A Scriptural Call for Environmental Stewardship

Christians for Environmental Stewardship is dedicated to reaching the Evangelical and Conservative Christian churches with
a scriptural message of environmental stewardship. We measure our
stewardship by healthy ecosystems and sustainable, responsible
consumption.

We are calling on all Christians to search the scriptures to
better understand the heart of God in relation to His creation.
The Bible says that God expects, even demands, that we be stewards
of His creation. Scripture is undisputable. God created the
different species of plants and animals, blessed them, protected
them and made a covenant with them.

Every time we, as humans, drive a species to extinction, we are stating that what God created, we can destroy. There is no
scripture to support that view. Every time a species goes
extinct, we are defaulting on the account that God has called us
to manage. We are at the crossroads, able to choose to save or to
destroy. It is our choice. The Bible is clear that creation
expresses Gods wisdom and power. Christians are called to be
stewards, to nurture, to protect, to preserve His creation.

God Created the Earth and All of Nature in it

Psalms 104:25,30. In wisdom you made them all, the earth is full of your creatures. There is the sea, vast and spacious, teeming
with creatures beyond number - living things both large and
small... When you send your Spirit, they are created and you
renew the earth.

John 1:3. Through Him all things were made: without Him nothing was made that has been made.

Colossians 1:16-17. All things were created by Him and for Him. He is before all things and in Him all things hold together.

God has a Relationship with All of His Creation

Psalm 96:10-13. The Lord reigns... Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad, let the seas resound and all that is in it; let
the fields be jubilant, and everything in them. Then all the
trees of the forest will sing for joy, they will sing before the
Lord for He comes, He comes to judge the earth.

Isaiah 43:20-21. The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the desert and streams in the
wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen.

Deut. 32:1-2. Listen, Oh heavens, and I will speak, hear, Oh earth, the words of my mouth. Let my teaching fall like rain and
my words descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like
abundant rain on
tender plants.

Job 37:14-18. Listen to this, Job. Stop and consider God's wonders. Do you know how God controls the clouds and makes his
lightning flash? Do you know how the clouds hang poised, those
wonders of Him who is perfect in knowledge?

Psalms 104:25, 27. Animals, both small and great.. they all wait for Thee to give them their food in due season.

Matt 6:26. Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns and yet your
heavenly Father feeds them. And are you not worth much more than
they?

God's Power is Seen in Nature

Joshua 2:11. For the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on earth below.

Romans 1:20. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities - His eternal power and divine nature - have been
clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that
men are without excuse.

Psalms 104:24. How many are your works, O Lord! In wisdom have you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. There is
the sea, vast and spacious, teeming with creatures beyond number -
living things both large and small.

God Calls All of His Creation to Worship

Psalm 19:1. The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.

Isaiah 55:12-13. The mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
All this will be a memorial for the Lord, a sign that for all
time will not be cut off.

Nehemiah 9:6. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas
and all that is in them. You gave life to everything and the
multitudes of heaven worship you.

Psalm 8:3-8. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have set in place, what
is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man.

I Chron. 16:7,30-34. Tremble before Him, all the earth! The world is firmly established; it cannot be moved. Let the heavens
rejoice. Let the earth he glad; let them say among the nations,
"The Lord reigns!"

Rev 5:13. Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing
"To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb, be praise and
honor and glory and power for ever and ever."

Job 9:5-10. But how can a mortal be righteous before God? Though no one wished to dispute with Him, he could not answer Him one
time out of a thousand. His wisdom is profound, His power is
vast. Who has resisted Him and come out unscathed? He moves
mountains without their knowing it and overturns them in his
anger. He shakes the earth from its place and makes it pillars
tremble. He speaks to the sun and it does not shine.

God Teaches Humans through Nature

Job 12:7-10. But ask the animals, and they will teach you; or birds of the air and they will tell you; or speak to the earth and
it will teach you; or let the fish of the sea inform you. Which
of all these does not know that the hand of the lord has done
this. In His hand is the life of every creature and the breath of
all
mankind.

Romans 1:19-20. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. Ever since the creation of the
world His eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they
are, have been understood and seen through the things He has made.
So they are without excuse.

Isaiah 11:9. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.

