Climate, Gender and the Fight Over Truth

We live in the golden age of truth. No more myths, no more superstitions. We are rational. We are scientific. We submit subjective opinion to provable fact. We insist on the truth.

Well—that is certainly the view promoted by a prominent segment of mainstream society, anyway.

Here is one example: “Ninety-seven percent of scientists agree: #climate change is real, man-made and dangerous.” United States President Barack Obama tweeted that in 2013.

This view of scientific consensus over man-made climate change motivated Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is running for president, to say this in February of this year: “It is really a disgrace and an embarrassment that we have a president who rejects science, who does not even understand that climate change is real and caused by human activity, who does not understand what this planet will look like in years to come if we do not go forward boldly and transform our energy system away from fossil fuels” (emphasis added throughout).

Science is irrefutably clear on this point, he says, and anyone who disagrees is a dying holdover from a less-enlightened past. This argument is driving the “Green New Deal” and much thinking in the Democratic Party. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said last November, “People are going to die if we don’t start addressing climate change asap. It’s not enough to think it’s ‘important.’ We must make it urgent.”

These politicians and the vast majority of smart, fact-driven scientists all agree: Only dangerously ignorant simpletons don’t believe in man-made climate change. And the electorate is catching on: A new Yale Program on Climate Change Communication poll says 74 percent of registered voters think global warming is happening, and 67 percent are worried about it. Granted, among conservative Republicans that number is only 42 percent, but that’s five percentage points higher than results from a 2017 poll. So—progress, right?

(Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Unsurprisingly then, a number of Republicans who once doubted the global warming–climate change agenda are now holding hearings, making promises and casting votes in favor of it. Why, exactly? Congressman John Shimkus, a Republican from Illinois, told Bloomberg, “It’s just not worth the fight anymore. Let’s just see what we can do to address it and not hurt the economy.”

So, it’s not that Shimkus is convinced it is true. But he has surrendered to the pressure. He can see he is fighting a losing battle. So he and others are trying to appease the growing number of politicians and voters who are crusading in the name of “science.”

And once the crusaders can steamroll enough of their uninformed opposition, they and the scientists can finally deal with this existential threat and save the world. Or so the narrative goes.

At the same time the climate change ideologues march to chants of “Science! Science! Science!”, another social trend is advancing that is unscientific in the extreme. In fact, this trend single-handedly underminesthe notion that ours is an age of rationality. Because it rejects sciencejust as categorically as the claim that the Earth is flat.

A Profoundly Unscientific Trend

Tennis star Martina Navratilova was one of the first high-profile athletes to announce that she is a lesbian, and has been an icon among homosexuals and transgenders. But recently she did something that soured the lgbtqcommunity’s opinion of her: She spoke out against men “changing their gender” and competing in women’s sports.

Consider some recent examples: In February, two male transgender high school athletes finished first and second in the girls 55-yard dash at the Connecticut state championship meet—meaning the girl who would have won came in third instead. In October, a transgender male who competed as a female in the track cycling world championship in Los Angeles won the event (and some bitterness from the women competitors). In 2017, a transgender male weightlifter competed in the Australian International weightlifting event as a female and dominated, prompting other athletes to complain that he had an unfair advantage. Such incidents are becoming more and more common.

Science easily proves that biological differences in men enable them to sprint faster, lift more and endure longer than women—both on average and at the elite level. The average woman is almost 5 inches shorter and more than 30 pounds lighter than the average man. She has nearly 40 pounds less muscle, less than half the upper-body strength, and 20 percent less aerobic capacity. This is why the record for 14-year-old boys 800-meter run is faster than the women’s world record. This is why in 2016, Australia’s national women’s soccer team (ranked fifth in the world at the time) fared poorly when they scrimmaged an under-15 boys’ team: They lost 0-7. This is why men’s and women’s sports are segregated.

And the obvious truth is that these biological discrepancies remain even if a man decides in his mind that he is actually a woman.

However, state this scientific fact and you will be labeled a transphobe. Even Navratilova was not immune. When she complained about incidents of transgendered men competing against biological women, the lgbtqorganization Athlete Ally kicked her off its advisory board and severed ties with her. “Well, I certainly stumbled into a hornets’ nest,” she wrote on her blog. “The support I normally get from ‘my people,’ the lgbt community, was replaced by a barrage of quite nasty personal attacks and I was dropped [jettisoned is a better word] as an ambassador for Athlete Ally.”

New Zealand weightlifter Gavin Hubbard, who had a sex change in 2014, dominated the women’s final at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games as Laurel Hubbard. (Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

Is this not irrational? It certainly reflects no love of the truth. Yet who in the world would dare say this organization “rejects science”?

