No Free Ride
The header image above shows some soldiers in training carrying a “dummy” on a stretcher for simulated weight of a real human. This image however can also be used to illustrate the effects of “socialism” where there are many “dummies” trying to ride the stretcher and few people left to carry it.
The same thing can occur with a national economy if there are more “freeloaders” wanting a “free-ride” than there are working citizens left to pay for them. The stretcher is intended for wounded or those who are disabled who cannot carry their own weight (not for those who have full-use of their physical bodies but are too lazy to work). When there are enough freeloaders to provide a minimum of a 51% majority vote for national elections then any country be brought into complete ruination with just a single bad election that places a socialist leader into power.
Principle of Creator/Producer
Genesis 1:26-27 (NIV)
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
When God created humans, he made them in his own image as both male and female (one-complete person) joined together in marriage. God is a creator and so mankind has been given the same ability to create as God has because they were made in the image of God. This means that if they want something like food or products or a better way of life then they have to create these things by labor.
Genesis 1:28 (NKJV)
28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
God also gave mankind dominion over everything that he had made upon the earth and put mankind in charge over all of his creation.
Genesis 1:29-30 (NIV)
29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.
30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground–everything that has the breath of life in it–I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.
All life starts from plant life because even the animals derive the food from the plants and carnivores derive their food from eating herbivores and humans can eat both plants and animals.
Work of Creation
Genesis 2:1-3 (NIV)
1 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.
2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.
3 And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
On the seventh day God rested from all of his “work” which he preformed in creating the universe and all things within it and all creation of God. God created something out of nothing and this required work of creation.
In the same way humans have to do the same thing because nothing good comes to them without work. A pioneer will go to a wild and remote place and clear the land of brush and trees and till the soil to create a farm. All of that requires labor because nothing good is going to spring out of the ground by itself.
Curse of Adam
Genesis 3:17-19 (NIV)
17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat of it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”
The curse of Adam caused the earth to be cursed so that the only thing that will come up by itself are things like noxious weeds and thorns and thistles which cannot be eaten. Men have to toil in order to cause the land to produce food. They have to produce a living by the sweat of their brow by their own labor.
A farmer has to plow and plant and cultivate and harvest before he can receive a crop. Those in government administration and police and military all receive their wages by taxes paid by producing citizens. When the people give tithes and offerings to the Lord then God gives these as wages to the Levites who work full-time teaching God’s word to the people. Everyone has to labor for a living whether it be a farmer growing food or a rancher raising livestock or a businessman doing business or a workman laboring for wages or government doing administration or police and military doing protection. Together they labor for a living just as God labored in creating the universe and all visible creation.
Humans Create just as God also Creates
Nothing good comes except someone grew it or manufactured it or built it or created it in some way like a businessman who creates a new enterprise that generates wealth. If people want food they have to grow that food or earn wages to buy it from someone else who grew that food for them.
This is a principle that is important to teach children from the earliest age of comprehension all the way through college level education. They should know from childhood that nobody gets anything for free. If they want food, they have to grow it and if they want something, they have to make it. They must creators just as God was a creator in the beginning. Humans are to continue to behave as God and continue to create and build and plant and grow and create all things that pertain to an advanced society of comfort and prosperity. These things go not create themselves but they are a product of an economic system of millions of productive people growing food and manufacturing products and creating wealth and building homes and creating cities. Working together is much more productive than a single family working alone to survive.
By the Sweat of Your Brow
Genesis 3:19 (NIV)
19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”
The sweat of his brow speaks of the curse of Adam which is still in effect upon the earth. All men are to work for a living and produce a living by the sweat of their brow working with their hands to produce an honest living. This applies to all laymen and also includes those involved in governing who draw wages from taxes for their work of administration. The Levite is not allowed to labor by sweat of brow in agriculture or business or secular jobs but he does labor like the oxen treading out the grain of God’s word to teach the people. He draws his wages from the tithes and offerings given to the Lord by the people then the Lord grants these as wages to the Levite who teaches God’s word.
So, all men both laymen and Levite have to work and this also includes those who govern or whose income comes from tax revenues to do their job of administration or protection of citizens.
