Francis the Fox Pushes the Great Reset with Climate Agenda
Oct 17, 2020 20:30:58 GMT -5
Post by Berean on Oct 17, 2020 20:30:58 GMT -5
Francis the Fox Pushes the Great Reset with Rome’s Climate Agenda
By Stuart Quint
Has Pope Francis outfoxed the world under the ruse of climate change and environmental ¨justice¨?
In the year 2015, Pope Francis wrote his controversial encyclical “Laudato Si”. He commands the nations to confess their collective sins of exploiting the environment with capitalism.
“’Praise be to you, my Lord, through our Sister, Mother Earth, who sustains us…’ This sister now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her. We have come to see ourselves as her lords and masters, entitled to plunder her at will. The violence present in our hearts, wounded by sin, is also reflected in the symptoms of sickness evident in the soil, in the water, in the air, and in all forms of life.”[1]
In his article “Francis the Fox”, Richard Bennett exposed Francis’s real agenda of paganism and totalitarianism. Environmentalism is a Vatican battering ram to compel the nations of the world to bow down to the wicked agenda of the Papacy and their surrogates in the global elite.[2]
Five years later, it appears Pope Francis is succeeding. The nations are listening!
According to the Pew Research Center, global concern over the dubious “science” of climate change has exploded. 13 of the 26 countries surveyed consider climate change to be their number one national threat.[3]
The US has also been deceived. Nearly 6 in 10 Americans today see climate change as a major threat to their nation. Over 5 years before, only 4 in 10 Americans saw climate change as a threat.[4]
By riding a wave of fear, Pope Francis has hypnotized many to take action. And their governments are now willing to submit, even at the detriment of their own populations!
In his most recent encyclical “Fratelle Tutti”, Francis applauds his living predecessor Benedict XVI:
“In this regard, I would also note the need for a reform of ‘the United Nations Organization, and likewise of economic institutions and international finance, so that the concept of the family of nations can acquire real teeth.’”[5]
Strange Bedfellows: The Vatican, Globalists, and Radical Climate Change Advocates
To put teeth behind the climate change agenda, Pope Francis is teaming up with global secular elites.
The United Nations with its Agenda 21 is one major player.[6]
He is also allied with the World Economic Forum (WEF), the elite club of globalist elites in business and government. In exchange for his parroting of their world agenda, the WEF adores Francis with Catholic panels at the annual Davos gathering as well as touting his decrees on their website.[7]
A front-page article on the WEF website lauds Francis for his affirmation of their principles and denunciation of “neo-liberalism” (their derogatory name for capitalism and democracy blessed by the Reformation).[8]
The WEF along with the IMF and the UN is pushing a radical global agenda called the “Great Reset”.[9]
This agenda includes an aggressive environmental component[10] bent on net-zero emissions and other changes to global governance.[11] Smart grids, smart cities that monitor consumption, and 5G systems that conduct surveillance on devices and private citizens are sample technologies.[12] Wealth redistribution, including “universal basic wage” (for which Pope Francis advocated in Easter service), and the growth of secular government at the expense of personal freedom also highlight the “Great Reset”.[13]
Indeed, the WEF seeks to use Covid to accelerate and enforce the “Great Reset”.
Klaus Schwab, founder of the WEF, states:
“The Covid crisis has shown that our old systems are not fit anymore for the 21st century. It has laid bare the fundamental lack of social cohesion, fairness, inclusion, and equality.[14] Now is the time not only to fight the virus but to reshape the system for the need for the post-Corona era… But we have another choice: we can build a new social contract… In short, we need a great reset! We have to mobilize all constituents of our global society to work together. We must not miss this unique window of opportunity.”[15]
If this league of the Vatican, UN, and WEF were to succeed, the “Great Reset” would push global societal “inclusion” and “justice”[16] at the expense of national sovereignty, individual rights, and the suppression of true Christianity.[17]
The UN globalists are open about their real intent, which has nothing to do with the environment! Ottomar Edenhoffer, the head of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (“UN-IPCC”)[18], bluntly stated: “We [UN-IPCC] redistribute de-facto the world’s wealth by climate policy… one has to free oneself from the illusion that international climate policy is environmental policy. This has nothing to do with environmental policy.”[19]
Yet, Pope Francis collaborates with his allies to sell the world on the Great Reset in climate change clothing. In 2020, the WEF has endorsed Rome’s “first-ever set of comprehensive guidelines… setting forth a long-term vision for environmental action that emphasizes urgency and global coordination.”[20]
Is Pope Francis simply good at “betting on the winning horse”? Or could we be witnessing the 21st century emergence of “the great whore… sitting on a scarlet beast…”?[21]
Pope Francis’s Climate Agenda Intrudes on Christian Liberty
The Vatican knows that the climate agenda is more than just planting trees and Teslas.
