Are Climate Anomolies a Result of Mankind?

January 14, 2014January 14, 2014Allen Frederick 3 Comments

Northern hemisphere glaciation during the last ice ages. The accumulation of 3 to 4 km thick ice sheets caused a sea level lowering of about 120 m. Also, the Alps and the Himalayas were covered by glaciers. Winter sea ice coverage was much more limited in the south. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Genesis 8:22 (GW)
²²As long as the earth exists, planting and harvesting, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never stop.”

The meteorological term “polar vortex” entered the common parlance across the nation last week as temperatures plunged deeply below zero on Tuesday in a large part of the nation and all the lower 48 states experienced readings below freezing, creating inconvenience for many and hardship for others. Authorities blamed the cold for at least 21 deaths, several of them from traffic accidents. Meteorologists say a polar vortex — or, more specifically, a distorted polar vortex — is the reason for the Arctic blast.

According to CNN International senior meteorologist Brandon Miller, a polar vortex “is circulation of strong, upper-level winds that normally surround the northern pole in a counterclockwise direction — a polar low-pressure system.

These winds tend to keep the bitter cold air locked in the Arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere.” But, says Miller, “on occasion, this vortex can become distorted and dip farther south than you would normally find it, allowing cold air to spill southward … in any part of the Northern Hemisphere.”

The National Weather Service characterized last week’s cold outbreak as “historic and life-threatening.”

In the entirety of earth’s existence has there ever been times when it was colder than last week? That answer is a resounding yes. (Ice Age and the great thaw)

Therefore since it has been colder in the past, and I might add warmer as well, such temperature extremes are not unusual or historic unless of course our history only extends to our birth and not before. I am afraid that for many experience trumps real historic data, and since they have no memory of a time when it was so cold they form a conclusion that it has to be historic.

In our time however we are being told that these “drastic weather conditions” are a result of human activity. And if human activity is causing this to happen then we need to do something to stop it from happening.

Job 38:34-35 (GW)
³⁴Can you call to the clouds and have a flood of water cover you?
³⁵Can you send lightning flashes so that they may go and say to you, ‘Here we are’?

Now that is a good question isn’t it? if civilization has so much control over the climate and weather extremes then we should be able to harness the clouds and cause it to rain anytime we needed it to, or control lightning strikes, or even steer tornados away from populated areas to limit human casualties.

Our President was so bold to declare that his election was the moment “ when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal”. Not only has Obama presided over the receding ocean rise he has also overseen the receding employment rate and the receding income levels. Yes indeed his administration has seen a decline in many areas since he took office.

There are many factors that go into what affects our climate and I would suggest that human activity is very low on the real cause and effect list. Nature itself seems to play a bigger role in climate changes. Take for instance solar activity, or lack thereof. Water vapor and the ocean’s currents.

Since God made the heavens and the earth capable of sustaining human life, it makes perfect sense then that He and only He can change the climate and make it unfit for human life. Since we are the created and not the creator our powers are limited. And that is the way I see it. What say you?

This is a view from the nest.

But those who are waiting for the Lord will have new strength; they will get wings like eagles: running, they will not be tired, and walking, they will have no weariness. _{Isaiah 40:31 (BBE)}

Along for the journey

This has been A View from the Nest. The statements, comments, or opinions expressed are solely that of the author and do not represent the views or opinions of the host of this site or any affiliates thereof. Any questions or comments should be directed to myself and not to the host or hosts of this site.

Stealing from our own children

January 12, 2014Allen Frederick 1 Comment

…Children shouldn’t
have to provide for their parents, but parents should provide for their
children. 2 Corinthians 12:14 (GW)

A Youth Misery Index that measures young Americans’ woes has skyrocketed under President Barack Obama and hit an all-time high.

The index, released Wednesday, was calculated by adding youth unemployment and average college loan debt figures with each person’s share of the national debt. While it has steadily grown over the decades, under Obama the figure has shot up dramatically, from 83.5 in 2009 to 98.6 in 2013.

The index has increased by 18.1 percent since Obama took office, the highest increase under any president, making Obama the worst president for youth economic opportunity, according to the nonprofit that released the figure.

“Young people are suffering under this economy,” said Ashley Pratte, program officer for Young America’s Foundation, which developed the index and calculates it annually using federal statistics. “They’re still living in their parent’s basements, unable to find full-time jobs that pay them what they need in order to pay back their debt.”

Youth unemployment in 2013 was 16.3 percent, and student loan debt came in at a record-breaking average of $29,400 last year, the foundation points out; what’s more, each person’s share of the roughly $17 trillion dollar national debt stands at its highest level ever: $52,948.

via Under Obama, Youth Misery Index Hits All-Time High.

Talk about stealing from your kids futures. This is immoral.

Hundreds nabbed for food stamp fraud in just one county

January 11, 2014January 11, 2014Allen Frederick 2 Comments

An investigation launched from suspicion that Butler County’s skyrocketing food assistance dollars may be attributed in part to fraud, abuse and misuse has resulted in the arrest of hundreds and a taxpayer savings of $5.2 million since July 2012.

About $6.6 million is distributed monthly in Butler County via the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as food stamps.

In the past 18 months, $5.25 million has been saved by catching intentional program violators, according to the Butler County Sheriff\’s Office.

This is only from 1 county in 1 state. Can you imagine the waste, fraud and abuse being perpetrated across all counties in all states? And yet we are assured by Nancy Pelosi that there is absolutely nothing that can be cut from the federal budget. Really?

via » Hundreds nabbed for food stamp fraud in just one county » News — GOPUSA.

Run the Right Race – Ignore the Hecklers

December 30, 2013December 30, 2013Allen Frederick 3 Comments

1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (GW)
Don’t you realize that everyone who runs in a race runs to win, but only one runner gets the prize? Run like them, so that you can win. Everyone who enters an athletic contest goes into strict training. They do it to win a temporary crown, but we do it to win one that will be permanent. So I run—but not without a clear goal ahead of me. So I box—but not as if I were just shadow boxing. Rather, I toughen my body with punches and make it my slave so that I will not be disqualified after I have spread the Good News to others.

Wrong Way (Photo credit: Jack Zalium)

During the 1990’s in an NCAA Division II national championship cross-country race in California, a bizarre twist of events took place. Mike Delcavo and 127 of the best runners in the country were battling for glory over the 10,000 meter course. About three miles into the race, Delvaco was somewhere in the middle of the pack, when he realized that the runners had made a wrong turn. So he yelled out, “You’re going the wrong way,” but they didn’t listen. Only 4 others followed Mike when he turned in the right direction…and suddenly, he found himself in the lead.

However that lasted only about a mile, since Mike and the runners who followed him soon reunited with the larger pack who, having gone the wrong way, actually shaved about a half a mile off the course, and were now in the lead again. The last blow came when, because so many of the runners had gone the wrong way, the officials changed the official course route to accommodate their error. So when Mike Delcavo finally crossed the finish line, he was number 103 overall.

At the end of the race, some of Delcavo’s competitors “thought it was funny that he went the right way.”

You see many will mock you when you ‘play by the rules’ but play by the rules anyway because that is a true test of character. When everyone around you seems to be going in an entirely different way it is very hard to swim against the tide of public opinion. Standing your ground and acting on what you believe in takes a strength of character I am afraid few have. Even those who officiate and referee the laws have a tendency to bend their own judgments to accommodate the majority even when they know the majority is wrong.

You have heard it many times from your children or from your friends and family, well everyone else is doing it. Just because many are (I am convinced that there are still those who refuse to follow the wrong paths) does not make it the right way to go or the right thing to do.

There is a way that seems right to a person, but eventually it ends in death. Proverbs 14:12 (GW)

Not to belabor a point but it is worth mentioning again. The firestorm that erupted over the comments Phil Robertson made in GQ when ask for his opinion on what he thought sin was offers an excellent object lesson on staying on the right course even when met with a huge crowd going in the wrong direction. To simplify what Phil Robertson was trying to say so that even the unlearned mind can comprehend the concept. Sin is knowing you are running the race in the wrong direction but refusing to turn around and go the right way. Just because you are followed by a large crowd does not make your wrong way the right way.

In our mixed-up world, when everybody is wrong, wrong by default becomes right. However, in the world to come there is only one Judge and He will not change the correct course regardless of how many or how few actually run it. His rewards will be based on our having stayed the true course.

It’s easy to follow the crowd. But it takes courage and conviction to follow wholeheartedly after God. Sometimes it can get lonely running your race, wondering where the crowd is going, and even whether you, yourself are on the right road. Remember these words when you find yourself among the minority and taking the road less travelled.

Matthew 7:13-14 (BBE)
Go in by the narrow door; for wide is the door and open is the way which goes to destruction, and great numbers go in by it. For narrow is the door and hard the road to life, and only a small number make discovery of it.

So as you plot your course for 2014, take a look at where you have been, take stock of which direction you have headed and if you find yourself running from God and not to Him, make a course correction and start running in the Right direction.

This is a view from the nest. What say you?

Along for the journey

The Silencing of the Lambs

December 26, 2013December 25, 2013Allen Frederick 5 Comments

My son, if sinners entice you, don’t be persuaded. If they say—“Come with us! Let’s set an ambush and kill someone. Let’s attack some innocent person just for fun!

_{Proverbs 1:10-11 (HCSB)}

God‘s anger is revealed from heaven against every ungodly and immoral thing people do as they try to suppress the truth by their immoral living. What can be known about God is clear to them because he has made it clear to them. From the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly observed in what he made. As a result, people have no excuse. They knew God but did not praise and thank him for being God. Instead, their thoughts were pointless, and their misguided minds were plunged into darkness. While claiming to be wise, they became fools. They exchanged the glory of the immortal God for statues that looked like mortal humans, birds, animals, and snakes. For this reason God allowed their lusts to control them. As a result, they dishonor their bodies by sexual perversion with each other. These people have exchanged God’s truth for a lie. So they have become ungodly and serve what is created rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen! For this reason God allowed their shameful passions to control them. Their women have exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. Likewise, their men have given up natural sexual relations with women and burn with lust for each other. Men commit indecent acts with men, so they experience among themselves the punishment they deserve for their perversion. And because they thought it was worthless to acknowledge God, God allowed their own immoral minds to control them. So they do these indecent things. Their lives are filled with all kinds of sexual sins, wickedness, and greed. They are mean. They are filled with envy, murder, quarreling, deceit, and viciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, haughty, arrogant, and boastful. They think up new ways to be cruel. They don’t obey their parents, don’t have any sense, don’t keep promises, and don’t show love to their own families or mercy to others. Although they know God’s judgment that those who do such things deserve to die, they not only do these things but also approve of others who do them. _{Romans 1:18-32 (GW)}

The crowd shouted loudly to crucify the man Jesus who claimed that He and His Father were one. He dared to declare himself God. To a devote Jewish elder this was deemed blasphemous. How could a mere human claim to be equal with God let alone be God? They could not tolerate anyone who would claim to take the place of God in the world, this was a place they held for themselves. For the ruling elders set themselves up as final authority on all things God and all things right and wrong. Theirs was the last word, the ultimate ruling, the final voice all were to obey and bow down to. Now their authority was called into question, their viewpoints being challenged by this carpenter’s son. They could not allow a simple man like this challenge their positions of authority and dethrone them from their lofty positions of power and influence. If this man was allowed to gain a following their powerful positions would be greatly weakened by an ever-increasing pool of opposition. Therefore it was important to quiet this rebel rouser before he could influence a larger percentage of the population.

