Hope of Israel Ministries (Ecclesia of YEHOVAH):

Coming! The Transformation of Planet Earth!

Think for a moment of the earth's ecosystem as a finely tuned precision piece of machinery. Man sits at the control console twisting various knobs, levers and buttons. Invariably a big red "tilt" sign lights up every time a new adjustment is made.

After almost 6,000 years of such repeated trial and error, the operator still doesn't understand how the thing ticks. Reason? He failed to read and apply the manufacturer's instruction manual.

Not only that, but in this instance the operator figured he could run the machine just about any way he saw fit -- regardless of what the manual said.

World Pollution -- The First Cause

It all started with the first "spiritual" man -- Adam. YEHOVAH God, Who designed and created the planet earth did not leave him in ignorance regarding the care and maintenance of its ecosystem. In Genesis 2:8, 19-20 YEHOVAH God says about Adam: "And YHVH ELOHIM planted a garden in Eden, toward the east, and there He placed the man [Adam] whom He formed...And YHVH ELOHIM formed from the ground every living thing of the field, and every flying thing of the heavens, and He brought each one to the man [Adam] to see what he would call it: and whatever the man called it -- each living being -- that was its name. So the man called names for every animal, and for the flying things of the heavens, and for every living thing of the field..."

YEHOVAH gave Adam the responsibility of caring for, maintaining, and improving his environment. Adam's first specific job involved the Garden of Eden. He was told to dress and keep (maintain, improve) this lush, verdant piece of real estate (Genesis 2:15).

But Adam forfeited his God-given stewardship and responsibility over the earth. Instead of following YEHOVAH's instructions, he opted for the approach originated by Satan the devil -- that of lust, greed and selfishness (Genesis 3:6; Ephesians 2:2-3). Rather than do things YEHOVAH's way, Adam figured he could launch out on his own and take a few expedient shortcuts (Genesis 3:1-7).

But Adam paid dearly for this wrong decision. He not only lost his tenure in the Garden of Eden, but incurred some rather stiff ecological penalties as well.

Notice Genesis 3:17-19: "And unto Adam He [YEHOVAH God] said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return."

Ever since that time, human history has been a continuous chronicle of one environmental debacle after another.

Adam's son Cain continued in his father's footsteps. The Jewish historian Josephus records that he "forced the ground." Apparently, in Cain's case, economic profit came ahead of ecological principle.

By the time Noah stepped onto the scene a few centuries later, the world was in a sad state of ecological affairs. The scripture records that "The land [erets] also was corrupt before God....for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the land" (Genesis 6:11, 12).

YEHOVAH God intervened by flooding the earth with forty days and nights of water. After the Flood He made a rather unique covenant with Noah. Its details are recorded in Genesis 9:13-16: "I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth....And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh...."

Centuries after Noah's Flood, YEHOVAH decided to call out the nation of Israel to carry on where Adam and his line had previously failed. YEHOVAH intended that Israel be a national showpiece for the rest of the world (Deuteronomy 4:5-8). All they had to do to qualify was to obey the statutes, judgments and laws that He set before them. Obedience would mean fabulous physical blessings. Disobedience would bring on just the opposite results (see Deuteronomy 28; Leviticus 26).

Interestingly enough, many of the laws that YEHOVAH God gave Israel specifically dealt with environmental matters. He instructed them on proper care of the soil, waste disposal and sanitation, timber management, animal husbandry and wildlife conservation. So it was probably more than coincidental that many of the blessings and cursings listed in Deuteronomy 28 and Leviticus 26 were related directly to ecological matters (see Deuteronomy 28:2-6, 16-18 and Leviticus 26:4-6, 22-26).

But even more important, these principles exemplified a fundamental attitude that YEHOVAH God intended for man to have toward His creation. YEHOVAH made the earth's ecosystems to be used by His people Israel for their sustenance and pleasure. He also intended that man should never tax the environment beyond its natural capacity. The whole approach perhaps is summed up by one of the major spiritual precepts He gave to ancient Israel: "Thou shalt not steal."

But Israel, true to the leanings and dictates of human nature, failed in this assignment. Rather than follow YEHOVAH's way of giving and sharing, they chose the same selfish route Adam had taken.

Israel paid the price for her national sins by the eventual loss of what had been a land of "milk and honey." Today the hot, arid and parched condition of much of the Holy Land bears witness to her former inhabitants' cavalier treatment of the environment.

No other nation since that time has ever come close to treating the environment with the respect it has been due. The Romans, Greeks, Europeans and Americans have all left a lengthy legacy of their ecological sins. Had the nation of Israel set the proper example, things might have been different today. But they, along with every other nation, never really got in tune with the environment.

World Pollution -- The Cure

Almost 2,000 years ago, a final solution to man's age-old environmental problems was proclaimed to the world for the first time. The announcement came in the form of a futuristic message that was brought by the foremost Newscaster and Prophet that ever walked the face of the earth -- Yeshua the Messiah.

Much of the Messiah's message centered around the famous Olivet prophecy recorded in the 24th chapter of Matthew. In answer to his disciples' question, "What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world [age]?," the Messiah outlined a detailed scenario for specific future fulfillment.

He mentioned the rise of false prophets, followed by wars and rumors of wars (verses 4-6). Then, in verse 9: "...they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake." Following this the Messiah said, "And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come" (verse 14).

In the sixth chapter of Revelation these same events are apparently described by the well-known Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: a white horse (representing the true gospel), a red horse (representing wars and fightings), a black horse (representing false religion) and a pale horse (death and the grave).

John's vision of the Four Horsemen occurred some twenty years after the severe local Jewish war and famine of A.D. 70. Therefore, these prophecies were for a time yet future. The Four Horsemen were to symbolically ride down through the centuries until the time when an army of 200 million adult males was to emerge from the East (Revelation 9:16). Until the 20th century, the world did not have this kind of population. But much more was involved in this prophecy than wars and false religion. One of the results of war and false religion is the ecological disaster that follows such events.

In the 8th chapter of Messiah's end-time revelation, ecological disasters are included. Notice verses 7-11: "...And the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up....and the third part of the sea became blood; and the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died....and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters, and the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter."

During this time YEHOVAH God is going to punish His people Israel for the high-handed manner in which they have treated the earth. Yeshua the Messiah described this period as "the days of vengeance, that all things which are written [prophesied] may be fulfilled" (Luke 21:22). Just as with any other type of sin, men will eventually reap what they sow (Jeremiah 2:19; Galatians 6:7).

These prophecies seem to reveal, then, that future large-scale ecological catastrophes will occur in tandem with the wars and false religion mentioned in Matthew 24, Revelation 6 and elsewhere. Could not the wars, in part then, be triggered by nations scrambling for a diminishing base of resources? Could not worldwide famines, as a result of wars, be aggravated by a defiled landscape, unhealthy livestock, and oceans bereft of protein-rich sea life? And wouldn't it be possible for pestilence and plague to run rampant if the world's freshwater supply was unfit for human consumption?

Man left to himself in such miserable conditions would surely perish off the face of the earth. That's why the Messiah stated in Matthew 24:22: "Had not those days been cut short, not a soul would be saved alive; however, for the sake of the elect [YEHOVAH's people Israel], those days will be cut short" (Moffatt translation).

YEHOVAH God -- not technology or science -- will eventually deliver man from his self-made ecological problems. This will be accomplished as the events described in Matthew 24 and the book of Revelation reach an earth-shaking crescendo. But before humanity destroys itself, YEHOVAH God and the Messiah will return to restore the government of YEHOVAH God to this earth (Luke 1:32; Revelation 19).

One of the first things YEHOVAH will do is to rid human society of the influence of Satan the devil (Revelation 20:2). Salvation will be available to all of YEHOVAH's people Israel (Isaiah 52:10; 45:22). This, combined with Satan's removal, will mean that all of Israel at long last will be freed from the bonds of his selfish nature (Romans 8:7).

Men will be taught YEHOVAH's laws under the jurisdiction of His world-ruling government (Micah 4:1-4; Isaiah 2:1-4).

The world's ecosystems will flourish as never before. A massive clean-up campaign will be organized (Revelation 19:17-18); desert lands will be reclaimed (Isaiah 35:1, 2, 6); the world's oceans and freshwater systems will be purified (Ezekiel 47:8); cities will be properly planned and laid out (Amos 9:14; Zechariah 8:4-5); and world agricultural production, aided by a rich, thick topsoil, will break all known records (Amos 9:13).

YEHOVAH's people Israel will learn for the first time a proper respect and appreciation for the environment. Godly character will gradually replace the carnal selfish drives of humanity (Romans 8:19-23).

Eventually the world will achieve such a pinnacle of ecological success that the supreme Ruler of the universe, YEHOVAH God the Father, will permanently relocate His Universe headquarters to this earth (Revelation 21:3).

This, then, is the future ecological heritage of the planet earth. But it won't come until man first experiences some painful ecological lessons. If you are an obedient Israelite, however, you do not have to suffer through the disasters that may soon be engulfing this planet. YEHOVAH God has promised protection for "the little flock" -- those of Israel who are willing to start living by His principles and laws in this present life (Revelation 3:10; 12:14).

He has also promised these same people an opportunity to help administer His globe-girdling government in the world tomorrow (Revelation 3:21; 20:4).

Hope of Israel Ministries P.O. Box 853 Azusa, CA 91702, U.S.A. www.hope-of-israel.org

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