WHAT IT MEANS TO BE POOR

A rich parent, wishing that his son learns what it means to lack the luxury he lived in, sent him to stay with farmers on their farm. The son spent three days and three nights on the farm.

Driving back to the city, the father enquired on his son’s experiences, to which the son replied that his stay was a positive one.

“Have you learnt anything”, asked the father.

“Oh yes”, replied the son -

We have one dog whilst they have four.

We have a swimming pool as large as our garden and full of chemically treated water.  They have a river with crystal clear water, full of various types of fish and fauna .

We use electricity to light up our garden;  they have the moon and the stars to brighten up their fields.

Our garden extends up to the boundary wall; their land up to the horizon

We buy our food; they grow it in their fields, harvest it and cook it.

Our music comes from CDs; their lives are brightened by a continuous symphony of  birds, crickets , animals and other sounds from nature, which, on occasion, is also accompanied by  the voices of neighbours working in the adjoining fields.

That we use microwaves and other modern appliances, but our food lacks the flavour of their food, which is cooked on a slow burning fire.

That to protect ourselves, we live behind walls and burglar alarms whilst they live with doors wide open and protected by their neighbours’ friendship.

That our lives are dependent on mobile phones, computers, television and theirs enriched by life, the sun and the sky, the land and their livestock, and their families

The father was utterly stunned by his son’s reflections. His son then added:

“In a nutshell, thank you for showing me how poor we are.”

Indeed,  with every passing day we tend to become poorer because we distance ourselves further from nature, God’s greatest gift to mankind.

We are more preoccupied with accumulating possessions and riches rather than enjoying this wonderful gift of nature and being thankful for being alive and well. 
Author Unknown

I sent the above story to some of my friends through email and hereunder follows what bro David replied back relating the story to the scriptures.

Dear Brethren,

Just to comprehend with Brother Joshua’s thought from his attachment; let me share by amplifying one of his points through making several references:

And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD and dwelt in the land of Nod on the East of Eden; And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch; and he build a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son,Enoch.

A new civilization, another kind of civilization, a perversion of the original   was coming in; from a Faith Civilization inGenesis 1 and 2 where Adam had dominion, from a Civilization of Innocence and Perfection when they walked in the sixth sense. Now another civilization is coming in, a Science Civilization.

From Cain generation we find that; ….and Adah bore Jabal: (means ‘leading or flowing like a wandering spirit)

He was the father of such that dwell in tents and of such as have cattle.

Now it didn’t say that they were building a housing development, it didn’t say they were building a home; It said that they were building a city. Cain built a city. We can have picture of cities today; in a systems, defense systems, and sewage systems, social and political systems. They have to have so much power plants, may be for lights and electricity and all these things in a city.

And Jabal, he was the father of such as with cattle;

He went into the pastoral life, the big farms; supply the entire city with beef and cattle and all the prime cuts. And may be he had a monopoly over all the restaurants and all the fast food outlets, all the groceries with the hamburger parties, sausages and everything. He went into the business, ranching, because they had to eat, city life.

And his brother’s name was Jubal and he was the father of all such as handled the harp and organ

Here they were now beginning to invent music. See? Today every city has music; not just every city has music alone, it has all kinds of music; even the people running in the street have walkmans on their heads. In the motor cars they have tape deck right there, in a little tavern they have the jukebox right there, in the homes they have the big stereo set right there, constantly. Because why? They need the music.

You see, back there in Eden when the elephant come with his trumpet and begins to blow and all the canaries and the different birds and the nightingales begins to sing, Adam had all the music he wanted. Adam had a great symphony back in Eden, playing for him. Amen.

When he got up in the morning and all the music started and you know, the canary begins to sing, play a little solo and then, may be a few parakeets will come and have a little quartet; then you hearing the elephant may be way down in the back with a big trumpet, you know, blowing out!

Everything to Adam was an inspiration around him; it was to serve him. He was god over it. He had a kingdom on earth, like God had one in heaven. Amen.  Because he was a god under God. He was god of the earth. God was God over everything else.

In winding up I wish that son in Brother Joshua’s fantastic thought had a privilege of having come to knowledge of the message for the hour brought from God through His humble servant Bro William Marrion Branham He could have explored exceedingly and abundantly richness beyond what he thought to that capacity.  Well, real definition of what it means to be poor could have found its health course. The Prophet taught us to study the book of Genesis as a seed form for every spirits in the world today, we can identify therein.

God bless you brethren and enjoy Brother Joshua’s attachment, supplementing with this brief preamble.

Stay blessed, Joshua