Bert Hielema–Columns and Writings

January 8 2023

BECOME LIKE A CHILD.

“The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God above.’

In my Grail version of the Psalms, the Catholic Priest, Joseph Gelineau, who translated the 150 songs, comments on Psalm 13, “The fool in the Bible is not an ignoramus; nor is he a theoretical atheist or agnostic….He has his values all wrong and is encouraged by past experience to behave as if God would never take action”.

“Would never take action?”  

Well, observe the world; war, mayhem in Washington, weird weather everywhere. It took a long time, but God is now taking action: His revenge is unfolding before our very eyes! Time to reflect, and accept that the new and dangerous conditions prior to Christ’s return, are here. And getting worse. 

When I was 4 years old, our family spent a day at the sea. I was thirsty and tasted the sea water and spit it out right away. Weaned on biblical stories (each night my mother would read from our Children’s Bible) I went to my father, and told him to get a piece of wood as Moses had done to make bracken water, sweet.

That, somewhat, indicates what it means when Jesus tells us to become like a child: trusting and simple-minded. God’s wisdom compared to our intelligence is like comparing the Himalayas to a toothpick. We act as if we are God, but it is now becoming painfully clear that our actions are overpowering us.

Today foolishness defines life. 

There is more uncertainty now than there’s been in the past 80 years. There’s more tension between large nation states, particularly nuclear-capable entities than we’ve had in a long time: in many countries, the threat of unrest, as well as crime, terrorism, health issues and natural disasters, is higher than ever. The stalemate in US politics is typical of today’s stupidity: it illustrates that there are no simple answers to complex problems. The emerging forces of fragmentation will continue to bedevil the leaders of both American political parties, as do parties throughout democracies today: how do we deal with end-times?

Confusion reigns in the weather especially. We have created a meteorological monster whose power dwarfs anything humanity has devised. We have done something to the weather, our constant companion wherever we go. The changes we have wrought now are irreversible. Chances are that this year we’ll move into the next El Niño. Moving from the bottom of a La Niña to the peak of a strong El Niño could make a difference of more than half a degree Celsius. Look what we face already with the rise of just ONE degree Celsius: imagine a rapid escalation there! 

Earthquake.

We have fundamentally altered the earth, God’s Created Word. I cannot emphasize this enough: God’s works are God’s words in which he speaks to us loud and clear. This tragic truth is that the church has never wholeheartedly endorsed creation’s holiness.

What we are experiencing today is just the beginning of the birth pangs, as Romans 8: 22 attests. We haven’t seen anything yet: Revelation 11: 13 informs us how a coming earthquake will cause a significant section of the world to collapse. My study Bible notes that ‘earthquakes are a regular feature of divine visitation, and reveals the terrified realization that Christ is the true Lord of all.’ When that ‘ominous warning’ of Christ’s imminent return will strike, no earth scientist can accurately predict.

The Bible is not a history book, nor is it a book that tells us when and where a certain event will take place. It basically tells us that God created, we uncreated, and Christ re-created, we being partners in that re-creation process. The Bible informs us of a beginning and an end, and tells us to look for the final signs, which today point to ‘the last Days’. Matthew 24 warns us that they will be terrible, as the full consequences of our ‘foolishness’ is revealed, evident in political confusion, warlike conditions, increasing weather volatility, economic uncertainty, over-doses staggering, and more nihilistic behavior. The youth senses that there really is no future in a society where ‘more’ is the norm, while ‘less’ should be the aim.

“The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God above.’

Well, there is a Creator/God who has embedded in his creation a revenge factor: destroy my work of art at your own peril! We now are directly dealing with what Malachi, the last Old Testament Prophet, writes: “Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble” (Malachi 4:1). The root meaning of ‘arrogant’ is foolish selfishness, failing to care for creation.

Isaiah 42:9: “See, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth, I tell you of them”.

Have a look at the latest Arctic News

January 1 2023

Zeitenwende.

I better explain the title: Zeitenwende. My search resulted in a German explanation:

das Ende einer Epoche oder Ära und der Beginn einer neuen Zeit.

