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Curbing Environmental Corruption
by
Gary Bergel
“The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time …. the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence …. for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways.” Genesis 6:5,11,12 NIV
Evangelist E. Stanley Jones pointed out that “evil” is the word “live” spelled backwards. “It is an attempt to live life against itself,” Jones observed.
Jakob Dylan leads with the song, “Evil is Alive and Well,” on a recent Seeing Things album. A gifted poet like his dad, Bob, Jakob muses on evil’s many disguises: “Almost never does it have a name / Maybe coming horseback through deep snow / May have a blood soaked bird in its teeth / Smoked-filled skies and bees in the well / Evil is alive and well.”
“Attempting to live life against itself.” Is there a better description of evil and the spawn of corruption? This certainly summarizes Lucifer’s twisted attempt to usurp the Throne of Heaven (Isaiah 14:12-15) and was the motivation behind his forked-tongue invitation in the Garden (Genesis 3:1-6).
Angelic and human rebellion introduced corruption into a chaste and undefiled creation. Sin entered Eden. Death and decay followed. “Sin and death are Siamese twins,” said E. Stanley Jones. Sin blights. Sin ruins and lays waste. Sin confounds and confuses. Sin has made life a burden and has turned work into toil and travail. Sin sours and spoils the Shalom and flourishing that God desires.
Sin, evil and corruption can and do incarnate into human institutions. Companies can become “nothing more than organized sin,” declares Richard J. Foster. He stresses the fundamental spiritual reality that “in back of brutal dictatorships and unjust policies and corrupt institutions are spiritual principalities and powers.”
In reality, idolatry and corrupt behaviors such as the shedding of innocent blood, abortion, immorality and adultery, wanton war, extortion, fraud, deceit and injustice “defile the land.” Scripture carries God’s warning, “if you defile the land, it will vomit you out.” (Leviticus 18:28) It is significant to note that the “convulsions” which expelled the Israelites from their land and drove them into Egypt were drought and famine—severe weather and climate change!
As spiritual people with biblical understanding (1 Corinthians 2:14), we should not be surprised at the exploding number of climate refugees and climate orphans today. A defiled, degraded and corrupted earth is “vomiting out” its inhabitants before our eyes.
Modern folks, including many who call themselves caring Christian, are living lawlessly backward, wantonly and destructively, contrary to grace and against the natural law that imprints the universe. Instead of “tilling and keeping,” they are part of a savage pillaging and polluting of resources that is progressing in a nearly unbridled way, and on a scale never before seen.
We are being recompensed for our deeds. Corrupt individuals and corrupt industries are triggering retribution, some in evidence as unexplained cancers, lung diseases, autism and other mysterious mental disorders, global warming, rapidly melting icecaps, inundated coastal villages, extinct species, erratic weather and chaotic climate!
Is Nature Out of Control?
This was the provocative title which Basilea Schlink, prophetic founder of the Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary, gave to a serious reflective study she published in 1996 on the phenomenon of divine retribution (Ezekiel 22:23-31). There are times, she concluded, when “God breaks his silence” and creation itself cries out. This is part of the biblical truth encapsulated in Romans 1:18-19.
Revelation 18 projects the consummation of a global Babylon-like system of kings, political bosses, moneychangers and merchants across the earth. These give themselves over to luxurious living at the expense of the earth’s resources and the earth’s people. Cargo of every sort are peddled for profit. The enslavement and merchandizing of “the bodies and souls of men” mark this final corrupt system. God eventually executes a swift “double portion” judgment.
This judgment in the book of “endings,” Revelation, is really the fulfillment of God’s promise to the serpent in the book of “beginnings,” Genesis. “…he [Christ] will crush your head.” (Genesis 3:15)
Satan, one fallen malignant being, cannot reproduce; he can only spawn corruption and take captive. Sin pollutes and has gone viral (like the algae bloom from fertilizer runoff carried in the Shenandoah River below). While its corrupting influence will come to fruition worldwide, the redemptive, transformative work of Christ the Messiah has also gone global and is coming to fulfillment. Christ, the slain victorious Lamb/King is going forth to redeem and “set the captives free.” While sin has gone viral and will come to fruition worldwide, the redemptive, transformative work of Christ the Messiah has also gone global and is also coming to fulfillment. Souls are being redeemed, restored and discipled, and adaptive and mitigating ecological works are being initiated in the midst of economic collapse and climate crisis!
Because we were originally made in the image of God, it was implanted in us as a first principle that we should live as God lives, in accord with creation, not in discord. As followers of Christ we are called to live and act as “salt and light.” (Matthew 5:13-16) We are called to curb corruption and decay. We are commissioned to carry light into darkness.
As servant stewards we are called to till and to harvest, to celebrate and to enjoy, to cherish and to keep for as long as our Lord tarries. Creation is “standing on tiptoe” watching us. (Romans 8:19 JB Phillips)
Maranatha!
When God created Adam and Eve, he bid them to be fruitful and multiply, to rule and subdue the Earth. Environmental stewardship is an important part of following Jesus. How do you think we have done?
The author finds a strong correlation in the scriptures between environmental stewardship, disease and natural disasters. Do you agree or disagree? Why?
Editor's Note: This image is from
Vermin Inc
.
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