|
|
|
|
Environmental “Green Christians” are being uprooted from the Bible pt.1 If one does a Google search on Evangelical Environmentalists they come up with three hundred and forty six thousand hits; a search on Christian environmentalists you find two million four hundred and forty four thousand hits. A search on global environmentalists and you come up with 10 million three hundred thousand hits. It becomes apparent that there is a growing concern for saving the environment; unfortunately it is not as warranted as it is being advertised. An overwhelming majority of those polled (79%) believe that there is solid evidence that the average temperature of the earth has been increasing over the past few decades; just 17% say there is no solid evidence for this. Sizable majorities of every religious group agree: 77% of Catholics; 79% of white mainline Protestants; and 70% of white evangelicals. 2006 survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life In 2009 -34% of America's white evangelical Protestants and 39% black Protestants accepted there is solid evidence that global warming is real and that it is attributable to humans.31% white evangelical Protestants said no to global warming;15% black Protestants said no. We have been inundated in the media on this issue for several years now. Along with nearly everyone else that has been hearing the news reporting, we have 500 Christian leaders who have signed EEN's Evangelical Declaration on the Care of Creation. Their goal is to educate, inspire, and mobilize Christians in their effort to care for God's creation. They want the church to celebrate the gift of God's creation on the Sunday that falls closest to Earth Day, they call it Creation Sunday. In stark contrast, the Bible says God rested on the 7th day (Sabbath). On the 41st Earth Day, April 22, 2011, (1970) 175 nations participated in its commemoration. Now that we have looked at the statistics we need to look at what we are joining when we bring environmentalism into the church. The first thing we need to understand is the world is romanticizing to form a paradise, a harmonious environment of animals, man and nature. A promise that will only be experienced when the Messiah is here. As Christians instead of joining in their effort we should be waiting for the promise to inherit the earth under the Messiah. Once, as a young new ager, I was naïve and convinced of all this dire need to act or disaster is coming but as a believer[s] that has been replaced with a trust in the Lord to believe his word; we should not be fretting over this. The fact is, disaster is coming; it’s called the tribulation period and it is not about man destroying the environment but God sending judgments on mankind that has rebelled in unity against him. If one stops and takes a good look at how the secular world is participating in saving the environment, theirs is a contrived goodness. It is about making people feel good. Using an emotional appeal to be part of something bigger than what one can do individually, making them part of something so very important – “to save our planet for future generations.” Can you think of something more important than this to the regular citizen in their everyday life? The first problem Christians face is that the planet, its animals and trees do not need saving. Here is where trust in the Lord becomes real. Neh. 9:6: “You alone are the LORD; you have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and everything on it, the seas and all that is in them, and You preserve them all.” Rev. 4:11: “for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created." Heb. 1:3: He, (God) not nature, “upholds all things by the word of His power.” So this becomes a matter of faith in the word of God or is one persuaded by the consensus of men who do not believe the Scripture Let me be clear, I’m not saying to ignore being a good steward over your life and what you do. But we should be cautious and prudent in not becoming an environmental soldier, instead of a soldier for the Lord and his purposes; which are not the same. Because when one becomes an environmentalist it changes their worldview and lifestyle as a Christian. They romanticize a new world; a revisit of Eden is being promoted by the organizations and those who write the books on becoming Green. In an article Earth's Polar Ice Melting Less Than Thought, “Nearly 230 billion tons of ice is melting into the ocean from glaciers, ice caps, and mountaintops annually—which is actually less than previous estimates, according to new research by scientists at the University of Colorado, Boulder. If the amount of ice lost between 2003 and 2010 covered the United States, the whole country would be under one-and-a-half feet of water, or it'd fill Lake Erie eight times, researchers say. Ocean levels worldwide are rising about six hundredths of an inch per year, according to researcher John Wahr. Wahr says, according to his team's estimates, about 30 percent less ice is melting than previously thought.” (Better technology yields better data. The bad news is the extra water from 2003-2010 would fill Lake Erie eight times” By Jason Koebbler) http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2012/02/08/earths-polar-ice-melting-less-than-thoughtReally? 