The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise his authority for forty-two months. He opened his mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them. And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world (Rev. 13:5-8).

This will be the last commentary in my series on questions Christians commonly ask about environmental issues.  With global environmental crises increasing rapidly, it’s almost certain that many Christians are asking this question:

Question: Couldn’t global concern about the environment lead eventually to a one-world government?

Answer: Christians understand that it is God who ultimately establishes and topples governments. And from biblical prophecy many also understand that a one-world government will indeed come about—first, negatively, under the Antichrist and then, positively, under the reigning Messiah. Further we know that under Christ the creation, which now “groans” beneath the burden of human sin, will be restored to grandeur even greater than its former state (Rom. 8:18-23). The paradise our souls long to regain will one day become a wonderful reality. Whatever we do today to care for creation is but a rehearsal for that coming kingdom we petition for in “The Lord’s Prayer.” Mankind’s present attempts to deal with global environmental problems are only marginally related to that prophetic future.

N.T. Wright in his powerful book, “Surprised By Hope” reminds us of the significance of our present behavior to our future hope:

What you do in the Lord is not in vain.  You are not oiling the wheels of a machine that’s shortly going to be thrown on the fire.  You are not planting roses in a garden that’s about to be dug up for a building site.  You are—strange though it may seem, almost as hard as to believe as the resurrection itself—accomplishing something that will become in due course part of God’s new world.  Every act of love, gratitude, and kindness; every work of art or music inspired by the love of God and delight in the beauty of His creation; every minute spent teaching a severely handicapped child to read or walk; every act of care and nurture, comfort and support for one’s fellow human beings and, for that matter, one’s fellow nonhuman creatures; and of course every prayer, all Spirit-led teaching, every deed that spreads the gospel, builds up the church, embraces holiness rather than corruption, and makes the name of Jesus honored in the world—all of this will find its way, through the resurrecting power of God, into the new creation that God will one day make.

That is the logic of the mission of God.  God’s recreation of His wonderful world, which began with the resurrection of Jesus and continues mysteriously as God’s people live in the risen Christ and in the power of His Spirit, means that what we do in Christ and by the Spirit in the present is not wasted.  It will last all the way into God’s new world.  In fact, it will be enhanced there .

Regarding the increasing number of environmental crises worldwide, we need to keep in mind that God’s creation has no political boundaries. Harmful emissions from America’s smokestacks drift into Canada’s forests. Deforestation in the mountains of Nepal affects the delta of the Ganges in Bangladesh. Timber cutting in America’s Pacific Northwest affects rain and snowfall in the Rockies. Pollution of the Danube or the Rhine impacts life in every European nation the rivers touch. Increasing amounts of greenhouse gases in every nation affect the atmosphere of the entire globe.

Responsible attempts to deal with these problems are clearly sanctioned by Scripture as part of our stewardship requirement. One thing is absolutely certain: Carrying out God’s stewardship obligation will not bring about the reign of the Antichrist. It is disobedience and rebellion against God that will culminate in that first godless, one-world government (which looks ominously close). Environmental crises like global climate change, fisheries collapse, deforestation, and pollution may indeed help compel unbelievers to yield their governance and their wills to a Godless world leader who promises false security. The more Christians act like Christians, the less likely it is that unbelievers would look for such a one-world leader.

Could it not be possible that it’s not only the sin of unbelievers, but also the failure of believers to act as believers should that will hasten the coming reign of the Antichrist? But in God’s Kingdom that is to come (the one we anticipate in singing our “Doxology”), followers of Christ will have a restored earth to celebrate and care for—in the process of worshiping the true, loving, righteous, and final one-world Governor: Messiah Jesus.

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”  Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. (John 14:6-9).

Through several years in the mid-eighties I was director of communication for Bibles for India (now Mission India).  One of our projects was to develop a seminar on the “New Age Movement” (NAM) that was sweeping through the West at that time.  We called the seminar “The New Age of Paganism.”  We were especially concerned about the friendly but false face the NAM was giving to Eastern religions and philosophy and the faulty judgments New Age adherents were making about Christianity.  We concluded that the “new age” was simply the “old lie” that people could be gods.

