Bert Hielema–Columns and Writings

WHY AM I HERE?

I was reading in Romans a few says ago, and thought about its author, Paul. I imagined how he, at an early age, perhaps less than 10 years old, made the hazardous trip from Tarsus, a Roman enclave, to Jerusalem, some 1,000 km overland. To be more exact: from mid Turkey through Syria – on the way wondering and questioning and learning – and then on to Jerusalem, all part of the Roman Empire.

In these three countries Roman’s mighty legions had constructed safe highways. Still, a 1,000 km trek, was, in those days, quite a venture, by foot, I imagine, staying in caravanserais each night, traveling for weeks on end: and that as a young teenager: it took a special youngster to undertake such a journey. Bu then, Paul was an exceptional person!

I speculate Paul was the son of well-off and devout parents, who probably had guaranteed safe passage with a Roman convoy, as the family were Roman citizens.  All along the trek to the Holy City, sacred Jeru-Salem, he dreamed of glory, dreamed of discovering God’s Greatness. He had inherited his parents’ piety, their devotion, their daily reciting of the laws given to Moses, and drilled into him every day. Paul, himself, had early in life, not only become devout, but fanatically so.

Ever seen fanaticism displayed? I have. The university prep school I attended in the 1940’s in Groningen, the Netherlands, was also a religious battleground. The city had 4 large “Reformed” churches, each with at least 1,000 members. A dogmatic dispute in 1943, during the German Occupation, about an issue, now long forgotten, caused 2 churches to secede, dividing families, and leaving a mark also in my school, attended by the fanatic sons of the clergy, creating hatred and hostility. Paul, in his zeal for the ‘right’ way of life, also suffered from this overzealous sentiment. It took a special intervention by Jesus himself, to cure Paul of his fanaticism, and substituting it with Love.

Jesus needed this man: Christianity needed this man. We, today need this man, the missionary man, who wrote the letter to the Romans, and to us. This amazing man, this former fanatic, who welcomed the stoning of Stephanus, the gifted evangelist, who hated the early Christians the way I have seen it at my Christian school where some students refused to attend morning devotions when conducted by ‘the other side’.

Just as Paul, I too was sent to a special place of learning. My parents, too, had great expectations, especially as I, from early on, had wanted to become a missionary, go to the Netherlands Indies, and convert the heathens there.  However, upon graduation, I was drafted into the Dutch army, the country being engaged in a colonial dispute. I then chose Canada, instead, upon completion of my national duty.

Back to Paul.

So, just like Paul, just as any and every Christian, I have a task in life, a task to be a witness. I mentioned Paul’s conversion. I too have such a sudden experience. Just growing up in a Christian family, school, church, does prepare the soil, gives a good start, but can also be dangerous, as ‘faith’ becomes a routine matter, and being a member of a church a birthright.

In my youth staying with ‘the faith of the fathers’ was an automatic matter. With little or no mobility, the path to ‘heaven’ was paved with historic beliefs, clung to with tenacious tentacles, unquestioned.

My conversion, however, was a different matter. I can pinpoint it precisely: the summer of 1973, age 45. Two books did the miracle for me, one questioning the “Heaven” destination, the other the impossibility of ‘perpetual economic growth’. Both drastically changed my entire view on life and eternity.

How then shall we live? Or more accutely: How shall I live? Just stay on the path that has been the way with most people? Don’t upset the routine? Just

grow old and die?

That describes life for most of us in the Western world. A life quite uncomplicated, but the question remains whether a life such as that has any merit at all.

Why am I here?  

Life in my grandparents’ time occurred in slow motion and was often hard and difficult, but the final product showed the individual’s talents and hallmark. Compare this to the millions of workers today who are stuck in routine jobs.

The question is: What is the meaning of such a life? What

should such a person feel about his life when reached the

end of days? What has he or she accomplished? What was the

contribution to the world? Will AI now destroy even that?