6/100 of an inch! Do you know how infinitesimal that is. That less than the thickness of a piece of paper, how does one measure this throughout the world? Another new article The Himalayas and nearby peaks have lost no ice in past 10 years, study shows Meltwater from Asia's peaks is much less then previously estimated, but lead scientist says the loss of ice caps and glaciers around the world remains a serious concern The world's greatest snow-capped peaks, which run in a chain from the Himalayas to Tian Shan on the border of China and Kyrgyzstan, have lost no ice over the last decade, new research shows. The discovery has stunned scientists, who had believed that around 50bn tonnes of meltwater were being shed each year and not being replaced by new snowfall.” http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/feb/08/glaciers-mountains?intcmp=122. Save the environment is call for today, but what about abortion, human beings offered up to their gods of convenience? This never seems to find itself in the equation of saving anything. But then most of the radical environmentalists do not think humanity is more valuable than another creature, or even a tree. That is what you will be siding with if you allow this to intrude in your life. Besides all the chicanery that has now been certified as false advertising for an environmental cataclysm coming as we live and breathe. Let me clarify that going organic or eating natural foods is not want I’m addressing One quote from a Christian environmentalist’s ministry: “We have been entrusted with a sacred calling to govern over the earth and all that is in it.” Is it a sacred calling? Are we to govern the earth as stated in Genesis? We need to approach this subject biblically. Genesis is not a valid command for us, anymore than Joshua is to conquer the land. The green movement is more aligned with secular humanism, mans attempt to restore Eden. Ignoring the problem of what got man kicked out of the garden -- Man is in rebellion with his Creator. Let’s do a survey of what happened and why we are no longer expected to do what was spoken to Adam and Eve. Gen. 1:28: God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth." Gen. 1:30: “Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food"; and it was so.” Gen. 2:8: “The LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed.” After man sinned God said Gen. 3:17-19: "Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return." We find death being introduced to man and all living things; from now on Adam would have to work hard for what once came easy from the ground. But something else occurred. V.23 “the LORD God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken.” And we have been trying to make our own garden of paradise again with our own hands ever since. Adam was sent out of the experimental area that God gave to rule over, and he even prevented him from ever entering in again. Gen. 3:24 “So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.” Man was forced out and God guarded the only entrance back in. So we might ask why do we want to form a modern Eden with the rest of the world? We can see from the record Adam and Eve were the only ones told to have dominion and care for the earth, after they sinned they were put out of the garden. Neither God repeated the command nor did they did not teach this command to their children. It was not passed down to each generation and it was never repeated to Israel, or to the church. Why? Because of SIN. As Gen. 3:22 states man now knew good and evil, the emphasis on Evil. How can man rule justly over all creation in his sinful condition. This is why we wait for the Lord to come again, to set things in order. And wait we must lest we be removed from perseverance that accompanies faith. Because of the increase of sin and evil, Noah was told to build and ark, because God will destroy all that are living on the earth that breathe; there went the environment the first time. After the ark rests when the waters receded Noah lets the animals out as the command to be fruitful is repeated to the animals and man. Gen. 8:17 "Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you: birds and cattle and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, so that they may abound on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth." Gen. 9:1 “So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.” But something changed in the environment, in the harmonious relationship of animals and man. Gen. 9:2-4 "And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand. "Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs."But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.” This governing care was not renewed to Noah, in fact the Lord took away the harmony we once had with the animals. To Abraham in Gen. 35:11 Also God said to him: "I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall proceed from you, and kings shall come from your body.” Jer. 23:3 "But I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all countries where I have driven them, and bring them back to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase.” Even with Israel as a theocracy, the only nation directly under God, He did not renew the Genesis dominion command but only to be fruitful. Man became sinful and could not be allowed to rule over a fallen creation, this is why there must be a restoration. The idea of mans dominion continuing from Genesis is an error and based on a flawed interpretation of the Genesis account. It is misapplied to the church and if it is part of ones theology, it becomes a lie. People need to ask questions and not just accept the rehearsed phrases of concern dished out to them. The main question is “how can we exercise dominion over the birds or the fish. How are you going to rule over the animals.” The only way this can be done is by a secular government? The only way to implement a Genesis type dominion that would involve all people throughout the world is through law, by government. And this why this whole movement fits right in line with the current world governance forming, and its environmental agenda that is being propagated by the UN. God's instructions to man to "multiply" and to "subdue the earth" is not a command to man any longer. What is an environmental ministries end-times view, their eschatology? This must be clarified to understand where this movement is headed and what it is about. Does Jesus return to create a kingdom on earth, or do we create a kingdom first and then for Jesus returns. Do the people involved believe in creation or in evolution? The problem is