AdAgrA Conference 2025: Growing Better

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AdAgrA: Adventist Agriculture Association

Plenary Session

James Hartley

The Call to Country Living: a Historical Sketch

Last year, Ad Agra joined a partnership with OCI and we're really excited about that.

We've been trying to help Ad Agra have more conventions like this around the world, and so we're really excited about that because we really from OCI, Outpost Centers International, really believe strongly in this message of country living and agriculture and so forth.

So we're trying to join forces here and spread this message.

It was really a blessing, but no other place I'd rather be right now than here with you.

And this is my second Ed Agar convention.

And the topic this morning is the call to country living a historical sketch.

Now this is a big topic and if we really did a full historical sketch we'd have to start in Genesis in the Garden of Eden and go through all of scripture.

There are so many examples and story of Seth and Enoch and Noah and Abraham and Israel, John the Baptist, Christ himself, and so forth.

But this morning we're going to be looking at the historical sketch of the call to the remnant church.

So as introduction, I just want to briefly look at the issue of population growth and urbanism in general.

And if we look at this chart here, This is a depiction of the growth of the population.

Notice it took about 4, almost 4000 years from the flood to get to 1000000000 people on earth.

4000 years, but currently we are adding 1 billion every 15 years.

So there is a tremendous spike of population in the world, and as well as the urbanization of the world, 200 years ago only about 8% of the world lived in cities.

About, I think it was in 2007, the statistics went more than half.

So that's more than 4 billion people live in urban centers.

There are a lot of negative effects of urbanization.

There's loss of biodiversity with habitat clearing, deforestation, there's air and water pollution, soil pollution, waste management issues, increased disease risk with overcrowding, there are natural disaster risks like fires spreading like we've just seen in Los Angeles, floods because there's no place for water to go with concrete and so forth, there's a higher risk there in a lot of cities, earthquakes and so forth, economic issues, inflation, unemployment, poverty, homelessness, increased crime, especially with the social disparities.

And so, praise God, God has given us a wonderful message that we should be living not in polluted, concentrated cities, but in the country.

And just to look at urbanization in the United States, the United States was actually less than the world in its beginnings and origins.

Of course, a beautiful country with lots of natural habitat.

In contrast to Europe, which had developed over a long time, only 5% in 1790 lived in the cities of the United States.

But that has changed drastically over the years.

Let me add that in 1820, there were only 12 cities in the United States with more than 10, 000 people.

So the United States is a very rural place, and we can see as time has gone on, things have changed quite drastically, and the urbanization of the United States is much, much more than in the world.

And Thomas Jefferson, just to look at some of our pioneers and some of their mindsets towards country living, Thomas Jefferson said, I think our government will remain virtuous for many centuries as long as they are chiefly, what everyone?

When they get piled upon 1 another in large cities as in Europe, They will become corrupt as in Europe.

This is written to James Madison in 1787.

He also wrote to Benjamin Rush in 1800, I view great cities as pestilential to the morals, the health, and the liberties of men.

And so, and there's much more that could be said, but American thought really in much of the early 19th century was that city life was regarded as an artificial thing that was corruptive to both men and women.

Much of the early 19th century literature and theater depicted city life as evil and degrading.

Seventh-day Adventists were primarily rural until the early 1870s.

You won't find many councils from Alan White before 1870.

I couldn't find any before 1970 because 70 Adventists were living in the country.

I mean even the Adventist statistics were even lower than the world's likely.

So there was you know probably 5% of Adventists maybe living in some type of city, but it wasn't a very big issue.

Sorry, I've got to get used to doing this.

So in 1840, 1 in 10 persons in the United States lived in the city.

If you look at that, it's like 250% growth to 1870.

And many Seventh-day Adventists began to move into the city.

And so there was a testimony in the earliest reference published by Ellen White, it was written in Testimonies, Volume 2, page 402.

It says, these parents should long ago have moved to the country, thus separating themselves and their children from the society of those who they could not benefit but only harm them.

Steady industry upon a farm would have proved a blessing to these children.

So that's the earliest reference, but a more complete reference and digging into the topic in a more urgent way, you might say 1882, a very important article written in the review entitled, An Appeal published in fifth volume of Testimonies says the following, In choosing their surroundings, few make their spiritual prosperity the first consideration.

Parents flock with their families to the cities because they fancy it easier to obtain a livelihood there than in the country.

