The environment – questions & answers

We have to recognize that human pollution is a problem. In fact, the Bible says in Isaiah 24 that one of the things of the last days is that:

the Earth lies ‘defiled’ or (the Hebrew word can also mean) ‘polluted’ under its inhabitants.

And there are verses which speak about the pollution of the earth as being one of the signs of the last days. We’re seeing that, as a result of industrialization, the use of chemicals, plastic, nuclear waste, etc. the Earth is being defiled.

I’m in favor of sorting out some of these problems. I’m in favor of protecting the rainforest, of not burning it down and all these things which are taking place. There are things which we should be concerned about, but I’m not totally convinced that if we stop burning fossil fuels you’re going to have a change in the weather.

Seismic activity

Matthew 24.7 speaks about the increase of earthquakes as a sign of the last days. One of the things that are going to happen is that we are going to see more and more earthquakes.

For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.

Matthew 24.7

Turkey and Syria

And the terrible earthquake which struck Turkey and Syria – very larges one 7.8 on the Richter Scale and 7.5 for the second one – and they’ve been followed by a number of other earthquakes in the same region.

It hit a very large populated area with catastrophic results. Over 46,000 people have been killed and over 100,000 injured. Millions have been made homeless and forced to live out in the bitter cold which has afflicted the region.

This is a picture actually from Syria. In Syria, the earthquake has added to the misery of the people who are already suffering after years of war affected.

In the Idlib area, which is in the north of Syria and is not under the government control, the situation is in dire straits under rebel control.

That is another factor why the poor people who live there are really getting desperate.

In Turkey, there have been accusations of corruption and negligence by builders as well as claims that the government failed to implement building regulations needed to make the apartments blocks withstand earthquakes without collapsing. A number of people died as a result of failures on the part of both the government and the builders.

One has to say that president Erdogan granted amnesty to 7.4 million applications for unregulated buildings in return for fees which the government collected. More than 13 billion in all.

So, there’s quite a lot of corruption going on there and, as a result of skipping the safety tests, the buildings were put up without adhering to the necessary building regulations required in an earthquake zone.

All of this is now threatening Mr Erdogan’s campaign for the presidential elections. It is quite a significant development. Erdogan himself is an Islamist. He’s a discordant member of NATO and is now more friendly with Russia.

Under Erdogan, Turkey became increasingly anti-Israel, though he has somewhat moderated his stance recently.

Erdogan also became more cooperative with Iran despite the fact that he is a Sunni Muslim and Iran is Shiite Muslim state. Both of them, at the present time, have ended up in Syria along with Russia. And it is interesting that Russia, Iran, and Turkey are considered to be members of the alliance which will come against Israel in the Gog and Magog war.

All of them are now involved in some way in Syria.

Israel

There was an Israeli relief team which came from Israel to help people there and having rescued a number of people under the rubble was forced to cut short its work in turkey and leave the country in the face of a growing threat to the team.

The Israeli Islamist, pro-Erdogan newspaper Yeni Akit claimed that the Israeli team consisted of intelligence agents disguised as relief workers and that they left Turkey in the face of the threats of local people’s cries of ‘go home’.

So, Israel has been trying to help but they’ve been kicked out which tells you something about what’s going on there.

There is terrible suffering and we grieve for all the people who’ve been wounded and killed in this terrible earthquake.

I heard one story which may or may not be true (I hope it is true); apparently, a six-year-old girl was pulled out of the rubble and, as she came out, she was offered some food. But she said to the man: ‘I’ve already had some food thank you very much. A big man with a long beard came to me and gave me some food and he was also holding up the rubble to prevent it from coming down on me’.

Whether this is true or not I hope it is. The news has gone viral on Turkish social media and it is little story which gives you some hope in the midst of a very dark situation.

But we have to say that this earthquake itself is another sign of the last days. Earthquakes are one of the signs of the last days. The earthquake itself is on a major fault line.

Nearly 8,000 aftershocks have taken place in the Middle East.

According to Amir Tsarfati, the earthquake was felt in Turkey and Syria and Lebanon, in Israel, and in Egypt. There was also a minor earthquake off the coast of Lebanon which was felt throughout Israel.

