There\u2019s a bold statement coming up, so be ready for it! I think some Adventists feel \u2018absolved\u2019 from taking the climate change crisis seriously, because of their belief in the imminence of Christ\u2019s Second Coming. To put this another way, \u2018Why wallpaper the house if it\u2019s going to be knocked down tomorrow?\u20191<\/sup> Based on our interpretation of Daniel and Revelation, and as amplified in Ellen White\u2019s The Great Controversy<\/em>, I think it\u2019s accurate to describe the narrative as follows: <\/p>\n Bible prophecy informs that we live in the \u2018time of the end\u2019. Many signs in the world around us, social, economic, religious, geo-political and in nature, provide evidence that Christ\u2019s return is soon. Immediately preceding His return there is to be a final crisis of global proportion in which all humanity is tested \u2013 to be loyal to Christ and His Word, or to align with the forces of \u2018Babylon\u2019. Faithful and obedient followers of Christ will incur loss of freedom to worship, and their ability to buy or sell as a result of keeping holy the seventh-day Sabbath. For such times encouragement and direction is provided by Christ \u2018When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption [His return] is drawing near\u2019 (Luke 21:28, NIVUK).2<\/sup><\/em><\/p>\n It is a narrative tightly bound up in Adventist identity and mission, far from contrived, and symbolised by the three angels\u2019 messages of Revelation 14:6-12. The message is a final and urgent one, to make the people of Planet Earth aware of what is about to take place. No less than an immediate response is invited \u2013 accept the Gospel of Christ immediately. From a biblical perspective it is the \u2018code red\u2019 warning, a context from which even a climate change emergency described as \u2018code red\u2019 must be seen. <\/p>\n As we unpack this further, we can\u2019t ignore either how we typically apply our understanding of end-time prophecy. By inference, we are suspicious of the climate change movement, a cause driven by a geopolitical institution (the United Nations), influenced by secular humanist environmentalists, scientists, and a pontiff \u2013 all of whom we trust little. Why? Because the eschatological timetable (as we understand and articulate) is pre-dispositioned to dismiss these leaders, as we quickly caricature as \u2018running to and fro\u2019. As a result, it is almost inevitable that the climate \u2018code red\u2019 crisis becomes construed as a \u2018Babylonian\u2019 outfit. What better reason could there be for absolution?<\/p>\n In short, it is not, and it is an erroneous application of Revelation 14:6-12 which unwittingly tips many of today\u2019s biblically faithful Adventists off balance. For, as Adventist Review<\/em> editor Bill Knott points out, \u2018Adventism of the first generation (circa 1850-1900) was a potent mix of end-of-the world biblical teaching and this-world realism<\/strong> that caught the imagination of thousands whom the Spirit was calling.\u2019 Church leaders such Joseph Bates, James and Ellen White, Hannah More, and John Harvey Kellogg refused to be absolved of engagement with the heavy issues of the day \u2013 temperance, slavery, health reform \u2013 and Knott cites evidence that during the 1850s the Adventist Review published articles by James and Ellen White on occasion encouraging \u2018civil disobedience\u2019 against a US Federal injustice.3<\/sup> <\/p>\n Time to take another look, I think, at Revelation 14:7.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2018Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water<\/em>\u2019 (ESVUK).<\/p>\n In the context of judgement time, God\u2019s people continue to have the utmost respect for God by offering him authentic worship. Their reverence for Him in keeping the seventh-day Sabbath celebrates not only His creative power and sustainability, but acknowledges their responsibility to joyfully manage the earth. As Cambridge professor of geophysics Robert White points out, humankind is to \u2018rule over and take care of both the living and non-living creation. We are not to be passive spectators, but are to work at ruling and ordering creation without abusing the earth for our own selfish ends. Our care for creation should be consistent with God\u2019s care for it, enabling it to be fruitful in providing food and resources and allowing it to play its part in giving glory to God<\/strong>\u2019 (My emphasis).3<\/sup><\/p>\n Let\u2019s be clear \u2013 Revelation 14:6 provides no get-out clause just because humankind has used and abused God\u2019s creation. On the contrary, the context signals this message to be a \u2018reset\u2019 button which restores authentic Christianity, with disciples who \u2018keep the commandments of God\u2019, and who have faith in Jesus Christ (Revelation 14:12, ESVUK). White continues by saying, \u2018Our response is a test both of our obedience to our creator, and of our commitment to care for our neighbour.\u20194<\/sup> And White is right in his assessment about both tests. John \u2018the seer\u2019 gives a warning that Christ will \u2018destroy those who destroy the earth (Revelation 11:18, NKJV). And when it comes to our neighbour, the test is even clearer. \u2018Bear one another\u2019s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ\u2019 (Galatians 6:2, ESVUK). \u2018Love does no wrong to a neighbour; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law\u2019 (Romans 13:10, ESVUK).<\/p>\n So far from being passive, absolving ourselves of climate change \u2018code red\u2019, end-time people champion the effort to save the world God has so wonderfully given us to inhabit \u2013 because of our respect and reverence for Him, and our love for our neighbour.<\/strong> <\/p>\n When the UN COP26 conference takes place in Glasgow, Scotland in early November, if you are tempted to disconnect because you feel it\u2019s run by people you don\u2019t trust, I want to invite you to try this line of thinking. <\/p>\n I support the aims of COP26, not because I am \u2018an environmentalist\u2019, or because I am \u2018green\u2019, but because I am a \u2018Creationist\u2019 -someone who not only believes, respects, and celebrates \u2018creation\u2019 , but who, more significantly, reveres and loves the very one and only God who \u2018created the heavens and the earth\u2019, and who said with the Son and the Holy Spirit, \u2018Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness . . .\u2019 (Genesis 1:26, NRSV). And, perhaps, in the spirit of the first-generation Adventists, as \u2018believers . . . not long for this world, why make ungodly peace with it?\u20195<\/sup><\/p>\n A final thought from God\u2019s perspective: He might ask this question, \u2018How do you think I feel about what you\u2019re doing to My world \u2013 and My people? Because, guess what \u2013 I love both and went to Calvary for both.\u2019<\/p>\n ________________<\/p>\n 1<\/sup>N T. Wright \u2018Jesus is coming \u2013 plant a tree\u2019. Introduction to the Green Bible<\/em>, Collins 2008, London.<\/span> The original version of this article is the lead editorial in the 29 October edition of Messenger<\/a>,<\/em> Journal of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the UK & Ireland. <\/p>\n![\"No](\"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/sitenews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/images_news-2021_No_planet_B_500x300.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Creation](\"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/sitenews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/images_news-2021_Creation_300x200.jpg\")
Read any of the articles in a special \u2018code red\u2019 section of Messenger<\/a> [Publication date: 29 October 2021] and you will find writers emphasising the connection between personal consumer behaviour and the detrimental effect it can have on a brother or sister on the other side of Planet Earth. Is it our \u2018out of sight \u2013 out of mind\u2019 habit that still needs a wake-up call on this? The organisers of COP26 think so.<\/p>\n
2<\/sup>Seventh-day Adventists Believe<\/em>, p. 382, in particular highlights the loss of religious freedom. <\/span>
3<\/sup>Bill Knott, \u2018Rediscovering reform\u2019, Adventist Review<\/em>, 30 August 2021, https:\/\/www.adventistreview.org\/2109-5<\/a><\/span>
4<\/sup>Robert White, \u2018A Burning Issue: Christian care for the environmen<\/em>t\u2019<\/a>, Cambridge Papers, 2006.<\/span>
5<\/sup>Ibid, \u2018Rediscovering reform<\/span>\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n
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