HOT TALK, COLD SCIENCE Global Warming's Unfinished Debate

 Astrophysicist S. Fred Singer wrote this book in 1997, and “The Revised and Expanded Third Edition” was released in February, 2021. It explains “What every American must know about decades of questionable scientific data used to potentially restrict our freedoms.” 

Before we look at the details of this volume, let’s review the first book I read about Global Warming / Climate Change. It was published in 1994 and written by Michael F. Coffman: SAVIORS OF THE EARTH? Here’s a description of it: 

“Vice President Al Gore and other environmental leaders push for radical changes in Americans' actions and ways of thinking. These changes, however, are not based on scientific findings but rather on pseudoscience-a manipulation of scientific data in a quest for legal power, political popularity, and Eastern mysticism.” 

One point I clearly remember from it is that there are those who worship the Earth (Gaia) as a living thing that needs our help to survive. But they won’t worship the Creator of the Earth. 

There are many similar volumes available for the serious reader, and most share the primary points of HOT TALK, COLD SCIENCE, which are as follows: 

1.    There is no climate crisis arising from human activities.

2.    The Antarctica ice mass has increased, not decreased, since 1979.

3.    There is zero evidence linking CO2 to climate change.

4.    Global cooling would be a much bigger problem than global warming.

5.    The fake “consensus” of scientists has been used to further a political agenda.

6.    The debunked “Hockey Stick” scandal shows the dishonesty of some scientists.

7.    Ditto for the “Climategate” scandal.

8.    Severe storms and droughts are not increasing in frequency or intensity.

9.    Historical CO2 increases are a result of, not a cause of, increased heat. 

Here’s an excerpt from the Barnes & Noble overview of the book: 

“Singer's masterful analysis decisively shows that the pessimistic, and often alarming, global-warming scenarios depicted in the media have no scientific basis. In fact, he finds that many aspects of increased levels of CO2, as well as any modest warming, such as longer growing seasons for food and a reduced need to use fossil fuels for heating, would have a highly positive impact on the human race.” 

As with other posts about climate change, I conclude with Genesis 8:22 

"While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease." 

COPYRIGHT 2021 BY CARL E GUSTAFSON

49 COMMANDS OF JESUS [Discipleshiptools.org]

 The greatest commands are to love God with all our heart and to love others as our self. 

1. Repent-Matthew 4:17                                           2. Follow Me-Matthew 4:19

3. Rejoice-Matthew 5:12                                           4. Let Your Light Shine-Matthew 5:16

5. Honor God's Law-Matthew 5:17-18                      6. Be Reconciled-Matthew 5:24-25

7. Do Not Commit Adultery-Matthew 5:29-30           8. Keep Your Word-Matthew 5:37

9. Go the Second Mile-Matthew 5:38-42                  10. Love Your Enemies-Matthew 5:44

11. Be Perfect-Matthew 5:48                                    12. Practice Disciplines Secretly-Matthew 6:1-18

13. Lay Up Treasures-Matthew 6:19-21                   14. Seek God's Kingdom-Matthew 6:33

15. Judge Not-Matthew 7:1                                      16. Do Not Cast Pearls-Matthew 7:6

17. Ask, Seek, and Knock-Matthew 7:7-8                 18. Do Unto Others-Matthew 7:12

19. Choose the Narrow Way-Matthew 7:13-14          20. Beware of False Prophets-Matthew 7:15

21. Pray For Laborers-Matthew 9:38                         22. Be Wise as Serpents-Matthew 10:16

23. Fear Not-Matthew 10:26                                      24. Hear God's Voice-Matthew 11:15

25. Take My Yoke-Matthew 11:29                              26. Honor Your Parents-Matthew 15:4

27. Beware of Leaven-Matthew 16:6                         28. Deny Yourself-Luke 9:23

29. Despise Not Little Ones-Matthew 18:10              30. Go To Offenders-Matthew 18:15

31. Beware of Covetousness-Luke 12:15                  32. Forgive Offenders-Matthew 18:21-22

33. Honor Marriage-Matthew 19:6                              34. Be a Servant-Matthew 20:26-28

35. Be a House of Prayer-Matthew 21:13                  36. Ask in Faith-Matthew 21:21-22

37. Bring in the Poor-Luke 14:12-14                           38. Render to Caesar-Matthew 22:19-21

39. Love the Lord-Matthew 22:37-38                          40. Love Your Neighbor-Matthew 22:39

41. Await My Return-Matthew 24:42-44                      42. Take, Eat, and Drink-Matthew 26:26-27

43. Be Born Again-John 3:7                                        44. Keep My Commandments-John 14:15

45. Watch and Pray-Matthew 26:41                            46. Feed My Sheep-John 21:15-16

47. Baptize My Disciples-Matthew 28:19                    48. Receive God's Power-Luke 24:49

49. Make Disciples-Matthew 28:20  

1 John 5:3 (NKJV) For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.

THE APOSTLES' CREED +

 I believe in God the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth

who created man in His own image.