Which, in turn needs translating: “The end of an epoch or era, and the start of a new time-period.

Olaf Scholz, the German Chancellor, used the word when Russia attacked Ukraine. He backed up his remark by increasing German’s military budget  by $100 Billion, more than doubling its existing allotment. 

Olaf Scholz, me thinks, expressed a change in circumstances far beyond the Russia-Ukraine Conflict: it could well be the end of the world as we have become accustomed to it. That future points to war unending. Already, the USA increased its military budget to an unprecedented $858 Billion, more than half of its total spending.

I should point out that ‘defense’ spending is highly negative: it causes extreme environmental damage through higher Green House Gases: the USA war machinery alone uses more barrels of oil than the 4 Baltic Countries combined. By the way, the USA promised $30 Billion for poor countries to offset the environmental damage caused by rich nations there, but in its 2023 budget of $1.7 Trillion, no provision for this was made.

A curious note.

Before I elaborate on what I see ahead in 2023, a curious note.

While 2022 added up to 6, and was divisible only be ‘6’, the number of the Devil, 2023 adds up to ‘7’ and is only divisible by ‘7’, representing the Holy Number. Something to think about as we enter this ‘epoch-changing’ year!

The Romans and War.

The Roman Emperors had a saying to persuade the ruling Senate and the top decision-makers to finance their wars: “Si vis Pacem, Para Bellum”, “If you want Peace, Prepare for War.” Utter baloney, of course: the Roman Empire, with its legendary legions, was always at war, witness 70 A.D. when the Jewish Temple was destroyed, always new nations to plunder, always new rebellions to squash, always new sources of food to find for Rome’s teeming millions. 

As is often the case with me: Zeitenwende reminds me of the Bible, and of Deuteronomy 31: 17-18, where God confided in his friend, Moses, who was about to stop being Israel’s leader. God said, “They – the people of Israel – will abandon me, and I will hide my face and they will be destroyed. Many disasters will come upon them”. This claim is repeated in Deuteronomy 32:10. So true. Of the 12 tribes that entered the Holy Land, only 2 – Judah and Benjamin – survived. The other 10 tribes simply vanished. Their destruction came because they had abandoned God. 

How about us?

We too have abandoned God. We are destroying God’s Word, his creation, and the Zeitenwende will greatly accelerate this process. After all, ‘God’s Works are God’s Words’. We can’t stop destruction anymore: Tesla is no panacea. 

The End Game.

2023 is the start of the earth’s endgame, the onset of a series of increasingly interlocking disasters, culminating in total destruction of all man-made devices and forms of human inventions.

We better become accustomed to this new reality and be prepared. “We are on a highway to climate hell with our foot on the accelerator,” said the UN secretary general, António Guterres. We have no choice now; everything must change, but human nature will not change: see COP 27.

In the last decade everything has fundamentally been affected: more global hunger; more migrants forced to move; more violent demonstrations; more regional conflicts; more diseases and deaths; more droughts and floods; more natural disasters; more heat and cold; more disease transmitted from animals to humans; more forest destruction; more biodiversity decline; more ideological extremism; more cyberattacks; more large-scale fraud.

Everything is connected to everything else.

Barry Commoner’s four rules of ecology are more relevant than ever, of which the first one is “Everything is connected to everything else.” The other three are: (2) Nature knows best; (3) Nothing disappears; (4) Nothing comes free.

That ‘everything is connected’ must start with our mind: a ‘mindset-change’ is needed, a conception that the Earth is HOLY, that misusing the earth is ‘sin’ against the Creator and his creation. We have to sit down, and pray, and, with inner conviction, confess that “Nature” knows best, that the Divine Creation is a living item, representing God to us; that “nothing comes free”, that whatever we have taken from Creation need to be repaid. Today we are in that ‘pay-back’ situation, because ‘nothing ever disappears’. The oil we burn is composed on elements that stay with us: forever.

We know that. God knows that. “Will I find faith when I return”, Jesus lamented. No. Not that ‘holiness’ faith. That’s why he returns to renew the earth. Pray for grace.

