“The Earth Is the Lord’s” -- Arbor Day vs Earth Day

In 1872, right here in the state of Nebraska, a journalist turned politician began a campaign that he hoped would help stabilize and beautify the rather sparse landscape of his state.  The man was a Nebraska City resident who believed that such a campaign would be a good idea in other places too.  And it was.

J. Sterling Morton’s call for tree husbandry was answered by the National Agricultural Convention meeting in St. Louis that year and by numerous municipalities, newspaper editors, and thousands of citizens.  The result was that the very first Arbor Day, April 22, saw almost a million trees planted.

But though J. Sterling Morton was a tree planter extraordinaire, he was not a tree hugger.  His attitude towards the natural world was the traditional one; namely, that the earth was the Lord’s and man, acting as God’s servant, was to effectively oversee nature, to subdue it in a rational way, to beautify it, and properly benefit from it.

Morton was thus acting in accordance with the biblical mandate -- the program originally given to Adam in the garden of Eden -- a call to responsibly appreciate, nurture, and enjoy the created things with which God had adorned the earth.

And most of the people who answered the challenge of Arbor Day were operating in the same spirit.  They were planting trees because trees were good things.  They bore fruit that man could eat.  They helped with soil conservation and provided protection from wind.  And they were pretty.

These people understood that trees were pleasant and productive plants, but they were for man’s use.  They were good things, not fellow souls.

Indeed, J. Sterling Morton (a conservative Democrat who served as Secretary of Agriculture under Grover Cleveland and whose son became a prominent Republican who was Secretary of the Navy under Theodore Roosevelt) was a faithful Episcopalian.  His understanding of the monumental difference between man (created in the express image of God) and nature (created for the enjoyment and benefit of man) was part of the basic Christian worldview.

The kind of conservation ethic he represented was rational, healthy, far-seeing, and well-rooted in sound environmental ideas.  It was the same enlightened conservation ethic of farmers like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, of visionaries like Johnny Appleseed, and conservation champions like Teddy Roosevelt and George Bird Grinnell, and other sportsmen who led the way in establishing our national parks and wildlife refuges. It was part of the longstanding tradition of taking care of the environment for man’s use -- not for nature’s sake.  It was the perspective of the farmer, the rancher, the hunter, and fisherman that we all be responsible and take care of the environment in order that man -- both in the now and in the future -- may be best served.   

Thus, Arbor Day was (and, by the way, still is) a responsible event, one that calls for individual volunteer efforts rather than government coercion.  In fact, the people associated with Arbor Day are decidedly apolitical.  “The only stand we take,” says an official with the Arbor Day Foundation, “is that it’s a great thing to plant trees.”  No demands for government intrusion.  No insistence on group think.  No call for Nanny State regulations and taxes. No worshipping Gaia or Mother Earth.

What a dramatic difference this is from the “holiday” that has tried to bully its way over and past Arbor Day, the extremely political, propagandist, and manipulative event that pirated the same day, April 22, and now tries to crowd out the very memory of Arbor Day. That event of course, is Earth Day. Or as the United Nations calls it -- International Mother Earth Day. To be sure, this newly-invented, politically-charged “holiday” is often dominated by socialist (even pantheistic) tenets and, therefore, absolutely ignores who the true heroes of American environmentalism are; namely, those hunters, fishermen, and other genuine conservationists mentioned earlier. 

And, of course, International Mother Earth Day also ignores the innumerable passages in Holy Scripture which deal with God as the Creator and Sovereign King of the earth...and those which testify to the glory of Almighty God that is revealed in His creation...and those which exhort men to carefully serve as responsible stewards of the natural order...and the eventual destruction of the earth which occurs not through man’s ecological failure, but rather by the holy judgment of God. 

The last item, by the way, occurs just before God creates a new heaven and, yes, a brand new earth. 

International Mother Earth Day vs Arbor Day? For the Bible-based Christian, the choice is an obvious and easy one.