Additionally, in the last month, there have been significant earthquakes in Tajikistan 6.8 on the Richter Scale, in Central Asia, in Indonesia, the Philippines, New Zealand, in the Karmadic islands (in the Pacific), and in the north of Iran.

There are some 23 volcanoes going off in some parts of the world today. So you’ve got an increase in seismic activity around the world and sometimes it comes in big bursts and that’s what happened the last month.

There is an interesting little detail I picked up about that time with the rocking of structures, etc.

Israel itself has been asking questions about how much it would be able to withstand a large earthquake. They had two small earthquakes around 4 on the Richter Scale in January and the Jerusalem Post carrier article saying that Israel is not ready to withstand a large earthquake, that it would take a long time to carry out the plan for improving the structural Integrity of buildings across the country. Worst case scenario, such an earthquake would kill some 7,000 people and destroy some 30,000 buildings.

What’s also interesting is that on the 3rd of February, the Arab media reported that verses from the Qur’an began falling off the facade of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. Do you know that the Dome of the Rock was built over where the Temple once stood?

It has verses from the Qur’an all around the top of it. Some of these Qur’an verses say that the disciples of Jesus were imposters and they have texts from the Qur’an rejecting the divinity of Jesus, saying: ‘Say not that God is three, God is one‘ and ‘Say not that God has a son’.

So you have Antichrist verses in the Temple Mount, in the Dome of the Rock, in the places where the Temple once stood.

Now, further to recent earthquakes, some of these inscriptions fell off.

It is interesting also there was a full of in this place here the Al-Aqsa mosque uh part of the floor actually fell in a prayer structure which is to the side of it and some Muslims blame Israel of course.

But Ariel Akiva spokesman for the Temple Mount Israeli activist organization called Beyadenu which means ‘In our hands’ says that

He also said that

Not only is the Temple Mount archaeologically significant but has honeycombed with tunnels that were used in the temple. It’s dangerous to dig there noted archaeologists.

And an expert on the Temple Mount conjectured that a major disaster at the site was imminent.

So, this could be significant because the Bible warns of earthquakes in the last days.

In Ezekiel 38 verse 19 it says,

 ‘Surely in that day there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel, ²⁰ so that the fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the beasts of the field, all creeping things that creep on the earth, and all men who are on the face of the earth shall shake at My presence. The mountains shall be thrown down, the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.’

Ezekiel 38.19-20

Zechariah 14.3-4 speaks about an earthquake that splits the Mount of Olives in two at the time of the coming of the Lord.

³ Then the Lord will go forth
And fight against those nations,
As He fights in the day of battle.
⁴ And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives,
Which faces Jerusalem on the east.
And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two,
From east to west,
Making a very large valley;
Half of the mountain shall move toward the north
And half of it toward the south.

Zechariah 14.3-4

Revelation 16 verses 17-19 speaks about a great and mighty earthquake that has never occurred before and which will cause the cities of the nations to fall.

¹⁷ Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, “It is done!” ¹⁸ And there were noises and thunderings and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such a mighty and great earthquake as had not occurred since men were on the earth. ¹⁹ Now the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell.

Revelation 16.17-19

Now, the Jerusalem thing is interesting because some Jewish and Christian interpreters believe that these mosques will actually collapse before the Second Coming of Jesus and that they will build a Jewish Temple there, in their place.

I’m not sure about that but there are certainly people who believe that’s going to happen and it’s interesting that you have this crisis over Jerusalem, this interest in this particular area which is for Jews, Christians, for Muslims, for all of them very significant as far as the end of days is concerned.

And it’s all concentrating in that region. So if this place, the Dome of the Rock, falls down, watch out. It will be another sign of the end days.

The fact is that it was shaken a little bit during the last earthquake. So, watch out.

Climate Change

The weather

One of the contributing factors to the suffering of people in the earthquake zone was the very cold weather, extremely and unusually cold and this factor made it disruptive for people trying to rescue the injured and dead, and, of course, for the people who found themselves homeless.

It is similarly interesting that freezing weather and extreme cold temperatures have been recorded all over the world. We’re always being told about global warming but we don’t get told so much about global cooling.