I increasingly believe that I am called to prepare myself for life -LIFE- in eternity. Jesus defined it quite simply: “I have come to bring ‘life’, and that to the full”.

,

Paul pinpoints it precisely in Romans 1: 20: “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities–his eternal power and divine nature–have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”

Why am I here?

I try to pay heed to Paul, the pious and persistent Paul, converted from religious fanaticism to creation-caregiver: for me he has pointed the Way: I am here to prepare myself for a creation-caring life, as our destination is God’s renewed creation.

I try to live that way today.

THE WORLD IS CHANGING.

“It was the age of heaven-heat, it was the age of heedless humans.”

I live in a Christian Retirement Centre. May be someday I will comment on its Christian aspect, as I increasingly believe that the adjective “Christian” needs be redefined, but that is for another day.

Of course, both sexes are represented here: a few couples, but mostly single people of which women are in the majority, almost all widows.

In line with the general population where women live longer than men, and, where in most marriages, they usually marry men a few years older, women outnumber men here by a ratio of 4:1.

From a strictly gerontological point of view, I find it intriguing to observe the goings-on, the intermingling, the social interactions. The unattached men are also all widowers, and there does not seem to be any desire on either part for courtship. Both male and female stick to their orientation.

In general, it is a peaceful, and even serene, and, perhaps, a somewhat boring community. In that sense the sex scenery, already reflect a bit what Jesus depicted when asked to comment on ‘marriage’: his words: “At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven”. Matthew 22:30.

Hmm. No comment.

In a world at loggerheads with itself, my final years here, where every need is pretty well provided, are tranquil and thoroughly settled. Perhaps complacency is the best description. The people here have lived their lives during an age where prosperity, and abundance, good medical care and old age pensions have been the norm, actually a complete exception in human history. Most are immigrants from Europe; they arrived at the start of the economic boom, and cashed in their homes, assuring a secure retirement. Generous government help – pension and free medical care – has made this – my – generation the most prosperous ever, while their/my grandchildren face a totally different world.

We now are on a verge of radical change.

This ideal situation displayed here, where I spend my final years, will soon have to deal with the reality of the problems society face, in the form of inflation, soaring deficits, unpredictable weather, food shortages, everything under the sun, including unbearable heat.

Yes, Climate change is going to reshape everything, from disease patterns, to animal migration routines, from flooding, heat stress and ecosystem disruptions to economic disasters: nothing will be spared. The all-round stability on which our lives are based, and makes my final years, living in luxury, possible, will become history. We have reached a “point of no return” as runaway global heating cannot be stopped.

The current political global scenario already signals this predicament, evident in today’s global situation.   Russia’s war on Ukraine has entered its fifth year, with no end in sight. In Gaza, Israel conducted what numerous human rights groups and scholars have described as a genocide, with the world watching. In Sudan, more than 13 million people have been displaced and hundreds of thousands killed. And just this year, the US and Israel have launched an illegal war that has killed more than 3,300 people while wreaking havoc on the global economy. Even western leaders are now publicly declaring that the rules-based world order, established after the horrors of the second world war, is dead.

In our everyday lives, we feel these crises on a more intimate level. Basic goods have become unaffordable for many. The housing crisis and the uncertain jobs market have robbed young people of a sense of hope about their future, without a roadmap for a good life.

Loneliness is growing.

Loneliness is not a personal failing; it is a sign of a ‘religion-less’ society – and it is typical today. Everyone is in search of community. Lonely, disconnected people try to find it online, perhaps, try to find it in people talking directly to them, believing simple narratives about who to blame for their pain: elites, or women with jobs, or Muslims, or Jews, or LGBTQ+ people, or immigrants on boats.

Times today remind me of the opening lines of “The Tale of Two Cities” “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the age of Light, it was the age of Darkness.”

THE WORLD IS CHANGING.

