While there is much we can do to responsibly care for our planet, we must remember that complete environmental perfection will not be accomplished on Earth until the coming of our Savior. However, we can come much closer to that perfection in some regions through the supernatural power of repentance. Find out more as Joshua Hawkins, of the International House of Prayer in Kansas City, explains...

     A poster had a question regarding why Christians are not more active in attempting to help our environment. After all, global warming is a big problem (sarcasm).

     I recognize the problems with our environment today and what it means for our kids if we don't clean up our act. But we have a bigger problem on our hands than the environment and the condition of the earth for our kids. That greater problem is God Himself.

     Day after day, man stands up in utter rejection of God and His ways. David writes in Psalm 2:

“Why do the nations rage,
And the people plot a vain thing?
The kings of the earth set themselves,
And the rulers take counsel together,
Against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying,
“Let us break Their bonds in pieces
And cast away Their cords from us.”
He who sits in the heavens shall laugh;
The Lord shall hold them in derision.”
(Psa 2:1-4 NKJV)

     How does this relate to environmentalism? I think Christians should be the leading environmentalists on the planet, but not necessarily in the way that you'd think.

     The environmental problems on the earth today can be traced back to a single root - sin. There is a mysterious and glorious connection between the action of the human race and the condition of the land, vegetation, weather patterns, and all other natural creation. When Adam sinned, God cursed the land (Genesis 3:17). That curse has been escalating as man’s sin escalates. Isaiah 24 tells us that the earth’s convulsions because of the fall will increase as sin ripens and reaches its fullness in the earth (Isaiah 24:5-6, 20). Romans 8 also tells us that all creation is groaning for its restoration, which will only come by the one Man whom God has appointed to bring it about - Jesus of Nazareth.  

     In my opinion, there is no solution man can suggest and enact to solve our environmental problems today. Our only choice is repentance and belief in the coming Day when the environment will be completely restored by the hand of Jesus. Since the problem with our environment is at its root a sin problem, the solution cannot be something conjured up by man. Salvation and the restoration of all things only comes by one Man alone. No matter how many short showers we take or how long we leave the light switch turned on, the environmental problem will still exist until Jesus of Nazareth returns to the earth and begins the process of the "restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began" (Acts 3:21).

     Corporate repentance actually has an effect on the land as we see in 2 Chron. 7:14:

"If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. "

     We've seen small pockets of this as shown on George Otis Jr.'s "Transformation" videos, documenting the effects of villages returning to the Lord in repentance and the land being blessed as a result (with things like big carrots!). These "transformed" communities are just signposts that the Lord gives us to remind us of the coming restoration of all things by Jesus, where the wicked will be no more, where Jesus' bride has made herself ready (Rev. 19:7) through repentance and the cross, and where the Jews will repent for crucifying their Messiah, resulting in "life from the dead" (Zech. 12:10; Rom. 11:15).

     Regardless of the "good deeds" we can do to help our environment, any sort of environmentalism for the improvement of man's condition apart from the Spirit's grace for repentance and belief in the coming day of the LORD is based in humanism. James actually calls this kind of self-seeking, self-saving wisdom "demonic" (James 3:15).

     While we may see more "transformed" communities before the Lord returns, we won't see the restoration of the land we are hoping for until after the second coming of Christ, when Jesus is reigning on the planet and "times of refreshing" come from His presence (Acts 3:21). May He give us grace to embrace the cross in this age and to wait patiently for Him!

     For more from Joshua, check out his outstanding blog at http://www.joshuahawkins.com/blog.