Thousands of years ago, the Ark of the Covenant was built to house the Ten Commandments given to Moses by God.  Standing in stark and sacrilegious contrast is the Ark of Hope – a modern day vessel designed to carry the Earth Charter.    The Ark of Hope has been seen throughout the Northeastern U.S. as its Vermont designers and a crew of “ark walkers” escort the ark from town to town, raising support for their cause.  From the outward appearance of the Ark itself, to its New Age and occult contents, this demonic vessel should give every Christian pause. 

In many ways, the Ark of Hope was designed as a Satanic, half-price knock-off of the Ark of the Covenant.  It is a wooden chest constructed from a single plank of sycamore, and is 49”x32”x32” in dimensions.  The four sides have various artwork and represent the four directions (north, east, south, and west), and also four elements (earth, water, fire, and air).  The top of the ark also features artwork, and represents the fifth element: spirit.  Around the edges of the top are a variety of religious and cultic symbols, including the occult pentagram!  The ark has four rings through which two carrying poles are inserted.  The poles are designed to represent “unicorn horns which render evil ineffective.”  The Ark was designed and painted by Sally Linder of Vermont. 

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The attempt to blaspheme the Ark of the Covenant is no chance occurrence.  Former Soviet Premier and President of the International Green Cross, Mikhail Gorbachev, who also co-chairs the Earth Charter Commission, is quoted as saying, "Do not do unto the environment of others what you do not want done to your own environment....My hope is that this charter will be a kind of Ten Commandments, a 'Sermon on the Mount', that provides a guide for human behavior toward the environment in the next century.” ^[1] Maurice Strong, a founding co-chairman of the Earth Charter Commission and advisor to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan concurred, “The real goal of the Earth Charter is that it will in fact become like the Ten Commandments.”  Lest anyone doubt the religious sincerity of Mr. Gorbachev, he has made it clear, “Cosmos is my God. Nature is my God.” ^[2]

The contents of the Ark are as dark as its design, and include the Earth Charter written on papyrus, ”Temenos Earth masks”, and over 300 “Temenos Books” designed by artists and school children from Vermont.

Temenos is a concept adopted by Carl Jung to denote a magic circle, a sacred space where special rules and energies apply. Some of the Temenos Books were created within this magic circle by children, who filled them with visual affirmations for “Mother Earth”.  Fashioned with the "earth elements", the Temenos Earth Masks were also worn and created by children.  The Ark of Hope official website states, “Teachers involved in the [Temenos] project engaged their students in discussion of the Earth Charter principles, generating the kind of internal reflection that can lead to a change in attitudes, values, and behavior.” ^[3]

The Earth Charter itself is a relatively short document that sets forth the means for establishing a global government based on communist ideology and New Age beliefs.  It also possesses the means to curtail Christian evangelism, promote and even mandate abortion, and allow for the prophesied restoration of the temple in Jerusalem. 

The Earth Charter Initiative was launched in 1994 by Maurice Strong, his newly formed Earth Council and Mikhail Gorbachev, acting in his capacity as president of Green Cross International. In 1997, the Earth Council and Green Cross International formed an Earth Charter Commission to give oversight to the process.  The Earth Charter Commission issued a final version of the Earth Charter in March 2000. 

The Earth Charter is unabashedly New Age and Humanist in its ideology.  The preamble of the charter affirms belief in evolution:  “Humanity is part of a vast evolving universe…. Earth has provided the conditions essential to life's evolution.” ^[4] The first of the sixteen principles of the charter states that nations must “Affirm faith in the…spiritual potential of humanity.”  This spiritual potential is one based in New Age beliefs on the potential for spiritual evolution and “Christ consciousness” inherent in each person. 

The charter’s preamble lays the groundwork for a one-world government, “We must join together to bring forth a sustainable global society…. We urgently need a shared vision of basic values to provide an ethical foundation for the emerging world community.”  To facilitate this goal, nations must “Avoid military activities damaging to the environment” (6^th Principle), and “Demilitarize national security systems to the level of a non-provocative defense posture, and convert military resources to peaceful purposes, including ecological restoration” (16^th Principle).  Obviously, any bomb dropped and any bullet fired can result in damage to the environment.  In line with United Nations’ objectives, these principles will effectively eliminate the military powers of nation-states, and excesses will be redistributed to underdeveloped nations. 

In the interest of fostering “sustainable economic development”, the United Nations and associated organizations have been strong proponents of population control measures like China’s one-child policy.  In the Earth Charter, this is echoed in the seventh principle: “[nations must] Ensure universal access to health care that fosters reproductive health and responsible reproduction.”  This is a euphemistic way of endorsing population control, and consequently abortion as part of family planning.

Under the auspices of the Earth Charter, Christians could find themselves committing a violation of law by evangelizing to non-Christians.  The charter states that nations must “Eliminate discrimination in all its forms, such as that based on race, color, sex, sexual orientation, religion, language, and national, ethnic or social origin.”  While the wording sounds noble, this clause could possibly find that evangelism is a form of discrimination based on religion.  What of our religious freedoms?  The authors of the Earth Charter recognized that many will be reluctant to give in to all these new demands, but “…we must find ways to harmonize diversity with unity, the exercise of freedom with the common good.”  In other words, if the United Nations deems that your freedoms are contrary to the common good, your freedoms will be sacrificed.  I’d be willing to bet Mr. Gorbachev had his hand in writing that portion of the charter. 

According to end-times prophecy, the temple in Jerusalem will be rebuilt.  The question of ‘how’ or ‘when’ remains elusive, as the temple mount is currently under the control of the Muslims, who have no intention of relinquishing it.  The Earth Charter may provide the means for the fulfillment of this prophecy.  The twelfth principle calls on nations to “Protect and restore outstanding places of cultural and spiritual significance” [emphasis added].

The Ark of Hope is a blatant and blasphemous affront to Jews and Christians alike.  It places a sacred status on the Earth Charter, and attempts to replace the divine law of Yahweh with man-made rules that will pave the way for the Antichrist. 

On August 26, 2002, The Ark of Hope carrying the Earth Charter and Temenos Books will visit the United Nations' World Summit on Sustainable Development held in Johannesburg, South Africa.  These worshippers of “Mother Earth” would do well to open a Bible and read Romans 1:22-25:  “Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.  Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator--who is forever praised. Amen.”

^[1] Mikhail Gorbachev, The Los Angeles Times, May 8, 1997

^[2] Mikhail Gorbachev, on the PBS Charlie Rose Show, Oct. 23, 1996

^[3] http://www.ark-of-hope.org

^[4] This and all remaining quotes taken from the Earth Charter, http://www.earthcharter.org