Reprinted from:YOUR LIVING ENVIRONMENT
December 1973, Vol. IV, No. 2
Ambassador College (UK) Agriculture Department
MAN'S INTIMATE CONTACT WITH THE EARTH
"The
meaning and future of human life on earth are debated with growing
uncertainty. We need a deeper understanding of the living world and of
the future of man himself, out of which we can develop a wiser, more
harmonious partnership with the life of the planet." "We need to find a
new 'Ecological technology', which will call for NEW concepts, NEW
methods, NEW relationships between human beings and the earth" (Emerson
College brochure).
Until quite recently, statements
like this were unusual, but now they have developed into a solid chorus
of semi-official opinion. Food producers and mankind as a whole are
moving in one of the most uncertain times in human history.
Commenting on this, Dr. Schumacher
(Soil Association Chairman) has stated that many people are now calling
for NEW VALUES and NEW CONCEPTS, without telling us which of our
current values to abandon, or where to find these "NEW CONCEPTS".
These comments are highly
significant because they show that man has lost his way in this world
and that even the experts are uncertain and divided on man's future.
Thankfully, we do not have to be in this condition. We can have the
assurance that the RIGHT answers are available and that we can apply
them.
In this issue of "Your Living Environment" we want to achieve that purpose by showing you:
FIRST -- that man is totally weak,
vulnerable and dependent as a species on this planet and therefore
needs infallible ecological guidance.
And SECONDLY -- that such guidance exists, is unique, is available and should be used!
Getting Man In Perspective
The very concept of seeking "NEW
VALUES", implies running away from something OLD and that's what
humanity has been doing for millennia. We will show that man is missing
his mark and that as long as he goes on searching for these NEW values
he will continue to miss it!
Man needs to give up this eternal
searching for something NEW and go back to recapturing some really OLD
values. However, before coming to the subject of OLD VALUES -- let us
first have a look at man himself to get us in right perspective.
May we begin by mentally taking you
into outer space for a truly objective view of ourselves? This is
perhaps the only way we can consider mankind as a whole, together with
our earthly environment. After doing that, we will mentally re-enter
through the atmosphere and zero-in until we finally come back down to
earth and even to individual personalities like you and the writer.
Here
we are, 3,600 million human beings, orbiting through space on a tiny
ping-pong ball! Looking back from millions of miles out in the solar
system, our planet is nothing more than a pinpoint of reflected light,
spinning at 1,000 mph as it circles that giant ball of fire, the sun --
at precisely one revolution per year! It is that sun that keeps us
warm. It is our energy source and should we not be grateful that there
is no energy crisis in its relationship with the earth?
But there could be and it would be
fatal to all life-forms on our planet. For example -- have you ever
thought how, inevitably, we would all freeze to death if this little
sphere of ours wandered off course and away from its energy source --
the sun? On the other hand, we would all be fried to a crisp if our
little GOLF-BALL was to suddenly swing into a tighter orbit around that
white-hot inferno, with its flames leaping out in every direction up to
a million miles into space!
This is delicate environmental balance in the extreme, yet it is something over which puny little man has absolutely NO control!
Do you often ponder the
impossibility of all the orderliness and precision of these planets and
galaxies happening just by accident? How impossible for these planets
to stay in balance relative to each other and the rest of the universe!
Such astronomical precision could not continue to function smoothly of
its own accord for an instant -- even if it had come into existence by
"ACCIDENT".
Now let us come a little closer and
enter the earth's atmosphere. There's an interesting phenomenon -- THE
ATMOSPHERE! How often do you reflect on where it came from and the
coincidence that it exists in a form that so perfectly matches and
supplies the needs of every living thing on the earth below? It
couldn't have just happened either. It was especially designed and
created for its job.
Here is where man does BEGIN to
exercise some influence. For example -- man has proved he can pollute
the atmosphere with radioactive dust particles. He struggles to
precipitate rain and disrupt hurricanes at their centre. But MAN did
not CREATE the atmosphere and neither does he CONTROL it.