The Top 5 (April 19)

1) Why Progressives Increasingly Support Violence: A new survey finds more than half of left-wing respondents believe assassinating Donald Trump could be justified. (Zack Dulberg & Max Horder, City Journal)

From the article -- We found that nearly one-third of Americans surveyed—and around half of those identifying as left-of-center—believe that the murder of certain public figures is at least somewhat justified. The figures are startling: 38 percent of respondents, and 55 percent of those left of center, said assassinating President Trump would be at least somewhat justified; 31 percent of respondents, and 48 percent of those left of center, said the same about Musk. Forty percent of respondents, and 58 percent of those left of center, deem it at least somewhat acceptable to “destroy a Tesla dealership” in protest.

Our report also discovered an online “assassination culture,” found in predominantly left-leaning digital spaces, such as Bluesky and Reddit. This subculture justifies and glorifies political violence. Some of these networks’ users wield the name “Luigi” or use the Luigi video game character as coded endorsements of Brian Thompson’s alleged assassin, Luigi Mangione. These users cloak explicit calls for violence in stylized memes. Many believe that political murder and sabotage are acceptable forms of protest.

What motivates these attitudes? To answer that, we looked for statistical associations between respondents’ backing for political violence and other psychological and behavioral measures. We identified three key variables that predict support for violence: left-wing authoritarianism (characterized by a willingness to use coercion and punishment for progressive aims), external locus of control (the extent to which individuals feel powerless in their lives), and use of the left-wing social media platform Bluesky.

Also on this topic: Democrats Ignore Black Hole Threatening To Suck Them In (Mary Rooke, Daily Caller)

Also on this topic: Luigi Mangione and the American Abyss: The assassination of Brian Thompson does not call for a “conversation” about health care -- it calls for a reckoning with Americans’ moral breakdown. (Heather MacDonald, City Journal)

2) Is Civil War Coming to Europe? (Rod Dreher, The European Conservative)

From the article -- In a number of private conversations with ordinary French people—this was before the Le Pen verdict—I brought up the Betz interview (none had heard about it), and asked them if they foresaw civil war coming to France. Nearly all of them said yes. They said so with an unnerving sense of calm, as if they accepted it as a matter of course. When I complimented one couple on their country, and told them that one day I would like to live in France, they responded in unison, “No!” Stay in Hungary, they said; you’ll be safe there.

You would never know from the mainstream media that this sort of sentiment is bubbling among the population of Europe and the UK. In his interview with Perry, Betz says that many people suffer from what he calls “normalcy bias”—that is, the belief that such a thing cannot happen here. Oh, but it can! 

3) Mainstream Media, Academia Sacrifice Even More Credibility in Articles on Mayan Child Victims (Leslie Eastman, Legal Insurrection)

From the article -- Archaeologist Lorena Paiz, who led the discovery, said the altar was believed to have been used for sacrifices, “especially of children.”“The remains of three children not older than four years were found on three sides of the altar,” Paiz revealed. The altar was found within a Teotihuacan residential complex which typically feature houses with rooms and central altars, according to Paiz. And while the discovery might add an interesting new dimension to the historical accounts of the region, an academic’s attempt to paint the sacrifice of children as “not violent” and the unquestioning recitation of the explanation for it by mainstream media stirred a great deal of controversy.

Non-violent child sacrifice? This from CBS News and an archeologist after the discovery of an altar for the sacrifice of children in Mexico: "It was a practice; it's not that they were violent, it was their way of connecting with the celestial bodies." 

And while CBS took the brunt of the criticism from social media, the line was parroted in other outlets. For example, here is the exact quote from the Associated Press -- María Belén Méndez, an archaeologist who was not involved with the project, said the discovery confirms “that there has been an interconnection between both cultures and what their relationships with their gods and celestial bodies was like.” “We see how the issue of sacrifice exists in both cultures. It was a practice; it’s not that they were violent, it was their way of connecting with the celestial bodies,” she said.