He gave us His Word, the Holy Bible, which is true from beginning to end.

******************** 

I believe in Jesus Christ our Lord, God’s only Son,

who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and born of the Virgin Mary.

Jesus, after his earthly ministry, suffered under Pontius Pilate,

and was crucified.

He died as a substitute for our sins and was buried.

On the third day He rose again from the dead.

He ascended into heaven,

and is seated at the right hand of God the Father

and is always interceding for us.

He will return soon to judge sinners and reward His followers.

******************** 

I believe in the infilling Holy Spirit and His power in my life,

and His conviction and drawing of unbelievers to Christ.

******************* 

I am grateful for the forgiveness of my sins.

I am glad to be part of Christ’s eternal Church.

I am enjoying communion with saints here on earth.

I am waiting for my resurrection into my eternal home in Heaven.

Amen

FORGIVENESS - FOUR BLESSINGS

 The first blessing is when someone offends or injures you, they come to you and apologize and ask for forgiveness and you forgive them. Your relationship is healed and you are able to forget the offense. The flip side when you offend and injure someone, you go to them and ask for forgiveness and they forgive you. You both receive the blessing. This may happen more than once with the same two people, but every time forgiveness is offered and accepted, the blessing is received by both parties.

 This is explained by Jesus in Matthew 18:21-22 (NKJV) Then Peter came to Him and said, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him, up to seven times?" Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.”

 The next blessings depend on whether you are the offender or the offended. You have been offended or injured and the guilty person does not ask for forgiveness, but you forgive them anyway. You still receive the blessing.

 Jesus commands this in Mark 11:25 (NKJV) "And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.”

 Stephen, when he was martyred, gave us this example in Acts 7:59-60 (NKJV) And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not charge them with this sin." And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

 The most difficult blessing is if you offend or injure someone and ask for forgiveness but they will not forgive you. Or perhaps there is no way to reach them to ask for forgiveness. You feel very guilty about what you did but don’t receive the blessing of their forgiveness. But you still receive the blessing of confessing. My prayer has often been, “Lord, please help them to forgive me and forget the offense I committed against them.”

 The ultimate blessing is receiving God’s forgiveness. And not only does God forgive us, but He cleanses us and gives us peace, and best of all eternal life.

 Psalm 32:1 (NKJV) Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

 1 John 1:9 (NKJV) If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

 Romans 5:1 (NKJV) Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

 1 John 5:13 (NKJV) These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.

 COPYRIGHT 2021 BY CARL E GUSTAFSON

BEATING HEART

 

HUMANS FROM SPONGES?

 The Bible says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” This creating must therefore include everything in the heavens and the earth. The ultimate creature that God made is the human being.

 Contrary to this, the evolutionist says that over billions of years the human being was derived from ever complicating living things beginning with a single cell. So let’s look at this derivation of life from complex back to the simple.

 Man came from Homo, Paranthropus, Australopithicus, and Ardipithicus groups. These in turn presumably came from the apes and monkeys. From whence came the apes and monkeys gets a little confusing. The general term for their supposed ancestors is Proto-Primates which were similar to squirrels and lemurs.

 The previous group was possibly smaller rodents, who came from the anagalids in China. They are extinct, but a Gliriform tooth was found that may have been from one of them. Paleontologists can surmise a lot of information from a single tooth or a bone fragment.

 Or the previous group could have been the Mimotonids. Jaw and teeth samples of this were found in Mongolia. This is getting more confusing, but somehow all the animals came from the first ones, the comb jelly and the sponge. How these huge changes occurred over the millennia is a mystery that nobody can answer, mainly because it is logically impossible.

 Of course the animals must have come from plants or bacteria or amoeba or who knows what. And animals need oxygen and many other elements simply to survive. So where did the elements come from? Did they all evolve from Hydrogen? It’s not likely!

