Let's start with Leviticus 19:9-10. When you reap the
harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field, nor
shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. And you shall not glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather every grape of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and
the stranger: Iam the Lord your God.
Basically what is happening here is, let's say that you have a field that you have planted crops in and this field is square. According to the instructions here, you should reap in a circle, leave the corners alone.
In Malachi 3, we are told that we are robbing God in tithes and offerings. The instructions to correct this is to bring all of the tithes into the storehouse so that there may be food in His house. Question: why is it plural? Well, that is because there are three tithes. Long explanation cut short, the first tithe is to the church, second tithe is to your self, and the third tithe is to the poor. Every 3rd second tithe goes to the poor. So lets say that you get paid every Friday and there are 3 Fridays in a month. Week and 2, you give your second tithe to yourself and build it up as a trust fund for your descendants. The third week, your second tithe goes to the poor and becomes the 3rd tithe.
Now we have fields that have food readily available so that they will not starve to death. Then there was a surplus of food that people gave every 3rd time they have a harvest.
All of this goes back to one mind numbing fact. If everyone, lets just say everyone that attends church regularly, followed these guidelines, I believe that we could eradicate poverty in the United States for the ones that are willing to work. Let me give you a statistic: if Just americans gave what we spend on ice cream in one year, we could put access to clean water in the entire world!
Then, let's say that someone that has means of generating wealth suddenly cannot provide for themselves adequately for reasons beyond their control. First, they have enough of a nest egg for themselves that, they will survive until they are able to generate wealth again. Should they not be able to return to their wealth generating ways after so long, and their nest egg is depleted, there is a surplus in various different places that can help them out for as long as they need it and no one is out a large amount. Build the wall a piece at a time.
Basically, God's way of doing life was set up so that we, and everyone else, could be multi, multi, multi millionaires. I am not writing this just to deliver the prosperity message. I am writing to reveal to you how monumentally brilliant His way of living is, but also help you understand what all is in that book that we read.
Now here comes the part that people are going to hate! Please understand that I grew up in the United States in the southern part of the state of Georgia. We ate pork chops, hamburgers, mac n' cheese, drank gallons and gallons of milk etc. Yes, all of that stuff tastes good when prepared properly. However, a certain point in my life came where I laid all of those things aside and began eating only food that came from a plant. No processed foods, nothing that came from an animal, nothing that was not naturally occurring in nature. My wife and I both did this together and I can tell you that the change was DRAMATIC! We both lost 40+ lbs. We felt better, slept better, were able to be awake when we were awake instead of being zombies. The vegan icing on the cake was that my wife's infertility issue was overcome by this and now we have our little girl, Lily, to show for it.
What does this have to do with the poor? Quite a bit actually!
At the current time, if we took 90% of the land that is being used to raise cattle, chickens, goats, etc. and devoted it to growing wheat, fruits, vegetables, etc., we could eliminate global hunger in general within 5 years. Is that worth giving up meat? If its not worth it for the health reasons for yourself, isn't it worth it to be able to feed those people and be Jesus to them? Then, when they see what you are doing for them just because, you can tell them that's how much Jesus loves them. He sent us to provide food for them so that they would not starve to death.
None of this is particularly popular among the general population. It would be difficult to achieve, but it is worth it. If you wonder if it is worth it, ask someone that is starving.
Grace and Peace Be with you Always!
In Malachi 3, we are told that we are robbing God in tithes and offerings. The instructions to correct this is to bring all of the tithes into the storehouse so that there may be food in His house. Question: why is it plural? Well, that is because there are three tithes. Long explanation cut short, the first tithe is to the church, second tithe is to your self, and the third tithe is to the poor. Every 3rd second tithe goes to the poor. So lets say that you get paid every Friday and there are 3 Fridays in a month. Week and 2, you give your second tithe to yourself and build it up as a trust fund for your descendants. The third week, your second tithe goes to the poor and becomes the 3rd tithe.
Now we have fields that have food readily available so that they will not starve to death. Then there was a surplus of food that people gave every 3rd time they have a harvest.
All of this goes back to one mind numbing fact. If everyone, lets just say everyone that attends church regularly, followed these guidelines, I believe that we could eradicate poverty in the United States for the ones that are willing to work. Let me give you a statistic: if Just americans gave what we spend on ice cream in one year, we could put access to clean water in the entire world!
Then, let's say that someone that has means of generating wealth suddenly cannot provide for themselves adequately for reasons beyond their control. First, they have enough of a nest egg for themselves that, they will survive until they are able to generate wealth again. Should they not be able to return to their wealth generating ways after so long, and their nest egg is depleted, there is a surplus in various different places that can help them out for as long as they need it and no one is out a large amount. Build the wall a piece at a time.
Basically, God's way of doing life was set up so that we, and everyone else, could be multi, multi, multi millionaires. I am not writing this just to deliver the prosperity message. I am writing to reveal to you how monumentally brilliant His way of living is, but also help you understand what all is in that book that we read.
Now here comes the part that people are going to hate! Please understand that I grew up in the United States in the southern part of the state of Georgia. We ate pork chops, hamburgers, mac n' cheese, drank gallons and gallons of milk etc. Yes, all of that stuff tastes good when prepared properly. However, a certain point in my life came where I laid all of those things aside and began eating only food that came from a plant. No processed foods, nothing that came from an animal, nothing that was not naturally occurring in nature. My wife and I both did this together and I can tell you that the change was DRAMATIC! We both lost 40+ lbs. We felt better, slept better, were able to be awake when we were awake instead of being zombies. The vegan icing on the cake was that my wife's infertility issue was overcome by this and now we have our little girl, Lily, to show for it.
What does this have to do with the poor? Quite a bit actually!
At the current time, if we took 90% of the land that is being used to raise cattle, chickens, goats, etc. and devoted it to growing wheat, fruits, vegetables, etc., we could eliminate global hunger in general within 5 years. Is that worth giving up meat? If its not worth it for the health reasons for yourself, isn't it worth it to be able to feed those people and be Jesus to them? Then, when they see what you are doing for them just because, you can tell them that's how much Jesus loves them. He sent us to provide food for them so that they would not starve to death.
None of this is particularly popular among the general population. It would be difficult to achieve, but it is worth it. If you wonder if it is worth it, ask someone that is starving.
Grace and Peace Be with you Always!
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