© March, 2000 Michael S. Coffman, Ph.D., Editor

©Updated July, 2000

After eight years of deliberation with more than 100,000 people in 51 countries, and 25 global leaders in environment, business, politics, religion and education, on March 15 the Earth Charter Commission announced a comprehensive document of new global ethical guidelines known as the Earth Charter. The Earth Charter process was initiated by Ruud Lubbers, former Prime Minister of The Netherlands, and carried out under the direction of Mikhail Gorbachev and Maurice Strong, Chairman of the Earth Council. (See Discerning the Times, June 1999) It will be presented to the United Nations for ratification at the Millennium Summit and Millennium Assembly in September of 2000. The Millennium Summit will hose over 150 heads of state from around the world starting on September 6, 2000 to define the future of the UN in the 21 Century.

The Earth Charter concept, according to the Charter’s website, is intended for all people and all religions, "It is the articulation of a spiritual vision that reflects universal spiritual values,... a people’s charter that serves as a universal code of conduct for ordinary citizens, educators, business executives, scientists, religious leaders...." Even the pastors of churches will have to conform to its pantheistic mandates.

The completion of the Earth Charter marks phase two of a three phase plan to try to integrate humanity into a global whole. The Earth Charter provides pantheistic universal religious values that are fully harmonized with a pantheistic world government whose purpose is to protect the Earth at all costs.

In originally preparing the Earth Charter, Strong’s Earth Council notes the Earth Charter will require a radical change in human behavior in the coming century, "The Earth Charter initiative reflects the conviction that a radical change in humanity’s attitudes and values is essential to achieve social, economic, and ecological well-being in the twenty-first century...." This goal was reaffirmed less forcefully on March 15, when the London Times reported Maurice Strong as saying "The Earth Charter will be presented to the United Nations, governments, businesses, schools and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) as the basis for new laws and codes of conduct. We need a moral and ethical recovery, not just an economic recovery."

The principles of the Earth Charter are incorporated into global governance as defined in both the UN Commission on Global Governance’s 1995 report Our Global Neighborhood, and its Non-governmental Organization (NGO) mirror image, Charter 99, A Charter for Global Democracy. Earth Charter theology is also incorporated into the United Religions Initiative, which hopes to eventually evolve into a United Nations for religions. The United Religions Charter was for signed on June 26 this year.

The capstone to integrating world religion into world government is the International Covenant on Environment and Development, a treaty written by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). It is also the greatest threat to western civilization. The IUCN is a group of 800 government agencies and leftist-socialist NGOs, including most U.S. environmental organizations and federal land management agencies. The covenant codifies the goals of the Earth Charter into international law, which is tentatively scheduled for ratification in 2002.

The Earth Charter has been greatly sanitized since its blatantly pantheistic origins in 1992. It is now couched in globalist doublespeak which sounds innocent and wonderful. Once codified into law via the IUCN treaty, however, it will interface with the emerging global governance to institute absolute control over every man, woman and child, forcing them adhere to pantheistic principles that put nature’s needs ahead of human needs and welfare. The Convention on Biological Diversity that called for setting aside 50 percent of America into wildness areas and interconnecting corridors is just one example of this. The ratification process for this treaty was miraculously stopped by exposing this horrendous agenda mere hours before it was scheduled to be ratified in 1994. (See February, March, June, July issues of Discerning the Times Digest).

The new treaty will be administered, along with all environmental international treaties, by a restructured UN Trusteeship Council. Outlined in Our Global Neighborhood, the Trusteeship Council will incorporate NGOs into its structure and will serve as the High Priest or Shaman of the Earth, determining what kind of human activities will be permitted. However, for that to happen, a new United Nations Charter must be ratified.

The evil relationship between global governance (world government) and the Earth Charter (world religion) fits perfectly with John’s vision of the beast and whore in Revelation 17:3-6, " 3 I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. 4And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: 5And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. 6And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration." Perhaps it would be a good time to pray to see what God wants you to do. mc