Effects of Gulf Oil Spill Far From Over

At a recent science conference in Washington, marine scientist Samantha Joye reported that an enormous amount of sea life has been destroyed from the BP oil spill. Seven months after the leak was stopped, large amounts of oil are still present on the ocean floor. 

For nearly three months, oil spewed from the faulty wellhead. Estimates of how much oil leaked into the Gulf of Mexico range from half a million barrels to 9 million barrels.

This top scientist went on to say that microbes in the ocean consumed only about 10 percent of the oil. “The rest of it,” she said, “we don’t know.” 

One factor in this spill is the amount of oil soot that settled to the bottom from the oil burned on the surface. Pictures from the ocean floor show dead creatures covered with this soot. Another disturbing factor is the amount of methane gas injected into the ocean from the damaged wellhead, killing and poisoning even more sea life.

The chief of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Jane Lubchenco, said that “the damage done to a variety of species may not become obvious for years to come.” 

We reap what we sow

Many believe that fish from the Gulf still should not be eaten. The bad choices by BP and others will indeed have long-term consequences. And even though some are quick to point the finger at BP, God says it is all of mankind’s bad choices that are causing such calamities like the Gulf oil spill to come upon us. 

God said through the prophet Hosea that “the fish of the sea will be taken away” (Hosea 4:3). Why? Because man has rejected God’s revealed knowledge (verses 1-2, 6)!

More disasters to come?

This Gulf disaster will not be the last. God reveals that the time is coming when the entire earth will be in a state of disrepair. “The earth is also defiled under its inhabitants, because they have transgressed the laws.… Therefore the curse has devoured the earth…. The earth is violently broken, the earth is split open, the earth is shaken exceedingly. The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall totter like a hut” (Isaiah 24:5-6, 19-20).

Again, notice it is the breaking of God’s laws that is the cause of these disasters. As society continues to remove God, is it any wonder that more disasters are occurring?

What should you do?

God promises protection to those who keep His commandments. Interestingly, God compares those who break His law to a “troubled sea” (Isaiah 57:20), but He says that those who keep His law will dwell by “still waters” (Psalm 23:2).

Undoubtedly, we will continue to see devastating results from the Gulf oil spill in the months and years to come. And as long as mankind continues to reject God, disasters will continue to affect mankind.

The good news is that the time will come when God will directly intervene and save the earth from mankind’s destructive ways. But until then, we need to make sure we honor God by keeping His commandments!