The Religion of Climate Change

A few years ago, our senses were assaulted when the world was introduced to the petulant cries of climate change celebrity Greta Thunberg. As the whiney teenager spoke in a condescending tone before the United States General Assembly, she said, “We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!” In the wake of that lecture, Greta gained fame from fawning media outlets ready to launch her into the pantheon of climate change gods like Al Gore. Greta was named Time’s Person of the Year in 2019 and was even nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Since then, this real-life, woke-version of Veruca Salt from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, has become the posterchild for all things climate change. What is most puzzling about her ascension, is that she did all of this without possessing a single scientific credential.

I suppose it’s easy to make fun of Greta because she’s obviously a puppet, but in a more sinister way, she is just one piece of a much larger climate change machine that aims to reset the world. For the radical left, climate change has become their new religion. The witless NY Senator, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has spearheaded the so-called “Green New Deal,” stated publicly, “the world is going to end in 12 years if we don't address climate change.”[1] In a Nov. 2021 speech at the UN Climate Summit, hapless Pres. Joe Biden asserted, “This is the challenge of our collective lifetimes. The existential threat to human existence as we know it. And every day we delay the cost of inaction increases.”[2] Bill Gates recently released a new book with the subtle title, “How to Avoid a Climate Disaster.” Even Pope Francis and celebs like Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon have gotten in on the climate change bandwagon.

While the pseudo-science that is used to support the doomsday oracles of climate change is shaky at best and manufactured at worst, the stated goals of these activists are very real. For example, they want to phase out gasoline and diesel burning cars, and by 2030 have electric cars account for half of all vehicles sold in the US.[3] Additionally, all cars by 2026 are required to have “kill switches” in their software, so that the vehicle can be disabled.[4] We could certainly speculate how that could be used to restrict people’s freedoms. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has suggested that a “mileage tax” be instituted, so that drivers are taxed for every mile they drive.[5] Klaus Schwab and his buddies at the World Economic Forum speak openly in their Great Reset doctrine about the need to limit people’s consumption of meat and divesting people of private property. Bill Gates and many other powerful billionaires are saying that in order to “save the planet,” we need to have fewer living, breathing human beings walking the earth and those who remain must learn to cut back on their carnivore cravings and their carbon footprint. These are just a few examples, but it all falls under the BIG umbrella of climate change activism.

 

The Real Agenda

What is all this really about? Do the climate change advocates really love the planet? Not as much as they love money, power and control. Like COVID, climate change is being politicized to advance the globalist agenda. They have taken a strategy from the Marxist playbook, “Never let a crisis go to waste.” Climate change is just another manufactured “crisis” that is used by elites to grab more power, money and control. The very fact that you or I would be climate change denier is a thought crime itself on par with saying that earth is flat – and that should tell you all you need to know. Don’t question the narrative, or else…  

In his book, We Will Not Be Silent, Pastor Erwin Lutzer gives his take, “One reason secularists want to invest trillions of dollars into climate change is that it would give the government more control of the economy. This in the eyes of the cultural Marxists, is always a plus. Big government is always better than bug business. And as America shares more of its wealth with other countries committed to climate change, this also provides a form of equality—the oppressor is returning resources to the oppressed. After all, the ills of the world are blamed on American dominance. America owes the world.”[6]

If your goal is to usher the world into a form of global socialism, then America has to be taken down from her superpower pedestal, and “combating climate change” is a great way to spend her into oblivion and gain control over its populace. If the climate change cohort gets their way, it will mean fewer possessions and less income, and you’ll be eating kale salads for dinner. We'll all be downgraded to 100 percent renewable energy, with skyrocketing energy bills and regular blackouts. Of course, none of these rules will apply to the people who made them. Don’t forget how the mask mandates for only for the plebians, while our medical overlords got a free pass.

 

What Does the Bible Say?

·         When man rejects God, he becomes foolish and worships the creation.

The climate change worldview is a natural consequence of a Romans 1 society. The Apostle Paul explained how any society naturally descends into foolishness once God is removed from the picture, “For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened…because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator. (Rom. 1:21, 25).” Climate change is a religion with its own origin story (evolution), priesthood (Greta and company), gods (humans in charge of our own destiny), doctrine of sin (polluting the planet with greenhouse gases), view of salvation (saving the planet) and heaven and hell (the world ending in 12 years vs. environmental utopia). It is primarily earth-based and humanistic because that’s what happens when God is ousted and replaced. Climate change is simply another iteration of idolatry - a way of saving ourselves apart from God. Don't worship at this golden calf. 

·         The earth is sin-cursed and groaning for redemption.

