Welcome back to the discussion
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before the break
with guest Greg Hamilton.
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We were both riffing
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on a lot about the
coming environmental catastrophe
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and how the modern
world needs to deal with this
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and the suggestions,
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most
particularly coming from Rome,
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and on one level
you have to applaud
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any religious
leader and the pope
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for speaking to something
that's of such immediate input
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and clearly it has
a religious component.
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I mean, we live
in God's creation.
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But if history's any rule
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and how humans react
under panic as in any model
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which hasn't changed much.
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Very likely though
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with some degree
of religious coalition
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to conformity in a solution.
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I've been surprised even now
with the fires in California...
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Well, devastating.
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And the different earthquakes
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and the
hurricanes that we've had
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that there
hasn't been a wider call
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to sort of come back to God
and then repent as a nation.
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My wife and I won't retire
in California, that's for sure.
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Well, it's not
near eucalyptus trees.
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Yes, right.
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I was visiting...
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Or manzanita trees.
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Yeah, I was
visiting near Paradise
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week or two before that fire.
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And I told the
group then, I said,
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"You've got too many
eucalyptus trees here."
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And they'll feel
bad like I was the...
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I used to pastor
near there in a town,
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mountain town,
logging town called Quincy.
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Quincy in Plumas County,
just north and east of there
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and along Highway 78,
it comes through there.
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And, I mean, yeah, I always,
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every time I used to
drive through Paradise,
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I always thought,
it was so tender dry
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that I just thought this
thing would go up in minutes.
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Again to comment on the fires
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that Australia is going through,
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it's catastrophic,
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and as I remember
there was something like
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40 or 400 homes
destroyed which is not normal.
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They're pretty good
at defending against...
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Where in Australia was this?
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On the east coast, I
don't know what near city.
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I think it's generally.
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But the point
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that's worth
commenting on Australia,
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every year they have
a spate of wild fires.
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It's part of the natural
cycle of the eucalyptus tree.
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And in fact, many varieties
of eucalyptus won't even,
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they won't drop seed
unless there is a fire.
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The fire releases it
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and it doesn't kill
the eucalyptus tree.
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They'll grow back the next year.
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So I know there's no panic
when it happens in Australia
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except this year,
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there's such a loss
of life and property.
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I know that it's
worse than usual.
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But I do panic when
I hear California fires
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because I know
that the pine trees,
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they'll never grow
back, they're dead,
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just to be scorched as the end.
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But just a clarification
on eucalyptus trees,
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having grown up in California
in the Central Valley.
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Those eucalyptus trees
were imported from Australia.
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They're the only
place they come from.
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And they were
imported to be planted...
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By Jack London...
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By farmers to be wind
breakers for their crops.
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Oh, they've been very
frontally positive, of course.
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And they grow best on the coast,
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especially the
Northern California Coast.
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And, so they've been used
as wind breakers for farmers.
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But as far as fires,
they give off a volatile oil.
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Yes, so do man's need is.
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So on a hot day... Yes.
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When a fire
starts, the trees explode.
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They don't
actually burn initially
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and it's just
like a gas explosion
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along the treetops.
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The man's need is
to do the same thing
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and the problem
with the man's need
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is there a deeply
embedded bush within the forest.
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And if you
don't clear those out,
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those things are like
tender boxes and they explode.
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Now, you're sounding like
a good president hysteria...
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Clear out the underbrush.
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Well, actually, he's
got a very good point
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that wouldn't have
prevented the fire in Paradise
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because they had
cleaned out the underbrush
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for the most part in Paradise,
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and they've done
a good job of it.
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Well, you can't do
it in an entire forest.
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Right. That's the real thing.
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Yeah. And...
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Anyhow there's a big risk,
but natural calamities clearly
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are gathering
people's attention lately.
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And I do believe
while it may not be,
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I quote "final conflict."
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There's a very good
chance in the near future,
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the whole world
and including the US
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might be forced to a
sort of a religious coalition
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to deal with this,
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to importune God to save us
and, of course, God needs to...
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In most people thinking
God needs to be placated.
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And if he asks for
worship on a certain day,
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and we think it's a certain day,
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then do it or, you know,
you're against the environment,
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you're against the world.
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Where did the concept of
appeasing the wrath of God
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come from though?
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I mean, you think about
it, that's a pagan concept.
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That's a pagan view, a
pagan religious view of God.
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It's a total misunderstanding
of the character of God.
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That's horrible.
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And that's what we
are talking about here.
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Well, that's human
nature and not just with gods,
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with other people.
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If I've done you
wrong and then I want to...
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I'm gonna take it
back in your favor,
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I bring gifts in.
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It's akin to saying, "Well, God,
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if You save me now
from this catastrophe,
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I'll do this and
this and this for you."
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Okay.
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And some people
really live up to that.
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And there's
nothing wrong with that.
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But the problem
is, you're right,
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it's human nature.
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And even the Old Testament
has over tones of that.
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Of course, God says, you know,
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I don't need the
blood of bulls and cows
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and that, you know,
deeds of love and mercy.
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But still, it's something
you have to show actions
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and change and
willingness to do what God says,
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and that's not even that wrong.
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Well, you know,
one thing I've said
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to Seventh-day
Adventists who have a...
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We Seventh-day Adventists
have a clear end-time scenario,
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you know, dating
and actions right up
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till the Second
Coming of Christ.
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And we believe
there's intimations
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in Revelation Chapter 14,
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isn't it?
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No, no, I've got
the wrong chapter,
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on the US in prophecy.
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Chapter 13. Thirteen.
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Yeah, 'cause 14's
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the three
angels' message, right?
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Chapter 13:11-15. Right.
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That United States
will play a key role
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at an end-time coalition.
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And, you know,
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as the Bible
says, it will happen,
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but I've said to people,
it doesn't have to happen now.
