Skip to content ReVersed - Chapter 43 - Big AG, Agrarianism, Food Security, and the Food Chain Jun 10 · 17 min ...more
Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
Support this leader
Liking this video? Support this ministry.
Give
Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
13.5K followers
Dr. Jim Garlow is a lifelong pastor who most recently served in San Diego, California, and now leads Well Versed, a ministry dedicated to bringing biblical
13.5K followers
Comments No comments yet. Start the conversation.
God's Stewardship of the Land and Biblical Agrarianism 0:10 Well, we welcome you to chapter 43. We're still walking through this book, reversed from culturally woke to biblically awake. We're so glad you're a part of this video series. Chapter 430:22 is titled Big Ag, Agrarianism, Food Security, and the Food Chain. Does it make you feel particularly secure in terms of food security0:34 to know that, on average, your food has to travel 1500 miles to get to you. Is that a concern to you? I0:46 think it really ought to be. Are we concerned with what's called agribusiness? By that, I mean, the farms are getting absolutely enormous, gargantuan size. Is that a concern? Should that be a0:58 concern? I recently had the joy of interviewing, meeting for the first time, Joe Sullivan. Joe Sullivan goes by the name the lunatic farmer. That's what he calls himself.1:10 And he has a incredible teaching on God's love for the soil, God's care for the soil, and why the land matters so much to God. We're gonna be talking about that a couple1:22 different times during this particular video clip. The beginning of farming goes all the way back to Genesis chapter chapter 31 when God took a look at his creation, and he says, boy, that's very good.1:34 And then he said, now I want you, humans, I want you to have dominion. I want you to steward it. The word dominion there, we've said several times before. The word dominion means to1:46 exercise stewardship. What is a steward? A steward is overseeing something that is not theirs, belongs to somebody else, so you watch over it carefully. If I drive my car, I'm gonna drive my car1:57 carefully. But if I'm driving your car and I'm the steward of your car, I'll drive extra carefully. Why? Because I don't own it. You own it, and I'm stewarding it for you. Well, we're to2:09 steward this planet. We're to steward the soil. The soil is, considered very important. You think of king Ahab in the Old Testament taking Naboth's vineyard. The land2:21 there's something about the land in the scripture, that God values the land. Just think of how often he talks about the land. This is so important. Even even God chose a piece of the land,2:33 and he calls that Israel. And he cares deeply about that piece of the land, but the earth itself. When when God speaks of the soil or speaks of the earth, there there there's an element of reverence we ought to2:45 have for this thing called the earth that we enjoy. Joe Sullivan even an article that was written about him, and the article was written about his his agricultural2:57 concepts, and it was titled Christianizing the Land. I really like that. Christianizing the Land. It's the understanding that here's the creator who we worship, and he created the3:09 creation. And we're very respectful of the creation because of our passionate love for the creator. There's a term, agrarianism. What does that mean? It3:20 generally has the meaning of the sustaining of the soil, respect for the soil, love for the soil, small small farms.3:32 Not all it is massive agribusiness, but the capacity of small family farms. Isaiah chapter 5 verse 8. It's a fascinating verse. It3:44 says, woe to those who join house to house, who had field to field, until there's no more room, and you are made to dwell alone in the midst of the land. It could be making the case3:56 for agrarianism for the small family farm as we know about it. Now I wanna read a statement here. This is by Wendell Berry, an agrarian and a poet. He said this,4:08 agrarians value land. If you have no land, you have nothing. You have no food, no shelter, no warmth, no freedom, no life. People who have been landless know4:20 that the land is invaluable. It is worth everything. I've watched something I grew up on the farm, and I've watched something happen over the years that I I don't know4:32 if it's all altogether good. When when I was young, the farms were relatively small. Way back in the day, if you think back, after the civil4:44 war period, they talked about 40 acres and a mule. In words, you could support a family. The mule would be the the tractor, the horsepower, so to speak. And, and then 40 acres. And4:56 then you have, what, an 80 acre parcel. And 2 eighties together is a is 160. That's a quarter section. Now a family could live on a a quarter section, 160 acres, and probably make it5:08 when I was when I was young, when I was just when I was born. But then farms became obviously bigger than that. The mechanization of agriculture with the tractors and and when tractors though,5:20 tractors have been around for a long time, the fact is they really were not widespread available to to a lot of farmers, all farmers, until, the the decade prior to my own5:31 