Rick Joyner - Living Dangerously: A Behind the Scenes Look at The Climate Change Debate

Living

Dangerously

A Behind the Scenes Look at

The Climate Change Debate

R I C K

J O Y N E R

MorningStarMinistries.Org

Table of Contents

Living Dangerously by Rick Joyner

Copyright 2014

Distributed by MorningStar Publications, Inc., a division of MorningStar Fellowship Church 375 Star Light Drive, Fort Mill, SC 29715

www.MorningStarMinistries.org

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Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the New American Standard Bible, copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1977 by Th Lockman Foundation. Italics in Scripture are for emphasis only.

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the author.

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Printed in the United States of America.

Cover Design: Kandi Evans

eBook Layout: Scott Swires

ISBN 978-1-60708-571-3; 1-60708-571-2

This much we do know: What we do to nature directly reflect our attitude toward our God who created and inhabits it.

John Sandford, Healing the Earth

Int roduction

C limate change is one of the biggest debates of our time. If climate change is happening and it is man caused, then it is one of the most important issues of our time. If it is not happening, or is not man caused, it is still one of the most important issues of our time because it is the most important ruse of our time. Either way, it has some of the most far-reaching consequences of any issue with which the world is now grappling.

As Jesus exhorted His followers to understand the signs of the times better than they understand the signs of weather, every Christian has a basic responsibility to understand the great issues of our time. Many of the ultimate issues that mankind is now facing are being drawn to the same crossroads around the issue of climate change. This book is written to condense and illuminate these issues.

This work is about my journey to understand climate change. My goal was to determine if it was real. If it was real, then I wanted to understand the consequences. If itwasnt real, I wanted to understand the agenda of those who were propagating it. I learned far more than I expected. The implications of this are more far reaching than I ever imagined.

We will examine the main factors in this climate change debate from both sides of the issue. I have sought to do this objectively, and I think I have been in a good position to be objective. Even though I entered this journey as a climate change skeptic, I have no compelling reason to believe in climate change or not to believe in it. I just did not want to be convinced of anything like this without clear evidence. If climate change is true, I want to know it, and I want to understand the implications. If it is not true, it is of the upmost importance that we understand who is promoting this and why it is being used in this way.

Like many complex issues of our time, I found merit on both sides of this debate. Those who think there is no merit to the other sides argument have likely based their position on propaganda and may not really understand the issue. There is also a lot of distortion and misinformation on both sides. Our goal should be to understand the issue in a way that will lead us to the right conclusion and the proper actions in response to it. However, we will find that this is about much more than climate change.

Those who do not understand the important issues of our time are ruled by those who do. Climate change is an important issue, and it is now being used to control much of our lives. The trend is for it to take an increasing amount of control. Whether it deserves this control over us or not is a crucial issue that will affect us all. Every responsible person should seek to understand it.

High-impact people in every age are those who do not run from controversy but rather to it, knowing that the issue would not be controversial if it were not important. We must be willing to push through the fog that surrounds this issue or something very deadly could be growing that will be too big for us to deal with by the time we do see it.

The informed are the forearmed. They are the ones who win the great debates of the times. Even so, we should not want to win a debate when we are on the wrong side. Above all things, we should want the truth to be the victor.

My journey to understand this issue illuminated so many things that are already having a major impact on every one of us. I realize that few have the time or opportunity to take such a journey, so this book is written to condense thousands of hours of research and many varied and remarkable experiences about climate change and related subjects into what you can absorb in just a few hours.

I have not written this to convince you of my conclusions, though I will share them with you. Coming to the right conclusions about the issue of climate change is important, but far more important is gaining the knowledge and understanding that will help us to discern the truth about this and many other issues as well. This leads to wisdom, which is the ability to see the truth and to apply the knowledge of the truth correctly.

This book is written for open, thinking people who live with the courage to want to know the truth and have the resolve to stand for truth regardless of the consequences.

The Most Important Story

T his is the most important story of our times, filmmaker James Cameron said in the extraordinary documentary on climate change, Years of Living Dangerously. Produced by Cameron, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Jerry Weintraub, this project brought to-gether some of the biggest stars in Hollywood, world renowned scientists, correspondents, dignitaries, and my daughter and I.

So why would I, a white, Southern, conservative, evangelical, pastor, and climate change skeptic, along with his daughter, an environmental activist and true believer in man-made climate change, be asked to be a part of this documentary?

You are probably thinking what I did. This is either to make me look as foolish and out of touch as possible, thereby humiliating others who share my position, or to document my conversion into believing in man-made climate change. These were likely the original intent, but the outcome was different and quite unexpected.

Thinking about the title they had chosen for this project, I thought that I would be the one living dangerously. Unless I became a climate change convert, I could see no positive result for me to be a part of this. Even so, I had a personal motto that I might die of a lot of things, but boredom was not going to be one of them. Like many things that are dangerous, I felt that this was a greater opportunity than what it seemed on the surface. This turned out to be very true.

I also wanted to know the truth about man-made climate change, but I would not be a cheap convert. I dont think we can be, if we really care about the truth. Even more importantly, for over forty years I have lived my life following what I call God trails. These are like adventures He leads us on to find the great treasures of knowledge and understanding. I knew this was one, but like all of the others, it would be strewn with dangers. What makes something a treasure is either that it is rare or hard to get to. The greater the treasure, the more rare it is and the more difficult it is to attain. This one was hard, but it was well worth it.