PARADISE EARTH God has told us in the Bible at Isaiah 66:1 "Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool."  So the planet Earth itself is important to Him, comfortable like a footstool that goes with His throne in heaven.  Revelation 11:18 adds that “The nations were angry, and your wrath has come.  The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding your servants the prophets and your people who revere your name, both great and small—and for destroying those who destroy the earth.”  Clearly if God didn't care about the earth He would have no reason to care enough to destroy those trying to ruin our planet.  We know that God also cares about our fellow creatures, both large and small, upon the earth.  For example Leviticus 25:1-12 speaks of Israel caring for the land, Deuteronomy 25:4 and 22:6 discuss the stewardship of domestic animals and wildlife, and at Isaiah 5:8-10, God judges those who are misusers of the land.  Job 38:25-28 and Psalm 104:27-30 speak of God's care for the creation.   Christ said God even cares for tiny sparrows (Mat 6:26, 10:29).  The "lillies of the field," a phrase which may also mean the wild flowers, are also commended. (Mat 6:28, 29) Although Matthew 24:35, Luke 21:33 and Revelation 21:1 say the Earth will end (read the verses), they and other verses also say there will later be a "new heavens and new earth."  Ecclesiastes 1:4 says the Earth remains forever so it appears that Earth comes and goes but in the longer frame of time it remains forever.   Christ and the apostles such as Paul and Peter resurrected many people right here on Earth, so besides resurrection to heaven there is also solid reason to believe many will be resurrected on Earth too.  Christ at Matthew 5:5 said the meek will inherit "the earth" which some take to mean that he was saying the people of Israel were to again inherit what is called the Promised Land but he may also be speaking of the meek in general who will inherit our wonderful planet that God made for us. All in all, the Good News is that although people die because of inherited sin or imperfections, (1 Cor 15:22) still, because of what Christ did, we all have the hope of resurrection (Acts 24:15, Jn 3:16) on Earth or, for some saintly ones, to Heaven, however God may decide for each of us.   In fact Christ tells us to pray that God’s kingdom will come upon the Earth as it is in Heaven. (Matthew 6:10) At Isaiah 65:17-25 God tells us, “See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind."   He also notes that no one will die as a child, people will have their own houses and vineyards, and that people who had personalities like those of wolves and lambs will feed together, neither harm nor destroy.  At Isaiah 11:9  God says the earth will be filled with His knowledge even as the waters cover the sea. So our heavenly Father does have positive future plans for our earth and for those who love what is good.  Nor is it surprising that many Christians hope to live upon our planet forever.  It is also true that scriptures  speak of a literal or symbol 144,000 persons chosen to live and die unselfishly much as Christ did and be resurrected to serve with him from heaven (Re 7:3-8; 14:1-5) as well as a great multitude or crowd who are also invited to the heavenly calling and will also be in heaven. (Read Revelation 19:1)  Whatever our personal hopes and feelings may be, to live again on earth or in heaven, we shall all be happy for whichever reward God Himself may decide for us.

HOW ALL THE EARTH WILL BECOME A PARADISE The private nonprofit Population Reference Bureau has estimated 115 billion people have ever lived on Earth.  Our planet has 148,000,000 square kilometers of land of which only about 31,000,000 square kilometers can be cultivated.  So if 100 billion “unrighteous and unrighteous” people, (Acts 24:15) that is those who rightly knew and did God’s will as well as those who did not rightly know and do it, were to all be resurrected upon our planet Earth, then the result would not be a happy paradise but instead a nightmare of overcrowding with starvation.  However, all 100 billion do not receive a resurrection upon Earth.  In fact scriptures speak of a literal or symbolic 144,000 (Re 7:4, 14:1) extra loving Christ-like humans who are chosen to rule with Christ in heaven for a healing of the nations on Earth, as well as a “great multitude” or “great crowd” of Christians who are also invited to heaven. (Re 19:1)  We are not told how many humans will be in that Great Crowd in heaven or for that matter how many humans will be resurrected upon our planet Earth. Besides which notice that Christ says at Matthew 12:31, 32 that people who blaspheme or grieve Holy Spirit are not going to be forgiven, and therefore they will not be among the “unrighteous” who are resurrected.  Logically they are not people who sinned by doing common vices such as all humans have done at times but more likely are those who haven unrepentantly, knowingly done  horrible, evil things such as torture and murder, molest helpless little ones, etc.    There might be millions to billions of such persons who knew God’s will that we show love for others, but who deliberately and grievously sinned anyway.  