These marvels of creation are
almost beyond man's comprehension, yet millions never even raise their
heads to wonder HOW it was all created and HOW it continues to function
WITHOUT man and now you might separately in spite of MAN!
The next stage of our mental
descent from outer space is to touch down on the surface of this planet
EARTH. Here we find the oddest phenomenon of all -- it is called LIFE!
We find multiple forms of LIFE -- some we can see with the naked eye
and some we can't. Some are plant, some are animal and of some we are
not sure.
But here are these myriad
life-forms -- all co-existing, living, growing, reproducing, dying and
decomposing together --in one miraculously conceived and fantastically
complex symbiotic relationship! Yet man created NONE of them!
Finally there is -- MAN --
cynically perhaps, yet on his record, accurately described as THE ONE
MISFIT SPECIES -- more awesome, more wonderful in his design and with
more potential than all the other terrestrial life forms put together!
That potential springs from one
simple fact and one fact only -- MAN differs from all other life-forms
-- HE HAS A MIND, as something separate and quite apart from instinct.
MAN HAS FREEDOM OF CHOICE, which no other physical life form has. Man's
brain and his freedom of choice give him potential for good and also
for evil. AND ACCORDING TO HIS CHOICE, so goes his environment!
So here we are -- 3,600 million
human beings all with the power of intellect and a reasonably accurate
self-produced record of our activities through recent millennia. Off in
the vastness of space we see other celestial bodies. And at our feet is
a complex living system -- by which we will survive, IF we learn to
work with it!
Groping To Find Our Way
To believe that we and our
environment brought ourselves spontaneously into existence is as
irrational as believing that 20th century technology happened without
the creative ability of MAN!
It is good to rehearse the proof of
a Creator God and to remind ourselves of man's insignificance alongside
the rest of creation.
Millions of our species are told
they are educated -- but who, for example, can answer such simple
questions as: WHERE WE COME FROM, WHY WE ARE HERE AND WHERE WE ARE
GOING?
What is even stranger still -- this
world is in grave danger of annihilating itself, before discovering the
answers to those three questions!
It is not surprising that man has
lost his way. This is exactly what we should expect -- after all, God
states quite emphatically:
"IT IS NOT IN MAN THAT WALKETH TO DIRECT HIS STEPS" (Jer. 10:23).
That means it is IMPOSSIBLE for MAN
to go the right WAY! But the fact that our steps CAN BE CORRECTLY
DIRECTED, should be VERY comforting.
There is, however, only one way by
which this can be done --man must have an infallible basic reference
point to avoid losing his way, down through successive generations.
Consider now, the directional
guidance mechanism of modern agriculture. Is it not EXPERIMENTATION? Is
the agro-chemical industry not completely dependent on the results of
complex research projects and experimental programs? Are these not
backed by governments and multi-million pound industrial combines,
encouraging man to devise ever more fearsome ways of conquering
"NATURE"?
Superficially it looks good and
though it captures the imagination of a lot of people,
"EXPERIMENTATION" is really no guide at all! That is why modern
agriculture is adrift on a sea of confusion of its own making. It
contains no genuine basis to which man can relate his experimentation.
The entire system is wrongly
orientated. To take just one aspect -- if MAN continues to strive for
MAXIMUM rather than OPTIMUM yields he could be choosing between human
survival and catastrophe!
The reference point, or guiding
light of organic agriculture is OBSERVATION, rather than
experimentation. "OBSERVATION" is fine because it embodies the
ecological approach, but it too lacks something. Every organic farmer's
way is right in his own eyes, so ORGANIC agriculture will always be
weakened by division and diversity. It too, must accept the basic
guidance of God's law.
Source of Environmental Guidance
Our work at Ambassador College is different. It is based not on "EXPERIMENTATION" or "OBSERVATION", but on REVELATION!!
What "REVELATION"? It is the
revelation of God, through his inspired Word, that Christ created man
and every minute detail of our natural environment (Col. 1:16, John
1:3, Heb. 1:2). Often we limit God's Word to a colorfully illustrated
package of doctrines, but it is time for us all to change that
attitude. Remember, God the Father and Christ were far more than double
PhDs in ECOLOGY from the beginning. Only now, after almost 6,000 years
is mankind discovering the existence of such a SCIENCE!