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Yeah.
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You know, any number of
cases, both in the Bible
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and in the real
world we know this.
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If there's an emergency coming,
if you change your views,
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if you seek God in
the case of religion,
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the evil day will be deferred.
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Let me add
something to this. My...
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Again back to my wife
who's a environmental engineer
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with The United States
Army Corps of Engineers.
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They've done some studies,
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and my wife looks at
these studies all the time.
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But, more and more
salmon as they swim upstream,
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and the studies have shown
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that as the water
becomes more toxic
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and becomes less livable.
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The fish are having a hard time
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determining what sex they are.
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And, this is what's interesting
is because with toxic...
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Seems like humans having that.
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With increase of toxic chemicals
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in the water, okay,
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it's creating
a, "gay chromosome"
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when they're born.
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So the idea,
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and I know this is
heresy to say on the set,
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but, with
environmental degradation
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is it possible,
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is it possible that we
see more and more of this
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and really you
can't necessarily,
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yes, you can talk
about the gay activists.
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But, in some sense,
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you know, in somewhat sense
you can't blame many of them
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because they are
the way they are.
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Well, you opened up a
whole line of sensitivity...
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That's a
different kind of worms,
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but it goes with
environmental degradation.
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Well, there's no question
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that every aspect of
creation is under distress.
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It's called sin.
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Is under
distress, and, you know,
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the fertility rates
in western countries
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have drop radically.
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And chemicals in the foods
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and in our environment
are directly implicated.
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So I'm positive.
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Yeah, and remember
sex is a matter of...
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Sexual identity is a big factor
and that is human development.
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Yes.
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Starting from
conception right on through
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and that's being
interfered within in great way.
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So, yes, I'm
sure that you could,
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if you are more knowledgeable
than you and I are on this,
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you could perhaps
point some markers.
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But you think about it.
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As in the days of
Sodom and Gomorrah,
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so shall it be in the days
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of the coming of the Son of man.
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As it was in the days of Noah,
so shall be it be coming in,
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be in the days
of the Son of man.
00:09:03.84\00:09:05.17
So I'm thinking when
it comes to Second Coming,
00:09:05.21\00:09:08.01
that clearly is a
sign that we're very close.
00:09:08.04\00:09:11.91
Environmental degradation
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clearly is creating
certain propensities
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that you know, we
would not have sanctioned.
00:09:17.85\00:09:22.02
But clearly, that
seems to be a factor.
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Well, many changes, and
violence as it broadened
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and you can't put it all
down to Hollywood although is...
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I'm travelling, I
look on the television
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and it's just a constant stream
of shootings and all the rest.
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Oh.
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They ate and embedded.
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But, our very
being is been affected.
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There's no question,
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but I think
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we're at a
hinge point of history
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and when I'm talking
to groups, I often say,
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I don't know any more than you
00:09:46.18\00:09:48.12
when the world will
end, the Bible gives hints.
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But I say one thing I'm sure of,
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the world that you
know is about to pass away.
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We're at a time of rapid change,
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don't you think?
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I think so.
00:10:00.10\00:10:01.43
I think
environmental degradation
00:10:01.46\00:10:02.96
is the root of many problems,
00:10:03.00\00:10:05.53
and I really
believe like Lincoln said,
00:10:05.57\00:10:08.27
it creates
people to either panic
00:10:08.30\00:10:11.37
and form agendas
00:10:11.41\00:10:13.38
or they're just
dismissive and they're apathetic
00:10:13.41\00:10:16.51
and they say to themselves,
"Well, what does it matter?"
00:10:16.54\00:10:19.01
You know, we'll just
ignore it and live our lives.
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We can't afford
to do that right now.
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We've got to be people
who take our earth seriously
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and to be good
stewards of the earth
00:10:28.92\00:10:31.39
that God has
created for us to enjoy.
00:10:31.43\00:10:34.10
So I hope we remember that,
00:10:34.13\00:10:35.80
and I hope that we will take out
00:10:35.83\00:10:40.14
and do our part
and be responsible.
00:10:40.17\00:10:42.34
The Bible does say
that when God comes,
00:10:45.34\00:10:49.01
when Jesus
Christ, the Son of God
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comes in the clouds of heaven,
00:10:51.28\00:10:53.01
He will come to destroy
those that destroy the earth.
00:10:53.05\00:10:56.89
It's an undeniable reality
00:10:56.92\00:10:58.72
that for each of us
living in this world,
00:10:58.75\00:11:00.89
we have a
responsibility to be custodians
00:11:00.92\00:11:03.73
of what has been
bequeathed to us,
00:11:03.76\00:11:06.03
not just by our
parents, our grandparents,
00:11:06.06\00:11:09.06
by the civilization
that went before us,
00:11:09.10\00:11:10.97
but by the Creator God.
00:11:11.00\00:11:13.44
There's a certain irony though
00:11:13.47\00:11:14.80
that as we awaken to the need
for custody of the environment,
00:11:14.84\00:11:19.07
to care for it
before it destroys us.
00:11:19.11\00:11:21.91
We may indeed in
evoke the wrong gods,
00:11:21.94\00:11:25.08
the wrong methods
and the wrong solution
00:11:25.11\00:11:29.38
to save our species
rather than a spiritual return
00:11:29.42\00:11:34.62
to God the Creator.
00:11:34.66\00:11:36.16
Loyalty to Him,
00:11:36.19\00:11:37.53
custody for what
He provided for us
00:11:37.56\00:11:40.00
and a reverence
for all living things.
00:11:40.03\00:11:43.20
Not least of all,
00:11:43.23\00:11:44.67
our own selves
and the responsibility
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to order our lives
as God would see fit.
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For Liberty Insider,
this is Lincoln Steed.
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