We truly live in an upside-down world. According to many, the most grievous sin one can commit is that of denying that the earth is warming to unsafe levels because of our modern lifestyle.
Julie Kelly, a writer for The Hill, sums up this accusation:
For those of you who don’t know what a climate denier is, it means you either challenge, question or flat-out reject the idea that the planet is warming due to human activity…. Should you remotely doubt the dubious models, unrealized dire predictions, changing goal posts or flawed data related to climate science, you are not just stupid according to these folks, but you are on par with those who deny the Holocaust.[i]
The globalists have recently turned up the volume of their warnings concerning climate change. The World Economic Forum (WEF) this month came out against private ownership of cars. They already assume that vehicles powered by fossil fuels will someday no longer exist and due to the shortage of materials to make the electric batteries for future cars, the government will need to step in and control who they allow to own automobiles.
In response to the ongoing push to demonize the use of fossil fuels as well as those of us who do not accept that a climate emergency exists, I have decided to write a series of articles from a biblical creationist viewpoint.
I believe the most fundamental error of the climate alarmists is that of rejecting what Scripture says about God’s creation, both its past and its future. This is where I will begin in addressing the topic.
Climate alarmists reject biblical truth in three ways.
1. They Reject the Story of God’s Creation
(Note: the material that follows is adapted from a chapter that I wrote for the book, Lawless -- The End-Times War Against the Spirit of the Antichrist.[ii] Please see Lawless for the entirety of my chapter.)
Many errors in judgment arise from not knowing the whole story, do they not? When I was in seminary during the late-1970s, a young man and his family began attending a Sunday school class of which I was a part. I soon formed a negative opinion of him based on his appearance; he had very long hair and an earring in his pierced ear (back then this seemed much more radical to me than it would today). I felt great shame when I learned he was an undercover narcotics officer whose appearance helped him fit into the illegal drug culture of the day so he could catch the bad guys.
Likewise, Scripture reveals the grand story of Creation apart from which we cannot fully understand its current state, or, more importantly, discern its future. Many errors of the climate alarmists stem from their rejection of the validity of the biblical narrative of creation and the Fall, or, as the Bible says, they “suppress the truth” of what they see in nature (see Romans 1:18–20) or in the sky (Psalm 19:1-4).
God created everything we see around us in nature as well as in the skies. Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
In Isaiah 45:12, the Lord proclaims that He “made the earth and created man on it; it was my hands that stretched out the heavens.”
I love the words of Psalm 50:10–11, “For every beast of the forest is Mine, / And the cattle on a thousand hills. / I know all the birds of the mountains, / And the wild beasts of the field are Mine.” All of nature belongs to God; it’s His to do as He pleases according to His sovereign purposes.
Genesis 1–2 records the wonders of the Lord’s creative activity as well as His command for mankind to “be fruitful and fill the earth” (1:28). God created a perfect paradise for Adam and Eve.
The Book of Genesis reveals another climatic event that helps us understand the current state of nature. It’s what we refer to as the “Fall,” when Adam and Eve disobeyed God and sin entered the human race. As a result of their sin, the Lord extended their punishment to His creation (Genesis 3:17–18).
As beautiful and spectacular as nature can be today, it does not possess its original glory. Randy Alcorn wrote this in this book, Heaven: “We have never seen the earth as God made it. Our planet as we know it is a shadowy, halftone image of the original.”[iii]
In Genesis 6-8, we also learn that a great Flood covered the entire earth in ancient times. God judged the entire ancient world because of its great wickedness. This Flood covered the entire earth, even the tallest mountain peak existing at that time.
Who, you might ask, believes the story of Noah, the ark, and the Flood? Jesus does. His words in Matthew 24:37–39 confirm the entire Genesis account of Noah and the Flood. The Apostle Peter later singled out the denial of the Genesis account of the Flood as the key oversight of those who in the last days will mock Jesus’ return (2 Peter 3:1–7).
Scripture also warns us of the coming Day of the Lord, or what we refer to as the seven-year Tribulation. During this time, God will first judge the world by allowing mankind to inflict much damage on the environment through wars, pestilences, and famines (Revelation 6:1-8). Later in this period, His direct judgments on the earth will also wreak havoc with the environment as humanity continues its steadfast rejection of the Lord (Revelation 8-18).
But oh, what a glorious restoration awaits when Jesus returns to the earth at His Second Coming! He will reverse the curse on our environment and restore earth to its former glory during a His thousand-year reign on the earth (see Romans 8:19-25; Revelation 20:1-10). Isaiah 11:1-10 gives us a picture of this glorious renewal when the Lord reigns over the nations of the world for one-thousand years.
