At this week’s United Nations General Assembly in New York City, hundreds of world leaders will come together to focus on pressing global topics, and the environment and climate change will be key topics of discussion.

In fact, today at the UNGA, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres will convene a summit to address the “global climate emergency.” The Summit will seek to “spark the transformation that is urgently needed and propel action that will benefit everyone.”

The American Pastors Network (APN), the largest national network dedicated to equipping pastors to be a voice for truth in the public square, also discussed the environment and climate change earlier this summer on the APN television program, “Stand in the Gap,” which reaches millions of households on several networks.

For the program titled “Embracing the Environment—God’s Way,” APN President and host Sam Rohrer and co-host and millennial pastor Isaac Crockett focused on the overall issue of “the environment and our relationship to it,” while also addressing two core problems—that the contemporary view of the environment has become fatalistic and that God’s purpose and plan for the environment has been lost or rejected.

“God’s Word gives great clarity and direction on every issue we can possibly consider in our world today,” Rohrer said on the show. “It seems as though we’ve entered a ‘twilight zone’ in America, where the more outrageous the claims about God, life and the environment, the more attention one gets and the more enlightened one seems to be. But this is not necessarily new. In the 1800s, scientific thought leaders like Charles Darwin made popular the view that there is no God, no creation and no sacredness to life, therefore, no purpose in living—all accident and chance. Then around the same time, philosopher, cultural critic and thought leader Friedrich Nietzsche declared that we had killed God—at least in the minds of the people—therefore, there was no need to feel guilty or accountable to God. We could live as we wanted and do as we wished.

“Then came economist and socialist revolutionary thought leader Karl Marx, who said that we will dethrone God,” Rohrer continued. “Combining his atheistic view of God with the thoughts of Darwin, Nietzsche, Georg Hegel and Sigmund Freud put into motion an anti-God plan to collapse America and the Western world. By the mid-20th century, these combined thoughts devolved to the point where judicial thought leaders, including those on the U.S. Supreme Court, arrogantly declared that babies in the womb are not people with sacred lives and, therefore, were dispensable and legal to be murdered at will.”

Later, Rohrer added, came political opportunists such as Al Gore, who cited selected climate “experts” with worldviews similar to these previous thought leaders and predicted the polar ice caps would melt by 2013 due to global warming caused by burning fossil fuels, resulting in a threat to all civilization.

“Not to be outdone and building on this worldview espoused by these previous thought leaders, freshman New York politician Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez went even further in declaring that the world will end in 12 years if we don’t address climate change—in effect, starting a countdown clock for life as we know it,” Rohrer continued. “Because certain enlightened individuals make outrageously false claims, they intentionally influenced our culture and our world—and not for the good. So what can we do? Is there a response? Is the godless view of life and the environment that produces nothing but fear to be believed? Or is there a better and truthful way?

“The Bible holds the answers for all issues of life and living,” Rohrer further stated. “God is a god of design and purpose—predictable, uniform and accountability-driven. Christians believe that God established the standards for truth and gave us the guidelines for how mankind should relate to all creation with a promise of blessing and freedom, but only if we follow His guidelines—and this includes the environment.”

According to Rohrer, the modern cultural view of the environment, which is largely fear-driven, leaves out God, His purposes and mankind’s duty toward the environment.

“When Al Gore screams global warming and population annihilation and Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez goes further by declaring a moratorium on Earth in 12 years and that cows, planes and more should be banned, what is the logical outcome of these recommendations?” Rohrer added. “And what is the likely motivation of these statements? When the Gores and the AOCs make such statements, seeking to scare all who listen and citing ‘experts’ rather than truth as defined by God, total conflict is the result, with both sides rejecting each other. God’s view of the environment and his stewardship principles could actually address some of the fears of those environmentalists who either intentionally leave out God altogether or perhaps have never heard of God’s superior plan at all.”

Watch the full program here.

Today’s U.N. Climate Summit will center on the theme, “Climate Action Summit 2019: A Race We Can Win. A Race We Must Win.” According to the U.N., “The impacts of climate change are being felt everywhere and are having very real consequences on people’s lives. Climate change is disrupting national economies, costing us dearly today and even more tomorrow. But there is a growing recognition that affordable, scalable solutions are available now that will enable us all to leapfrog to cleaner, more resilient economies.” This past weekend, the UNGA also included a Youth Climate Summit.

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Many Christians are careful to ensure that their giving, spending, investing and even shopping aligns with their biblical values. But what about their health care?

The American Pastors Network says this major component of the American culture and the political sphere should also be in concert with God’s Word.

To discuss the biblical ties to health care, APN President Sam Rohrer recently welcomed a director for one of the nation’s leading health care sharing ministries.

Rohrer and his “Stand in the Gap TV” co-host, millennial pastor Isaac Crockett, spoke with Anthony Hopp, vice president of external relations for Samaritan Ministries, through which more than a quarter of a million Christians worldwide engage in health care sharing—a God-honoring model of health care whereby members directly share in each other’s health care needs through monthly financial shares, while also sending encouraging notes and lifting up their brothers and sisters in Christ in prayer.

