Marshall Clayton’s book Climate Change: Be Prepared has little to do with global warming. Instead, it’s a metaphor and call to arms for the need to shift our thoughts and actions from self-centeredness to a focus on God. In a work that mixes eschatological theology with scriptural examination, the author argues that Jesus can bring “comfort and peace” to “a troubled world,” but we must change our ways if we are to avoid the End Times.
Focusing primarily on the story of Noah and what could be considered an early climate change – the Great Flood – Clayton ruminates on what the world was like before that biblical catastrophe. For the author, the parallels between those ancient times and the present age are striking. Noah preached the inconvenient truth that humankind was headed down a dark, dangerous path, but, like today, Clayton says, no one listened. By the time they did, it was too late. The same thing is happening today, the author argues, only greenhouse gases aren’t our greatest threat; it’s the refusal to “seek out Jesus” in our daily lives.
Clayton knows his Bible, and his desire to help readers build their spiritual lives and deepen their relationship with God is humble and earnest. But while the author’s insights into the prophetic messages of Noah and then Elijah, Daniel, and Jesus are thought-provoking, his ideas often feel disjointed and confusing because of frequent awkward sentences (“As you read, study around me, prove the things I say whether I’m right or wrong.”) and numerous subject-verb errors (“some of it are to me as well.”). The book feels jumbled and disorganized, ultimately detracting from the reading experience.
While the author’s ability to construct bridges between the Bible and contemporary challenges is worthy of note, the book is in need of serious editing to make Clayton’s ideas more effective and clear.
Also available in hardcover and ebook.
