Nelson Otto
Jefferson City
Dear Editor:
The climate alarmists are now pushing into Christian churches. They are using the premise that the church’s mandate is helping the poor and since climate change has the greatest affect on the poor, the Church should use its influence on world governments to enact climate policies. It is interesting that many of the same people pushing this are also the same people that demand on every other issue there should be a separation of church and state. The best way for the poor to deal with environmental changes is to allow them to raise themselves up from poverty through capitalism. Alarmists policies would restrict, cheap, reliable and plentiful energy sources in exchange for more costly, unreliable forms the poor cannot afford. It would force the poor to keep burning “renewable” sources like dung and wood, releasing not just CO2 but real pollution negatively affecting respiratory health of millions. It would stifle the use of fossil-fuel powered equipment to pump and purify water. It would prevent them from obtaining the resources necessary to build homes that are more resistant to harsh weather events.
What I find interesting is how many people keep forgetting the long list, over the past 50 or so years of climate alarmist warnings that haven’t come true. Since Christianity is being brought into the mix, now it is okay to quote the Bible so here is one of my favorite quotes concerning the prophecies of climate change. Deuteronomy 18:21-22: “You may say in your heart, ‘How will we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?’ When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.” Another favorite, Jeremiah 23:16: “Thus says the LORD of hosts, “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you. They are leading you into futility; They speak a vision of their own imagination, Not from the mouth of the LORD.”
By trying to mix Christianity with climate change they forgot one important fact. God is in charge. It is through prayer, not policy, that the climate will change for the better and seeing some of the reports our prayers are being answered. So no need for new policies.