Bert Hielema–Columns and Writings

MAD ENOUGH TO GO NUCLEAR?

Total depravity displayed. The devil is in the details.

 “I am thinking about bringing the number one attraction anywhere in the world the man who gets much larger audiences than Elvis in his prime, and he does so without a guitar, the man who loves our country more than anyone else, and the man who some say is the greatest president in history”.                                    Donald J. Trump.

This is one of the many quotes Trump has made of ‘self-praise’. The Dutch have a saying: Eigen Roem, Stinks, or, “Self-Praise Smells”. The stink in Washington is overwhelming the world, witness the Iran invasion: Trump’s hubris and stupidity, arrogance and foolishness displayed to the world for all to see. His rashness and lack of judgement have caught up on him, and now his ignorance has become an object of universal ridicule.

It all would be a bad joke, if only Trump would suffer humiliation. The problem is that his actions have consequences far beyond a blow to his supersized ego: millions if not billions will suffer and die.

The portal to the Delphi Temple had one inscription: Gnooti Seauton: Know Thyself.

To “know thyself” is to gauge core values, and, more difficult, is to recognize blind spots. It means examining what drives one’s actions, and seeing limitations. With Trump? He certainly is a case study of the opposite.

I often turn to the Bible to seek my guidance. Solomon was a wise ruler. Trump would benefit from reading Solomon’s Proverbs.

Here is one:

“When a man’s folly brings his way to ruin, his heart rages against the LORD.”                              Proverbs 19: 3

My background.

Born and educated in the Netherlands, its language is still part of my make-up.

“Wie God verlaat heeft smart op smart te vrezen” teaches Psalm 32: 5, translated as “Abandoning God, harming his Creation, poses pain upon pain”.

When in a Christian elementary school, in grade 3 – 5, every Friday we were assigned to memorize a rhymed Psalm verse, to be recited and sung in class every Monday morning. I remember my mother helping me to drill them into my brain over the weekend. The long-lasting benefits have been that I have a repertoire of Dutch Psalm verses that now, after almost 90 years, is still a constant source of edification for me. Often, first thing in the morning, I wake up singing one of these songs. Also, a sign of senility?

Back to Trump.

Trump is a symptom, not a cause. Why he was elected by the American people, portrays their mentality, dominated by “The American Religion”, which Dr. Harold Bloom, the eminent religious scholar, states that it has ceased to be ‘Christian’, dominated as it is by Gnosticism, an ancient Greek heresy. It teaches that “Spirit is good, and that the human body, which is matter, is evil”. This falsehood is reflected in the church’s ‘heaven’ teaching, and in Trump’s efforts to curtail or even abolish healthcare and climate saving measures, of which his followers approve.

Here is a ditty that Trump and his true believers would underwrite:

Donald J. Trump, Donald J. Trump

A name that makes you jump,

The greatest ruler yet

His wisdom’s a sure bet,

His IQ of the highest set. (2X)

Donald J. Trump, Donald J. Trump,

He’s the champ, not a mere chump

The wisest man around,

No smarter can be found

His clever actions do abound. (2X)

(there is a tune to these verses)

Boredom is dangerous.

However, it seems that Trump is bored. It looks that he has given up on governing — even governing aimed at consolidating his own power and legacy. He increasingly wants to punish everyone whom he imagines has wronged him, but has lost all interest in making the government work. His new, detached attitude, is even more dangerous than his hands on involvement.

Back to naked reality.

This man, on the throne in the White House – color his soul black – reminds me of a book I translated, written by the late Dr. J.H.Bavinck, professor of Missions at the Free University in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. It deals with the Bible’s last book: Revelation.

It was written after World War II, when the memory of Nagasaki and Hiroshima – both destroyed by atom bombs – was still fresh on his mind.

Writers often are prophetic, and, when open to Scripture, there too prophecies are evident. Take the section on “The Fall of Babylon”, dealt with in Revelation 19. Here is Bavinck’s comment: “The Empire is cursed with insanity”. (Now evident in its President.)

Prophetic Bavinck writes: “There is in Babylon (read the present world) a simmering spark of resistance (now appearing), that can burst into a full-fledged revolution. …….There is only one solution, one radical and total cure: a nuclear bomb.” I wonder: Will that happen in Iran?

Both Bavinck’s and Revelation, affirm: “The final judgement is upon the world in the form of natural disasters, earthquakes, pandemics, no human technology can prevent.”

There is a MADMAN IN POWER. Be prepared for mad actions.

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