Never ever have the contrasts been starker than today, that’s why that famous Dickens quote needs expanding:

“It was the age of heaven-heat, it was the age of heedless humans.”

Stay tuned.

THE ABOMINATION THAT CAUSES DESOLATION.

The title is a direct quote by Jesus, where, in Matthew 24: 15, he says: “So when you see standing in the holy place the abomination that causes desolation, spoken of through the prophet Daniel”, then Jesus adds a word of caution: “let the reader understand…”

To me this qualification indicates that the desolation of the Holy place can only be understood when it really happens. Which is now, 2026! That ‘holy place’ is God’s sacred universe, God’s object of his deepest love.

In other words: The preaching of the ‘world-wide’ Gospel of the Kingdom, is conveyed to us through the cosmic destruction wrought by our hellbent use of polluting substances. It is a ‘negative’ truth, bringing global upheaval, now too late to mend. Yet it qualifies as the gospel of the kingdom, preached to the whole world, a testimony to all nations, that finality looms. Matthew 24:14 emphasizes: “And then the end will come.”

This ‘anti-gospel’ brings into focus the lack of ‘kingdom preaching’ in the church. In my long association with established religion – more than 9 (nine) decades – I have seldom heard a satisfactory explanation of the meaning of ‘the kingdom’. Except……

Except in Dr. J.H. Bavinck’s revolutionary statement. In his book, subtitled “A Radical Kingdom Vision”, he writes that salvation of the person and salvation of creation go hand in hand, and concludes that: “The central point of the gospel is that God wants to reinstate his Kingdom”. (That Adam and Eve squandered in Paradise, I could add.)  

Well, it is happening right in front of our eyes! The Kingdom Comes.

Let’s face it: We, modern 21^st humans, have squandered God’s work of art, and, have speeded up The End. That’s why Jesus said: “And then the end will come.”

Enter Barry Commoner.

It’s not that we lack insight. Enter Barry Commoner, biology professor par eminence, who coined the 4 laws of ecology some 60 years ago. They have stood the test of times.

1. Everything is connected to everything else.
2. Everything must go somewhere.
3. Nature knows best, and
4. Nothing comes free.

Everything is connected to everything else, indicates how ecosystems are complex and interconnected. This complexity and interconnectedness is variable and resilient.

“The system,” Commoner writes, “if overstressed, can lead to a dramatic collapse.”

Today it is on the verge of rapid and irreversible change. Already 70% of wild life has vanished since 1970, a monstrous omen. We are next!

The second law of ecology, everything must go somewhere, restates a basic law of thermodynamics: in nature there is no final waste, matter and energy are preserved, and the waste produced in one ecological process is recycled in another.  The CO2 we generate never disappears, and leads to global heating, now rapidly accelerating.

Nature knows best, the third informal law of ecology.  Commoner writes, “Any major man-made change in a natural system is detrimental to the entire system”.

God has created a self-healing universe, a world in which God’s love shines through continually.

Nothing comes free.

This fourth ilaw of ecology, tells us that the exploitation of nature always carries an ecological cost.

Love the Lord.

The word LOVE applies directly to God’s Creation: “Love the Lord with all your heart, soul and mind”, directly includes God’s work of art. John 3: 16 lies at the heart of the Gospel. We now are paying the price for “Taking God’s Name in vain.”

Dangers galore.

AI – Artificial Intelligence is the latest – and last – attempt to elevate human knowledge to rule the world. It amounts to what theologian Peter L. Berger coined “Cognitive Surrender”.

We are surrendering our religious identity to get along with our neighbours and fellow Christians. Our ‘religious identity’ must have, at its core ‘Love for Creation.” The humble shall inherit the earth”, or, as one translation has it, “Those who claim nothing for themselves, shall rule the Kingdom”.

 The intersection of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the “dumbing down” of human cognition is now an evolving debate in 2026, with research suggesting that over-reliance on generative AI can lead to cognitive laziness, reduced critical thinking, and disappearance of foundational skills. And the debasing of the human race, made in God’s image.

