Spring 2004

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From the Publisher's Desk by Jim Ball
NRPE rewards creation care
Global Biodiversity: issues and answers by by Joe Sheldon
The suffering of animals and the call to mercy by Matthew Scully
Endangered Species Act: a policy update by Kara Unger Ball
Ears to Hear: An Evangelical Christian discovers creation by Lyndsay Moseley
A Call to Action: on global warming
A Hootenanny for the wild by Peter Illyn
All God's Works by Angela Kantola
Words to Live By

From the Publisher's Desk

Jim Ball

Let me get right to the point: when it comes to endangered species, too many good Christian folk still don't get it.

I still haven't forgotten a casual remark made by a baptist pastor friend of mine about 10 years ago. He wanted to communicate to me how "enviros" can go overboard. The example he used was how large projects such as the building of a bridge could be thwarted "because of some little fish." In other words, it was ridiculous to halt, delay, or alter the plans of a major project simply because the existence of some "insignificant" animal species was endangered. Unfortunately, this view is still prevalent.

Two things have recently helped to bring the issue of God's endangered creatures back to the fore and prompted our focus on their plight in this issue of Creation Care. First, this year we are celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act, and this law and other policies designed to protect endangered species have never been in more danger. (Kara Ball's article explores this in more detail.) Second, a study was recently published in the January 04 issue of Nature that identified a new, serious threat: 15-37% of known terrestrial species could become "committed to extinction" due to global warming by 2050. (Joe Sheldon's article highlights this, along with other major threats, and an action alert providing information on the McCain-Lieberman Climate Stewardship Act offers one way to respond.)

However, right before press time another major study was published in the March 19 issue of Science magazine that would have provided a third impetus. The study gives strong evidence heretofore unknown that vast numbers of God's species created to glorify Him are disappearing. What is the chief suggested cause? Habitat loss. Others point to nitrogen pollution from the burning of coal, oil, and gasoline and from the use of fertilizers as another important factor.

Given all of this, if current trends continue human actions will bring about a holocaust of God's other creatures (and I don't use that term lightly).

To extinguish a species is to literally curse what God blessed (Gen. 1:22). When we do so, it's because we really don't value God's other creatures the way God does. As such, we fail to be God's image or stewardly representative on earth. In this instance, to begin to image or reflect God in our actions is to protect and care for His other creatures, not drive them to extinction and snuff out the glory they proclaim to God. To extinguish them is to act as if we were God, to grasp at god-like power when our very actions prove we are too spiritually immature to come close to handling such power.

Who is the proper image of God? Jesus is, according to Col. 1:15. Did Jesus grasp at his God-like powers? No. Jesus "did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant ..." (Phil. 2:6b-7a). Paul admonishes us to have this same Christ-like attitude of humility in our exercise of the power we have been given. Let us do so in protecting God's other creatures from extinction. Literally, it is the least we can do.

Jim Ball

NRPE rewards creation care

"The mountains and the hills shall burst into song, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands." - Isaiah 55:12

Communities of faith are giving the earth and its creatures something to rejoice about!

They are:

Restoring the land and protecting wildlife habitat
Powering their buildings with wind and solar energy
Celebrating the wonders of creation in worship, art, and music
Pitching in to protect the health of their neighborhoods
Learning creation care from science and scripture
Showing the way to a better future for our children and grandchildren

...and much more!

The National Religious Partnership for the Environment is accepting applications for Creation Care Awards to recognize shining examples of what Jewish and Christian faith communities have done to honor, protect and restore creation.

NRPE is a formal alliance of four major faith groups serving approximately 100 million Americans: the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life, the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops, the National Council of Churches, and the Evangelical Environmental Network.

Spread the news... Share ideas... Inspire others... Tell us your story!

Awards of $500, $250, and $150 will be made. To share your story, tell us about someone else's, or contact:

NRPE Creation Care Awards
c/o Peter Bakken
Au Sable Institute of Environmental Studies
P.O. Box 260170
Madison WI 53726
tel. 608/663-4610 fax 608/663-4614
nrpeawards@ausable.org

An application form will be sent to you, or you can fill one out at www.nrpe.org.

The deadline for applications is June 30, 2004.

Global Biodiversity: issues and answers

by Joe Sheldon

The protection of global biodiversity continues to be a high priority for evangelicals concerned about God's creation. You may recall in the mid-1990s when conservative political leaders in Washington launched a major campaign to gut the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The Evangelical Environmental Network (EEN) responded by organizing an evangelical campaign to educate and encourage governmental officials and block efforts to weaken ESA. The impact on Washington was impressive and the effort to eviscerate ESA thwarted. Significant to the victory was the evangelical presence. Indeed congress was greatly surprised by conservative Christians lobbying for an environmental issue. We were a new voice to be reckoned with.

A recent essay in the journal Conservation Biology, the leading scientific publication on issues of biodiversity protection, had this to say:

"In the last decade the Evangelical Environmental Network (EEN) consisting of thousands of churches attended by at least a million people emerged to play an important role in conservation....The EEN played a critical role in defending the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA), successfully challenging conservative political leaders....The EEN undercut the literally sacred mantel that developers and despoilers were using to legitimize their actions....The EEN's position on the ESA did not represent a break with conservative Christian's fundamental beliefs in the unchanging nature of God. Rather it represented what they saw to be a recovery of scriptural truth about the goodness of creation. To destroy the creation God called good was gross human arrogance and an utter failure to perform the duty of stewardship."

While we have helped to thwart Congressional attacks on the Endangered Species Act, the effectiveness of its enforcement has significantly diminished in recent years. Rather than taking a proactive stance toward biodiversity protection, the policy actions have largely become reactive. The few recent listings have been the result of litigation by environmental organizations. Fred Van Dyke (Prof. at Wheaton College and co-author of Redeeming Creation) states this in his new text, Conservation Biology: Foundations, Concepts, Applications:

"In 2000, the FWS [Fish and Wildlife Service, one of the two federal agencies overseeing the Endangered Species Act] spent its entire budget for the listing and recovery of endangered species on legal fees. In 2001, to combat this problem, the Bush Administration proposed new regulations that would severely limit, for one year, the power of environmental groups to bring lawsuits against the FWS over endangered species. But this proposal has only ignited new controversy and criticism that the administration is attempting to squash efforts to protect endangered species."