birth. I can actually remember in the barn, the old harnesses, all the horse equipment used to be there. It's just leftover hanging there, not used obviously anymore when I was a child, but it had been used not all5:43 that many years. I'm old enough to actually remember a couple occasions when when they were picking corn and, used a team of horses. So the point is that the5:55 mechanization, the tractors that came in, that mainly were smaller initially except for the big steam engines. This was something that really changed agriculture, and you could farm more than a quarter of land6:07 at that particular time. And when we as a child, we had a 2 row corn planter that was mechanized, and that was a big deal. I remember when we went to 4 row. It's a big deal6:19 when people went to 6 row and 8. And and now they have planters that are 48 rows at a time. We had a combine header, the the header on the machine, the platform, what they called it. It would, cut6:31 a 12 foot swath through the field. That was really large. That was a big deal when I was a child. Now they've got combines with headers that are 40 foot and more6:43 across. So agriculture has changed dramatically. A tractor, you could buy a Ford small Ford tractor when I was a kid for several thousand dollars. Now a tractor could be close approaching 10000006:55 dollars, or a combine could be approaching 1000003 quarters of 1000000 dollars, for example. So it's changed dramatically. Now around the farm area where I grew up, there were there were every7:07 every short distance was house and barn, chicken house, and grain bins, and a lot of trees. So it was called a farmstead. But as we expanded the7:19 farms, even the farms that my dad built, the houses weren't used anymore. The barns weren't used anymore. And the house would be moved away or burned down, bulldozed down. And so that what7:30 field once had a farmstead on it, now it's just an open field as farmers expanded very, very quickly. So 1000 acres was not uncommon when by the time I left the farm, dad was7:42 farming. And my cousin who farms that area, 5000 acres not uncommon. And now you see the picture. What happens is disappearing are all these farmsteads. So I go back home and visit, which I do pretty often. I7:54 drive the dirt roads, and I don't hardly recognize certain areas because all the landmarks, the the barns and the houses and the trees, they're gone. Why? Because the farms have8:06 expanded enormously during this this time. And what's at stake is not only the expansion of farms. I don't object to large family farms. My concern is with corporation8:18 farms, and we'll get to that in a little bit. But then you look over in what's happening in Netherlands, for example, where the government is now wanting to take from the farmers their land and placing demands8:30 upon them and and literally taking control of the land as part of the reason for the farmers' protest that has occurred across Europe. The the cost of diesel fuel, the cost of nitrogen, the cost of fertilizer.8:42 And in some countries like Ireland, for example, demanding that the cowherds be reduced in in 1 half. And and the result is government when government takes over the land,8:54 then we have the stage is set for a Stalinistic moment. What happened during the time of of Stalin? There was a Ukrainian word. The Ukrainian word is holodomar.9:07 What's holodomar? What does that mean? That's murder by starvation. When literally the government took control of the land from 19 32 to 19 33, a man made famine9:19 created by Joseph Stalin, when he eat loss of pop private ownership and imposition of government ownership on the land. It caused the deaths of 3.99:31 Ukrainians at that point. So the concern here is the control. What are we witnessing nationally and internationally regarding the issue of9:43 control? Supposedly, the demands, for example, in Ireland to get rid of the cows, half the cow herd, is because of global warming, supposedly, according9:55 to the World Economic Forum, according to the United Nations. And then you have purposes like Bill Bill Gates, who's bought up 1000000000 dollars worth of land. Then you have China buying up land, next to our even our10:05 military complexes. So the issue of private property is extremely important. It's valued in the Bible. The issue of private property is very strong principle in in the Bible. That'sFarm Evolution and Global Land Grab Threats 10:17 why we have, for example, on the commandments, thou shalt not steal. The implication is you can privately own certain things. Let me read to you, if I can, from page 3 58.10:29 And this this is disturbing, but I I want you to hear it read. And if you have your have your book, turn to 3 58. We all know that private property10:41 owners are best suited to protect and care for their own land. Not so, say the radical globalist. The 30 by 30 program is the name of a massive land grab10:53 and international agenda advanced by radical environmental activists to permanently, quote, protect, that means confiscate, confiscate 30 percent of the11:05 world's land and oceans in their natural state in 20 13 going by 20 30. Now catch this again. Get 30 percent of the world's land11:17 by 20 30. The program in