Faith 104

Man in His Arrogance

No, not Faith 101. I thought 104 would be appropriate. Why? I found myself this morning in Psalm 104. I absolutely love this psalm and it provides a serious foundation for my core beliefs as well as reinforcing what being in the “wild” for the past 5 years has opened my eyes to.

Rush Limbaugh used to say that the “Environmental” Movement is the home of displaced communists. I can’t help but agree with his statement. (Study the history of communist leaders and you will see a perpetual double standard by which they all have lived.)

This statement also helps form the idea behind what I’d like to try and communicate today as it relates to my thoughts on those in our world who think mankind has the power to actually destroy what God has set in place (and the leaders who manipulate the masses hearts and minds…a gullible human being’s good intentions…through their evil rhetoric).

The arrogance of mankind is utterly and literally nothing new. Man, in his self appointed wisdom and superiority has done a fine job over the ages deciding all sorts of “mad” things. He has throughout time taken the approach that he most certainly knows better than God in all matters.

I mean, consider the Garden Of Eden story. From the very beginning, man apparently knows best and God is relegated to an utter fantasy from the machinations of some lunatics mind. This seems, to me, to be particularly exacerbated by those who educate themselves further and further into religious theology and secular higher thought. No, inside the church is not at all immune from this insane attempt at control. It seems, in my observation, the further man goes into the study of (other men’s) writing and thought the more fiercely independent of God he becomes.

As such a truism develops. Maybe it’s better if it’s a Robism. The further you walk away from God, the closer you walk toward Satan himself.

I do not believe there can be a middle ground upon which you can stay. I believe even if you convince yourself you can sit on the fence between both sides, you cannot. At some point, you will fall down on one side or the other. You must, at some point, make a choice. (Spend time reading C.S. Lewis’ “Mere Christianity”.)

This issue is NOT NEW. Consider the way back days of Joshua in the Old Testament. Even then, the issue was real. Joshua said (and I’ll use The Message version)

“If you decide that it’s a bad thing to worship God, then choose a god you’d rather serve—and do it today. Choose one of the gods your ancestors worshiped from the country beyond The River, or one of the gods of the Amorites, on whose land you’re now living. As for me and my family, we’ll worship God.” Joshua 24:15

Lies and More Lies

I do find it both humorous as well as infuriating this whole “Climate Crisis” nonsense.

I say nonsense because at 54 years old I have watched how this lie from hell itself has changed over and over and over again. It changes because the masses get “hip” to the lie, begins to take it apart, and it loses it’s ability to manipulate.

Consider even since I was a small child.

I remember living in utter fear and horror every day of my young life as I began to understand and read that the earth was coming into an ice age and we were all going to freeze to death and die. Look it up, you will see it (early to mid 1970’s).

This went into Armageddon and nuclear Holocaust sure to decimate us all. (see “The Day After”; a documentary released by ABC on November 20, 1983).

Then, when we figured out the ice age propaganda was bogus, it switched direction to scorched earth. The oceans were drying up and we would die from the earth temps increasing.

Then the icecaps were melting and according to Al Gore, Miami would be under water in a few decades past the late 90’s

“Because of the rising sea level, due to global warming, in the next few decades … up to 60 percent of the present population of Florida may have to be relocated,” Mr. Gore wrote in his book, “Earth in the Balance.”

This false worship, as I will call it, appeals the the godless among us. They elevate the wrong gods and worship them. The earth, the sky, the trees, the men who feed them such lies. They are all false and wrong.

(and before you think I care little for the earth, continue reading…for this is the furthest thing from the truth)

There are a few ways in which you can tell a lie as uttered by those peddling them in an attempt to manipulate you into obeying their (ultimately evil) dictates and steer you from peace rooted in God’s truth.

1) The lies are vague and ambiguous. They are never very specific and always, ALWAYS, allow room for change should circumstance require it.

2) Those peddling them (except in only the rarest of instances) never, EVER live their own lives by the demands and dictates they insist you live under.

3) Fear is always the driving component.

You see, that’s Satan in all his glory.

