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Dept. of Agriculture Photo
Haymond, Kentucky, street. Notice rainy atmosphere, unpaved streets, and old cars.
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Unwise Spending — a Cause of Poverty!
There is still another class of poor people. These people are impoverished — not because they don't diligently use their minds or their hands — but because they do not know how to use the blessings they've been given.
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Many do not know how to properly budget their incomes. They spend unwisely — far beyond their means!
Even though a man uses his mind and his body, works hard and is very diligent, he will still forever be in financial straits — if he doesn't wisely use the blessings God permits him to have. The following Proverbs emphasize this:
"He also that is slothful in his work is brother to him that is a great waster" (Prov. 18:9).
He who spends too much on food, drink or pleasures will often have the creditor pounding on his door. "He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man: he that loveth wine and oil shall not be rich" (Prov. 21:17). "For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags" (Prov. 23:21).
Such people, like the Prodigal Son, squander their substance with riotous living (Luke 15:13).
They may earn more than they need, but never learn to properly budget their incomes. Such thriftless individuals never learn to live within their means — they don't cut their garment according to the cloth.
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Dept. of Agriculture Photo
Inside of Deer Lodge, Tennessee, home.
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Marital problems often have their origin, in large part, in financial difficulties. Untold mental anguish has resulted from poverty brought on by unwise spending. Many husbands and wives spend excessively on luxuries or on unnecessary items.
And the sad part of it is that almost everyone living in the Western world could be reasonably prosperous — if they were diligent and if they wisely budgeted their incomes.
Besides the causes of poverty already mentioned, there are numerous others: 1 — poor heredity, 2 — a wretched environment, 3 — ill-health and/or physical disability, 4 — oppression — from the rich, from the powerful, or even from the government — in the form of excessive taxes, 5 — over-population — in the world, nation, or in the family. (Unfortunately many sincere but misguided individuals oppose birth control!) 6 — catastrophes (often referred to as "acts of God") such as fire, flood, earthquakes, or storms.
In almost every one of the above mentioned causes of financial adversity, the individual can overcome the effects of calamity — if he tries long and hard enough! (Our free booklet, The Seven Laws of Success, will give further information on how to succeed in life)
Poverty — the Result of Sin!
The real root cause of most financial adversity is . . . SIN — direct or indirect breaking of God's laws! Tithing is one of those laws which govern material prosperity.
Notice how this was clearly emphasized by the inspired prophet Malachi, millenniums ago. "Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse, for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a BLESSING, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts. And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts" (Mal. 3:8-12).
Many people are under a curse simply because they do not obey their Creator God. God promises to bless and prosper those who diligently serve Him. He wants all to be blessed — to be in prosperity and health — and eventually to live forever and enjoy these blessings eternally! (Be sure and request our free booklet, Ending Your Financial Worries)
Again, what are the real causes of poverty? There are many! But the main causes are: 1 — ignorance and superstition, 2 — laziness, 3 — wasteful squandering, 4 — the underlying, all-inclusive root cause — sin—disobedience to an all-wise Creator!
Most of the nations on this earth continue to flagrantly transgress God's laws. Even in the Western world, professing Christians seem to think they can break God's laws with impunity. But they're wrong! The poverty and resultant suffering found throughout the whole world is always the direct or indirect result of broken laws.
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Ambassador College Photo
Downtown Seoul, Korea. Typical ramshackle area in which most of the population lives.
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Poverty Banished Worldwide
When all nations begin to worship and serve the true God and keep His laws, then there will be happiness and prosperity for all. "The Great Society" will at last be realized.
Yes, there is good news! Jesus Christ will soon return to this earth in awful power and dazzling splendor. He will teach the nations to obey God's laws. "For the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem" (Micah 4:2).
Ignorance, superstition and illiteracy will yet be banished from the world. "For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea" (Habakkuk 2:14).
At last, the peoples of the earth will be taught to diligently use their minds and hands — to work hard, to build — not to tear down and destroy! They will learn how to use their blessings — and to budget their incomes — not to squander them!
And they shall be taught to faithfully pay a tenth of their incomes to their Creator God in thankful appreciation for His many blessings.
The Bible reveals that President Johnson's "War on Poverty" will not succeed in banishing poverty from America!
"The Great Society" will not be established in the U.S. during this age! Because human governments cannot abolish sin!
In the very near future, however, God's "Great Society" will be established over the whole earth — during the millennial, Utopian rule of Jesus Christ (see Micah 4:1-4). For one thousand years, the nations will learn to use their energies in production, not in destruction — "they shall beat their swords into plowshares" (verse 3).
"They shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid . . ." (verse 4).
Jesus Christ of Nazareth will finally remove the curse of poverty from this planet by removing the causes of poverty! When the nations are taught to love and diligently obey God and His perfect laws, then all sin — which is the real scourge of the world, the real CAUSE of poverty — will at last be banished from the earth!
This is how the curse of poverty will be removed from this world.
And this is how peace, happiness and prosperity for everyone will finally be established over the whole earth!