What are the major causes of poverty? Can we deal with these causes of poverty?

1) Lack of education.

Education offers you the opportunity to get a job, set up a business, manufacture, plan and make appropriate budgets for meaningful spending and development, design things that you can market (although some uneducated people creatively make crafts for sale etc.), and enable you to diversify the use of your talents. Education also trains the mind to desire development, progress, and the wise acquisition of money and property that go with advancement.

2) Poor environment.

You are unconsciously frozen in your poor prison. Nothing motivates or challenges you to make progress in such a place. Several nice, good, and innovative things don't even fit into the degraded surroundings.

3) Lack of supervision, and poor parenting.

People tend to go astray, and are not inspired, mentored, guided, and trained, right from childhood to discover and optimize the use of their gifts and talents in order to succeed.

4) Fractured and dysfunctional families.

Both young and old are all thrown into a mess of misdirection, loss of important values, lack of provision, unnecessary hardships, pain, tendencies to stray into evil and all kinds of vices, and a mind that cannot focus on true financial prosperity and progress.

5) Bad character and bad morals.

Bad character that breeds poverty is especially rooted in laziness, misuse of money and resources, squandering instead of saving and investing, misuse and loss of opportunities, greed by a proud and dominating few, selfishness, and a spirit of sabotage that undermines anyone trying to develop and make wealth. Evil tendencies, habitual practice of bad habits, bribery, gambling rather than diligently working, robbery and other forms of crime, will always hinder progress and promote poverty.

6) Ignorance

Woefully ignorant of the presence or the extent of wealth that you are sitting on, or the wealth around you; and lacking the basic knowledge or any insight to recognize, appreciate, or tap into the rich resources. This is one major factor that leads to exploitation by someone else who comes along and is able to spot or discover your wealth, and plunders it without your knowledge. The one could further blind you by using a minute fraction of your own wealth to “bless” you, and fool you to turn completely away from trying to discover and optimize your own potential riches.

7) Poverty that is politically, culturally, and religiously driven.

Politics that suppress one faction and keep them poor in order to rule and constantly dictate to them; a culture with outmoded practices and mindset that refuses to consider and accept anything modern that is contrary to old or ancestral traditions; and religious beliefs and practices that misinterpret God's goodness and provision to mean no effort, creativity, and diligence on the part of the Believer etc. --- all these and their ramifications will produce or enhance poverty.  

8) Selfishness and Greed

People in our society who have been privileged and blessed by God to inherit or acquire wealth, could callously and unkindly close their hearts, eyes, and minds to the needs of those around them. They refuse or neglect to support and help their less fortunate family members, friends, and neighbors.

Other individuals who get the opportunity to obtain wealth, develop a spirit of greed and lust to amass riches without restraint, disregarding all morals and ethics, and employ unorthodox means to achieve their selfish and lustful ends.

Some people with the skills and knowledge of particular lucrative areas of wealth creation, could selfishly bottle up the information and would never teach younger ones and other interested people how to make use of available tools and resources to succeed in life.

Some employers and officials would exact bribes and impose hard rules on people before giving them any work to do. Some men force themselves on ladies in particular, for illicit sexual favors and sexual exploitation before giving them jobs, supplying them with essential tools and resources for productivity, or promoting them.

Dealing With Poverty Core Issues

All these 8 basic factors could be effectively dealt with, if we critically analyze our lives, observe things closely and objectively, and honestly admit the root problems. We should then discuss how best we can create a unified front to deal with each situation as a team, community, or nation. 

We must tackle each of the factors with the right tools, in a patient, loving, diligent, prayerful, and consistent fashion in accordance with the kinds of people we are dealing with, resources and manpower available to us, and the varied levels of understanding, abilities, and strengths of the people involved. We must educate and encourage the wealthy, the more endowed, and the more blessed people in our communities to help the less fortunate ones as well, while we teach and train the poor to make the best use of all available opportunities to work, generate their personal riches, and provide for themselves.

The best and most important place to start solving the poverty problem is in our homes, courtships, marriages, and families. Tackling poverty and prosperity issues at the parenting level, is the best way to lay a solid foundation for future advancement and productivity in adults, that promotes authentic and progressive wealth and riches in societies and nations. God is always ready to be our Helper.

 

Written by Dr. Samuel Kisseadoo.  Obtain additional rich information from Dr. Kisseadoos’s books, in Accra, Ghana, at Challenge Bookstore or Calvary Baptist Bookstore at Adabraka (near Nkrumah Circle); or Baptist Bookstore at Amakom in Kumasi, Ghana (opposite Anglican High School); or call 233-208126533 in Accra. You can use his name “Dr. Samuel Kisseadoo” to search: RedLeadBooks.com or Amazon.com for some of his books, and he can personally mail some copies to you as well. E-mail: kisseadoo@msn.com.

Tune in to JOY 99.7 FM in Accra, Ghana to listen to Dr. Kisseadoo’s weekly broadcast “Hope For Your Family” on Sat. 5:30am-6am, Ghana time (12:30am-1:00am, US Eastern Time in Nov-March). Access the broadcast on the Internet with MYJOYONLINE.COM. Website for resources: www.fruitfulministriesint.com. Dr. Kisseadoo’s first Facebook Account (DrSamuel Kisseadoo) is public and accessible but is full. You can be a new friend on his second Account (RevDr. Kisseadoo); or you can ‘like’ his Community Page: FM Int. Inc. For free counseling, programs, prayer, messages, books, speaking engagements, call Dr. Kisseadoo in Virginia on 1-757-7289330 (or call 233-20-8126533 in Accra or 233-275-353802 in Kumasi, Ghana). Ghana Fruitful Ministry E-mail: fmighana_accra@yahoo.com). In Ghana, call Tigo or Airtel 545 and follow the prompts for daily inspirational messages of Dr. Kisseadoo. Permission granted to freely share but with acknowledgement.