It is a scientific fact that people are biologically male or female. It is a scientific fact that biological sex comes with physiological and even mental and emotional predispositions. But science can tell you nothing about a man feeling that he is actually a woman. There is no scientific explanation for that.

Contradictions in the transgender view are rife. Transgenders say gender is an “artificial construct”—yet at the same time, they encourage people to express their “authentic gender identity” (especially if it is different from their actual, scientific gender identity) through stereotypical or even cartoonish behavior and activity (like boys layering on make-up and costume jewelry). They say a person’s “real self” is separate from their physical body—but then, contrarily, they say a person’s physical body needs to be transformed to make the person “whole.” So they advocate that even children receive puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and surgery—to match the physical body to the idea in the mind.

This is all a deviant kind of make-believe, fairy-tale thinking. Scientifically it has no basis in reality at all.

Yet in society today, you are increasingly branded as a bigot if you simply point to science. As if the very facts themselves are intolerant and discriminatory.

This exaltation of the will over truth, including basic scientific facts, is beginning to have far more serious consequences than unfair losses at athletic events. In December, a man serving a 10-year prison sentence for burglary in Illinois convinced a penal board that he should be treated as a woman, and was moved to a women’s prison. In March, a woman in Hertfordshire, England, refused to call a transgender man a “woman” online, and seven hours later was arrested by police in her home in front of her children. Hertfordshire Police explained to the Daily Mail, “We take all reports of malicious communication seriously.” (Is this what British police are focusing their attention on as crime increases, and only 4 percent of robberies and 3 percent of burglaries in England and Wales in 2017 were solved?)

Such stories, which are filling our headlines, have troubling and far-ranging ramifications. More and more, transgenderism is reshaping society. And it is doing so based solely on the profoundly unfactual, antiscientific feelings of an infinitesimal minority of people.

In one sense, the climate change dogma and the transgender dogma seem contradictory. One is wrapping itself in the cloak of science, and the other isn’t even trying. But in fact, these are two aspects of the same story.

The truth is, this is not the age of rationality. This is an age of astonishing irrationality! Society today is openly assaulting the truth.

‘Scientific Consensus’?

That “97 percent scientific consensus” Mr. Obama referenced is not a fact. It is a terribly misleading figure. It derives from a survey of peer-reviewed science papers conducted by John Cook, an assistant professor at George Mason University. But only 34 percent of the papers Cook examined took a position on the cause of global warming. He reckoned that 33 percent (97 percent of 34 percent) blamed humans as a cause. By that reckoning, it would be more accurate to claim that one third of scientists say humans are causing climate change, and two thirds of them are not taking a position.

However, when University of Delaware Prof. David Legates reexamined Cook’s study, he found that even the 33 percent figure may be inflated. By his assessment, only about 0.3 percent of the abstracts Cook examined dogmatically state that humans cause climate change.

In the peer-reviewed Organization Studies, a 2012 survey of 1,077 professional engineers and geoscientists (or earth scientists) showed that 36 percent believed humans are creating a global warming crisis. The large remaining majority, however, were skeptical of this claim. They said they believe changes to the climate are natural, normal Earth cycles (global warming is what brought the world out of the Ice Age, for example)—or that future global warming will not cause a very serious problem.

So, somewhere between 0.3 percent and 36 percent of climate scientist believe that climate change is definitely caused by humans. That is hardly a “scientific consensus.” There seems to be a far greater “consensus” among scientists that we simply don’t know. This is because of a profusion of facts that contradict the man-made climate change thesis. The fact is, for example, the Earth has warmed and cooled before—and that it is not as warm today as it was centuries before people started using fossil fuels on a mass scale.

Reams of data from ice cores, dripstones, tree rings and ocean sediment cores indicate that Earth naturally alternates between warm and cold phases in a thousand-year cycle. During the Roman Warm Period, the Carthaginian general Hannibal crossed the Alps with elephants. During the Medieval Warm Period, the Norman Duke William the Conquer had his knights planted vineyards in balmy southern England. This indicates that Earth’s temperature was much warmer during these periods than it is today, yet none of the predictions of catastrophe that result from global warming occurred.

Climate scientists say the world is about 2.1 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than when the Little Ice Age ended in 1850. But even if industrial emissions have partially contributed to this warming, there is no proof that such emissions will continue to have much of an effect; in fact, there is evidence to the contrary. It is well established that the first 20 parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere produces more warming than the next 400 parts per million. Additional carbon emissions will have a very limited effect, especially considering that rising carbon dioxide levels promote plant growth, which reduces carbon dioxide levels and balances the atmosphere.

The fact is, there is no provable link between carbon emissions and higher atmospheric temperatures. The fact is, Antarctic ice is increasing and the polar bear population is growing. The fact is, the computer models formulating these apocalyptic scenarios cannot possibly account for all the factors affecting something as complex as Earth’s climate. And on top of that, the fact is, even scientists and their peer reviewers are subject to those most unscientific of forces: ideology and peer pressure.

