Recently, the media was a buzz with environmental topics surrounding the celebration of Earth Day.  However, this year more than previous years, the capitalists of our day “capitalized” on the event.  Local grocery stores began selling reusable shopping bags.  Manufacturers began promoting products made from recycled materials.  Capitalism was going green.  To the Environmentalist this must be “anathema” that someone might profit from the earth.  Environmentalists would have us to believe man has enslaved the planet to whom reparations are now owed.  It has been said that capitalism works every time.  In a free society capitalism will even thrive in an environment where it is considered the enemy.

Capitalism is often defined as pure greed, which it can often devolve into.  The Environmentalist then blames corporate greed as the cause of the planets hypothetical problems.  However, is the ethical capitalist, who is guided by Biblical principles an enemy of the planet?  In reality, the Bible advocate is the best steward of the earth.

Preservation of Renewable Resources

The ethical capitalist understands that his future profit is dependant on the preservation of resources to continue to produce goods.  History tells the story of many capitalists who over extended a resource, the fishery that was over fished, or land which was over farmed.  As greed overpowered the prudence of stewardship, resources were depleted and ultimately a successful business failed.  The principles of capitalism worked.  In contrast, the ethical capitalist manages the resource motivated by continual annual profits thereby making him the best steward of the land, because his life depends on it.

Conversely, the Environmentalist insists that the Earth never be touched by man.  He believes that the planet is the best steward of itself.  This summer the news will again be filled with reports of out of control wildfires.  It is not by accident that California will be plagued by many of these fires.  The Environmentalist agenda of “not to touch” the Earth has predominated the politics and policies of California.  The unmanaged land has now become thick with undergrowth which makes the land ripe to destructive fires.  The best manager of the Earths renewable resources is the man whose livelihood and existence depends upon it.

Ingenuity of Replacing Finite Resources

The ethical capitalist understands that certain resources have a limited supply, although not as limited as we are led to believe.  This understanding causes the ethical capitalist to become ingenious in his use of finite resources.  He is driven to preserve profit.   Therefore, he develops technology that allows him to become more efficient, using less of the resource to produce the same amount of product.  By doing this he saves cost by using fewer raw materials and preserves the resource by extending its longevity.  The ethical capitalist also spends resources to discover new technology that will allow him to produce the same product from a different and hopefully cheaper, renewable resource thereby ensuring his continual profits.  History has shown that capitalism rooted in Biblical principles will produce the most energy efficient, resource saving business models.

The Environmentalist takes a different approach.  He encourages government intervention to manage finite resources.  This comes in the form of excessive taxation of the resource or even denial of access to the resource.  A nation is divinely blessed with natural resources (see Design & Destiny of Nations: Location), but the Environmentalist will deny their use by establishing “not to touch” federal wilderness areas.  Fear of potential oil spills has prevented the utilization of natural oil reserves.  This management is not led by profit or efficiency but by an improper worshipful view of the planet.  To never cut down a tree or kill an animal is to forfeit a God given responsibility to utilize and manage resources.  The Environmentalist has elevated the creation above the creator and demoted man to the bottom of the hierarchy of creation.

A Biblical Model: Work, Subdue, and Dominion

Genesis 1:26-28, “ And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth…. and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”

The Genesis garden describes principles of ethical capitalism which promotes a healthy environment.  The first principle is the idea of Work or labor.  Work existed before the Fall and was part of the expectations for Adam living in the Garden.  The ethical capitalist understands that profit comes from labor whether physical or intellectual. 

The second principle is the idea to Subdue or control.  Adam was to inject his will upon the environment.  The tending of a garden requires the gardener to project his vision upon the physical environment.  The ethical capitalist understands in order to maximize profits he must shape the land.

The third principle is the idea to have Dominion or manage.  Adam’s work in the garden would never be complete.  Through observation and experience Adam would continue to manage resources to ensure continued profits.  This became of even greater importance following the Fall as the possibility of extinction and introduction of pestilence were added to the equation.  The ethical capitalist understands to ensure continued profits he must manage the resource.
             So long as the ethical capitalist is free to exert control over his property both intellectual and physical he will thrive.  The Bible advocate understands that he has the proper perspective on the planet’s resources and is best suited to influence our national environmental policy.

“So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.”  Ezekiel 37:10 

The promises God made regarding a miraculous rebirth of Israel as a nation also have specific and implied promises of an equally amazing army.  An army with muscle.  An army on the move.  An army with a divine mandate.  The modern Israeli Defense Force or IDF is an impressive military force by any standards, winning every conventional battle since its inception.  Ezekiel’s army has risen.

The IDF is a comprehensive organization.  It costs 10% of total national GDP not including American funding.  It is the only military in the world that has obligatory service for both men and women.  It has minimal separation of services, meaning it includes and integrates army, navy and aviation units.  In national emergency it takes precedent over every other branch of government, and Israel is almost always in a state of emergency.

Most of Israel’s past political leaders have had major roles in the IDF.  Dayan, Begin, Rabin, Sharon and Barak were all military men.  The nation’s civilian technical prowess comes from the training of scientists, engineers, software and robotic technicians in the service of military needs.  Though small in numbers, the IDF retains technological superiority of the air, sea, land and space in order to maximize the use of force when necessary. 

Because the land mass of Israel is so small and vulnerable it’s military and political doctrine combine to justify the concept of a “pre-emptive strike”.   It’s alliances with America also give it an ‘aura’ of teeth that can bite with immunity.  In case of a catastrophic attack, the well known ‘Samson Doctrine’  would ensure a nuclear or equally devastating response, bringing the house down upon Israel’s enemies.

Army Profile:

40,000 professional officers

125,000 full time soldiers

600,000 part time reservists

4000 “Merkava” (Chariot) Main Battle Tanks

11,000 Armored Vehicles

Navy Profile:

14,000 full time sailors

300 full time commandos

3 “Tekumah” (Revival) submarines

3 Missile Corvettes

50 patrol & attack boats

2 amphibious landers

Air Force Profile:

25,000 full time airmen

35,000 part time reservists

100 F15i “Ra’am” (Thunder) Fighter aircraft

320 F16 Fighter/bomber aircraft

120 attack helicopters

Technology Profile:

Ofek-6 Surveillance/communication Satellite

1500 “Mossad” (the Institution) Intelligence agents

200 Nuclear warheads

Jericho 2 missile (2500 mile range)

First missile stopping Laser weapon

War Fighting Profile:

1948-49           War of Independence

1956                 Sinai War

1967                Six Day War

1973                Yom Kippur War

1978                 First Lebanese Incursion

1981                Iraq nuclear reactor strike

1982-2000        South Lebanon Occupation

1987-93           Palestinian uprising

1991                 Iraq Scud attacks

2000-05           Al-Aqsa uprising

2006                Second Lebanese Incursion

While Israel has not officially acknowledged it’s possession of nuclear weapons, it is generally held that they do possess these weapons.  It is to be understood therefore, that an Iranian nuclear strike against Israel would initiate the very first nuclear retaliation or exchange.  Such a truly “nuclear war” is unimaginable for the IDF prompting a pre-emptive strategy.  Although the U.S. has not given a green light for such action, the IDF has shown it is ready to go it alone if necessary.  However, the ultimate hope for Israel’s defense cannot be in the IDF, but in the builder of Ezekiel’s army.

“And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land:  then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD.”  -Ezekiel 37:14

*for further information go online to BibleNation.org to read “Wielding the Nuclear Sword” from the October 2007 edition of the magazine.

Environism is a combination of pseudo-science, new age mysticism, paganism, and socialism which serves as a combination of political philosophy and religion.  This is clearly an attempt to replace America’s historic Christian culture with a new religion – a pagan religion. 
 
The National Religious Partnership for the Environment was formed in 1993.  By April 1994, education and activity kits had been sent to 53,000 American churches.  The NRPE’s Executive Director Paul Gorman said, “ . . .how people of faith engage the environmental crises will have much to do with the future well-being of the planet, and in all likelihood, with the future of religious life as well.”  The NRPE claims that the environmental movement represents a new religious enlightenment capable of uniting all religions.

The NRPE is headquartered in New York City at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine (an Episcopal church).  Also located at this church is the Gaia Institute and the Temple of Understanding.  One of the recently featured speakers at this church was James Lovelock, author of “The Ages of Gaia.”  Lovelock is credited with saying, “The earth, Gaia, is the source of life everlasting and is alive now; she gave birth to humankind, and we are a part of her.”  For environmentalists like Lovelock, “Mother Nature” is not an abstract concept but the living planet, a goddess to be worshipped in place of the God of the Bible. Many other “environmentalists” offer similar religious teaching.  Dr. Robert Muller, former Assistant Secretary General at the United Nations, author of the World Core Curriculum (which serves as a foundation of Goals 2000 and Outcome Based Education), and chancellor of the United Nations University of Peace in Costa Rica, has written a book entitled New Genesis: Shaping a Global Spirituality. In a 1995 interview with the World Goodwill Newsletter, Muller said: former Assistant Secretary General at the United Nations, author of the World Core Curriculum (which serves as a foundation of Goals 2000 and Outcome Based Education), and chancellor of the United Nations University of Peace in Costa Rica, has written a book entitled New Genesis: Shaping a Global Spirituality.

In a 1995 interview with the World Goodwill Newsletter, Muller said:

The UN is humanity’s incipient global brain, and it is part of its global nervous system (media, NGO’s, etc.).  We still need a global heart . . .and we still need a global soul, namely our consciousness and fusion with the entire universe and stream of time.

What Muller means is clarified in another speech delivered to World Goodwill.  Muller says:

 We are temporary living manifestations or incarnations of this earth. We are living earth.  Each of us is a cell, a perceptive nervous unit of the earth. The living consciouness of earth is beginning to operate through us.  You as cosmic and earth cells, are part of a vast biological and Evolutionary phenomenon which is of first importance at this stage, namely humanity as a whole, the whole human species, has become the brain, the heart, the soul, the expression, and the action of the earth.  We now have a world brain which determines what can be dangerous or mortal for the planet:  the United Nations and its agencies, and innumerable groups and networks around the world, are a part of this brain. This is our newly discovered meaning.  We are a global family living in a global home.  We are in the process of becoming a global civilization.

  A leading theologian for the “Environist” movement is Thomas Berry, a Roman Catholic priest.  The Wanderer Forum Quarterly says:

 Father Thomas Berry, C.P., claims that it is now time for the most significant change that Chrisitian spirituality has yet experienced.  This change is part of a much more comprehensive change in human consciousness brought about by the discovery of the evolutionary story of the universe. In speaking about a new cosmology, he reminds us that we are the earth come to consciousness and, therefore, we are connected to the whole living community – that is, all people, animals, plants, and the living organisms of planet earth itself.

According to the Florida Catholic (February 14, 1992), Berry says:

 We must rethink our ideas about God; we should place less emphasis on Christ as a person and redeemer.  We should put the Bible away for 20 years while we radically rethink our religious ideas.  What is needed is the change from and exploitative anthropocentrism to a participative biocentrism.  This change requires something more than environmentalism.

Berry is an editorial advisor to Creation magazine, which says:

The world is being called to a new post-denominational, even a post-Christian belief system that sees the earth as a living being, mythologically, as Gaia, Mother Earth, with mankind as her consciousness.  Such worship of the universe is properly called cosmolatry.

 Lovelock, Muller, and Berry are convinced that the Gaia hypothesis is the inescapable, universal truth which has been distorted and forgotten by the human species.  Only now, with the emergence of the Gaia hypothesis, is the world beginning to rediscover the truth so easily recognized by the ancient mystics, shaman [a worker with the supernatural], and pagan worshippers of the past.  Berry says:

 This new period in history might be called the EcoZonic era.  It requires that we return to the mythic origins of the scientific venture.  We feel the scientists must participate to some extent in shamanic powers. We might say that the next phase of scientific development will require above all the insight of shamanic powers.

 In the environist magazine Green Egg, Otter Zell wrote an editorial entitled “On the Occasion of Bill and Al’s Excellent Election”:

We are neo-pagans – implying an eclectic reconstruction of ancient Nature religions,and combining archetypes of many cultures with other mystic and spiritual disciplines – and our beliefs and values are no different from those you describe as your own.  We ask no special favors; we wish nothing more than that you be true to yourself, and to your own values and ideals as expressed in Earth in the Balance [by Al Gore].  Know that there are half a million American NeoPagans out here who support you, who voted for you, and who will rally to the aid of your policies for the salvation of earth and the reunification of the Great Family.

Andrea Judith supports the same concepts.  She writes:

The basic evolutionary pattern in biological organisms is movement toward greater consciousness.  When all parts of Gaia recognize each other as participants in parallel growth heading for an Omega point of coalescence and integrative harmony, then the global consciousness of this planet will have awakened to a realization of identity as a global being.  Gaia’s evolutionary thrust is reflected in the spiritual goals of self-realization that comes from acceptance of the Gaia hypothesis as the reason why human behavior must be modified to protect, preserve, and even worship the earth goddess – Gaia.

 The Cathedral of St. John the Divine features a service called the “blessing of the Animals.”  One year the sermon was delivered by then-Senator Al Gore.  Some of the animals led down the aisle to be blessed at the altar were:  an elephant, a llama, a camel, a python so large that two men had to carry it, birds, algae (brought by Paul Mankiewicz, director of the Gaia Institute), and a bowl full of worms and compost.  In his sermon, Al Gore declared that God is not separate from the earth.
Al Gore’s book Earth in the Balance is often considered the most important environist book in print.

Amy Elizabeth Fox, Associate Director of the NRPE, describes their political agenda this way: 

    
We are required by our religious principles to look for the links between equity and ecology.  The fundamental emphasis is on issues of environmental justice, including air pollution and global warming; water, food, and agriculture; population and consumption; hunger, trade, and industrial policy; community economic development; toxic pollution and hazardous waste; and corporate responsibility.

 The NRPE seeks to convince its religious partners to modify their belief systems to embrace Gaia.  Individual members of congregations who truly convert will not mind modifying their behavior to conform to the requirements of the new “earth ethic.”
When environists say that “The planet doesn’t belong to us, we belong to the planet,” they are addressing a pagan concept refuted by Scripture.  Scripture makes it clear that both the planet and humans belong to God;  however, God has given man dominion over the earth and ordered him to subdue it.  Every invention of man, from electricity to automobiles to medicines, is part of the process of subduing nature.  Man does not exist for the earth, the earth was created for the glory of God and the benefit of man.

Genesis 1:26-28 says:  26  And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air , and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.  27  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.  28  And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

Scripture warns about the kind of false theology represented in environism. 

 
Romans 1:22-23 says:   22  Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,    23  And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. 

    
Dr. Phil Stringer is Pastor of the Ravenswood Baptist Church of Chicago. He was the former president of Landmark Baptist College. He is an active Bible Conference speaker, having spoken at over 325 churches, camps, Christian schools and colleges covering forty-six states and twelve foreign countries.  He has appeared on over 30 radio and television programs.  He is an adjunct professor for the Landmark Baptist College of Haines City, Florida and a visiting professor for Asia Baptist Bible Seminary (Manila, Philippines), Landmark Baptist College (Manila, Philippines), Midwestern Baptist College (Pontiac, Michigan), and Dayspring Bible College (Lake Zurich, Illinois).  You may contact him or purchase his book The Transformation at www.ravenswoodbaptist.com.

By Dr. Douglas F. Levesque, Founder of The Levesque Institute

New technologies are making everyday activities easier. Pay at the pump gasoline, online banking, and news by cell phone are examples of modern science made friendly. Now, the intricacies of Bible study and even interpretation have also become ‘palm accessible’. Moses must be glad the antiquities and timeless principles of the Bible have now gone high tech.

 Software Applications

Imagine reading Ancient scripture on your computer screen and coming across the King James English, “For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” What does “tittle“ mean? With the click of a mouse button, the unfamiliar word appears alongside its equivalent in the original tongue. The Greek word is ‘keraiah’. The definition follows, “a little horn or extremity. Used by Greek grammarians of the (languages’) accent points.“ Also, other places that word is used in the old book are highlighted, “Luke 16:17”. Links to other resources of significance instantly improve the knowledge of even the casual student. A score of such programs from various publishers are available in multiple price ranges and features. It is truly easier than ever to, “study to show thyself approved unto God” (II Tim. 2:15). This author is impressed with the EBible by Thomas Nelson Publishers. It’s ‘Libronex’ operating system allows the user to download new materials as they become available and interface lots of material at once.

 Internet Resources

For those with online capability there are also extensive Bible study web sites. The Blue Letter Bible (www.blueletterbible.org) has quick search engines that locate verses, words or phrases, definitions and more. There are extensive archives of encyclopedias, atlases, and language helps. Pastors, scholars, and students used to spend thousands of dollars for hard to find resources in order to fully ‘study’ Scripture. Now an hour online can produce a treasure trove of information to help even the first time reader to learn more efficiently. A simple web search will deliver dozens of online Bible resources that offer varying degrees of sophistication and usability. These High Tech solutions continue to prove the Bible accurate, “My words shall not pass away” (Matt. 24:35).

 Bible Smuggling

The Iron and Bamboo Curtains have not been able to stop the influence and spread of printed Bibles getting into the hands of common people, but smuggling Bibles into closed countries is more dangerous than extreme sports these days. The Islamic curtain is using terror to stop the ways of the west from entering their domain, but these new high tech Bible study tools are pretty difficult to keep away from a people who long for liberty. There will always be the need for printed Bibles, and downloading to a desktop printer is now just an icon click away. No more risky smuggling.

 If ‘google bombing’ has become a WMT or Weapon of Mass Technology, then the high tech Bible can prove to be liberty’s greatest sword! “For the word of God [is] quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and [is] a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (Heb. 4:12).