Category: Politics

Is Earth Overpopulated?

Shock, sadness, deep concern, and a burning desire to set the record straight filled my soul as I read my ethics students’ discussion posts. The topic? Ethical considerations involving population and the environment.

I gave the assignment to find out what they’d learned the last two weeks. For most, it wasn’t much.

Frankly, I’m terrified by what I read because overpopulation and climate change are issues at the heart of secular humanists’ efforts to “save the world.”

One by one, these college students confessed they believe the world is overpopulated. In replies to their classmates’ posts they doubled-down. “The population of the world has been the leading issue in global warming,” wrote one student. “I agree putting a limit on how many children people have could reduce the overpopulation issue but this leads to other issues such as the question of freedoms,” replied another.

Another student wrote, “I agree the world is extremely over populated and something needs to be done to get it under control quickly.” Her recommendation? “A possible solution could be limiting the number of children that families are allowed to have or executing prisoners rather than keeping them on death row for years.”

Folks, something is seriously wrong when a generation of students believes the world is overpopulated.

Genesis 1:28 tells us, “Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it.” God repeated this command twice to Noah after the Flood.

Global overpopulation is not something with which the people of God ought to be concerned. The earth isn’t even close to being full. If you travel, you know there is plenty of space to move around. What we should be concerned with, however, is the world’s increasing anti-biblical bias.

We already see a growing hostility towards Christian beliefs and values. The Bible says in the last days the people “will be of one mind and give their authority and power to the beast, and the beast will make war against the Lamb . . . ” (Revelation 17:13-14)

At minimum Christians should be familiar with “the Gospel.” John 3:16 succinctly says: “For God so loved the world, he gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believes in Him should have everlasting life.”

Will the world’s war against God’s people be waged over two very different ideas about the salvation of the world?

“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” (Joshua 1:8)

Is the US Heading for Universal Basic Income?

On Tuesday, House Democrats Tim Ryan (D-OH) and Ro Khanna (D-CA) introduced the Emergency Money for the People Act. The plan would give $2,000 per month to Americans over the age of 16 who make less than $130,000 per year. Families with qualifying children would receive an additional $500 per child.

If passed, these payments would last at least six months and until unemployment falls to pre-COVID-19 levels.

The Beginning of Unconditional Basic Income?

Could this mark the beginning of a permanent, unconditional basic income for all adults? No doubt, most people need this money. Our economy is turned upside down and people are desperate for security. The guaranteed money sounds nice, but it may come at a devasting price.

The Emergency Money for the People Act looks suspiciously like an idea called Universal Basic Income (UBI) which has been tossed around for a few years. UBI is an emerging plan which provides an unconditional, guaranteed payment for living expenses to all people. Under the plan, all qualifying adults get a set amount of money; those who earn more will be taxed proportionately to help fund the program.

Some advocates claim a universal, unconditional basic income would eliminate poverty and provide a safety net for workers who recently lost their jobs. Others say it is needed in an era where machines are increasingly displacing human workers. In Finland, the program is hailed for reducing stress levels.

Critics of UBI say the program encourages people to work less, thereby contributing less taxes into the new welfare program.

Worldwide Universal Basic Income Tests

Universal basic income is already being tested in areas of Britain, Finland, Netherlands, Kenya, Canada, and even the United States.

Scotland’s Citizen’s Basic Income for residents living in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Fife, and North Ayrshire was slated to begin in March 2020. According to a report last week, Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, announced the plan for a basic income for Scots was “strengthened ‘immeasurably’ by the coronavirus outbreak.”

In the US, universal basic income has a well-documented following in Silicon Valley. The idea caught the admiration of Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Zuckerberg pitched the idea during Harvard’s spring 2017 commencement ceremony, saying:

“We should explore ideas like universal basic income to make sure that everyone has a cushion to try new ideas.”[1]

A Hidden Agenda?

What alarms me about the bill for a basic income is the idea can be traced to the UN’s 2015 resolution called “Transforming Our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.”

My concern lies in the manner in which the UN wants to lower the standard of living for all Westerners until we reach what they determine are “sustainable levels” of production and consumption.

To reach “sustainable levels,” our current standard of living must drop tremendously. The quickest way to reach such a “sustainable” target is by a collapse in world economy.

If the economy collapses, world leaders can build a new economy- hence the name, “Sustainable Development.”

In the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, world leaders affirmed their commitment to “combat inequalities within and among countries,” and “create conditions for sustainable, inclusive and sustained economic growth and shared prosperity.”[2] I think migration without borders and wealth redistribution are two of the ways they’re attempting to accomplish their “inclusive” and “shared prosperity” goals.

Further, Agenda 2030 insists by 2030 “all people must enjoy a basic standard of living, including through social protection systems.”[3]

In 2017, the UN published an article which addressed how to combat income inequalities. On UNESCO’s Inclusive Policy Lab website, Universal Basic Income was hailed as the solution: “What if this idea, suggesting a flat income given to every citizen regardless of employment or social status, was part of the solution to today’s inequalities?”

