How does the climate change argument connect to the impending Second Coming?

Amid all the bickering induced by the US President withdrawing his administration from the Paris Climate Accords, something which has been nearly universally condemned given America's prior approval of the pact, the fact that all of its goals and targets are set voluntarily by the nation involved, and the 97% consensus that the man-made aspect of climate change is not only real but to some extent reversible, and that those man-controlled aspects are indeed a significant part of the problem...one Congressman said something that made the Christian in me stand up and listen.

Representative Tim Walberg of Michigan told a town hall meeting in Coldwater the other day that while climate change is real, he isn't concerned about it because God is in control of the universe and will take care of the problem.

“I believe there’s climate change. I believe there’s been climate change since the beginning of time,” Walberg is seen saying. “Do I think man has some impact? Yeah, of course. Can man change the entire universe? No.”

Walberg added, “Why do I believe that? Well, as a Christian, I believe that there is a creator in God who is much bigger than us. And I’m confident that, if there’s a real problem, he can take care of it.”           


Now, as a Christian, I am virtually compelled to agree with Rep. Walberg. God IS much bigger than us. He IS in control of the universe. And if HE chose to, He COULD take care of the problem.

But here's the issue we must always take into account. God's hands and eyes on Earth are His Church. We are His Hands. If God is going to take care of the problem, don't you think He would use the people of the earth to create some means of doing so? Like, say, the Paris Climate Accords?

It's not unlike the joke I used to tell on stage about the man who refused the two police boat rescue attempts in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, even as the water rose around his home, because "God Will Provide". Even when he was on tiptoes on his roof, he refused the helicopter rescue attempt because "God Will Provide". So, he drowned. 

When he arrived in Heaven. he was furious. "God! Why didn't You save me?"
God looked at him, incredulous. "What are you talking about? I sent you two boats and a helicopter, didn't I?"

Rep. Walberg and other fundamentalist Christians seem to forget that God's Hands are our hands. The Republican-led Congress often cuts the government help to the needy with the excuse that "God will provide". a la Matthew 7's "He cares for the birds and flowers; don't you think He will care for you, too?" But that government help is part of what He uses to help those people!


There's another element to this conversation as well, and it goes back to the word of Christ when He talked of the End Times. In Matthew 24:36-39, Jesus tells us how life will continue unabated before that moment when He returns...

36“But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. 37For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark,39and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

The implication is that we are to continue about our business as normal until He returns to bring us Home. We are to keep "eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage", and so forth. Despite the increasing likelihood that we will see the Rapture in the next two years or so, we cannot depend on that fact and stop living our lives. God will delay His Return until He is satisfied that we have done  Just because all the signs are here, the "day and hour no one knows."

We must continue to live our lives as if we have all the rest of eternity here on planet earth. We cannot assume that Christ will return in our lifetime, no matter what the signs point to. After all, just about every other generation in history has believed the same thing! And every other generation was wrong! So we may not be any different!

We must go on trying to save the planet because that's what we're supposed to do. You cannot use God's omnipotence as an excuse. That's like saying because God could stop me from stabbing these thirty-seven people, I don't have to stop myself - after all, if He wanted me to stop, He'd stop me, wouldn't He?

No. No, He wouldn't, dingbat. And no other act of yours is going to get excused that way, either. And neither will destroying our planet.

Postscript: Rep. Walberg, have you actually read Revelation? Do you understand the condition the planet will be in very quickly once the Great Tribulation starts? Why should the poisoning of the earth bother God, when He's going to be raining Hell-fire down on it almost immediately anyway?

Dingbat.

Fight! Fight! Fight!

Here's an article I wrote for the ROAR this week on the eighteen teams' fight songs - it wasn't practical, I guess to put a link with the songs themselves in the article, so here's a link for my stateside readers for that as well. (They're alphabetical by team.)

Enjoy!

I had an interesting thought today.

A "revelation", if you must.

And I got it listening to a preacher I don't think is particularly amazing, although he is on point with the Gospel and that's what matters. (Having said that, I probably shouldn't name him. He's on CSN, if that helps.)