 In short, God created all of the elements in the beginning, along with everything else. And He made all of the animals after their kind – the equivalent of the family in modern terminology. He made the rodents and apes and sponges as separate entities, and created man after His own image and “breathed in man the breath of life, and man became a living soul.”

 COPYRIGHT 2021 BY CARL E GUSTAFSON

THANK GOD FOR CABLE NEWS!

 Cable news adds another dimension to the traditional ABC, NBC, and CBS networks. Plus it’s on for twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Obviously nobody can watch it all, but it gives us very good choices from which to get the news, as well as plenty of opinions about the news.

 According to Deadline.com the following are statistics for 2021 for the three top cable networks. According to their website, “Deadline.com is always the first to break up-to-the-minute entertainment, Hollywood and media news, with an unfiltered, no-holds-barred analysis of events.”

 “In primetime, FOX NEWS topped with an average of 2.13 million viewers, compared to 1.31 million for MSNBC and 798,000 for CNN.” FOX had as many viewers as MSNBC and CNN combined.

 In post news analysis: ”Tucker Carlson Tonight was the top show in cable news, averaging 2.81 million total viewers, followed by Hannity with 2.59 million, The Five with 2.53 million, The Rachel Maddow Show with 2.27 million and The Ingraham Angle with 2.09 million.” And GUTFELD had 1.47 million viewers.

 There are some who think FOX is too conservative in both news and weather reporting, especially regarding the man-made climate change hoax, about which this writer has previously blogged. But their huge viewership indicates that a large number of people are in agreement with their perspective.

 It’s true that “junk climatological theories” are dangerous. But all current information about the climate is theoretical. We know today’s climate, but next year’s is an educated guess. Will global temperatures rise to unlivable levels? Nobody knows. This is worth repeating. Nobody knows. It’s all speculation.

 The same is true regarding the 2020 presidential election, where some say there was zero evidence of widespread voter fraud. Actually there is zero evidence that there was zero evidence of voter fraud.  The word “widespread” is added to minimize the actual fraud that occurred.

 This is what is so great about our freedom of the press and freedom of speech. Each of us can express our views and opinions and then choose what to believe about what others have written and said.

                             COPYRIGHT 2021 BY CARL E GUSTAFSON

AVERT THE PENDULUM

 It’s said that the proverbial, historical pendulum has been swinging back and forth throughout the past. We’ve seen it here in the United States for sure. Republicans win elections, then Democrats win, then Republicans win again, and on and on. Those who are wise and patient simply wait for the return of the pendulum to their chosen party. 

The unknown and potentially dangerous swinging is as it approached the apex, before the turning back. Everything seems to be going the wrong direction and nobody knows if and when it will be reversed. But it will be – it always is. 

One of the primary uses for a pendulum is for timepieces. Because of gravity, the potential and kinetic energy exchange with each swing is what provides a constant ticking of the seconds. This action was first described by Galileo in 1602. Each complete cycle is called the period, and the length of the pendulum rod, not the weight of the bob on the end of the rod, determines the period. 

But with the proverbial pendulum, the length of the period is unknown. It may be years or even decades before the direction is reversed. And it’s during this uncertainty that panic can occur. But unlike the clock pendulum, which when stopped the clock’s accuracy is distorted; man can affect the direction of the historical pendulum. At least he can in America. 

The simplest step to take is to vote intelligently in every election at every level – local, state, and national. Or one can run for office and have a more direct effect on the pendulum. Using the influence of social media can be productive also. Writing to elected officials and attending public meetings and speaking up when possible is are important actions as well. 

But the most influential practice to effect a change in the pendulum is prayer. God works in the affairs man and directs the leaders of nations. As Billy Graham said, “To get our nation back on its feet, we must first get down on our knees.”

COPYRIGHT 2021 BY CARL E GUSTAFSON

US WORLD

 The immigrant crisis has become an enormous problem for the USA, especially for the states on the southern border. Many solutions, both good and bad, have been presented. One of the better suggestions is to improve the conditions in the nations from which the travelers are coming to America.

 This blog goes one step further. Why not invite those countries to become states or territories of the United States? It won’t be coercion to any degree, but an invitation to join us.

 The first one to come on board would be a good test case for the process. They would accept our constitution and establish a representative republic at the state level just as the other fifty have done. Open and fair elections would be overseen by the Federal Election Commission.

 It would be acceptable for those who want to expand the Senate. Plus Puerto Rico would be another state along with other existing territories. In fact it needn’t be limited to the Western Hemisphere – why not African applicants also?