Universal Basic Income and the New Socialist Economic System

The UN’s Agenda 2030 lays the framework for a worldwide socialist economic system. It insists sustainable economic growth is essential for prosperity, and “this will only be possible if wealth is shared and income inequality is addressed.”[4]

Shared wealth on that scale is socialism, which makes Universal Basic Income a key part of a new socialist economic system.

But for a new socialist economic system to emerge, the existing capitalist system must fail.

Could the Emergency Money for the People Act be a way for Universal Basic Income to emerge like a phoenix out of the ashes of a failed capitalist system? Are we watching the transition from capitalism to socialism?

[1] “Mark Zuckerberg’s Commencement Address at Harvard,” The Harvard Gazette. Delivered at Harvard’s 366th Commencement on May 25, 2017. https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2017/05/mark-zuckerbergs-speech-as-written-for-harvards-class-of-2017/ (April 15, 2020)

[2] Agenda 2030: The 2030 Plan for Sustainable Development, Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on September 25, 2015, 3,4.

[3] Ibid., 7.

[4] Ibid., 8.

Are Democrats Secretly Advancing a Global Government?

Are Democrats secretly advancing a global government?

By now most know Democrat Rep. James Clyburn told caucus members the Coronavirus bill was “a tremendous opportunity to restructure things to fit our vision.”

Does anyone know what the “Democrat vision” is?

Clyburn’s comments preceded Nancy Pelosi’s controversial add-ons to the bill. Some of the add-ons include questionable funding for foreign nations. Why were non-virus-related items attached?

The Vision: Plans to Transform our World

It seems the Democrats’ vision and Pelosi’s pork-funding follow an already-established plan signed by Barack Obama, along with more than 150 other world leaders, called Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Signed on September 27, 2015, “Sustainable Development,” or simply, “Agenda 2030,” is a plan of action for all citizens to change the way we think, live, and produce and consume goods and services:

“All countries and all stakeholders,” it says, “acting in collaborative partnership, will implement this plan . . . we are determined to take the bold and transformative steps which are urgently needed to shift the world on to a sustainable and resilient path. As we embark on this collective journey, we pledge that no one will be left behind.”

The Vision: The 15-year Timeline

The White House press release announcing Obama’s signing of Agenda 2030 included a narrow timeline. “The adoption of the 2030 Agenda . . . sets out a global development vision for the next 15 years.”

If these bold and transformative steps are urgent, and the target date of 2030 is now only ten years away, when are “all countries and all stakeholders” going to get started?

Perhaps we already have.

Maybe this “global development vision” is the explanation behind the radical policies which are already transforming how we live.

Climate, Population, and Resource Preservation

Sustainable development is a unique worldview based upon the relationship between climate, population, and use of the world’s resources.

The idea driving sustainable development is to create a sustainable future- one in which humanity can survive well into the future.

This, of course assumes several things:

First, sustainable development assumes unless we change how we live, the world could come to an end. Since most people don’t want to change, policies must be adopted to force us to change our beliefs and our habits.

Second, sustainable development assumes mankind’s production and consumption habits are unsustainable. Therefore, the world’s economic models must change to conform to sustainable models.

This means citizens of wealthy nations must learn to live at a much lower standard of living and take other measures to reduce their “carbon footprint.”

What better time to transform to a sustainable economic model than after a global economic collapse?

Third, sustainable development aims to create a sustainable world ethic and make everyone live by a set of common rights.

This third idea is a hurdle since America was built upon the premise “We are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights . . .”

What happens when a secular world who despises the thought of a Creator joins forces to create a sustainable set of rights?

See where this is headed? You cannot have “sustainable development” and make America- or any other nation- great again.

But it gets worse.

The Underlying Issue: Reversing Biblical Order

One of the leading figures of the Sustainable Development movement is former executive council member of the Club of Rome, Jorgen Randers. During an address before the 2012 Sustainability Conference at Cambridge University, Randers bluntly explains the real goal behind sustainable development is to reverse biblical thinking:

“If I could persuade you of one thing, it should be this: the world is small and fragile, and humanity is huge, dangerous and powerful. This is a total reversal of the biblical perspective on humanity, and the way in which man has thought during most of his presence on Earth. But this is the perspective we need to take if sustainability emerges or, at least, that the world as we know it survives for a couple of hundred more years.”[1]

It couldn’t be clearer. The vision for sustainable development is an anti-biblical approach to solving the world’s problems.

Anti-biblical thinking is anti-Christian thinking, and a world government built upon anti-Christian thinking is what will eventually bring to fulfillment this horrifying biblical prophecy:“For God has put it into their hearts to fulfill His purpose, to be of one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast until the words of God are fulfilled.” (Revelation 17:17)

[1] Jorgen Randers, 2052: A Global Forecast for the Next Forty Years, from a lecture given in the 10th Annual Distinguished Lecture Series in Sustainable Development, hosted by the University of Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership and the Centre for Sustainable Development in the Department of Engineering on March 14, 2012. https://www.cisl.cam.ac.uk/resources/publication-pdfs/jorgen-randers-2052-a-global-forecast-for-the-next.pdf (April 7, 2020).