He talked about an ad he'd seen for a fellow who specializes in helping people through their "bad UFO abduction experiences". (Re-read that if you need to, so we can continue. Got it? Okay.) This wahoo apparently will hold seminars and counseling sessions for anyone willing to come work with him or hear him tell his own tale of seeing a "little man with a big head carrying a washboard" outside his house when he was five, or of being abducted himself, as best he can recall, when he was eleven. Part of his sales pitch, apparently, is that everyone in the world wants to know what the meaning of life is, and are we alone, and what happens after we die; he, of course, feels privileged to have found the answer to all three questions before he was even a teenager, and he's glad to share that knowledge with you.

For a price, of course. And that's what got me thinking.

See, there's no end to the number of people who ARE trying to find out the answers to one or all of those three questions, most usually the classic one about the meaning of life, to which Douglas Adams famously spoofed in his Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy series that after seven and a half million years, the smartest computer in the universe, named Deep Thought, came up with the answer to.

The answer, not to spoil the mystery for you or anything, is forty-two.

The creators of the computer then asked what exactly that was the answer TO, and Deep Thought told them that they'd have to invent an even bigger computer to find out the actual question to the meaning of life. There's a story running around the computer programming world right now, by the way, that says that we need to remember that Adams was a crack computer programmer, especially in ASCII (as such people in the 80s all were), and in ASCII, 42 was the representation of an asterisk (*), which was the placeholder symbol for "whatever you want it to be" - thus, the meaning of life was really "whatever you want it to be". But I digress.

The meaning of life is so sought after because unless you're a Christian, it's not at all readily apparent. Why do we live at all? Why are we born, why do we die? (And, to quote Adams again, "Why do we spend so much of the intervening time wearing digital watches?") 

To a believer in Christ, of course, the answer is obvious.

We are born, live, and die to glorify our Creator, the Lord God in Heaven above. Our lives are to be examples lived to exemplify His Glory, and we are to strive to live as Christlike a life as we are able to in this flawed flesh we ride around in. In doing so, we are to help set an example for the non-Believer to examine and (hopefully) motivate him or her to ask what we have that they don't which gives us such peace of mind, such joy from within despite our circumstances (WHICH IS ANOTHER REASON we do not get to live perfect lives down here on earth! If we were filled with joy living perfect lives, who would ever ask us such a question? Of COURSE we're joyful! Nothing bad ever happens to us!), and in that moment we are given the opportunity to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with that person, and if all goes right the Holy Spirit guides them towards a saving grace themselves.

Every moment of our saved lives as Christians should be lived for that purpose. And without that purpose, I've no doubt that life itself is indeed a mystery to all of those around us with any brains worth salvaging. Are we supposed to do good deeds? (Not in and of themselves, though that's a good start.) Is it, He who dies with the most toys wins? Money? Power? Fame? (No, no, no, and no.) Acquire intellect? (Nope. I tried that. It generally shows you more reasons to be depressed.) No wonder the majority of religions have to come up with some external purpose for living! If you don't have the actual answer, you've got to make something else up, AND get your money up front in case they don't come back.

Which brings me back to the topic at the top: The guy selling the UFO seminar.

Isn't it amazing that everyone who wants to share with you their idea of "the meaning of life" or "what's on the other side?" requires your money first? Even the TV evangelists, for the most part, seem to require your credit card number.

Except for true Christianity. 

There are Bibles to be had for free in any hotel room in the country. Alternatively, just about any church or mission in the world will find you one for free if you need one - heck, write to me in the comments and I'll send you one if you need it! You can wander into any Christian church in the country for free - let the bucket go around without your "clink"; they won't throw you out - and then any good preacher worth his salt will tell you about the Good News, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and offer to help you make a saving commitment to the Lordship of Jesus Christ right then and there. You don't need six easy payments of $19.95 to qualify. You don't need PayPal. You don't even need two copper coins to rub together as the poor woman in Mark 12 or Luke 21 contributed at the synagogue.