Also on this topic: This is yet another reason why no one should trust the media (Tom Knighton, Tilting at Windmills)

4) Over The Last 80 Years, We Have Witnessed The Dismantling Of Our Society’s Christian Foundation (David Reagan, Harbinger's Daily)

From the article -- 
The Top Public School Discipline Problems in the mid-’40s:
Talking
Chewing gum
Making noise
Running in the halls
Getting out of turn in line
Wearing improper clothing
Not putting paper in wastebaskets

The Top Public School Discipline Problems in the mid-’80s:
Drug Abuse
Alcohol Abuse
Pregnancy
Suicide
Rape
Robbery
Assault

5) 33 Shocking Facts That Prove That the Entire U.S. Healthcare Industry Has Become One Giant Money Making Scam (Michael Snyder, Discern Report)

From the article -- 9) Globally, the pharmaceutical industry brings in about 1.6 trillion dollars in revenue each year.  That is more money than the Pentagon spends. 10) There are 10 pharmaceutical industry executives that received total compensation of at least 20 million dollars in 2023. 11) According to the CDC, 1.5 million people a year are rushed to emergency rooms in the United States because of adverse reactions to pharmaceutical drugs.  600,000 of those people are age 65 or older. 12) On average, more than 1,200 pharmaceutical drugs are recalled by the FDA each year. 13) In 2023, the six largest health insurance companies in the United States had combined revenues of almost 1.1 trillion dollars.  That is also more money than the Pentagon spends. 14) The profits of health insurance companies in the U.S. increased by 287 percent in a 10 year period.

Oswald Chambers on “The Collision of God and Sin”

“Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree.” (1 Peter 2:24)

The Cross of Jesus is the revelation of God’s judgment on sin. Never tolerate the idea of martyrdom about the Cross of Jesus Christ. The Cross was a superb triumph in which the foundations of hell were shaken. There is nothing more certain in Time or Eternity than what Jesus Christ did on the Cross: He switched the whole of the human race back into a right relationship with God. He made Redemption the basis of human life, that is, He made a way for every son of man to get into communion with God.

The Cross did not happen to Jesus: He came on purpose for it. He is “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” The whole meaning of the Incarnation is the Cross. Beware of separating God manifest in the flesh from the Son becoming sin. The Incarnation was for the purpose of Redemption. God became incarnate for the purpose of putting away sin; not for the purpose of Self-realization. The Cross is the centre of Time and of Eternity, the answer to the enigmas of both.

The Cross is not the cross of a man but the Cross of God, and the Cross of God can never be realized in human experience. The Cross is the exhibition of the nature of God, the gateway whereby any individual of the human race can enter into union with God. When we get to the Cross, we do not go through it; we abide in the life to which the Cross is the gateway.

The centre of salvation is the Cross of Jesus, and the reason it is so easy to obtain salvation is because it cost God so much. The Cross is the point where God and sinful man merge with a crash and the way to life is opened – but the crash is on the heart of God.

A Weekend of Import

It was a good weekend highlighted by a stimulating Vital Signs Book Brunch on Saturday morning and an inspiring Palm Sunday church service at Aksarben Village Senior Living on Sunday afternoon. The brunch event saw Diane, Mary and Christopher, Ruth, Karla, and Claire and I discussing Randy Alcorn’s terrific Lord Foulgrins’s Letters over coffee and tea -- and pumpkin muffins and cream puffs and lemon tarts and chocolate chip cookies! This book, following the approach taken by C.S. Lewis in his classic The Screwtape Letters, presents remarkably enlightening and challenging theological truths in a very practical, even entertaining way. And, even though the book was originally published in 2000, its applications are remarkably relevant to today’s culture and to an individual Christian’s spiritual pilgrimage.

