ENDY JAY
‘Humans are waging a suicidal war on nature’. These were the words of Senor Antonio Guterres, U.N. Secretary General, as reported by the BBC in its news bulletin of Wednesday 2nd December last.
What led this top official to make such an alarming statement, is not yet clear. But we can hardly imagine one of the top guns of the planet to have made such a spine-chilling declaration ‘ad lib’. And it would not be speculation to believe he must be in possession of some latest report by experts. True it is, albeit somewhat ‘masked’ by Covid-19 of late, the likes of ecology, climate change, environment and what have we, have been the keynote themes of many high-level meetings at different venues worldwide, with top leaders – Trump’s stand will now only be a bad souvenir – promising unflinching support to appropriate moves to curb anything or activity that ruin the earth.
Not long ago, Lord Attenborough, renowned expert of world standing, declared that human activity presents risks of the extinction of life on Planet Earth. On this score Lord Attenborough was somewhat astray. It would be an unqualifiable presumption on my part to contradict a lead figure of the calibre of Lord Attenborough. Just as I am convinced Lord Attenborough would have never spoken of extinction of life had he been aware that the Bible says; ‘This is what God says, the Creator of the heavens, the One who formed the earth, its Maker who firmly established it, Who did not create it simply for nothing, but formed it to be inhabited…’ (Bible Book of Isaiah chapter 45, verse 18) or ‘He has established the earth on its foundations, it will not be moved from its place forever and ever’ (Book of Psalms chapter 104, verse 5). It is just unthinkable that Lord Attenborough could have attempted, even unwittingly, to belie Bible prophecies – infallible it is worth reminding. It stands to reason to imagine he was using a hyperbole to underscore the gravity of the situation.
In one of my previous notes published in these very columns (Le Mauricien – Forum Monday February 24, 2020 – ‘The time of judgment is fast approaching’), I brought to the attention of the reader that other Bible prophecy which reads as follows: ‘But the nations became wrathful, and your own wrath came, and the appointed time for the dead to be judged and to reward your slaves the prophets, and the holy ones and those fearing your name, the small and the great, and to bring to ruin those ruining the earth’. (Bible Book of Revelation chapter 11, verse18).
Put simply, this prophecy means that, notwithstanding all the efforts deployed by many worldwide, genuine and sincere as may possibly be, men will continue, through greed, selfishness, ignorance and that reluctance to move away from their comfort zone, to ruin the planet, forcing the Creator of Heaven and Earth to intervene before human activities ruin the planet irreversibly and restore its ability to sustain quality life forever. And in the eyes of the Creator, man is ruining the earth in many more ways that his activities relating to consequences that trigger climate change.
Guterres’ warning, a tone higher and given its timing, is yet another proof that we are not paying heed to what I have often invited attention relating to the ‘writings on the wall’, ‘this point in time’ etc, meaning we are moving inexorably to face that calamity unprecedented in human history. And soon at that!