You just need to come with an open mind, an open heart, and an understanding that you are an imperfect person in need of salvation. You (and I, and every other human being who ever lived save one) are a sinner. We violate God's laws every single day, most of the time without malice or forethought. But no matter how hard we try on our own, we will not be able to prevent doing so - and even one sin bars us from God's holiness in Heaven. Our sins must be paid for. THAT is one of the things which we are searching for in this life, unknowingly, until we come to Christ. Because Christ is the one Man Who lived that sinless life, and so He is the One Man Who had the ability to pay the price for our sin, having no price required of Him. 

But in order to accept that immeasurable favor He did for us, we must do ONE THING: Accept His Lordship as God, which shouldn't be difficult, because by raising from the dead on the third day He proved that He IS God. All we have to do is acknowledge actual TRUTH (not "fake news" - news witnessed by hundreds of first century Israelites) and submit to His Lordship. We are not only granted eternal life in Heaven after this pile of flesh has worn out (rather than eternal existence in Hell - already an amazing deal), but we also get the Holy Spirit, the third member of God Himself, along for the ride wherever we go from that moment on. 

All of this is free. No pastor could charge for it, even if he wanted to.

So, if anyone thinks that you should give them money for anything they claim as eternal knowledge or some such thing? 

THERE'S your "fake news". That's a sure sign they're false prophets, destined to be condemned to Hell when their time comes.   

It’s So Hard To Say Goodbye. Especially If You Shouldn’t.

[originally posted to The ROAR, June 5th, 2017]

            Damian Barrett wrote an interesting article last week on afl.com.au discussing the positives of St Kilda not renewing Nick Riewoldt’s contract for 2018.

As with the North Melbourne purging last August, it’s a very untidy subject to discuss. Our hearts want to hang on to the good times, especially when the player is a Nick Riewoldt or a Brent Harvey, who seems to have at least one more really good year in him. Our minds look to the future and realize that the spot that player holds down is preventing a good young player from playing on the senior side, a player who’s possibly going to be that superstar’s replacement for the next ten or fifteen years himself.

North botched the handling of the announcement of the release of its four star veterans (Brent Harvey, Drew Petrie, Nick DalSanto, and Michael Firrito) after round 22 last season, but their sentiments were in the right place. Given the freefall the Kangaroos were in at the time, and having barely scraped in to the finals in slot number eight and looking at an out-of-town end-of-season loss at Adelaide, the management folks at North rightly thought that these four champion players deserved a home send-off in their final home game, round 23 against the Giants in Etihad. A warning of less than a week is less than ideal, but the realization that if they waited, these Shinbone legends – especially the legend, Mister 427 himself – would simply be cast off into the sunset without an opportunity to be thanked by the loyal blue and white faithful.

And how has that decision worked out for North Melbourne?

Expected to be challenging for the wooden spoon  (our “meta-prediction” for this team was 15^th), and after five “warm-up” losses while Brad Scott and company got all the new pieces figured out, the Kangaroos are 4-2 and the slim possibility of finals actually exists the very next year after washing the grey out of their hair. With eleven games left in the season, there are only two games remaining on the schedule (the Bulldogs in R14 and Port in R17) where they will be decided underdogs.

They could make finals! The purge appear brilliant in retrospect, however awkwardly they botched its visuals. It’s not hard to think that these young players on the roster wouldn’t have excelled with those four spots still tied up with men in their thirties: Shaun Atley, Ben Brown, Trent Dumont, Taylor Garner, Nathan Hrovat, Luke McDonald, Aaron Mullett, Kayne Turner, Mason Wood, and many more young talents who have been regulars in 2017.

So, what does St. Kilda look at that and think? The Saints are already on their way up, and they have two players who fit the description of veterans who still excel but have a shorter expected remaining career than getting to the championship window will take for their roster.

Leigh Montagna turns 34 this November, and if he continues to play full time will hit the 300-game mark next season. Nick Riewoldt is a few months short of 35, and is not only the second longest tenured Saints player (behind Robert Harvey) but the second most prolific goal kicker (behind Tony Lockett). He is also the Saint with the most behinds. (Scores, that is. Don’t get scatological on us here.)

