This week saw the five main bridges in London, UK blocked to all traffic by a group of protesters. The intention was to force the British government to give attention to their cause: the urgency of man-made climate change. This comes as California suffered more devastating winter wild fires, and the newspaper The Independent reported that some nation’s current trends would lead to more than a 5ºC rise.


The scriptures are very clear about the need to respect governments: Paul says:




and Peter says:




- who at that time was the dreadful and deranged Emperor Nero.


Even though Revelation speaks of future Kings of the earth joining forces to fight against Christ, nevertheless we have to practice that subjection and honour, whether our rulers are benevolent or cruel. So this protest – an irritant to the government and a sign of how easy it would be to paralyse some of the flow in the country – shows how concerned and desperate the protesters have become: that reason, cajoling, voting and the climate crisis itself has not been sufficient to bring about the expected action on the climate crisis.


And yet, every government knows what to do: they know that civilisation will disintegrate beneath their feet – the paralysis of traffic over the bridges of London being a foretaste of this - and that they will have to call to the Heavens for assistance. Likewise, climate activists know this – the message having been available for the past ten years. The Almighty gave good counsel to the people of Judah in prelude to its own catastrophe:





While we all think of the terrible harm done to species, this damage is - ironically - a side-issue to what is happening. Our rulers will not call to God because of extinctions, but because their ability to govern is undermined - which will come about because of public pressure.


The issue has always been about authority - whether man can rule himself or whether he needs God's intervention. It is when that authority in the nations becomes difficult to maintain - and not when the last elephants and tigers are shot - that the world leaders will call to the heavens for help. That is why protests which block the arteries of society have more effect than all the erudite and heartfelt documentaries, as beautiful as they may be.


Rather than endure that, we could have a clean, soft exit from this era into the next: we could acknowledge what we can and cannot achieve with the climate crisis, be open-hearted as to concern and to making the best efforts - at a stroke remove the need for demonstrations – and prepare to make that call to the Heavens with peaceful gratitude rather than in panic. The new era will be Christ’s Kingdom on the earth – with Divine authority to tap into, rather than rely on ourselves alone. Since we are clearly facing the end of this era and the beginning of the next, it makes sense to walk towards it today as if we were already there.

A reminder that the Living Voice Bible is freely available without registration of any kind, and can be downloaded as a whole or as a portion of the Holy Scriptures in PDF form.


The layout has been designed to show clearly who is speaking in the scriptures, to make it easier for readers to become familiar with the characters in the Bible and the context of their lives.