Randy Alcorn is a Bible-centered teacher in both his nonfiction works (Heaven; Happiness; Money, Possessions, and Eternity; Does the Birth Control Pill Cause Abortions?; Pro-Life Answers to Pro-Choice Arguments; The Treasure Principle: Unlocking the Secret of Joyful Giving; If God Is Good: Faith in the Midst of Suffering and Evil) as well as his also bestselling  fiction (Deadline; Dominion; Deception; Edge of Eternity; The Ishbane Conspiracy; Safely Home) and I appreciate all of his work. Nevertheless, Lord Foulgrin’s Letters is special. Yes, like Randy Alcorn, I’m a big fan of C.S. Lewis and I have long cherished Screwtape. But that doesn’t mean that I can’t appreciate the great value of Lord Foulgrin’s Letters and I recommend it without reservation.

And then our church service at Aksarben deserves highlight status as well. Our YouTube music selections this week were quality plus -- Southern Raised doing an acappella rendering of “I Need Thee Every Hour,” The Isaacs singing “The Goodness of God,” and the Gracias Choir and Orchestra performing “Majesty.” My brief sermon covered Matthew 21: 8-15 (“The King Arrives in His City”) as we examined the difference between the expectations of the people for a "National Liberation Day” from Roman rule and what the Messiah actually offered; namely, a spiritual kingdom, forgiveness of sins, the cleansing of the Temple, and the healing of the blind and the lame. It’s an exciting passage of Scripture, indeed. And, as usual, our fellowship time afterwards was grand -- enjoying drinks and treats and visiting for 30-45 minutes or so. There were 15 residents yesterday at church and there were quite a few in the Vital Signs team to help: Allen, Ruth, Tom, Pat, and Mary. Like I said, a very good weekend.

And now this week? It is starting out fabulously also as the Lord allowed me to safely drive our seriously ailing Hyundai to the dealer to see if it can finally be fixed. Thank you, Father, for getting me here without serious trouble. And now I await Claire picking me up to head down to Lincoln for our “When Swing Was King” show at Legacy Terrace and then lunch at the Engine House with good friends Harold and Mary Dee Berry. 

Is One's Salvation A "Done Deal?"

“In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation —having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, Who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.” (Ephesians 1:13-14)

Believing the gospel of salvation results in many supernatural and ongoing effects in a person’s life.  And one of the most glorious and comforting is the truth the apostle Paul describes in the verse quoted above; namely, that the Christian is sealed with the Holy Spirit to guarantee the ultimate redemption he will receive in heaven.  You see, the New Testament explains that when a person places his trust in Jesus Who died on the cross to pay the penalty of mankind’s sins, that sinner is forgiven -- completely and forever. 

And that salvation comes with three effects: 

1) The person, at the very instant of his belief in Christ’s atoning death in his behalf, is saved from the penalty of sin.  That’s right; the judgment of God against sin no long rests on the sinner because it was poured out instead upon Jesus. This is the “substitutionary atonement.” Christ died in our place to pay the price of our sin. It is the aspect of salvation that is called justification.

2) The Christian can also be saved from the power of sin in his life for he has been “born again” and is a new creature, indwelled by the Holy Spirit Who gives the believer the ability to resist temptations and live in holiness. This is the aspect of salvation that is called sanctification.  

And 3) The Christian will one day experience a salvation from the very presence of sin. The Christian who receives Christ as his Savior immediately experiences the first two effects of salvation. But the third effect will be realized when Christ receives His adopted child into His presence and ushers him into the heavenly home He has prepared for him. This is the aspect of salvation that is called glorification.

It is this third aspect of salvation that Paul highlights in the Ephesians 1:13-14 passage.  And he repeats the point later in verse 30 of Chapter 4: “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by Whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”  But these aren’t the only times Paul underscores how the destiny of the Christian has been sealed by the power of God.  For instance, he comforts the church members of Corinth (2 Corinthians 1:22) by reminding them that they are sealed, representing God’s pledge (literally, a down payment) on their heavenly inheritance. 