Yet the left would have you believe that not only do scientists think they know exactly what is happening, but also that they think they know exactly why, and exactly how they can fix it by limiting specific human behaviors (and, as the case might be, cow behaviors).

Actually, it’s not so much scientists who think they know these things—it is politicians! It is people like Ocasio-Cortez, a 29-year-old who majored in international relations and economics at Boston University. She is supremely confident she knows how to fix this, and certain that unless her policies are adopted immediately, people are going to die!

Is this rational? Do Republican lawmakers really think they will be able to address this issue in a way that will satisfy those who are pushing to overhaul our national and global economic system?

In February 2015, 11 months before the Paris climate change accords were adopted, this is how United Nations climate official Christiana Figueres articulated the accords’ goal: “This is the first time in the history of mankind that we are setting ourselves the task of intentionally, within a defined period of time, to change the economic development model that has been reigning for at least 150 years, since the Industrial Revolution.”

This is what they are really after! It isn’t about science—it’s about remaking society. That is why the people who are pushing for this are not so much scientists as socialists, like Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez. Remaking society in this way will undermine America’s free market economy and representative government—while giving the government far more power.

This is not a debate between certain facts on one side and certain facts on the other. It’s “Accept our will on climate change and transgenderism” on one side, and “It’s just not worth the fight anymore” on the other.

This is not an exercise in rationality, science or truth. This is a steamroller powered by will.

‘Will Worship’

Recognize what is really taking place. Do not be distracted by the terminology of the left—justice, tolerance, rights, fairness, equality. As they gain power, their methods are increasingly exposed: deceit, lies, injustice, intolerance, inequality, bullying, intimidation, coercion.

Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry has pinpointed the real spirit of this age. It is a spirit, not of rationality, facts or truth, but of “will worship.”

Mr. Flurry often quotes what Adolf Hitler said on Aug. 31, 1944, as relayed by Hermann Rauschning. Think about this: “What you tell people in the mass in a receptive state of fanatic devotion will remain. Words received under a hypnotic influence are radical and impervious to every reasonable explanation. A new age of magic interpretation of the world is coming, of interpretation in terms of the will and not of intelligence. There is no such thing as truth either in the moral or the scientific sense.”

Modern America proves Hitler correct. People are holding on to radical ideas that are impervious to reason. They see the world in terms not of intelligence, logic or objective facts, but in a magic interpretation of the world in terms of the will.

Adolf Hitler (Roger Viollet/Getty Images)

“It is by this illogic that the family is being attacked,” Mr. Flurry wrote in his July 2017 Trumpet cover story. “In spite of all evidence to the contrary,people insist that sexual license has no consequences—that divorce is liberating—that children are better off without both their biological parents—that a child can be raised by a man and his homosexual lover just as well—that marriage is oppressive, unless it is between two people of the same sex—that biological sex isn’t reality—that ‘gender’ is whatever a person thinks in his mind, and that anyone who won’t play along is a hateful bigot—and many other bizarre fantasies.

“We are being told that we should enthusiastically dismantle the traditional family—the entire foundation of civilization—and that we will be stronger as a society for doing so!

“That is an abominable lie! It is deadly deceit! It is satanic propagandathat will destroy our nations and our civilization!

“Can you recognize how the radical left is leading the West into a world ruled by the will and not by intelligence? And many others follow along or do nothing to oppose this satanic, nation-destroying evil.”

Our age is ruled not by reason and rationality—not by science, not by truth—but by will.

More and more of our leaders believe that truth itself does not exist. President Obama wrote that there is no such thing as “absolute truth.” When that is gone, all that remains is asserting your will over others.People with such illogical, irrational, unscientific, untruthful beliefs and ideologies cannot convince others through rational arguments. The only way they can enforce their will on others is through deceit, lies, intolerance, bullying, coercion and wresting control of the politicians and the courts.

And soon you have the tyranny of the minority.

Who People Are Really Worshiping

The Apostle Paul wrote, “Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels [this should read fallenangels, or demons], intruding into those things which he hath not [it should read has] seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind …. Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship …” (Colossians 2:18, 23).

Paul warned about people worshiping their own will. Why is will worship so dangerous? Because, as Mr. Flurry wrote, “When a person worships willinstead of God, the devil can lead that person into anything!” (ibid). This is the point we must understand.

John Keats, an English Romantic poet in the early 1800s, wrote, “I am certain of nothing but of the holiness of the heart’s affections and the truth of imagination.” This is essentially what society has come to believe. People have lost faith in everything except their own hearts and minds.

