IS END-TIME GARDENING & FARMING
BIBLICAL?
(A Study on Environment Reform - Part 2)
Greetings brothers and sisters of the remnant church. We continue to pray as always that ALL is very well with you, your families, church families, personal and public ministries, and your walk with the Lord. We are continuing our mini-series study on Environment Reform, a very fitting term the Lord impressed me to begin using last year. As the Early Time of Trouble inches nearer and nearer towards the inhabitants of the earth, are we putting spiritual and practical preparation first in our lives? Are we surrendering ALL to Jesus? Are we listening and heeding the words or our Lord when He admonishes us in Proverbs 23:26, "My son, give me thine heart?" He will not 'take' our heart from us. This must be a mutual agreement between two parties, Creator and creature. Jesus wants to be in our presence twenty-four hours a day. However, there is only one environment on the face of planet earth that will assure us He will be even "more" in our presence. How do I know this?
"We assembled in the orchards and groves to commune with God and to offer up our petitions to him, feeling more clearly in his presence when surrounded by his natural works." {LS 80, 188.4}
And what exactly are God's natural works? The word "NATURAL" is a derivative of the word "NATURE." The context of the foregoing statement by Sister White is in reference to her and other families preparing for the time of expectation of October 22, 1844. Here is the first sentence of paragraph 4 of Life Sketches of James White and Ellen White, 1880 edition:
“With diligent searching of hearts and humble confessions we came prayerfully up to the time of expectation."
God gave Sister White her very first vision in December of 1844. The exact date of this first vision has never been revealed. We can only conclude that she received the vision between December 1 and December 31 of that year.
But brother/sister, does it matter that she and the families she was gathered with felt closer to God in nature? Is that a coincidence? Could Sister White have been 'imagining' this? Is it possible that she was 'delusional?" Hardly.
Q: Is Country Living Biblical?
A: Mark 5:14. Let's review the story of the demoniac and the herd of swine.
After a man with an unclean spirit met Jesus "out of the tombs," Jesus asked him his name. The unclean spirit answered, "My name is Legion; for we are many." {verse 9} After Jesus gave them permission to go out from the man and enter into the swine, the Bible tells us that a herd of two-thousand pigs ran violently down a steep place into the sea and choked (drowned) there. The response of those who witnessed this astounding scene is brought to view in verse 14:
"And they that fed the swine fled, and told it in the city, and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that was done."
There are two systems of living brought to view in verse 14 of Mark chapter 5:
- City Living
- Country Living.
Q: How many systems of living exist in our world today?
A: There are two systems of living in our world today. Mark 5:14 is simply a snapshot of the two systems of living on earth that have co-existed for nearly six thousand years.
Q: Why are there two systems of living in our world today?
A: For every lawful, God-given privilege, Satan has a counterfeit to suggest. {1MCP 200.3}
EXAMPLES:
Counterfeit family
Counterfeit church
Counterfeit education
Counterfeit diet
Counterfeit dress
Counterfeit re-creation
Counterfeit bible versions
Counterfeit worship
Counterfeit gospel
Counterfeit sabbath
Counterfeit second coming
Counterfeit system of living
Q: Is there another very critical Satanic counterfeit we should be watching for in these last days?
A: "Before the final visitation of God's judgments upon the earth there will be among the people of the Lord such a revival of primitive godliness as has not been witnessed since apostolic times. The Spirit and power of God will be poured out upon His children. At that time many will separate themselves from those churches in which the love of this world has supplanted love for God and His word. Many, both of ministers and people, will gladly accept those great truths which God has caused to be proclaimed at this time to prepare a people for the Lord's second coming. The enemy of souls desires to hinder this work; and before the time for such a movement shall come, he will endeavor to prevent it by introducing a counterfeit." {GC 464.1}
Q: Which system of living came first?
A: Genesis 1:9-13. Let's examine the third day of creation week.
9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.
11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.
On the third day of creation week, God created three components:
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The perfect environment in which He desired us to dwell.
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The perfect plant-based diet He desired us to subsist on.
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The perfect water to preserve us.
Not coincidently, the Lord introduced three of the eight laws of health on the third day.
