God Is A Farmer

God is a Farmer

I am a farmer.  My father was a farmer, and his father was a farmer.  So too does the King of Jews choose to reveal himself to this world.  The proof of this statement is backed by His many scriptural references to agriculture.  Growing up on a West Texas cotton farm, I first believed God was the original cotton farmer.  For Messiah said, "the fields are white and ready for the harvest."  Only a cotton farmer could truly appreciate the beauty of a years worth of work manifested as a snow white field of fiber.  Yeshua, aka Jesus, also taught that He was the sower of good seed.  Therefore, I saw the need to believe in Him as "farmer friendly" as I planted my fields in hope of a great white harvest.  Later on, I entered the livestock industry and became a cattle and goat farmer like my grandfather had.  Then I read a scripture about an end of time scenario where God will sort out the goats and slaughter them because of their stubborn nature.  Believe you me, that verse speaks truth.  I can't recount the times I was horned and rammed by those damned goats.  Over a decade ago, Farmer God spoke to me to sell my farm in Texas and move to New Zealand.  Coming here first on vacation, I saw this land so grand from the eyes of a farm boy.  Wow, how many cows can it carry?  And man, just look at those green fields of roaming white fiber.  Sheep, sheep, and more sheep.  Something I had never tried, but the One pierced at side had said, "Do not dread, you are my sheep here led."   Then I read, Yeshua was the Lamb slain who overcame my sin and fear. 

​So why shouldn't I move here?  

I began visualizing Him standing at this far-out farm gate as my Great Shepherd.  With staff in hand, this Son of man was commanding me to Passover into this amazing agri-culture.   Years now we have farmed these Hawkes Bay hills of zeal, never forgetting to give thanks for this land so grand.  But there is trouble brewing in paradise. 

Whereas God would seem to be farmer friendly, not all leaders are Bible readers.  It seems that big brother (or sister) has another agenda that is actually anti-farm and does harm New Zealand's agri-culture.  Zero carbon, cow fart tax, required environmental plans, threats and hate coming from NAIT, gun bans, ute tax, and weekly the list grows.  With each governmental restriction placed upon the farm, I become alarmed at the harm it causes the poor.  More mandates only makes production cost higher, which makes food prices dire.  This isn't kind when many households are already behind.  As a farmer I call these anti-farm laws little weed seeds sown that are hurting each and every home.  But these green mandates are also growing a great divide between city and country, rural and urban, even as Parliament takes out Christian prayer to only wear a turban.  What am I alluding to?  As Jacinda and crew become anti-farm and anti-Christ, we will all see a higher food price. 

​But perhaps the worst government coerced attack so far will leave a terrible scar upon this agricultural nation.  A billion trees will be a disease that will destroy many rural communities.  Agriculture is the backbone of this nation.  The vibrant buzz of these farm service towns will soon slow way down as thousands of hectares of sheep and beef farmland comes under the dark shade of the pine.  You could say that these rural towns will next begin to pine away.  Then there are the actual families on these effected farms.  But not just the farmers, but the employees, the contractors, the shearing gangs, and many more.  With no livelihood in the rural areas many will be forced to move into the hood.  Could this be God's plan for this amazing agri-cultural land?  Life in the city is not always pretty for displaced country kids.  

World Health Organization Stats claim that world hunger will dramatically increase in the next decades.  Meanwhile, down on the farm, we are being "Councilled" to convert our ag land into sequestering the world's carbon rather than providing the daily essentials of meat and milk.  In addition, Local and Regional Councils are currently undertaking a massive land grab under a "name it and claim it" type procedure that identifies and restricts usage of the property by its owner.  In flagrant disregard of the private property rights of rate paying farmers, my local district's plan has recently proposed to name approximately 10% of our district's land as environmentally significant.  Once our freehold lands are named, the powers that be will not even let you cut a tree without their consent.  One must ask the question today, "Should government in a thriving free society respect a tree more than thee? Or be able to take away property rights without compensation?"  Ironically, my local council labeled their aggressive environmental plan, 'thrive'.  But how long can a country boy survive as these tree hugging governments thrive?  Since when is the environment fight more important than the people's property right?  Ministers please!  your precious birds and trees will not pay all these increasing rates.  I fear you are near to making irreversible political mistakes that will make New Zealand a third rate nation by endangering the NZ farming community.  I realize clean air and water is important, but so too is imported NZ milk and meat for children around the world to eat. 