Through his Word and by his Holy
Spirit, God has given his begotten sons direct access to his divine
guidance. But do we fully realize that that guidance includes FOOD
PRODUCTION and ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT?
On the other hand -- most
agro-chemical farmers are different. They have a blind faith that what
they call SCIENCE is going to continue to work for them and they cling
to this system like a shipwrecked sailor to a piece of driftwood.
Faith in that kind of "SCIENCE" is
faith in MAN. Most of us have exercised a wrong kind of faith in man
and his SCIENTIFIC achievements. These are often distinctly
UN-SCIENTIFIC -- seeking merely to short-circuit the laws of God and
protect man from self-induced penalties. We can all be sure that apart
from God --MAN WILL NEVER SOLVE HIS PROBLEMS!
By contrast, if we closely observe
our environment and learn to work with it, we can have absolute FAITH
that all life on this planet can be blessed and supported by an orderly
system based on LAW.
We shouldn't need reminding that
man has been stumbling around in environmental blindness for thousands
of years, creating deserts, disease and destruction. You above all
people, know what man has done and is doing to his environment.
This is where we come back to the
subject of recapturing OLD values. It is not man's eternal striving
after some elusive NEW concept that will solve his problems. What is
needed is a return to TRUE values, upon which man has in the past
turned his back. He has in fact lost his way and is unable to pinpoint
himself without the guidance of God's Word.
A nose and a mouthful of water in
our first swimming lesson soon teaches us about asphyxiation. A couple
of falls down a flight of stairs is sufficient to impress the law of
gravity on us. Man likewise accepts the laws of thermo- and
aerodynamics, and a huge package of laws poised ready to kill any one
of us the instant we deliberately disobey, or even FORGET them. They do
not leave man a tear-ridden quivering mental wreck. Neither do they
cause us to become depressed and frustrated. On the contrary, they are
a great comfort -- reassuring us that we can be guaranteed protection
every single time we obey them.
Why is it then that man does not
feel the same way about the laws of environmental management? It is
because we think we can get away with ecological law-breaking. That's
why men keep talking about seeking a NEW ECOLOGICAL TECHNOLOGY, NEW
CONCEPTS, NEW VALUES etc. Anything rather than obey God's LAW!! We need
to pierce through all this glib talk about abandoning "OLD" values for
"NEW".
This is not the first time in human
history that man has brought this planet to the brink of environmental
collapse and we know what happened last time! Man is now having his
second chance and today we are back at the edge of the ecological
abyss. We are so precariously close that many are expressing real fear
of environmental catastrophe!
Man goes on breaking environmental
laws (which includes agriculture) because the penalties are not
speedily executed! Now, as more of these penalties ARE finally coming
upon us, men are feverishly holding CONFERENCES, SEMINARS and SYMPOSIA
in search of solutions. But as long as they reject the law of God as
the foundation of man's environment, they will NEVER solve our problems!
Man's eternal searching for
something NEW, as the solution to his problems is a sterile, hybrid
cross between Satanic and self-deception.
The first positive step for mankind
is to prove God's existence. That is now unnecessary for this
readership, but we still need a regular reminder of the greatness of
God's creation and of our own insignificance. Seeing ourselves in true
perspective as part of the total environment is what TRUE ECOLOGY is
all about!
That's what makes the motto --
RE-CAPTURE TRUE VALUES -- so appropriate to this subject. "TRUE VALUES"
are not "NEW". They are OLD -- as OLD as the laws of gravity, sound and
electricity.
There is no other way for us to
focus the grave dangers confronting man. We, above all people must
never lose sight of this, because we know that mankind is deceived and
that he will choose to remain ignorant of the ecological laws governing
the quality of life and even survival! It is up to each one of us to
study in detail and work at keeping ALL the laws affecting our human
environment -- but are we??
In a world filled with confusion, there is only ONE source to which we can turn!
