Save the earth at all costs

The environment as usual has been in the news. What does this all mean about bio-diversity and an environmentally safe planet?

Pagans, witches, and new age spirituality believe that everything is alive, sacred, having a soul. That nature spirits exist giving harmony and balance to the earth. Some believe we can even communicate with them. In the new age Spirituality they worship many gods and goddesses, and believe there's a living energy that permeates everything - a god-energy well known by the term Pantheism. This religion is what many practice today as their own spirituality. “The more you contact the voice of the living earth and evaluate what it says, the easier it will become for you to contact it and trust what it provides” (the Sierra Clubs source book Well body well earth by Mike Samuels M.D and Hal Bennett p.73). Trust mother earth! In the new paganism there is no personal Father God, if he is included, it certainly is not the Bible's view of God.

The New Age Movement has its agenda to restore to Earth the Ancient Occult Mysteries. This will be accomplished through bringing mankind to be in harmony with nature. The new society is emerging and is on the threshold of an evolutionary leap of consciousness. The Luciferic Initiation (through altered states), to reveal to man or woman there own divinity, to manipulate and control a universal energy, and to usher in the New World Order. They see the Earth as a living organism; humanity is billions of cells that make up the global brain. But they see many cells as disharmonious, cancerous and need to be eradicated, to complete the transformation. Traditional ways of thinking are being replaced with altered states of consciousness and a cultural paradigm shift to environment as our savior. To be in harmony with nature is to be in harmony with ourselves.

Dominican priest and founder of the Institute for Culture and Creation, Matthew Fox, noted, “I think frankly that the survival of the Earth today depends upon an earth consciousness, that we move beyond nationalism, for example, to a sense of bio-regionalism,…. That we move beyond dualism's of first world/third world, north/south, communist/socialist/capitalist.  It's all, um, it's over with. I think the only future the planet has is a spiritual awakening that's global; global but local. And this is why I think the earth religions are coming forth at this time in history.” (Full Circle: The Women's Spirituality Trilogy)

This new allegiance that wants to do away with borders of nationalism is expressed by Gary Snyder a poet who writes “I pledge allegiance to the soil…/one eco system/in diversity/under the sun-/with joyful interpentration for all.”(Bill Duvall and George session Deep Ecology p.206)

A U.N. document, Agenda 21 was drafted for the purpose of creating “sustainable societies” and saving the earth from environmental catastrophes, has been welcomed by nations around the world. Political, cultural, and media leaders have embraced the concept of a healthy planet.

What could be wrong with preserving our natural resources for the next generation? Why not limit our consumption and reduce energy use? Why not find alternative uses of energy that will not destroy or pollute. We can all share in saving the planet by trading in our cars for bikes, by establishing a global system of equality we can abolish poverty and meet everyone’s needs? Sounds like utopia. Certainly there is nothing wrong with alternate energy sources that can be less hazardous to the environment and they should be pursued. But there is a spiritual intent to the environmental movement most are not aware of.

Recently I watched a newscast that stated the ozone protects the planet so we must protect the ozone like we do endangered species. If we don't do something about the ozone soon we will all be burning from the sun's rays. Why is it the ozone layer is the thinnest in the Antarctic where there is no pollution, the thinning should be seen closest to the cities that produce it if in fact CFC’s and other irritants are its source. The air currents keep pollutants on each side of the equator.

What they ignore is nature itself, the earth's orbit around the sun, the gravitational pull of the moon affects tidal forces producing earth movements like earthquakes, triggering volcanoes which cool the earth. Major volcanic eruptions also affect the ozone layer, far more than all our human activity, they have been occurring (according to science) for “millions of years before man appeared.” The earth's magnetic field is also affected by sunspots which can bring storms, sunspot activity produces solar turbulence which heats the earth and recurs every nine to thirteen years. It was nature that produced El Nino, which brought disasters. These are all viewed as mother earth trying to regain balance instead of the ruin it really brings. No one wants to blame Mother Nature for anything, because she sustains us and to say anything bad about her might get her mad. But Nature kills species of animals too, such as the one horn rhino. Nature brings floods in India yet it is man that must come to rescue them, would they come to our rescue?