Once again Paul has something to say here. “For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now” (Rom. 8:20-22). The reason why our planet experiences climate change, hurricanes, drought, wildfires, etc. is because of a man-made problem called “sin.” Our world is marred by the effects of sin - decay, disorder and death. There is no amount of human ingenuity that can reverse this curse, so trying to fix the planet is a fool’s errand. However, the earth is slated for an extreme makeover. When Christ returns, He will restore the earth and remove the curse. This is why I know we cannot destroy the planet. God is not done with it yet.

·         Human civilization is moving towards the Beast system.

Climate change is one of the many pieces of the prophetic puzzle coming together to form an unmistakable picture of Revelation 13. In that chapter, we read about the future tribulation period and how one man – the Antichrist – will have complete dominance over the world economically, politically, religiously. Climate change is a tool, used by unwitting people to move the world conditions to the place where it will be easy for the Antichrist to assume the reigns of power. Climate change carries the lure of virtue signaling and has all the trappings of secular religion. It now has the necessary political, corporate and financial support to move the nations towards the ultimate goal of globalism. 

We must understand where things are going prophetically, and when we do, we will not live in fear. The more the world looks like what the prophets described in the last days, the closer we are to Christ’s return. Look up. -DM

  

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[1] William Cummings, “The world is going to end in 12 years if we don't address climate change,' Ocasio-Cortez says,” USA TODAY, 22 January 2019 <https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2019/01/22/ocasio-cortez-climate-change-alarm/2642481002/>

[2] Brooke Singman & Ronn Blitzer, “Biden Calls Climate Crisis 'An Existential Threat', Apologizes for Trump Pulling Out of Paris Accord, 1 November 2021, Fox News <https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-calls-climate-crisis-an-existential-threat-to-human-existence-as-we-know-it-at-cop26>

[3] Joey Garrison and Courtney Subramanian, “'No turning back:' Biden signs order targeting half of all vehicles sold in US to be zero-emissions by 2030,” USA TODAY, 6 Aug. 2021, 

< https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/ 2021/08/05/president-joe-bide-zero-emissions-vehicles-2030-goal/5489643001/>

[4] Michael Accardi, “BIDEN-APPROVED INFRASTRUCTURE BILL: MANDATED KILL SWITCHES COMING TO CARS BY 2026,” Muscle Cars and Trucks, 17 Dec. 2021 <https://www.musclecarsandtrucks.com/biden-infrastructure-bill-vehicle-kill-switch-2026/>

[5] Caroline Kelly, “Buttigieg says no gas or mileage tax in Biden's infrastructure plan,” CNN, 29 March 2021

<https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/29/politics/buttigieg-no-gas-tax-mileage-tax-biden-infrastructure-plan-cnntv/index.html>

[6] Erwin Lutzer, We Will Not Be Silent (Eugene, OR: Harvest House, 2020), 186.

3 Economic Trends of the Last Days

Are you familiar with the idea of a “Pyrrhic victory?” Pyrrhus was a Greek king who was undone by his costly battles against the Romans. Pyrrhus first invaded Italy in 280 B.C. with a force of some 25,000 men and 20 war elephants. Immediately, Pyrrhus won a couple of smashing victories over the Romans. However, with each victory he also suffered great losses.

See Pyrrhus had no way of replacing his casualties, and his failure to deal the enemy a deathblow sent morale plummeting within his ranks. According to the ancient historian Plutarch, the warrior king was quoted as muttering, “If we are victorious in one more battle with the Romans, we shall be utterly ruined.” Five years after his first victory, Pyrrhus was forced to retreat home in utter defeat.[1]  

The reason I mention ole’ Pyrrhus is because we seem to be suffering from a similar problem. At the time of this article’s publishing, many nations are battle weary from fighting COVID. While the virus will never be totally eradicated, research is showing that the Omicron variant is not much of an existential threat.

Case in point: this past weekend was the Super Bowl in Los Angeles. 70,000 fans packed into So-Fi Arena, many of them opting to ditch the masks (as if they actually worked in the first place). One article in the National Review announced, “Maskless Super Bowl Marks Our Return to Normalcy.” A good thought – but only if our medical and political overlords think we have earned enough gold stars for good behavior to get our freedoms back.   

While COVID cases appear to be decreasing, inflation rates are increasing fast. That’s the Pyrrhic victory. Win the battle, lose the war. Defeat the virus, but at what cost? COVID may be slowing to a whimper, but just ahead is perhaps an even bigger juggernaut.

A few days ago, we learned that the consumer price index was 7.5% higher in January 2022 than it was a year ago.  We are being told that this was the highest reading since February 1982. However, some economists are saying the numbers are actually worse.

