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and productive land fertile. How?
By resting the land-letting it líe
fallow-every seventh year (Lev.
25:1 -7). Soil will not be eroded or
mined out.
And God's law of elimination of
short-term debts every seventh year
(out of a fifty year jubilee time
cycle) will give debtors a chance to
start afresh. God will pour bless–
ings on those who forgive such
debts (Deut. 15).
And the year of jubilee, the 50th
year of the cycle, will be a time of
the most joyous occasion of al!. It's
when everyone who has had to sell
part or all of the family inheritance
can repossess it without cost (Lev.
25).
What wonderful ways to elimi–
nate perpetua! hopelessness, pover–
ty and dependency! What a happy
time for impoverished and landless
millions to look forward to! (We
could have it today if we would quit
our selfish, sinful ways!)
But there's even more good news!
Right agricultura! practices will pro–
duce ever more abundant crops.
"Behold, the days come, saith the
Lord, that the plowman shall over–
take the reaper, and the treader of
grapes him that ·soweth seed . . . and
they shall plant vineyards, and drink
the wine thereof; they shall also
make gardens, and eat the fruit of
them" (Amos 9: 13-14).
And yet another fantastic bless–
ing! God will control the weather to
back up his promised blessings for
obedience. " ... if thou shalt
hearken unto the voice of the Lord
thy God. The Lord shall open unto
thee his good treasure, the heaven
to give the rain unto thy land in his
season, and to bless
al/
the work of
thine hand ..." (Deut. 28:2, 12) .
No more will nations subject to
God's government suffer great nat–
ural disasters, such as floods, earth–
quakes and hurricanes. No more
will natural disasters wipe out great
segments of their economy and
ínflate the cost of remaining food
supplies and resources.
How much money are those
blessings worth to any nation 's
prosperity and stability? You can't
put a price tag on them!
But what about anyone who
would think to destroy one's crops
or property, or to rob, rape or
14
steal? That is all too common
today.
"Behold, a king will reign in
righteousness, and princes will rule
in justice. Each will be like a hiding
place from the wind.... The fool
will no more be called noble, nor
the knave [churl or ill-minded per–
son] said to be honorable" (lsa.
32:1, 2, 5, RSV).
No more will criminal gangs or
corrupt leaders terrorize a city or
be permitted to bleed critica] seg–
ments of national wealth for them–
selves.
Criminal and cornipt thoughts
will be discouraged by reeducation
before they become a habit of think–
ing in human minds. " . .. yet shall
not thy teachers be removed into a
corner any more, but thine eyes shall
see thy teachers [spirit members of
the God family manifested in human
form]: and thine ears shall hear a
word behind thee, saying, This is the
way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to
the right hand, and when ye turn to
the left" (Isa. 30:20-21 ).
True justice will reign at last.
"Violence shall no more be heard
in thy land, [nor] wasting nor
destruction within thy borders"
(lsa. 60:18).
Fair Taxati on
Under God's government, money,
at last, will have s'table and reliable
value. Great wealth will flow in to
God's throne on earth from all
nations to be used for the good of
others (Isa. 60: 17). Monetary sta–
bility will be further established
because it will be based on God's
everlasting, unchanging govern–
ment, and on God's enormous and
endless power to prosper the econo–
mies of obedient nations.
God's government will not exact
exorbitant and ever-increasing
taxes to pay for foolish projects or
deficit government spending.
God's tithing law (tithing means
tenth) on income will apply to all.
One income leve! will not be forced
to pay exorbitantly higher rates than
another. The labor of the diligent
will not be discouraged by being
taxed away, as it so often is today.
God's law reveals how the widow,
fatherless and needy should be local–
ly taken care of (Deut. 14:28-29).
The massive welfare state as we
know it today will not exist.
If
an
able man won't work, neither shall
he eat (11 Thess. 3:10).
But what about business and
social relationships?
God's law, the Ten Command–
ments, and God's Word, the
Bible- which amplifies the intent
of God's laws-will be the basic
guide of how humans ought to con–
duct al! social and business rela–
tionships. Nations won' t need end–
less and complicated bureaucracies,
regulations and laws to govern
every human action. Honesty,
truthfulness, fair prices, service and
safety will be expected in all busi–
ness and social relationships.
Trade among nations will exist.
But it won't be cutthroat competi–
tion. People will produce and sell
high quality goods at fair prices.
Business and smaller industry
will certainly exist. . "Beating
swords [war machinery] into plow–
shares" involves industrial capacity.
Production of toil-saving smaller
farm and other equipment will con–
tinue. But men and women won't
be slaves to sorne industrial assem–
bly line. Many individuals may
only work part-time to produce
such equipment.
Industries that do exist won't be
permitted to be giant polluters of the
environment. Whatever industrial
pollution exists will be controlled to
provide safeguards to workers and to
the environment-or those indus–
tries won't exist at all.
Tomorrow's world will use non–
polluting and natural energy
sources in an effective way. Totally
rebuilt communities and nations
will be able to begin anew from
such an energy base. A much more
agriculturally based world will not
need the vast quantities of oil that
are consumed today. Whatever
energy sources are used will be
environmentally safe.
1n all human production and
activity the emphasis will be on
quality,
not quantity or cheapness.
Lasting quality goods conserve
resources and energy over the long
run . Today's consume-quickly-and–
throw-away society will be no
more. Reuseable materials will be
recycled.
Human beings will be taught
(Continued on page 38)
The PLAIN TRUTH