The fact is nature has no “right” or “wrong” it is amoral, it has no consciousness or personal intelligence.  No one can say it is “wrong” for a volcano to produce lava and poisonous gases into the atmosphere since it is only doing what comes “natural” to it. Yet if nature is intelligent as they claim, it's personally causing more problems then man does.  If man is a product of nature through evolution, then whatever he does must likewise be natural. As environmentalists fight to stop the extinction of certain species, they end up fighting the natural evolutionary process which has, according to them been eliminating species over millions of years. It is called the survival of the fittest. Humanity would be fulfilling our ultimate evolutionary purpose through survival of the fittest.  

How can man be the product of evolutionary forces when there are no ethics or morals in nature?  Universal moral laws which are shared by all reflect a higher standard than what is found in nature.

As a new creative tolerance for the earth is accepted, the truth has fallen to the ground trampled over by the masses that look to nature to be their God and their salvation.

Legislation was designated for just such spirituality on April 22, 1990 called Earth Day. One of its promoters was then Senator, now vice president and possibly soon to be president, Al Gore (not anymore). He claims to believe in Christ and the Bible as a Baptist but what does he really believe?

Al Gore believes that a return to goddess-worshipping religions will bring both planetary and personal salvation. In his best-selling book, Earth in the Balance; Ecology and the Human Spirit, 1992, he offers some alarming answers. He identifies THE ROOT PROBLEM OF WESTERN CULTURE as. “We lost our feeling of connectedness to the rest of nature” (page 1)

“We should actively search for ways to promote a new way of thinking about the current relationship between human civilization and the earth” (p. 355). I think we should actively seek the ancient way for man to be in a right relationship with his creator. This has nothing to do with nature and everything to do with the creator of nature.

Gore is clearly against drilling for oil on our own continent believing we are presently in a crises on the environment. Yet like many other environmentalists they have no problem buying oil from other nations that drill and harvest it from their own soil. He  believes “every law and institution, every treaty and alliance, every tactic and strategy, every plan and course of action …” every means needs to be used to “halt the destruction of the environment”(p. 274 ). we must take bold and unequivocal action: we must make the rescue of the environment the central organizing principle for civilization.” (Al Gore, Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit   1993, p.269). Its amazing that someone who is so pro-choice for human life is not pro choice for the environment, he instead allows people a choice for babies he would not want to afford for the earth’s environment

HE VIEWS THE EARTH AND ALL ITS PARTS AS SACRED: “ God's covenant, made not only with Noah, but with' all living creatures,' again affirms] the sacredness of creation ... (p.245 “Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit”) “...it may now be necessary to foster a new “environmentalism of the spirit” (p. 242). What 'spirit' is Gore referring to? The GODDESS, nature spirit of the New Age. After addressing the elimination of Goddess worship and religions swing to a masculine orientation. He states “The last vestige of organized goddess worship was eliminated by Christianity . . . . [I]t seems obvious that a better understanding of a religious heritage preceding our own by so many thousands of years could offer us new insights . . . .” (page 260)

Gore quotes Hindu environmentalist, Dr. Karan Singh, who looks to the  Hindu dictum: “The Earth is our mother, and we are all her children. . . . Guru Nanak [founder of Sikhism] said, ‘Air is the Vital Force, Water the Progenitor, the Vast Earth the Mother of All.’” (p. 261)

Gore's concern for the world being in danger of being destroyed refers to the new age Catholic theologian, Teillard de Chardin when he said, ‘The fate of mankind , as well as of religion, depends upon the emergence of a new faith in the future.’ Armed with such a faith, we might find it possible to resanctify the earth.” (page 263)

Gore's promotion on the New Environmentalism and Goddess Worship are blatantly clear… “Our religious heritage is based on a single earth goddess who is assumed to be the foundation of all life…all men have a god within. Each man has a god within because creation is God.”

 Is God in the trees the sky the water and mankind? Does the tree has any separate or equal intelligence to man. Can it communicate? If I were to go over there with an ax to level it, what would happen? If it had any intelligence it would say stop don’t do this or would pick up its roots and run. Wouldn’t you do that if someone came over to you with an ax! Yet man is reduced to the same level as nature.

Gore states “Native American religions, for instance, offer a rich tapestry of ideas about our relationship to the earth. One of the most moving and frequently quoted explanations was attributed to Chief Seattle in 1855, 'Will you teach your children what we have taught our children? That the earth is our mother? This we know: the earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all” (p. 259). This is the pantheistic view of the occult, God is not personal nor transcendent, but is subject to the very laws of nature he or she made, depending on your view.