In what follows I will provide you with a brief scientific background and references on biodiversity, my sense as a scientist and a Christian as to where things stand today, and I will also point out important new information and developments that call for our continued attention and stewardship.

Conservation Biologists such as myself are scientists concerned with maintaining the integrity/sustainability of all three levels of biodiversity: (1) genetic, (2) species, and (3) large-scale ecosystems.

Genetic diversity is essential for species to adapt to changing environmental conditions. The genetic information within species is also the source "library" employed by scientists in crop breeding and medical research for new drugs.

Species are the "elements of life" and were the focal point for the Endangered Species Act. As Christians, we realize that God pronounced creation to be good and He points to numerous species as examples of his loving care and handiwork (Psalm 104, Job 38-41). Species have intrinsic value and only the Creator has the right to determine when it is time to "call them home". We who are made in God's image have been given the charge to maintain creation's fruitfulness. We dare not cross the line and begin to play God.

The third level of biodiversity protection involves the ecosystem-level elements that provide the foundational and essential habitat within which species exist.

Conservation biologists have been in agreement that there have been four major threats to biodiversity: (1) habitat destruction/fragmentation/ alteration; (2) the introduction of exotic species into habitats where they previously didn't exist; (3) over harvesting, and (4) pollution. Loss of habitat has been considered the major threat followed by the introduction of exotic species. (Readers are encouraged to consult the references listed at the end of the article for additional information.)

Where do I think things stand today as to these four threats? In two words, not encouraging ... unless current trends are reversed. Threat reduction has not occurred in any of these four areas. Moreover, we now have a new and perhaps even greater problem to face.

A fifth major threat to biodiversity was formally recognized with the publication of the findings of a major study in the January 8, 2004 issue of Nature coauthored by 18 leading scientists. They point to new and growing evidence linking climate change with extinction risk. It is well known that the global warming of the past 30 or so years has resulted in significant shifts in the distribution and abundance patterns of numerous species. Some bird species are migrating earlier and leaving later. The question remains whether range shifts, considering the current fragmented landscape, are possible for the majority of species to allow them to remain within their thermal tolerance limits. The answer for a significant number of species seems to be no. In the words of the authors, "we predict, on the basis of mid-range climate-warming scenarios for 2050, that 15-37% of species in our sample region and taxa will be committed to extinction." Keep in mind that extinction is a process of decline that ends with the death of the last individual. Most of the predicted extinctions will not have occurred by 2050; however once a species enters an extinction vortex its continued decline will in most cases be irreversible as critical thresholds have been past. The authors suggest that climate change will become the leading cause of species extinctions, having an impact even greater than loss of habitat.

Of course, habitat loss and global climate change are related. Indeed, linkage of global climate change with a cascade of species extinctions again points to the need for whole system thinking when dealing with environmental/creation issues. Creation is crafted as a delicately balanced system of integrated and interdependent parts that are joined together by the flow of energy and recycling of materials. It is a mistake to think that we can solve problems one at a time without taking into account the structure/function of the whole system. Garrett Hardin suggested the first law of human ecology as: We can never do merely one thing. Both our ethical framework and our understanding of how the world works control our behavior. Failure to comprehend the essentials in either area will lead to flawed actions.

I suggest that it is the failure of humanity to think integratively and holistically that has led to most of our current ecological problems. Global climate change and its now recognized connection to the loss of biodiversity serves as a case in point. For example, deforestation is not only a primary factor leading to the loss of biodiversity, it also contributes significantly to greenhouse gases through the release of carbon dioxide and modifies local evapotransporation rates that in tern impact local rainfall patterns, human agricultural production, and local ecosystems. Deforestation also contributes to the loss of the human cultures that have made their homes in the forests.

What of our future Christian activity on behalf of global biodiversity? I would suggest that we must begin to employ integrative/holistic thinking as our launching platform for action. But, in the words of Dr. Seuss in the Lorax, "Who will speak for the trees"? Our continued voice on behalf of biodiversity is essential. The effort of the recent WWJDrive (What Would Jesus Drive) campaign is a good case in point. Although the emphasis was on fuel guzzling cars and global warming, we now realize the much broader implications that global climate change is causing and that the WWJDrive campaign indirectly addressed.

Only a ship of fools would look at all the interconnections and then continue to sail the present course. We need to continue to work and to pray for wisdom in Washington and to elect policy makers who can see, understand, and act on the breadth and depth of their responsibilities.

For Further Reading

DeWitt, Calvin. 2003. Biogeographic and Trophic Restructuring of the Biosphere:The State of the Earth under Human Domination. Christian Scholar's Review 32(4):347-364.

Sheldon, Joseph K. and David K. Foster. 2003. What Knowledge Is Required for Responsible Stewardship of Creation. Christian Scholar's Review 32(4): 365-380.

Thomas, Chris D. et al. 2004. Extinction Risk from Climate change. Nature 427 (8 January):145-148.

Van Dyke, Fred and others. 1996. Redeeming Creation: The Biblical Basis for Environmental stewardship. Intervarsity Press.

The suffering of animals and the call to mercy

Matthew Scully

Editor's Note: This article is comprised of excerpts from Mr. Scully's book, Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy from Saint Martin's Press.The book deals with issues such as factory farming, canned trophy hunting, and commercial whaling. Used with permission from the author.

Whether of natural or supernatural origin, the moment that humanity acquired reason and language we were set apart forever from the natural world, and nothing was ever the same. How amazing that for all of our boundless power over the animals, so many of us still care about them, delighting in their companionship, admiring them from afar, and feeling their hurts whenever one of them is actually before us stricken and needful.

I am not, I confess, a particularly pious or devout person. But animals have always awakened something in me their little joys and travails alike that, try as I might, I find impossible to express except in the language of devotion. Maybe it is the Lord's way of getting through to the particularly slow and obstinate, but if you care about animals you must figure out why you care. From a certain angle it defies all logic, often involving, as in the case of pets or the strays who find our doors, all sorts of inconveniences and extra worries one could do without. And the only good reason I know to care for them is that they are my fellow creatures, sharing with you and me the breath of life, each in their own way bearing His unmistakable mark.