The Bible repeatedly tells us that we must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. Luke 12: 39.

Peter repeats this warning in 2 Peter 3: 10: “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare”.

The time has come to take these words seriously: “let the reader understand”, that the End is near.

WHY ARE WE HERE?

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Mark 10: 45

When Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden – Paradise – they were, physically, like the angels in heaven. They were not married. They truly were a human male and a human female, totally equal in everything, mentally, physically, emotionally. Their equality also was evident in their sexual orientation: they both lacked the ability to reproduce.

They did not see themselves as different, even though they were: their voices gave them away; their opinions had a different slant. The male appearance was, perhaps, a bit more robust, the female form somewhat more flowery. Even though they went about without clothes, they were not naked, in the sense we regard nudity.

They had been instructed, either directly (he) or indirectly (she) by the Maker of all, to name and categorize whatever they saw and experienced. In a sense, this was the first scientific approach to learn about ‘nature’. The God/Creator wanted them see the extent of his domain, and combine love with knowledge, because we cannot love what we do not know.

Here’s what they saw in God’s Kingdom, the object of his divine love.

When they looked around into the new, wide world out there, they were, at once, astounded by the opulent diversity they saw everywhere. Its immense richness was simply amazing; the overwhelming wealth of varieties of beings and the many kinds of creatures was beyond belief. They marveled at the intricacy of it all.

However, once they had more closely examined what went on and around them, then, instead of mere admiration for its emerging newness, they were struck even more by the unity and order that was evident everywhere. Their exploring eyes noticed that everything in their Garden/World was somehow harmoniously connected to everything else: how the one species influenced the other and the one creature depended on the other.

They noted how plants could not exist without the earth that fed them.  They learned how animals, on the other hand, could not function without plants, as these were often the sole source for their food.

Yes, everything connected to everything else.

They saw how butterflies served the flowers just as much as the flowers serve the butterflies. Then, carefully glancing at the sun, that big, beneficial celestial body, they saw how, from an immeasurable distance, it bathes the earth in multicolored splendor, yet, is itself not conscious that from a distance of millions of miles it brings light and warmth. It is the sun that maintains life on earth. It is the sun that causes plants to sprout out of the moist earth.  Yet, unknowingly, that so superior sun serves the tiny, tiny plant that full of life expectancy courageously stretches its stem to absorb its rays.

When they looked around, with open eyes and minds, then there

is one thing that time and again touches them to the core: it’s all about

serving. The law of serving is at the heart of every creature: it is the

overarching purpose for every being. That law makes it possible for

the entire world to exist.

After carefully observing, they concluded that every creature may think that it is there only for itself, but in the final analysis it is nothing else but a servant for others. To be alive, to exist at all, finds it destination simply in serving others. Without that law nothing else can be.

Not a happy ending…..but.

We know the rest of the story. Human history, from its earlier, idyllic start, took a wrong turn, a change of which we increasingly, are becoming aware.

I daily read The Guardian, a British ‘free’ daily. This past week its chief editor published an agonizing editorial, which was truly honest and forthright. Here’s a sample.

At the grandest scale: the environmental crisis. In February, scientists warned that the world is closer than previously thought to a “point of no return” after which runaway global heating cannot be stopped. The global food system is under threat and wildlife populations have declined by more than 70% since 1970. At the same time, the global consensus on the need for urgent action has been attacked by rightwing populists as an elite concern, just as the poorest suffer most from the climate catastrophe.

A gigantic weather change is in the offing: a monster El Nino threatens. War is seen as a solution to our ills. With a madman ruling the USA, expect the worst of all things.

WHY ARE WE HERE?

We, we all, are here to, in-deed, serve creation, as it/she serves us, in spite of our ‘trespasses’. I see creation as God’s female expression.

I fully believe in “The resurrection of the body and Life Everlasting.”