The temperature went down to minus 60 degrees Celsius in northern China just last month. Iin the U.S. they’ve had record lows and at extremely second extremely cold storms impacting the country, even bringing snow to Southern California – unusually, very cold weather.

I watched the BBC report on this at lunchtime and they said it’s due to global warming. Well, there you are.

All over the world, you’re seeing extreme cold weather: in Japan, Central Asia, Eastern Europe, in the Balkans, even in Morocco it’s been snowing.

The Finnish Meteorological Institute said that the total Snowmass in the Northern Hemisphere in 2021 was way above the average for the last 10 years.

So those people who told you that ‘You’ll have to tell your children that you never see snow again and tell them what snow is like‘ are being proved wrong. It’s getting colder.

There’s a Russian space scientist called Dr Habibullo Abdussamatov who predicted ‘global cooling’ due to low solar activity.

So it’s the sun that defines the climate not carbon dioxide. The climate is in fact a very complex phenomenon.

We’re told that, because of burning carbon dioxide, there is a heat blanket that is causing the temperatures to go up all over the world. Have you heard that?

Therefore, you’ve got to stop burning oil and gas, and coal, and all these things which are causing this effect. If that was the case, then the temperature should be rising uniformly all over the world which it’s definitely not.

Other interpreters say that there are very complex things which we don’t all totally understand which are taking place do with the sun, to do with the wind, and to do with the ocean currents which affect the climate totally. So, whether we get warm weather in this country or cold weather depends totally on which way the wind blows.

Have you notice that? The cold weather is usually brought by the North Wind, the warm weather by the South Wind, the mild wet weather by the West Wind.

I remember in my childhood that the Western the prevailing westerlies were pretty much the norm in Britain.

If you watch the weather today, it’s either a South Wind or a North Wind, sometimes a West Wind.

Things are changing. And this climate change sceptic site says that, as a result of various things happening in the sun, the Jet Stream which used to flow pretty much in a straight line, is now flowing in this wavy line. It goes around. With this wavy line then, you get very hot weather in some places and very cold weather in others; you get very wet weather in some places and very dry weather in others, which is exactly what’s happening today.

You’ve had tremendous floods in New Zealand while here, in Western Europe, we’re actually having very dry weather and, if it carries on like this, we’ll have a drought in the summer.

Some countries have been very hot, some have been very cold. In some countries big countries like America they’ve hot and cold weather at the same time. This phenomenon is changing the weather and, if you think about it, if this is caused by the Sun and these currents, and the wind direction, what can we do about it? Not much.

Basically, what we’re being told all the time is that we have this phenomenon of global warming and that the only answer to it is to stop using fossil fuels.

Pollution

I accept that pollution of the earth is a real thing and I accept also that burning fossil fuels is not very good in some ways for the atmosphere, and burning oil and gas has a bad effect. But, as far as I can see, if you stop burning fossil fuels, it’s not going to solve the problem because there are other things which are taking place.

We have to recognize that human pollution is a problem. In fact, the Bible says in Isaiah 24 that one of the characteristics of the last days, it says,

The earth is also defiled under its inhabitants,
Because they have transgressed the laws,
Changed the ordinance,
Broken the everlasting covenant.

Isaiah 24.5

And there are other verses which speak about the pollution of the earth as being one of the signs of the last days.

We’re seeing as a result of industrialization the use of chemicals, plastic, nuclear waste. The earth is being defiled. We had a catastrophic event in the last few weeks in Ohio, in America, where a train collided carrying dioxins that they burnt and now it’s affecting the whole area.

Fish are dying, animals are dying, people’s health is being impacted by this, and there are all sorts of diseases as a consequence. The water going down river from Ohio into the whole of the water system in America is also being polluted.

Therefore, pollution of the earth is a real problem and it’s another thing which is prophesied in the Bible for the last days.

I’m in favor of sorting out some of these problems, I’m in favor of protecting the rainforest, of not burning it down, and all these things which are taking place are things which we should be concerned about.