America was initiated by the Biden administration through executive order 14008, titled11:28 tackling the climate crisis at home and abroad, signed January the 20 seventh 20 21. To be clear, these these globalists do not want just any 3011:40 percent of the land. They want the most protective part of the land of our world. Should you be concerned about this? The answer is absolutely yes. I11:52 have a friend who builds his particular ministry and is teaching around Genesis chapter 2 15. And he says that God established food production and stewardship of creation. It's the12:04 foundation of God's economy, because without food, there is no kingdom. Now what can you do? Well, first of all, become aware of these kind of issues. Become aware12:16 of the government attempting to confiscate land. Be aware what the European farmers are facing. Notice who controls the land controls everything. God values12:27 the land. He cares about the land. Become aware of this. You can become a little bit of a mini m I n I, mini farmer yourself. Tower gardens and planter boxes,12:39 and there there's ways that you can grow certain things, for yourself. Supporting small truck farms nearby is something good. There's a statement that I borrow from somebody else that's in my book here, and it12:51 says, eating fresh produce from the pharmacy, Pharmacy, in this case, is spelled f a r m. Eating is, fresh produce from the pharmacy will likely13:03 reduce your trips to the pharmacy, p h a r. I think you get what I'm saying there. And understand that when God talks about the word salvation in the Bible, and when God13:15 has the word salvation in the Bible, salvific, what does that mean? It means the salvation of all things. It means the restoring of all things. Means restoring of this earth. God values this earth. He values the land.13:26 He cares deeply about the soil. I grew up on a farm, and, my dad gave me a love for the, for the soil. I care deeply about the soil. And we13:38 would do all kinds of things to protect the soil, to treat this earth properly. And, no, we were just stewards of it. God ultimately owned it. We're only here for a short time. We take care of it while we're13:50 here. We would do crop rotation. We would build terraces and waterways. Some of you know what that is. We would provide ground cover. We would plant shelterbelts to keep from wind14:02 erosion. Why does this matter? Well, let me just take you to Israel for a moment. You go to Israel. I remember the first time my my dad and our family went over there was 19 81, and my dad was just shocked at all the14:13 rocks and huge stones, massive stones in the soil. He says, how do you? You can't plow this? And, of course, you you you you can't. Now it's still fertile soil. What was left there? But it was very challenging. Oh, what14:25 had happened to it? The abuse by the Arabs for several thousand years, wind erosion and water erosion had wiped away 15 feet of the topsoil. We care deeply about14:37 the soil. We don't want to abuse this earth. This is a gift from God. We won't abuse something that he's given us. Now we have another reason for alarm. It's not just the fact your food is traveling on average14:48 1500 miles to get to you. That doesn't sound like food security, does it? But the average farmer in America is about 58 years of age. We have a problem in America, a15:00 serious problem. We have a generation of farmers that are on the very verge of retirement without enough young people, to take to take their particular place. I'm saying do all you15:12 can to support your local ranchers and your local family farms because remember, that food you get from them is what keeps the temple of the Holy15:24 Spirit alive. Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit and it will be kept alive only by the food that is grown on the very soil that God15:36 has given us as a profound gift. And we continue our journey moving from culturally woke to biblically awake.Control of Land: Historical Famines and Modern Agendas 15:46 Let us pray. Gracious God, thank you for the provision of food through farmers and agricultural workers. Thank you for the Earth's resources, for the innovations15:59 in agricultural technology. We pray for wise stewardship of the earth's resources by those in this industry and accountability within16:10 that agriculture and farm industry. Give wisdom and discernment to those making decisions on these policies and practices.16:22 Anoint our farmers, Lord, even as you put Adam and Eve in the garden to be its caretakers. Restore this anointing to those16:34 in the food industry and those cultivating the earth. We thank you for for them and we bless them. Enable them, father, to have your wisdom and guidance16:46 in Jesus' name. Amen.16:49 We hope you enjoyed the video. Thank you so much for watching. Don't forget to check out the discussion questions that are attached. Have a fun time studying, and we will see you in the next chapter.In this video 0:00 God's Stewardship of the Land and Biblical Agrarianism10:10 Farm Evolution and Global Land Grab Threats15:40 Control of Land: Historical Famines and Modern Agendas20:40 Soil Stewardship, Food Security, and Local Farms
Comments
Keep it kind. Comments are public.