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Dr. Del Tackett is the author, architect and teacher for Focus on the Family's The Truth Project, a nationwide initiative designed to bring the Christian worldview to the body of Christ.

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The Sky is Falling!!! But I Can Fix It…For a Fee!

Posted on December 17, 2009
Filed Under The State | 18 Comments

There is a little scandal going around our town. Earlier this year, the City Council announced there was a revenue “crisis” and they needed to raise taxes in the next election to fix it. If the citizens didn’t pass the tax hike on the ballot, then there would be mass police and fire department layoffs, city parks would be fenced, swimming pools, museums, and all kinds of favorite amenities would be padlocked or deeply curtailed.

It was surely the beginning of the end of our town. The sky was falling, but they could fix it…for a fee.

However, a strange thing happened. The citizens didn’t buy it. They voted down the tax increase.

Then, stranger still…months later, lo and behold, all of those things that were going to be shut down or severely cut are still operating…as normal! When questioned, the city now says it made a minor error in estimating its tax revenues…off by a mere $4.3 million.

Now, it is true that people can make mistakes like this, and for our city, maybe that’s what it will end up being…an honest mistake. But what I would like for us to ponder is that there is a philosophical outlook that creates a propensity to do just what our city council may have done: manufacture a crisis to manipulate others into doing what we want. In the last blog, we outlined how Hegelian thinking actually leads us to believe that there is something powerful about the crisis …that it can miraculously bring about the higher order of things. This kind of thinking will lead us to become viscerally attached to the crisis itself…feeding it, caring for it, maybe even fudging the data to propagate it.

Why?

Because the “crisis” becomes the means to our end. We will do almost anything to PROMOTE it, rather than eliminate it.

One of the popular crises of late concerns the climate of the earth. In the 70’s, we were warned of an impending Ice Age.

That didn’t really get any legs.

Then it became the Global Warming Crisis. That really took off. In a big way. Now it seems that every company is on the bandwagon, trying to convince me to buy its products because the company is “green” or their products are “green”. Hardly a day goes by that I don’t see some article talking about the disaster awaiting us down the ever-increasingly-hot-road ahead.

When all of this was just cranking up, I remember reading an article by one of the early Global Warming proponents, a leading climatologist. In the article he made a statement that has troubled me for years. After commenting on why scientists who support Global Warming need to offer up scary scenarios and make dramatic statements, yet suppress any doubts they might have, he then made this statement: “Each of us has to decide what the right balance is between being effective and being honest”. Now, for me, a simple farm boy from Idaho, it seemed that wasn’t a decision a scientist should be making! I thought a scientist was to always be “honest” with the data, dealing with the facts, not making up scary stories just to be more “effective.”

Just yesterday, I saw a lead article talking about the impending disaster of rising sea levels due to Global Warming. The article carried a photo of a house nearly submerged. But the photo was of a farm house flooded by the Mississippi River! It had nothing to do with rising sea levels at all. But, it sure made me think I needed to run out and buy some sand bags (and I live at 7400 feet!)

I remember several years ago having dinner with a solar physicist. He and I were attending a conference featuring a number of debates on current issues. I was debating a topic on a moral issue and he was debating against Global Warming. His opponent was a Harvard professor. I am so sorry that I cannot remember either of their names. I will refer to him as Dr. No and his opponent as Dr. Yes.

Anyway, at one point, Dr. No was trying to make the point that his research had shown that the rise or fall in global temperatures was due primarily to the increase or decrease in solar activity. When solar activity increased, our global temperatures rose and, consequently, the carbon dioxide levels rose. He showed us the graphs from his research. Then, to our amazement, he showed a page from a children’s book where his graphs had been used as part of the story. However, they had reversed the labeling of the lines and made the graph show that a rise in carbon dioxide preceded the rise in global temperatures. The purpose of the book was to convince children that CO2 levels were causing Global Warming. Dr. No said that he wrote the publisher pointing out their error. He then showed us the letter he received as a response. They acknowledged reversing the labels, but they believed the new graph and the narrative properly conveyed what was really happening!

I was flabbergasted!

But, not surprised.

See, we live in a day where the denial of absolute truth is rampant. Once that occurs, data and events, facts and history become mere manipulative tools…means that can be used to reach an end.

So, therefore, it is appropriate to be a little skeptical when you hear about a “crisis”.

Analyze it first. Ask these questions:

1. What is the “apparent” solution to the crisis?
2. Who profits from that solution?
3. Is the evidence for the crisis hard or “squishy”?

-If the evidence is somewhat cloudy or there are valid sources that offer contrary evidence;
-If the solution profits those who are most vocal in promoting the “crisis” (selling books or products) or the solution aligns with their political “ends” (i.e. greater power and reach of the state or transferring wealth from one to another);
-If the contrary evidence isn’t openly discussed or acknowledged (or when “emails” show up showing that someone is possibly manipulating the evidence and the firestorm is over how those emails were obtained rather than what the emails reveal);

Then…

It is highly probable that the “crisis” is manufactured primarily to achieve the end. This doesn’t mean that some or maybe even much of the evidence isn’t valid. But elevating it to the level of a “crisis” may be more for the purpose of achieving some other objective rather than saving us from the falling sky.

