Andrew's blog and evangel

[Andrew]

Here are my thoughts on Christianity today:

This first blog was published 9/10/19 and it took a good two hours to complete, started with a belief I've held over a certain subject and it just grew from there. Feedback and comments are encouraged

GLOBAL WARMING: A CALL TO REPENT!!
(Fire and brimstone! Gloom and doom!)

Let's face it, the human race is a sinful race and if there is a time to act and repent it's here and now..
I mean this sincerely, I've been listening to all sides of the spectrum and while we can all agree that things aren't going anywhere with our know-it-all debates I feel this is a Christian dilemma.
You see even the Son of God Jesus Christ does not know the day or hour of his return but we do have SIGNS that warn us as followers to repent of our ways lest we call forth furious plagues from God unlike one has ever witnessed in history!
We are used to hearing that kind of talk aren't we? Typically It's one Christian telling another Christian that as long as you act accordingly exactly like them you are square with God and oh btw preach my evangel to your friends and be sure to invite them to next Sundays service.
Those days however are numbered and according to scripture one day those doors will be locked, the bible will become testimony based only, and the people will not hear.
I don't believe we have come to that time yet be we are definitely on route to that sobering moment.
Truth is that we have no future deadline to meet, no date is set, yet we continue to ignore the plagues that are with no delay... that are expected at some point to fall directly on a 'formally' good and Godly nation that had turned away from God and thus fallen away.
So what about America? Where are we in knowledge of scripture? Nevermind all those who reject scripture but what are we doing and what can we do as Christians to battle against evil in high places?
I started asking myself this because I see what honest and good intended Christians do and I wonder why it's not effective at all. We picket gay pride rallies and abortion clinics but we forget the whole libertarian verses that say something like "let they who sin continue on sinning"... So God already knows that protesting against that level of sin is of no good to him or to anyone.
So why do we do it?
I believe its because we have power but we have forgotten how to exercise it outside ego and self, we have become too occupied on what others think that we go along with them and march in their rallies and vote for their candidates so that our pride conforms and matches perfectly with theirs but it really does makes us seem artificial, naive and vulnerable.
"I'm a conservative because I believe the gospel preaches against non conservative immoral value, I vote Republican because none conservatives vote Democrat, I'm for Capitalism because Socialism is Communism and that it that!"
Ok, fair, but communism is just a red herring in my book.
Of course that's not what we want, we know it weakens the nations and by God we will not stand for that!
But again I proclaim that -although it's true Communism is the serpent that destroys Gods nations- we must recognize it as a red herring and see ourselves as the culprit, because we may be setting ourselves up for the big enchilada (warning) if we aren't careful.
I believe that the powers that be know and are certain that the Capitalist standard held in power by the American arm has enriched themselves and has blessed increasingly modern science advances and general medical advances throughout the globe and I would be "dog gone" if that weren't true because it is!
Science and medical breakthroughs is what made America great in the first place (in case anyone asks)... Canada for example has great morale and socialist methods but with no Capitalists America in existence there would be no great Canada, most diseases would never have had a cure sought after if it weren't for America, America truly is a country based upon immigrants with a compassion and fight to aid the world and press on.
Now what? Why are things seeming to go in reverse? Has it not occured to you that our own advances are telling us to slow down our own consumption?
Quick question, what's the root of all evil?
The answer is greed, the love of money, temporal goods in this life, the disregard for the poor etc....
And here we are, and THIS is a call for repentance.
You see we have become distracted with creating such a Chick-fil-a concept of Christianity that we have become picketers against nothing but solid brick.
We act like we must follow our group to protest the other side and whatever the other side ask for we must make sure we don't allow it and that they never get it.
What do we prize as our mascot that they have taken and has robbed us of?
What's a sign that we own that they took??
Think about it... we picket just as much as they do!
It's a problem with sin but mostly with ours...
Give up?