 Historically the USA has rejected the notion of a widened membership. Examples are The Philippines and Cuba, both of which we would have been able to keep as territories. We probably could have also added some of Europe after the World War. But we have always respected the rights of every nation to remain independent.

 But has the time come to change our stance on expansion if it’s a voluntary decision by another country to join US WORLD? If this happens it might also open the door for a CHINA WORLD, A SOVIET WORLD, A EUROPEN WORLD, and on and on. The globe may become a United Nations of just a dozen huge members.

 The logistics will be left up to the politicians and leaders in Washington and the other nations. Plus the benefits of our Constitution will be available to the new members of US WORLD: freedom of the press and of speech; freedom to bear arms; the freedom to worship God at the church of one’s choice; as well as the many other liberties we have.

COPYRIGHT 2021 BY CARL E GUSTAFSON

THE NIGHTMARE

 

Nightmares are scary things. They seem so real and frightening. You may even wake up screaming. But then you realize it was just a bad dream and relief washes over your brain and body. 

But some nightmares are actual events. It could be a life threatening health issue like cancer or heart disease or COVID19. Or it may be a serious illness or a condition such as Parkinson’s or macular degeneration. The loss of a family member seems like a nightmare too - a spouse or parent or sibling or the very worst, the loss of a child. 

You actually wish it were just a nightmare because to don’t want it to be real. You can’t believe it’s happening to you. The emotional shock seems too much to handle. You want to scream. You want it to go away. But you realize you can’t wake up from this bad dream. You are more afraid than from any nightmare.

 The only relief is the comfort that comes from God. When the fear and pain that awful events or news produces, the Bible gives us help and hope. Many times God tells us in His Word, “Don’t be afraid,” or “Fear not.” Jesus promised to give us His peace.

 And some nightmares are from external circumstances, such as devastating tornados or fires or earthquakes or hurricanes or blizzards. Others are from wars and rumors of wars. And a current nightmare is from the political agenda that cancelled the pipeline, and opened the southern border and is housing kids in prison-like conditions.

 Thankfully, God’s promise of peace and comfort apply to these as well. As it says in Philippians 4:6-7, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Amen 

COPYRIGHT 2021 BY CARL E GUSTAFSON

CARBON NEUTRALITY

 It’s the PR goal of many companies to become “carbon neutral” or “climate neutral” in order to gain and retain environmentally conscious customers. In fact an organization with the name Climate Neutral has certified about 280 such companies, claiming, “The world needs to reach zero net carbon emissions by 2050.” Looking at their list of 150 companies, I didn’t recognize any.

Their three steps to neutrality are 1] Measure carbon emissions; 2] Purchase carbon credits to offset the emissions; 3] Reduce future emissions. The theory is that carbon credits will balance carbon emissions. But will they? How is this even possible? 

There are 16 companies listed on GOOGLE that offer to offset Carbon by selling “Carbon Offsets” and using the proceeds to do something to reduce carbon emissions.

The lead paragraph on the search says, “Carbon offsets are schemes or initiatives aimed at reducing greenhouse gas or carbon dioxide emissions by compensating for or neutralizing the emissions made.” The word schemes is a good description of their business models. 

How is carbon balanced by these companies? There are several methods listed. The most common is to plant trees, an obvious choice since God created vegetation to release oxygen into the air after photosynthesis. Not a bad idea, but an acre of grass releases more oxygen than an acre of trees. The best of these involves the planting of fruit trees in poor countries to provide food. 

Other schemes, I mean methods, are methane emission reductions at landfills and family farms. Cow produced methane is captured both by gas bags placed on cows and by processing the manure and extracting the methane. It seems like carbon dioxide and methane are two big concerns for the carbon credit companies. 

Some projects include renewable energy such as wind turbines and solar panels. Others simply include workshops, seminars, and training programs, or water conservation, forest management, and waste heat capture. A few descriptions are rather vague, like “finding impressive projects around the world” that offset carbon usage. They use profits to find projects, but then what? 

In conclusion, a company or individual pays for carbon credits and these organizations take the money and work on projects to reduce carbon emissions. It’s a lofty effort for an inconclusive result to an unconfirmed problem of questionable science. But it has been very profitable for some in this market. 

God created the perfect atmospheric oxygen/carbon dioxide balance, and it’s still unknown how beneficial an increase in global temperatures can be.

 COPYRIGHT 2021 BY CARL E GUSTAFSON