According to John Williams of shadowstats.com, if inflation was still calculated the way that it was back in 1990, the official rate of inflation would be above 10% right now.  And if inflation was still calculated the way that it was back in 1980, the official rate of inflation would be above 15% right now. Many have compared the current crisis to the Jimmy Carter era, but the truth is many think this slump is not just “transitory” as the economists say.

On her Twitter account, Washington Post columnist Heather Long shared some specific numbers from the inflation report which show where American consumers are being hit the hardest. Used cars up 40.5%. Gas up 40%. Bacon up 18%, steak up 17% and peanut butter up 15.5%. According to the Labor Department, energy prices overall are up a whopping 27% over the past year, and the list goes on. The point is you and I will have less buying power this year.[2]

There’s no telling how long inflation will last, or how tight budgets will get, but the Bible predicts that as we move closer towards the last days, the world will become more economically unstable. Specifically, the Scriptures reveal that money will have an impact on the end times, both leading up to and during the period known as the tribulation. Here are just a few financial trends the Bible warns us to look for.

·         An Addiction to Money

2 Tim. 3:1-2 says, “But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2 For people will be … lovers of money.” In other words, man will become greedier and more materialistic. Gold will become our God. The great danger of this is that riches are deceiving and lull us into a false security, like Jesus’ rich fool (Luke 12). The man died an ultimate loser, having done more preparation for his financial future than he did for eternity. As Proverbs 18:11 says, “A rich man’s wealth is his strong city, and like a high wall in his imagination.” 

·         An Acceleration of Inequality

Revelation 6:5-6 predicts that during the start of the Tribulation there will be huge financial woes, “5 When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” And I looked, and behold, a black horse! And its rider had a pair of scales in his hand. 6 And I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures, saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not harm the oil and wine!”

The “quart of wheat” mentioned by John’s vision was the least amount of food necessary to sustain a person for a day. The denarius was the Roman coin that was equal to a worker’s wage for one day. During the Tribulation this double whammy of famine and inflation will crumble world markets. The text also says that oil and wine will be exempted. Oil and wine were considered rich man’s fare in John’s day. This suggests that although the poor man’s food will be severely restricted, the luxuries of the wealthy will remain untouched. The rich will get richer and the poor will get poorer. We already see this trend, as the Global Wealth Report indicates that 1% of the world’s population, owns 44% of the world’s wealth.[3]

·         An Acceptance of the Antichrist

Revelation 13 speaks of a future mandate even more far reaching than ones we’ve seen recently with the vax. “The Mark of the Beast” will be the final solution to force people to bow to the knee to the Antichrist’s regime by crippling them financially if they don’t take His mark.

“16 Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, 17 so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.”

The technology is already in place to make this a reality. Some companies, like BioHax International in Sweden, and Three Square in Michigan are already microchipping their employees with RFIDs that contain all their necessary purchasing info. Meanwhile, Amazon has already rolled out Amazon One – “a device that is a fast, convenient, contactless way for people to use their palm to make everyday activities like paying at a store, presenting a loyalty card, entering a location like a stadium, or badging into work more effortless.”[4]

The point is this—we can see how today’s world conditions are acting as a set up for the last days. The trends of Bible prophecy are converging. Make sure your hope is not in the Almighty Dollar, but Almighty God. Christians ought to leverage these trends by helping the lost see how current events are connected to God’s Word and the soon return of Jesus! -DM

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[1] Evan Andrews, “5 Famous Pyrrhic Victories,” The History Channel, 4 March 2021 <https://www.history.com/news/5-famous-pyrrhic-victories>

[2] “Is The Real Rate of Inflation Double the Number We Were Just Given?” Prophecy News Watch, 15 February 2022 <https://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=5213>

[3] David Jeremiah, Where Do We Go From Here? (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2021), 81-82.

[4] < https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/innovation-at-amazon/introducing-amazon-one-a-new-innovation-to-make-everyday-activities-effortless>

Willful Blindness

 

When Isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see, he called Esau his older son and said to him, “My son”; and he answered, “Here I am.”   Gen. 27:1 

With his eyesight failing, the time had come for Isaac to confer his blessing upon his sons – Jacob and Esau. Not only was Esau his favorite son, but he was older and thus deserved the birthright blessing according to tradition. However, the Lord had already reveled to Isaac and Rebekah that God was going to reverse the expectation with these sons. Going against the grain, before these boys were born the Lord declared that “the older would serve the younger” (Gen. 25:23).

Even though God chose Jacob over Esau, this did not set well with Isaac, and he sought to bless the older anyway. It appears that Isaac was double blind – physically and spiritually. In fact, you might say the old man was willfully blind because he chose against God’s revealed choice.