It's the inconvenient truth exploited by politicians to create a cat and mouse scheme to distract us... Global Warming my friends is sign from God that we need to repent and instead of protesting against homosexuality and abortions to those who are dumb deaf and blind, we need to protest against greed in the industry along side with those who recognise global warming as scientific fact likewise with those who recognise Gods warning as truth, together, and no I'm not even joking, the whole world senses something terribly bad.
It's the same whether you believe "well its the end times ya know, I have nothing to do with it, it's all them degenerates causing it so lets sit back and watch cause this is it" or "the government needs to step in and solve this issue over every conservative Christians dead body because this is it!" it's about time we at least let it be known by putting down the protest signs against non believers and at least raising up signs that demand transportation without using unnecessary crude oil (yes, companies have actually bribed away people who have invented trash and water fueled cars).
This will not cure sin but Jesus wasn't sent to cure sin either, it's our job tho to be vigilant and when we see the signs coming we shouldn't be so bias to the point we discredit his signs and sit on our hands while supporting the rich in their getaway caves and jets.. ignorantly supporting global warming denials is radically the same as not taking heed to Gods warnings and plagues in Revelation against an adulterous generation!... in other words do not support anti-apocalyptic propaganda just because it appeases your party even though you know deep down the sign of the end times is upon all humanity, its a signal! A warning! Take heed but don't sit back and say "how much longer?" continuously, for no man knoweth the time of His coming but God alone!
Read Revelation and stay vigilant and react on those signs and warnings with soberness and understanding.

Science and religion were once in union but there was a split, we shouldn't fear science any more than we do religion, the earliest scientists were Christians and even tho the science and religion split has drifted into the political sphere we should not be picking sides of groups that do us no good and are not the Body of Christ, its simply a man made idea with an agenda to deceive.

We have impacted a quarter of the entire homeostasis of this planet through resources ever sense God gave man his first breathe, we alter environments just by physically being present, let's look at statistics and scripture for what it is and stop identifying ourselves with the enemy of man..

Thanks for your time
-Andrew

 

[tango]

I'm really not sure what you're trying to say here. It sounds like you're more concerned about rich people in their private jets (who are often the ones most vocal about reducing carbon emissions) than about going into the world and preaching the gospel. The gospel has precisely nothing to do with climate change.

 

[Andrew]

I'm really not sure what you're trying to say here. It sounds like you're more concerned about rich people in their private jets (who are often the ones most vocal about reducing carbon emissions) than about going into the world and preaching the gospel. The gospel has precisely nothing to do with climate change.

The point is that because politicians involve themselves with it yet fly jets and such is no reason to ignore the signs we are experiencing. We could as conservative Christians focus more on climate change rather than pointless picketing. This would cause the left and right to see eye to eye and maybe something could be done through pressure on big oil and car manufacturers to switch to non carbon based transportation, which is possible but oil is business and we are allowing it and taking part in it imo. Well we have no choice or we would have been driving gasless vehicles already.
Yeah it's far fetched I know but teslas idea of free energy wasn't so far fetched, he was also robbed of his life long works that would have caused the fat cats to find honest work.
Anyway I used to be against global warming claims for that very reason you brought up, however it doesn't make it go away and it is very real.

 

[tango]

The point is that because politicians involve themselves with it yet fly jets and such is no reason to ignore the signs we are experiencing. We could as conservative Christians focus more on climate change rather than pointless picketing. This would cause the left and right to see eye to eye and maybe something could be done through pressure on big oil and car manufacturers to switch to non carbon based transportation, which is possible but oil is business and we are allowing it and taking part in it imo. Well we have no choice or we would have been driving gasless vehicles already.
Yeah it's far fetched I know but teslas idea of free energy wasn't so far fetched, he was also robbed of his life long works that would have caused the fat cats to find honest work.
Anyway I used to be against global warming claims for that very reason you brought up, however it doesn't make it go away and it is very real.

Why focus on climate change when we could do away with the pointless picketing and do what Jesus told us to do?