[By the way, NASA satellite data shows that global temperatures over the last 10 years have not changed at all and over the last year they have actually dropped precipitously. Global temperatures rose for the first 40 years of the 1900’s, then began to decline. That led to the “Impending Ice Age Crisis” of the 1970’s. Then they began to warm again until 1998. Now they are starting to cool. Hmmm…seems to support my solar physicist friend who says it is all a natural pattern of warming & cooling that follows the cycles of the sun. Anyway, I’m sure you have your own opinion. My point is to be skeptical of anyone selling snake oil like Doc Terminus in “Pete’s Dragon” who was telling the towns folk that his elixir could heal anything, even if they didn’t’ have anything. Doc Terminus had planted a fake “lame” man in the audience that he was going to heal with his amazing tonic. The classic line in the movie is Doc Terminus stating: “Who can deny this man a miracle…if…he is willing to pay for it!]

Comments

18 Responses to “The Sky is Falling!!! But I Can Fix It…For a Fee!”

  1. Robert on December 17th, 2009 1:16 pm

    Sounds like the city I live in. Our Commission here in Gainesville, FL decided to assess churches a “fee” for fire services, and if they did not pass it, fire services would not be able to be funded. Well churches/citizens were already mad and somewhat mobilized because they had just passed a law that allows anyone to go into any bathroom as long as they said they “had an inner since of being that gender at the time”. So long story short, the church tax didn’t pass, and guess what, they were able to figure how to fund everything.

    Fun fact: our Mayor is on one of the panels at the Copenhagen Climate Summit.

  2. Dan H. on December 18th, 2009 4:22 pm

    Dr. Tackett,

    Thanks so much for this series on how crises are used to alarm and manipulate people today. I remember the story you are referring to from 2007 regarding the children’s book that had falsified data in it to support the GW myth.

    One of the scientists to which you refer might be Robert Ferguson, president of the Science and Public Policy Institute in Washington, D.C.

    Here are some websites that detail the lie they are pushing on our kids! The authors and publisher have defiantly refused to stop publishing the errant books. Here are just a few of the sites that tell this very sorted story:

    http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=57630

    http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2007/09/13/will-media-report-error-laurie-davids-global-warming-children-s-book

    And here’s Ferguson’s own SPPI website:

    http://scienceandpublicpolicy.org/other/childrensbookerror.html

    When a scientist says: “Each of us has to decide what the right balance is between being effective and being honest”. It’s obvious that the agenda is driving the science! Science with an agenda is simply no science at all!

    Dan H.

  3. mike on December 19th, 2009 3:10 pm

    Christians are often labeled as being brain-washed group thinkers which is unfortunately too often true, however, this global warming bandwagon has got to be one of the largest crowd of unobjective, group-thinking, crisis-creating, fact-fudging, agenda-driven global hoaxes ever foisted upon mankind.

  4. Chris on December 19th, 2009 6:05 pm

    Del,
    The true tragedy is that man HAS had a most profound effect on a lot more than just the earth’s environment. An effect which will one day lead to “global warming” on a scale that would make Al Gore swoon. The pollutant is not carbon dioxide, but rebellion against God. And its entry brought death and futility that touches every creature and the whole of creation. On a day that only the Father knows there will be a judgment by fire when the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat.

    Paying poor people to stay poor to accommodate the rich will not save in that day but He who was rich became poor so that we might be saved, having already been delivered from death to life. How Satan and his minions mock God, but in the end they will be the ones who live in eternal shame.

    I know we should be winsome, but I think we also need to very frank and straightforward with people, showing them constantly the lie that blinds from the truth, and the Truth that sets free and reconciles all of creation back to its Creator.

  5. Kenn on December 20th, 2009 7:41 pm

    It seems interesting to note there’s a gathering tsunami of folks who are crying out because of an apparent “‘Crisis’ of Faith”. Who profits from that?

  6. Keely G on December 21st, 2009 2:44 pm

    Dr. Tackett, I love this post! I really love that you filed it under “the State” – as it is most fitting. A recent “Time” article called this past decade the “Decade from Hell”. I think of it as the decade of Fear. I remember how we were all going to die because of the killer bees – now we have a bee shortage. Then – we were all going to get SARS, then Bird Flu. From 2003-2008, deaths in the family and issues with my own health had me trapped in fear. In the beginning of 2009, I made a pact with God that I would begin to master that fear and rely on Him. Now – I’m not perfect, it may take me a little while to reign it in – but that decision has made all of the difference in my family’s life. My husband joined me in our resolve and 2009 for us, despite the very real challenges facing many this year, has remained a blessed year. I love our Lord so much for his control of everything – and I learn again every day how to rest on Him and push aside the fear.