The voices of mainstream thought and ideology was never to be questioned. Theirs was the loudest voices and they wielded the greatest influence in society and those who held these positions liked it that way. Any attempt to challenge these all-knowing, purveyors of all that is true and right were dealt with forcibly and decisively. There was to be no doubt in anyone’s mind who was in charge and who made the rules.

This was the reason Jesus had to die. It wasn’t because he committed any crime deserving of death but it was because he dared to speak truth to power. He dared to challenge their school of thought and challenge their leaders and rulers. He dared called them out on their duplicity and falsehoods. He dared say that their way was not the right way and that there was another way. And what authority did he cite as his source? He did not quote some secular scholar nor credit an accredited academy or attend any institution of higher learning. He did not run in the approved circles, nor did he hold any approved credentials from any recognized authority, He only cited his authority from God.

How could an unlearned carpenter’s son know what is right and wrong? How could a non-seminarian understand the scriptures or dare challenge anyone who has spent their entire life studying from the greatest theologians of the day? Only those approved were permitted to espouse biblical scholarship a simple average person could not be permitted to teach in their synagogues. His voice and position needed to be dealt with intense opposition. His voice needed to be silenced.

Why would these leaders fear an uneducated, non-credentialed, simple carpenter going about talking to people about the bible? They feared him because what he was saying they knew was true, and the truth was what they have worked so hard to hide from the people. They knew their positions were wrong but they were not going to ever admit it to anyone, nor allow anyone to challenge them.

Crucify Him! Crucify Him! Kill this messenger and the followers will disperse, and then things can go back to the way they are supposed to be. The people will return to following our ways and not questioning our authority nor challenging our rulings. Unfortunately for the ruling class the death of Jesus did not stop the movement for it continues til today. What they failed to realize was what Jesus was saying was 100% true and truth can not be killed. Truth will remain regardless of all attempts to dismiss it.

And the battle continues to this day. Liars still attempt to kill the truth and deniers still try to silence believers. Take Phil Robertson as the latest example of a public verbal crucifixion. His is just another in a long list of such attacks which seem to be happening more often than in times past. What was his crime? Attempting to put a bit of God-consciousness back in mainstream America, and for that he was viciously attacked.

This is the way public opinion works in this country today. If it goes against the all-powerful tides of a current societal view, you will assuredly be drowned out under the voices of scorn and rebuke. Tolerance of unpopular views has become intolerable. What we are left with is a fear of character, a hesitancy to stand behind that which has helped define the person you are. Speaking out for differing views and challenging the things as they are is a dying practice in this society. There is an overwhelming sense of complacency and slumbering that has descended upon hearts and minds, infecting the pool of personal thought and stagnating true social and political progress.

The take away from all of this is no matter how much things change, much remains the same. Those who want to suppress the truth to live their wicked lives will stop at nothing to silence those who speak the truth especially if they cite God as their source.

Yes, and all whose purpose is to be living in the knowledge of God in Christ Jesus, will be cruelly attacked. Evil and false men will become worse and worse, using deceit and themselves overcome by deceit. _{2 Timothy 3:12-13 (BBE)}

Let us be thankful that at least up to this point deniers are only resorting to verbal assassinations and have not yet risen to real crucifixion. In other countries believers are not as fortunate.

What can we expect in the future? Much of the same I’m afraid and probably worse since the only remedy for what ails us is Jesus and many have already crucified Him again and again, and will continue to do so to anyone who happens to call on His name, and is bold enough to speak in His name in the public square.

Let’s face it folks, there are many in America who do not want Jesus or want anything to do with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. But be strong and of good courage for greater is He who is in us then he who is in the world.

This is a view from the nest. What say you?

But those who are waiting for the Lord will have new strength; they will get wings like eagles: running, they will not be tired, and walking, they will have no weariness. Isaiah 40:31 (BBE)