Eagle Man, a modem shaman says of the Native Americans'  "Getting, back to nature will be the key to saving the planet" (Ed McGaa, Eagle Man, Rainbow Tribe: Ordinary People Journeying on the Red Road (Harper San Francisco, 1992), 3).

Black Elk, the spiritual leader of the Lakota Indians had said, “Peace comes within the souls of men when they realize their relationship, their oneness, with the universe and all its powers, and realize that the center is really everywhere. It is within each of us.” This is the nature religions answer, as well as the new age answer.

Forrest Shaklee who began the Shaklee vitamin company had a spiritual experience with the oneness of nature where he learned to tune in to what he called “the creative intelligence of nature.” This changed his worldview in which he stated,  “For I too was product of nature perhaps no better than the old cow on the hillside. Being a product of nature it behooved me to cooperate with nature.” This pantheistic revelation has been experienced by many and it always yields the same results,  it makes man equal with all other things.

Carl Jung thought the ground seemed more connected to the things of nature such as animals, trees, meadows and running waters. He felt a close affinity for all of this in his own life. Later Jung admitted that he never realized how pagan this foundation was. He would spend many hours sitting on a large rock behind his house, and at times would have trouble distinguishing if he was the boy sitting on the rock or the rock being sat upon by the boy. In short, he felt an unusual oneness with nature. (Quoted from the New World religion Gary Kah)

Budd Hall and Edmund Sullivan write in Transformative Education and Environmental Action in Ecozoic Era; “We have to completely revise our western understanding of what it is to be an inhabitant of the planet Earth, our human story and the western story; for indeed our new situation reveals the true reality of what we have been doing ...We must pass from a human-centred to an earth-centred sense of reality and value. (Budd Hall and Edmund Sullivan, “Transformative Education and Environmental Action in Ecozoic Era;” Empowerment: Towards Sustainable Development  1995,  p.102).

Environmental groups, like the Sierra Club, promote the pagan idea of Gaia, the Earth Goddess. It was the Greeks that called the primordial mother goddess Gaia, which means earth. Many deities of the ancient pagans had both a masculine and feminine side. Ishtar was the queen of heaven who represented fertility originally from Babylon. Rev.17 addresses her as Mystery Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth. The Greeks participated in a religious prostitution that consisted of perverted sexual practices in their temples, especially in Corinth to the Goddess originally from Babylon.

Today spiritual environmentalists view Gaia as a living feminine force of divine power and wisdom that is one with all of nature. It is considered sacred, and all-powerful. Those involved perpetuate the myth that ancient cultures were in perfect harmony with nature, discounting the disasters nature brings without discriminating on both animals and man.

Those who are tuned into this nature religion see thanksgiving feasts as celebrations to thank the earth for her provisions. These are the harvest festivals that were seasonal and by the moon by the ancients. Witches or Wiccans, believe they derive their spiritual powers by a relationship with the earth, they celebrated them in conjunction with the moon.

While Israel did have feast days that coincided with the harvest calendar, God made it clear that they were to acknowledge Him as their source, not nature, which He created. It was He who gave them the provision, they were not to worship as the pagan nations did around them. What we find is a revival of the same spirituality that the Egyptians practiced before the true God judged the nature gods to set Israel free.

Going backward to the jungle and tribal paganism is not the answer for mankind. Are we now to live in huts to be in tune to nature and closer to the earth? I don’t think paganism holds the answers for mankind in any age past, present or future.

The environmental movement has had quite an impact for public awareness. Have you seen the endangered species souvenir stamp saver cards. They have on a 2-3 inch hard cover the pictures of endangered species with a stamp plastic wrapped. On the back it explains its specie type, where it lives, what it eats. They have the California condor, the Florida Manatee, American Crocodile, the Hawaiian Monk Seal, and even the San Francisco garter snake. But there was an important species that has had more of them killed than any other in a very short amount of time, humans, 42 million of which were killed right here in America. What is more valuable? If there was a decision between a person who was an environmentalist and a seal, would they be willing to give their live to let the seal live? I think very few given this choice would be that irrational.