So, if they’re looking at North’s situation for guidance, and then look at their own roster of young stars in the making – Blake Acres, Tim Membrey, Jack Steele, Jack Billings, Paddy McCartin, Jack Sinclair, Jimmy Webster, Luke Dunstan, Billy Longer, Josh Bruce, Jack Newnes and Seb Ross are all under 25 – it would be easy to show the two of them the door.

I hope they don’t.

And I’m going to defend Riewoldt in particular the way I would have defended Harvey in particular over his teammates, though Montagna has done more than enough to earn defending. But there is something to be said of what we often hear referred to as “the heart and soul of a team”.

Last year, the Western Bulldogs lost their “heart and soul”, Bob Murphy, to injury in round three at the very end of a tortured loss to the then-defending Hawks. His story became the driving force for the Dogs as they ran through four favored teams in September en route to a legendary premiership. The first face we saw on television after the last two wins (Giants and Swans) was Murphy celebrating on the sideline, and the most memorable moment of the last Saturday in September was after the game, when Luke Beveridge gave his medal to “the heart and soul” of the team.

Imagine a 2017 where the Kangaroos won, say, one or two of those three one-goal games they lost in March and April because Boomer Harvey scored a goal that his youthful teammates weren’t able to pull off in our reality. Imagine a situation where, thanks to their “heart and soul”, the surprising Kangaroos were 5-6 or 6-5 right now, with that fixture I described earlier coming up in the second half of the season. Imagine a 2017 where, as the Kangas got closer and closer to qualifying for September, the idea of winning a long-overdue title for the now-450-game “heart and soul of the team” inspired the Shinboners to pull off a blue-and-white miracle this September and win one for the legend.

Wouldn’t that have been worth one more year? Just to see “if”?

Wouldn’t that have been worth letting him hang around – you wouldn’t have been dragging him back; he planned to return – just in case you could make such a story happen?

Were you expecting something to happen in 2017 under our current scenario that would have possibly been a better story than that? Than even the attempt to make one last run for Boomer? Are you going to tell me with a straight face that, from a PR perspective, you think you’re better off even in the long run this way? If you want to compromise and let the other three go, but keep Harvey on the roster, are you fearful that people would’ve called you hypocritical for keeping a freak-of-nature who (I repeat myself) was best-on-ground for the Roos in round 23 last year, and not the other three? Do you really think that you would have had to justify keeping inarguably one of the two greatest Kangaroos in history on the roster for as long as he wanted, let alone for just one more year? Ninety percent of the new player playing time would have still been there – it’s not hard to imagine a slightly reduced workload for the now-39-year-old in season 22 – and the story line would have been unsurpassed with even their current record.

Now, imagine a 2018 with an improved St. Kilda, the same roster a year improved from the 2017 team which (fill-in-the-blank: just missed/made the first or second round of finals). With one more spot available with Montagna’s retirement (conceivably), they add one more stud young player to work alongside the “heart and soul”, 35-year-old Nick Riewoldt, in his 18^th season as a Saint.

Is there the possibility of a Chris Judd ending to his incredible career? Yes. Is there a possibility that the Saints lose a young gun forward to another club in part because there’s still no spot on the field available to him? Yes. Is there a possibility that despite the potential, the Saints have a “Dockers 2016” season and fall precipitously towards silverware, rather than rise towards drinking containers? Yes.

But aren’t the chances better for at least the kind of storyline during the season that we fantasized about with Harvey a moment ago, even if they land in traditional Richmond territory instead of making the finals? And aren’t the odds better that they’ll have a team that could take a real crack at September, and a real shot to create a story for the ages: “The Saints Break The (new) Longest Title Drought in Footy and Win One for the Skipper – Riewoldt Retires A Champion”?

Put yourself in St. Kilda’s management’s shoes. Jack Riewoldt has fought his knees off for you for seventeen years, through a few really good years and a lot more fairly hopeless years. There are very few men who have earned the right to control their own destiny to a certain extent, as long as they’re still earning their place in your top 22.