The idea of carbon-free transport is great in theory but if it does ever happen it's going to be a long way off. Battery powered things are great but batteries simply can't store the amount of energy that is locked up in hydrocarbons. Oil is not only a lucrative business, oil stores far more energy than batteries ever will. And of course batteries require charging, which needs electricity, which has to come from somewhere. Perhaps what we need is to simply use less rather than fussing over exactly how this endless growth is going to be managed if we're already reaching the edges of the petri dish. It seems that as good a place as any to start is to buy locally - support local businesses and as far as possible buy things that have been made locally. If people started doing that, not only would it support the local people in the local economy but it might also take some trucks off the road and some ships off the sea, with carbon savings (for those that care about such things) far in excess of any benefits gained by driving a Prius.

One mantra that has been going around for years is "reduce, reuse, recycle". It makes sense - there's so much fluff about recycling but it makes more sense to reuse something before recycling it, and to use less in the first place rather than simply throwing plastic in the recycling bin and patting ourselves on the back.

If we are going to look at ways of reducing emissions, waste, pollution etc the best place to start is to align the purpose with the interests of the people who are expected to change. The way things are now there are a whole bunch of people wagging their fingers and telling us all we're going to have to change (while doing nothing to change themselves, hence comments about private jets. Because, you know, the environmental loudmouths couldn't possibly risk brushing shoulders with the great unwashed and the riff-raff in regular first class air travel) and give up this and cut down on that. We had the spectacle of John Kerry talking about how we'd have to give up air conditioning to save the planet, although of course he led by example and had the air conditioning turned off in his office first. Oh, wait, I'm not sure he did lead by example, he just told us that we'd have to do without something that he apparently couldn't do without - that's how it works these days. Aligning interests is far more effective - I'm not going to listen to someone wagging their finger at me and telling me I have to cut something back when they have no idea how I live. I will turn my heating down because it saves me money. I will insulate my house because it saves me money. I will drive with economy in mind because it saves me money. I cut down on waste because it saves me money. All these things are done out of self-interest but align with the cause these ecowarriors are trying to force. Frankly I have no interest in listening in anything Al Gore has to say about carbon emissions when one international trip in his private jet probably generates as many emissions as my share of the emissions of all the flights I'll take in my lifetime. Saying "ah yes, but the fact is he's right" doesn't change anything - he clearly doesn't believe a word of it so why should anyone else believe him?

 

[Lamb]

The point is that because politicians involve themselves with it yet fly jets and such is no reason to ignore the signs we are experiencing. We could as conservative Christians focus more on climate change rather than pointless picketing. This would cause the left and right to see eye to eye and maybe something could be done through pressure on big oil and car manufacturers to switch to non carbon based transportation, which is possible but oil is business and we are allowing it and taking part in it imo. Well we have no choice or we would have been driving gasless vehicles already.
Yeah it's far fetched I know but teslas idea of free energy wasn't so far fetched, he was also robbed of his life long works that would have caused the fat cats to find honest work.
Anyway I used to be against global warming claims for that very reason you brought up, however it doesn't make it go away and it is very real.

How many jobs will you be putting out of business by stopping many industries where people earn their living? Changes to how people live didn't happen overnight so any change to what people say will benefit the planet shouldn't happen overnight either because there will be extreme consequences.

When Obama cut out the coal industry thousands upon thousands of peoples' livelihoods were affected. Even the trickling down from the main coal industry had an effect, such as my husband's own job where he worked as IT for a firm that designed equipment for coal processing. The entire company he worked at (in Chicago) was shut down and we were in a panic because at the time my husband was almost 50 and how does someone his age go out and try to earn money in the field of IT where the young guys fresh out of college are willing to work for half of what he made? We were fortunate that the main company based in a different city had pity on him and relocated us to a different site.

Investors.com says that over 10,000,000 jobs will be lost if the New Green Deal takes places and removes coal and oil industries. Factories and steel making industries will be forced to move overseas and that means more jobs lost. Where I used to live in Indiana it was a prime steel industry area! Entire towns would be affected, not just a few families! Can you imagine the extreme recession our country would be in where people were suffering hardships but do the Democrats care about any of that or the sunshine they're selling right now to try to make themselves look as if they care about the planet?

