“Professing to be wise, they became fools” (Romans 1:22)
I would like to offer my services to Point Loma Nazarene University, and several other Nazarene and other Christian schools of late, to help them schedule speakers who are more in keeping with solid, biblical and holiness teaching. Apparently these schools are struggling in the area of discernment. I do not claim to be pre-eminent in this area, as I can attest to the fact that I have met many, many Christians in the past three years who are very capable of doing the same task very well. They are a mix of pastors, evangelists, and laypeople alike who I know would have the common sense in scheduling speakers that are totally opposite of the ones who are polluting the minds of our youth today with emergent, liberal, and social justice/environmental garbage.
My friend Brenda summed it up well: “…yet another liberal, distorting scripture to advance a liberal agenda to the students. THIS IS COMPLETE LIBERAL NONSENSE!!”
Another friend, Debby, expressed her anger (yes, its okay to get angry, especially when our kids are getting snookered for 30 grand per year) when she said: “Oh my goodness….what a NUT!!! Yes, agree with Brenda, another LIBERAL, Totally Distorting The Holy Scripture for their NUTTY Agenda and taking our kids right down the merry NUT Pathway!!!! Grrrrr!!!!!”
Monty simply said: “Reminds me that Satan knew scriptures too.”
Annette said: “This is RIDICULOUS!!!!! Maybe Al Gore should have been invited to the chapel service!”
Brooke asked: “Is there no one at PLNU who can stand up against this garbage?”
And finally, from a parent of a PLNU student: “According to speaker Jim Ball, the fact that we don’t buy into this “great, spiritual fact” of man-made global warming makes my husband and me money-hungry, fearful, arrogant, insecure deniers equivalent to the priest and Levite in the story of the Good Samaritan. Apparently, we are outwardly religious, but inwardly selfish as we “pass by” the millions of poor victims of global warming, blinded to the fact the risen Lord leads the way in the charge against it.
This is NOT what we are paying thousands of dollars to send our kids to a Christian, Nazarene school for them to hear in chapel!”
What’s all the fuss? More undiscerning selection of speakers being brought in to talk to young students whose minds are still being molded and shaped daily by the word of man– not the word of God– and for a pretty high yearly tuition to boot! I submit to you, then, the following excerpts from a chapel service at PLNU on September 12. The guest speaker was Jim Ball, a radical environmentalist. I understand it could be a bit boring, and it may not be your favorite subject. Just keep in mind words such as: “another gospel”, indoctrination, deception, and brainwashing.
Jim Ball, author of Global Warming and the Risen Lord:
“You may know that President Brower is a leader on creation care. He is one of our evangelical climate initiative leaders, which he became in 2006, and then recently we asked him to sign onto a statement on mercury pollution, which he gladly did, so we’re grateful for President Brower’s leadership…”
This morning, I’m going to be weaving together a number of stories to help us reflect upon a Christian approach to climate change. How many of you have seen any of the Narnia movies or read the books by C.S. Lewis? Ok, uh, at one point in the Narnia book Prince Caspian, Lucy, the youngest of the brothers and sisters from England who find themselves in the magical world of Narnia, where, even though they are children they are regarded as kings and queens, Lucy sees the great Aslan, a lion who is the real ruler of Narnia, but the other children – Peter, Susan and Edmond – don’t see him.”
(Reads excerpt from Prince Caspian)
“So, when it comes to global warming, what is it that Lucy can see but that the others can’t just yet? It is the key spiritual fact about this tremendous challenge and spiritual opportunity – the real truth about global warming is: It is the risen Lord who is leading the way in overcoming it. For Christians, this is what global warming is really all about – following the risen Lord as He leads the way.
…Unfortunately, in the years to come, there will be many more climate change orphans…indeed, in our lifetime, billions of the world’s poor will be impacted by global warming, and millions will die.”
(Recounts the story of The Good Samaritan)
“Here is where this parable and global warming intersect for us: The priest and the Levite were not the ones who robbed the man, just as in our time we didn’t create the conditions of poverty – a situation that makes the poor much more vulnerable to the impacts of global warming – but the priest and the Levite did pass by on the other side. Righteousness and love are the presence of good and loving acts, not simply the absence of bad ones. By not helping the man in the ditch, the priest and the Levite made his plight worse and failed to love God and be who God created them to be. Today, collectively, we are, in fact, making the plight of the poor worse through global warming. Knowing their plight and not doing what we can to overcome global warming is like passing by on the other side. We may be highly observant of what it means to be outwardly religious in our community. So too, I’m sure, were the priest and the Levite. That’s exactly why Jesus chose them to be characters in his parable, but if we don’t help the poor, who through no fault of their own find themselves victims in the ditch of global warming’s impacts, then all the religiosity in the world won’t bring us closer to the Lord. Why? Matthew 25 lets us in on a little secret about the parable of The Good Samaritan. You’ll recall that in Matthew 25 Jesus says that what we do to the least of these we do to him. While the Good Samaritan is Christ-like in his behavior, it is Jesus himself who is the man in the ditch. To get close to the Lord is to tend to him while he’s in the ditch. The point of the parable is to be a neighbor, to be a Good Samaritan, to go and do likewise…In terms of the problem of global warming, right now, as a Christian, it is as if you are approaching a victim of global warming in the ditch. You are just within sight of the person. You don’t quite yet know what’s going on. Is it risky to go over to this person? You can’t quite yet tell anything about who it is – just that there is a lump in the ditch that looks human. “Whoever it is could be drunk,” you think to yourself, “Maybe not a victim at all!” but as you venture closer, you come to find that it is a child, not a man. It is a young, baby girl…she is in distress. Is she sick…weak from hunger…both? Maybe she has an infectious disease! Where are her parents? Who is responsible for this baby girl? How did she get in this situation? Suddenly, you notice that someone else is in the ditch with her – it is the risen Lord. It is here that we must ask ourselves some questions about the spiritual resources God has given us in our journey with the risen Lord. Who are we becoming with the spiritual blood of Christ’s saving grace flowing in our veins? Who are we becoming with the uplifting strength of Christ’s Spirit – the Holy Spirit – residing in our hearts? Who are we becoming with the risen Lord walking beside us with his glorious face reflecting the compassionate fire of the Father’s love? Who are we in light of this? Are we becoming religious people who pass by on the other side and ignore the victims of global warming or are we becoming those who let our passion for the Lord transform us into those who have the courage and strength to love others as we love ourselves whoever and wherever they may be, in whatever situation they find themselves? What will our response to the impacts of global warming on others, especially the poor, say about our walk with the risen Lord?”
“Right now, you may be like Lucy. You’ve grasped this great spiritual fact about global warming. You’ve seen the risen Lord as he is leading the way in overcoming global warming, but just like Lucy’s brothers and sister didn’t believe that she had seen Aslan and voted against going the way she knew Aslan wanted them to travel, it could be that some of those close to you don’t yet believe that the risen Lord is leading the way. As we saw earlier in the movie Prince Caspian, Lucy says, “I knew it was you! The whole time, I knew it, but the others didn’t believe me.” Aslan replies, “And, why would that stop you from coming to me?”
Concluding remarks by Mark Carter, PLNU Chaplain: “As we think about our chapel theme, “All Things Being Made New” and the connection of realizing that being made new in the image of God, our faith, our life, our transformation must be lived out in the world around us.”
Jim Ball quote (not from chapel talk): “It is the love of God in the hearts of those in denial about climate change, or those who are not taking action, which will help them both see and do the truth. Their desire for truth must become stronger than their desire for money, or stronger than the arrogance/insecurity that fuels their ideology, or stronger than any fears that may be preventing them from accepting and acting upon the truth about climate change.”
END OF QUOTES
This is utter, complete nonsense. When will it end? Sadly, it may not, and that is why many of us will not send our children to these “Christian” schools that compromise and have bought into all that foolishness.
Additional resource:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rev-jim-ball/love-and-truth-and-global_b_899713.html
Former Nazarene 