October 8
Jer 10:1-11:23 | PS 78:56-72 | Prov 24:28-29 | Col 3:18-4:18
As long as I can remember there has always been a dire warning from those in positions of influence of factors, due to our selfish handling of our planet, which would one day lead to a catastrophic end to our planet as we know it. It's almost as though they throw things against the wall to see what finally sticks. There was Acid Rain in the 1970's, which was going to destroy our fresh waters, soil, trees, etc. When that faded there was the threat of Global Cooling, also in the 1970's, which would bring about the next Ice Age. After this came Global Warming, with those pictures of melting ice caps. Since nothing quite stuck, we now have the overarching term of Climate Change. Everything and Anything can be blamed on it. Since there will always be variations in the weather, since there will always be hot and cold periods, since there will always be "natural disasters", this term pretty much gives the latitude to blame every weather situation under this term. And this one seems to have stuck. Greenhouse gases are being blamed and the only solution according to the experts is to reduce our release of these through reduction in fossil fuels, and even reducing populations which emit these dangerous gases. All with the hope of protecting "Mother Earth". The pictures are scary. They don't have to be true, but they can convince the populace. There are many who have made this their religion. Others have pushed for financial gain, or political gain. Still there are many who simply go with the flow being carried along by the rhetoric of the "experts".
We are told in Psalm 46:1-3, "God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, Even though the earth be removed, And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though its waters roar and be troubled, Though the mountains shake with its swelling." All too often people forget who God is, and that He is in complete control, as we read in Jeremiah 10:11-13, " Thus you shall say to them: “The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under these heavens.” He has made the earth by His power, He has established the world by His wisdom, And has stretched out the heavens at His discretion. When He utters His voice, There is a multitude of waters in the heavens: “And He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain, He brings the wind out of His treasuries.”" God will one day destroy the Earth as we know it and create a New heaven and a New earth, as written in the concluding chapters of Revelation. Until that time, worrying and following the directives of man, who have no ability to create, sustain, or for that matter do anything else with this planet is foolish, as we read in Jeremiah 10:23, "O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps."
Should we dump a bag of trash out of our car window? Of course not. Should we go out of our way to be environmentally unfriendly? Of course not. God created our planet, and we are to respect it. But never forget that it was indeed that God that created this world out of nothing. If He chooses to He can reverse any "global crises" simply by His Word. In an instant, if He so desires, He can reverse anything. On the same note, He can escalate things, if He so desires. Global changes will truly come about at devastating levels during God's judgments when He pours out His wrath against the Earth and those living on it at that time. That being said, it is time to stop looking at human "experts", and start looking towards God. He and he alone sets the times and events.
Messages from Pastor Lloyd Pulley: