Whither bound COP?
Some 40,000 attendees have travelled to Sharm el-Sheikh on Egypt’s Sinai coast for the UN’s COP 27 Climate Change Conference. This includes over 100 world leaders as well as leaders in business and other sectors.
In conjunction with the UN event, a group of Christian, Jewish and Muslim faith leaders are seeking a faith-based solution to the ecological crisis by promoting the “Ten Principles for Climate Justice” in a global initiative. This initiative is led by the Interfaith Centre for Sustainable Development (ICSD).
According to the Interfaith Centre, the location of COP27 is especially meaningful because the Sinai Desert is ‘a place of revelation in the collective consciousness of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and others.’ They initially intended to hold the Climate Repentance Ceremony in order to receive ‘Ten Climate Commandments’ events at Jebel Musa, the traditional site of Mount Sinai, where Moses received the Ten Commandments.
The Egyptian government did not permit the main interfaith event to be held at Jebel Musa due to security concerns so the central venue for this event was changed to London.
The organizers urged houses of worship around the world to join with them in prayer and study focused on this “transformative moment to protect our environment.’ Sceptics of this programme see the religious groups joining with UN programme as evidence of the coming together of an emerging world religion in lockstep with world government as indicated in the Revelation 17 prophecy of the ‘woman riding the beast.’
UN Secretary General Guterres opened the conference by saying that the clock was ticking with the planet fast approaching tipping points that can make “climate chaos” irreversible. The UN chief said that “we are on a highway to climate hell with our foot on the accelerator.”
It is either a Climate Solidarity Pact – or a Collective Suicide Pact.” He called for developed and developing countries to reduce carbon emissions, transform energy systems and avoid climate catastrophe. This is accelerating the toll of extreme weather across the planet. People across the world are losing their lives and livelihoods due to more deadly and more frequent heatwaves, floods, wildfires and droughts triggered by the climate crisis.
Youth activist Greta Thunberg has taken a sceptical line on the conference, criticising it as a ‘forum for greenwashing’. She said these conferences “are not really meant to change the whole system”, but instead encourage gradual progress.
Her new book, ‘The Climate Book’ advocates the overthrow of the West’s “oppressive” capitalist system which she describes as being
“… an extreme system built on the exploitation of people and planet defined by colonialism, imperialism, oppression and genocide that still shapes our current world order.”
Greta Thunberg
She doesn’t say how to put in its place, but this sounds like a call for a communist revolution.
Western nations held responsible for climate change are being told to pay for the crisis by sending reparations to poor countries affected by it. War on Want said the UK should send £1 trillion (roughly the Government’s entire annual budget) to reflect the cost of removing the carbon generated by our burning of fossil fuels.
The UK government does not have enough money to pay for our existing needs and is £2.3 trillion in debt, so doing this would bankrupt the country and could be seen as another route to a form of global communism.
One of the major goals of the climate conference is to cut the use of fossil fuels to net zero by 2050. Microsoft founder and leading globalist, Bill Gates, said the energy crisis stemming from the Russian invasion of Ukraine will be
‘… good for the long run as nations pivot toward renewable energy solutions and we need to push people in this direction.’
Bill Gates
Industrialisation, especially the use of electricity, mostly depends on the use of fossil fuels and is the main reason for the prosperity which nations in the developed world have enjoyed. Pushing for net zero and crippling these nations economically will not help the poor countries of the world. It will lead to firms closing down, economic crash and shortages of food.
Farmers across the world are saying that a reason for the food shortages coming is not just bad harvests caused by drought and floods, or the Ukraine War, but governments pursuing green policies making it difficult (and unprofitable) to produce food. For example, the reason for the economic crisis that has ruined Sri Lanka is partly caused by globalists demanding organic farming and banning the use of fertilisers.
The world’s largest chemical producer, the German company BASF, is permanently downsizing in Europe, citing rising energy prices and supply problems as the reason. This has implications for global famine as nitrogen-based fertilizers need natural gas for production. These are necessary to grow the crops necessary to feed an estimated 4 billion people across the planet. Without them there will be a global food catastrophe.
The UK has now banned fracking, while the environmentalists want to stop any more exploration of the North Sea for oil and gas reserves. Meanwhile the national grid warns Britons of coming blackouts as maintaining a reliable fuel supply cannot be assured. The EU announced it will be banning sale of petrol cars by 2035, to be replaced by solely electric cars, even as EU countries struggle to fight soaring costs of producing electricity. It is also now being shown that electric cars come with their own environmental problems. Europe is already embroiled in an energy crisis and is preparing for blackouts as electricity prices remain more than seven times higher than they were in 2020.
An article on the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) website, ‘My Carbon – an approach for inclusive and sustainable cities’, introduces a plan for changing how people live in the future, with an emphasis on a drastic reduction in the use of fossil fuels. If you follow this article to its logical conclusion, it involves a degree of control over how we live, aided by advanced technology, as in China today (whose example the article praises). It speaks of ‘significant developments in last five to seven years on social, environment and technology fronts that could help realise “My Carbon” initiatives for shaping the future towards smart and sustainable cities.’ The WEF has published a plan to track everyone’s carbon emissions and carbon footprint with the help of advanced surveillance technology.
All of this may cause the collapse of the capitalist industrial system (which the radical environmentalists actually want). What will they put in its place? Going back to pre-industrial society is not really an option now that we have built a society dependent on electricity and fuel for transporting people and goods.
It has been estimated that 90% of the population of industrialised nations would die without electricity. The alternative is a drastic reduction in wealth for most people in the western nations in a controlled society in which supply of money, food and energy are restricted and dependent on a totalitarian form of government.
Something like the kind of society prophesied in Revelation 13.
And by the way it is by no means certain that climate change is due to humans burning fossil fuels, although that may be a factor. In this case no matter what they decide at COP 27, it will not make much difference to the weather (which in some parts of the world is getting noticeably colder).
In the end God controls the weather. The Book of Revelation indicates a series of disasters, some of which appear to be weather related in the last days, during the time of the Great Tribulation. Jesus spoke of cosmic events in the ‘sun moon and stars’ causing ‘the sea and the waves roaring’ and the ‘distress of nations in perplexity.’ Luke 21 He said all this will cause a time of great tribulation which, if God did not cut it short, would bring the end of life on earth. Matthew 24 Only the return of the Lord Jesus Christ can save the world and save the human race.
Resist the woke tyranny
A lecture by Helen Joyce at St Mary’s Church, Cambridge stirred up controversy at Cambridge University. Helen Joyce describes herself as a ‘gender critical feminist’ who believes biological sex is binary and immutable (i.e., you can’t change your sex) and wrote a book entitled ‘Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality’ which criticises the transgender rights movement.
Prof Pippa Rogerson, Master of Gonville and Caius College and senior tutor Dr Andrew Spencer wrote to students telling them they would be avoiding a debate on gender ideology that was being attended by Helen Joyce, describing her views as
‘… offensive, insulting and hateful to members of our community who live and work here’.
Prof P. Rogerson & Dr A. Spencer about Helen Joyce
Students protested outside the talk chanting ‘trans rights are human rights’. Cambridge student union condemned the event saying it would ‘contribute to the further alienation of trans students, to whom the university has a duty of care’.
The event left many Cambridge alumni (including myself) appalled by the way the ancient university has been taken over by woke activists, intolerant of any contrary views to theirs. The transgender movement denies God’s created order as expressed in Genesis 1.27:
So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Genesis 1.27
Paul wrote of those who deny God in creation and His created order:
although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.
Romans 1.21-23
During my time at Cambridge, I met some of the best minds of my generation, who were also some of the biggest fools I have known (and I was one of them, before I met the Lord). Now it seems that Cambridge and most of our academic institutions are being taken over by the most foolish and intolerant people.
They are set on imposing their ideas on the rest of us and wish to crush any dissenters, generally in the name of the liberal left view of ‘tolerance’, which in reality is anything but liberal or tolerant. Here are some of examples of this happening in other places:
An aspiring MP says he’s been the victim of bullying and harassment because of his Christian beliefs. David Campanale, who is the prospective parliamentary candidate for the Liberal Democrats in the constituency of Sutton and Cheam, was elected to fight for the seat back in January but says an “anti-Christian faction” is now trying to oust him. Mr Campanale claims several complaints were made from ‘anti-Christian activists’ who say he hid his Christian faith, despite him claiming the briefest of searches on Google would have revealed him to be a churchgoer.
“I was subjected to a two-hour interrogation for my Christian views,” he said. “I was asked beforehand, ‘Are you ready for the Spanish Inquisition?’ While I was there, people were mocking me saying ‘I suppose you think you’re being persecuted, like Jesus was’.”
David Campanale
Guardian columnist Owen Jones has branded parents who do not affirm LGBT lifestyles as “child abusers”. His comments came in response to a statement from Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer that children should not be making life-altering decisions to appear like the opposite sex without the consent of their parents. Jones baulked at the statement, claiming LGBT people have had
“their lives damaged or frankly wrecked by their parents failing to affirm them”. The 38-year-old activist said: “‘Some parents are child abusers – and that includes parents who don’t affirm LGBTQ+ kids.” He added: “Every transphobe is a potential child abuser.”
Owen Jones
Jonathan Turley, a professor of constitutional law at George Washington University in America wrote:
“Western democracies in Europe are continuing to collapse under the insane ‘woke’ cultural influence of the far left.”
JONATHAN TURLEY – Res ipsa loquitur – The thing itself speaks
He cited the example of Finnish MP Päivi Räsänen, who had quoted the Bible to voice her opposition to her church’s sponsorship of an LGBTQ “pride” event. The 61-year-old MP is now reportedly facing up to two years behind bars for simply exercising her free speech and freedom of religion rights.
In his assessment of this outrage, Turley noted that throughout Western governments, especially in France, there has been an “alarming rollback” of speech rights, mostly under the guise of ‘combatting hate speech’ and ‘non-discrimination laws,’ both of which are really just used by the woke, intolerant left to silence criticism of aberrant lifestyles.
It is certainly time to resist the woke tyranny being imposed on us by a handful of people who represent a tiny percentage of the population and are motivated by a deep hatred of God and His commandments.
Putin plays the anti-woke card in his war on Ukraine
Trying to justify his appalling invasion and war on Ukraine, Putin declared in February that he had to go into Ukraine to purge it of Nazis. With Ukraine having a Jewish President and a thriving movement of Messianic Jews, it was a bit hard to square this ridiculous piece of Kremlin propaganda with reality.
Another justification for the war is now being pushed. Western pro LGBT ideology is said to be a threat to the stability of Russia. Zelensky and his movement are importing this into Ukraine as they seek to join the EU and NATO. Evidence of this is seen in Zelensky’s previous role as an actor promoting liberal sexual attitudes, supported by globalist organisations like the World Economic Forum.
Putin has said he is trying to save Russia from the West’s undermining of traditional values, in particular through the promotion of homosexuality. He described this as an attempt to ‘destroy our traditional values and force on us their false values which lead to degradation and degeneration and are contrary to human nature.’ Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov spoke of the need to protect Christian values from “same-sex values that are being imposed . . . coarsely and openly.” Commenting on this the liberal Boston Review wrote:
“In the rhetoric of the Kremlin and state-loyal media, LGBT rights, feminism, multiculturalism, and atheism are identified not only as foreign to Russia’s values, but as existential threats to the nation.”
Boston Review
Ironically after 70 years of Communist atheism warring against the church, some are now trying to promote Russia as carrying the torch of true Christian civilisation after the West’s plunge into ungodly materialism, secularism, and individualism. Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill has supported the war as being fought for ‘God and mother Russia.’ He said in a sermon on 25th September that those soldiers dying in the war are a
“… sacrifice in the course of carrying out your military duty. This cleanses away all sins.”
Russian Patriarch Kirill
Margarita Simonyan, a Putin apologist with a strong profile on Russian TV, said it is better to die for Russia in Ukraine than be subject to an ultra-liberal dominated world of western values which are a threat to humankind. She said these are
“.. accelerating the demise towards the destruction of mankind, even without any kind of war. One day I will be prohibited from putting dresses on my daughters and to explaining to my son that he is a boy. This is already happening in many countries. For me, this is worse than war.”
