Christians, Pollution, and Climate Change
With soaring, record high global temperatures, floods, fires, droughts, melting ice, sea level rise, and other climate extremes and disruptions in the news every day, should Christians be concerned about pollution and climate change? Some Christians feel that they are definitely saved, and bound for heaven, and that God will destroy the earth with fire, wrongly interpreting “fire” in 2 Peter 3:7,10 literally. Therefore, they feel no sense of responsibility to take care of the earth. Others feel so strongly about the climate change problem that they become climate activists, and protest about climate change in various ways, even going to extremes in some cases, even to the point of risking their lives for the climate. Is this how God wants us to think and act? While the Bible does not use the terms “climate change,” “pollution,” “global warming,” etc., we can gain insight into God’s thinking by examining various Bible statements and principles.
In the past, much effort has been made to identify “The Antichrist” as being one prominent individual, such as Pompey, Nero, Mohammed, or the Papacy. Today, many preachers and denominations say there is going to appear on the world scene in the future, just before the end, a very charismatic world leader and deceiver that the Bible calls ‘THE ANTICHRIST.” Such Biblical prognosticators even use scriptures from Daniel about the “little horn,” and Revelation about “a beast coming up out of the sea,” to “prove” their point. They have developed quite an elaborate story about what “The Antichrist” is “predicted” to do in the future.
