• Finding a better environment for your family.

• Growing your own food.

• Character development.

• Escaping the health hazards in the cities.

Brother and sister, we all agree that the challenge in making the start is a huge giant for most of us. Therefore we need to lay out our plans before the Lord, and He will bless us in ways which are somewhat hidden. Some of the difficulties include not willing to make a small start. You might only be able to start with a doublewide or even singlewide mobile home or small cabin, instead of a stick-built structure. I remember when my wife and I planned to move to the country we did not have the funds, so we prayed and started small. At times it might require two families to work together for spiritual and physical support. So start with whatever is most suitable. Why is this so? More now than any time in the world’s history, the large cities are more detrimental to the welfare of families, especially the children.

The urban lifestyle coupled with drugs, crimes, and licentious behavior, seems to be growing like wildfire. As the children of Israel were about to cross over into the land of Canaan, God instructed Moses, “When all Israel is come to appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose, thou shalt read this law before all Israel in their hearing. Gather the people together, men, and women, and children, and thy stranger that is within thy gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear the Lord your God, and observe to do all the words of this law: and that their children, which have not known anything, may hear, and learn to fear the Lord your God, as long as ye live in the land whither ye go over Jordan to possess it” (Deuteronomy 31:11-13).

Let us read the counsel given to us, “Before the overflowing scourge shall come upon the dwellers of the earth, the Lord calls upon all who are Israelites indeed to prepare for that event. To parents He sends the warning cry: Gather your children into your own houses; gather them away from those who are disregarding the commandments of God, who are teaching and practicing evil. Get out of the large cities as fast as possible.”2

A. “Parents can secure small homes in the country, with land for cultivation, where they can have orchards and where they can raise vegetables and small fruits to take the place of flesh meat, which is so corrupting to the lifeblood coursing through the veins. On such places the children will not be surrounded with the corrupting influences of city life. God will help His people to find such homes outside of the cities.”3

We may assume that since we are vegetarian (or preferably, vegans) that we therefore are safe because we are eating according to the Lord’s direction. Have you stopped to consider the pesticides and genetically-modified food which we are placing into the body? We are eating food manufactured in a lab, and we need to consider the damaging effects these products have on our families.

B. Scientific research dating as far back as the 1970’s has linked pesticides to leukemia in children. A 1987 study by the National Cancer Institute found that children living in pesticide-treated homes had nearly 4 times greater risk of developing leukemia. Children are the heritage of the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is His reward. It should be in our best interest to protect and care for these wonderful and lovely jewels of the Lord. Over a million people are diagnosed with cancer every year in the United States alone, and over 10,400 people in the U.S. die each year from cancer-related to pesticides. Chemicals are a huge business, and therefore false advertisements encourage farmers to use chemicals to increase production of their crops. On the other hand, the cost of medical expenses is growing, largely due to what we place in our bodies coming directly from the table.

C. The Lord has given us clear counsel about planting a garden. He placed the first man and woman there to dress it and keep it. We see clearly where the human family’s home should be, and what should constitute their chief occupation. Physical or manual labor is one of the best ways to give tone as well as strength to the entire body, mind, and soul that we are told to present blameless to the Lord.

“Mind and body must both receive attention; and unless our youth are versed in the science of how to care for the body as well as the mind, they will not be successful students. It is essential that students exercise their physical powers in such a way that their physical strength shall not be disproportionate to their mental development, and therefore a judicious system of physical culture should be combined with school discipline, that there may be a harmonious development of all the powers of mind and body. Nothing that pertains to physical perfection should be looked upon as of little importance.”4

So, as we develop strength, we need to have a clear understanding of how to plant our garden, the way in which to plant seeds. The Lord declares: “Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with divers seeds: lest the fruit of thy seed which thou hast sown, and the fruit of thy vineyard, be defiled” (Deuteronomy 22:9).

As we visit our local stores, we see the most beautiful variety of fruits and vegetables and the most wonderful labels attached to these products. They may actually be genetically-modified tomato, lettuce, soybeans, corn, or other crops. Genetic modification takes one gene from a certain species and places it into another - sometimes even comingling the plant and animal kingdoms. This is Satan’s invention. In the parable of the sower the servants asked from where the tares came, and the householder replied: “An enemy hath done this.” (See Matthew 13:28.) “All tares are sown by the evil one. Every noxious herb is of his sowing, and by his ingenious methods of amalgamation he has corrupted the earth with tares.”5

Oftentimes we hear the expression “character development,” but do we really pause to observe what characters we are molding in our life and the life of our families? What do environment and association have to do with character? I may think that I can just mind my own business and not allow what is going on around me to have any effect on my mind. Why didn’t God allow Cain to stay with his parents after he had killed his brother? In His infinite wisdom, He chose rather to send the corrupted one away - he separated them. I am not advocating abandonment. However, there are principles involved that are designed by God.