December 27 2022

WHEN WILL THE LORD RETURN? 

I have a curious habit. When I see a number, such as 2022, the year gone by like a shadow, then, to train my mental arithmetic, I add up the digits, 2+0+2+2, notice that they total ‘6’, see it’s divisible by 3, and know that, since it is an even number, also a multiple of 2. All this results in its ‘prime’ number: 2022/6 = 337. In my mind, this past year was ruled by ‘6’, the digit that symbolizes ‘the Devil’. 

How true?

Well, looking back, we still have the Russia/Ukraine war, a totally evil event. We have had two major Climate Conferences, COP 27 in Egypt, where the Devil came out on top, because nothing concrete resulted, and COP 15 in Montreal on Biodiversity, where only promises were made. 

Promises!

With a recession looming – meaning less tax income – with mounting obligations for healthcare – being sick is the new life-mode, with military threats on the increase – meaning greater need for weaponry, ever more complicated and expensive – with an aging population, meaning more money for old age pensions, promises might not be kept! 

Oh, did I mention ‘natural’ disasters? Who will foot the bill when the alarm bells toll for hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, floods, drought, heat, cold, each year more intense and frightening? 

China! The world’s manufacturing hub. It may collapse, and when it does, brace yourself: shortages galore. The weather? El Nino succeeding La Nina? That would cause continuous calamity. 

So, what about the COP15 promises to give restitution to nations harmed by our carbon emissions? Maybe in Zimbabwe billions with inflation soaring and money devaluing.

A new “Silent Spring”.

When creation was complete, God called it very good: it all fitted together, the one species serving the other: complete symbiosis. That ‘inter-dependency’ has vanished.

According to the World Wildlife Fund’s Living Planet Report, which looks at studies of some 32,000 species worldwide, vertebrate populations have declined on average by 69 percent since just 1970. In some ecosystems, the collapse of vertebrates has been even more drastic: In Latin America and the Caribbean, for instance, the studied populations have fallen on average by 94 percent since 1970, while the species that live in the world’s rivers and lakes, the estimated decline has been 83 percent.

As many as a million animal and plant species currently face the threat of extinction, according to the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (I.P.B.E.S.), a figure that translates to about 13 percent of bird species, 25 percent of mammals and 31 percent of sharks and rays. Insects are dying off, too — possibly more than 50 percent of them since 1970 – endangering pollination. Also, the planet is experiencing a new “Silent Spring” of wildlife destruction because many wild birds are dying from avian flu: the past year has seen the most significant and sudden loss of birds in decades. 

I remember getting the book “Silent Spring” by Rachel Carson in 1963: I gave it away without ever reading it. Oh, my. What kind of person was I in those days? No ecological concern al all! 

A new mix among mammals.

Already 62 percent of global mammal biomass is livestock — animals raised by humans for our consumption. Four percent is wild. Taken together, humans and their food represent 96 percent of all mammal life on Earth. Only 4 percent of global ecosystems remain intact. No wonder, the reigning mood at COP 15 in Montreal was LAMENT.

When will the Lord return?

The Bible tells me that when God had finished creation and reflected on what he had done, he called it ‘very good’. Everything was connected to everything else:  the grass blades fed the many different animals; the lions took care of the injured of the weaker species, the birds nestled in the trees: every part of the universe existed for the perfection of its totality. Divine goodness pervaded the earth, the skies, the seas. 

That is no longer the case.

Suppose you were an eminent artist and, through some queer quirk your total portfolio, once regarded as a ‘world treasure’, was slowly first, then rapidly destroyed, how would you feel? How would God, the greatest artist, feel today? No wonder we face God’s vengeance. The harm we have inflicted on God’s creation is backfiring on us. The species we have murdered, the forests we have leveled, the air we have poisoned, all this and more is threatening our wellbeing and sanity. Indeed:

It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
 (Hebrew 10:31)

That’s what’s happening today, because Creation is God’s primary Revelation. God’s works are God’s words. We destroy them at our peril. This could well mean that Christ’s return is imminent: his patience has limits.