The children have nothing to do when not in school except, look, obtain a street education.

From evil associates, they acquire habits of vice and dissipation.

The parents see all this but will require a sacrifice to correct their error.

And they stay where they are until Satan gets full control of their children.

Better sacrifice any and every worldly consideration than to imperil the precious souls committed to your care.

Instead of the crowded city, seek some retired situation where your children will be as far as possible shielded from temptation and there train and educate them for usefulness.

All who would escape the doom of Sodom must shun the course that brought God's judgment upon that wicked city." So you can clearly see an elevated rise of concern by God on our behalf.

Now this appeal was in particular important because this is the first time the message was really brought forth of the unfriendly surroundings of city life to our religious experience.

The current migration, addressing that, of Seventh-day Adventists into the cities.

It addressed the evil influences of the city and comparing those cities to the day of Sodom and warning of judgment.

Also Ellen White appealed often for Adventists to move out of Battle Creek.

It was a center, it was growing, the sanitarium was quite large, employing a lot of people, as well as the Review and the college and many Adventists more were crowding into this city here and it became an issue.

In 1882, Ellen White wrote, The Piety at Battle Creek is at so low an ebb, the spirit of devotion is so weak, worldliness and selfishness so prevalent that the moral atmosphere begets a lethargy fatal to missionary zeal.

Go to where you can strengthen some weak church.

Continuing in 1889 she also wrote, will not those living in Battle Creek "'heed the light given to them by God?

"'Will they not deny self, "'lift up the cross, and follow Jesus?

"'Will they not obey the call of their leader "'to leave Battle Creek and build up their interests "'in other places?

"'It is not the Lord's plan, but human devising for our people to crowd into Battle Creek." So messages were coming clear for God's people to move out of Battle Creek, and Ellen White was not alone in that message.

The General Conference President at that time, George Butler, was a strong proponent of country living.

He published an article in the Review called Rural vs.

It is not a calm, quiet, calm, natural life, but it is whirling, rushing, extra busy life.

It is not conducive to calm thought, religious meditation, needed rest, cool nerves, and quiet contemplations.

I do, however, highly appreciate the principle of sacrifice which impels some of our young people to leave pleasant country homes to work in the cause of God, but many leave such homes for far different reasons, being drawn by the excitement and pleasure of city life more than the quiet of country life." And so there was a clear message from our leadership at the general conference, there was a clear message from Sister White, but now sadly with this call to country living there was a fanatical movement that was transpiring in Battle Creek, which was coming as a result of some of these messages.

There was a group in 1893 that had taken the message of Sister White to extremes, and there was between 1 and 200 people that were planning to rush out of the city with no apparent preparation for making such move.

And a leader at Battle Creek wrote to Sister White who published the following document for the church to heed to.

That no rash movements be made out towards the country.

Notice it says, now will you take heed that there shall be no rash movements made in heeding counsel in moving from Battle Creek?

Let everyone take time to consider carefully and not be like the man in the parable who began to build and was not able to finish.

Not a move should be made until that movement and all it portends are carefully considered, everything weighed.

There shall be individuals who will make a rush to do something, to enter into some business they know nothing about.

I address these words to the church at Battle Creek to move in the counsels of God.

There is need of your moving, many from Battle Creek, and there is also a need of your having well-defined plans as to what you will do when you go out of Battle Creek.

Do not go in a rush without knowing what you are about.

If you want to read the rest of that pamphlet, 84.

Very good, talking about people moving to the country without a clear plan when they get there and not knowing necessarily how to support their families.

People moving to the country that have never done agriculture.

Rural Seclusion or Mission Outposts?

The presentation is going to be entitled, Rural Seclusion or Mission Outposts?

There's a natural tension between the message of country living and the need to reach the cities.

And so we're going to explore that a little bit here this morning and hope that maybe we'll gain some ideas and some clearer vision of what God really wants of us.

Yeah, so country living, yeah, such a blessing.

God originally put mankind in the garden.

That's the place he created for us to inhabit, to be living in.

We need it for our better connection with God, to be surrounded with his creation, to help us keep separate from the world.

Our parents, original parents, first faithfully raised their children, their 2 boys in the country.

Something interesting to point out that country living itself is not enough.

Cain brought an offering, while Abel brought what was needed.

Abel had his heart aligned with the Lord, was willing to follow the Lord's instructions.