Brent Harvey was one of those men. Jack Riewoldt is one as well.

Don’t you think he deserves to go out on his terms?

The consequences of FAKE NEWS for Israel - and probably us as well

Yesterday, I wrote about Jeremiah 5 and 6, and its similarity to our situation. Take a look at this segment from Jeremiah 8, verses 8 through 12, and see if it doesn't sound like today's FAKE NEWS, no matter which side you think is putting OUT the fake news! If it's our government, the punishment is due to our entire nation, but even if it's just the "people" (news media, alt-left and alt-right outlets, and/or all of us who pass it on through our own social media) we still deserve His harshest punishments.

8“How can you say, ‘We are wise,
and the law of the LORD is with us’?
But behold, the lying pen of the scribes
has made it into a lie.
9The wise men shall be put to shame;
they shall be dismayed and taken;
      behold, they have rejected the word of the LORD,
so what wisdom is in them?
10Therefore I will give their wives to others
and their fields to conquerors,
      because from the least to the greatest
everyone is greedy for unjust gain;
      from prophet to priest,
everyone deals falsely.
11They have healed the wound of my people lightly,
saying, ‘Peace, peace,’
when there is no peace.
12Were they ashamed when they committed abomination?
No, they were not at all ashamed;
they did not know how to blush.
      Therefore they shall fall among the fallen;
when I punish them, they shall be overthrown,
            says the LORD.

What was the result for the Israelites when they were punished? Verse 15...

15We looked for peace, but no good came;
for a time of healing, but behold, terror.


What terror will we have to face for our lying? What peace will we fail to find after our punishment? What will those punishments be that we will face as a nation, as a people, as a culture?

17For behold, I am sending among you serpents,
adders that cannot be charmed,
and they shall bite you,”
             declares the LORD.

While we may not get literal serpents sent our way, God will send us the 2017 version of His plagues as punishments for our sins - for our hubris, our lying, our belief that we are beyond the need for God. 

And we will pay for our sins as a nation.

So, does this describe US?

These verses are from Jeremiah 5 and 6, and while the prophet was speaking about the houses of Judah and Israel, it's clear that the admonition applies to us today, too - and so does the threat. Read and take heed!

"...have been utterly treacherous to me,
declares the LORD.
12They have spoken falsely of the LORD
and have said, ‘He will do nothing;
no disaster will come upon us,
nor shall we see sword or famine.
13The prophets will become wind;
the word is not in them.
Thus shall it be done to them!’”

The LORD Proclaims Judgment

14Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of hosts:
“Because you have spoken this word,
behold, I am making my words in your mouth a fire,
and this people wood, and the fire shall consume them.
15Behold, I am bringing against you
a nation from afar, O house of Israel,
declares the LORD.
It is an enduring nation;
it is an ancient nation,
a nation whose language you do not know,
nor can you understand what they say.
16Their quiver is like an open tomb;
they are all mighty warriors.
17They shall eat up your harvest and your food;
they shall eat up your sons and your daughters;
they shall eat up your flocks and your herds;
they shall eat up your vines and your fig trees;
your fortified cities in which you trust
they shall beat down with the sword.”

18“But even in those days, declares the LORD, I will not make a full end of you. 19And when your people say, ‘Why has the LORD our God done all these things to us?’ you shall say to them, ‘As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve foreigners in a land that is not yours.’”

30An appalling and horrible thing
has happened in the land:
31the prophets prophesy falsely,
and the priests rule at their direction;
my people love to have it so,
but what will you do when the end comes?"