Jesus wanted to help mold the character of His disciples. He would often draw them away from the city to a place of solitude where He could speak with them quietly and teach them important lessons, as shown by the following examples:

“It was at the ordination of the Twelve that the first step was taken in the organization of the church that after Christ’s departure was to carry on His work on the earth. Of this ordination the record says, ‘He goeth up into a mountain, and calleth unto Him whom He would: and they came unto Him. And He ordained twelve, that they should be with Him, and that He might send them forth to preach’ (Mark 3:13, 14).”6

We also read of a similar experience when the Lord was preparing His disciples for the hour of temptation. We, too, will experience our own hour of temptation, and we certainly need to undergo thorough character development as did the disciples. Again, from Inspiration we read, “When engaged in teaching, [Christ] withdrew His disciples away from the noise and confusion of the busy city to some retired place more in harmony with the lessons of humility, piety, and virtue, which He would impress upon their minds. He shunned human praise, and preferred solitude and peaceful retirement to the noise and confusion of mortal life.”7

Parents are warned to take their families away from these large cities because, when the judgments of God are poured out, large cities will be swept away.

“It is often the case that parents are not careful to surround their children with right influences. In choosing a home, they think more of their worldly interests than of the moral and social atmosphere, and the children form associations that are unfavorable to the development of piety and the formation of right characters.”8

Everyone wants to be in good health. But, in the city, it is not easy to stay healthy, even if you try to get plenty of physical exercise by walking, jogging, or bicycling. There is much health risk from different sources, such as carbondioxide emissions from motor vehicles, toxic wastes from manufacturing plants, and other hazardous waste materials, and water polution.

Environmental studies point to a direct link between urban air pollution - especially pollution created by combustion powered by vehicles and powered by generation plants - and cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases. Long-term exposure to particulate pollution - tiny particles smaller than 10 microns (a human hair is 70 microns wide) - is known to increase illness and death rates from lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and emphysema. They also discovered that when air pollution levels suddenly increased, in addition to expected increases in deaths from asthma, pneumonia, and emphysema, there was an unexpected increase in the number of deaths related to heart attacks and stroke. Most surprising was the finding that when air pollution levels rose, so did deaths from all causes, not just those related to the heart and lungs.

“[The renewed man’s] first duty is to his children and his nearest relatives. Nothing can excuse him from neglecting the inner circle for the larger circle outside. In the day of final reckoning fathers and mothers . . . will be asked what they did and said to secure the salvation of the souls they took upon themselves the responsibility of bringing into the world. Did they neglect their lambs, leaving them to the care of strangers? . . . A great good done for others will not cancel the debt you owe to God to care for your children. The spiritual welfare of your family comes first.”9

We need to carry out God’s design if we would be reckoned as God’s people. Nothing but complete obedience was to provide a place for the Israelites in Canaan, and God’s requirements are even more rigid for those who want to reach the heavenly Canaan.

“In the beginning [God] placed our first parents amidst the beautiful sights and sounds He desires us to rejoice in today. The more nearly we come into harmony with God’s original plan, the more favourable will be our position to secure health of body, and mind, and soul.”10

When we, in our minds, seek to comply with God’s will for our best good and that of our children, then we will understand the purpose and principle behind every one of God’s commands. “If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine” (John 7:17). Many things we may not fully understand, but, because God has said it, we believe and trust that accepting His will is for our best good.

A serious question that we will face is, “Where is that flock that I gave you?” Character development is more difficult to accomplish while living in the city than in the country.

Remember:

“It is God’s desire that parents should be to their children the embodiment of the principles laid down in His Word. . . . To keep the feet of their children in the narrow path will call for faithful effort and constant prayer, but it is possible to train the children and youth to love and serve God.”11

Why not claim God’s promise on this key point?

“Parents can secure small homes in the country, with land for cultivation, where they can have orchards and where they can raise vegetables and small fruits to take the place of flesh meat, which is so corrupting to the lifeblood coursing through the veins. On such places the children will not be surrounded with the corrupting influences of city life. God will help His people to find such homes outside of the cities.”12