I know that they do not have reason comparable to ours. I know that their lives and place and purpose in the world are different from ours. I know that theirs is an often violent world, "nature red in tooth and claw" as Tennyson described it. But I also know that whatever their place and purpose among us might be, it is a mysterious one beyond any man's power to know. Whatever measure of happiness their Creator intended for them, it is not something to be taken lightly by us, not to be withdrawn from them wantonly or capriciously ...They do us a service if only by inspiring now and then a sense of wonder and humility, for if not even a sparrow falls without His knowing then we are not too important to notice it ourselves. ... Many people seem to remember only the "go forth and subdue" part [concerning dominion and the Genesis account], but, whether read as literal truth or enchanting allegory, no other passage has ever quite captured the drama of it all, the mystery we share with these other creatures, all of us called forth from the same darkness by the sameVoice. "Into your hands they are delivered," says Genesis. Delivered alive. "And God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life." Of that same dust came the creatures, breathing the breath of life. "Be fruitful and multiply." The animals are given the same instructions. "And God blessed them." The animals, too, were sent forth with a "blessing" of their own...

The term dominion carries no insult to our fellow creatures. We were all sent forth into the world with different gifts and attributes. Their gifts, the ones their Creator intended for them, are good for many things governing just isn't one of them. Someone has to assume dominion, and looking around the earth we seem to be the best candidates, exactly because we humans are infinitely superior in reason and alone capable of knowing justice under a dominion still greater than our own. ...

Serious and respectable people warned against cruelty to animals long before there was ever an animal rights cause ... Francis of Assisi ... Moses Maimonides ...Today we tend to view it the other way around, the secular rights activists concerned about animals, and the more religious-minded folk standing guard over sound, sensible tradition ... For many ... Christians, the rights cause with its more extravagant claims has become a convenient foil, a pretext for disregarding the subject of animal welfare altogether ... Ever fearful of threats to human dignity, many religious people today must examine more closely what, in practice, they are actually defending.

One may regard animal welfare as an entirely secondary matter. One may view the creatures as morally incidental, as soulless beings for whom no bell ever tolls and to whom one has no direct moral duties. What one may not do under the guise of religious principle is deny that we have at least certain basic obligations of kindness, and that these obligations impose limits on our own conduct that today are simply not being observed. ...

Studying our Bibles and other sacred writings, examining what dominion truly means and then comparing it to our actual conduct, is perhaps a belaboring of the obvious: Fallen man is abusing his powers. I make no claim, moreover, to being any sort of expert in scriptural exegeses, still less an exemplar of the Christian virtues, of which kindness to animals is just one. But these texts carry weight, expressing the fundamental principles and aspirations of our entire civilization. We turn to them for moral guidance in so many other ways, but so seldom in this matter. Many of today's cruelties come at the hands of people quick to identify themselves as good Christian folk. ... It is time we inspected tha original warrant to "subdue the earth" in both letter and spirit. "How is it possible," asked Malcom Muggeridge, "to look for God and sing his praises while insulting and degrading his creatures? If, as I had thought, all lambs are the Agnus Dei, then to deprive them of light and the fields and their joyous fisking and the sky is the worst kind of blasphemy" ...

The whole matter can also be understood within the conservative's own moral vocabulary of ordered liberty and abuse of power ... Nobody, least of all the conservative, should be shocked or offended to be told that we are abusing dominion, the first and greatest power given to man on earth. It would be shocking if we didn't abuse our power.

My brand of conservatism also brings with it a basic realism, accepting that there is a certain amount of suffering in the world beyond our power to avoid or spare, especially in the case of animals. ...

It is likewise true that when we look out upon the natural world, "mercy" is hardly the first word that comes to mind. Most animals in their natural state are born precariously, live in perpetual danger, and often die in horrible ways ... "Death by violence," as Theodore Roosevelt observed in his safari diary, "death by cold, death by starvation these are the normal endings of the stately and beautiful creatures of the wilderness. The sentimentalists who prattle about the peaceful life of nature do not realize its utter mercilessness."

The problem with this outlook is that it obscures our own singular capacity to make choices, for good or evil. It doesn't refute the demands of mercy, it renounces them, choosing instead violence and conquest and self- aggrandizement, like Roosevelt himself composing those very words during a lull in a full year of his life devoted only to killing. It sees in nature's violence an invitation to compound nature's violence. It is the outlook of men who can see terror and cruelty and malig- nancy everywhere everywhere except in their own hearts. ...

Talk like this in my conservative circles, and there's no surer way to bring conversation to a throat-clearing silence. For many of my friends it has the scent of Far Eastern mysticism, some eerie New Age creed alien to their own moral outlook, not a part of our own Western tradition. But if you want to get scriptural about it, that very same Bible always invoked for harsh dominion insistently calls mankind in just this spiritual direction, as in the post-Flood Second Covenant right after the creatures are delivered into our hands when we are told: ... "And God said, 'this is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations ...'"

There are truths greater than our own wishes ... Either they [animals] suffer or they do not suffer. Either that suffering has moral value or it does not have moral value. Either there is a God or there isn't. Either He cares about animals or He doesn't. Either we have duties of kindness or we do not. ...

Nor are duties, the things we must do, even the final standard in our treatment of animals. There is the morality of duty and there is the morality of aspiration ...We do not, in thinking about our own lives, simply ask what minimum effort is required of us and then content ourselves with that. In our better moments we try to go beyond that ...

We do this as fathers and husbands and mothers and wives ...We do it as friends and neighbors. We do it simply as human beings trying to leave our mark in the world, to spread a little love and goodwill where we can. Why should we not also do it as stewards of the earth, the caretakers of creation? Why should we not also carry that same spirit, that same moral vision of ourselves and our possibilities, into our dealings with the [other] creatures of the world?

Matthew Scully is a special assistant and senior speechwriter to President GeorgeW. Bush. He is a former literary editor for National Review. For more information on the book this article is adapted from, go to www.matthewscully.com.