However, I’m not totally convinced that if we stop burning fossil fuels you’re going to have a change in the weather. I think that these things here, the sun, the currents, the winds are what’s going to cause the changes in the weather and there’s not a lot we’re going to be able to stop them

Now, some of the things that people are suggesting to change the weather are very dangerous for the future. I was reading that George Soros and (I think Bill Gates as well) have said that we need to go into the atmosphere to reflect the light from the sun back and that this will stop global warming.

Some people think that’s already happening with Chemtrails and other things which are taking place. If we’re trying to change the weather artificially that’s incredibly dangerous because the only one who can really control the weather is God and if we try and change it ourselves, it’s such a complex thing that we don’t know what we’re doing and it could result in catastrophic results.

The reality

The Bible does say that this is going to be a real problem in the last days. Isaiah says the earth lies polluted under its inhabitants. The Book of Luke it recounts how Jesus said that

²⁵ “And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; ²⁶ men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

Luke 21.24-26

So you’re going to see things happening which we can’t get out of, which will cause people to be afraid, which will affect the natural world in which we live.

Reading through the Book of Revelation you’ve got a series of catastrophic events which affect the environment. Revelation chapter 8 speaks about trees being burnt, fish dying, water being polluted as a result of the Judgment which fall on the earth. It also speaks about hell and fire hitting the earth and that has been explained by somebody as being the result of a solar flare hitting the earth.

⁶ So the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.

⁷ The first angel sounded: And hail and fire followed, mingled with blood, and they were thrown to the earth. And a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.

⁸ Then the second angel sounded: And something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood. ⁹ And a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

¹⁰ Then the third angel sounded: And a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. ¹¹ The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the water, because it was made bitter.

¹² Then the fourth angel sounded: And a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them were darkened. A third of the day did not shine, and likewise the night.

¹³ And I looked, and I heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, “Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!”

Revelation 8.6-13

Apparently, it would first of all cause hail to come down, then it would cause fire to come down (Revelation 8 verse 7 above) and deliver the results which you read about in Revelation chapter 8.

Now, all these things are beyond our capability to affect them. If you believe in God, in the Bible, and you believe that God’s in control, then you’ll know that God is holding these back from the worst case disasters and God is controlling things.

However, still, there are things happening. In the Tribulation, God removes His protection and the really strong judgments begin to take place which affect the earth and cause earthquakes, famines.

That means that the only answer to all of this is the Second Coming of Jesus.

The Bible indicates that when Jesus returns, He is going to sort out the environmental mess which we have on the earth.

Isaiah speaks about rivers flowing in the desert

Behold, I will do a new thing,
Now it shall spring forth;
Shall you not know it?
I will even make a road in the wilderness
And rivers in the desert.

Isaiah 43.19

And in Zechariah we see the rivers are released by God (we know there’s a lot of water underneath the earth) to clean up the earth. It speaks about the climate changing for the better and also for crops growing all over the world, and of plenty and of a peaceful environmental system in which Jesus is reigning on the earth.

⁵ Then you shall flee through My mountain valley,
For the mountain valley shall reach to Azal.
Yes, you shall flee
As you fled from the earthquake
In the days of Uzziah king of Judah.

Thus the Lord my God will come,
And all the saints with You.

⁶ It shall come to pass in that day
That there will be no light;
The lights will diminish.
⁷ It shall be one day
Which is known to the Lord—
Neither day nor night.
But at evening time it shall happen
That it will be light.

⁸ And in that day it shall be
That living waters shall flow from Jerusalem,
Half of them toward the eastern sea
And half of them toward the western sea;
In both summer and winter it shall occur.
⁹ And the Lord shall be King over all the earth.
In that day it shall be—
“The Lord is one,”
And His name one.

¹⁰ All the land shall be turned into a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem. Jerusalem shall be raised up and inhabited in her place from Benjamin’s Gate to the place of the First Gate and the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king’s winepresses.

¹¹ The people shall dwell in it;
And no longer shall there be utter destruction,
But Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited.

Zechariah 14.5-11

Some people think that is a fantasy. Others think it is just a picture of heaven. But I believe that Jesus is literally going to come back to the earth and, after He does, He is going to clean up the mess and bring a good new world order in which He is reigning and in which there’s peace and justice and plenty for those who believe in Him.

It’s happening soon and we have to be ready for it.