The news for planet earth gets even better. Revelation 21:1 tells us that after Christ’s rule, God will create a “new heaven and a new earth., which will be ours to enjoy for all of eternity. Try to imagine enjoying God’s spectacular creation with unending time to do so! That’s our future.
2. They Reject a Key Purpose of Creation
The climate alarmists enjoy the sights and sounds of nature just as we do, but they reject a key purpose of creation: God intends for us to use it for our benefit.
In 1 Timothy 6:17, the Apostle Paul describes God as the One “who provides us with everything to enjoy.” The Lord, through the psalmist says, “The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord’s, / But the earth He has given to the children of men” (Psalm 115:16).
We have a wonderful and amazing Creator! He made everything for our benefit. Would not the One who commanded Adam and Eve to be “fruitful” and “fill the earth” (Genesis 1:28) have also provided the means to support the large world population we have today? I am certain He has done so!
Calvin Beisner, in his article, “Foundational Principles of Biblical Earth Stewardship,” wrote this about God’s perspective on this exponential growth:
Human multiplication and filling of the earth are intrinsically good (Genesis 1:28). In principle, children, lots of them, are a blessing from God (Psalm 127; 128). Earth is not overpopulated; indeed, “overpopulation” is a meaningless term, since it cannot be defined by demographic quantities like population density, growth rate, or age distribution. Hence, godly dominion does not require population control or “family planning.” People are not primarily consumers and polluters but, as the image of God implies, producers and stewards.[iv]
The globalists have a far different perspective on the earth’s population, one that’s not only dark, but also deadly. A tenet of the elite globalists calls for a sizeable reduction of the earth’s population to “sustainable levels.” The call for “sustainability” runs through the United Nations’ documents related to Agenda 2030, but the UN does not fully define its dark implications in its numerous documents on the matter. Their objective of population reduction remains unknown to most, but it’s certainly not hidden.
The population-reduction goal of the globalists once appeared on the Georgia Guidestones, which a mysterious New World Order group built in 1980 in Elbert County, Georgia. One of the ten inscriptions set the sustainable level of the human population at five hundred million. Though the Guidestones no longer exist, the goal of a greatly reduced population remains etched in the minds of the globalists.
The elite surely know that fossil fuels make it possible for farmers to produce the needed food for hundreds of millions just in the United States and for billions worldwide. The planting, maintaining, and harvesting of crops requires a great amount of fuel. Beyond that, the food would never make it from the farms to our grocery stores without diesel fuel powering a multitude of trucks as well as trains. And without fuel, it would be a very long walk for most of us to get our food home from the store.
God designed the world to sustain the large population we have today. I absolutely believe He provided fossil fuels in the earth for the benefit of mankind. Why else would He have designed the earth with such vast resources of oil, natural gas, and coal along with giving humanity the knowledge to use it?
These enormous reserves did not come into existence apart from God’s sovereign grace and purposes, nor did they originate from decaying dinosaurs.
It would have required an astronomically high number of decomposing animals from antiquity to create the gigantic reservoirs of natural gas and oil that currently exist beneath the earth’s surface. Experts estimate that the Leviathan natural gas deposit off the shores of Israel contains one trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
The lie that our fuels came from dinosaurs began with John D. Rockefeller who wanted to stress the scarcity of oil so he could charge higher prices for it. The resources God gave to preserve life on the planet did not come from dinosaurs. The Lord provided gas, diesel fuel, natural gas, and coal as the means for sustaining a large population on the earth, which it does.
Please know that the Lord sovereignly and purposely placed coal, oil, and natural gas in the earth to sustain the large global population that exists today. That’s His plan for sustainability of the human race.
Creation exists for the benefit of mankind and not vice versa.
3. They Reject Scriptural Truth Regarding Jesus
Some climate alarmists are the most religious people one would ever want to meet. Sadly, the god they worship and serve cannot comfort them in sorrow, hear their heart cries for help, rescue them from danger, forgive their sins, or give them eternal life. Nature remains silent to even their most sincere pleas.
On September 19, 2019, according to Fox News, students at Union Theological Seminary in New York City prayed to a collection of potted plants set up in the school’s chapel. This is a picture of these students worshipping and praying to plants.
Such deifying of nature defies what the Bible tells us about the Lord Jesus. Paul describes His role in Creation in Colossians 1:15–17:
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Climate alarmists miss the mark regarding the environment because they reject the biblical truth regarding Jesus.
In doing so, they miss the centrality of the Son in everything that they see. Notice the apostle says that it’s in Jesus that “all things hold together.” He is the One who sustains nature! Hebrews 1:3 says that Jesus upholds “all things by the word of His power.” Jesus literally holds the entire universe together by His power!
The climate alarmists tell us we must take radical measures to save the planet. The Bible tells us Jesus is the One who preserves His creation! We have sacred responsibilities as caretakers of God’s amazing gift to us, of course, but Jesus is the One who sustains the world as well as the entire universe. He holds it all together.
Not only that, but Scripture also answers the perpetual fear of the climate alarmists. For decades they have warned of rising sea levels, but Jeremiah 5:22 tells us that God long ago took care of this matter:
Do you not fear me? declares the LORD. Do you not tremble before me? I placed the sand as the boundary for the sea, a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass; though the waves toss, they cannot prevail; though they roar, they cannot pass over it.
Not only do the climate alarmists reject Jesus’ role as Lord of His creation, but many, if not most of them, reject Him as their Savior.
They reject His claims to be the only way to eternal life.
In the Upper Room the night before His crucifixion, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). Jesus is our Savior; He’s the only path to eternal life. All other paths end with eternal suffering.
John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” Jesus died a horrible death on the cross because no other way existed to pay the penalty for the sins of a lost and condemned humanity. Three days later, He rose from the dead to prove that His claims are true, and that eternal life resides in Him and no one else.
I love the simplicity of the Apostle John’s words: “And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1 John 5:11–12).
Knowing Jesus as our Savior is eternal life. Denying Him and His words results in a fate worse than anything one could ever experience on this earth. He is the One and only path to eternal life.
If you have not already done so, please put your trust in Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and eternal life. Invite Jesus into your life. Romans 10:13 says, “For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Please do so before it is too late; time is running out!
Jesus’ soon appearing for His church, not global warming, is the real urgency of our day. Please allow the Holy Spirit to confirm the saving truths of Jesus’ words to your soul. Tomorrow may be too late.
Conclusion: We Will Forever Bask in God’s Wonderful Creation
I love the sights, sounds, and smells of nature. I enjoy driving along the Blue Ridge Parkway and could easily spend a week along this road soaking in its many views, hiking on the trails, and meditating on God’s Word. I enjoy sitting beside a mountain stream listening to the water trickle past just as much as I love the sound of ocean waves crashing against the shore.
A dream vacation of mine would be to spend a couple weeks with family at a mountain cabin near a flowing stream of cold fresh water.
Through creation, the Lord shouts to us that there must be a Master Designer, a Creator of all things. We see His beauty in majestic snow-covered mountains, colorful sunrises, and picturesque reflections of hills and trees on clear mountain lakes. I remember the awe of hiking in the Rocky Mountain National Park; it’s unforgettable how it sparks thoughts of God’s great majesty and power.
Despite all the tremendous beauty we now see in nature, the Bible tells us that it does not exist in its original pristine state. When humanity sinned, it negatively impacted all of God’s creation.
Once Jesus returns for us, we will embark on an amazing and glorious adventure beginning with our trip to heaven where we will be reunited with family members and see the place that the Lord has prepared especially for us.
As New Testament saints, we possess a certain and eternal hope that will be more wonderful and fulfilling than anything the utopian dreamers of our day can even imagine.
We will reign with Jesus in His millennial kingdom and then through all eternity as we forever enjoy God’s creation in a way we can scarcely envision. Our joy will know no bounds as we bask in all the Lord has for us beyond this life.
Our enjoyment of the new earth as well as the New Jerusalem will never end (see Revelation 21-22). We will forever soak in its beauty with eyes much more attuned to God’s splendor than what we currently possess!
My book, The Triumph of the Redeemed-An eternal Perspective that Calms Our Fears in Perilous Times, is available on Amazon.
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[i] Julie Kelly, The Hill, January 6, 2017 article: “The hypocrisy of climate change advocates”
[ii] Jonathan C. Brentner, “Who Are the Real Deniers?” in Lawless -- The End-Times War Against the Spirit of the Antichrist (Crane, MO, Defender, 2020) pp. 243-249.
[iii] Randy Alcorn, Heaven (Carol Stream: Tyndale House Publishing, 2004), p. 108.
[iv] E. Calvin Beisner, “Foundational Principles of Biblical Earth Stewardship” on the Cornwall Alliance website at: https://cornwallalliance.org/landmark-documents/foundational-principles-of-biblical-earth-stewardship/