Endangered Species Act: a policy update

Kara Unger Ball

The Bible calls us to protect God's other creatures and ensure that they have the life God intends for them. We understand this to be the case because: Christ has reconciled "all things ... through his blood, shed on the cross" (Col. 1:20); and in the beginning God blessed the other creatures of creation besides humanity and created human beings to image or reflect God, in part through our dominion or our proper care of God's other creatures (Gen. 1:20-30). As Christ's example teaches us (Phil. 2:5-8), any power we have is not to be exercised in a might-makes-right fashion; rather, we have been given power to serve especially the less powerful.

As Christians in the U.S., we are called to protect God's other creatures not only through our individual choices, but also through the power we have as citizens of a democracy. Multiple U.S. laws, regulations, and treaties deal with the conservation and protection of threatened and endangered species. However, the Endangered Species Act has particularly significant impact.

As evangelical Christians, we have a history of successfully defending the Endangered Species Act (ESA). In 1996, the Evangelical Environmental Network (EEN) worked with evangelical leaders to successfully push back a legislative effort to weaken the ESA. EEN's campaign helped alert government leaders that some evangelicals believe all God's creatures should be provided for, and are willing to speak out in love to protect these most vulnerable of God's creatures.

Today, while the ESA remains essentially intact, a series of proposed rule changes, proposed amendments, budget shortfalls, court rulings, and implementation activities threaten to seriously weaken the Act. In 1996 there was an Administration that was supportive of the ESA. The same cannot be said for the current Administration. We feel the ESA is under threat as never before.

There is also a newly identified threat to the continued existence of species. A report in the January 04 issue of Nature indicates that up to one third of known terrestrial species could become "committed to extinction" due to global climate change by 2050. Thus, individual actions and government policies that seek to reduce global warming pollution are now also actions and policies that will help save God's endangered creatures in the future. The McCain-Lieberman Climate Stewardship Act is a vital policy response to this threat (see Action Alert).

The Endangered Species Act - Background

Considered the hallmark of endangered species protection, the Endangered Species Act turned 30 in December 2003. This law was passed in 1973 by a bipartisan majority of Congress and signed into law by a Republican president (Nixon). The purpose of ESA is to "conserve the ecosystems upon which endangered and threatened species depend" and to conserve and recover listed species. ESA calls for critical habitat designation and recovery plans for listed species.

As of August 18, 2002, 1,818 species are listed under the ESA. Of these, 1,260 are U.S. species. Approximately 40 percent of all species now on the list are either stable or improving. The law is administered by two agencies. The Department of Interior's Fish and Wildlife Service has primary responsibility for terrestrial and freshwater organisms. The Department of Commerce's National Marine Fisheries Service has primary responsibility for marine species such as salmon and whales.

The 1973 ESA has been reauthorized seven times and amended on several occasions, most recently in 1988. The ESA was due for reauthorization in 1993 but legislation to reauthorize it has not been enacted. The Endangered Species program has continued to receive appropriations while Congress considers reauthorization, allowing conservation activities to continue.

The Endangered Species Act - Threats from the Administration

In 2003, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed a rule change to ESA that would revise the permitting regulations to allow for "enhancement of survival permits" for the importing of foreign endangered species and their parts in return for payments to foreign conservation organizations. While the goal of this proposed change is to increase the survival of foreign endangered species, it has too many critical flaws to be effective and instead will most likely lead to the further decline of foreign endangered species. These proposed revisions will open the door for abuse by poachers. The US government does not have the necessary regulatory authority to enforce or monitor foreign conservation programs, activities on which the success of this proposed rule change depends. A final rule has not been issued at the time of this writing.

Section 4 of the ESA provides for the designation and protection of "critical habitat," geographic areas on which are found physical or biological features essential to the conservation of the species. This section applies primarily to federal lands. In May 2003, the Department of Interior announced its plan to insert language into all future critical habitat designations that argues that critical habitat protections have no value in species protection. DOI further argues that federal agencies do not have the funds they need to conduct surveys and draw maps of each species' critical habitat.

Environmental groups counter that clear scientific evidence indicates that species with designated critical habitat are recovering twice as fast as those without. They further argue that this language opens the door for legal challenges to critical habitat designation. As well, they argue that surveys and maps are clearly needed to designate critical habitat.

The Federal budget process is an important determinant of the success of the ESA. The total budget for listing endangered species is $12.3 million, and meeting legal requirements to add species to the list uses two-thirds of the budget. The assistant director for endangered species at US Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that these programs need $153 million to fulfill their obligations. Some environmentalists fear that a budgetary crisis is being purposefully created through consistent under funding and purposeful delays in listing species, which leads to expensive lawsuits, so that the ESA's detractors can claim it is too expensive to continue.

U.S. government activities impact on-the-ground protection and conservation of threatened and endangered species. In Jan. 2004, the U.S. Forest Service announced it was officially amending the Northwest Forest management plan. This amended plan drops many existing environmental restrictions on logging in public forests in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. It will permit the removal of more trees (up to triple the amount currently allowed) and eliminate requirements to survey for rare species such as the California spotted owl,Yosemite toad, Pacific fisher, and willow flycatcher, thus increasing their chances of extinction.

Threats From Congress

Rep. Richard W. Pombo (R-CA) is chair of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Resources, which has legislative authority for the ESA. He has indicated that he believes the ESA is "broken" and needs significant reform. A recent Washington Post article claims that Rep. Pombo is "...finished trying to recast the Endangered Species Act in one fell swoop" and "...wants to take in on bit by bit." Rep. Pombo has been a longtime critic of ESA, believing that it costs more in lawsuits and property disputes than it provides protection for wildlife. Now, as chair of the House Committee responsible for this legislation, Rep. Pombo is in a powerful position to limit the effectiveness of the ESA.

While supporters of the ESA feel a wholesale attack will not occur, they fear the "death of a thousand cuts." Rep. Pombo has indicated he will seek amendments to the law requiring "sound science" provisions, as opposed to the current requirement for the best scientific and commercial data available, in choosing plants and animals to list. He will also seek to revise how critical habitats are designated.

Threats From the Courts

A federal claims court judge ruled recently that the U.S. government must pay irrigators in California $14 million for water they never received. In the 1990s, the federal government cut back water deliveries to Central Valley irrigation districts to protect two fish species, the threatened delta smelt and the endangered Chinook salmon. Legal experts say that if this ruling stands, it could cripple the ESA by making it too expensive to enforce. One law expert said that the court, in finding a "taking," elevated water rights above any other kind of property right. The U.S. Justice Department has not decided whether to appeal the case.

Combined, these activities from all three branches of the federal government indicate a systematic attack on the Endangered Species Act that may substantially weaken its effectiveness in protecting threatened and endangered species. The ESA needs the continued protection of concerned Christians who are willing to speak out to protect all of God's creatures.

Ears to Hear: An Evangelical Christian discovers creation

Lyndsay Moseley

Moving home to Knoxville seemed an odd calling and rather unglamorous. As a recent college graduate, no plan for an impressive job, graduate school, or world-changing Peace Corps stint awaited me. I only knew God was leading me to reconnect with my family and rest. As I began exploring options at the end of that first summer, I felt the gears shifting.

In a whirlwind August week, the pace of life changed dramatically. I enrolled in a Master of Public Administration program at the University of Tennessee as a natural compliment to my undergraduate major in public policy.In the same week, I interviewed for and accepted a research job documenting faith-based environmental activism in Appalachia. At the time, I had only general knowledge of environmental issues, and had not even considered their relationship to the Christian faith, but I was drawn to the opportunity. I loved research and writing, and I was thirsty for theological inquiry.

My research was primarily an academic endeavor. I spent six months devouring readings on ecology, theology, and environmental policy building my framework for analysis. I encountered Lynn White, Wendell Berry, John Cobb, Cal DeWitt, Fred Van Dyke, and others, representing different perspectives. I identified regionally and locally active groups, whose leaders I would later interview and write about. David Feldman, the research director, offered guidance and important discussions which fueled my learning.

The most surprising thing was how it transformed my faith. As I gained understanding of the centrality of creation in the greater biblical story, a deep passion emerged. I understood that the call to care for creation was not an "additional task" for the church, but is interwoven with the core of our identity as Christians.

As Dr. Feldman summed it up in our research together at the heart of many faith-based environmental initiatives is a desire to help people connect their faith to care of creation, a connection which can bring about the personal transformation needed for widespread change in community and social policy.

Communicating these ideas to my large evangelical church, however, proved a different matter. Most people responded with casual interest. A few expressed more sincerity, but remained doubtful that the environment should be a central issue for Christians. No one I talked with had heard a sermon on God's love for creation. While not surprised by the lack of environmental consciousness at my large evangelical church, I was not sure how to improve it.

But God is faithful to God's purposes, and I found a few people whose faith in Christ, and hope for a renewed creation, generated new energy. I discovered Aaron and Ginny, a couple in the church with backgrounds in the sciences and environmental education. Aaron, also a coworker of mine, had found many Christian friends to be suspicious, if not critical, of his environmental sympathies. But he persevered with conviction. "If I'm wrong about the Christian responsibility to care for creation, I want to know," he said. Jerry, an elder and leader of our church's lay leadership program, also openly received my numerous creation-focused comments, incorporating and expanding upon them in our Sunday morning class.

Then, after eight months of my work at the University, and conversations with people at the church, it happened. On Palm Sunday our founding pastor somewhat hesitantly ventured that stewardship of creation might be a key part of the restorative work of Jesus on the cross, and a powerful way to reach out to people otherwise turned off by the church. It was stunning to hear this from the pulpit this theology that incorporated creation into God's redemptive work.

It seemed that two major streams, my academic research on the one hand, and my spiritual community on the other, merged together with great force, breaking my world open to new possibilities. Two additional members of the church came forward after the sermon to express their interest in pursuing this, Rac, chairman of the Elder Board at church, and Bill, an agricultural economics professor at UT. It was Jerry who initiated the next step, suggesting that we teach a class on Christianity and the environment to help us promote greater understanding of our call to care for God's creation.

The momentum of the sermon propelled all of us. In an evangelical church in the South, I could not help but notice the potential implications of this step. Up to that point, women did not lead mixed-gender groups in our church. Talking with pastors in the church in the past, I had been exhorted to focus on "what women can do, not what women can't do" and reminded that there were plenty of other opportunities for women to serve in the church.

The most forthright pastor explained that the practice prevented placing women in positions of spiritual leadership over mixed-gender groups, a stance supported and reflected by the overall culture of the church. However, Jerry, an elder, encouraged me that our church was in transition regarding the role of women and that teaching with a team would be fine.

Little by little an amazing and energizing message began to take shape. Four months in advance, our team began to pray and develop our statement of purpose, description, and an outline for our 12-week class,called "Biblical Perspectives on Environmental Stewardship." It was significant work to develop our own curriculum, relying upon Scripture, commentaries, several key books and other writings on Christianity and the environment.

It was an invitation to see through new theological eyes, focused on the biblical vision of God as Creator and covenant-maker with all creation, and humans as stewards. We highlighted the obscuring impact of sin, human-centered worldviews, and consumerism on our attitudes and behaviors, and explored how creation groans today as a result of these.We concluded the course with a focus on the gift of hope for restored creation through Christ, and also through ourselves.

It was wonderful to see people in the class begin to "get it," to connect their faith with environmental responsibility, and begin to ask questions at the next level so what do we do? A recycling bin appeared in the copy room, evidence of a subtle shift in perception. Our pastor came to the class when he could to show support and ask questions.

At the conclusion of the class, Rac proposed that we write a "white paper" describing the core components of the biblical message for consideration by the Elder Board, which eventually affirmed the biblical principles set out in the document. The most visible response has come in the fact that our pastor not only decided to continue to preach about caring for creation, but decided to include a chapter on the environment in his new book on ecclesiology the role of the church in the world.

Clearly, this was an invitation for an evangelical church in Knoxville, Tennessee to participate in the broader awakening to God's love for creation. In our own ways, each of us became participants in that transformational process toward greater expressions of love for all of Creation. For me, too, it was a lesson in faithfulness to God's call.

