I just returned from a trip to the US. It had been quite some time since my last visit and earlier visits had been shorter. It’s now been four years since I moved to Germany and differences to the US are becoming more apparent.

For instance, everything in the US is bigger: cars, shopping malls, homes, you name it. I was particularly struck by the size of the cars. They are quite a bit bigger than typical European cars and noticeably less fuel efficient. With the spike in gas prices, one could imagine many families are feeling the pinch, particularly given inflation recently. It’s been years since the last inflationary cycle and few seem prepared.

The Destruction of the American Dream

It got me thinking. It’s been a given in America that each generation would experience greater prosperity than their parents and those willing to work hard would financially succeed. Wealth has always been at the heart of the American dream.

The market collapses of 2001 and 2008 popped the bubble of that dream. Many who worked hard, saved and invested saw their net worth vanish overnight. Yes, Wall Street recovered, but not Main Street. The working man lost critical years to build wealth in preparation for retirement.

The job market during these years was radically changing, leaving many without jobs or a secure future, trapped in economic “no man’s land” with technological changes disrupting industries many thought were secure. Wages stagnated and benefits were walked back, worsening worker finances.

College tuition became unaffordable, pensions were eliminated, medical insurance soared, deductibles burdened families, all while CEO pay sky-rocketed. So much for everyone’s future. For many, the American dream was dead.

The Destruction of the European Dream

As an American, I had always heard that the great European dream was world peace – or at least peace for Europe. Peace is the goal of the European Union, the coalition of nations that is so often maligned in US churches as the “one world government”.

The idea behind it is shared economic prosperity through peaceful relations and democratic values. It’s what the Germans call “wandeln durch handeln” – working together through trade. Everyone profits from elimination of trade barriers and promotion of democratic values.

It can be hard for Americans to grasp as we historically assure peace through military superiority. Military machines twice devastated Europe in the last hundred years. Hence why they chose a different path.

The unprovoked Russian invasion of Ukraine has shattered that dream. It laid bare the enemies of democracy who seek to destroy our system and replace it with a totalitarian regimes. It has to be particularly disappointing for Germans who have steadfastly pursued a policy of rapprochement with Russia for decades. Germany and Russia have a long shared history that likely drove that policy.

Europeans may have been deeply naïve, but they’re not alone. The entire world chose to avoid conflict with Russian aggression in Syria, Africa and Crimea. The only people who had it right were the nations who prior lived under the thumb of Russian oppression. They alone understood the threat. The rest of us ignored it. The Ukraine conflict has ended the European dream of peace.

The Destruction of the Global Ecology

If these two threats were not daunting enough, we also face a global ecological crisis. The world is warming, droughts and floods are increasing in number and severity, and millions of people are at risk. Many deny it while others choose to ignore it. But burying one’s head in the sand is madness.

It is not just the storms and droughts, it’s melting permafrost, destruction of polar ice caps and extinction of species who depend upon these ecosystems. They are the canaries in the coal mine.

Mountain melt off is eliminating water sources for drinking and agriculture, risking mass famine and with it, mass population migration. Deny it if you want, but as more and more facts come in, we all face a choice.

When entire continents face starvation, we must decide if these people live or die, and how much we’re willing to personally invest to save them. That investment will include whether we’re willing to change our own personal lifestyles for the sake of the suffering, and the sake of our children and grandchildren.

A Perfect Storm

These three outcomes are a perfect storm. They not only threaten our financial prosperity and global peace, but our very existence. There are two things that must be decided: 1) what actions should we take and 2) when should we take these actions?

The second question is perhaps more critical than the first. The longer we delay, the more limited our options become. It’s a bit like a football game. If you’re down three touchdowns at half-time, you’ve got far more options to turn the game around than if you’re in the last 25 seconds of the game. The later you wait to take course corrections, the smaller the playbook becomes. The best way to answer this second question is to examine our history.

A Long History of Slow-Walking Change

The Failure to Reform the American Dream

Here is where my observation of the size of American cars, homes and shopping malls is germane. I was in High School when the first oil embargo hit in 1973. Since then, policies were put in place to increase vehicle fuel economy that have been consistently slow-walked back. Today cars are bigger and heavier with the fleet moving from passenger cars to trucks, all of which come at the cost of fuel economy.

It’s the same with homes. We’ve improved the insulation value of homes but that savings seems offset by dramatic increases in home sizes. Post WW2, most homes were 1000-1500 square feet. Now, many are 3000-4000 square feet while family sizes have diminished. It makes no sense.

Companion with this is the growth of suburbs, bringing urban sprawl, expanded highways, new schools and services. In consequence, underinvestment in cities has left infrastructure crumbling. But urban growth was a conscious policy decision to promote growth, fueled by cheap autos and cheap gas.

Even shopping malls rely on auto traffic, often leaving the doors open in summer, driving up air conditioning costs, all powered by cheap fossil fuels. It’s amazing that nearly 50 years after the first oil embargo, we’ve made scant progress on reducing reliance upon energy, much of which comes from nations whose politics are at odds with ours.

The failure to Reform the European Dream

Here is where Europe has also failed. Though more aggressive in fuel efficiency standards and renewable sources, their auto industry has slow-walked reform and the fossil fuel industry (globally) has jealously guarded government entitlements to keep fuel prices artificially low. Fifty years later and we’re still refusing to change.

What makes this failure damning is the oil embargo was not our first warning. World War II revealed that the people who ruled the oil rule the world. It was a maxim that drove our foreign policy, often bringing calamitous results, turning many Middle East nations against us (a good read is “All the Shah’s Men“).

Amazingly, Europe – and particularly Germany, bet their future economic growth on Russian oil and Nat Gas! Now Europe is funding the Russian war against itself! And despite the atrocities in Ukraine, Germany is still reticent to cut off Russian oil and Nat Gas. It seems Europe needs to be reminded that “a house divided against itself can’t stand” (Mark 3:25).

It seems no one is ready to admit that our addiction to fossil fuels is killing us. We’ve ignored military warnings for over 75 years, we’ve ignored economic warnings for 50 years and we’ve ignored ecological warnings for 60 years. The question is, what do we do now?

Biblical Warnings on a Divisive Issue

Israel’s Idolatrous History

The answer to this question is best found in Israel’s long and tumultuous history. She never proved able to abide by the covenant. It was not accidental. She needed a new covenant that would bring a new heart allowing her to live faithfully.

Her covenantal failures included idolatry, blood-violence against the innocent, sexual immorality and social injustice against the poor. All of these sins were simply manifestations of idolatry. Israel was simply putting her own interests and selfish desires above God’s commands.

God warned Israel against her sins for centuries, sending countless prophets to call Israel to repentance. Israel refused to hear their words, persecuting and even martyring them (Luke 11:47). It reached its climax in their refusal to repent with Jesus’ preaching, persecuting and martyring Him. Two thousand years later, the majority in Israel still refuse to repent.

Idolatry in the Church

Israel’s history is a great warning to the church. If we’re honest, few in the church favor reductions in fossil fuel consumption. Most American Christians still hold fast to the American dream despite Scripture’s warnings against wealth (e.g. Mark 10:25).

At the root of the church’s opposition to reductions in fossil fuels is idolatry. Our love of wealth and its entitlements is idolatry Christ warned against (Matthew 6:24). One can’t serve God and money. John warns of certain destruction for those who try to serve both (Revelation 18). It’s also why the church rarely opposes war. War brings the wealth of kingdoms subjugated.

Critically, our entire system of prosperity and progress is built upon fossil fuels! No wonder then there’s such reticence to wean ourselves from them. It’s also why the church largely turns a blind eye to the destruction of the earth by fossil fuel production and use despite Scripture’s command that we care for the earth. And we should given God’s redemptive plan includes all creation (Romans 8:20-21).

Our love for all the fineries fossil fuels have given us has us sleepwalking into catastrophe. It is like the days of Noah, where everyone’s living like life will go on as it always has, completely unaware that judgment is about to fall (Matthew 24:37). The amazing part is the church, though called to warn the world, is among the sleepwalkers.

Biblical Counsel for the Wise

First and foremost, we must wholesale reject the systems of this world. That does not mean we must live like the Amish. But it does mean that we reject the values of the world.

The American dream will not bring life, liberty or happiness. True life, liberty and joy come from Christ, as does peace. It cannot be found in a coalition of governments run by men. Both these “dreams” are idolatrous and must be rejected. What’s important is not the careers our children have or the money they make. What’s important is that they serve Christ.

Second, we must embrace caring for the earth. True fulfillment comes not in serving ourselves with riches and entitlements, but selflessly serving others. And given that all of us were formed from the earth (Genesis 2:7), caring for the earth is a way of caring for others.

We can live in smaller homes and drive smaller cars, showing these things are not important to us. It can be our witness. We do it because we love God and marvel at His gift of creation. Destroying the earth disrespects Him.

We can also use our homes and cars to serve others rather than ourselves, showing forth the glory of God by helping the poor and needy, bringing them to Christ. Reducing our carbon footprint and making ecologically responsible decisions bears witness to the coming catastrophe. And when people in the world question why we make these choices, it provides a great opportunity to honor God by warning them of the coming judgments for disrespecting Him and His incredible creation.