Environment (Open Air)
Diet (Nutrition)
Water (Lots of Water)
Perhaps you may be reading this newsletter and are considering the term "eight laws of health" for the first time. If so, please note that this expression is 100% Bible-based. We use a very appropriate and easy to remember acronym: "God's Plan."
Godly Trust
Open Air
Daily Exercise
Sunlight
Plenty of Rest
Lots of Water
Always Temperate
Sunlight
"God's Plan" promotes health, happiness, mental, physical, and spiritual vigor, and prevents and even reverses disease. The Lord cares very much about our health. {3 John 2} Jesus obeyed the eight laws of health.
"The earth was clothed with beautiful verdure, while myriads of fragrant flowers of every variety and hue sprang up in rich profusion around them. Everything was tastefully and gloriously arranged. In the midst of the garden stood the tree of life, the glory of which surpassed all other trees. Its fruit looked like apples of gold and silver, and was to perpetuate immortality. The leaves contained healing properties." {SR 22.1}
The Lord created the perfect environment BEFORE He created His children. There would be no construction of buildings or edifices for them to dwell in.
"Adam and Eve were charmed with the beauties of their Eden home...They recognized the order and harmony of creation, which spoke of wisdom and knowledge that were infinite. Some new beauty and additional glory of their Eden home they were continually discovering, which filled their hearts with deeper love and brought from their lips expressions of gratitude and reverence to their Creator." {SR 22.3}
Adam and Eve were created to live in a rural environment. It is IN our nature to live IN nature. This was God's one and only plan.
Q: Do God's plans ever change?
A: "I am the Lord; I change not." "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and today, and forever." "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." {Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 13:8; James 1:17}
Q: Where did this second urban, metro, or counterfeit system of living originate? The answer may surprise you.
A: Let's dig a little bit deeper.
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Urban word origin: early 17th century: from Latin urbanus, from urbs, urb- ‘city’.
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Metropolis word origin: late Middle English (denoting the see of a metropolitan bishop): via late Latin from Greek mētropolis ‘mother state’, from mētēr, mētr- ‘mother’ + polis ‘city’.
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See word origin: the place in which a cathedral church stands, identified as the seat of authority of a bishop or archbishop.
Brother/sister, are you beginning to sense what power is behind the concept of city living?
Let's briefly review a very significant segment of Genesis 4. We'll pick up at the point after Cain slew his younger brother Abel, when God handed down the curse upon Cain.
11 And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand;
12 When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.
16 And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.
17 And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he (Cain) builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch.
The first city on earth was built by the first human murderer. That same murderous, maniacal spirit has been passed down from generation to generation for nearly six thousand years. The fact that crime rates in urban areas around the world today far surpass the same comparative statistics in rural areas is not by chance.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT:
Q: What employment did the Lord give Adam before He fell?
A: Genesis 2:5,7,8,15
5 And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.
7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
8 And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
15 And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
In Genesis 2:8, the Bible teaches us that God "planted a garden." From scripture we know that Jesus is God {Isaiah 7:14; John 20:28; Philippians 2:5,6, and many more}. We are also taught that "without Him there was not anything made that was made." {John 1:3} We are also taught that He left us "an example" that we "should follow His steps" (1 Peter 2:21). The Lord God planted a garden. Are you following His steps?
Then brother/sister, Genesis 3:23 (after sin entered the human family in Genesis 3:6) reveals a Biblical eye opener.
"Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken."
Remember saints, all of the events taking place in the Bible from Genesis 3:6 onward are after sin has entered the human experience. Did you get the lesson?
Q: What was Adam's employment BEFORE sin?
A: To till the ground.
Q: What was Adam's employment AFTER sin?
A: To till the ground.
Q: Does God change?
A: Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 13:8. Therefore, God's original plan for man has not changed. Mankind has changed, motivated by the great usurper. Why? Because for every lawful, God-given privilege, Satan has a counterfeit to suggest. {1MCP 220.3}
Q: If the Bible clearly teaches us that God doesn't change, how long will human beings be gardening?
TO BE CONTINUED IN OUR NEXT ISSUE...
Brother Bridges