“We, in the green movement, aspire to a cultural model in which killing a forest will be considered more contemptible and more criminal than the sale of six-year-old children to Asian brothels.” (Carl Amery, German Greens)

New Age leaders have consistently taught that the earth is seriously overpopulated. The Organization Friends of the Earth has stated their position in agreement with others, “an earth population of 6 billion, already overburdened by 4 billion.” (Cumbey, Hidden Dangers of the Rainbow).

Oceanographer Jacques Cousteau was quoted in the UNESCO Courier in November 1991, “The damage people cause to the planet is a function of demographics-it is equal to the degree of development. One American burdens the earth much more than twenty Bangladeshes... This is a terrible thing to say. In order to stabilize world population, we must eliminate 350,000 people per day. It is a horrible thing to say, but it's just as bad not to say it.” (“The Population Controllers,” New American Magazine, 6/27/94, p. 7)

Prince Philip of Great Britain, leader of World Wildlife Fund gave this solution if he had the ability “If I were reincarnated I would wish to be returned to earth as a killer virus to lower human population levels.” This is not so offensive a statement for those who adhere to the belief of reincarnation, because there is no death only recycling.  

The New Agers have it wrong. It was Noah who gathered the animals into the ark to survive. If it wasn't for him no air breathing animal would have survived. We know after the flood-waters subsided numerous types of animals (and species) died off, but it did not make an ecological disaster. When the humongous reptiles (dinosaurs) died off there was no eco disaster. We may not be as interdependent as they want us to believe. 

God gave Man to be the caretaker of this world, we have not done a very good job. However being reduced to a secondary class creature, equal with anything else in nature is not the answer. The new age answer is we are all on the evolutionary ladder spiraling upward to be god. Who knows, maybe another species will beat us there. We have become worth no less or more than any other creature. Who are we to think otherwise after all that’s ego and male domination. The solution of the spiritual environmentalist’s, return to the Goddess.

Man alone was created in the image of God. The solution to humanity's problems is not to get in touch with nature, but in getting in touch with the God who made us. For the new age view there is no distinction between creation and the creator. But this new set of values has been accepted in our society and used to educate the young to be global citizens. Earth-centered spirituality is really disguised socialist values to displace those of Christianity, challenging a transcendent God. The ecological movement will continue, as they reject the Christian worldview that nature is not equal, but instead subservient to man. The evolutionary theories continue to influence the new spirituality, reducing man to being equal to all other things made. By doing this it actually ties our hands to have a responsible and viable solution to the problems that they think we face.

Schools are teaching the solution to the environment comes through the government. Fox News reports this example of the supply of fossil fuels  being used up at an alarming rate says one person. Government must save our fossil fuels by passing laws and limiting their use, but consumption figures vary by thousands of years. “Another textbook portrays humans as villains and nature as the victim.” “People are largely responsible for causing the extinction of 10,000 species a year.” Its this kind of hysteria that propels this movement. Senaro says no one knows how many species are disappearing and 26 out of 27 books make a claim similar to this ozone laws will cause millions of people to get skin cancer.” Senaro says there is no scientific proof linking skin cancer to a thinning ozone. Brenda Wolmut teaches high school chemistry in Tuscon, she admits many books over dramatize complex issues. “And so if you present it as crisis they will be more likely to be interested in it” (Oct. 9, 1998).

The environmental movement always shows the catastrophes to give validity to what they are doing when in fact there are very few of these accidents.

NEA influenced 45 million school children with Earth Day curriculum that taught kids that the Earth is alive, she is their Mother and needs to be protected and prayed to. Kids were pitted against industry and development, adults, and parents. The cartoon Captain planet and the planeteer's was a huge success in having children think this way. This was about 5 children from 5 different continents coming together and creating from their imaginations captain planet to go and fight the environmental ills of the world. With their 5 powers combined they summon Captain Planet. The author has stated “The 90’s is the decade of change if we don’t make the decisions in the 90’s we are finished as a species.” The author bought into the do now before we all die propaganda on the movement.  The problems are exaggerated to help the children learn that CFCs contribute to the ozone hole. The problem is that the exaggeration becomes the true standard for our children, since no one explains what is accurate. As Captain planet said “my work here is done but yours is just beginning planeteer's and remember the power is yours.” My Kid listened to it and said quite frankly the power is God’s not theirs.