Create confusion, always change the goal post, leave things purposely vague and confusing, and if the lie stops working, change it to fit the needs to perpetuate it indefinitely. All with the end goal to keep man in bondage and under the tyranny of the men appointed to enslave them (should man agree to being enslaved).

Sadly, because so many lack a relationship with God, lack the courage and confidence that God is with them, has their back and is in full control, they fall into the trap of instead believing in and trusting these liars…to their own misery, discomfort, inconvenience, and pain. I now have two very real examples I can teach to the next generation in this very concept with the now deemed “Climate Crisis” and the ever changing, ever evolving “Covid Crisis”.

Tyranny (Satan) knows no limits. Man, if allowed, knows no bounds in his ability to manipulate, attempt to control, and even terrorize his fellow man. When man refuses God, he can only, by sheer logic, accept the opposite or antithesis of God. That then is Satan himself. There is no middle.

And for this guy, me, there is one single thing which exposes a lie as told by another human. Tell me to do something or demand I live by some edict that you yourself are not honoring or living by and well, you quickly get the mental middle finger. (See the hundreds of now public examples of Governors and City Mayors insisting their subordinates live by their mandates related to the Covid “Crisis” while over and over seeing footage released showing them not doing the same).

Peace Comes with Psalm 104…and Faith

In my study today, I was reminded of the glorious locations and epic sights I have laid my eyes upon once I started traveling to do epic landscape photography in 2019 and 2020.

Standing at the edge of my campsite on the rim of the Grand Canyon to watch the sun rise I was struck by God’s amazing ability and power.

The sun rises over the Grand Canyon North Rim area as I observe from my campsite 35 miles from civilization

Better still, spending time under the ink black of the desert moonless skies photographing the Milky Way I am always enamored with how great his hand is. How powerful he really is; for in my limited scope as a human, I could not, even if I wanted to, get to the first star in the space I can see with my eyes.

Hell, I can’t even spin a basketball on my finger indefinitely (and I suspect even the most fervent apocalyptic Climate Activist could not) and yet, God in his power and ability hung this earth in perfect balance working with the other planets to revolve timelessly (well, until such time he comes back, destroys it, to rebuild as promised in Revelation) around the Sun.

I’ll submit that no man will ever be able to extinguish the sun. That alone is enough to keep me grounded.

You know, consider it. There are no strings holding these planets up as if on a mobile above a child’s crib. They just float there. And even if there were a string, to what would it be attached? Who put it there? What’s holding the anchor in place? To what is it attached? How in Hades (hear that in Carl’s Slingblade voice) is it all staying put?

Yet, we are told, man, in his greatness is destroying the planet, has created (what is now billed as) Climate Crisis, and only if we do what the top brass in the movement tell us (which of course none of them live by) is there hope that we can stay alive and our children will not have to suffer.

It always centers on fear of pain, death, suffering, or loss. Remove faith in God having it all in hand and it turns white hot the fire of worry and anxiety in our hearts.

There’s no clear answer from these all knowing, all wise, superior beings. It’s always go with less, do less, suffer more, go without (so we; your collective gods and care takers can have more).

What does the Psalmist say in 104? I’m using the New Living Translation.

You stretch out the starry curtain of the heavens;

you lay out the rafters of your home in the rain clouds.

You make the clouds your chariot;

you ride upon the wings of the wind.

The winds are your messengers;

flames of fire are your servants. VS 3-4

and

You placed the world on its foundation

so it would never be moved.

You clothed the earth with floods of water,

water that covered even the mountains.

At your command, the water fled;

at the sound of your thunder, it hurried away.

Mountains rose and valleys sank

to the levels you decreed.

Then you set a firm boundary for the seas,

so they would never again cover the earth. VS 6-9

even

You made the moon to mark the seasons,

and the sun knows when to set.

You send the darkness, and it becomes night,

when all the forest animals prowl about. VS 19-20

I know of no man possessing this kind of power. I do not believe one has ever come, other than Jesus Christ who possesses the power to tell the earth what to do, how to do it and when. If the Climate Crisis “gods” had such power, certainly they could accomplish their goals with a word. If they had the power those who worship them seem to think they have they could, as Jesus demonstrated over and over again, they are worthy of our worship.