Cain rebelled against God and did not do as he was told because living in the country was not enough.

And so it's a lesson that While country living is a tremendous blessing for us, it is not the gospel and it is not enough.

Of course, we could even look at Adam and Eve.

They were raised in total perfection in the Garden of Eden, yet they fell to temptation.

Cain, in his rebellion against God, left and wandered, and what did he do?

Seth was born then and Seth and his descendants withdrew from the descendants of Cain into the hill regions and country settings so they would not be corrupted by the influences.

And in the book, Patriarchs and Prophets, it says, so long as this separation continued, they maintained the worship of God in its purity.

They had to keep separate from the ways and the sins that were going on in the cities and mingling in with the descendants of Cain.

And as long as that separation continued, things were good.

But unfortunately, that separation did not continue and the descendants of Seth began to mingle down into the cities but not with the best of intentions.

They apparently were not going there to reach the cities but they were going there to enjoy the cities.

And in Genesis chapter 6 verse 2 it says, when the sons of gods, which is referring to the descendants of Seth, saw the daughters of men, referring to those daughters of Cain's descendants, and that they were very fair, They went and took them as wives.

This began a corruption process for the descendants of Sain, of Seth.

They were corrupted then and you know city life was a draw.

It's a draw to human nature, and the descents of Seth got caught up in that.

The luxury there, the excitement that was going on, the, maybe the social advantages that we're seeing in this text here.

They didn't want to just be out in the hills.

They wanted to be down where the action was.

And so it was a draw as city life is a common draw for our human nature.

We are shielded from the corrupting influences of the world and city life.

Therefore, we should take the council and withdraw to the countrysides as Seth and his descendants did.

We'll be shielded from the judgment soon to fall upon the large cities.

As Adventists, we're not just to isolate ourselves.

I mean, we could all run off to the country and hide up in the hills and keep ourselves separate, we would be missing something very important.

There is a call to those that are in the city.

And let me just, for context here, also touch on this statement here, which I'm sure has been read many times here, but fifth testimony, this last call to leave the cities.

It's important to know understand this context in the timeline of prophecy and the work that we're supposed to do.

We should be like the children of Issachar which know the times and know what to do.

It says here in 5th Testimonies 464, the time is not far distant when like the early disciples we shall be forced to seek a refuge in desolate and solitary places.

As the siege of Jerusalem by the Roman armies was a signal for flight to the Judean Christians, so the assumption of power on the part of our nation in the decree enforcing the papal Sabbath will be a what everyone?

It will then be time to leave the large cities.

I'm not quite sure why she worded it that way.

It can maybe be misunderstood because we see this message around the turn of the century 19 into the 20th century around 1900 1901 out of the cities out of the cities that's when the call was to leave the cities here it says it will then be time to leave the large cities Clearly God is telling us this is the last chance really.

We have time now to move to the cities, but when the national Sunday Law is passed, we saw our graph.

81% of Seventh-day Adventists are living in the cities of the United States.

The passing of the Sunday Law will be a last call.

It will then be time to leave the large cities, maybe it's ready or not at that time.

Notice this isn't a time yet at the Sunday Law to be to be isolating ourselves into the secluded mountain regions.

Even living in smaller towns, in small rural type towns, in rural communities is good and even an advantage during this time because probation has not closed yet.

The door of probation is still open and there are souls to reach.

The majority of the world's population are living in the cities and even at the passing of the Sunday law, while it's a final call we might say for God's people to be moving out of the of the cities, there is a work to do in the cities.

And the Sunday law will be a signal that our time is short and we even need to be more zealous about the work that God has given to us.

We have a work to preach the three-and-oh's message, to give the loud cry from Revelation 18, out of Babylon.

This is the work that God would have us to do.

And as Christians, we should partake of the spirit of Christ and his love for souls, and not just turn our back on the cities and say, whoa, how wicked are they.

And when he was come near, he beheld the city.

Is this our attitude when we see the cities of the world?

A Family Outpost Changed My Life

So I'm going to be sharing this morning my story of how God led me into the church and how a family outpost changed my life.

It's a nice little town, about 50, 000 people on the Mississippi River there south of Minneapolis a couple hours.

I never met a Protestant person, let alone a Seventh-day Adventist, until I was 21 years old.

There were some Lutherans there, but I didn't mingle too much with them.

And so, yeah, this was my home church here.