“The American health care system is being dismantled, yet the provision for health care sharing is growing,” Rohrer said on the program. “Socialistic policies are replacing what should be a Bible-based system of health care. The issue of health care in America is important to each of us. When we need quality care at an affordable price, we’ve come to expect that we can get it nearly immediately. We’ve become accustomed to the finest of care and the most professional of physicians. Steeped in a Judeo-Christian mindset of compassion, health care and helping those in need has become the norm both on the part of the patient and the provider. Yet, the push for socialized healthcare with less care, higher costs and diminished doctor-patient relationships is increasing, with many people believing it will somehow be better.”

The co-hosts and Hopp discussed, however, that the socialization of health care is one of the major problems in the field, along with growing costs, greater government involvement, a lack of price transparency and heightened third-party interference. Health care sharing through Samaritan Ministries, Hopp said, addresses these concerns by enabling members to pay less for quality health care, move away from government involvement and intrusive third parties, and experience price transparency and even discounts.

Additionally, Rohrer and Hopp noted, members of Christian health care sharing ministries do not pay for abortions or gender reassignment procedures/treatment with their financial shares.

Rohrer also detailed America’s health care spending problems by the numbers.

• According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), as a percentage of the total U.S. economy in 2017, health care represented 17.9%, reaching $3.5 trillion or $10,739 per person.
• National health spending is projected to grow at an average rate of 5.5% per year for 2018-2027 and reach nearly $6 trillion by 2027, Reuters reported, raising the health care total percentage of the U.S. economy from 17.9% to 19.4%.

“These numbers are almost too large to understand, especially when we realize that Congress recently voted to increase U.S. spending by $320 billion and remove the debt ceiling cap until 2021,” Rohrer said. “The size and scope of spending, be it on health care or anything is else, is out of control and increasing. But rising health care costs and spending can be curbed with health care sharing. Certainly, not every problem with the current health care controversy in this nation can be solved by health care sharing, but for Christian people who choose this legal option and who want to as much as possible follow biblical principles and models, it can be a welcome, God-sent path.”

Rohrer added that with the passage of the 2010 Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, the drive toward socialized medicine and destruction of the American health care system was greatly accelerated.

“The ongoing presidential debates are also focusing much of the discussion on health care, with nearly every candidate trying to out-promise the others from the standpoint of who and what will be covered by a universal, single-payer government plan,” he said. “Yet in the midst of all this is a bright spot in health care sharing. It is growing and flourishing, as more families are finding affordable health care, biblical community and are able to continue being treating by the doctors they trust—all while they honor God.”

View the two “Stand in the Gap TV” programs on health care sharing below:

• The Health Care Controversy: A Health Care Solution—Part I (aired Aug. 25)
• The Health Care Controversy: A Health Care Solution—Part II (will air Sept. 1)

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Israel last week announced that the nation would ban two American Congresswomen from visiting because of their anti-Semitic stances—then reversed the decision, stating Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) was approved for a “humanitarian” visit. Friday afternoon, however, reported Fox News, Tlaib confirmed she would not be visiting her grandmother in Israel after all, citing “oppressive conditions.” Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) is still banned from visiting.

The American Pastors Network (APN) follows news about Israel closely, especially as it relates to American politics and American Christians—and in light of the fact that Israel will be one of the most important 2020 election issues. In fact, APN focuses on Israel at least once a week on its daily “Stand in the Gap Today” radio program, which airs on about 400 stations nationwide, as well as addresses news coming out of the Middle East from a biblical and constitutional perspective.

To one of these recent programs, APN President Sam Rohrer welcomed former Minnesota U.S. Representative and presidential candidate Michele Bachmann, with whom Rohrer attended the Jerusalem Prayer Breakfast earlier this summer; Bachmann also co-chairs the event. On “Stand in the Gap Today,” Bachmann made bold statements about President Donald Trump and his ongoing commitment to Israel, stating “never before” has she seen a “more pro-Israel president.”

In many respects, Rohrer agrees, stating that President Trump has indeed kept his promise to Christians that he would advocate for Israel on behalf of America.

“Over the past several years, presidential actions have been overwhelmingly supportive of Israel, which should be important to all Christians,” Rohrer said. “Those who support Israel will be put onto a path of blessing—to that, the Bible is clear. Those who bless Israel, God will bless, and those who curse Israel, God will curse. And in these end days, there will be a sifting to either sheep nations or goat nations. That distinction will be led by those nations’ leaders and how they relate to the principle of God’s plan for Israel. Few would deny that this president has taken strong positions in relation to Israel.”

But to whom should this presidential commitment to Israel be meaningful?

“People who are Remnant Christians and believe that Israel is a nation blessed by God will be on board with this administration’s actions and commitments,” Rohrer said. “Certainly, President Trump’s moves and counter-moves concerning the Holy Land do not matter to those who think God is done with Israel, and his support for Israel upsets the Islamists among us.

“But undeniably, all of this brings into context that there is a prevailing, sovereign God who is at work,” Rohrer added. “He is not out of the picture. And many Christians should get Him back into the picture. The fact is that God’s plan for Israel supersedes and is bigger than the U.S. It’s from the beginning of time and directly reflects what God says in the Bible.”

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