Appeal to parents (family happiness / the most favorable environment).
Guard your children…
Let no temporary advantages tempt parents to neglect the education of their children. As soon as possible, it is the duty of parents to establish a home for their children in the country. Children and youth should be carefully guarded. They should be kept away from the hotbeds of iniquity found in our large cities. Let them be surrounded by the influence of a true Christian home—a home where Christ dwells.
Christian qualities are best acquired in a remote location.
Not one family in a hundred will develop physically, mentally, or spiritually while living in the city. Faith, hope, love, and happiness can be far better found in secluded places among fields, hills, and trees.
Take your children away from the sights and sounds of the big city… and their minds will become healthier. Then you will be able to more easily impress upon their hearts the truths of God’s Word. The work of character building will be ten times more difficult for both parents and children if they are sent to schools in large cities where all kinds of corrupting and seductive temptations await them.
Children’s Souls—in Exchange for Carefree and Comfortable Life
Let children no longer be vulnerable to the temptations of large cities ripe for destruction.
The Lord has sent us warning and counsel to leave the cities. Therefore, let us not make any capital investments in large cities. Fathers and mothers, how do you regard the souls of your children? Are you preparing your family members for the heavenly courts? Are you preparing them to become members of the royal family? Children of the Heavenly King? “For what shall a man profit if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” Can carefree life, comfort, and convenience really be compared to the value of your children’s souls?
A Refuge in the Countryside
Let parents understand that raising their children is an important work for the salvation of souls. By doing necessary work in the countryside, one can find many useful occupations that will bring physical health and strengthen nerves and muscles. Leave the cities—that is my message for the education of our children.
God gave our first parents the means of true education, commanding them to cultivate the soil and tend their garden. When sin came as a result of disobedience to the Lord’s commands, cultivating the soil became much more difficult, for the curse on the earth caused thorns and thistles to grow. But the work itself was not given because of sin. The Great Teacher Himself blessed the labor of cultivating the soil.
As in the Days of Noah
Satan’s goal is to attract men and women to large cities, so he invents all sorts of innovations, entertainment, and excitement. Today, the cities of the earth are becoming like the cities before the flood.
We must bear this constant burden, for we see the fulfillment of Christ’s words: “As the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be” (Matthew 24:37). In the days before the flood, all sorts of entertainments were invented to lead men and women into unconsciousness and sin. Today, …, Satan is working intensively to ensure that similar evil conditions prevail. The earth is becoming corrupt. …
We cannot help but see that the end of the world is approaching. Satan is working on the minds of men and women, and many seem filled with a thirst for pleasure and excitement. Now, as in the days of Noah, all manner of evil is on the increase. Marriage and divorce are commonplace today. In such times, those who strive to keep God’s commandments should seek quiet places away from large cities.…
No Deprivation
Who will be warned? We again urge: Get out of the cities. Do not consider it a great deprivation to go to the mountains and hills, but seek a secluded place where you can be alone with God, learning His will and His way….
I urge our people to make the pursuit of spirituality a lifelong pursuit. Christ is at the door. Therefore, I say to our people: do not consider it a deprivation if you are called to leave the big cities and move to the countryside. Rich blessings await those who recognize them. By contemplating the scenes of nature, the works of the Creator, and studying the handiwork of God, you will gradually be transformed into the same image.
Achieve the Best Results in Life
Expensive homes, exquisite furniture, outward show, luxury, and carelessness do not represent the conditions necessary for a happy, useful life. Jesus came to this earth to accomplish the greatest work ever accomplished among men. He came as God’s messenger to show us how to live to achieve the best results in life. What were the circumstances chosen by the infinite Father for His Son? A secluded home on the Galilean hills, a family supported by honest, honorable labor, a simple life, a daily struggle with difficulties and hardships, self-sacrifice, thrift, and patient, joyful service; an hour of study beside His mother and an unrolled scroll of Scripture; the silence of dawn or dusk in a green valley; the holy service of nature, the study of creation and Providence, heartfelt communion with God—such were the conditions and opportunities of Jesus’s early life.