December 21 2022

THE RISE AND FALL OF CHRISTIANITY.

Paul writes that there were few of noble birth and rich among the converts, still, quite early, Christianity penetrated into the higher stratus of society, even the imperial court. 

They were the few, but they occupied important positions. Some of Jesus’ most revealing words were directed to Nicodemus, a wealthy and wise cleric. (John 3). Joseph of Arimathea provided for Jesus’ luxury burial place. Influential women supported Jesus financially (Luke 8), so, yes, they were the few, but they played an important role among the early Christian, also because they were literate and could interpret Jesus’ words in a society where less than 10% were able to read.

Social Servicers.

When two severe epidemics struck the Roman empire between 100-300 AD, the pagans fled the city, but the Christians stayed behind, nursing the sick, andb especially, by their conduct, brought the Good News. 

In the 4^th Century their numbers swelled, and it became fashionable to be Christian. Christianity kept on flourishing for many centuries: monastic orders, through architecture and science, influenced society far and wide, with the result that, in Europe, the church dominated.

Jesus comes back.

A while ago I read “The Brothers Karamazov,” Dostoevsky’s last book. It has an episode involving the church: it’s called “The Grand Inquisitor”. Ivan, the atheist Karamazov brother, composed it and tells it to his younger brother Alyosha, the aspiring priest. In it, Jesus returns to earth during the Spanish Inquisition. Ivan says: “It is fifteen centuries since signs from heaven were seen. And now the deity appears once more among the people.” Everyone recognizes him, because a blind man sees and a dead child rises. But the old cardinal, in charge of the Inquisition, takes Jesus to prison and tells him that: “You have no right to add anything to what you have said…. Why have you come to hinder us?” Ivan explains that this is a fundamental feature of the Church that God cannot ‘meddle’ now because “all has been given by you to the Pope. The Church is the authority now.”
The Grand Inquisitor then tells Jesus that he erred when he resisted the devil’s three temptations in the wilderness, where the devil offered him miracle, mystery and might, which the Church has accepted. Jesus, however, wanted them to have freedom of choice. But, says the clergyman, freedom is too difficult and frightful for the masses and so the Church has taken the three awesome gifts for them. The Inquisitor concludes: “We are not working with you, but with the devil– that is our mystery.” 

Jesus, still not speaking, kisses him on the lips. “That was all his answer.” The Grand Inquisitor opens the cell door and says, “Go, and come no more, never, never.” And the divine visitor leaves. 

Freedom too difficult.

“Freedom is too difficult for the masses” says the cardinal, but that is the essence of Jesus’ teaching (Galatians 5:1). That’s why the church of his day killed him. Today is no different. In the 17^th Century Descartes’ philosophy was embraced by the church. He said that the whole of nature is a machine, without a soul, inanimate, an easy faith. Exploit it: become rich! Keeping the laws of Creation is hard.

Today this dualism is the standard of our culture: another reason why the days of organized religion are over. Christ came to teach us how to live: and that to the full. (John 10: 10). Admit it: the church’s message is still gnostic: separating nature from grace.

Decline.

 I attend a small-town Presbyterian Church. In Belleville and Trenton, the nearest cities, their Presbyterian Churches closed. I remember Belleville having a music director and a large choir. I remember Trenton having a youth director. This year our church has added 3 families. Why? We have an environmental team that uses the yard around our Main Street location to grow food for the Food Bank- 1,000 lbs! – signaling that “The Earth is the Lord’s”. It certainly was not the preaching! Preaching is so 16^th Century, geared to illiteracy. Believers need more than words: need ‘body, soul and spirit’ healing, need meaningful fellowship, need genuine sharing, need discussion rather than lecturing.

Rabbi Heschel defines ‘sin’ as: “The human refusal to become what we are.” The church must be the place where we become what we are, before God. Ever realized that the word ‘liturgy’ means ‘the laity at work’! That’s how a church should function. 

Christianity rose because its membership had the freedom to become leaders. Christianity fell because its leaders failed to encourage the potential of its members, and failed to see Creation as God’s Primary Word. Everything is connected to everything else: God, Christ, Creation, the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit, Humanity: you can’t have one without the other.