The Bible -- Man's Only Hope
In a recent interview for the October 1973 issue of "The Soil Association Journal", Dr. Schumacher was asked:
"Where for our entire man-made world problem, is there one unravelling point?"
The "WORLD PROBLEM" being
"MAN-MADE" is good phrasing of the question. The world is not
"MAN-MADE", but its problems certainly ARE! Dr. Schumacher replied by
saying that SOIL is in his opinion the "UNRAVELLING POINT".
PERHAPS WE NEED NOT DISAGREE WITH
HIM, BUT WE WOULD GO EVEN DEEPER. THE "WORLD PROBLEM" is MAN himself!
Physically, there is no better way than to work up through the soil as
a means of correcting our environmental mistakes, but the basis of the
"WORLD PROBLEM" is NOT PHYSICAL! It is SPIRITUAL!!
The real "UNRAVELLING POINT" lies
in the closest scrutiny of our Creator's instruction manual -- the
BIBLE. It is the one source that makes an effective claim to be the
instruction book man must have. Ecologically, many of us have not
thought of it in these terms before, but it is the foundational written
source of ALL environmental management!
Perhaps the following questions and
answers will more readily convince you of this. Ask yourself -- would
mankind as a whole, ever discover:
A. THAT INDISCRIMINATE
CROSS-BREEDING OF PLANTS, ANIMALS AND MEN IS WRONG (Lev. 19:19. Gen.
6:1-9)? Answer -- No! Proof --this practice is becoming more widespread
than at any time since the days of Noah!
B. THAT FOOD PRODUCTION FROM PIGS,
HORSES, RABBITS, SNAILS AND LOBSTERS IS WRONG (Lev. 11, Deut. 14)?
Answer -- No! Proof --after thousands of years man is still producing
these foods for human consumption, the Bible and the Jews
notwithstanding!
C. THAT CONTINUOUS
GRAIN-MONOCULTURE IS WRONG (Lev. 25)? Answer -- No! Proof -- it is the
commonest form of grain production in an age when technology makes it
easier than ever to diversify our agriculture.
D. THAT MAN SHOULD NOT WORK ON THE
SEVENTH DAY, EVEN IN THE MIDDLE OF HIS HARVEST (Ex. 34:21)? Answer --
No! Proof -- men everywhere still do it, in spite of the fact that
mechanization enables them to do seasonal work faster than ever before.
E. THAT WE SHOULD GIVE GOD THE
FIRST TENTH OF ALL OUR INCREASE EVERY YEAR (Lev. 27:30)? Again, the
answer is No! Proof -- mankind couldn't even discover God himself,
unless he is revealed to us (John 6:44).
F. THAT SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH
ESTABLISHMENTS, EXPERIMENTAL STATIONS, INSTITUTES AND UNIVERSITY
SCHOOLS OF AGRICULTURE WILL NEVER SOLVE THIS WORLD'S PROBLEMS? The
answer is No! Proof -- our Creator states that in the last days men
would be ever learning and yet NEVER able to come to the knowledge of
the truth (II Tim. 3:1,7). Elsewhere a much stronger statement is made
concerning man's relationship with his environment and with God (Rom.
1:18,22)!
Are you Living it -- NOW?
It is too bad that we are all so
limited in our knowledge of God's intricate and awesome creation. But
what is worse is that we sometimes choose to remain in that condition!
So many city-born are almost
completely cut off from any appreciation of what God's environment is
all about. Even those of us born to the land often fail to understand
that real effort is required of us in actively seeking God's way in ALL
aspects of our lives. Some even imagine it is a facet of life not to be
bothered with until after the MILLENNIUM begins! God says:
"If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land" (Isa 1:19).
That was written to ancient Judah
and to us today, so perhaps we should all examine ourselves to see just
how "WILLING" we have been to search God's Word for understanding and
how "WILLING" we are to diligently apply it. How else can we really
expect to "EAT THE GOOD OF THE LAND"?
"DILIGENTLY" is the way God says we
are to hearken to his law (Deut. 28:1). That in no way excludes the
laws of ecology and ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT. And by no stretch of the
imagination can WILLINGNESS and DILIGENCE be linked with an attitude of
waiting it out until the millennium begins!
That natural human desire may have
some appeal, if we lack understanding, because then the problems will
all belong to someone else. They will be the humans -- we will be
spirit beings -- won't we?
Let's not be too sure of that. Our
millennium is NOW and if we don't strive to live it, who is going to
qualify to guide the global re-establishment of God's way on this earth
and WHEN? Christ revealed to John:
"I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be" (Rev. 22:12).
Peter wrote of the Father:
"Who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work" (I Pet. 1:17).
Read
what the Apostle Paul says about our "work" in I Cor. 3:13-15! In the
above references the Greek for "work" comes from "ergo" (to toil). Of
course we are to "toil" at becoming perfect beings in our marriage,
child-rearing, labour relationships etc., but if our "toil" involves
agriculture and part of God's natural environment, we had better do it
correctly too!
Do you believe that? Are you 100%
convinced that Satan is the controlling influence over this world's
system of food production and environmental management (Rev. 12:9) or
do you have certain reservations? Are you so lightly grounded in God's
law that you believe it will work only in theory and that in practice
we must compromise and do something different?
We must strive to reach the point
where regardless of any of our own short-comings, or those of any
agricultural employees of Ambassador College -- each of us knows that
the system of this world is doomed to failure! We must recognize that
it rubs off on us daily, that it is specifically designed to ATTRACT
us, to DECEIVE us and to cause us to FALL FOR IT and furthermore, to
turn our back on God's way!
Agriculturally, most of us have not
yet come to this realization and until we do, we are prime targets, in
fact a PUSH-OVER for any scientist, agricultural advisor, or salesman
that gets his foot in the door!! (II Cor. 11:3). It seems that if each
of us is not constantly ON GUARD Satan can sweep away in minutes that
which it has taken months to implant in the mind (Luke 8:12).
What does this mean as far as the individual farmer is concerned?
As Paul said:
"Study
to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be
ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth" (II Tim. 2:15).
Isaiah 28:9-13 and II Peter 3:16-18
remind us that we must not expect all the information to leap out at us
once we open some key page in the Bible. As the Bible states -- it is a
matter of HERE A LITTLE, THERE A LITTLE!
Paul could have been writing on God's laws of environmental management when he stated:
"That which may be known of God is manifest to them; for God hath shewed it unto them.
"For
the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly
seen, being understood by the things that are made" (Rom. 1:19, 20).
A thousand years earlier God
inspired David to write that the whole universe declares his glory. He
says that it is as if every day and every night is imparting knowledge
to us, regardless of what language we understand (Psa. 19:1-3).
This can happen only if we are
watching and studying our environment, in conjunction with God's Word
and with the help of his Holy Spirit (I Cor. 2:14-16).
Job, approximately one thousand years before King David, also referred to our need to study God's creation for knowledge:
"Ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee, and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee.
"Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee; and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee.
"Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the Lord hath wrought this?" (Job 12:7-9).
It is easy to talk, or write about
STUDYING God's law and his creation, but DOING IT is often quite
another matter! As a rule, farmers don't GO MUCH for this type of
thing, often using the excuse that they are "PRACTICAL MEN" and just
"TOO BUSY". Such talk is absolute RUBBISH -- and dangerously suicidal
RUBBISH at that!!
Who will be the first farmer to
step forward and claim that he is busier than King David was, ruling
over the nation of Israel and fighting off its enemies?
Yet David wrote that he loved God's
law and that it was his meditation all the day (Psa. 119:97). Do we
have that attitude, or are we TOO BUSY?
David said:
"Teach
me, O Lord, the way of thy statutes; and I shall keep it unto the end:
Give understanding, and I shall keep thy law; yea, I shall observe it
with my whole heart" (Psa. 119:33, 34).
Do we have any reason for lack of
personal effort that would be valid in God's sight, or is God going to
have to prod us into action? He WILL! And when he does, let's hope our
reaction is as good as David's. Apparently God had to prod him, because
he tells us:
"Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word.
"It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes" (Psa. 119:67, 71).