that many of the Christians who believe in an environmental mandate hold to a reconstructionist or dominionist view, that the earth is under our control and that the church will spread throughout and Christianity will become dominant in all aspects of life and a tribulation is either ignored or no longer part of their end times view. Maybe some think we can change the future for the better and avoid what is written.Pew Research Center survey found only 16 percent evangelicals said climate change is a "very serious" problem. (Overall, 31 percent of Americans) Pew Research also found, "Nearly half (47 percent) [of churchgoers] say their clergy speak out on the environment, almost always to encourage environmental protection. But just 6 percent say their own views on the environment are shaped primarily by their religious beliefs." Nonetheless small groups are surfacing everywhere and people need to be informed because there is a lot of disinformation and pressure to join with the new age movement’s concept of saving the planet. The Earth Day Network came from the original Earth Day in 1970. In 2007, EDN reached out a hand to the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim communities by creating “12,000 sermons and religious events” to empower religious leaders for Earth Day goals. EDN took this a step further during Earth Day 2008 by activating “500,000 parishioners” to support climate change legislation. Many churches also pledged to join EDN for “Earth Day Sunday” in 2008, focusing on climate change and saving the Earth during their Sunday services. (Earth Day Network, Earth Day: Something We Can All Believe In, http://earthday.net/node/73)The Green movement focuses on Earth while demeaning Christianity, introducing youth to “new eden” a pagan, socialist utopian concept. They introduce interfaith services centered on the environment, at the same time assault Biblical values that Churches are to esteem. They more than welcome Christians to join in their efforts for the new world they want to form. Restoring Eden is a movement of like-minded people who see a strong connection between our Christian spirituality and our role as caretakers of creation . Restoring Eden has a sticker that’s says if you love the creator take care of creation.How about if you love the creator by spreading his gospel to show love to people? Creationcare.org believes human-induced climate change is a serious Christian issue requiring action now. It is an insult to make this a serious biblical issue when there is so much information contrary to this now. They want to “extend Christ's healing to suffering creation,” citing Romans 8. Yet a good reading of Rom.8 tells us that only the return of Christ will bring this, not man (read the whole chapter in context). “We call on all Christians to work for godly, just, and sustainable economies which reflect God's sovereign economy and enable men, women and children to flourish along with all the diversity of creation.” Here we have a shift in mission work, from the gospel message to save souls which God intends to live eternally with Him to our making the earth suitable for an extended stay of creatures living harmoniously together. Rev. Richard Cizik, the former president of the NAE, now of the New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good tells us "the idea that we can't irreparably damage this planet by our actions runs contrary to all that's taught in the scriptures." Cizic launched the Evangelical Climate Initiative, February 2006. It now has 350 evangelical leaders on its roster. The majority do not know much about the false teachers inside the church so I can’t expect them to protect the sheep as they want to protect the earth.Tim Challies reports in his article “the funding Behind the Evangelical Climate initiative” that funding of $475,000 came from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, one of the top funders of abortion programs in the United States and abroad ( http://www.challies.com/general-news/the-funding-behind-the-evangelical-climate-initiative)Since leaving the NAE, Cizik lobbied for cap and trade, he is working with groups like Friends of the Earth as they warn about the environmental destruction of global warming (read what some of their statement are on humanity and the environment). Instead he should be warning about the greatest environmental human destruction coming, the tribulation period where a dictator will rule the world and God sends judgments on the environment to have mankind repent of their allegiance to other gods. This movement falls in line with the deepening deception that is occurring inside the churches walls. I should mention that I could find the word gospel on their website numerous times but found the gospel mentioned (death and resurrection of Jesus) a few times in relation to life being sacred and creation, it is not explained. We need to spend some time in this next article as it shows how they formulate the Bible to into their own concerns. This is a good representation of how they validate the Scripture for their cause. Earth Day Should Always Fall on Good Friday “This is also a time to mourn. The planet continues to struggle under the debilitating weight of unsustainable human consumption. This reality hits my generation—the Millennials—especially hard as we gear up to inherit the earth. Inheritances are supposed to be a blessing; this one is becoming a curse. Creation is worse off now, by almost every measure, than it was back on the first Earth Day. It is easy to look at the interconnected environmental and social crises of today-- the water crisis, food crisis, energy crisis, climate crisis, global pollution and toxicfication, disease, natural disasters, wars and violence—and fall into despair. In his article he quotes Dr. Speth Jesus Branded Spirituality -- the root of our environmental and social problems is sin. Therefore, what we ultimately need is a solution to