THE RETURN TO ‘NORMAL’

The world has reached an inflection point. Climate collapse, widening inequality, the immense power of Big Tech and the erosion of democracy are not separate trends. They are one interconnected crisis: there is no return to normal.                                                            Anonymous.

The ‘anonymous’ author makes a valid point in stating that the world is facing a dilemma: either go on and face elimination, or …. And here the problem comes in. The real question today is the problem with ‘normal’. What is ‘normal’?

I remember my teacher, in 1939, when I was in grade 5, recalling how in 1839, then a century ago, the Netherlands had celebrated its first train journey, between Amsterdam and Haarlem, a 20 km stretch. It provoked a laugh when some people had called it the Devil’s doing. It now reminds me of C. S. Lewis, who wrote:

The safest road to Hell is the gradual one–the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.

Robin Wall Kimmerer, distinguished professor of environmental biology at SUNY, and member of the Potawafomi Nation, in her celebrated book, Braiding Sweetgrass, outlines the indigenous way of life: living as partners with creation, the ‘wholesome’ way, as opposed to the deadly road that C.S. Lewis so aptly outlined.

She writes: “Our spiritual leaders interpret this as the choice between the deadly road of materialism that threatens the land, and the people, and the soft path of wisdom, respect and reciprocity…. If the people choose the green path, then all races will go forward, forging the great nation that was foretold long ago.

I believe her indigenous views are intrinsically Christian.

Bonhoeffer also asks the all- important question: “How are we to live?”

He answers his own question by stating that “there are not two worlds, but only they who love God love Him as Lord of the earth as it is, they who love the earth love it as God’s earth. Only they who love the earth and God as one, have faith in God’s Kingdom”.

This calls for a radical shift in the proclamation of the MESSAGE.

The Christian proclamation should change direction from the exclusive preoccupation with the written Word, to an effective inclusion of the Created Word, so well described in Romans 1: 20. Look it up, and pray.

Today we are at a decisive junction. The alternative is outlined by John Scheve in Arctic News.

 ·

John Scheve in Arctic News, dated April 30, has a calamitous comment. Here are some excerpts, mostly in my own words.

The next El Niño.

He writes: “There is a steadily intensifying and enlarging subsurface ocean warm water plume in the western and central equatorial Pacific building up. It is unprecedented”. 

The Earth Energy Imbalance is increasing, having tripled in the last few decades as atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations are growing due to our ever-accelerating emissions. Blame cars and wars.

This excess heat has shown up in massively increasing upper ocean warming, at a rate that is far above what any modeling predicted.

The impacts will be so catastrophic that large numbers, possibly millions of people could die, mostly from famine in some regions and catastrophic flooding in others.

Time is short, only about 6 months.

John Scheve is warning that the likely El Niño later this year could be so extreme that there is nothing in the modern records to compare it to. He thinks we could see not only an extreme intensity Super El Niño but one completely off the charts, maybe about + 6 C or higher for an one month peak and over + 4 C for the 5 consecutive months.

He continues: “We could see catastrophic flooding for several months in some areas while heat waves and droughts could destroy crops over large parts of most continents. Even winter snowfall amounts could be so extreme that they could cause a large number of fatalities. We have to prepare contingency plans well in advance to secure food supplies and protect the citizenry from unprecedented widespread severe weather impacts”.

The world has reached an inflection point. Climate collapse, widening inequality, the immense power of Big Tech and the erosion of democracy are not separate trends. They are one interconnected crisis: there is no return to normal.

Yes, there is!

Noah built an ark, as then too, evil had the upper hand, and God caused the Flood. Ecclesiastes 1:9 is right.

The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.

God promised not to repeat a world-destroying event. Now it is our turn to do this. 2 Peter 3: 10 comes to mind:

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.

THIS CLEANSING PHASE SETS THE STAGE FOR NORMAL

EARTH WE ARE, AND TO EARTH WE WILL RETURN.