  7. Ron on December 22nd, 2009 1:15 pm

    Merry Christmas Del, you had me at Hello. The whole concept of challenging “crisis information” is something that seems lost in our culture today… lets bring it back (at least in America, then the world).

  8. Steve on December 23rd, 2009 12:37 am

    This global warming scare is one more way to make you feel guilty so you’ll give up more and more of your freedom and liberty to the federal government. The Truth Project should be manditory for every new session of congress.

  9. Tim G. on December 23rd, 2009 1:54 am

    Very, very well said!! I didn’t even know about the “Children’s Book” fiasco. And they won’t even fix the book when called on the carpet by the author of the Graph they are using. Pathetic and illegal I would hope.

  10. Drew on December 23rd, 2009 5:46 pm

    “Follow the money” is one of the great mottos of those looking to find the truth in anything. Chris is bang-on when he says that man IS responsible for the state of the environment, but not in the way the environmentalists say. We are responsible because we dropped the ball on the first thing God told us to do, which was to “be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it” — i.e. take care of His Creation. And He also promises (2 Chr. 7:13-14) that if we turn back to Him, He will fix the mess we’ve made. So we’re responsible for caring for what He gave us and we’re responsible for turning back to Him. He also gave us the Grace to repent for our previous “environmental sins”: like any sin, we can repent in Christ and start over with a fresh slate.
    Here’s the rub: that solution to our environmental problems doesn’t cost any money. That means no one stands to make money off it, so that idea won’t gain any traction in the world. Let these and other messages encourage us not to get angry or fearful or cynical, but to remember that Jesus told us there’d be days like these, and our job as Christians is to spread the Gospel and bring as many people into the Kingdom as we can — and not to focus on the ersatz problems the enemy tries to cook up for us.

  11. Robert on January 7th, 2010 12:42 am

    I came to the conclusion years ago that much of the hoopla over global warming was a means of giving the government a way of taking over more of our lives, and was a bunch of baloney. I now look at the health care crisis in this country as put forth buy our government, and think that there is no real crisis and that it is another attempt buy our government to take over our lives and to remove as many of our freedoms as possible. Does there need to be reform in the health care system? Yes I think so, but I think that the reform needs to be done by the health professionals themselves not a bureaucrat sitting in a cushy office in Washington D. C. who has no real idea what needs to happen and only adds to the costs involved in getting treatment. I also believe that the people who call themselves God’s people need to humble themselves and pray so that God can come and intervene in our country and heal the wounds that have been occurring over the last decade.

  12. Anonymous on January 9th, 2010 11:27 am

    As Christians , we know that God is in control of the world. He will bring this world to an end when He is ready. We just need to expose the “LIES” with the “TRUTH” when ever it raised it’s ugly, deceptive head. Remember, when we reflect back in history, it has always been the Politician that created the social and economic problems. We the people are always having to correct the problem by
    exposing the darkness of evil with the light of truth! To God be the glory!

  13. Oscar G. on January 9th, 2010 11:55 am

    God will bring the world to an end when He is ready to Judge the end of this world. As Christians, we must be ready to expose the LIE with the TRUTH, where ever or when ever it raises it’s ugly head. Today, power and money are the great motivators. We can clearly see this in our government all around us. May they be Local, State or Federal, they are all playing the same game.They have no eyes to see or ears to hear the truth, which has already been revealed to us. Those who are able to believe the truth is a gift from God. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of your selfves;it is a gift of God.” Ephesians 2:8

  14. Dave H. on January 19th, 2010 8:19 pm

    Is the current push for Health Reform a fabricated crisis?

  15. Alvaro on January 19th, 2010 9:53 pm

    Thanks for your article…

    what do you think about the “Crisis-Sky is Falling-TEOTWAWKI” they are building up around the 2012 theories?

  16. Lee on January 20th, 2010 6:16 am

    Right on, Del. I’m a scientist and a Christian. The other scientists I know also are skeptical or believe that the current crisis is fabricated as a way to control behavior. It’s sad when you can’t trust your government or the press.

  17. Jon R. on January 20th, 2010 7:14 am

    I like your comments. Minor complaint.
    The quote you say “has troubled me for years” apparently comes from Dr Stephen Schneider of Stanford University, quoted in a Discover magazine article. He does indeed say “Each of us has to decide what the right balance is between being effective and being honest.” But his next sentence is “I hope that means being both.”
    This from http://stephenschneider.stanford.edu/Mediarology/MediarologyFrameset.html
    I don’t think this affects your main point, but it just might alleviate some of your “trouble”.

  18. Brad on January 20th, 2010 3:27 pm

    The solar physicist you spoke with was probably Dr. Henrik Svensmark from the Danish National Space Center. Dr. Svensmark’s book, The Chilling Stars, explains the phenomenon of global climate change resulting from fluctuating solar activity. It is a good read for both scientist and layman alike.

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