God Expects Humans to be His Stewards with Nature

Genesis 1:26. Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air,
over the livestock, over all the earth and over all the creatures
that move along the ground."

Lev. 25:23-24. The land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants. Throughout the country that you hold as a possession,
you must provide for the redemption of the land.

Ezekiel 34:2-4. Woe to the shepherds of Israel who only take care of themselves! Should not the shepherds take care of the flock?
You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter
the choice animals, but you did not take care of the flock! You
have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the
injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the
lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally.

Ezekiel 34:10. 0 shepherds, hear the word of the Lord. This is what the sovereign Lord says: I am against the shepherds and will
hold them accountable for my flock.

Ezekiel 34:17-18. As for you, my flock... Is it not enough for you to feed on good pasture? Must you also trample the rest of
your pasture with your feet? Is it not enough for you to drink
clear water? Must you also muddy the rest with your feet?

Isaiah 24:4-6. The earth dries up and withers, the world languished and withers, the exalted of the earth languish. The
earth lies under its inhabitants; for they have transgressed the
laws, violated the statutes, and broken the everlasting covenant.
Therefore a curse consumes the earth; its people must bear their
guilt.

Jer. 2:7. I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and rich produce. But you came and defiled my land and you made my
inheritance detestable.

Luke 16:2,10,13. And He called him and said to him, "What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your stewardship, for you
can no longer be steward. He who is faithful in a very little
thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a
very little thing is unrighteous in much. You cannot serve both
God and mammon.

James 5:5. You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of
slaughter.

Mark 4:19. ...and the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the
word and it becomes unfruitful.

Revelation 11:18. The nations were angry and your wrath has come. The time has come for rewarding your servants the prophets and
your
saints and those who reverence your name, both small and great -
and for destroying those who destroy the earth.

God Expects Us to Obey Him in our Lifestyle

Luke 12:15,23,34. And He said to them, "Beware and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an
abundance does life consist of his possessions. For life is more
than food, and the body more than clothing. For where your
treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Leviticus 26:3-4,6. If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, I will send you rain in its season and the
ground will yield its crops and the trees of the field their
fruit... and I will grant peace in the land.

God Expects Us to Obey His Commands

1 Peter 3:17. It is better, if God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right, rather than for doing what is
wrong.

Psalm 37:34. Wait for the lord and keep his way.

Exodus 23:2. Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong.

Hebrews 10:30-31. For we know Him who said, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay." And again, "The Lord will judge his people." It is
a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Scriptural Defense of Endangered Species

Fact #1 God Created the Different Species of Plants and Animals
Genesis 1:11-12. God created plants.
Then God said, "let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing
plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it,
according to their various kinds." And it was so. The land
produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their
kinds and trees hearing fruit with seed in it according to their
kinds. And God saw that it was good.

Genesis 1:20-21. God created fish and birds.
And God said, "let the water teem with living creatures, and let
birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky." So God
created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving
thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and
every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was
good.

Genesis 1:24-25. God created animals.
And God said, "let the land produce living creatures according to
their kind: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and
wild animals, each according to its kind." And it was so. God
made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock
according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along
the ground
according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

Fact #2 God Blessed the Different Species of Plants and Animals
Genesis 1:22. God blessed [the birds and sea animals], and said,
"Be fruitful and increase in number."

Fact #3 God Protected the Different Species
Genesis 6:19-21. God said, "You are to bring into the ark two of
every kind of living creature, male and female, to keep them alive
with you. Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and
of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to
you to be kept alive. You are to take every kind of food that is
to be eaten and store it away as food for you and them." Noah did
everything just as God commanded him.

Genesis 7:8-10. Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, male and female, came
to Noah. And after the seven days the floodwaters came on the
earth.

Fact # 4 God Made an Eternal Covenant with the Different Species of Plants and Animals
Genesis 9:8-9. Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him:
"I now establish my covenant with you and your descendants after
you and with every living creature that was with you - the birds,
the livestock, and all the wild animals, all those that came out
of the ark with you - every living Creature on the earth."

Genesis 9:12-13. And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you,
a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in
the clouds, and it will he the sign of the covenant between me and
the earth.