Mercifully God forgave King Manasseh who harmed many but may not have understood that he was wrong to do what he did.  Further when Manasseh realized how evilly he had acted, he proved that he was truly repentant.  So it is possible to do serious wrongs and yet be forgiven, but the difference comes when your actions are done with knowledge and God sees that you choose to stay unrepentant. Returning to the question of population, although only 31 million square kilometers of land can be cultivated today, large deserts can be restored for additional living space and arable crop land.   In 2000 about one-fifth of all land on Earth consisted of desert, an amount of land roughly equal to what is already arable.  Even more land on earth is not desert but still too dry, cold, wet, ice-filled or semi-arid so that it cannot currently be much used or decent living conditions.  However, by staying out of wars with one another, humans can battle to successfully reclaim such land, produce plenty of grain and other foods. Vast lands that now mostly consist of high plateaus and mountains could become lower due to powerful climate changes.  Although Earth is warming a lot now, its rate of warming might be slowed by God either acting directly to do so or by God providing insight for humans to slow the rate of heating so as to cause the Earth to not become an inferno but pleasantly tropical.  Imagine if the Sahara Desert, the frozen Siberia, far northern Canada and the entire continent of Antarctica all became like paradise so that more humans could live there happily and produce food. True, there are scriptures which speak of Earth and the heavens being destroyed by fire, as well as scriptures which say there will be a NEW Heavens and a new Earth.  On the other hand, after the Flood of Noah’s time a rainbow appeared and God told Noah that the Earth would not be destroyed again.  Is this a contradiction?  No, because although the Earth of Noah’s time was “destroyed” it was not totally annihilated, that is not so badly destroyed or ruined that it could never be revived.  Not only did Noah’s ark save many land animals but plants also survived and grew again. God - called the Lord, Jehovah or Yahweh in the Bible (see King James, Psalm 83:18) - still deeply cares about the Earth, the humans and other creatures upon it.  His will of intense loving-kindness is for humans and the other creatures to benefit upon it along with perfect health and even an end to death itself.  For example Revelation 11:18 says that God will ruin those who are ruining the Earth. So God cares and His desire is for the Earth to not be destroyed or at least, as with Noah’s Flood, not so badly ruined or destroyed that it cannot be restored for those people who will be resurrected upon it. Various scriptures speak of God using the elements of nature ranging from hailstones to fire to ruin the wicked, but as explained such destruction is not absolute. In pre-Christian times the Jews hoped for resurrection upon earth.  Christ spoke of them being resurrected and coming forth from the memorial tombs. (Jn 5:28, 29) Christ, the apostles, Elijah and others performed resurrections, and those resurrections were also on Earth.  From the time of Christ’s resurrection, the main hope set forth for Christians is heaven, but regardless of where we may be resurrected, we can and do look forward to it.  This is a time, more so than ever, for us to be happily telling others of the Good News of the Kingdom of God coming upon Earth as in heaven. (Mt 6:20; 28:19)  Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the Earth. (Mt 5:5) Some scientists and other Christians say after several more billion years, our Sun will or just might swell up, heat the Earth so much that those who have inherited the Earth would die, then explode and destroy both itself and our planet the Earth.   Although the Bible says the Earth remains forever (Ec 1:4), it is also the truth that the Hebrew and Greek words for the word usually translated "forever" can mean not just for all time but a long indefinite period of time, leaving open the possibility for such a still distant ending.  However, remember that Christ says our Father in heaven has many mansions (Jn 14:2), which could mean humans might also spread to other habitable planets in this universe or other universes and or the Earth may be moved to safety.  We can rest assured that those who truly love our heavenly Father will never be sold short because His love, like that of His Son Jesus whom He sent to save us, is real and lasting.   christianwitnesses.com