The planet isn't going anywhere anytime soon without God's hand in it so fear not, little flock. All this blame game on people who already recycle and run all their errands on one day to save fuel is like preaching to the choir. Isn't China, India and Pakistan the places where people need huge reforms to end the pollution that can be seem from space?

 

[tango]

The thing is that if man-made climate change really will end life as we know it then people losing their jobs is something we may just have to accept. The trouble is those people still have loans and mortgages and rent to pay so if government wants to impose an accelerated timeframe the same government has to provide alternatives rather than just telling people it's too bad they're homeless more or less overnight.

And of course that then feeds right back in to the issue of government waste - it doesn't work for the great and the good to fly (first class, obviously, and with an army of hangers-on and me-toos tagging along) to some exotic location so they can discuss ways to put everyday people out of work.

We should focus on the lowest hanging fruit, while at the same time avoiding the notion that Someone Else should do everything. That said, when we are already doing things that make sense and are sensibly within our own powers to do, it gets really tedious to hear some Hollywood name get out of his private jet for long enough to lecture us about the importance of reducing carbon emissions. There is a time when we as individuals need to figure out ways to reduce our own wastage (which is best presented as a way for us to save our own resources - we might dispute what effect our personal carbon emissions may have but can't dispute that turning the heat down a degree or two in the winter saves us money right here and right now), and there's also a time when we as individuals have to make very clear that a single Hollywood big shot in their private jet released enough carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in that one trip to undo all the good I'm doing by turning the heat down a little for decades. Me turning the heat down a little might save 100 gallons of heating oil in a year. How many gallons of fuel did your private jet burn because you're obviously far too important to fly on a regular passenger jet?

The trouble is that so much of politics these days is quite happy to dump huge costs on people who are likely to vote the other way. Chances are the people who dig coal out of the ground for a living vote Republican, so if the Democrats dump huge costs on them and their communities it won't cost them any votes. It will energise the Democrat base, who can see that their party is doing the right thing for the environment. They won't necessarily even see the unemployment it causes or, if they do, they can just say the people should reskill and find a job that won't kill the planet. By the time they face a real consequence themselves (maybe rolling power outages when the pesky laws of physics prove that solar and wind power aren't enough on their own) chances are they are sufficiently separated from the situation they'd end up blaming someone else anyway. It turns into the kind of situation where one president initiates a change that doesn't cause problems until a few years later, when the next president gets blamed for it.

 

[Lamb]

Well if the world is in such a state of disrepair that it's at the brink of destruction then I highly doubt that doing something right now in our country alone is going to save the planet.

 

[tango]

Well if the world is in such a state of disrepair that it's at the brink of destruction then I highly doubt that doing something right now in our country alone is going to save the planet.

Very true - my point was more that if certain industries will bring about the destruction of the planet then logically we must unwind those industries and find alternatives. It's just that it's a very big IF, and if governments want to impose a sudden change they need to be ready to help those most directly affected deal with the consequences. It's not sensible for governments to regulate entire industries out of existence and expect everybody who worked in those industries, as well as the people who worked supporting the industries, to just shrug and figure they can find a new job and their mortgage will pay itself.

 

[Andrew]

The planet isn't going anywhere anytime soon without God's hand in it so fear not, little flock. All this blame game on people who already recycle and run all their errands on one day to save fuel is like preaching to the choir. Isn't China, India and Pakistan the places where people need huge reforms to end the pollution that can be seem from space?

I guess it's a concern for being good stewards to the planet, but I was reminded in genesis this morning that yes God put man in the garden to work the grounds, but due to sin we by the sweat of our brow must work to make a living because we allowed death into the world, thus God called forth rain to fall and weeds to grow, i sometimes imagine that garden and how beautiful it must have looked, the atmosphere and sky itself must have been wonderful without all that humidity! I want out of Texas! Lol

 

[Lamb]

I guess it's a concern for being good stewards to the planet, but I was reminded in genesis this morning that yes God put man in the garden to work the grounds, but due to sin we by the sweat of our brow must work to make a living because we allowed death into the world, thus God called forth rain to fall and weeds to grow, i sometimes imagine that garden and how beautiful it must have looked, the atmosphere and sky itself must have been wonderful without all that humidity! I want out of Texas! Lol

Adam and Eve saw the change that happened at their fall. I think for various reasons since then that mankind has suggested that the end of the world is near and this climate change talk can be added to that lot. It's as if God isn't around at all to keep the world going if He's not ready to return for Judgment Day?