A Call to Action: on global warming

Many scientists have concluded that global warming is no longer just a threat impacts are starting to be felt, especially on the poor and most vulnerable. The Pentagon has begun to plan for the possibility that global warming could create serious national security threats.

As citizens of a democracy, those of us in the United States have a responsibility to let our elected officials know our views on vital ethical concerns like global warming. It is well past time for the United States government to lead our country in reducing global warming pollution.

A step in the right direction is the bipartisan McCain-Lieberman Climate Stewardship Act, a bill pending in the Senate whose lead cosponsors are Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT). Last Fall the bill fell just six votes shy of passage. (To view how your Senators voted, view http://climatenetwork.org/uscanweb/csadocs/mlvote.pdf). Despite opposition from the Senate's leadership, Senators McCain and Lieberman are determined to bring the bill up again for a vote whenever possible. The first such chance could come in May. Even if the next vote fails, Senators McCain and Lieberman have stated that they will bring the bill up for a vote until it passes.

Why should Christians be in favor of U.S. leadership on addressing global warming? Why should elected officials act to reduce global warming pollution?

Global warming is projected to hit the poor the hardest, and such impacts are already starting to occur.

About 160,000 people already die every year from side-effects of global warming ranging from malaria to malnutrition.
Agricultural output in many poorer countries could be significantly reduced. An additional 80-90 million poor people could be at risk of hunger and malnutrition later in the 21st century.Poorer countries are much less able to withstand the devastation caused by extreme weather events, and climate change is likely to increase such events. For example, global warming could increase the number of people impacted by flooding by 20-50 million.
Human health risks will be greater in poorer countries due to the potential for increased geographical distribution of infectious diseases such as malaria, dengue fever, yellow fever, and encephalitis. For example, later in this century, an additional 300 million people could be at risk of malaria due to global warming.
Each of these stressors increases the likelihood of environmental refugees and violent conflicts.
Although developed countries will likely have the resources to adapt to the impacts of global warming, the poor in these countries will suffer disproportionately. For example, large cities in the U.S. may experience, on average, several hundred extra deaths per summer.
Up to 37% of God's land-based species could be committed to extinction by 2050, making global warming the largest single threat to biodiversity.

These projected impacts are therefore a profound challenge to Christian justice and our call to care for "the least of these" (Mt. 25:40, 45). Pollution that causes the threat of global warming violates Jesus' Great Commandments to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength" and "Love your neighbor as yourself" (Mk. 12:30-31), and the Golden Rule to "Do to others as you would have them do to you" (Lk. 6:31). And global warming is a breach of our responsibility to care for God's other creatures (Gen. 2:15). As such, it denies Christ's Lordship and His reconciliation of all things "through his blood, shed on the cross" (Col. 1:20).

Given the dire consequences of inaction, given that the U.S. is the world's number one global warming polluter, for the U.S. to fail to act would be an abdication of ethical leadership.

The McCain-Lieberman bill is a serious and cost-effective first step in addressing the problem because it sets real global warming pollution targets but also gives industry the flexibility to meet them through trading of pollution credits. Approximately 85% of U.S. global warming pollution would be covered, while agricultural and residential sectors are excluded.The bill would cap the amount of global warming pollution in 2010 at the 2000 level.

Many opponents are worried about the economic costs of reducing global warming pollution. However, the economic costs of inaction far outweigh those of responsible, prudent actions such as those required by the Climate Stewardship Act.

According to a U.N. study, every ton of greenhouse gas emitted into our atmosphere currently costs each American up to $160 per year -- and right now we are emitting billions of tons each year. Property lost to rising sea levels, cropland lost to drought and revenues lost to dwindling fishing stocks caused by global warming also represent real costs -- not to mention the immeasurable damage to Americans' health and quality of living. Preventing pollution now will most certainly cost less than cleaning it up later. Indeed, a study by M.I.T. concludes that the McCain-Lieberman Climate Stewardship Act would cost American families about $20 a year and analysts predict that the impact on our nation's GDP would be no more than 0.01%.

Because opponents exaggerate economics costs, it's easy to lose sight of the potential economic benefits from tackling global warming. Major corporations have already found tackling global warming to be cost- effective. For example, Dupont decided to reduce its emissions to 65% below its 1990 level and British Petroleum committed to reducing its emissions to 10% below its 1990 level. Both companies have reported cost savings as a result of their actions, with Dupont reaping $1.5 billion and BP $650 million as a result of their environment friendly moves.

As Christians we are called to love and protect those with less power, such as the poor, children, the unborn, those yet to be born, and our fellow creatures. Global warming has profound implications for their welfare. Reducing this threat is part of what it means today to love God and our neighbor, as Jesus taught us to do.

In light of all this, the McCain-Lieberman Climate Stewardship Act is both an ethical and economic bargain. It's the right thing to do.

Let your voice be heard! Be a Christian witness to those in power. Be respectful. Let them know you are a biblical Christian, and that you want serious leadership on reducing global warming.

A Hootenanny for the wild

Peter Illyn

The caribou hunter, a seventy-year old traditional elder from the Arctic, shyly picked up his fiddle. He gently began to play a jig as heads began to nod and feet began to tap. As the hunter found his bluegrass stride some women grab hands and began to twirl on the cabin floor. Other people clapped and rocked; they were becoming a tribe.

This spontaneous roundhouse was the high moment at the student gathering. We stopped, however, long enough to go outside in the night to watch the lunar eclipse. Everyone was silent as the night sky went dark and then awed as the lunar dawn broke forth into a beam of light.

Was this a bluegrass hootenanny? Or a night of pagan worship? No, it was just a room full of Midwest evangelical Christian college students from Wheaten, Goshen, Hope and Calvin colleges, all meeting at an Indiana cabin for a mini-conference called Wild Voices. That night, led by the old Indian fiddler, we were learning to celebrate our faith and the creation in the tribal way - using dancing, rhythm and music. We were dancing for joy. We were celebrating the awesomeness of creation and our love for the Creator.