Faces of Kremlin Propaganda: Margarita Simonyan
This alignment against the LGBTQ+ agenda by pro war apologists in Russia has caused some in the west who are opposed to LGBT programme to be supportive of Putin. This is a big mistake. We do not agree with the LGBT programme, but we cannot have any support for the Russian programme which supports a kind of persecution of homosexuals, which is not right either.
He is fighting for anything but ‘God, Christianity and Mother Russia.’ His corrupt regime has been described by some as a kleptocratic state. Putin and his oligarch cronies have stolen much of the wealth produced by Russia’s oil and gas resources, while keeping most of the people in poverty and ignorance of what is really happening through control of the media and censorship of any dissenting voices.
He is now trying to steal another country, using the most barbarous tactics as his army rapes and pillages the Ukrainian people. Now as he faces defeat on the battlefield, he is using the most despicable tactics, as Iranian supplied drones and missiles destroy Ukraine’s infrastructure, power stations, electricity and water supply, condemning its people to possible starvation and freezing in the winter. He is increasingly turning to Muslim fighters to help him crush his fellow Slavs. So much for the glory of Russian civilisation, much of which came out of Kiev in the first place.
We can only pray that the people of Russia and Ukraine can be set free from this murderous regime. We remember also that Russia has a role to play in the end time events, sadly on the wrong side of God’s agenda. We have produced a translation of my 10 Signs of the Second Coming booklet in Russian, now being distributed by friends in an east European country to Russians fleeing there from the war. I have also begun sending our Internet version to Russians who sometimes post articles on the Quora website. Any help in getting this booklet to the Russians is appreciated. See
Revolution in Iran
Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators have taken to the streets across Iran after Jina Amini, an Iranian Kurdish woman died as a result of physical abuse she endured in police custody at the hands of Iran’s “Morality Police.” She was arrested in Tehran for the “crime” of not wearing her head covering (hijab) properly while in public, a requirement for all women in Iran. She died as a result of head injuries sustained during beatings while in custody.
As news of Jina’s death broke across Iran, thousands of Iranians took to the streets in dozens of cities across the country. The current wave of unrest in Iran is directed towards the repressive policies of the country’s ruling theocracy, especially towards women, gaining support from women’s rights movements across the Muslim world and in the West. Protests have been documented in both poorer and more affluent neighbourhoods across the country, amongst young and old and involving different ethnic groups in Iran, proving that the movement has widespread support. In recent polls, almost 75% of Iranians disagree with the government’s mandate for women to wear a hijab in public. Students and school children have been filmed calling for an end to the Islamic regime and ‘death to the dictator’ (Ayatollah Khameini).
The ruling clerics who have lost support of much of the population, especially the youth. They blame Israel and the USA for the unrest but fail to recognise that the real reason is a widespread rejection of the Islamic Revolution, after over 40 years of repression and failure.
This has also opened up many Iranians to the Gospel as they see the difference between the teaching of Jesus Christ and the mullahs’ repressive religion. Whether this will create a successful revolution against the regime, or they will again suppress the unrest with violence remains to be seen.
Meanwhile ministries working in Iran support the growing underground church and invite us to ‘join us in continued intercession for the people of Iran during this season of upheaval and uncertainty. We pray for truth and justice to be vindicated in Iran, and for the schemes and designs of the enemy to be brought to nothing. Regardless of whether the protests succeed in bringing the regime to its knees, or whether they are quelled once again in bloody repression, we pray that the Spirit of Jesus would be at work through the underground churches of Iran as they continue the work of making disciples.’ Global Catalytic Ministries. https://catalyticministries.com
We have also produced our ‘Hope for the Future’ leaflet in Farsi which many Iranians are pleased to receive.
Thank you Tony for alerting us more and more of the disastrous state of our world. As Christians we may have many many difficulties to overcome, and it’s all happening so quickly! We can only ‘Be strong in the Lord in the power of His might’. Shalom and blessings!
Thank you, Sue. I agree with you, the speed seems faster and faster as the months and years pass. The image of ‘labour pains’ is so accurate and pertinent! God bless!
I kept thinking of the ‘abomination of desolation’ when reading about the new ten commandments. Just a thought.
Definitely an abomination to our Lord and fellow believers! Thank you.