V Rapture Christ Newsletter
September 1, 2017

As published in The Guardian, Kenya passed a law on August 28, 2017 which makes using plastic bags a crime. The penalty for carrying a plastic bag is four years in prison. 

Nairobi, Kenya, by Daniel Irungu/EPA.

Other countries have already joined in. Morocco banned plastic bags in 2014.  They are trying to solve a mounting problem generated by allowing merchants to bag products in plastic bags. Polyethylene shopping bags are visible everywhere. However, many plastics are not seen. Tiny micro fibers float invisibly in the oceans for many feet of depth --  in the water column. A big portion of this plastic waste go from the water treatment plants into rivers which eventually flow into our oceans. In fact, a single cycle of a washing machine can release 700,000 micro plastic fibers from polyester, acrylic, and other synthetic clothing when it goes through a spin. If the fibers were cotton, it would not be a problem because cotton rots, but synthetic fibers do not rot.  

Realize that big pieces of plastic biodegrade very slowly,  in a centuries-long process. Currently, there are 165 million tons of plastic in our oceans, and we add more every year. This is a major issue. Most people do not understand that we are destroying the planet we live on. It is estimated that by 2050, the oceans will have more plastic than fish. Certainly, this statistic is scary. Yet, we could prevent this fate by using more biodegradable materials such as cotton, iron, leather, wood, and paper.

Ocean plastics soak up pollutants and can reach a level that is ten times that of the environment they are in. This makes our problems even worse. Fish will often eat these plastic pieces, as they think they are food.  If we eat these fish, we could ingest high levels of dangerous chemicals.

But the problem with plastics is not only with ingestion.  Crabs and other higher marine organisms are even "breathing" them. This should not surprise us. At the beginning of this year, we published how tiny micro fibers are getting caught in fish gills, and how fish are suffocating by this process. The fibers come from the polyester and acrylic clothing  people wear. Clothes are the biggest culprit of the death of marine life, as a single fleece jacket can release a million fibers in a single washing. 

The solution to this pollution is to replace plastics with biodegradable natural products. For example, we can use cotton and wool clothing instead of polyester, acrylic, or other synthetic fibers. Instead of getting processed food in plastic packages, we can buy fresh produce at the farmer's market and bring our own cotton sack to bag the groceries. Yes, there are solutions to the problems. With your buying power you can say NO to the problem of plastics.

Over the years, humans have developed technology that can destroy all life in our planet, but it is especially true in the last few years. Chemical industry has advanced a lot in creating substances that are not biodegradable. That is why Kenya made plastic bags illegal. By now, the Pacific garbage patch is larger than Mexico.

As a result, the world God gave Adam and Eve is turning into a ruin. Most of this plastic ends up in our oceans. God says:

Revelation 16:3
The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it turned into blood like that of a dead person, and every living thing in the sea died.

God put Adam in the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. 

Genesis 2:15
And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

Unfortunately, Adam did NOT live by God's commandments, and the result is the chaos we have on this earth at the present time.

Humans have been damaging the planet God gave us. This process has become more severe in the last 50 years. What is the reason? Plastics were not around 200 years ago. The first plastic compound was Parkesine developed in 1862, but plastics really started to be marketed in the 20th century, and it is really now that plastic products derived from petroleum have become cheap and their use is commonplace.

Just 100 years ago, milk came in glass bottles, eggs were in cardboard cartons, and straws were made out of paper. It is lately that all we see around us is plastic, or synthetically derived.

You may ask the question: What can I do?

Well, we Christians are the light of the world, are we not? Therefore, Christians need to demonstrate what they are, and what they are in favor of and what they are against. It is important that we start right now. God is looking at what we do and what choices we make. Each day you need to make a choice, such as:  plastic or paper?

The reason we need to show good works is we will judge all nations.... so let us start judging ourselves and the congregation on what choices we make.

In a very short time God will return to this earth to end up all the evil things that are going on... but you, as a Christian, you better be found doing what is right, because if you are not... then you know where you will be going.

It is important that we show God by our actions the type of people we are. He does not want us to be part of the ones that turn our planet into a ruin.