Hosted by Restoring Eden and the environmental club of Goshen College, the students were there to discover how to be stewards of the wild loving, serving and protecting the wild ecosystems, native species and the tribal people who rely on them. By recognizing that the household of God included more than just humanity, these young Christians were becoming advocates for the caribou, wolves, salmon, spotted owls, the ancient forests and the ocean depths of the earth.

Our keynote speaker (and fiddle player) for the conference was the Reverend Trimble Gilbert, a seventy- year-old caribou hunter, Gwich'in tribal elder and Episcopal priest from a small native village above the Arctic Circle. In his stilted, quiet voice, this simple man of God told us about how 150 years before, his tribe has converted to Christianity but not to the postmodern, evangelical culture we call church today. Instead, Rev. Trimble grew up in a tent, sleeping under caribou hides in minus 70 degrees cold. Yet his entire clan would gather every morning for prayers before they lashed on their handmade leather snowshoes and went hunting for caribou and moose.

Trimble was here to speak out for his people. They will be deeply impacted if oil drilling is permitted in Arctic Refuge, the birthing grounds of the Porcupine caribou herd. Even at 70 years old, this year he still killed seven caribou to feed some of the elders of his village. Trimble is an anomaly - a meateating, circle-sitting, drum-banging, Jesus-loving anomaly a man deeply in love with his God, his people and his land. The college students are also an anomaly Christians who see a connection between their faith and the wonder of creation. Today they are few in number, but their ranks are growing. As part of the emerging church, these students are making environmental stewardship a core value in their Christian faith. When they work to protect endangered species, they do it for various biological, theological and spiritual reasons. For them it is a simple concept God created, blessed, protected and covenanted with the biodiversity of life and humanity has a moral duty to ensure the fruitfulness of the natural world.

Sara Keotje is an example. After graduating with a Biology Degree from Calvin College, Sara went to China for a year-long mission where taught in an immense city. Surrounded by the noise of a 1,000,000 people, Sara began to realize how much of her spiritual health was fostered by the silence and beauty of her home in Oregon.

When she returned to the Northwest, Sara enrolled at Multnomah Bible Seminary for a Masters in Intercultural Studies. Sara helped organize a conference on environmental stewardship that 150 students attended.As one evangelical seminarian said, "I came open to environmentalism as a means to share the gospel with others. Now I realize it is not a pathway for the Gospel. It IS the Gospel; the good news of God's reconciliation with humanity AND the earth."

According to Sara, her theology of ecology is simple, "God created all the diversity of species. All have a purpose and a niche in the divine plan they are all strands in the web of life. In the first chapter of Genesis, we read that when God made the different species He called them "good". In Hebrew, this is "tov" which translates as "whole, complete, or right." It defines the heart-sense an artist has, when stepping back from their artwork, that they can put aside the paintbrush or the chisel.Their masterpiece is finished; it is "good and complete?"

Sara said, "Who are we to destroy what God called good? The biologist in me sees how ecosystems are connected and how all the species have a role. When one species is driven into extinction we have no idea of the interconnected links that will suffer and the negative long-term consequences. For example, in the Pacific Northwest, we didn't realize that the same logging that was wiping out the spotted owl in the Cascade Mountains was also destroying the salmon in the Pacific Ocean.These ecosystems were connected through the ocean rains and the salmon migrations. We are surrounded by the faith-building miracle called the web-of-life."

In March, Dordt, Messiah, Luther, Bethel and Multnomah students came to Washington DC for a week of lobby training organized by Restoring Eden. Called "Rescuing God's Creation," the students learned to organize a lobby effort back at their colleges that brings a powerfully new and unique voice to the call to protect God's other creatures, the Arctic Refuge, and the ancient forests from ecological destruction. As one student, Jessica, stated, "There is more to being pro-life than being anti-abortion. It means caring for all of God's creation."

This is a new morality, both politically and in terms of lifestyle, emerging in the church. Almost every major denomination now has a position condemning the human caused extinction of species. Patriarch Bartholomew of the Eastern Orthodox Church writes, "To commit a crime against the natural world is a sin. For humans to cause species to become extinct and to destroy the biological diversity of God's creation,....these things are sins."

And our beloved evangelical preacher, the Rev. Billy Graham is quoted as saying, "It is not right for us to destroy the world God has given us. He has created everything; as the Bible says,"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven" (Acts 17:24)

Restoring Eden is excited to be a part of this growing grassroots Christian movement. We will continue to "speak out for those who cannot speak for themselves." Proverbs 31:18. We call all other Christians to join us in learning to love, serve and protect God's creation. Let's all join together in a hootenanny for the wild!

All God's Works

Angela Kantola

"Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty! All Thy works shall praise Thy name, in earth, and sky, and sea!"

All Thy works! Razorback suckers, Sherman's fox squirrels, Puerto Rican parrots, Ute ladies' tresses, Wyoming toads, and every manner of Homo sapiens like wildlife biologists, ranchers, fluvial geomorphologists, reporters, environmentalists, and anglers that I've been blessed to encounter in two decades of working to recover endangered species.

"All Thy works." What inspired Anglican clergyman Reginald Heber to pen these words in the hymn Holy, Holy, Holy nearly 200 years ago? Meditation on the Psalms, perhaps?

"Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth!" (Psalm 100:1)

"The LORD is good to all, He has compassion on all He has made. All You have made will praiseYou O LORD; Your saints will extol You." (Psalm 145: 9-10)

"Let heaven and earth praise Him, the seas and all that move in them."(Psalm 69:34)

"Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it; let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy." (Psalm 96:11-12)

That all God's works shall praise His name is a mission statement for me. I began working with endangered species in graduate school, studying the diminishing Sherman's fox squirrel and helping with research on West Indian manatees in Florida. Somehow these vanishing creatures tugged at my heart. If we wouldn't tear down a museum and throw away Rembrandt's works to make room for a strip mall, how could we let human pride, ignorance, selfishness and greed drive to extinction any of God's wonderful creatures-creatures made to give Him praise?

"Praise the LORD. Praise the LORD from the heavens, praise Him in the heights above. Praise Him, all his angels, praise Him, all his heavenly hosts. Praise Him, sun and moon, praise Him, all you shining stars.

