Sunday, June 29, 2014

Does G-d Use Debt?

I personally don't think G-d calls us to something that requires us to be indebted.  I do believe He allows debt, though.  I was determined to be debt free by the age of 40.  Interest rates weren't bad then, so when one of my daughters needed a different car, we did some rearranging, and I ended up "sort of" selling her my car . . . and buying myself a different car.  The interest rate on the loan was actually lower than the interest rate I was earning on my CDs, so I went ahead with the loan, knowing the money was, literally, in the bank.  I tried to convince myself, it was an investment in interest, rather than debt, but I wasn't very convincing.

If I had it to do over again, I wouldn't . . . for a number of reasons.  So, G-d did allow me to learn from that loan.  I made five or six payments and just paid it off instead of carrying the loan.  Even with the money in the bank, a payment just felt like a burden.  The fractional difference in the interest rate wasn't worth it to me.  I'm usually pretty savvy when it comes to figuring and investing, but money isn't really a priority.  I don't want money to be a priority.  I don't want to waste it, and I want to invest wisely, but it's only a tool for my real priorities.

One of those priorities has been to establish a place for remnant believers to live and share in a simple community setting.  Hopefully I'll be fully off grid before "they" take the grid, but until then, I am making plans that folks won't have to go in debt to live off the land.  When YHWH first began leading me to this plan, I didn't live in this area, but I heard Him specifically, when I was on a ministry trip in the Ozarks.  I frequently think of what I heard that week-end, and smile as I consider how truly clueless I was when I first heard Him speak of this.

As the worldly economies merge into one, the buying and selling will eventually become a matter of of eternal consequence.  I truly believe it's becoming very risky to consider debt.  The book of Proverbs contains a very clear statement regarding debt.   The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.  22:7  As the economy becomes global, we have no idea whose hands will hold the mortgages.  The vision I've seen and shared with some, I'm sharing now sharing here.  My home, the Tabernacle, the garden spots, the orchard, an the milking parlor are centrally located on the land.  The chicken houses are just beyond that to the south and to the west.  Blackberries line the lane to the north, and part of the west boundary, with fruit trees having been planted on the west boundary as well.  There are four fenced pastures on the place, four pens, a pond, and a vineyard is planned for the south boundary.

It's taken some time to develop this, because it's been done without debt.  Fences aren't cheap, and neither are out buildings, although I did get a real bargain on goat sheds.  For those who are called to be a part of this, it will only be a matter of obtaining some sort of shelter, running a water line from the well, and sharing the electricity and internet service costs, while we have them.  I know there are several of these being organized throughout the country, already.  It is my belief, that this will be the remnant's alternative to "smart cities."

I've included a link to a video one of our steadfast contributors made a few months ago on this same subject.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyF3faeS9JE

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