sin. The Bible speaks directly to this. In the first three chapters of Genesis, we understand that God created the world in a state of peace and wholeness, where right relationships flourished between us and God, within ourselves, between us and the rest of creation, within creation as a whole, and between the whole of creation and God. By eating the forbidden fruit, Adam and Even disobeyed God (i.e. sinned against God) and thus fractured our relationship with Him, and all the other relationships down the line were broken as a result. Romans 8 described almost two thousand years ago what our science today is quantifying: that all of creation is groaning from the affects of our sin. This is the bad news.” Here is his solution: “The good news is that God has not given up on his creation. The rest of the Bible is the story of God saving the world from sin, first by working through the law and a chosen people known as the Israelites, and then ultimately by working through his only son, Jesus Christ: “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him (Jesus), and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross” (Colossians 1:19-20). By dying on the cross, in our place, Jesus paid the price of our sin and thus opened the door for ALL THINGS to be reconciled back into a right relationship with God, and therefore also into right relationship with each other. Everything that was broken as a result of our sin is to be healed.” Simply put, there is a solution to sin: Jesus Christ. And since sin is the root cause of our environmental and social crises, there is ultimately no answer to these problems apart from Christ and what he did on the cross. So it is especially fitting that Earth Day happens to coincide with Good Friday this year. As we contemplate both the crucifixion of Jesus and the current state of the creation he died to save, He then quotes the Lausanne Congress, held in Cape Town, South Africa “Instead, we commit ourselves to urgent and prophetic ecological responsibility. We support Christians whose particular missional calling it is to environmental advocacy and action, and those committed to godly fulfillment of the mandate to provide for human needs from the abundance of God’s creation. We remind ourselves that the Bible declares God’s redemptive purpose for creation itself. Integral mission means discerning, proclaiming, and living out the biblical truth that the gospel is God’s good news, through the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ, for individual persons, and for society, and for creation. All three are broken and suffering because of sin; all three are included in the redeeming love and mission of God; all three must be part of the comprehensive mission of God’s people” http://www.newevangelicalpartnership.org/?q=node/123(Ben Lowe is Director of Young Adult Ministries for the Evangelical Environmental Network and the author of Green Revolution: Coming Together to Care for Creation (IVP 2009). A Rocha USA is a -steward God’s creation as an act of worship to the Lord Jesus Christ and in response to the biblical call to tend the garden. They aim specifically to mobilize Christians in this pursuit but work with all people—regardless of faith. http://www.ecfa.org/Content/A-Rocha-USA-Becomes-an-ECFA-Member A Rocha is helping build a network of projects mobilizing communities across the country to steward the Earth .” They ask people to pray fro an awakening of all to the environmental challenges we face …and … must be part of the solution. http://arocha-usa.org/PeopleI fully disagree with the idea that all three are part of our mission for the simple reason that Jesus own words gave us the mission in Mt.28:18-19. It has absolutely nothing to do with saving the creation - preserving or restoring the environment, that’s exclusively God’s part. Sin is indeed the cause and all creation is under its power until the end of the age. “Whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began” (Acts 3:21). We do not inherit the earth until Jesus returns, but some people do not understand that our faith involves patience, waiting for that time. Earth Day is Marxist Lenin’s birthday, an they want it to converge with good Friday! “Evangelical environmentalists" are redefining the gospel, implying that Jesus died on the cross to redeem the planet, trees and people. They consider a lack of environmental concern as sin against the Lord, they conform the significance of the cross to fit our cultures concern that is driven by scientific inaccuracies of a forming cataclysm caused by man. This presents a shift from actual mission work, proclaiming the gospel message to save souls which will live eternally with God in the time of the earth restored or to try to restore this now without? God and unite with people of all other different religious beliefs to do so. When Jesus said God so loved the world but he didn’t mean the environment but people, Jesus died for the sin of Mankind, not to redeem the environment. All other things will be put in order when he returns and exercises his perfect rule over mankind, not before. February 14, 2005 National Council of Churches issued a letter
Headed: God’s Earth
