
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"Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men." Proverbs 22:29.<br />
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"The sleep of a labouring man is sweet." Ecclesiastes 5:12.<br />
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"He also that is slothful in his work is brother to him that is a great waster." Proverbs 18:9.<br />
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"Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep; and an idle soul shall suffer hunger." Proverbs 19:15.<br />
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"The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold; therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing." Proverbs 20:4.<br />
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"Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty; open thine eyes, and thou shalt be satisfied with bread." Proverbs 20:13.<br />
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"The desire of the slothful killeth him; for his hands refuse to labour." Proverbs 21:25.<br />
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"I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding; And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down. Then I saw, and considered it well: I looked upon it, and received instruction. Yet a little sleep, and a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth; and thy want as an armed man." Proverbs 24:30-34.Ken LeBrunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968227193387417233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349193850778814005.post-9063947883557629602014-12-02T16:12:00.001-08:002014-12-02T16:12:31.307-08:00Promises for the Land"Wherefore ye shall do my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; and ye shall dwell in the land in safety. And the land shall yield her fruit, and ye shall eat your fill, and dwell therein in safety." Leviticus 25:18, 19.<br />
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"He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread." Proverbs 12:11.<br />
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"He that tilleth his land shall have plenty of bread." Proverbs 28:19.<br />
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"For his God doth instruct him to discretion, and doth teach him." Isaiah 28:26.<br />
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"Much food is in the tillage of the poor." Proverbs 13:23.<br />
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"There is not sufficient breadth of view as to what can be realized from the earth." FE 317.<br />
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"The profit of the earth is for all." Ecclesiastes 5:9.<br />
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"Whoso keepeth the fig tree shall eat the fruit thereof." Proverbs 27:18.<br />
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"Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed." Psalm 37:3.<br />
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"Within the vast boundaries of nature there is still room for the suffering and needy to find a home. Within her bosom there are resources sufficient to provide them with food. Hidden in the depths of the earth are blessings for all who have courage and will and perseverance to gather her treasures." MH 188.Ken LeBrunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968227193387417233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349193850778814005.post-6362661523444141592014-12-01T12:24:00.000-08:002014-12-01T12:24:11.102-08:00Meeting the Problems of Farmers"There is need of intelligence and educated ability to devise the best methods in farming . . . that the worker may not labor in vain." FE 316.<br />
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"Extravagant prices have been paid for lands bought on credit; then the land must be cleared, and more money is hired; a house to be built calls for more money, and then interest with open mouth swallows up all the profits. Debts accumulate, and then come the closing and failure of banks, and then the foreclosure of mortgages. Thousands have been turned out of employment; families lose their little all, they borrow and borrow, and then have to give up their property and come out penniless. Much money and hard labor have been put into farms bought on credit, or inherited with an incumbrance. The occupants lived in hope of becoming real owners, and it might have been so, but for the failure of banks throughout the country. Now the case where a man owns his place clear is a happy exception to the rule. Merchants are failing, families are suffering for food and clothing." FE 317, 318.<br />
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"There are men who work hard, and obtain very little for their labor." FE 317.<br />
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"Men take you to their orchards of oranges and lemons, and other fruits, and tell you that the produce does not pay for the work done in them. It is next to impossible to make ends meet, and parents decide that the children shall not be farmers; they have not the courage and hope to educate them to till the soil." FE 318.<br />
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"What is needed is schools to educate and train the youth so that they will know how to overcome this condition of things. There must be education in the sciences, and education in plans and methods of working the soil. There is hope in the soil, but brain and heart and strength must be brought into the work of tilling it." FE 318.<br />