HOW GOD IS NOW INSPIRING SOME PEOPLE TO HELP OUR PLANET EARTH Our heavenly Father has always been alway that some would try to destroy our Earth, and Revelation 11:18 says He will destroy them.  He also has the ability to inspire people who care to take actions in defense of our planet as the following show and it will comfort you to become more aware of. Mark Z. Jacobson, PhD, gave a presentation before the American Chemical Society on August 31, 2011 which gives a possible solution about the danger that ice melting above the Artic Circle will plunge the earth into unstoppable warning destroying all life on our planet. He has calculated that if governments will control soot then that will drop the temperature above the Artic Circle by 3 degrees Fahrenheit within 15 years. Emissions of soot particles from diesel vehicles, construction equipment etc the biggest causes of global warming after carbon dioxide.  Soot emissions cause about 17% of the warming, but could be cut 90% in 5-10 years with aggressive national and international policies. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110831205919.htm Jacobson, who directs Stanford's Atmosphere/Energy Program and is a senior fellow at Stanford's Woods Institute for the Environment and the Precourt Institute for Energy, has also coauthored with Mark Delucchi, of the University of California-Davis, a study paper saying “there are no technological or economic barriers to converting the entire world to clean, renewable energy sources."  It only takes the will of government to get it done. The billionaire Bill Gates, after governments failed to become serious about acting to stop global warming, announced he had given almost $5 to fund some projects to tackle the danger.   His first project has already paid out $300,000 to have ten ships spray seawater into the sky, creating white clouds that would reflect back some of the sun's rays that heat up the earth and cause the warming.   Lead researcher Armand Neukermanns, said doing this was safe because although it might also alter rainfall some, the effects would stop anytime the machines were turned off.  If the test project worked, then global warming could be stopped although the total fleet needed for seeding clouds would number some 1,900 ships at an estimated cost of $7.5 billion.  No chemicals would be involved.  However David King, former chief scientific adviser to the United Kingdom's Government noted that experiments with potential consequences beyond national borders need international regulations, and he thinks there is no geoengineering solution "which does not have unintended consequences or is not far too expensive." http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article7120011.ece

EARTH, WHAT GOD PLANS FOR IT God made and loves our planet, the Earth, and will not allow it to be destroyed.  Indeed, Revelation 11:18 says He will destroy those "who are destroying the earth." He also cares about humans and our planet's fellow creatures large and small.  Leviticus 25:1-12 speaks of Israel caring for the land, Deuteronomy 25:4 and 22:6 discuss the stewardship of domestic animals and wildlife, and at Isaiah 5:8-10, God judges those who are misusers of the land.  Job 38:25-28 and Psalm 104:27-30 speak of God's care for the creation.   Christ said God even cares for tiny sparrows (Mat 6:26, 10:29).  He speaks lovingly of the "lillies of the field," a phrase which may also mean the wild flowers. (Mat 6:28, 29) Although Matthew 24:35, Luke 21:33 and Revelation 21:1 say earth will end (read the verses), there will later be a "new heavens and new earth."  So Ecclesiastes 1:4 saying earth remains forever may mean Earth comes and goes but in the longer frame of time remains forever.   Christ and the apostles resurrected many people right here on Earth, so besides resurrection to heaven there is also solid reason to believe many will be resurrected on Earth too.  Matthew 5:5 says the meek will inherit "the earth" which some take to mean the people of Israel would inherit what is called the Promised Land but others understand to mean our wonderful planet that God made for us. The Good News is that although people die because of inherited sin or imperfections, (1 Cor 15:22) still, because of what Christ did, we all have the hope of resurrection (Acts 24:15, Jn 3:16) on earth or to heaven however God may decide for each of us.   In fact Christ tells us to pray that God’s kingdom will come upon the earth as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6:10)

OUR FELLOW CREATURES ON EARTH BE KIND TO ANIMALS: God says by deeds and words to be kind to animals.  Although some creatures such as fish can serve as food, as when Christ himself caught, ate and shared fish, our fellow creatures upon Earth do not merit wanton cruelty.  In fact we need to put loving thought into how we treat them.  For example in ancient times God said to not yoke a mule with an ox for they would be unevenly matched so as to cause injury.  Also, God’s Son, Jesus Christ, taught kindness toward all although helping the disciples to fish.   Deuteronomy 25:4 and 22:6 discuss the stewardship of domestic animals and wildlife.  Job 38:25-28 and Psalm 104:27-30 speak of God's care for the creation.  Christ said God even cares for tiny sparrows (Mat 6:26, 10:29). Can all of us not try harder to show kindness to other creatures including too the flowers of the fields, the herbs, grasses, plants with fruits that God also gave us as gifts?  How we treat other creatures is a definite reflection on how we treat other humans, and God’s will is that we show love to one another. (Luke 6:31) God often repays those who are humane with many wonderful discoveries such cures for painful and deadly diseases.  The existence and care for other creatures on Earth is tied up with our very own existence and well-being.