SENTINEL WATCH June 7, 2010 Issue

GULF OF MEXICO OIL SPILL AND SEEING GOD'S PURE ENVIRONMENT

GEORGIANNA PFOST

AS I WRITE, oil is still pouring from a well in the Gulf of Mexico after an explosion destroyed the drilling rig. The growing slick has reached the US Gulf Coast, threatening human and wildlife habitats and fisheries as well as migrating birds and other creatures. Many people have been working hard to protect these areas, and despite serious technical challenges, others have been trying to cap the well, and to contain or burn off some of the oil. So far, however, complete solutions haven't come to light.

When such environmental crises occur, the problem can loom so large that it takes effort just to get past the reports and a mesmeric sense of hopelessness, and begin to pray. Yet Christ Jesus said that turning to God can change outcomes, even when disaster seems inescapable. As he put it, "With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible" (Mark 10:27). And he proved this by healing seemingly hopeless cases, even raising people from the dead. This truth can also bring healing to a severely threatened environment.

To find healing in such situations requires shifting one's focus from the problem to God—from matter, which is essentially godless, to Spirit and Spirit's perfect creation. One way to begin is to ask how we're perceiving ourselves, the oceans, energy resources, or the world in general. Perhaps we've fallen into the misperception of ourselves and other creatures as material beings in a material world, or as spiritual beings in a material world. In either case, we're left dependent on material resources with seemingly dualistic good/bad natures. All of these perceptions are faulty because they're based on the mortal view of life stuck in matter, instead of recognizing our real life permanently grounded in Spirit.