By the sweat of your brow, you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for earth you are and to earth you will return. Genesis 3: 19.

I only spoke a few words at my wife’s funeral. Just when she was lowered into the grave in the Tweed cemetery in October 2,020, I said: “Earth we are and to earth we will return”. She was 25 in 1953 when we married.

I fervently believe in “the resurrection of the body and life everlasting (on earth)”. I also believe that creation is God’s Primary Word. In the Bible, God’s written Word, there are examples galore referring to this.

Take Psalm 119:105: Your word is a lamp for our feet and a. light for our path. Or take 1 Peter 1: 2: But the word of the Lord endures forever. Or take John 1: 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God and with God. All these texts refer to God’s Created WORD.

Yes, these quotations all point to “The word of the Lord”. Psalm 33: 9 plainly says: “God spoke and it came to be”. None of them refer to the Scriptures, even though they all are duly recorded there.

However, when in church the Bible is read, the reading often is concluded with, “This is the word of the Lord”, which is only partially true. It actually is one of God’s words, and not even the most significant. Take this text: For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities–his eternal power and divine nature–have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. (Romans 1: 20)

 That’s why the Belgic Confession asks the “Word” question, and answers it too.

Article 2: The Means by Which We Know God

We know God by two means:

First, by the creation, preservation, and government
of the universe,
since that universe is before our eyes
like a beautiful book

in which all creatures,
great and small,
are as letters
to make us ponder
the invisible things of God:

God’s eternal power and divinity,
as the apostle Paul says in Romans 1:20.

All these things are enough to convict humans
and to leave them without excuse.

Without excuse.

The ‘Secular world’ too recognizes that ‘Earth we are’. Here is a recent example.

Two  studies – one a UNESCO assessment, People and Nature in UNESCO Sites: Global and Local Contributions, released for Earth Day, and, two, a peer-reviewed study released in early April in Frontiers in Science – both warn that nature is not a resource to exploit or a luxury to preserve but the system on which everything else depends – our economy, our culture, ourselves.

The world, God’s beloved world – read John 3: 16 – is the Word that is forever. Genesis 9 relates how God made a covenant with the earth and all it contains. Remarkable. Unbelievable. A covenant makes the two partners ‘equal’. God treats the world and all it contains, the trees and animals, her microbes and secrets, as an equal, an entity with eternal life: just as God. That’s what Covenant really means: a treaty between equals. Simply amazing! Dr. Sabine Dramm, summarizing Bonhoeffer’s theology, writes: “Specific to the Christian faith is the perception of God and the world as one…” Making a covenant with the world entails that, however unbelievable. God sees the world and all it contains, as representing him as an equal. In that light we must also understand Jesus’ words.

Example.

Jesus gave us “The Lord’s Prayer”. The first petition in it is: “Hallowed be Your Name”. Let’s first translate that ancient, outdated word, “Hallowed”. It’s a medieval word for “HOLY”. That ‘holiness’ has nothing whatever to do with God’s name. Karen Armstrong in her book, Sacred Nature, lists 50 names for God, culled from the Bible. God cannot be named. He is beyond name. What Jesus really aimed at, was the holiness of everything created, human, animal, plant, air, soil, seas. On each created item God’s name is written, and thus holy.

That’s why the Bible, the written Word, will disappear. The eternal Word are the words spoken when the universe was created, ‘in the beginning’. There was a start and the Word was God. Before anything else, THE Word existed, and all explanations cease. In the New Creation we will have eternity to search for the reasons why we live and exist and have our being. I think the Bible calls this: “Eternal Rest”. We will enter that “Requiescat in Pace”, that “Resting in Peace” at that time. Just as there is Peace on Earth, we too will be ‘at peace’, the peace that is beyond understanding. I think that there we will experience the new, explore the unknown, and venture into terra incognita. Now is the time to think the unthinkable, because soon the times of the new things will be here.

Think about this on Earth Day 2026.