Jeremiah 17:9 gives a biblical perspective that is the opposite of “the holiness of the heart’s affections and the truth of imagination.” It says the human heart is “deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.”

If you do not worship God, then something else becomes your “higher authority,” and ultimately it will trace back to that authority being a human will—either your own or someone else’s. It is, in fact, will worship.

And the reality is, the human will is susceptible to influence by “the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:2). The human will is easily overpowered and taken over by Satan. When you worship it, the devil, “the god of this world,” is very much in the picture (2 Corinthians 4:4).

In Colossians, “wisdom in will worship” is actually better translated “forced worship of demons.” At first it sounds extreme to say that Satan is leading people, especially those who exalt their own opinions and their own wills. But this is, in fact, the real explanation for the world we see around us. Satan is leading more and more people into increasingly open and bizarre immorality. People are indulging in, pushing and celebrating increasingly twisted sins. And Satan is working in more subtle, deceptive ways among far more people than just those at the extremes.

What is happening shows how real, how deceptive and how powerful Satan is! This assault on truth—this rejection of reality—is not just coming from human beings. It is being inspired by an evil being with twisted thinking who wants to destroy human beings!

Watching the liberal left gives tremendous insight into how the devil thinks. They are forcing people to obey their will! You don’t agree with homosexuality, transgenderism? Too bad—they’ll teach your children in primary school and won’t even tell you. Resist their thinking, and they’ll insult you, shout at you, chase you out of restaurants, bully you online, threaten you, and condemn you. They will make life so uncomfortable that you are forced to surrender and say, “It’s just not worth the fight anymore.”

The Devil’s Lusts ‘You Will to Do’

Jesus Christ was preaching a powerful sermon. “As he spake these words, many believed on him. Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:30-32).

In a world plagued by lies, intolerance, coercion and force, fake news and fake science, don’t you crave freedom from all that?

And what will make you free? The truth!

Truth comes from God. It smashes deceit. It protects you from deception. If you lose the truth—if you abandon absolute truth and embrace concepts like “relative truth” or “personal truth”—then you become subject to deception, and get tossed around by human reasoning, which is heavily influenced by evil spiritual influences. And you become enslaved to that.

Jesus said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin” (verse 34). Sin enslaves you! America has been embracing many sins for many years. And it has become enslaved by them.

Notice this profound statement from Christ to the Pharisees: “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it” (verse 44).

There is a lot packed into that verse. But focus on His statement: “the lusts of your father ye will do.” Those last three words should be “you will”—or “you will to do”! “Christ was telling those religious people, You WILL to do what Satan does!” Mr. Flurry writes. “Those men actually had the will of the devil! After all, they were trying to kill Christ!” (How to Be an Overcomer ).

This is an example of “will worship.” If you cast aside God’s will and don’t worship God, then you will always end up worshiping the human will, and that will always fall under the influence of Satan’s will. The trap that these Pharisees fell into is far easier to fall into than people think, and far more common than people realize.

This is why society is taking such a radical turn to the left today. The left is coming under the influence of the devil. They are not governed by any absolute sense of morality. They will say or do anything to accomplish their goals. In one situation, they will say science is unimpeachable authority, and in the next, they will say science is discriminatory. They will rise up in moral indignation to destroy a man for his sins, while justifying even greater sins of their own. They live unapologetically by double standards—while viciously attacking any hint of hypocrisy in their enemies.

Like the devil himself, their only guiding principle—as occultist Aleister Crowley articulated it—is this: “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.”

How bold of this man to be so up front about it: Do what you will. This guiding principle always ends up turning into will worship —human beings, led around by the nose by the devil!

This is why there is such alignment between the left’s thinking and Satan’s thinking. Satan holds people captive because of their sin—and he is drawing them into his world, his thinking—extending his influence into their lives and into society!

You really need to recognize this influence. Read the profound chapter by Gerald Flurry on this subject: Chapter 5 of his booklet How to Be an Overcomer,  titled “The War of the Wills.” It provides critical understanding on the spiritual dimension to this trend in society.

What is happening in America today shows the inevitable disaster that occurs when you lose this war of the wills! God’s Word exposes Satan’s influence so we can recognize it and defend ourselves against it.

We do not want to be worshiping the human will; we want to be worshiping God! And we want to be submitting our will to the will of God.

God is a benevolent ruler—Satan is a tyrant. Worshiping a satanically inspired human will leads to tyranny, and to the assault on truth and to the sorts of perversions like those proliferating in the world today. Worshiping the true God is the path to freedom—and to peace.

God is the God of truth: absolute, beautiful, factual, constant truth—the truth that makes you free. When you come to accept that truth—whatever it is, whether or not it agrees with your opinions, hurts your pride, or conflicts with your will—and obey it, then you will begin to understand and enjoy true freedom. ▪