Consider Jesus taking charge during a raging storm one day in Mark 4. Mind you, this couldn’t have been any ordinary thunderstorm friends. The boat was filled with and the story written by skilled, seasoned fishermen and sailors. This was not some group out for a sight seeing tour the likes of which formed the entire premise for the TV Show Gilligan’s Island. That’s an important, even over arching point in this story; one not to be missed for it helps to amplify the degree to which Jesus Christ demonstrated his authority!

As evening came, Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.” So they took Jesus in the boat and started out, leaving the crowds behind (although other boats followed). But soon a fierce storm came up. High waves were breaking into the boat, and it began to fill with water.

Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion. The disciples woke him up, shouting, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?”

I stand next to a Joshua Tree in the desert observing the Milky Way

When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Silence! Be still!” Suddenly the wind stopped, and there was a great calm. Then he asked them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

The disciples were absolutely terrified. “Who is this man?” they asked each other. “Even the wind and waves obey him!” VS 35-41 NLT

If Al Gore, Bill Gates, or any of the other Climate Tyrants were at any level worthy of their words, in my view, they could do the same thing. Until such time as they can, they get no respect from this guy (not to mention Jesus lived out what he said…these fools, like all the others in their class, do not).

Find Peace in the Truth

The bottom line in my thinking today is this.

Truth remains true. It doesn’t change. The way we understand it may change over time, but there is a singular truth. God is it. He determines it. God sets the standard and that standard has remained steadfast and firm since he ordered into being this planet and those who have come before us.

There is nothing mankind is going to do which will alter and change the course of things that God has directed, ordered, and deemed so.

Lies change. They fluctuate and alter constantly. Truth does not.

As you evaluate all you are told and those things to which you should bow and worship, evaluate them under the microscope of the hand of the Living God, the one who actually set this universe in perfect motion.

He has all of this in his hand and under his control.

Regardless of what man kind in all of his arrogance believes, there is not one single thing he will do to alter the course upon which God himself has set this planet. Period. To believe otherwise is the thinking of the arrogant fool so impugned all throughout the book of Proverbs.

Faith is all that matters here. Faith in the God who made you, me and the planet we inhabit and enjoy.

A Final Environmental Though

As earlier stated, I do care for the planet. I believe we have a responsibility to care for it, pick up after ourselves and do our best to NOT exercise selfishness in the other direction.

What do I mean?

Having travelled and camped and hiked and dispersed camped, boondocked and so forth, I have seen the ravages and destruction of which humans seem capable.

It grieves me greatly to show up at what should be a pristine back country campsite to find other’s trash, garbage, or camping gear left behind simply strewn around for rangers or other campers to deal with.

This has become a significant problem since the onset of the “shut society down” our king Tyrants decided to begin imposing on the world a few years back. This pushes inordinate amounts of people (all told to no longer go to work) into the wilderness to wander, camp, hike and so forth.

They brought with them their irresponsible ways and actions, trashing so many beautiful properties and land that those of us who actually care, cherish. Leaving behind garbage and destroying the beauty around the site. More and more what used to be stellar locations to boondock are now being closed to any camping by the National Forest authorities and Bureau of Land Management authorities because of this very thing.

This, again, is man living selfishly. With time, if left to it’s own devices God’s earth would take care of it, cover it with over growth and engulf it to decompose it all.

But that’s not the way it should be.

We SHOULD do the best we can to pick up after ourselves, take care of what we’ve been given (an order from the very beginning in Genesis) and do our best to be responsible.

This, however should not be allowed to become the basis upon which we then succumb to the petty tyranny of our fellow man as he attempts to create misery for us while he lives higher than the rest, off the backs of the slaves as the Egyptians did over the Israelites for 400 years.

God has it all in his hand and knows what he’s doing.

We should choose to trust him and in faith follow his lead.

Until next time…

-rob out