Here’s a good overview of the NAM from Wikipedia:

The New Age Movement is a spiritual and quasi-religious Western movement that developed in the latter half of the twentieth century. Its central precepts revolve around “drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational psychology, holistic health, parapsychology, consciousness research and quantum physics“ in order to create “a spirituality without borders or confining dogmas” that is inclusive and pluralistic. Another of its primary traits is holding to “a holistic worldview,” thereby emphasizing that the Mind, Body and Spirit are interrelated and that there is a form of Oneness and unity throughout the universe. It further attempts to create “a worldview that includes both science and spirituality” and thereby embraces a number of forms of science and pseudo-science.

That’s an excellent summary of what we were dealing with then—and the entire global community continues to deal with today.  Our judgment was that the NAM was creating a popular alternative to Christianity based on both a misunderstanding of Christianity and of Eastern religion/philosophy.  We saw that people were rejecting the gospel of Jesus Christ by denying human sinfulness and the need of Jesus’ atoning sacrifice for sin and by actually claiming that each person was God in the flesh (via Oneness or Monism).  And the NAM was also making inroads with the big nature agencies like the Sierra Club and the Audubon Society because of its earth-friendly nature and earth-deifying modes of worship—one of the reasons, of course, that conservative Christians rejected both the NAM and active caring for the creation.  And that turned out to be another of our acts of “throwing out of the baby with the bathwater.” (New Age images sources A and B)

In my research for the seminar I discovered a troubling thing about the church.  Much of the appeal of the NAM was directly related to characteristics which were missing in the church and should have been there: understanding the holistic union of mind, body, and spirit; recognizing the need to care for the earth; staying aware of new scientific discoveries and conclusions; valuing personal relationships; and grasping the need for community—community that included the natural world that surrounds us.  It was these lapses in Christianity that Francis Schaeffer said would make pantheism the religion of the Environmental Movement (saying it a good ten years before the NAM burst on the scene).  He was right.

There’s a lot of truth in the New Age Movement—which reminds us that the most important ingredient in deception is the truth it contains.  Satan’s favorite color is not black; it’s off-white.  His Infernal Majesty delights in seeing people come close to Christ but still miss Him.  I’m of the opinion that cults and false religions often have their appeal because they offer something that’s missing in the Christian faith.  The NAM draws in some of its adherents by respecting the Mind of the universe (the one we call God), offering warm and caring personal relationships, centering on the spiritual side of human nature, seeing the importance of caring for creation, “reducing, recycling, and reusing,” celebrating the wonder and mystery of creation while keeping up with scientific findings, praising the virtues of simple living, rejecting the idea that material wealth is what creates happiness, and supporting community sponsored agriculture (CSAs).

Those are all good practices—even Christian practices, and the more we ignore them, the more we may drive people away from Jesus and from the church.  Give some thought this week to incorporating some of these into your own life—while centering on our Creator-Savior: Jesus Christ, the One, sadly, that New Age adherents reject—to their eternal peril.

[Read what Dr. Paul Brand believed about God's good earth in the RBC Ministries booklet of that title.  You can read it online or order a couple copies without cost.  Link: "God's Good Earth" ]

[Go to the ECHO website to see a model Christian agriculture research center, and read about a church that is doing a lot to care for creation and for people here. Read "A Call To a Simpler Life" by its pastor, Tri Robinson.]

Jesus Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross (Colossians 1:15-20).

Last week Christianity Today published a significant editorial related to the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster that is clearly “worth the read”: Let the Sea Resound.  Among its many thought-provoking statements was this one: “There seems to be little doubt that the Gulf oil spill is the United States’ environmental 9/11.”  I judged the editorial a five-star endeavor, but the comments that were made during the week that followed its publication showed extreme polarization among its readers—and a great deal confused thinking.

What did not appear in the comments was the clearly biblical understanding that followers of Christ have at least two kinds of responsibility: 1) material-creational ones and 2) spiritual-relational ones.  Our material-creational responsibilities are fundamental and take up a great deal of the first three chapters of the Bible’s first book: Genesis.  Summarized they would include the following: human beings have been given dominion over and a duty to rule the natural world (following the servant-master model given us in Jesus Christ); the job of cultivating, caring for, and protecting the earth, which is the source of all material life; and the duty of men and women to enter into a covenant of marriage and become one flesh—with the resultant procreation of children.

Inherent in these fundamental responsibilities, of course, would be using our God-given creativity to live and work wisely, to obtain life-essential food and water from the earth in a sustainable manner, to shelter and clothe ourselves, to marry, to bear, protect, and provide for children, and to honor and be grateful to the Creator who made it all possible.  Note that these material-creational responsibilities were given to all people, not just to Christians.  They are the fundamental tasks of being human.

Christians hold in addition to these duties the belief that we also have spiritual-relational responsibilities.  Among them are worshiping and loving our Creator who is also our Savior (Jesus), being light and salt in a dark and decaying culture, doing good and not evil,  being merciful, loving our neighbor as we love ourselves, and sharing the “good news” (the Gospel) with fallen, sinful man.  These are all done, however, in the context of our fundamental material-creational responsibilities—because if such basic human duties are neglected, the earth is abused and people suffer and die.

My conviction is that when Christians say it is more important to “share the Gospel of Jesus Christ” than to care for the creation (the environment) that Jesus Christ made, holds together, died in part to redeem, and will one day restore, reunite, and reconcile fully to God (Colossians 1:15-20), we are making a meaningless distinction.  They are equally important aspects of a Christian’s day-to-day existence.

Further, we must realize that if we don’t first attend to our material-creational responsibilities we will not survive to attend to our spiritual-relational ones.  That’s why we should care about the ecological damage created by the Gulf oil spill.  Christians who call caring for the creation “nature worship” (as several did in commenting on the CT article) are wrong and are biblically confused.

[A more in-depth rendering of this argument is found on the "Articles" page: Caring for Creation or Presenting the Gospel].

The LORD] makes springs pour water into the ravines; it flows between the mountains.  They give water to all the beasts of the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst. The birds of the air nest by the waters; they sing among the branches. He waters the mountains from his upper chambers; the earth is satisfied by the fruit of his work.  He makes grass grow for the cattle, and plants for man to cultivate—bringing forth food from the earth: wine that gladdens the heart of man, oil to make his face shine, and bread that sustains his heart.The trees of the LORD are well watered,  the cedars of Lebanon that he planted (Psalm 104:10-16).

In my last post I suggested that we ought to be seeking our Creator’s “good earthkeeping seal of approval.” How have we done as earthkeepers? In many ways and places, not too well. Consider the unique island of Madagascar off the east coast of southern Africa as it was described by G. Tyler Miller, adjunct professor of human ecology at St. Andrews Presbyterian College. In his book Living In The Environment, Miller writes the following:

Because of [Madagascar’s] astounding biological diversity, this Texas-sized island is considered a crown jewel among Earth’s ecosystems—a biological superpower. . . . An estimated 160,000 species [are] unique to this island, mostly in its vanishing eastern rainforests. Unique species include 80% of its 10,000 flowering plants (including 1,000 orchids), 66% of the world’s species of chameleons, 800 butterfly species, half of the island’s birds, and all its reptiles and mammals. Madagascar’s plant and animal species are also among the world’s most endangered, mostly because of loss of habitat from slash-and-burn agriculture on poor soils fueled by rapid population growth. Since humans arrived about 1,500 years ago, 84% of its tropical seasonal forests and over 66% of its rainforests have been cut for cropland, fuelwood, and lumber, leaving blood-red gullies and streams and vast eroded fields and hillsides. Madagascar is now the world’s most eroded country.

This picture of loss could be added to hundreds more that would graphically illustrate how we have failed to care for the natural world our God has entrusted to us. Even though there are many instances in which people have become aware of the damage they were doing to forests and have dramatically reversed harmful deforestation, the broad picture is still one of serious forest degradation worldwide. It may not be surprising to followers of Christ that the world in general disregards biblical mandates and foundational principles, but the truth is that the church is also responsible for the care and protection of God’s good earth.

This often-ignored responsibility was first popularly noted among evangelical Christians by Francis Schaeffer, who wrote a significant book about the issue in 1970. It was titled Pollution And The Death Of Man: A Christian View Of Ecology. It was a challenge to the church to apply biblical principles to the world’s environmental crises—including the state of our forests. Here are some of Schaeffer’s insights:

A truly biblical Christianity has a real answer to the ecological crisis. It offers a balanced and healthy attitude toward nature, arising from the truth of its creation by God; it offers the hope here and now of a substantial healing in nature of some of the results of the Fall arising from the truth of redemption in Christ. In each of the alienations arising from the Fall, the Christians, individually and corporately, should consciously in practice be a healing, redemptive factor—in the separation of man from God, of man from himself, of man from man, of man from nature, and of nature from nature. A Christian-based science and technology should consciously try to see nature substantially healed, while waiting for the future complete healing at Christ’s return.

While the church is still slow in recovering our understanding of our lost stewardship mandate, there are some effective things being done by a number of people, organizations, and institutions that are taking both revelations of God (His Word and His works) more seriously these days.

Realizing our stewardship role as children of God, how then should we live in relation to the earth’s trees and forests? I don’t think it’s out of order to suggest these activities for followers of God’s Word:

• Learn more about trees in order to appreciate their role in your life.

• Remember the trees’ relationship to people as mutual creations of God.

• Remind yourself regularly of your responsibility to be a good earthkeeper.

• As a voter, be more aware of your government’s forest policies.

• As a consumer and/or stockholder, become informed about corporate practices regarding your nation’s forests.

• Join with the trees in praise of your Creator.

God created man in his own image,  in the image of God he created him;  male and female he created them.  God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground” (Genesis 1:27-28)

When you are surrounded, as I have been for the past two weeks, by some of earth’s most magnificent trees, it is hard to keep in mind that many areas of the world that once were clothed and carpeted by trees and forests are now denuded and desertified. One reason is that we have forgotten what has been entrusted to us. The principle of responsible care of the earth is found first in the words of the Old Testament. There we find that God is the Creator of the earth (Gen. 1), He is the owner of the earth (Ps. 24:1), and He loves the earth (Ps. 145:9,13). Further, God clearly delegated to us the responsibility of dominion over the earth (Gen. 1:27-28; Ps. 8).

As theologian Francis Schaeffer pointed out early in the 1970s, however, while God has put the earth in our hands, such oversight is still under His greater dominion and care. The logical conclusion of these truths from Scripture is that God, who made, owns, and loves what He created, has in His love permitted people to manage and use the material creation. He is the Landlord; we are His caretakers.

That role is pictured beautifully by the Greek word for “steward”: oikonomeo. This is the same word from which we get the word economy. Economics was originally considered to be the practical operations of a household in which the steward oversaw the production, distribution, and consumption on the landlord’s estate. If we recovered that same understanding of the personal relationship of the steward to the landlord, and the steward’s responsibility to the landlord, we’d more likely handle our Landlord’s material goods in a much more responsible manner.

The Bible is unique among virtually all other ancient scriptures, partly because its beginning chapters so clearly state the foundational purposes for mankind (Gen. 1:26–2:15). One can paraphrase the mandate like this: The creation was very good (Gen. 1:31), and it was perfectly prepared by God to be given over to people so they could develop all its potentialities to the glory of God and to the benefit of all creatures in keeping with the will of God.

More specific direction was given in Genesis 2:15 where Adam was instructed to “tend” and “keep” the Garden of Eden. The extended meaning of the two Hebrew words used here is extremely rich and telling: “Tend” (abad) means to till, work, serve, work for, and/or make self the servant of. “Keep” (shamar) means to have charge of, guard, save life, protect, preserve, observe, refrain, abstain, and/or celebrate. While this command was given in relationship to the Garden, most Christian theologians emphasize that such control was to be extended by Adam and Eve and their descendants to the whole earth.

In essence, the Genesis mandates clearly spell out our role as keepers of the earth—stewards of the true Landlord. One could say that we should be working for God’s “Good Earthkeeping stamp of approval.”

This post is a revised excerpt from Dean’s Discovery Series booklet “Celebrating the Wonder of a Tree.”  You can follow this link to find the booklet online.  You may also obtain a copy or two without charge by following the ordering guidelines on the RBC Discovery Series site.