10To whom shall I speak and give warning,
that they may hear?
Behold, their ears are uncircumcised,
they cannot listen;
behold, the word of the LORD is to them an object of scorn;
they take no pleasure in it.
11Therefore I am full of the wrath of the LORD;
I am weary of holding it in.
“Pour it out upon the children in the street,
and upon the gatherings of young men, also;
both husband and wife shall be taken,
the elderly and the very aged.
12Their houses shall be turned over to others,
their fields and wives together,
for I will stretch out my hand
against the inhabitants of the land,”
declares the LORD.
13“For from the least to the greatest of them,
everyone is greedy for unjust gain;
and from prophet to priest,
everyone deals falsely.
14They have healed the wound of my people lightly,
saying, ‘Peace, peace,’
when there is no peace.
15Were they ashamed when they committed abomination?
No, they were not at all ashamed;
they did not know how to blush.
Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;
at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown,”
says the LORD.

16Thus says the LORD:
“Stand by the roads, and look,
and ask for the ancient paths,
where the good way is; and walk in it,
and find rest for your souls.
But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
17I set watchmen over you, saying,
‘Pay attention to the sound of the trumpet!’
But they said, ‘We will not pay attention.’
18Therefore hear, O nations,
and know, O congregation, what will happen to them.
19Hear, O earth; behold, I am bringing disaster upon this people,
the fruit of their devices,
because they have not paid attention to my words;
and as for my law, they have rejected it.

Sometimes, praise is all we have

As a needy species, we humans tend to want.
Like, WANT, y'know?

We want food on our plates and a roof over our heads.
We want a good television and a car that we can depend on.
We want the best of health for our loved ones. And ourselves.
We want good weather, however we happen to DEFINE "good weather" at that moment.
We want Becky in the cubicle or desk across the way to be interested in us.
We want that lottery ticket to hit every number.
We want, we want, we want.

But God is not a genie in a bottle.

We've talked about this before. God says "ask and you shall receive"...as long as what you're asking for aligns with His thoughts for your life! At that point, your faith will probably have aligned with His wishes for you and your life anyway.

What we most often forget, to our great detriment, is that Christ taught us how to pray, and the element that is far more important than the requests in prayer, are the PRAISES in our prayers.

It's not that God is vain and needs our praise to bolster His "self-esteem". No, we praise God for OUR sake. We praise Him so that we realize what our place in the grand scheme of things really is: infinitesimal. We are simply His clay, given life for the sole purpose of glorifying Him through our lives on this planet. He created man from dust, and to dust we will return - that is, unless through the completely unmerited grace only God can grant, we are allowed to live eternally in Heaven with Bim and (ideally) loved ones who were saved as well, equally unmeritoriously.

Unless you stop and remember that detail, your eternal life is doomed.

How did our Savior suggest we pray? Our Father, Who Art in Heaven; Hallowed be Thy Name. Thy kingdom come, Thy Will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Then and ONLY then should we continue on to the relatively mundane part of the prayer: our requests. Too often the priority of these two categories are reversed, and then we wonder why our requests fell by the wayside.

What can we praise the Lord Infinite for? Well, infinitely speaking, everything.

Thank Him for the sunshine, thank Him for the rain and snow. Thank Him for another day He's allowed you to live at all, let alone in the wonderful place you must be living if you have Internet and can read this message. Thank Him for the food on your table, the gas in your tank, and the roof over your head. Thank Him for the trees and bushes and all the plant life that allows us to breathe in this fragile planet. Thank Him for the animal life that allows us to domesticate pets and raise food and labor and have hunting be available in our country.

Thank Him for the people in your life. For the colleagues you work with and the ones throughout your workplace. For the people in your church and the people you work out with. For the people who make up that hodge-podge of a family of yours - especially the spouse you committed your life to and the children the two of you created.

Thank Him, more than anything, for His Son, Without the sacrifice Christ made - the one that ONLY He could have made, because anyone else would have lived too imperfect a life to be a viable payment - we would be doomed to an eternity of hell.

Praise Him morning, noon, and night. Praise Him at the stop sign and the traffic light.
Praise Him when the rent is due. Praise Him when you get your paycheck, too.
Praise Him when you're feeling bad. Praise Him is when you're feeling mad.
Praise Him when your life is great. Praise Him when you must leave it to fate.
For better or worse, in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, praise the Lord God Almighty at all times for your very existence.