 

[psalms 91]

I believe that God works through man in many and most instances and Revelation talks of the sun burning men for six months to the point of them wanting death and hiding in caves, climate change? I think it is a real possibility

 

[tango]

Adam and Eve saw the change that happened at their fall. I think for various reasons since then that mankind has suggested that the end of the world is near and this climate change talk can be added to that lot. It's as if God isn't around at all to keep the world going if He's not ready to return for Judgment Day?

All sorts of things could indicate the end is nigh, we just have to be careful not to be running around acting as if every little thing is a Sign Of The End. Back in Paul's day people thought the end was nigh so it's not as if it's anything new. Then came the reasons why the world would end in (year) only to be revised, amended, kludged, explained away etc as the author of the latest failed prophecy tried to explain why they hadn't really got it horribly wrong.

For myself the thing I find most persuasive as far as end times discussions are concerned is the concept of how "knowledge shall increase" from Dan 12:4 - one thing that has definitely happened in recent years is that knowledge has exploded in all directions. Even so, knowledge has been growing even if at a slower pace for much longer than the last few years so it's still hard to tell whether our recent performance is indicative of the end being nigh, or just that we're closer today than we were yesterday.

The sun burning people might refer to climate change although if we assume it's caused by something we can understand it seems more likely to be a catastrophic collapse of something rather than a gradual change. If something happens to suddenly, maybe unexpectedly, destroy something like the ozone layer that allows far more UV light through to the earth, that might trigger the sun burning people. Otherwise it would seem like those with more sensitive skin would suffer for longer while those more resistant to sunburn would be OK, but the Revelation doesn't give any indication that it will work that way.

 

[Andrew]

All sorts of things could indicate the end is nigh, we just have to be careful not to be running around acting as if every little thing is a Sign Of The End. Back in Paul's day people thought the end was nigh so it's not as if it's anything new. Then came the reasons why the world would end in (year) only to be revised, amended, kludged, explained away etc as the author of the latest failed prophecy tried to explain why they hadn't really got it horribly wrong.

For myself the thing I find most persuasive as far as end times discussions are concerned is the concept of how "knowledge shall increase" from Dan 12:4 - one thing that has definitely happened in recent years is that knowledge has exploded in all directions. Even so, knowledge has been growing even if at a slower pace for much longer than the last few years so it's still hard to tell whether our recent performance is indicative of the end being nigh, or just that we're closer today than we were yesterday.

The sun burning people might refer to climate change although if we assume it's caused by something we can understand it seems more likely to be a catastrophic collapse of something rather than a gradual change. If something happens to suddenly, maybe unexpectedly, destroy something like the ozone layer that allows far more UV light through to the earth, that might trigger the sun burning people. Otherwise it would seem like those with more sensitive skin would suffer for longer while those more resistant to sunburn would be OK, but the Revelation doesn't give any indication that it will work that way.

Man polluting the Earth is "missing the mark" and could be the result in which God uses his design to punish

 

[tango]

Man polluting the Earth is "missing the mark" and could be the result in which God uses his design to punish

It's possible, my point wasn't so much that it can't be related to pollution but that whatever it is, it seems more likely that the sun burning people would be caused by a sudden catastrophic failure of something in the atmosphere. If we see a gradual breakdown of some aspect of the atmosphere that protects us then it would be a problem that gets progressively worse such that some would suffer while others were OK. If that protective layer collapses or disappears more or less overnight we could see a situation in which people literally go to bed with everything just fine, and then wake up to find the sun burns them as soon as they step outside.

Many of the woes that befall the earth only affect the people who have the mark of the beast, suggesting that either God's people have been raptured before then or there's something going on that isn't as simple as climate change.