Let us not beat around the bush any longer.  It seems obvious to me that war has been declared from the city, and the powers thereof, to push the farmer off his own freehold land and allow the bush to take their place.  I call it the great bush push.  May Farmer God give grace to those families displaced, and help all those on (and off) the farm that this will harm.  Yet wave after wave of environment regulation is coming from the city and leaders of this agriculture nation to the farmer's dismay and agri-vation.  This well organized assault against the farmer leads me (as a Christian farmer) to believe that many current leaders are non believers of Biblical agriculture.  According to the Bible, the first family on this planet both cultivated the land and raised animals upon their farm.  Genesis chapter four records that Abel was a keeper of sheep while his brother Cain was the tiller of the ground.  Simply said, farming is historically the oldest, longest standing profession in the world.  Farming is a tried and true profession which will last until the last man dies.  But if Ag dies first, we will all die cursed with hunger.  Like the bumper sticker said, don't feel lead to complain about the farmer with your mouth full.  However, the clever carbon sequestering scheme would seem to be all the new rage.  But forget not that it has yet to be proven by the crucible of time, as has farming.  Neither do the tried and true ancient scriptures allude unto carbon farming.  Perhaps, the CO2 scare is somewhat of a green pyramid scheme that mostly serves its originators, or the haters of our simple farm life.  I guess time will tell if carbon credits will always sell.   As for me and my house, we prefer to put our money where our mouth is and remain farmers of those products we can eat.  Mmmm, meat is so neat to eat and makes me complete.  

As a simple minded farmer, I see much of these environmental regulations as simply anti-farmer.  As a Bible believing Christian, I see an anti-farmer stance as a chance to become anti-Christ.  Christ, aka Messiah identified Himself as the great Shepherd, not the great bird herder or pine planter.  In fact, Christ personally cursed the tree with no fruit right down to the root.  He likewise commanded us to plow fields and feed cattle all the day and then pay tribute to Him by serving meat to his own house.  Real meat, not fake meat.  And dare I say to Israel today in an old non-progressive way: a kosher kill.  Still, if you feel hostility toward the ancient profession of farming, to me it seems alarming.  In fact, as these waves of anti-farmer laws come forth from Parliament,  prayer in Christ' name has simultaneously been removed from there.  Meanwhile, a prayer call to Allah was permitted, as gun rights were being omitted.  It is radical to see NZ's Parliament becoming both anti-Christ and anti-farmer, while simultaneously becoming Muslim friendly.  Today, there is obviously a real need for unity in both the farming sector and among Christians to protect their basic rights.  Not just for our own livelihoods, but for the sake of all eaters and believers.  Simply said, the basic need to feed humanity is greater than any unproven green zeal.  Still, I can't understand how a cow can be taxed and blamed for farting methane.  Never-the-less, let us address our environment plan. 

​As a farmer, I am not anti-tree or anti-bird.  Albeit, I don't want these mucking up my deck, or blocking my views.  Nor to be used by a green governmental funding of a blanket planting scheme that could destroy NZ agriculture and rural reliant communities.  But trees do have a purpose and use beyond capturing China's smog.  Both a cow and a plow somehow look good under the shade of a great tree.  Admittedly, some selected bush helps push a good riparian right for our neighbor down stream.  However, these plantings should not be forced by legislation from asphalt covered city councils.  We the landowners, the farmers, the stewards of this great land, must stand in our exclusive right to decide what happens upon our freehold property.  We can not tell you what to do on your section of city concrete, so neither should you impose hurt on those standing on freehold rural dirt.  As a farmer, I prefer education over legislation to help me protect what I too view as precious: the land, the water, the air, and especially my lifestyle in Ag.  A system of trust must be applied to us who own the land.  Honestly, I don't expect many farmers appreciate the hypocritical legislation coming from your carbon concrete cities.  Until you clean up your act, it is an unfair act to legislate our outback.  I am much less warry of a voluntary scheme that proposes to help me protect my environment through education in leu of regulation.  Speaking of loos, what will you do with all your poo coming out of your cities too?  Don't propose to tax my cow fart unless thou art ready to tax the fart and logs coming out of your city dogs.  Just saying, we should all be paying the cost for this loss of common sense.  Over zealous environmentalists here suggest that NZ could become the savior of the world (or at least the hero) by going carbon zero.  But the true Savior of the world came as the Lamb slain.  Notice His agricultural claim?  I am sure we the farmers could step up our game if government came with grace and education in place of heavy handed regulation.  Or perhaps we the farmers should look to the ancient book of Emmanuel as the ultimate farming manual.  The Bible certainly gives sound advice and instruction of how to farm and not harm our neighbors, without governmental obstruction.  May the God of the farm arm our leaders with the skills and zeal to fulfill His will in this great Agricultural land with an equal hand, while protecting the rights of our free society. 

​ Curt Zant, farmer  ​