What are the trumpets - the fourth trumpet

The earth will become desolate because of its inhabitants, as a result of their deeds. -- Micah 7:13


The fourth trumpet is another easy one. I'll enjoy it while I can since the fifth one is an absolute nightmare.

The fourth challenge -- we don't need God to bring us to some kind of metaphysical paradise. We can make our own heaven right here on earth.

The fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them turned dark. A third of the day was without light, and also a third of the night. -- Revelation 8:12

I've already said that the central 'plotline' of Revelation is God's vindication against all challengers. But the book also has a number of subplots. The three main ones are: 1) the persecution of believers, 2) warfare between the nations, and 3) the destruction of the natural world.

It's the third one that we Christians tend to forget when we talk about the end times. I don't think this is coincidence. We can be a very predictable lot. One of the things we almost always do is to defend a particular position simply because it is under attack, never mind if new information comes along to show us that our position needs to be modified; if it's being bludgeoned, we have to defend if. It's our Christian duty. Period. The whole 'young earth' thing is a prime example. Forty something percent of believers still hold to 4000 BC creation point. Of course it's not actually 4000 BC, it's 4004 BC.... on October 23.... at 10:00 at night.... I kid you not. I'd wager that not one in ten actually know where that belief came from, or that it's based on a set of assumptions that have long since been shown to be unbiblical. Doesn't matter. It's under attack from the heathens. Dig in and return fire.

Now, environmental issues were long the rallying cry of the Paganists. Long before hippies, long before granola, our ancestors squared off against the European Celts in a war of ideologies. When it came to something like medicine, for example (this is a tad before anything I would dare call an actual 'environmental issue'), the Christians held to the Greek philosophy of bodily 'humours' and healing whereas the Celtic influence went more for natural cures. Self-respecting Christians didn't bandage their wounds with moist herbs, people who did that were likely to get the saddled with the 'witch' label. This ideological sparring set the stage for tree-hugging to be closely associated with neo-paganism. We can produce an add campaign with an American Indian crying over a field of litter, but we can't show a priest crying in his habit. The priest is the guy that threw the Styrofoam cup on the grass in the first place.

For anyone in Christian America that stumbles across this, please hear me out. Global warming is real. Science, the real science that makes observations and doesn't have a corporate sponsor is telling you the truth: airborne pollutants are changing our natural world. And not for the better -- and a book written 2,000 years ago told us this was going to happen.

At this point, if you need a refresher course on why we are dumping so much pollution into our environment and doing nothing about it, and why this is just going to continue, refer to what does Babylon mean.

The answer to the fourth challenge -- no, we won't make the earth a heaven. We'll make it a hell. It's just what we do.

Next, the fifth trumpet, and locusts with nice hair.