My dear readers,

Regarding climate change: we know God’s vengeance will come. but if God created the world, should we at least look after what He created? Are we not meant to be a good testimony to non-Christians?

The earth God created for man was very good. The earth did not hurt or harm anyone. God described His creation as very good! Genesis 1:31 “And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.”

When did the earth’s climate become “bad”?

The climate changed for the first time after Adam sinned against God in the Garden of Eden. God cursed the ground with thorns and thistles so that man would have less time to sin because he needs to work hard to live. Genesis 3:17-19 “And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; 18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; 19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”

The curse on the earth forced sinful man to work hard by the sweat of his brow to tire him out as he provided for himself and his family. God kicked sinful man out of Paradise for his own good. He is a sinner now. He will sin more and more if given a perfect environment. Indeed, an idle mind is the devil’s workshop. A hard-working man does not have an idle mind. He thinks about his hard work rather than how to sin more.

After the global flood, God changed the climate again by providing the new world with four seasons. God would no longer permit man to live eight to nine hundred years because the longevity of life given to sinful man resulted in an uncontrollable pandemic of sin, and God had to destroy the world with water, with only eight believers out of, perhaps, a population of one billion. Changes to the climate was initiated by God even as God allowed man to eat meat. He also put the fear of man into the beasts, birds and fish. Genesis 9:1-3 “And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. 2 And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered. 3 Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.” The climate changed with the change in the lifestyle of man.

Now with the world in the final throes of its existence, the message from God is clear. The sins of the world are getting from bad to worse. This is the nature of sinful behaviour. Every new generation of sinners piles a new heap of worse sins on top of the sinful pile of its previous generation. God slowed down the rapid spread of sin by changing the climate, as he did in the days of Adam. Sinful man will try to reverse what God has done, as sinful man has been doing since the Fall. Man will not succeed as they try to stop the work and the will of the Almighty God.

“at least look after what He [God] created” – What does “look after” mean? Does it mean to look after the way that the Gentiles are doing, which is to try to save the earth physically from “self-destruction”? The earth cannot “self-destruct”! God has been sustaining the earth and the heavens since He created them. God will destroy the earth together with the heavens. What God had created, God preserved. Creation obeys the voice of the Creator only. God changed the earth’s climate to what it is today to help sinful man see Him and receive Christ.

Before man sinned against God, God placed man in the Garden of Eden, where “work” was to pluck the fruits from the trees to eat. A mist came up from the ground to water the earth. Man did not need to work hard with sweat on the brow. Everything was easy and enjoyable as a man without sin. He did not think of how to sin more and more. But when he fell into sin, he planned to sin more and more. This sinful behaviour and tendency brought harm to him and others around him. Did not Cain kill Abel, his younger brother, out of uncontrollable anger? (cf. Genesis 4:1-8) Cain offered a non-blood offering, and God rejected him and his offering. Abel offered a blood sacrifice, and God accepted him and his offering. Both were taught the Holy Scriptures, probably by their parents, Adam and Eve, that without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. Man cannot approach God from the moment he sins against God. Abel offered according to the teaching from the Bible by faith, and he and his offering were accepted.  Hebrews 11:4 “By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.”

The world will be like Sodom and Gomorrah before the Lord Jesus Christ returns, which means the sins of homosexuality and fornication will be a global transgression. To slow down the spread of these evils, God sent diseases and changed the climate to make it more uncomfortable and difficult for sinful man to “play” on His earth. What can Christians do “to look after” a world that is reserved for destruction by fire in the last days?

This is not a reference to only the climate; everything man does on this earth, from doctoring to building and creating all things, is heading to the rubbish dump for fiery destruction! When Christians work in the world, they ought to focus on spiritual and eternal things, like their holy witness and saving souls. They must share with their friends who propagate climate change that what they need to do is to repent of their sins and believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour. This is good testimony, especially when the gospel is shared from holy lives. Only spiritual work in Christ will not be consumed by the fiery destruction. To “look after” the world and save the planet,  the way the world is doing, is to fall into the devil's ploy. It is a distraction from the spiritual duties given by Jesus Christ to all believers.

Matthew 28:18-20 “And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” – Isn’t this the Christian’s duty to a world dying in sin, not to a world that God said is reserved for destruction by fire?

Yours faithfully in the Saviour’s Service

Rev Dr Quek Suan Yew, Pastor