THIS MIRACULOUS EARTH

Like a majority of us, I believe in God and I trust in his wisdom. It says in the Bible that God made man in his image. God created the earth for man and gave man dominion over the earth and animals. God intended man to use animals and the natural resources he gave us to build and invent and progress. Man was designed to hunt and kill animals for food and to use their pelts for clothing and shelter. He intended animals to help man plow fields, pull wagons, transport goods. And he also intended them to be our companions.

I am often in awe at the perfection of this earth God gave us. Everything is symbiotic. Every species preys on another and every species is prey for another. Everything has a purpose. Man needs to breath oxygen to live and plants give off oxygen. Plants need CO2 to live and man exhales CO2. Perfection. Does it seem reasonable to think God would create an earth man could destroy with the natural gas he exhales? A gas that is a nutrient?

God gave us everything we’d need. Primitive people found plants and mud that heal. We’ve developed medicines from plants and sea life. If anything gets out of control nature adjusts. Over population has been controlled by nature in the form of forest fires, floods, disease, famine and storms. Tides are controlled by the moon and our climate is controlled by Sun spots and ocean currents. NASA satellites recently discovered the cloud cover adjusts to let more CO2 into the atmosphere than previously believed. Nature adjusts. God created perfection.

I don’t believe man could destroy what God made. Can man pollute? Of course he can. God gave us the ability to choose and sometimes we chose the wrong thing or we make mistakes. However, it isn’t fatal. We caused smog with combustion engines, so we invented catalytic converters and the smog disappeared. We’ve had oil spills and even if we did noting to clean it up, nature can and will. There are microscopic creatures in the ocean that love oil. There are insects that love sewage and rotting corpses. God made sure everything had a purpose, even waste. All the forces of nature are able to fulfill their purposes without the help of man.

For many years Environmentalists and Animal Rights Activists have been concerned with “endangered species”. While I think that is a noble cause, I have to ask what criteria they use to consider a species endangered. Considering one of the first things Obama did after being sworn in, was placing 500 more species on the endangered list, one has to ask if politics are involved. Why was this a priority? And how do we know these species weren’t ready for natural extinction? After all, through out the history of the earth hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of species have gone extinct. Over the last 15 years Environmentalists and Animal Right Activists have had more and more influence over our activities. Where they used to be a fringe element, since Agenda 21, they’re ideas are being given precedence. Animals, fish and insects are being given rights over those of man.

I recently visited a beautiful little farm in a California valley. In order to get a permit to build a small structure on their property the county took over 340 acres of their property for a “wildlife corridor” for animals to get from the hills to the forest through their farm land. I would have laughed if it weren’t true. I’m certain animals have successfully found their way across farms, back yards, horse corrals, etc. without a corridor. If you recall the stimulus included a turtle tunnel for turtles to cross a road…..as if all the turtles are going to find it and use it. Recently, PETA filed a lawsuit against SeaWorld demanding they release the Orcas into the wild. The suite cites the illegality of “slavery” as the reason. This is just the beginning. They plan to use the charge of slavery to ban the ownership of any animal. Agenda 21 says farms, ranches and private homes are “unsustainable” so what better way to eliminate them than to make it illegal to own animals. (My 8lb. Pomeranian wouldn’t last 10 minutes in the “wild” before he became a snack). Van Jones is out advocating for animals and the earth to be given “human rights”. So your tree could sue you if you wanted to cut it down. Essentially, that has happened in Australia. Farmers and ranchers aren’t allowed to clear their own land. They have to leave trees where they are. Forests are being made tinder boxes because we aren’t allowed to harvest old trees or even clean out fallen trees.

A doctor who lived across the street from a relative was targeted by PETA a few years ago. They actually tried to blow up his car. What did he do to invoke their ire? He was a pediatric ophthalmologist, he treated childhood blindness and he operated on monkeys. He treated the monkeys humanely but that doesn’t matter. Every Sunday PETA protesters went up and down their block with bull horns yelling that the doctor was evil and tortured animals. One Sunday, I stopped as they crossed an intersection and said, “God gave man dominion over animals”.

I love animals. I have a 35 year old cockatoo and a little black Pomeranian who own me. I’m their slave, not the other way around. If I run out of pine nuts the cockatoo will make my life a living hell. If I spend too much time on the computer, the small black dog hits me with his paw. Anyone who has ever owned a dog knows dogs love to please and to have a job to do. We also know how important their companionship is. God giving us dominion over animals is a big responsibility. We are to be good stewards and treat them humanely. Animals have helped man build cities, travel and communicate. How can anyone doubt man was intended to use animals. We couldn’t have settled this country without the help of animals. And if man hadn’t eaten animals and used their pelts for clothing he would not have survived.

People who object to eating animals or using leather or animal products because they think it’s cruel have apparently never studied nature. Nature isn’t kind. Have they ever seen a lion take down a gazelle? Or a hawk rip apart a rabbit? A cat play with a mouse? Or an Orca toss a seal in the air before killing it? Man is more humane in his treatment of animals than nature has ever been and that’s as it should be. But many animal rights activists believe man is a cancer on earth and the life of man is less important than that of animals. Apparently they don’t accept man is also indigenous to earth.

Yes, we have a sacred responsibility to be good stewards of this earth but to deny man’s use of our natural resources is to deny the gifts God gave us.