It is much less painful to move
without God's prodding, but at least it brought the value of God's law
sharply into focus for David, because he then said:
"The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver" (Psa.119:72).
It will take "STUDY" and perhaps a little "AFFLICTION" to produce in us a knowledge and an actual love of God's law.
Next, we need the wisdom to apply
it. But, where shall "WISDOM" be found? God asks this question and
gives us the answer in Job 28:12-28 and James 1:5. Part of the wisdom
any farmer will need to exercise concerns the rate at which he attempts
to make any major changes in his agricultural methods.
It cannot be emphasized too
strongly that the speed of these changes should be directly related to
the individual's experience in working with the natural system of
organic agriculture. Failure to adhere strictly to this principle will
inevitably result in disappointment, perhaps frustration and even
severe financial losses. This produces a "TURNED-OFF" reaction in the
people concerned and they are very reluctant to TURN-ON again!
It should be emphasized however,
that lack of experience should never be used as an excuse for lack of
ZEAL. Any man can quickly and enthusiastically launch into his own
experimental pilot project.
This should be big enough to
provide the operator with the necessary practical experience and yet
small enough to avoid financial distress, in the event of failure. How
big is "BIG ENOUGH"? That will vary according to farm size and
financial stability. It can mean setting aside a small garden bed in
your vegetable area, or a few trees in your orchard, one or two cows in
your herd of 50 to 100 cattle, or an acre or two if you have a few
hundred acres under grain, or pasture.
In addition to this, one should
embark on a re-education programme from secular material. There is
quite a lot available on organic agriculture and we can guide you in
your selection.
You are already far advanced in
your spiritual re-education. This may have taken years and it will
continue throughout this life. There is absolutely no reason why we
should imagine that the process of acquiring KNOWLEDGE, UNDERSTANDING
and WISDOM relative to God's laws of environmental management and
ecology is any different!
Go God's Way, Not Man's
Don't allow yourself the possibility of being lumped in with the present society by God. It is sick and far-gone!
In Psalms 65, God inspired his servant David to write the following on man's environment:
"Thou
visitest the earth, and waterest it: thou greatly enrichest it with the
river of God, which is full of water: thou preparest them corn, when
thou hast so provided for it.
"Thou
waterest the ridges thereof abundantly: thou settlest the furrows
thereof: thou meekest it soft with showers: thou blessest the springing
thereof.
"Thou crownest the year with thy goodness; and thy paths drop fatness.
"They drop upon the pastures of the wilderness: and the little hills rejoice on every side.
"The
pastures are clothed with flocks: the valleys also are covered over
with corn; they shout for joy, they also sing" (Psa. 65:9-13).
Our society is so far gone today
that one of its modern scribes would probably re-write the above verses
along the following lines:
9. You need not visit the earth, we
will water it from our concrete reservoirs and our rapidly falling
water-table. We will greatly enrich it from our rivers, polluted with
fertilizers, slurry and industrial waste.
We will prepare our own corn when
our plant breeders, seed merchants, fertilizer salesmen, machinery
agents and bank managers provide for it!
10. We will water the ridges
abundantly by seeding the clouds with silver iodide, or through our new
non-clogging trickle irrigation. If this settlest not the furrows, our
giant mechanical sod-busters and our 130 hp tractors will!
11. We crowneth the year with unparalleled disease epidemics and our paths are strewn with low-protein grain.
12. 450 units of nitrogen will we
drop upon the pastures of our wilderness -- in three strategic
applications! And the little hills erode on every side into the bottom
of our costly dams.
13. Our pastures we clothe with
straight-ryegrass and artificially inseminated crossbred stock. Our
valleys also are covered over with hybrid corn. And they are far too
depleted of natural fertility to either shout for joy or even sing!
Don't deceive yourself that it
doesn't really matter how we manage our soil, plants and animals in
this age. If we don't have an INTIMATE CONTACT WITH THE EARTH, we are
the poorer for it. If we do, then let's make the most of a wonderful
opportunity and begin receiving more of the natural blessings God
intended from the beginning!
