WEALTH VERSUS ABUNDANCE
We tend to use the words wealth and abundance interchangeably in our society, and their usage conjures similar images in our minds eye; however, closer examination shows they denote entirely different conditions. The interchange of these words has adversely effected our lives.
Abundance generally means “a lot of” something. We refer to abundant sunshine or rainfall, an abundant harvest, or an abundant catch for fishermen. The Bible refers to living abundantly. Everyone can have abundant sunshine, rain, harvests or catches. Everyone can live abundantly if we define it as having all of our needs met. The American Indians lived abundantly, as did the Pacific Islanders and the Africans. They all had an abundance of what they needed to live healthful lives. Birds, fish, and mammals also all live abundantly.
The term wealth on the other hand tends to be a comparative word based on ownership. We cannot all be wealthy, because wealthy people have more possessions than the poor.
Wealth and poverty are interdependent. Rich and poor depend upon each other not only for the definition of their respective positions but also for the exercise of their positions.
Jesus said, “The poor will always be among you,” for the reason that the society that he administered to believed in ownership. A person can only amass great wealth if multitudes have little; having little means owning little or nothing. In a society that shares, poverty cannot exist; taking care of each other prevents poverty from forming.
We who live in Western nations, especially in the United States believe that we have the opportunity to be rewarded for our efforts and can attain great wealth. Children are told to go to school, get an education, get a job, make a lot of money and be somebody. Having money—more money than your neighbor has—is being somebody. This philosophy in essence causes us to wish ill of our neighbor, for success is measured by having more than him.
Last year America produced 43 new millionaires—a fact that was heralded in the media. That same year hundreds of thousands of food stamp recipients were added to government rolls. There cannot be wealthy people without poor people, nor can their be wealthy nations without poor nations.
The Capitalistic system teaches that wealth is not a finite quantity, that wealth is created and that we all share in it. New products create jobs and more wealth is provided for more people. As a former business owner I once bought into that argument. I owned a small manufacturing company and created jobs for the unskilled and semi-killed. However, upon introspection I realized that their families had been destroyed and land was no longer available to them. They needed me because the system we operate in left them destitute.
Free enterprise creates wealth and poverty; only God creates abundance.
We live in a world of rich nations and poor nations, and within these nations there are rich people and poor people. The rich people—the very rich—are united in their efforts to control the world, which they already own. This rightness of ownership regardless of the consequences is so embedded in the Western psyche that when candidate Gingrich boasted that he would establish a colony on the Moon with an American Flag on it there was local applause and no national outcry. Financial interests already own the world and the water upon it; the next move apparently is to start ownership of the solar system. We could be fighting wars over who owns Mercury or Mars.
There seems to be no end to this madness of ownership and self-indulgence. The vehicle that taught sharing and working together for a common purpose was the family. Now that it has been destroyed and the government has take over the indoctrination of our youth the concept of self-centeredness, material acquisition, and self-indulgence are considered to be normal. The government continues to create drones that become increasingly dependent upon governmental largess while fewer and fewer people own the world and run it.
There is no system of government that can successfully function in a society based on ownership. Liberals and conservative, communists and capitalists, and all the shades and variations of Western governments cannot survive because they are grossly materialistic.
We live in God’s world and it was created to sustain his people. This concept that we must be beholden to another man for our survival is unnatural and will pass.
I read in a metaphysical book written more than one hundred years ago that a battle is shaping up between the material and spiritual forces of this world. I feel this battle has already begun and will intensify. We can sit back and watch it and eventually become overwhelmed by it or we can start to live differently now and survive it.
If you want to become active rather than passive I ask that you review the Men’s Action Mission statement and determine what part you can play in bringing about a more natural way of life for humankind. What is natural will survive. What isn’t won’t. Gross materialism is unnatural. It is passing.
Prepare yourself for the future—live a natural way of life. One way to do this is by supporting Men’s Action.
E.G.
Abundance generally means “a lot of” something. We refer to abundant sunshine or rainfall, an abundant harvest, or an abundant catch for fishermen. The Bible refers to living abundantly. Everyone can have abundant sunshine, rain, harvests or catches. Everyone can live abundantly if we define it as having all of our needs met. The American Indians lived abundantly, as did the Pacific Islanders and the Africans. They all had an abundance of what they needed to live healthful lives. Birds, fish, and mammals also all live abundantly.
The term wealth on the other hand tends to be a comparative word based on ownership. We cannot all be wealthy, because wealthy people have more possessions than the poor.
Wealth and poverty are interdependent. Rich and poor depend upon each other not only for the definition of their respective positions but also for the exercise of their positions.
Jesus said, “The poor will always be among you,” for the reason that the society that he administered to believed in ownership. A person can only amass great wealth if multitudes have little; having little means owning little or nothing. In a society that shares, poverty cannot exist; taking care of each other prevents poverty from forming.
We who live in Western nations, especially in the United States believe that we have the opportunity to be rewarded for our efforts and can attain great wealth. Children are told to go to school, get an education, get a job, make a lot of money and be somebody. Having money—more money than your neighbor has—is being somebody. This philosophy in essence causes us to wish ill of our neighbor, for success is measured by having more than him.
Last year America produced 43 new millionaires—a fact that was heralded in the media. That same year hundreds of thousands of food stamp recipients were added to government rolls. There cannot be wealthy people without poor people, nor can their be wealthy nations without poor nations.
The Capitalistic system teaches that wealth is not a finite quantity, that wealth is created and that we all share in it. New products create jobs and more wealth is provided for more people. As a former business owner I once bought into that argument. I owned a small manufacturing company and created jobs for the unskilled and semi-killed. However, upon introspection I realized that their families had been destroyed and land was no longer available to them. They needed me because the system we operate in left them destitute.
Free enterprise creates wealth and poverty; only God creates abundance.
We live in a world of rich nations and poor nations, and within these nations there are rich people and poor people. The rich people—the very rich—are united in their efforts to control the world, which they already own. This rightness of ownership regardless of the consequences is so embedded in the Western psyche that when candidate Gingrich boasted that he would establish a colony on the Moon with an American Flag on it there was local applause and no national outcry. Financial interests already own the world and the water upon it; the next move apparently is to start ownership of the solar system. We could be fighting wars over who owns Mercury or Mars.
There seems to be no end to this madness of ownership and self-indulgence. The vehicle that taught sharing and working together for a common purpose was the family. Now that it has been destroyed and the government has take over the indoctrination of our youth the concept of self-centeredness, material acquisition, and self-indulgence are considered to be normal. The government continues to create drones that become increasingly dependent upon governmental largess while fewer and fewer people own the world and run it.
There is no system of government that can successfully function in a society based on ownership. Liberals and conservative, communists and capitalists, and all the shades and variations of Western governments cannot survive because they are grossly materialistic.
We live in God’s world and it was created to sustain his people. This concept that we must be beholden to another man for our survival is unnatural and will pass.
I read in a metaphysical book written more than one hundred years ago that a battle is shaping up between the material and spiritual forces of this world. I feel this battle has already begun and will intensify. We can sit back and watch it and eventually become overwhelmed by it or we can start to live differently now and survive it.
If you want to become active rather than passive I ask that you review the Men’s Action Mission statement and determine what part you can play in bringing about a more natural way of life for humankind. What is natural will survive. What isn’t won’t. Gross materialism is unnatural. It is passing.
Prepare yourself for the future—live a natural way of life. One way to do this is by supporting Men’s Action.
E.G.
posted by Elder George at
5:08 PM
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