Proverbs 20:4 (NLT2)
4 Those too lazy to plow in the right season will have no food at the harvest.
This is also a biblical principle that if someone is too lazy to work then they should also not eat because they will have no food at harvest time. This speaks of seedtime and harvest and men have to plow and plant in season so that they will have food during the season of harvest. It is their choice to follow the principles of seedtime and harvest. If they do not do their part, they will have no harvest. So, humans can determine their own harvest by following these biblical principles which are actually principles of nature.
Curse by Default
The principle of seedtime and harvest also operates as a “curse” by default because thorns and thistles and weeds will produce seeds and sprout without having anyone planting them. If the farmer does not stop the seeds of these noxious weeds they will come up and spoil his crops. The reverse therefore is also true to stop a bad harvest of weeds the farmer has to stop the seed-cycle of the weeds so they do not multiply. If he is passive with this then his fields will be choked out by weeds and nothing will grow whatsoever.
2 Thessalonians 3:10 (NIV)
10 For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “If a man will not work, he shall not eat.”
This principle also carries over under the New Testament era which says that if someone will not work, they should also not eat either. There were to be no freeloaders trying to get something for nothing. Everyone is to work including governors and administrators and law enforcement and military who are paid by tax revenues and also Levites who are paid by God from the tithes and offerings given to the Lord. Everyone is to work and if they do not do anything to produce food to eat or create wages, they will go hungry.
Training Children to become Producers
Children are to be trained to be producers and should be taught these same principles at the earliest possible age. Many different illustrations can be used to teach children that if want food they are to plant seed for a future harvest. If they want money, they have to earn wages or start a wealth-generating business to make money. But nothing will come to them free in life without them becoming “creators” and producing a living by the sweat of their own brow. God worked to create the universe and then rested on the seventh day from his labor. It stands to reason that humans are created in the image of God “the creator” and they are to work and labor to become creators themselves.
If humans take dominion over the earth, they will build dams and roads and bridges and cities and clear the land of brush and thorns and plant it to crops. This is all part of the labor of being a “creator” and men exercising their God-given dominion on the earth to take dominion over poverty and lack and built advanced societies and create great abundance of food and products to make a comfortable and prosperous life for all humanity.
Teaching these principles to our children from the youngest age will help them to learn what is expected of them as humans who are created in the image of God to be creators and to exercise dominion upon the earth!
Retirement and Seedtime and Harvest
In order for someone to have food in the future they have to first labor during the season for plowing and planting so that they will have food produced for the harvest season. The same application can also be made for retirement because if people do not prepare for savings in their prime years then they will have nothing during their retirement years.
Retirement Destroyed by Currency Devaluation
At one time it was said that if someone placed only $100.00 USD in an account for their child on the day of their birth then they would have a good retirement savings by age-65 based upon increase caused by compounding interest. But if that person was living in a country which lost their election to a socialist then their entire life savings for retirement could be rendered useless by currency devaluation. This is a situation where their future and their own financial fate is in the hands of others and there is no certainty whatsoever in keeping their retirement in fiat currency.
Creating Their Own Financial Security
I often repeat the true story of Matt Ruhl and his real estate club which allowed him to pool resources together with other workers at his place of employment. This enabled them to purchase rental houses for cash and the savings they had by not borrowing money from the banks allowed them to prosper quickly. They more houses they purchased the more rental income they received until this caused a snowball effect which allowed them to buy more real estate. Soon everyone had enough shares of rental income in the club to provide each of them with enough income for their own retirement.
This is an illustration of creating their own future retirement using assets of physical value such as real estate. But the same principle can be accomplished with any type of producing-asset such as a ranch or farm or even a business or service industry which is capable of generating wealth.
It is always a good thing if employees also stand in the role of investors for their own business. In this manner their own labor is producing something for them for their own future retirement.
In the real estate club of Matt Ruhl the members were able to achieve financial security much faster as a group than if they attempted to do the same thing on their own. This is true for any type of endeavor because humans are producers and capable of creating just like their Father God who created the universe during his six days of labor and rested on the seventh day. As long as every member in the group is a producer then they can produce all of the income that they need for their own future retirement. In the case of real estate however they could produce more with the increased number of rental houses that they purchased. This is why the plan worked better because the more members that they had meant that they could also purchase more houses by increased member investments. Members working together as a group can create or produce financial security for everyone within their group.