When you receive the Seal you have compassion on the poor and needy, especially when you have caused them grief and hardship. Soon America and other western countries will be called to show that kind of compassion.
When you become sealed God writes His Name upon your forehead. Then you belong to Him. And as His you show some of His own traits. His kindness is characteristic, and His mercy and compassion.
But when God created the world He created perfection. The world is a perfect ecosystem sustaining life. And God is a perfect provider. Unfortunately the advancement of people has also advanced the imbalance in God's creation.
It has culminated in global warming, a condition already measurably happening. What is already measurable is the natural disasters the imbalance of global warming is causingfloods, windstorms, and droughts.
Eventually these natural disasters are going to cost more than the savings we enjoy by burning cheap fossil fuels. They are already beginning to cost usstriking with a vengeance all around the world.
And yet they are costing the poor of the earth, the people who did not emit much carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases into the air. It is costing them more since they did not cause the imbalance and do not have enough resources to buy their way out of it.
In America and the other industrialized countries people are wealthy enough to be able to afford these disasters. The countries are wealthy enough to afford them. But if significant efforts are not made to curb global warming the price tag will be out of reach for everyone.
Many American leaders, including the Bush administration, believe that cutting emissions will hurt the US economy. That is not necessarily true. That is like saying that the companies that sold asbestos and vioxx should survive.
There is plenty of innovation available and development of alternative fuels is happening now. But it would not hurt to have some laws passed restricting wasteful and old-fashioned energy consumption, at least in cities.
Because these disasters are going to start costing the wealthy nations soon enough. The UN projects that 2015 these disasters are going to cost the wealthy nations $86 billion a year in aid, or 1.6 percent of world GDP.
Yet there is much debate about global warming. There are many different scientists with different opinions. But the science is not necessarily relevant. What matters is these natural disasters are already on the rise.
Natural disasters like floods are exploding in frequency, and have been for the last 10 to 20 years. More floods and wind-storms are being recorded than ever before known. And droughts are soon to follow.
It is estimated that 2.6 billion people in the world live on 42 a day or less. They have contributed very little to global warming and greenhouse gases, but they are most vulnerable to the natural disasters since they are so poor.
And do not think that these disasters are "Acts of God" that He is causing to punish people. God is not punishing anyone but He has made some storms more severe and frequent to warn people.
This is what God did with the hurricanes of 2005. Katrina and the other hurricanes did not need to all happen one after the other, and happen with such intensity and strike such vulnerable targets.
Katrina and the other hurricanes were a wake-up call to action. God is showing us that we must alter our behaviors to preserve the earth in the state He created it. God will not reward us for spoiling the earth He created for us.
When you are sealed, you begin to have compassion and kindness toward others. And you begin to take account of the amount of pollution you are producing so you can tend the earth. Because you inherit a pristine garden of your own when you receive the Seal.