Francis cites Benedict XVI in charging that man has damaged nature. This foreshadows Francis’s treatment in chapter 4 of “integral ecology”, which posits that “everything is closely related” and that “today’s problems call for a vision capable of taking into account every aspect of the global crisis.”[22]
The letter by the Pontifical Academy of Science “Humana Communitas in the Age of Pandemic” states:
“Consider the chain of connections that link the following phenomena: increasing deforestation pushes wild animals in the proximity of human habitat. Viruses hosted by animals, then, are passed on to humans, thus exacerbating the reality of zoonosis, a phenomenon well known to scientists as a vehicle of many diseases. The exaggerated demand for meat in first world countries gives rise to enormous industrial complexes of animal farming and exploitation.”[23]
So, the Vatican has the audacity to know how much meat we should eat?!
God’s Word rebukes false teachers like Francis: “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.”[24]
Despite Scripture’s clear command, Pope Francis champions a comprehensive asceticism on the people of the world. Rome commands us to sacrifice our well-being to elevate “nature”.
Francis appeals beyond Catholic Popes by citing Eastern Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew. He urges the reader to “…look for solutions not only in technology but in a change in humanity… He asks us to replace consumption with sacrifice, greed with generosity, wastefulness with a spirit of sharing, an asceticism…”[25]
Mark Musser, pastor, author, and graduate of Evergreen State College, one of the premier environmental institutions in the US, exposes the tyranny over society to which climate activists aspire:
“Ecological asceticism is increasingly becoming the moral ethic for both Europe and America under environmentalism. People will be not only expected but required to makes substantial sacrifices for the sake of the environment.”[26]
“Whether they’re demanding that you turn down your thermostat, stop driving your car, or engage in some other senseless act of self-denial, the Greens are envisioning a grim future for you marked by endless privation.”[27]
“There is hardly any area of your life that the greens consider off limits to intrusion. There is almost no personal behavior of yours that they consider too trivial or too sacrosanct to regulate.”[28]
Francis Continues the Work of Past Popes in Pushing the Vatican Climate Agenda
Pope Francis is not the first Pope to push a green Vatican agenda. While Francis might be considered the loudest advocate for Vatican ecology, he has ample and prominent company in recent history.
In “Laudato Si”, Francis appeals to previous Popes such as John XXIII[29], John Paul II, and Benedict XVI. The choice of these 3 Popes is significant:
John XXIII was the Pope who initiated the Second Vatican Council in 1962. Our readers know that this council brought significant change not only for Roman Catholics themselves but also in relationship to their world.[30] Though much of the change was external, core Catholic beliefs in its supremacy above all others remained.[31]
A lesser known fact about John XXIII is his courting of Marxism. In stark contrast to his predecessors’ official hostility to Communism, John XXIII shifted to a more collaborative, if not sympathetic, relationship.[32] In fact, John XXIII fostered the spread of Liberation Theology[33] within the Roman Catholic Church.[34] [35]
John Paul II coined the phrase “global ecological conversion”[36] as reason to buy into the globalist narrative about climate change and its threat to humanity. Francis speaks of his own “ecological conversion” in meeting residents of the Amazon dressed in indigenous garb that inspired him to releasing Laudato Si before schedule in 2013.[37]
Such “conversion” reflects pagan, not Christian, thinking. In Francis’s case, he emphasizes feelings, not rational argument based on the Word of God and the mind which He has given us. Indeed, it is closer to Jesuit “discernment”, which also elevates the subjective feeling to submit to someone’s preconception at the expense of Biblical discernment.[38]
Laudato Si also echoes John Paull II’s exhortation to strive for “authentic human ecology”.[39] “Authentic ecology” is an interesting choice of words. This theme abounds in the green philosophy of postmodernist and Nazi party member Martin Heidegger.[40]
Pope Francis also quotes his predecessor Benedict XVI. Despite conflicting on certain areas of Catholic doctrine, Francis and Benedict find agreement in “eliminating the structural causes of the dysfunctions of the world economy and correcting models of growth which have proved incapable of ensuring respect for the environment.”[41]
Such language considers the solutions to “justice” are found only in restructuring institutional structures. It echoes the repeated Jesuit call for “justice”, only making the earth (“our sister” on whom “we have inflicted harm”) the victim. Some even call this “environmental justice”[42] (as opposed to “social justice”), but the analysis of the neo-Marxist Frankfurt School is similar.
This language also echoes popular environmentalist calls to restore nature even at the expense of human beings. From German Romantics to Nazi “lebensraum” to climate change advocates inspired by the Club of Rome, nature being above man is a common theme.
The Ecumenical Scope of Pope Francis’s Climate Change Agenda
The Vatican has assembled a vast ecumenical horde to champion its agenda.[43]
The website Season of Creation[44] reveals that Rome entered into a climate change covenant with the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and his Orthodox charge. He had started advocating for the climate change movement back in 1989.
Later, liberal Protestant denominations such as Episcopalians, Lutherans, and Methodists, have joined the green agenda. “The World Council of Churches was instrumental in making the special time a season, extending the celebration from 1 September to 4 September.”[45]
The site shows a similar pagan focus to “Laudato Si”: “We pray in thanksgiving for Mother Earth in whom all life is rooted, Brother Sun whose energy radiates life, Sister Water who nurtures and revives us…”[46]
This group goes beyond solely worshiping creation. The headline “Advocacy: Participate in campaigns that call for restoration” calls for activism for wealth redistribution, aggressive national emission targets, and loyalty to UN-enforced conservation, and national bans on plastics and fossil fuels:
“We advocate for just climate finance… Call for a debt jubilee. All external debt due in 2020 to be cancelled… All nations must adopt more ambitious national targets to reduce emissions…”
“Richer countries must scale-up grants … in developing countries… We support the U.N. call to safeguard 30% of Earth as protected habitats by 2030… We commit to a rapid reduction in single use plastics, and push for national bans…”
“We support the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals at local and international levels.”
“Endorsement of the fossil fuel divestment campaign to boycott fossil fuel companies.”[47]
Billions of dollars in large Catholic endowments are selling such investments. It appears to be succeeding: since Laudato Si, capital has fled the energy sector. One measure suggests US energy stocks have declined over -60% despite the general stock market nearing all-time highs.[48]
Yet, cheering the rejection of fossil fuel stocks ignores a critical fact. The world derives most of its energy (84% in 2019) from fossil fuels.[49]
The impact on global economies and societies will be horrendous should Rome and the globalists succeed.
God’s Word Exposes the Lies of the Vatican Climate Agenda
The Bible exposes the folly of the Vatican green agenda and its false alarm over climate change. According to the apostle Paul, environmental problems are a result of sin against God, not some invented “sister Earth” as Pope Francis pretends.
The main problem of our world, and why the Vatican green agenda is incapable of addressing it, is man’s rebellion and idolatry against God.
Romans 1:18-19 tells us that God reveals His wrath “against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.” No one is innocent nor “without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.”[50]
Next, Paul describes the core of humanity’s problems in the world: rejecting the Creator as the Object of true worship and making the creation the idol of false worship! People overestimate their abilities and fail to see their sin that condemns them before God. “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.”[51]
As a consequence of people’s sin, humanity, including the most powerful, wealthy, educated, and religious, lives out a lie. “Who changed the truth of God into a lie and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.”[52]
Thus, we see that Paul rejects Pope Francis and his lies. Whereas they see the problem as man needing to repent and do penance to the environment, Paul in Romans shows the real issue is that man has sinned against God and needs a Savior to save humanity from God’s well-deserved wrath.
“Laudato Si” manifests the romanticism of “integral ecology”, or the pagan name of “deep ecology”.[53] It blurs the difference between Creator and creation (ultimately leading to the elimination of the Creator and the idolatry of creation as described in Romans 1). This leads to mystical and irrational thinking where categories are confused and subjective feeling replaces rational thought.
Vatican integral ecology also blurs the distinction between humanity, the image-bearers of God, and nature. Consistent with radical environmentalists, Pope Francis sets man on an equal plane with nature.
Yet Scripture contradicts the Pope! It states that God created man and woman to fill, subdue, and multiply on the Earth. In other words, the creation of natural resources by God is to serve man, not the other way around.[54]
In classic Jesuit fashion,[55] Pope Francis summons the reader to accept without proof his monistic approach that nature is equal to humankind: “Francis helps us to see that an integral ecology calls for openness to categories which transcend the language of mathematics and biology… for to him each and every creature was a sister united to him by bonds of affection… His disciple Saint Bonaventure tells us that, ‘from a reflection on the primary source of all things, filled with even more abundant piety, he would call creatures, no matter how small, by the name of brother or sister.’”[56]
Richard Bennett put it bluntly: “The whole argument of the encyclical [Laudato Si] hangs upon the veracity of its self-evident axioms. However, the assumptions are false.”[57]
Biblically Discerned Science Shows the Folly of the Vatican Climate Agenda
Pope Francis joins the globalist greens in upholding “climate change” as a proven fact:
“A very solid scientific consensus indicates that we are presently witnessing a disturbing warming of the climactic system. In recent decades this warming has been accompanied by a constant rise in the sea level and, it would appear, by an increase of extreme weather events, even if a scientifically determinable cause cannot be assigned to each particular phenomenon. Humanity is called to recognize the need for changes of lifestyle, production, and consumption, in order to combat this warming or at least the human causes which produce or aggravate it.”[58]
Plenty of dissent against “climate change” theory exists. “Climategate” exposed that climate data was forged to “prove” climate change.[59] Various studies have shown no to little correlation between change in carbon dioxide and global temperatures.[60] Significant doubt exists whether temperatures have actually been rising at all over long periods of history.[61]
Furthermore, there is much controversy as to whether rising temperatures even have any impact on more frequent and dangerous hurricanes.[62]
Even if the West were to reduce carbon emissions, it would be a “drop in the ocean” given that humanity produces only 3% of the total carbon on planet Earth![63]
Perhaps the climate watchers might want to consider true science that measures “repeatable, verifiable, and observable” phenomena. One example is forest land management. Incompetent environmental management in the most heavily regulated state in the US pays off special interest groups while repeating annual disasters such as the recent wildfires in California.[64]
Proposed plans by the WEF, the UN, Pope Francis, and the Green New Deal hurt economies which are supposed to benefit people.
Net-zero carbon emission programs will impose additional costs on families through unnecessary equipment purchases and higher electricity costs.[65] Particular burden would be felt by poor people. They promise negligible benefits (perhaps half a degree less of warming by 2050) at tremendous expense. California (with a power grid so unreliable that blackouts in the middle of hot summer days are common) under Jesuit Governor Newsom and Germany (exorbitant power costs with minimal carbon reduction and about to weaken its energy security by importing the bulk of its gas from Russia via Nordstream) are warnings about the low benefit/high cost of “green new deals”.
Neither do “green new deals” consider costs to the environment! Consider that over 500,000 birds in the US are destroyed by renewable wind power annually. In Pennsylvania alone, 10,000 bats are killed by windmills each year.[66] Additionally, to build renewable generation such as solar and wind requires metal and rare earths that must be mined from under the Earth. This also entails environmental devastation.
Yet, the greatest casualty on this Earth from radical Vatican climate change is the very poor for whom Pope Francis claims to bring “justice”.
Rome’s Climate Activism Brings Injustice to the Global Poor
In the quest for “environmental justice”, Pope Francis is violating Biblical teaching on human dignity and even secular “social justice”!
Paul Driessen, public policy advisor on the environment, attacks “eco-imperialism”, the imposition of radical environmental doctrine on farming techniques with UN agencies, to result in the unnecessary deaths of over 20 million people a year in Africa.[67]
Examples include the deprivation of traditional pesticide, electricity, and water to starving populations. Proliferation of prostitution and corruption are fallout of radical environmentalists seeking to return Africa to an Edenic “utopia” at the expense of human lives.[68] Even the havoc from the recent locust plagues was mostly preventable had conventional, modern techniques been used to control pests.[69]
Consider the harm brought to the poor and vulnerable people in the state of California:
“For the first time since 2001, portions of the Golden State were powerless during 110-degree temperatures in the Central Valley… This massive failure put lives at risk, especially for our most vulnerable populations and those in disadvantaged communities.”[70]
“The disparity between the haves and have-nots becomes clearer when you consider Californians pay the highest energy prices in the country… Californians pay over a dollar more per gallon of gas than the national average, and when it comes to electricity, data from the US Energy Information Agency shows Californians pay 55% more than the rest of the nation… California policy leaders talk about income inequality, but it’s our policies that are driving a wider economic divide between the working-class, the poor and the rich.”[71]
Conclusion: God Will Punish All Rebels and Save His Saints; Where Do You Stand?
The foolish schemes of Pope Francis and the globalists do not catch God by surprise: “Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine 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 bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.”[72]
Patrick Moore, founder of the world-renowned environmentalist group Greenpeace, left the organization because of his alarm at its rising extremism. “In the name of ‘speaking for the trees and other species’ we are faced with a movement that would usher in an era of eco-fascism. The planetary police would answer to no one but Nature itself.”[73]
Yet these foolish men deny the truth of God as King. What is God’s response?
“He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.”[74]
God shall laugh because He wins in the end. At His appointed time, His Son Jesus Christ will return to the Earth in victory. Christ will save His people forever and condemn His enemies forever.
Dear friend, where do you stand with this important question? Do you trust and depend on Christ Alone as your only Hope and Salvation?
Or are you betting foolishly on your good works or sacraments or church membership to “cut a deal” with God? It is foolish to believe this because you cannot cover up your own sin. Only Christ can save you, but you must ask God to put your trust in Him as Lord and Savior of your life.
We all need to consider on which side of these verses we are. This is your most important question. Will you run to Christ? Or will you too perish with the wicked?
“Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.”[75]
List of source material at link
By Stuart Quint
Has Pope Francis outfoxed the world under the ruse of climate change and environmental ¨justice¨?
In the year 2015, Pope Francis wrote his controversial encyclical “Laudato Si”. He commands the nations to confess their collective sins of exploiting the environment with capitalism.
“’Praise be to you, my Lord, through our Sister, Mother Earth, who sustains us…’ This sister now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her. We have come to see ourselves as her lords and masters, entitled to plunder her at will. The violence present in our hearts, wounded by sin, is also reflected in the symptoms of sickness evident in the soil, in the water, in the air, and in all forms of life.”[1]
In his article “Francis the Fox”, Richard Bennett exposed Francis’s real agenda of paganism and totalitarianism. Environmentalism is a Vatican battering ram to compel the nations of the world to bow down to the wicked agenda of the Papacy and their surrogates in the global elite.[2]
Five years later, it appears Pope Francis is succeeding. The nations are listening!
According to the Pew Research Center, global concern over the dubious “science” of climate change has exploded. 13 of the 26 countries surveyed consider climate change to be their number one national threat.[3]
The US has also been deceived. Nearly 6 in 10 Americans today see climate change as a major threat to their nation. Over 5 years before, only 4 in 10 Americans saw climate change as a threat.[4]
By riding a wave of fear, Pope Francis has hypnotized many to take action. And their governments are now willing to submit, even at the detriment of their own populations!
In his most recent encyclical “Fratelle Tutti”, Francis applauds his living predecessor Benedict XVI:
“In this regard, I would also note the need for a reform of ‘the United Nations Organization, and likewise of economic institutions and international finance, so that the concept of the family of nations can acquire real teeth.’”[5]
Strange Bedfellows: The Vatican, Globalists, and Radical Climate Change Advocates
To put teeth behind the climate change agenda, Pope Francis is teaming up with global secular elites.
The United Nations with its Agenda 21 is one major player.[6]
He is also allied with the World Economic Forum (WEF), the elite club of globalist elites in business and government. In exchange for his parroting of their world agenda, the WEF adores Francis with Catholic panels at the annual Davos gathering as well as touting his decrees on their website.[7]
A front-page article on the WEF website lauds Francis for his affirmation of their principles and denunciation of “neo-liberalism” (their derogatory name for capitalism and democracy blessed by the Reformation).[8]
The WEF along with the IMF and the UN is pushing a radical global agenda called the “Great Reset”.[9]
This agenda includes an aggressive environmental component[10] bent on net-zero emissions and other changes to global governance.[11] Smart grids, smart cities that monitor consumption, and 5G systems that conduct surveillance on devices and private citizens are sample technologies.[12] Wealth redistribution, including “universal basic wage” (for which Pope Francis advocated in Easter service), and the growth of secular government at the expense of personal freedom also highlight the “Great Reset”.[13]
Indeed, the WEF seeks to use Covid to accelerate and enforce the “Great Reset”.
Klaus Schwab, founder of the WEF, states:
“The Covid crisis has shown that our old systems are not fit anymore for the 21st century. It has laid bare the fundamental lack of social cohesion, fairness, inclusion, and equality.[14] Now is the time not only to fight the virus but to reshape the system for the need for the post-Corona era… But we have another choice: we can build a new social contract… In short, we need a great reset! We have to mobilize all constituents of our global society to work together. We must not miss this unique window of opportunity.”[15]
If this league of the Vatican, UN, and WEF were to succeed, the “Great Reset” would push global societal “inclusion” and “justice”[16] at the expense of national sovereignty, individual rights, and the suppression of true Christianity.[17]
The UN globalists are open about their real intent, which has nothing to do with the environment! Ottomar Edenhoffer, the head of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (“UN-IPCC”)[18], bluntly stated: “We [UN-IPCC] redistribute de-facto the world’s wealth by climate policy… one has to free oneself from the illusion that international climate policy is environmental policy. This has nothing to do with environmental policy.”[19]
Yet, Pope Francis collaborates with his allies to sell the world on the Great Reset in climate change clothing. In 2020, the WEF has endorsed Rome’s “first-ever set of comprehensive guidelines… setting forth a long-term vision for environmental action that emphasizes urgency and global coordination.”[20]
Is Pope Francis simply good at “betting on the winning horse”? Or could we be witnessing the 21st century emergence of “the great whore… sitting on a scarlet beast…”?[21]
Pope Francis’s Climate Agenda Intrudes on Christian Liberty
The Vatican knows that the climate agenda is more than just planting trees and Teslas.
Francis cites Benedict XVI in charging that man has damaged nature. This foreshadows Francis’s treatment in chapter 4 of “integral ecology”, which posits that “everything is closely related” and that “today’s problems call for a vision capable of taking into account every aspect of the global crisis.”[22]
The letter by the Pontifical Academy of Science “Humana Communitas in the Age of Pandemic” states:
“Consider the chain of connections that link the following phenomena: increasing deforestation pushes wild animals in the proximity of human habitat. Viruses hosted by animals, then, are passed on to humans, thus exacerbating the reality of zoonosis, a phenomenon well known to scientists as a vehicle of many diseases. The exaggerated demand for meat in first world countries gives rise to enormous industrial complexes of animal farming and exploitation.”[23]
So, the Vatican has the audacity to know how much meat we should eat?!
God’s Word rebukes false teachers like Francis: “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.”[24]
Despite Scripture’s clear command, Pope Francis champions a comprehensive asceticism on the people of the world. Rome commands us to sacrifice our well-being to elevate “nature”.
Francis appeals beyond Catholic Popes by citing Eastern Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew. He urges the reader to “…look for solutions not only in technology but in a change in humanity… He asks us to replace consumption with sacrifice, greed with generosity, wastefulness with a spirit of sharing, an asceticism…”[25]
Mark Musser, pastor, author, and graduate of Evergreen State College, one of the premier environmental institutions in the US, exposes the tyranny over society to which climate activists aspire:
“Ecological asceticism is increasingly becoming the moral ethic for both Europe and America under environmentalism. People will be not only expected but required to makes substantial sacrifices for the sake of the environment.”[26]
“Whether they’re demanding that you turn down your thermostat, stop driving your car, or engage in some other senseless act of self-denial, the Greens are envisioning a grim future for you marked by endless privation.”[27]
“There is hardly any area of your life that the greens consider off limits to intrusion. There is almost no personal behavior of yours that they consider too trivial or too sacrosanct to regulate.”[28]
Francis Continues the Work of Past Popes in Pushing the Vatican Climate Agenda
Pope Francis is not the first Pope to push a green Vatican agenda. While Francis might be considered the loudest advocate for Vatican ecology, he has ample and prominent company in recent history.
In “Laudato Si”, Francis appeals to previous Popes such as John XXIII[29], John Paul II, and Benedict XVI. The choice of these 3 Popes is significant:
John XXIII was the Pope who initiated the Second Vatican Council in 1962. Our readers know that this council brought significant change not only for Roman Catholics themselves but also in relationship to their world.[30] Though much of the change was external, core Catholic beliefs in its supremacy above all others remained.[31]
A lesser known fact about John XXIII is his courting of Marxism. In stark contrast to his predecessors’ official hostility to Communism, John XXIII shifted to a more collaborative, if not sympathetic, relationship.[32] In fact, John XXIII fostered the spread of Liberation Theology[33] within the Roman Catholic Church.[34] [35]
John Paul II coined the phrase “global ecological conversion”[36] as reason to buy into the globalist narrative about climate change and its threat to humanity. Francis speaks of his own “ecological conversion” in meeting residents of the Amazon dressed in indigenous garb that inspired him to releasing Laudato Si before schedule in 2013.[37]
Such “conversion” reflects pagan, not Christian, thinking. In Francis’s case, he emphasizes feelings, not rational argument based on the Word of God and the mind which He has given us. Indeed, it is closer to Jesuit “discernment”, which also elevates the subjective feeling to submit to someone’s preconception at the expense of Biblical discernment.[38]
Laudato Si also echoes John Paull II’s exhortation to strive for “authentic human ecology”.[39] “Authentic ecology” is an interesting choice of words. This theme abounds in the green philosophy of postmodernist and Nazi party member Martin Heidegger.[40]
Pope Francis also quotes his predecessor Benedict XVI. Despite conflicting on certain areas of Catholic doctrine, Francis and Benedict find agreement in “eliminating the structural causes of the dysfunctions of the world economy and correcting models of growth which have proved incapable of ensuring respect for the environment.”[41]
Such language considers the solutions to “justice” are found only in restructuring institutional structures. It echoes the repeated Jesuit call for “justice”, only making the earth (“our sister” on whom “we have inflicted harm”) the victim. Some even call this “environmental justice”[42] (as opposed to “social justice”), but the analysis of the neo-Marxist Frankfurt School is similar.
This language also echoes popular environmentalist calls to restore nature even at the expense of human beings. From German Romantics to Nazi “lebensraum” to climate change advocates inspired by the Club of Rome, nature being above man is a common theme.
The Ecumenical Scope of Pope Francis’s Climate Change Agenda
The Vatican has assembled a vast ecumenical horde to champion its agenda.[43]
The website Season of Creation[44] reveals that Rome entered into a climate change covenant with the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and his Orthodox charge. He had started advocating for the climate change movement back in 1989.
Later, liberal Protestant denominations such as Episcopalians, Lutherans, and Methodists, have joined the green agenda. “The World Council of Churches was instrumental in making the special time a season, extending the celebration from 1 September to 4 September.”[45]
The site shows a similar pagan focus to “Laudato Si”: “We pray in thanksgiving for Mother Earth in whom all life is rooted, Brother Sun whose energy radiates life, Sister Water who nurtures and revives us…”[46]
This group goes beyond solely worshiping creation. The headline “Advocacy: Participate in campaigns that call for restoration” calls for activism for wealth redistribution, aggressive national emission targets, and loyalty to UN-enforced conservation, and national bans on plastics and fossil fuels:
“We advocate for just climate finance… Call for a debt jubilee. All external debt due in 2020 to be cancelled… All nations must adopt more ambitious national targets to reduce emissions…”
“Richer countries must scale-up grants … in developing countries… We support the U.N. call to safeguard 30% of Earth as protected habitats by 2030… We commit to a rapid reduction in single use plastics, and push for national bans…”
“We support the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals at local and international levels.”
“Endorsement of the fossil fuel divestment campaign to boycott fossil fuel companies.”[47]
Billions of dollars in large Catholic endowments are selling such investments. It appears to be succeeding: since Laudato Si, capital has fled the energy sector. One measure suggests US energy stocks have declined over -60% despite the general stock market nearing all-time highs.[48]
Yet, cheering the rejection of fossil fuel stocks ignores a critical fact. The world derives most of its energy (84% in 2019) from fossil fuels.[49]
The impact on global economies and societies will be horrendous should Rome and the globalists succeed.
God’s Word Exposes the Lies of the Vatican Climate Agenda
The Bible exposes the folly of the Vatican green agenda and its false alarm over climate change. According to the apostle Paul, environmental problems are a result of sin against God, not some invented “sister Earth” as Pope Francis pretends.
The main problem of our world, and why the Vatican green agenda is incapable of addressing it, is man’s rebellion and idolatry against God.
Romans 1:18-19 tells us that God reveals His wrath “against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.” No one is innocent nor “without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.”[50]
Next, Paul describes the core of humanity’s problems in the world: rejecting the Creator as the Object of true worship and making the creation the idol of false worship! People overestimate their abilities and fail to see their sin that condemns them before God. “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.”[51]
As a consequence of people’s sin, humanity, including the most powerful, wealthy, educated, and religious, lives out a lie. “Who changed the truth of God into a lie and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.”[52]
Thus, we see that Paul rejects Pope Francis and his lies. Whereas they see the problem as man needing to repent and do penance to the environment, Paul in Romans shows the real issue is that man has sinned against God and needs a Savior to save humanity from God’s well-deserved wrath.
“Laudato Si” manifests the romanticism of “integral ecology”, or the pagan name of “deep ecology”.[53] It blurs the difference between Creator and creation (ultimately leading to the elimination of the Creator and the idolatry of creation as described in Romans 1). This leads to mystical and irrational thinking where categories are confused and subjective feeling replaces rational thought.
Vatican integral ecology also blurs the distinction between humanity, the image-bearers of God, and nature. Consistent with radical environmentalists, Pope Francis sets man on an equal plane with nature.
Yet Scripture contradicts the Pope! It states that God created man and woman to fill, subdue, and multiply on the Earth. In other words, the creation of natural resources by God is to serve man, not the other way around.[54]
In classic Jesuit fashion,[55] Pope Francis summons the reader to accept without proof his monistic approach that nature is equal to humankind: “Francis helps us to see that an integral ecology calls for openness to categories which transcend the language of mathematics and biology… for to him each and every creature was a sister united to him by bonds of affection… His disciple Saint Bonaventure tells us that, ‘from a reflection on the primary source of all things, filled with even more abundant piety, he would call creatures, no matter how small, by the name of brother or sister.’”[56]
Richard Bennett put it bluntly: “The whole argument of the encyclical [Laudato Si] hangs upon the veracity of its self-evident axioms. However, the assumptions are false.”[57]
Biblically Discerned Science Shows the Folly of the Vatican Climate Agenda
Pope Francis joins the globalist greens in upholding “climate change” as a proven fact:
“A very solid scientific consensus indicates that we are presently witnessing a disturbing warming of the climactic system. In recent decades this warming has been accompanied by a constant rise in the sea level and, it would appear, by an increase of extreme weather events, even if a scientifically determinable cause cannot be assigned to each particular phenomenon. Humanity is called to recognize the need for changes of lifestyle, production, and consumption, in order to combat this warming or at least the human causes which produce or aggravate it.”[58]
Plenty of dissent against “climate change” theory exists. “Climategate” exposed that climate data was forged to “prove” climate change.[59] Various studies have shown no to little correlation between change in carbon dioxide and global temperatures.[60] Significant doubt exists whether temperatures have actually been rising at all over long periods of history.[61]
Furthermore, there is much controversy as to whether rising temperatures even have any impact on more frequent and dangerous hurricanes.[62]
Even if the West were to reduce carbon emissions, it would be a “drop in the ocean” given that humanity produces only 3% of the total carbon on planet Earth![63]
Perhaps the climate watchers might want to consider true science that measures “repeatable, verifiable, and observable” phenomena. One example is forest land management. Incompetent environmental management in the most heavily regulated state in the US pays off special interest groups while repeating annual disasters such as the recent wildfires in California.[64]
Proposed plans by the WEF, the UN, Pope Francis, and the Green New Deal hurt economies which are supposed to benefit people.
Net-zero carbon emission programs will impose additional costs on families through unnecessary equipment purchases and higher electricity costs.[65] Particular burden would be felt by poor people. They promise negligible benefits (perhaps half a degree less of warming by 2050) at tremendous expense. California (with a power grid so unreliable that blackouts in the middle of hot summer days are common) under Jesuit Governor Newsom and Germany (exorbitant power costs with minimal carbon reduction and about to weaken its energy security by importing the bulk of its gas from Russia via Nordstream) are warnings about the low benefit/high cost of “green new deals”.
Neither do “green new deals” consider costs to the environment! Consider that over 500,000 birds in the US are destroyed by renewable wind power annually. In Pennsylvania alone, 10,000 bats are killed by windmills each year.[66] Additionally, to build renewable generation such as solar and wind requires metal and rare earths that must be mined from under the Earth. This also entails environmental devastation.
Yet, the greatest casualty on this Earth from radical Vatican climate change is the very poor for whom Pope Francis claims to bring “justice”.
Rome’s Climate Activism Brings Injustice to the Global Poor
In the quest for “environmental justice”, Pope Francis is violating Biblical teaching on human dignity and even secular “social justice”!
Paul Driessen, public policy advisor on the environment, attacks “eco-imperialism”, the imposition of radical environmental doctrine on farming techniques with UN agencies, to result in the unnecessary deaths of over 20 million people a year in Africa.[67]
Examples include the deprivation of traditional pesticide, electricity, and water to starving populations. Proliferation of prostitution and corruption are fallout of radical environmentalists seeking to return Africa to an Edenic “utopia” at the expense of human lives.[68] Even the havoc from the recent locust plagues was mostly preventable had conventional, modern techniques been used to control pests.[69]
Consider the harm brought to the poor and vulnerable people in the state of California:
“For the first time since 2001, portions of the Golden State were powerless during 110-degree temperatures in the Central Valley… This massive failure put lives at risk, especially for our most vulnerable populations and those in disadvantaged communities.”[70]
“The disparity between the haves and have-nots becomes clearer when you consider Californians pay the highest energy prices in the country… Californians pay over a dollar more per gallon of gas than the national average, and when it comes to electricity, data from the US Energy Information Agency shows Californians pay 55% more than the rest of the nation… California policy leaders talk about income inequality, but it’s our policies that are driving a wider economic divide between the working-class, the poor and the rich.”[71]
Conclusion: God Will Punish All Rebels and Save His Saints; Where Do You Stand?
The foolish schemes of Pope Francis and the globalists do not catch God by surprise: “Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine 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 bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.”[72]
Patrick Moore, founder of the world-renowned environmentalist group Greenpeace, left the organization because of his alarm at its rising extremism. “In the name of ‘speaking for the trees and other species’ we are faced with a movement that would usher in an era of eco-fascism. The planetary police would answer to no one but Nature itself.”[73]
Yet these foolish men deny the truth of God as King. What is God’s response?
“He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.”[74]
God shall laugh because He wins in the end. At His appointed time, His Son Jesus Christ will return to the Earth in victory. Christ will save His people forever and condemn His enemies forever.
Dear friend, where do you stand with this important question? Do you trust and depend on Christ Alone as your only Hope and Salvation?
Or are you betting foolishly on your good works or sacraments or church membership to “cut a deal” with God? It is foolish to believe this because you cannot cover up your own sin. Only Christ can save you, but you must ask God to put your trust in Him as Lord and Savior of your life.
We all need to consider on which side of these verses we are. This is your most important question. Will you run to Christ? Or will you too perish with the wicked?
“Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.”[75]
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