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Environmentalism so-called - Destiner Press Topics | |
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Environmentalism so-called The death of Steve Irwin brought forth a torrent of popular emotion and hero-worship that clouded the true issues of environmentalism and conservation way beyond the normal muddle offered by the "infotainment" media, let alone adding to the confusion of matters concerning the realms of heaven and hell. Irwin was neither an environmentalist nor a conservationist. He was a very accomplished publicity showman, and he made a great deal of money from his clownish and dangerous performances, albeit enacted in the name of environmentalism. The lucrative nature of such antics has been realized in circus acts and daredevil stunts for centuries. Constant close encounters with wildlife (called wild for a reason), especially crowding or shadowing along beside any animal persistently can trigger an adverse reaction. The fact that Irwin was not actually "molesting" the stingray that killed him was repeated in the media over and over again. Why? Because he made his mark in televised in-your-face, look-at-me performances in which he continually did harass creatures that clearly wanted nothing at all to do with him, and many viewers thought this might eventually cost him his life. Some even thought he might qualify for a Darwin Award for "accidentally removing himself from the gene pool" while buffooning with a more deadly creature in reckless foolhardiness. One could hardly have invented a worse role model to show children the wrong way. Irwin's death was such a huge media event that everybody who was anybody came out of the woodwork to grab a piece of it in saluting him, and for that reason alone the Darwin Awards will probably remain silent, because of his enormous popularity. This is a red flag that should give any astute observer pause to reflect. The Lord says, "You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly glorified among men is an abomination in the sight of God." (Luke 16:14-16) Irwin's worshippers would have us believe he went straight to heaven. But the Lord says, "He who keeps his life (for his own aims and purposes) will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it." (Matthew 10:38,39; 16:24,25) When did we ever hear Irwin talk about the Lord of heaven and earth, the Lord of every creature that Irwin ever annoyed and pestered? And I mean the real Lord, the One who may send the humblest of worms to wither a plant or even kill a man who gets too puffed up with his own false sense of a divine purpose. (Jonah 4:7; Acts 12:23) A more detailed discussion of the full cost of eternal life can be found in God & Mammon at this website. It is far from cheap; in fact it cannot be acquired at any monetary price. If you would inherit the right side of eternity, reader, you must lose your life for the Lord and His Way, not for a money-spinning media zoo or, for that matter, a natural zoo of confined animals. That is as far from the Noah's Ark concept of preservation that anyone can be misled. And there are plenty of "wannabees" lining up to replace Irwin. They were already cashing in on his television methods before he died. Today's "environmentalists" are generally recognizable by their motor-mouths, busily protesting what others are doing and talking incessantly about what other people should be doing to save the planet. That is the problem. It is almost all talk, and if you listen carefully you will hear it repeated verbatim by school children as they drop their candy wrappers in their own playground, and by "professional" protesters as they throw their cigarette butts in the grass. Having once worked in the paper industry, I have seen the filthy mess left by noisy "greenies" in the forest after a protest, and seen it cleaned up by the loggers and tree planters that worked there. I have worked in industrial plants where the corporation went way beyond the stipulated requirements of the government to make their effluent water so clean that the outfall became a favorite haunt of otters, sea-lions and eagles. Did a single environmentalist turn up for the ribbon cutting of the water treatment plant? No way. They did not want the problem solved; they wanted the industry shut down, at a cost of many jobs and livelihoods, and they wrote their reports on the very paper those plants produced, and drove to their protests using petrol refined from oil rigs that they also wanted to eradicate. The eco-conservation issue has become so much double-talk that few people know what it is to be a real environmentalist or how to make a difference without listening to the prating of the so-called experts. It is actually quite simple. There are people who clean their own road of garbage every day, all the cans and bottles and wrappers and diapers that the goats of this world discard in public. Not their whole town; not their complete neighborhood; just their own road. You cannot clean up the whole world. The trashers far outnumber the cleaners. But you can do something about your own road. There are people who scour the shore to put dying sea creatures that have been washed above the high tide line back into the water, and who clean up piles of stinking fish after a red tide. Not the entire shoreline; just their own part of the beach. And they do it practically unnoticed and certainly without any monetary gain. There are no TV vans or reporters, no one sticking an inane face in the lens like Irwin did, no one posing for the camera to be seen performing "good deeds." That is exactly the principle of how you quietly and discreetly go about losing your life the right way and gaining an imperishable reward. (Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18) If everyone did this, the world would be a much better place. Indeed, if everyone managed their own garbage properly and picked up after themselves, the world would be a much cleaner globe. But the goats do not do this, even many of them who protest so stridently in the name of environmentalism. They are the empty vessels that make the most noise, and in this there is no eternal reward. Do the unobtrusive thing, away from the public eye and you will have done more than any TV "conservationist." The One who holds the keys to the life and death of every creature sees all, and He will not be slack to reimburse when the time comes. Publicity stunts and the noise of relentless chatter that pass for "enthusiasm" will gain nothing, and daredevil acts ultimately lead to downfall and ruin. The recent "Jackass" movies have very profitably cashed in on this fatal flaw in the heart of fallen mankind. They are called "dare-devil" acts for a reason, as noted more fully in Testing The Spirits, Part 2c in this website. A detailed essay on the awesome Scripture text quoted at the beginning of this topic, concerning the whole of creation and the position of Lord's elect within it, may be found in God & Evil. |
"The creation waits with eager longing for the
revealing of the sons of God; for the creation was subjected to futility,
not of its own will but by the will of Him who subjected it in hope;
because the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and
obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God. We know that the whole
creation has been groaning in painful labor together until now; and not only the
creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan
inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies."
(Romans 8:19-23)