The world's newest religion - Environmental Idolatry

"Global warming is a major industry today. Between 1992 and 2008 the US Government spent $30 billion on climate change research and now contributes $6 billion a year. This finances jobs, grants, conferences, international travel and academic journals. It not only keeps a huge army of people in comfortable employment, but also fills them with self-righteousness and moral superiority regardless of the fact that real science does not support it." Jay Lehr, Ph.D Science Director at the Heartland Institute, USA.

I will digress a bit from my usual fare today. I have been enthralled by the worldwide panic swirling around the who concept of so called "global warming." Now, I know that Al Gore has declared the debate to be "over", but it certainly is not. There is a large number of highly qualified scientist who declare that it is not only good science, it is a purposeful, financially driven hoax; that prays on the fears of a culture thal already lives in fear. I believe that it is a function of the world's newest religion "Environmental Idolatry".

Actually, its not a "new religion" because it was identified as far back as Paul's letter to the church at Rome when he said in Romans 1:25, "they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature (creation) more than the creator."

I highly recommend that if you are not yet living in complete panic about the levels of C02 in the atmosphere you read a document by Jay Lehr at http://nzclimatescience.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=471&Itemid=1. (You can copy it here and paste it in your browser). In this compelling document, Jay Lehr "blows up" much of the myth about global warming and I think, exposes it for exactly what it is - a myth and worse, a hoax.

A couple of quotes for to pique your interest:

"Carbon dioxide is not a pollutant. On the contrary, it makes crops and forests grow faster. Mapping by satellite shows that the Earth has become about 6% greener overall in the past two decades, with forests expanding into arid regions. The Amazon rain forest was the biggest gainer, with two tons of additional biomass per acre per year. Certainly, climate change does not help every region equally, but careful studies predict overall benefit, fewer storms, more rain, better crop yields, longer growing seasons, milder winters and decreasing heating costs in colder climates. The news is certainly not bad and on balance may be rather good."

NASA satellites measuring Earth atmosphere temperature found 2008 to be the coldest year since 2000 and the 14th coldest of the past 30 years. US climate Monitoring Stations on the surface show greater warmth, but pictures of most of the 1,221 US temperature stations show 90% to be located near human sources of heat (exhaust fans, air conditioning units, hot roof tops, asphalt parking lots and so forth). The conclusion is inescapable: The US land based temperature record is unreliable. (Note: this means that the instruments they're using to record the temperatures of the earth's surface are primarily placed in hot asphalt parking logs and next to air conditioner exhausts, etc. where you would always see rises in temps).

Man in his blind retreat from serving the living God has begun to worship the things that God created. The truth that is being hidden is that MAN (whom the enemy of God hates) is the real target here and the one who will suffer most as we "save" the environment is man. Just ask the farmers who are loosing their farms and living in California because the irrigation supply to their farms has been cut off to save a 2 inch fish called the "Delta Smelt".

The science behind the "environmental" movement is weak and the integrity of its proponents is suspect, especially given the revelations of the past few days in which a major scandal in the environmental movement has been revealed: Computer hackers have obtained 160 megabytes of e-mails from the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia in England. These e-mails, which have now been confirmed as real, involved many researchers across the globe with ideologically similar advocates around the world. They were brazenly discussing the destruction and hiding of data that did not support global warming claims. The academics here also worked closely with the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

I am not proposing waste and pollution. I am suggesting that the danger to the planet has been overblown and supported by unfaithful science. I believe the human motivation is money - but the "spiritual" motivation (we wrestle not against flesh and blood) is to do harm to men.

Be warned - your enemy is not co2, nor is it greehhouse gases. Your enemy is as he always been - the one who seeks to steal, kill, and destroy.

That which was from the beginning

It may seem like a strange thing, but I was hiding one day this week at Burger King - trying to find a few minutes to study without the phone ringing or some emergency arising to tear me away from the Word. You can buy a soda there and refill it as many times as you like. I had my notepad, a pen, my IPOD with the Bible on it.....and a bottomless diet coke. Now Burger King may not seem like a place to get a new revelation of Jesus; nevertheless as I sat there reading and re-reading the first chapter of I John these words: "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have handled, of the Word of Life. For the Life was manifested and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested unto us." I was moved with some powerful images which I think I should share with my friends about these words from that exiled old apostle; not a new revelation, but a refreshed one:

The eternal was manifested (revealed, shown, took form, became known) in time and space.
The unknowable has become knowable
The untouchable has become touchable
The unapparoachable has come near - Listen to what he says; "we have seen it with our eyes, looked upon (observed), we have handled Him with our hands."

The universe is immense in size to a degree that it is a mathematical impossibility to measure it - hundreds; NO! Thousands of light years accross; the planets, stars without number - a vast expanse with no measureable borders.

Colossians 1:15-17, "For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and the earth, the things we can see and the things we cannot see, all the thrones or dominions or principalities or powers - all things were created by him and for him, and he He is before all things, and by Him all things consist (and are held together).

He existed before all of this
He caused it all to come into being
His presence permeates the universe down to each and every atom.
If you could fly to the farthest expanse of the galaxy you would find Him there.
He orders the rotation of the planets around the sun.
He pulls in the ocean tides and releases them again.
He is eternally self-existent and self-sufficient.
He is the creator and sustainer of the universe; the supreme Potentate of all thrones and dominions.
He is the King over all kings.
He is the President over all presidents.
His decrees are irresistable.
His veto is final and cannot be overturned by any congress or parliment.
At His word the universe fills with light; the seas teem with life, the fields are over run with vegetation and the course of history bends at His sway.

And John makes this incredible claim - "We have seen Him! We have observed Him! WE have touched Him with our hands."

This was no burning bush like Moses.
This was no vision like Isaiah or dream like Jacob.
This was not a disembodied voice booming from Sinai. He came striding down out of the Judean Hills to the shores of the lake, looked me straight in the eye and said, "Follow me."

By means of some incredible miracle, the one in whom the entire universe is contained was contained in a human body. Somehow, the uncontainable clothed himself in skin so He could live in fellowship with His creation.

If you want to know what separates Christianity from every other faith -- here it is! You can fear Allah, you can serve him, you can die for him, but you cannot sit down in the midst of your brokenness and talk to him. If you are a Mormon, you have to take Joe Smith's word for it about what he saw in those golden spectacles. The religions of this world have gods who speak through prophets to communicate their laws and requirements - but the One True God of Heaven has good news for mankind and He delivered it personally. Hebrews 1:1-2 says, "God who at sundry times and in various ways spoke to the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds."