As I was driving home Tuesday, I was listening to NPR's nightly broadcast. Well, I wasn't really listening, it was just on. Until I heard an interview start with Richard Cizik. If you haven't heard of him, he's the guy heading the National Association of Evangelicals. And he is backing their realtively new environmental initiatives. Last February, the NAE started the push for Christians to become involved in saving the planet by preventing Global Warming.
When I first heard about this, I really didn't pay mush attention. After all, I really don't have a problem with Christians, or anyone else doing more to preserve the environment. Its basic common sense in most cases. But, something said in the interview really perked my ears. It showed the true colors of the beliefs behind the movement. Cizik was asked if he believed that hurricanes, like Rita and Katrina, were caused by climate change, or controlled by God. The interviewer alluded to statements from other Christian leaders that exulted God's control over the environment and that the hurricanes were a judgement for sin. Cizic's answer was quite interesting. He stated that the Christian leaders who believed God controlled the environment were Hyper-Calvinistic and that he did not believe in that sort of thing.
Now, I'm listening... The interviewer, as most interviewers do, tried to take an extreme position in order to illicit a response from Cizic. Let's be honest, can we really know if God was judging New Orleans? Can we know the mind of God outside of His Word? I think not. However, what Cizic advocated denied the very deity of God. How? Cezic denied that God is sovereign and omniscient. The position he went on to describe really sounded as if he believes God created a world, set it in motion and took His hands off of it letting it sping out of control, waiting to see how things end up. He placed our will over God's.
I am not shirking our responsibility to care for our planet, or proposing that God has us as puppets on a string. I am stating that God's Word clearly states that He is in control of all things. It clearly states that he knows all things. And that being true means that He certainly has control over natural events, including disasters. He knows of them prior to their occurrence and decrees them in His will. To deny this is to deny His deity. He is either all powerful, all knowing, in total control, or He is not. Either the bible that describes Him is completely true, or it is not. If it is not, our faith is based on lies and human stories - worthless.
I believe in a BIG GOD. I believe in the God of the bible. I believe in a God in TOTAL CONTROl. I believe in a God who is SOVEREIGN in all things. This gives me great comfort and joy as I serve Him the wisdom of His providence in my life.
