Editorial
Your Worldview Matters
People who form their worldview from what they read in the secular press or what they watch on television must be on tenterhooks after these past two weeks in Glasgow. One must have sympathy for those who get their worldview from such sources but have to resist the temptation to fall into the same trap.
Part of living as a follower of Jesus in any age is to live in the light of the teachings of the Bible rather than being thrown about by every wind of doctrine and secular prophetic utterance devised by man.
In the late 1960s, the book “The Population Bomb” foretold how that millions of millions of people would die on the earth due to overpopulation. The author would have been more accurate if he had predicted that millions would die from abortion—between 40-50,000,000 per year, according to the World Health Organisation.
In the 1970s we were told that there was a cooling of the earth and even the august National Geographic magazine ran a cover story, “The Coming Ice Age” in 1975. The New York Times ran a story on 5 January 1978 that said there was “No End in Sight to 30-Year Cooling Trend in the Northern Hemisphere.
In the 1980s we were told that acid rain was going to destroy much of civilisation. National Geographic ran with that story in November 1981. Later, we were told that the Ozone was deteriorating due to modern technology.
Then came the great shift to Global Warming.
On Monday, 26 September 1988, The Canberra Times writing from Male in the Maldives, ran a story predicting that rising sea levels were “threatening to completely cover this Indian Ocean nation of 1,196 small islands within the next 30 years, according to the authorities.”
Thirty plus years later, the islands of the Maldives are still not under water.
On Monday 20 March 2000, The Independent ran a story authored by Charles Onians with the sensationalist headline, “Snowfalls are just a thing of the past.” His opening line? “Britain’s winter ends tomorrow with further indications of striking environmental change: snow is starting to disappear from our lives.”
At the COP15 Climate Conference in December of 2008, former US Vice-president Al Gore foretold how the “North Polar Ice Cap would be completely ice free in five years.”
You get the picture. We could go on here ad nauseam ad infinitum. There is more than a cottage industry for prophets of gloom and doom who call us to look to the state for salvation. Indeed, it is quite large and has the support of most of the media and politicians.
The problem is that none of these self-appointed prophets have been correct in their prophecies.
All followers of Jesus need to be concerned about the environment but they need to understand that God has made promises about the earth. In Genesis 8, he promised that as long as time endures there will seedtime and harvest, summer and winter, and day and night. In Genesis 9, he promises that the earth will not be destroyed by water. In 2 Peter 3 we are told that God will himself destroy the earth in the judgment.
Those words should form our worldview in these matters.
“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.”
Until that time or until our Lord Jesus calls you into his presence, press on.