Also, in 2 Timothy 2:19, Paul’s young protégé is exhorted to remember that God’s seal is not only related to a believer’s eternal standing but also to his present experience.  In that verse Timothy is told that the seal of God is a “firm foundation” reflecting not only God’s ownership and protection of His children but also the motive and empowerment for their holy living.

The basic Greek word translated “seal” in these instances is sphragis.  It is a word connected with ownership, security, authority, and permanency.  Therefore, its use by the apostle Paul is a dramatic illustration of how wonderfully secure is the believer’s position in Christ -- fully forgiven, redeemed, empowered for holiness and service, and yes, guaranteed an entrance into God’s heaven. For, of course, the seal of God is unlike any earthly counterpart we can imagine. We’re not talking about Saran Wrap, Tupperware, or latex caulking here! Oh no; the gifts which God seals in us will never evaporate, never leak out, never be contaminated or weakened by a foreign substance, never lose power.  

Summary? Our relationship with God including, of course, all three aspects of salvation (justification, sanctification, and glorification) can be thoroughly and joyfully depended upon. The deal is truly sealed.

The Top 5 (April 12)

1) “With Loss of Power in Congress, the Left Turns to Theatrics” (Victor Davis Hanson, Daily Signal)

From the article -- I’ve mentioned in other videos that there’s been a poverty among the Democratic Party of constructive criticism, alternate agendas to President Donald Trump.

In other words, without power in the Congress or the White House or the Supreme Court, they’ve turned to theatrics or performance art, street violence, the Teslas, cutting videos with potty-mouth senators, profanity, trying to disrupt Congress, keying Teslas, threatening people. This huge 1,400 protest—I shouldn’t say they’re huge, they were actually quite small. You know, “Hands Off.”

It’s kind of funny. I see these people in their late 60s and early 70s, mostly white people, and they seem to have the same signs, the same agenda, and they leave at the same time. They kind of look like my baby boomer group. And I always think back when I was at UC Santa Cruz in 1971 and I see these people. I said, “I would think you were the people that I went to school with. And you were doing that when you were 18, 19, and 20, and you haven’t changed. You’ve learned nothing and forgotten nothing.”

2) “Don’t Be Neutral on Abortion” (Denny Hartford, Vital Signs Ministries)

From the article -- With all of this, however, what I find most revolting about MOD’s official statement is the shameful arrogance of using this weasel word in the first place. Really? Neutral on abortion? Neutral on the practice of poisoning and/or dismemberment of millions of living preborn boys and girls? Of course, the March of Dimes knows better than any the facts of embryology. They are also well aware of the horrific measures utilized to kill these little kids. And yet they have no inclination or time, no honesty or moral sensitivity to make a judgment on abortion -- the most barbaric and horrific crime in all history? This is utterly irrational...as well as immoral.

And yet, as remarkably stupid and depraved as the MOD’s posturing is, I am grieved to say that oh-so-many Christian churches in the West have followed a not dissimilar policy. Let’s face it -- for several decades now, abortionists have been torturing and murdering preborn boys and girls at an incalculable rate. And with barely a ripple of protest. Does anyone believe then that the Church’s response to this malevolent madness has been what God wanted from us?

Haven’t we tended to be weak and timid and compromising in our response to this evil? After all, this holocaust hasn’t been perpetrated underground; it’s not been a campaign of violence occurring across an ocean. The abortion mills are in our neighborhoods. And Planned Parenthood and its ilk are in our schools and libraries, in our Girl Scout chapters and social service agencies, and, due to immense government funding using our tax dollars, in our wallets.

3) “Catholicism on the Decline in the US: There is a crisis of belief in the Catholic Church. Will the priests and bishops of America remedy that?” (S.A. McCarthy, American Spectator)

From the article -- Less than two-thirds of Catholics said that they are sure that God exists. However, while nearly 90 percent of Catholics said that they believe in Heaven, less than 70 percent said that they believe in Hell. Only 21 percent of Catholics said that they consider themselves very religious, 55 percent said that they are somewhat religious, and nearly a quarter (24 percent) said that they are not really religious or not religious at all.