Praise Him, you highest heavens and you waters above the skies. Let them praise the name of the LORD, for He commanded and they were created.

He set them in place for ever and ever; He gave a decree that will never pass away.

Praise the LORD from the earth, you great sea creatures and all ocean depths, lightning and hail, snow and clouds, stormy winds that do His bidding, you mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars, wild animals and all cattle, small creatures and flying birds, kings of the earth and all nations, you princes and all rulers on earth, young men and maidens, old men and children.

Let them praise the name of the LORD, for His name alone is exalted; His splendor is above the earth and the heavens." (Psalm 148:1-13.)

Yet species after species dwindles and disappears due to our neglect. Woe to us who add house to house and join field to field till no space is left and we live alone in the land. (Isaiah 5:8) How the creation waits in eager expectation for the revealing of the children of God! (Romans 8:19) And how desperately we need God's wisdom and strength to live rightly in the land.

My days in the field quickly gave way to the bureaucracy and politics of a regional U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service office concerned with more than 300 endangered and threatened species in ten states. I'd become a "biolo-crat," pondering such questions as "Should we put all our eggs in one basket by keeping all the captive Puerto Rican parrots on the same hurricane-prone island as their few wild counterparts?" Had anyone really heard the "loud tinny tootle" of the ivory-billed woodpecker in the BigThicket of Texas in the last decade?

With so many plants and animals on the endangered species list, our region received more money than some, but never enough to even begin to recover all of the species. Then as now, "charismatic megafauna" (big, cute, and/or furry critters) often received most of the attention. And just how to recover a species was (and is) a fairly huge question.

In 1989 I was closer to seeking answers to that question when I accepted a job in a new and unique recovery effort. The Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program is a partnership among federal and state agencies, water and power users, and environmental groups whose goal is to recover four endangered fish species (humpback chub, bonytail, Colorado pikeminnow, and razorback sucker) while allowing water development to continue.

Progress toward recovery is slow but steady. The partners are working together to recover the fish and the program is considered a model for recovering endangered species in the face of development pressure.

In his Pogo comic strip published on Earth Day in 1970, cartoonist Walt Kelley proclaimed "we have met the enemy and he is us." In the upper Colorado River basin, we realize we're all responsible for the endangered status of the fish and are collaborating to recover them instead of blaming and suing one another.

The endangered fish won't be recovered by an "us versus them" mentality. We're called instead to obey the command of Jesus to love one another (John 13:34-35).

Ultimately the battle is spiritual and the enemy is the evil one who delights in seeing God's works destroyed. In striving to recover endangered species,"we do not struggle against flesh and blood, but ... against spiritual forces of evil" (Ephesians 6:12). Abuse of creation is sin, but Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8).

My prayer is that the Colorado River and all its tributaries will clap their hands and the Rocky Mountains will sing together with joy! (See Psalm 98:8.) Join me, won't you, in prayer and intercession, in love, and in stewardship, so that all His works may praise His name in earth and sky and sea.

Editor's Note: Angela Kantola is employed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as the assistant director of the Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program. Angela and her husband Don Wallace facilitate weekend retreats helping Christians discern God's voice in creation.

Words to Live By

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of everyone. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it (Jn. 1:1-4).

But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds of the air, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this? In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all humankind (Job 12:7-10).

Then God said, "Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds." And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good (Gen. 1:11-12).

And God said, "Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky." So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth." ...And God said, "Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind." And it was so. God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good (Gen. 1: 20-25).

He (Christ) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together....For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross (Col. 1:15-20).

The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it (Gen. 2:15).

Who let the wild donkey go free? Who untied his ropes? I gave him the wasteland as his home, the salt flats as his habitat. He laughs at the commotion in the town; he does not hear the driver's shout. He ranges the hills for his pasture and searches for any green things (Job 39:5-8).

He (God) makes springs pour water into the ravines; it flows between the mountains. They give water to all the beasts of the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst. The birds of the air nest by the waters; they sing among the branches. He waters the mountains from his upper chambers; the earth is satisfied by the fruit of his work (Ps. 104:10-13).

Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, and let your glory be over all the earth (Ps. 108:5).

How many are your works, O Lord! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures (Ps. 104:24).

Humanity's fate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath (or spirit); humanity has no advantage over the animal (Eccl. 3:19).

When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet: all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas (Ps. 8:3-8).

In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word (Heb. 1:1-3).

When you enter the land I am going to give you, the land itself must observe a sabbath to the LORD ... Whatever the land yields during the sabbath year will be food for you for yourself, your manservant and maidservant, and the hired worker and temporary resident who live among you, as well as for your livestock and the wild animals in your land. Whatever the land produces may be eaten (Lev. 25:2, 6-7).

It is time for you to act, O Lord; your law is being broken ... Streams of tears flow from my eyes, for your law is not obeyed (Ps. 119:126, 136).

Hear the word of the Lord, you Israelites, because the LORD has a charge to bring against you who live in the land: "There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land. There is only cursing, lying and murder, stealing and adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed. Because of this the land mourns, and all who live in it waste away; the beasts of the field and the birds of the air and the fish of the sea are dying. My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge (Hos. 4:1-3,6).

The earth dries up and withers, the world languishes and withers, the exalted of the earth languish. The earth is defiled by its people; they have disobeyed the laws, violated the statutes and broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore a curse consumes the earth; its people must bear their guilt. Therefore earth's inhabitants are burned up, and very few are left (Is. 24:4-6).

Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come ... when men rise up at the sound of birds, but all their songs grow faint (Eccl. 12:1, 4b).

The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time (Rom. 8:18-22).

Your word, O Lord, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens. Your faithfulness continues through all generations; you established the earth, and it endures. Your laws endure to this day, for all things serve you (Ps. 119:89-91).

Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples. Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it; let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy; they will sing before the Lord, for he comes, he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his truth (Ps. 96:1-3,11-13).

And he (Jesus) said unto them, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature" (Mk. 16:15, KJV).

Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!" (Rev. 5:13).

"Yes, I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus (Rev. 22:20).