The Rural Heritage of Noble Men
We observe the same conditions in the lives of the overwhelming majority of the best and noblest men of all ages. Read the stories of Abraham, Jacob, and Joseph, Moses, David, and Elisha. Study the lives of later men who most worthily occupied positions of responsibility and trust, men whose influence was most effective in uplifting the world.
How many of them were raised in country homes. They knew little of luxury. They did not spend their youth in pleasure. Many were forced to struggle with poverty and hardship. They learned to work early, and an active life in the open air imbued all their faculties with energy and vivacity. Forced to rely solely on their own resources, they learned to confront difficulties and overcome obstacles, and thus acquired courage and perseverance. These men learned the lessons of self-sufficiency and self-control. Sufficiently protected from vicious companions, they were content with natural pleasures and healthy friendships. They were simple in their tastes and temperate in their habits. Such people were guided by principle, growing up pure, strong, and faithful. Called to their life’s work, they brought physical and mental strength, a cheerful spirit, the ability to plan and execute, and a steadfast resistance to evil, making them a positive force for good in the world.
Better Than Riches
The gift of a healthy body, a clear mind, and a noble character is better than any other rich inheritance you can give your children. People who understand what constitutes true success in life will exercise wisdom at all times. When choosing a home, they will consider the best factors in life. Instead of residing where you can only see the works of man, where sights and sounds often inspire evil thoughts, where turmoil and confusion bring weariness and anxiety, go where you can behold God’s handiwork. You will find peace of mind in the beauty, tranquility, and peace of nature. Let your gaze rest on the green fields, groves, and hills. Gaze at the blue sky, obscured by dust and smoke in the city, and breathe in the invigorating air of heaven. Go where, away from the excitement and decay of city life, you can have friendly fellowship with your children, teach them to know God in His works, and prepare them for an honest and useful life.
The Numerous Benefits of an Active Outdoor Life
It would be a good idea for you to put aside your heavy cares and seek refuge in the countryside, where the influences that corrupt the morals of the young are less prevalent.
Of course, you won’t be entirely free from the vexing burdens of the countryside, but there you can avoid many evils and close the door on the flood of temptations that threaten to overwhelm your children’s minds. They need activity and variety. The monotony of home makes them anxious and restless, and they have acquired the habit of associating with the depraved youths of the city, thus receiving a street education…
Country life will have a very beneficial effect on them; an active life in the open air will strengthen the health of both body and mind. They should have a garden and cultivate it, deriving both pleasure and benefit from it. Caring for plants and flowers cultivates taste and judgment, and familiarity with God’s wholesome and beautiful creations has a purifying and ennobling effect on the mind, directing it to the Creator and Master of all.
Don’t expect a miracle to undo the consequences of a wrong course.
I look at these flowers, and every time I look at them, I think of Eden. They are an expression of God’s love for us. In this way, He gives us a small foretaste of Eden in this world. He wants us to find pleasure in the beautiful things of His creation and see in them an expression of what He will do for us. The Lord desires us to live in open spaces. His people should not flock to large cities. He wants His children to take their families out of the cities, the better to prepare for eternal life. Soon they will have to leave the big cities.
These cities are filled with all sorts of vices—strikes, murders, and suicides. Satan dwells within them, guiding them in their work of destruction. Under his influence, they commit murder for the sake of murder and will do so with increasing frequency.…
By settling where we fall under undesirable influence, can we expect God to perform a miracle to undo the consequences of our wrong course? Of course not. Leave the cities as quickly as possible, buy a small plot of land where you can have a vegetable garden, where your children can watch the flowers grow and learn from them the lessons of simplicity and purity.
Before…
Before the outpouring of judgment befalls the inhabitants of the earth, the Lord calls… to prepare for this event. He sends a warning cry to parents: gather your children into your homes, separate them from those who disregard God’s commandments, teach and practice evil. Get out of the big cities as quickly as possible! Establish church schools. Give your children the Word of God as the foundation of their entire education.
I am instructed by the Lord to warn our people not to flock to big cities in search of homes for their families.
To fathers and mothers, I am instructed to say: do not fail to keep your children within your boundaries.
Source of information: the book “Rural Life.”
Please share this publication on your pages, in groups, or in private messages. We hope that thanks to it, many families will find true happiness by moving to the bosom of nature, protecting their children from the corrupting influence of the urban environment!
