People today talk a great deal about CLIMATE CHANGE, and they usually mean ‘anthropogenic’ or man-caused climate change. That is the belief that the release of carbon dioxide (think car exhaust) has caused the earth to warm. For many, causes like this one are a religion, complete with sin, guilt, judgment, penance (you better buy that electric car), heresy, and excommunication (you’ll be ‘canceled’).
It may surprise you to know that this concern for pollution is Biblical—ALMOST.
“Behold, the Lord is stripping the earth bare and making it desolate… the earth will be stripped completely bare and totally plundered. The earth mourns and withers. The world wastes away … THE EARTH IS POLLUTED BY ITS INHABITANTS, for they have transgressed my teachings, overstepped decrees, and broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore a curse has consumed the earth, and its inhabitants have become guilty…. Earth’s rebellion weighs it down, and it falls, never to rise again…. The moon will be put to shame and the sun disgraced, because the Lord of Hosts will reign as king… and He will display His glory” Isaiah 24:1-23.
God has charged us with responsibility for the earth: “fill the earth and subdue it” Genesis 1:28. We were told to let the land rest during every seventh year, for example, yet we are notorious for over-working the land, abusing our resources. However, the real evil affecting the planet is not pollution, but ACTUAL EVIL: “The earth is polluted by its inhabitants, for they have transgressed my teachings, overstepped decrees, and broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore a curse has consumed the earth” Is. 24:5-6. We should protect the planet and stop pollution. But know that the earth is damaged more by sin and perversion than by smog and pollution. Walk in holiness and bless the land: “How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news” Is. 52:7.
God, help us care for the land You’ve provided—and help us live holy lives that bless the places where we step.
ΑΩ
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