I went through all private school, Catholic, grade school, and high school, St.

My father was a butcher, so you can imagine some of the change that I've been through in my life.

You didn't know maybe that I used to be a sausage maker.

I used to be a Roman Catholic butcher sausage maker.

Now I'm a vegetarian Seventh-day Adventist.

So you can imagine quite a change happened in my life.

It was quite a miracle and chain of events that took place.

God was clearly intervening in numerous ways with me and my friend.

And I wanna share it because I think it's relative to our convention here on agriculture and outpost ministry, which we talked about yesterday.

And as I share my story, I hope maybe somebody will catch a vision of how God may use you to lead somebody and use your country properties to lead somebody to Christ.

So, you know, I didn't have too much direction, really, or big aspirations in high school.

While I was an altar boy in grade school, and my family's very faithful going to church, we always went to church.

You know, I was taught religious classes always.

But as soon as I got my driver's license, I was kind of more free, and I was out partying, you know, drinking, and getting into drugs, and partying and so forth.

And, well, I didn't want to get up early and go to church on Sunday morning My parents let me sleep in and then I would say I would go to this 315 service But I would just drive the bulletin Go smoke pot with some friends later come home and put the bulletin on the counter and say that I was at church.

I would even mock religious teachers in school and I feel really bad about that.

I've had to make a lot of apologies in my life.

So well upon graduation I was just open looking to explore the world and what I should be doing.

I went off to a university, University of Wisconsin in Menominee.

And I didn't have too much clear direction of what I was pursuing there.

But I wasn't that interested in what I was studying there.

But I did get into, several of my friends were kind of more interested in getting into Eastern philosophies and so forth.

And I started to hang out with quite a bit more hippie crowds and started to dabble in psychedelics, LSD and mushrooms and so forth.

Going to different psychedelic concerts and hanging out with a lot of these people at the college and then traveling kind of different parts of the U.S.

To go to these shows and hanging out in these parking lots.

And I was intrigued by it all because it was something I had never experienced before.

And I definitely ran into something that seemed very powerful and kind of attractive and something I didn't understand.

So I started studying quite a bit into Eastern philosophies and so forth and the whole counterculture movement and psychedelics and everything.

That was a lot more interesting to me than my economics class in college and literature and everything.

So I would do my work and so forth, and I did well in school, but I did drugs every day in college, and, you know, I obviously could have done a lot better, but, you know, I didn't really know what I wanted to do with my life, to be honest with you.

And so, at the end of a year at university, I decided I wanted to follow this band around, so I started going around the US just to have fun, going to different concerts and so forth, and then working different jobs.

And I just wanted to travel, and I just wanted to kind of see where my life would lead and what I should be doing.

I don't have many pictures, thankfully, of this period of my life, but I did find 1, just for some perspective here.

This is me at a club in Hawaii with this guy, Merle Saunders, he was a jazz musician.

So I was doing this kind of hippie lifestyle, basically.

And 1 of my friends that I quite looked up to, He was a really good musician, so we started playing music.

And we actually rented a place in the country.

It was a geodesic dome with no running water in it.

So we were out there just camping out in this dome and having parties out there and studying into all this stuff.

I was into astrology and drawing up birth charts and taking drugs and doing music and having people out and all kinds of stuff, you know, all kinds of weird stuff.

Well, anyway, this friend of mine, he took off to follow this band to Europe.

So, you know, I didn't go along because I think I was working at the time, and, well, I guess I wanted to be responsible, so I kept my job.

And back then, and this was in the 90s, we didn't have really communication.

Well, I was back in the city at the time, and I remember the day that he returned, because I was in my friend's apartment playing video games, smoking some pot, which was daily habit for us.

Now, my friend, he had long hair, he had kind of dreadlocks, his hair was way down to his waist.

He was a real hippie, you know, more than me.

And it took him, I don't know, he probably didn't wash his hair for quite a long time to be able to get those dreadlocks together.

In high school, he was big into heavy metal, and that was just the love of his life and he got into playing guitar.

He was just consumed with guitar and he became very, very good at it.

Back to Menu

Series

Plenary Session

Rural Seclusion or Mission Outposts?

Transcript

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

Parts

The Call to Country Living: a Historical Sketch

47m

Rural Seclusion or Mission Outposts?

38m

A Family Outpost Changed My Life

51m

Growing Better

54m

Final Charge

27m

Sound Doctrine