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"No one can succeed in agriculture or gardening without attention to the laws involved. The special needs of every variety of plant must be studied. Different varieties require different soil and cultivation, and compliance with the laws governing each is the condition of success." AH 142.<br />
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"There is need of much more extensive knowledge in regard to the preparation of the soil." FE 317.<br />
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"Agriculture should be advanced by scientific knowledge. Farming has been pronounced unprofitable. People say that the soil does not pay for the labor expended upon it, and they bemoan the hard fate of those who till the soil. . . . But should persons of proper ability take hold of this line of employment, and make a study of the soil, and learn how to plant, to cultivate, and to gather in the harvest, more encouraging results might be seen. Many say, 'We have tried agriculture and know what its results are,' and yet these very ones need to know how to cultivate the soil and to bring science into their work. Their plowshares should cut deeper, broader furrows. . . . Let them learn to put in the seed in its season, to give attention to vegetation, and to follow the plan that God has devised." CG 355, 356.<br />
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"In these days of mammoth trusts and business competition, there are few who enjoy so real an independence and so great certainty of fair return for their labor as does the tiller of the soil." Ed 219.<br />
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"That God who has made the world for the benefit of man, will provide means from the earth to sustain the diligent worker. The seed placed in thoroughly prepared soil, will produce its harvest." FE 319.Ken LeBrunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968227193387417233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349193850778814005.post-47210483267096281182014-11-29T07:09:00.003-08:002014-11-29T07:17:27.060-08:00The Inheritance"A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children's children." Proverbs 13:22.<br />
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"In apportioning the inheritance of His people, it was God's purpose to teach them, and through them the people of after generations, correct principles concerning the ownership of the land. . . . Though one might for a season dispose of his possession, he could not barter away the inheritance of his children. When able to do so, he was at liberty at any time to redeem it; debts were remitted every seventh year, and in the fiftieth, or year of jubilee, all landed property reverted to the original owner. Thus every family was secured in its possession, and a safeguard was afforded against the extremes either of wealth or of poverty." Ed 43.<br />
<br />
"Naboth valued his vineyard highly because it had belonged to his fathers, and he refused to part with it. ‘The Lord forbid it me,’ he said to Ahab, ‘that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee.’ According to the Levitical code no land could be transferred permanently by sale or exchange; every one of the children of Israel must ‘keep himself to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers.’ Numbers 36:7." PK 205.<br />
<br />
"Were the principles of God's laws regarding the distribution of property carried out in the world today, how different would be the condition of the people! An observance of these principles would prevent the terrible evils that in all ages have resulted from the oppression of the poor by the rich and the hatred of the rich by the poor. While it might hinder the amassing of great wealth, it would tend to prevent the ignorance and degradation of tens of thousands whose ill-paid servitude is required for the building up of these colossal fortunes. It would aid in bringing a peaceful solution of problems that now threaten to fill the world with anarchy and bloodshed." Ed 44.Ken LeBrunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968227193387417233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349193850778814005.post-90255573444849879762014-11-28T17:50:00.002-08:002014-11-29T07:28:47.110-08:00Land-Based Economy"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." CT 275, 276.<br />
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"The people were not crowded together in cities, but each family had its own landed possession, ensuring to all the health-giving blessing of a natural, unperverted life." AH 133.<br />
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"The plan of life that God gave to Israel was intended as an object lesson for all mankind. If these principles were carried out today, what a different place this world would be!" MH 188.<br />
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"Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls." Jeremiah 6:16.<br />
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"The people who were under His direction still pursued the plan of life that He had appointed in the beginning. Those who departed from God built for themselves cities. . . . But the men who held fast God's principles of life dwelt among the fields and hills. They were tillers of the soil and keepers of flocks and herds, and in this free, independent life, with its opportunities for labor and study and meditation, they learned of God and taught their children of His works and ways." Ed 33, 34.<br />