According to these numbers and Pew Research’s 2007 data, Catholicism is on the decline in America. Not only do fewer Americans identify as Catholic, but those who do are less involved in the practice of their faith. In 2007, nearly 60 percent of Catholics said that they prayed daily, as opposed to 13 percent who said that they rarely or never prayed; meanwhile, over 40 percent of Catholics said that they attend Mass every Sunday, as opposed to 19 percent who said that they rarely or never attended Mass.

With such low shares of the Catholic population practicing or really even knowing about their faith, it should come as little surprise that many self-professed Catholics have abandoned the teachings of the Catholic Church. Nearly 60 percent of self-professed Catholics said that abortion should be legal in all or most circumstances and less than 40 percent said that abortion should be illegal in all or most circumstances; in 2007, 48 percent of self-professed Catholics said that abortion should be legal in all or most cases, while 45 percent said that it should be illegal. In 2007, 57 percent of self-professed Catholics said that they support same-sex marriage. That share has risen to 70 percent today. The Catholic Church declares both abortion and homosexual acts to be grave sins.

4) “Teachers Need to Ditch Their Union: Teachers' unions are bad for teachers, students, and taxpayers.” (Larry Sand, American Greatness)

From the article -- When teachers join a union, they are joining three—their local, state, and national affiliates. And the bulk of their dues money is not going where they think it goes. The NEA currently siphons off $213 yearly, but most of the money goes to the state affiliate. In the Golden State, the California Teachers Association, the NEA’s state partner, grabs $816 yearly. There is no set amount for the local union; however, it is typically about $200 per annum.

How does the union spend the dues? As explained by Mailee Smith, Illinois Policy Institute’s senior director of labor policy, the NEA’s spending on politics and other contributions is more than four times higher than its spending on representation, with just 9% of its expenditures on teacher representation, which should be its core focus.

And just who benefits from the political spending? As Open Secrets discloses, in 2024, NEA spent $22,744,023 on politics, with 98.24% going to Democrats and a paltry 1.76% going to Republicans.

5) “The Vatican’s Embrace of Sex Change Mutilation Suggests We’re at a Maccabees Moment” (John Zmirak, The Stream)

From the article -- All Christians face a Maccabees moment right now, but Catholics face it in a very pointed way: We actually have a high priest (pontifex maximus) in Pope Francis. Given his authority to teach and rule, his status is even higher than the chief priest’s in Jerusalem’s Temple: According to Catholic tradition, a pope stands almost in the same role that Moses did to the Israelites, as the trustworthy interpreter of divine revelation to the faithful.

Our current Moses isn’t handing down God’s commandments, alas. As Jules Gomes reported here a few days ago, Pope Francis’s doctrine cop, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger’s old job), has blown up a key Christian doctrine: God’s creation of human beings as men and women.

Up till now, the Catholic church has firmly and without wavering denounced the hormonal disruptions and surgical mutilations promoted by our psychological establishment to “treat” gender dysphoria by remaking the body to match the mind’s sad delusions. Now Fernández has ruled that there are exceptions to this teaching in cases of “strong dysphorias that can lead to an unbearable existence or even suicide.”

Here Fernández is simply repeating a favorite talking point of the transgender industry: that the grotesque procedures necessary to torture a male body to look female, or vice versa, are often the only alternative to suicide. Research has proved this claim false again and again, but don’t expect that to matter. Claiming that resistance to transgenderism threatens the lives of those who suffer dysphoria is key to winning a highly political battle. Fernández is on the Enemy’s side in that battle — and evidently Francis is as well.

“Don’t Be Neutral on Abortion”

In this month’s edition of the Vital Signs Ministries newsletter,

Denny talks about the March of Dimes’ “neutrality on abortion” and the extreme moral danger of Christians adopting the same attitude. 

Check it out at this link.