is Sacred: Presented by their own A eco freindly group of theologians, called on Christians to repent of “our social and ecological sins” and to reject teachings that suggest humans are “called” to exploit the Earth without care for how our behavior impacts the rest of God’s creation. The statement, “God’s Earth is Sacred: An Open Letter to Church and Society in the United States,” points out that there is both an environmental and a theological crisis that must be addressed. “We have listened to a false gospel that we continue to live out in our daily habits - a gospel that proclaims that God cares for the salvation of humans only and that our human calling is to exploit Earth for our own ends alone.” The statement calls on Christians to: first, to “repent of our sins, in the presence of God and one another,” and, second, to pursue, “with God’s help, a path different from our present course .”I think that the NCC should repent of their denial of the God of the Bible’s constant watchful care over us. It’s as if He has taken a vacation somewhere in the far off universe and left it all to us. The green movement is not just ecological, it is spiritual; it has a different view of god (goddess) when they acknowledge there is a god - it is nature itself. But nature is not intelligent, it’s amoral, having no sense of "right or "wrong." We constantly see what Mother nature does; floods and earthquakes, a volcano sends poisonous gases into the atmosphere, a tsunami wipes out a coastal village. All these are far more destructive than what man has done. Nature kills indiscriminately whether one respects it or not, it doesn’t matter who you are, Christian or not. Nature is part of the fallen state, only the God who controls nature can protect you. Jesus does not commands us to be activists for the environment but as living epistles show and speak the gospel which are exclusively for humans, not animals, not trees. Look at the judgments on the trees and the sea explicitly described in the book of Revelation. Some obviously think this can be avoided. But it is God who sends these judgments, as destructive as man can be it, it does not compare to what is going to take place because of our rejection of God. What is coming is because man is not repenting. Like it or not God knows the future and has written us to prepare us. The judgments in the tribulation progress in severity as man continues to harden his heart (just as Pharaoh did in Egypt). Rev.6:7-4th Seal: Death released. 1/4 of the worlds population to die by plagues, disease, and beasts of the earth Rev.8:7-1st Trumpet: Hail, fire, and blood. 1/3 all grass and trees burned up Rev.8:8 -2nd Trumpet: A great mountain hits the sea. 1/3 all ocean becomes blood. 1/3 all sea life dies Rev.8:10-3rd Trumpet: Wormwood star hits earth. 1/3 all freshwater poisoned. Rev.8:12-4th Trumpet: 1/3 of sun and moon darkened Rev.16:3-2nd Bowl: Entire ocean becomes blood. All sea life dies Rev.16:4-3rd Bowl: Fresh water becomes blood. No more fresh drinking water Rev.16:8-4th Bowl: Sun increased in heat and scorches and burns people (Extreme global warming occurs) Rev.16:17-7th Bowl: massive earthquakes, and 100 pound hailstones devastate earth. At the end of all these judgments there will not be many people left living on earth. God holds the environment, in fact He is the one that sent the flood and this same God will punish man in the tribulation period for his rebellion, worshipping what is not God. This is what they will say in the end 2 Peter 3:4-5: "Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation." For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water.” On purpose they forget that a judgment is coming. I’m not saying to ignore being a steward over our home, things under our control; but we should be cautious in becoming an environmental soldier instead of a soldier for the Lord and His purposes, which are NOT the same. Richard Austin (one of the speakers at the EarthCare '96 conference) declared: "Christ is fully God and fully Earth .... He came to save the world." Austin added that saving the earth is our job, too: "I hear the Bible calling us to redeem from destruction the Creation." This is indicative of what many believe. We need to be careful that we are not removed from the faith by these so called benevolent purposes. I Jn. 2:15 “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” We should love and respect God’s creation, his creatures but not in the same way we love and respect the Lord, or mankind who alone was created in God's image; we must be careful of having a friendship with the world that becomes more important than the Lord. He and his gospel is our priority. When one rejects the true God who transcends all that He made, they will worship what they see, the creation. This is the Rom.1 principle that has been active since the beginning and becomes stronger and more pervasive at the end of the age. Ps. 8:1-9 “O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth, who set Your glory above the heavens! Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants you have ordained strength, because of Your enemies, that You may silence the enemy and the avenger. When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, V.4 -9 “What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels, and You have crowned him with glory and honor. You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; you have put all things under his feet, All sheep and oxen-- even the beasts of the field, The birds of the air, and the fish of the sea that pass through the paths of the seas. O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth! On the topic of dominion, that was given to Adam and Eve in Genesis this very verse is cited and transferred to Jesus. We will serve under him but not without him coming and setting things in order first. Heb. 2:6-10: “For He has not put the world to come, of which we speak, in subjection to angels. But one testified in a certain place, saying: "What is man that You are mindful of him, or the son of man that You take care of him? You have made him a little lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor, and set him over the works of Your hands. You have put all things in subjection under his feet." For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we do not yet see all things put under him.V.9-10 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.” We should be watchful that we do not have this happen, that we are led away from what the Bible actually says about these matters. Isa. 26:13: “O LORD our God, masters besides You have had dominion over us; but by You only we make mention of Your name.”
pt.2 what is at stake |
|
|