December 14 2022.

HOLY BODY; HOLY EARTH.

            
Don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which you have of God, and you are not your own? (1 Corinthians 6: 19-20)

We, as the top creatures, are by all indications, the only entity with a God-consciousness. In Colossians 1: 15-20, Christ describes himself as “The First born of all Creation”. That to me suggests that Christ, as the first human ever, made Creation possible, while we, as Psalm 82: 6 confirms, are “Gods, Children of the Most High”. Believe me: we are of the highest status among creatures.

“Everything is connected to everything else”.

When God’s Holy Spirit dwells in us, then this permeates our entire being, because everything is connected to everything else. That is the First law of Ecology. The others are, “Creation knows best”, “Nothing comes free”, and “Nothing ever disappears.” They too have become my rules for life.

This first law gives us special responsibilities, which means that we, in our daily lives, have to reflect the status of being ‘temples of the Holy Spirit’.

Our responsibility, owing to our high position, extends even further: not only are we of divine origin, we LIVE in a divine setting as well. 

 “Sacred Nature” traces how ancient religions always have regarded the earth as holy. Psalm 24 unambiguously states that “The earth is the Lord’s and all it contains”, affirming creation’s sacred status.  

Since life is a unity, my mind too needs cultivating so, for more than 30 years I have written a daily log of 500 words, based on the lectionary, in which I wonder and wander, give my imagination free rein, do this right after my breakfast every day. Last week, in my ‘first thing in the morning’ exercise of exploring the Scripture, I was confronted with 2 Peter 3: 10, “and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare”. 

That made me think of COP15, meeting this week in Montreal, discussing this very text: “Everything done in the created world”. That points to us and ‘biodiversity”. Yes, these 12,000 delegates there are discussing 2 Peter 3: “How to remedy the harm we have done to creation!”, because Biodiversity, the concept, indicates life in all its facets. 

Biodiversity is essential for the processes that support all life on Earth. It keeps us healthy. It keeps us fed. It keeps our economies running. In fact, half of global GDP is dependent on nature, according to a report from the UN Environment Program. Food production depends on pollination. Construction depends on timber. Infrastructure and energy production depend on reliable water sources that flow from healthy ecosystems. Yet, ironically, how these sectors operate is also suffocating biodiversity by depleting natural resources, spoiling forests and seas, and crowding out and killing native species.

“Human kind cannot bear much reality”, writes T.S. Eliot in Murder in the Cathedral.

We are what we eat. What we are physically, depends on our diet. What we are spiritually, is often the result of our upbringing. By the grace of God, I was born in a devout, extended family. As grown-ups, we are on our own, attacked from every possible angle by material and spiritual forces. It is almost impossible to develop a balanced life, and yet we must. We must do everything possible to maintain the holiness of our status: that means striving for a long and healthy life, which includes diet: it is our duty from Day 1.

The five pillars of a longevity diet are:

1. Whole grains like corn, rice and oats (complex carb)
2. Greens
3. Tubers, including potatoes and yams (complex carb)
4. Nuts
5. Beans (complex carb)

Ever since I read (45 years ago), “Diet for a Small Planet” my wife (now deceased) and I have followed a vegetarian diet, based on the five points outlined above. I see it as my holy duty to treasure my body as holy. Fortunately, I still am able to cultivate a large vegetable garden, so that most of what I eat is homegrown.

To stay physically fit, I walk each day for about an hour, almost always in a forest setting. Again, I am fortunate there as well, a choice we made in 1975 moving from the city to Eastern Ontario.

All this has not been my doing: I believe in divine guidance and thus adhere to: Psalm 119: 105: Your word – Christ, Prophecy, Scripture – is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path (in God’s holy creation).

Yes, I believe in divine guidance: I believe that we are here for a purpose, perhaps an impossible purpose: To be a holy person in a holy earth, in preparation for perfection to come.

December 7 2022.