What followed was all kinds of chicanery and family feuding. “If the old codger won’t see the obvious choice is to bless Jacob, then we will make him see!” Rebekah thought. She connived and cajoled Jacob to play along with her scheme. Because Isaac’s vision was blurry it allowed Jacob to don a disguise and fool his dad into blessing him instead of his brawny brother.

But back to Isaac’s spiritual blindness. I think there were two big cataracts that obscured his vision. One was tradition, in that culture the firstborn always received the greater blessing. The other was favoritism. As Gen. 25:28 says, “Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.”

We can be like Isaac too – willfully blind to God’s truth. Tradition and personal preference can cause us to choose against God’s choice. How many churches and Christians are stuck in the past simply because “that’s the way things have always been done”? God may want to do something new, but we fight against change. Then there is preference. God’s Word clearly tells us what to do, but when that doesn’t fit with our agenda, we go our own way. Pretty soon we get into that illicit relationship, we justify that sin or make that move that ends up putting us in a bind. When things fall apart, we have no one to blame but ourselves.

Willful Blindness. It happens when we consciously close our eyes and ears to information we’d rather not acknowledge. And the outcome can be disastrous. Kind of like the sign I saw one time that read, “My mind is like concrete: thoroughly mixed and permanently set.”

So what do we do? The Psalmist has a great remedy. “Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from Your law” (Ps. 119:18). We must check-in with our Great Physician and submit to an examination, asking “Where am I blind?  Where am I refusing to see and believe what God is doing right in front of me?”  We all have blind spots—things we just don’t see and things we pretend we don’t see. We need the Lord to show us where we think we see but are really blind.

Pray: “Lord, show me where I’m blind, where I think I understand but I really don’t.  I want to always be a learner, and not get set in my thinking or ways to the degree that I’m not open to new insights from You.  Open my eyes and help me see new things from You today.” -DM

Satanist Set Free by Jesus

 

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.    2 Cor. 5:17

Who do you think is the most unlikely person to become a Christian? The atheist you work with who constantly argues that the Bible is full of errors? The lesbian who has the rainbow flag proudly displayed on her car bumper? Or what about the guy on the street corner selling drugs, or your cousin who’s been in and out of rehab more times than you can count? It’s human nature to judge a book by it’s cover. We read the stories in the Bible about God’s power to save, but do we really believe it?

You’d have to put Carl Sartor at the top of the “most likely to never go to church” list. I read about his story on the Christian Headlines news website. Carl was not just your garden variety atheist, he was a Satanist (Which is an interesting contradiction; how would you explain Satan’s existence without God?). One of his favorite t-shirts to sport had in bold letters “Saved by Satan.” In his Facebook post Carl wrote of himself, “I've never been a spiritual person. I believed when you die, you was dead. That was it. I've been running from God since I was about five. I would argue you tooth and nail that He did not exist. I was living in a vicious cycle of drugs and alcohol. I had a severe anger problem. I blamed everyone and everything. I also blamed God.”

Carl’s life continued to spiral out of control, when he crossed paths with the pastor of Cross Church in Parkersburg, WV, Rich Walters. The pastor invited Carl to church, but he quickly threw cold water on that idea. “It will be a cold day in hell before you ever see me in church,” he assured the preacher.

After a failed suicide attempt, Carl suddenly found himself open to Christ. Then the unthinkable happened. Carl went to church. According to Pastor Walters, Carl was so overcome during the time of worship music that he was ready to be baptized before the sermon even began! That’s right. Fifteen minutes into the service and Carl was running for the altar begging Jesus to save him. He asked to be baptized that very moment.  

“I feel completely whole. I feel at peace with myself. There is no longer a void,” Carl wrote. “Everything has changed about me. I'm spiritually alive now. For the first time in life, I had a spiritual experience. God is real, and I will continue to walk this path with Him beside me. By his grace, I'm by far the best version of me I have ever been. My God is an awesome God, and I pray that everyone gets to experience his love as I have.”[1]

Wow, what a testimony! What a reminder - don’t think someone is “too far gone” that God can’t reach them. Don’t think your simple invitation or witness won’t make a difference. Don’t forget that the Gospel still saves and there is power in Jesus’ name. Keep praying for that prodigal. Keep sowing that Gospel seed. Keep loving people who are from God. -DM

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[1] Milton Quintanilla, “I Feel Completely Whole': Ex-Satanist Shares How God Changed His Life,” Christian Headlines, 27 January 2022, <https://www.christianheadlines.com/contributors/milton-quintanilla/i-feel-completely-whole-ex-satanist-shares-how-god-changed-his-life.html>