The Church of Climate Change: Here Comes the Green Shepherd

By Jan Markell
Olive Tree Ministries

Just when we think there can't be another movement to invade our church pulpits, we find one waiting in the wings. So while we've had our fill of "seeker-sensitive," "purpose driven," Emergent heresy, church-growth nonsense, and mystical madness, we now have to brace ourselves for the "church of climate change." Like the others listed above, the church of climate change is not biblical. Nor will it get anyone into heaven or draw anyone closer to the Lord. Of course believers in the church of climate change would disagree.

So where is the push for this originating? The White House - because it wants the church to advance the climate change agenda. There are tens of thousands of very willing pulpits that have cooperated in recent years. There are many more church leaders and pastors who will jump on board this train that has already left the station.

The movement is being called The Green Shepherd, and it is going to confuse the "sheeple." The sheeple take whatever the pastor promotes as good and spiritual. They have little time to research anything themselves. So in this case, the sheeple will be led away from focusing on the Bible to focusing on social issues. They will be urged to save the planet, but the emphasis on saving souls could take second place.

As David Noebel of Summit Ministries says, "The White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships is seeking to enroll gullible Christian churches in its efforts to control the climate - paraded under the guise of fighting poverty and justice." Thus, this effort may slip into churches that are promoting "social justice" even though climate change isn't directly related to "social justice." But it is an attempt to further pollute once-solid pulpits and to distract church members from the things that matter, such as a gospel message. It will cause churches to major in minors.

For decades, outfits like the National Council of Churches (NCC) and World Council of Churches (WCC) have bought into these kinds of programs hook, line, and sinker. The fact that evangelicals have gotten on board in the last 15 years is troubling to say the least. It was about that time that the climate change mantra began being bantered from evangelical pulpits at the expense of gospel preaching. From the Evangelical Environmental Network (EEN), to the Evangelical Climate Initiative (ECI), to the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), climate change is on their front burner, not back burner. Thankfully, the NAE's vice president and global warming guru Richard Cizek stepped down a year ago under pressure from other evangelical leaders who look at this issue as I do. None of the founders of the NAE had social or political action in mind when they organized in the 1940s. They wanted to feed the soul and were all right with the NCC and WCC feeding stomachs (i.e,, implementing the social gospel.)

Yet 85 evangelicals are on board the Evangelical Climate Initiative (ECI). Their statement, Climate Change: An Evangelical Call to Action, says that "human-induced climate change is real" and calls on the U.S. government to pass legislation establishing limits on carbon dioxide emissions, widely believed to be the primary cause of human-induced global warming. They will leap at The Green Shepherd endeavor! Jim Ball, executive director of the Evangelical Environmental Network says, "Global warming is going to affect millions in this century and we feel we just can't stand by. We have to do something about it."

It is tragic that evangelical Christian leaders have bought into the greatest scam in modern history - man-made climate change. Man is also trying to play God by changing this scenario. It is not that they aren't sincere. It is not that they don't think The Green Shepherd endeavor will perhaps save the planet. But the solutions being recommended by global environmentalists for a speculative problem would cause the cost of energy to rise with that burden most heavily on the poor - the very ones they are trying to help. The pains on the earth stem from the Fall in the Garden. God is not waiting for us to solve the problem of global warming and climate change. We are waiting for Him to solve the problem of the global curse with His return.

Reverence does not pertain to things but to persons. Efforts like The Green Shepherd are getting very close to reverencing the impersonal creation as much as a personal God. God indicts those who worship the creation instead of its Creator (Rom 1:18-23).

Since mid-April we have witnessed one of the greatest environmental catastrophes in recent memory: The Gulf disaster. Christians should not diminish this ordeal. There is something to be said about "creation care." Mankind's recklessness and corruption brought it about. We have not been good stewards of God's creation in that entire region. But understand that the White House will try to convince pastors that The Green Shepherd is just what is needed to prevent a similar catastrophe from ever happening again. The reality is that regenerated hearts would want to protect God's creation. A transformed heart would naturally want to preserve something that is God's. A White House proclamation wouldn't be necessary. The green, yellow, or purple shepherd could be retired if all would follow the Good Shepherd and His Word.

So if The Green Shepherd turns up in your pulpit, please speak up and tell your pastor you would rather hear an emphasis on the Lord Jesus Christ, the "Good Shepherd," and His burden for lost sheep - not His burden for climate change.

The "church of climate change" is just more spiritual deception. To better understand that, visit our Web category, "Spiritual Deception," here.

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