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"Upon receiving the curse of God, Cain had withdrawn from his father's household. He had first chosen his occupation as a tiller of the soil, and he now founded a city, calling it after the name of his eldest son." PP 81.<br />
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"I have seen violence and strife in the city. Day and night they go about it upon the walls thereof: mischief also and sorrow are in the midst of it. Wickedness is in the midst thereof: deceit and guile depart not from her streets." Psalm 55:9-11.<br />
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"Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place!" Isaiah 5:8.<br />
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"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.<br />
<br />
"Christian farmers can do real missionary work in helping the poor to find homes on the land and in teaching them how to till the soil and make it productive. Teach them how to use the implements of agriculture, how to cultivate various crops, how to plant and care for orchards." MH 193.<br />
<br />
"If the poor now crowded into the cities could find homes upon the land, they might not only earn a livelihood, but find health and happiness now unknown to them." MH 190.Ken LeBrunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968227193387417233noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6349193850778814005.post-15488387500955193952014-11-25T20:56:00.003-08:002014-11-25T20:56:50.160-08:00The Most Favorable Occupation"To Adam was given the work of caring for the garden." AH 27.<br />
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"It was the design of God that man should find happiness in the employment of tending the things He had created, and that his wants should be met with the fruits of the trees of the garden." AH 27.<br />
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"The tilling of the soil, the employment that God appointed to man in Eden, opens a field in which there is opportunity for multitudes to gain a subsistence." MH 189.<br />
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"By the distribution of the land among the people, God provided for them, as for the dwellers in Eden, the occupation most favorable to development--the care of plants and animals." Ed 43.<br />
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"Many kinds of labor adapted to different persons may be devised. But the working of the land will be a special blessing to the worker. There is a great want of intelligent men to till the soil, who will be thorough." FE 323.<br />
<br />
"The occupations requiring sedentary habits are the most dangerous, for they take men away from the open air and sunshine, and train one set of faculties, while other organs are becoming weak from inaction. Men carry on their work, perfect their business, and soon lie down in the grave. Much more favorable is the condition of one whose occupation keeps him in the open air, exercising his muscles, while his brain is equally taxed, and all the organs have the privilege of doing their work." FE 319.<br />
<br />
"No line of manual training is of more value than agriculture. A greater effort should be made to create and to encourage an interest in agricultural pursuits." Ed 219.<br />
<br />
"If people only knew the value of the products of the ground, which the earth brings forth in their season, more diligent efforts would be made to cultivate the soil." CD 312.<br />
<br />
"The people should learn as far as possible to depend upon the products that they can obtain from the soil." FE 325.<br />
<br />
"It was God's plan for man to till the earth; . . . the first man, the ruler of the whole world, was given a garden to cultivate; and . . . many of the world's greatest men, its real nobility, have been tillers of the soil." Ed 219.<br />
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"The king himself is served by the field." Ecclesiastes 5:9.<br />
<br />
"He who taught Adam and Eve in Eden how to tend the garden, would instruct men to-day. There is wisdom for him who holds the plow, and plants and sows the seed. The earth has its concealed treasures, and the Lord would have thousands and tens of thousands working upon the soil." FE 326.<br />
<br />
"Men are needed in different communities to show the people how riches are to be obtained from the soil. The cultivation of land will bring its return." FE 317.<br />
<br />
"Let the teacher call attention to what the Bible says about agriculture; that it was God's plan for man to till the earth. . . . Show the opportunities in such a life." CG 356.<br />
<br />
"In the study of agriculture, let pupils be given not only theory, but practice. While they learn what science can teach in regard to the nature and preparation of the soil, the value of different crops, and the best methods of production, let them put their knowledge to use. . . . Thus may be awakened a genuine interest, an ambition to do the work in the best possible manner. Such an ambition, together with the invigorating effect of exercise, sunshine, and pure air, will create a love for agricultural labor that with many youth will determine their choice of an occupation." Ed 219, 220.<br />
<br />
"He who earns his livelihood by agriculture escapes many temptations and enjoys unnumbered privileges and blessings denied to those whose work lies in the great cities." Ed 219.Ken LeBrunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15968227193387417233noreply@blogger.com0