OUR MARCH OF FOLLY

Then you better start swimmin’
Or you’ll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin’

—Bob Dylan, “The Times They Are A-Changin'”

I have this book, bought in 1985, The March of Folly, by Barbara W. Tuchman, already famous for her The Guns of August and A Distant Mirror, the calamitous 14^th Century.

In her March of Folly, she wonders why governments throughout history have pursued policies contrary to their own interests, noting how already in antiquity the Trojans took the wooden horse within their walls, assuring their defeat; how the Renaissance Popes provoked the Protestant secession; how the British lost America through their own stupidity and America betrayed herself in Vietnam.

Since 1985 we have witnessed an identical phenomenon in the 20-year war the USA waged in Afghanistan, a country with a history of failures for Alexander the Great, the British, and the Russians.

So, what about today? More of the same?

Now, almost 2023, we have arrived at a turning point in history, where again folly takes place, now in the fast lane. In earlier times, conflicts were between nations. Today our foolishness is altogether different: we now openly combat God, by waging war against his creation, in which we all, with very few exceptions, are eager participants. Isaiah 24 describes our situation perfectly. Have a look: the Bible is relevant for all times.

Ample warnings.

It’s not that we have not been warned: already Svante Arrhenius, a Swedish scientist, 125 years ago, suggested that the use of coal and oil would lead to global warming: since then, with James Hansen leading the way, the United Nations have had 27 conferences, each one with more urgent warnings.  

Folly in the fast lane: Three ultimate dangers.

Our self-inflicted and unwinnable war is resulting in three predictable events: (1) Permanent Inflation and famine, (2) shortages of necessary components, stalling the economy and causing unemployment, and (3), financial turmoil leading to collapse.

Permanent inflation and famine. 

Weather related events and regional conflicts will decrease food supply, cause inflation, as the easy to exploit natural resources have been used first, making new supplies more costly to obtain.

A possible world-wide depression.

Depression as occurred in the 1930’s cannot be ruled out. Increasing demand for government funds to compensate for floods, heat, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, new weaponry, will deplete government funds, aggravated by stalled or diminished tax revenue. 

Financial Collapse.

Directly tied in with this is financial collapse as the entire economy is a Ponzi scheme: when one sector collapses, the entire structure stumbles.

How can we cope the best?

No simple answers. Our energy addiction is impossible to kick. Go back to a church where like-minded people seek refuge in community, prayer, and mutual support. Revelation 18 points to an economic situation with inflation and sufficient supply of luxury goods, but no demand: in other words: “Stagflation”. It also points to a very sudden end for all. Don’t get caught unprepared.

Is there really a solution?

Frankly, we have painted ourselves into a corner. We have erected a society totally dependent on fossil fuels. The efforts by the United Nations, through Climate Change Conferences – 27 so far – have proved fruitless. 

The good news is that the efforts to alleviate the effects of Climate Change through solar and wind power, will bear fruit in the New Creation, evident from Revelation 14: 13, as ‘our good deeds will follow us.’

Admit it: as church, we have been foolish. We have followed the wrong track, believing and proclaiming that salvation was a matter of the soul, able to enjoy  the ‘carbon-derived luxuries’, and then sail beyond, leaving our messy earth behind. Bonhoeffer calls that “Pious Secularism.” He was entirely correct when he stated that Christ came to teach us ‘how to live.’ 

Johan Herman Bavinck in his book, Between the Beginning and the End, a radical Kingdom vision, categorically wrote: “Salvation of the self and salvation of the earth go hand in hand: you can’t have one without the other.” 

Yes, the times they are a’changing.

When representatives from more than 190 countries assemble in Montreal this week to try to negotiate a landmark agreement on global biodiversity, their focus will be on creation, called “Mother Nature” by scientists. However, their point is wrong. The real obstacle is our human nature. It is too late to change our ways. 

But it’s human nature that will determine the outcome.

Then you better start swimmin’
Or you’ll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin’

We must prepare ourselves for radically different circumstances. It no longer is a purely physical matter: it is a spiritual change that is needed. We are on our own. The old ‘oil-based’ economy is killing us. A new mindset is needed.