Introduction
My desktop calendar tells me that today, at sundown, is the beginning of Passover. It is also Earth Day. “Daily Calendar for Monday, April 22, 2024” (The Old Farmer’s Almanac) says the same.
This entry, the 19th under the topic section Worldviews in Conflict, reviews Passover, Earth Day, and Lenin's birthday. All three events converge today. The conclusion encourages the unwise to turn to or return to the biblical worldview. The wise are already there.
Passover
Sunset today marks the meaningful beginning of Passover (Hebrew פֶּסַח, Pesach). The annual Jewish observance is a weeklong remembrance of the Exodus, when God delivered the Hebrews from Egyptian slavery. On the Jewish calendar, the observance begins, at sundown, on the 14th day of Nisan (Aviv). Passover is derived from the tenth plague, when the Lord passed over the homes of the Israelites. The Old Testament Book of Exodus chronicles the historical event (Ex. 12:1-15:21).
When Jesus came to John, the messenger, who prepared the way for Him, John said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29, NIV). Christians rejoice in the words of the inspired apostle Paul, who wrote, “For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed” (1 Cor. 5:7, NIV). As the apostle Peter stated, we have been redeemed from our empty lifestyle “. . . with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect” (1 Pet. 1:19, NIV).
Praise be to God, whose grace, through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus, saves us from our empty and sinful lifestyles! Everlasting life is ours!
The Israel-Hamas conflict began when Hamas attacked Israel on 10/7/2023 -- a day that will live in infamy in Israeli history. The Israel-Iran engagement began when Iran struck Israel with an airborne assault on 4/13/2024.
My written prayer is that all will accept the Prince of Peace. If so, the world will find lasting peace. I pray that antisemitic protesters will realize the error of their ways and turn to the Lord. I wish Jewish friends a happy and peaceful Passover and encourage them to find the Prince of Peace, if they haven't. I have known Jewish Christians, who observe Passover and who know the Passover Lamb as their Savior.
Earth Day
Today is also the lackluster annual occasion of Earth Day. “Our History,” Earthday.org, presents its history and timeline. Earth Day started on 4/22/1970. It led to the Environmental Protection Agency, the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Endangered Species Act.
A senator and a young college activist started Earth Day. The previously cited source states that they chose April 22, since the weekday was between spring break and final exams. They wanted to ensure that many college students would participate. It is alleged, however, that the day was selected, since it marked the centennial anniversary of Vladimir Lenin's birth.
This article accepts the conservationist aspects of Earth Day. God placed man “. . . in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it” (Gen. 2:15, NIV). From creation, humankind must work on and take care of planet Earth. I reject the environmentalist views about Earth Day.
The political smorgasbord article on 5/2/2021 includes my rather pithy comments about Earth Day. The article verifies that Earth Day started on the centennial anniversary of Vladimir Lenin's birth.
The 3/26/2023 article states my position fully. The conclusion includes the following:
By following the biblical worldview, I am a conservationist. All who share this view, as good stewards, use natural resources in an ethical manner, to better humankind. We, however, care for and manage those resources, to improve them, for future generations.
Environmentalists, in contrast, follow a pantheistic worldview, in that they worship god (the creation), instead of God (the Creator). Deifying nature, they subjugate human needs to protect nature, which has preeminence. They see all humans, including themselves, as parasites and disrupters of nature. They, however, see themselves as “noble parasites,” while looking down on us, as “disrupting parasites.”
I stand by that statement. I still affirm the biblical worldview of conservationists. My prayer is that environmentalists will stop worshiping god (the creation) and worship the Creator.
Lenin's Birthday
At birth, Vladimir Lenin was named Влади́мир Ильи́ч Улья́нов (Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov). He took on the pseudonym “Lenin.” The Marxist revolutionary, founder of the Communist Party, and first Soviet leader was born on 4/22/1870, according to the modern Gregorian calendar. (By the old Julian calendar, he was born on 4/10/1870. The Soviet Union switched from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar, on February 1, 1918.) Lenin died on 1/21/1924. His body is interred in Lenin's Tomb in Moscow on Red Square. Sources: “Vladimir Lenin,” On This Day and “Timeline of V. I. Lenin,” Marxists Internet Archive.
When my wife and I were Christian missionaries in Russia (10/1/1994 - 9/30/1999), we toured inside the Lenin Mausoleum. We saw Lenin's corpse, still lying in state. We were part of a group. No photographs were allowed.
Snopes labels as false the theory that the founders of Earth Day wanted to associate the day with Lenin's birthday. See “Why Is Earth Day on April 22? Since the very first Earth Day, rumors have been floated linking the date to the birthday of Vladimir Ilich Lenin,” Snopes, by David Mikkelson, 4/21/2015. Snopes, however, is not a completely reliable source. Their conclusion could be wrong.
I smell a rat! The first Earth Day, on 4/22/1970, could have happened to fall on the centennial anniversary of Vladimir Lenin's birth (4/22/1870), with no planned association of the days, but I doubt it. Such a coincidence is unlikely. I am not the only skeptic. For example, see “Earth Day's real (Leninist) history,” WorldNetDaily (WND), by Brian Sussman, 4/21/2021. The author states that it “was no accident” that the inaugural Earth Day, on April 22, 1970, happened to be on the centennial of Vladimir Lenin's birth. Of course, accidents can happen. The coincidence seems to have been a planned accident, with built-in deniability.
Conclusion
The unwise need to turn to or return to the biblical worldview. The wise are already there.
The sunset view that I enjoyed over thirteen years ago, on 10/16/2010, is still vivid in my mind. That was my 71st hike on House Mountain.
At sunset this evening, thoughts and prayers will be for peace. May the Passover blessings of Christ, the Passover Lamb, inspire all humankind to adopt a saving biblical worldview.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment