It’s said that hard times make tough men. They bleed and sweat until times aren’t so hard, and in fact get pretty soft. That produces soft men, who in turn let things fall apart until times get hard, and the cycle starts over again.

Well, times haven’t been soft in most of Africa for centuries. Perhaps because of that, Africa’s Christians aren’t flabby and malleable. They stand by their beliefs, whether facing Boko Haram wielding AK-47s or smooth-handed Westerners promising them Utopia, if they’ll just sign away their birthrights and souls on the dotted line in triplicate.

I’ve met many such Africans, when I was bringing clean water and supplies to victims of genocide in Sudan. These people have the integrity and valor we look back to find among our ancestors, the Apostles and the martyrs. Indeed, Africa is now the site of many martyrdoms, in places like Nigeria and Burkina Faso.

The African Church Says No to the Sin of Sodom

One of the most faithful Catholic pastors in the world, Cardinal Robert Sarah, is justly proud of the fact that African bishops stood up to Pope Francis, when he tried to introduce public blessings of same-sex couples. As Lifesitenews reports, Sarah praised his brother bishops for “firmly and radically opposing a heresy that seriously undermines the Church, the Body of Christ, because it is contrary to the Catholic faith and Tradition.”

The battle against post-modern squalor imposed by foreign elites extends to many areas of life. Another savage front where Africans fight back against our mediocre, sheep-like elites concerns the freedom to keep people’s homes warm or cool, illuminated and safe, and create jobs that support African families.

The Western Left Condemns Africa to Permanent Poverty

We in developed economies have been prosperous and comfortable for decades thanks to cheap, abundant fossil fuels. Now we’re “soft” enough to let our leaders sell us on the fantasy of a clean “green” fossil-free future. Africans see through these empty promises, to the price that they’ll have to pay. In fact, a world dependent on pricey, unreliable “green” technologies would be much, much poorer for decades — and the poorest countries today would pay the price in blood and misery, while the wealthiest would remain partly insulated.

Energy poverty plagues much of Africa, leaving some 600 million people without electricity today, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). Many rely on traditional biomass (firewood, etc.) for their cooking and heating needs. Keeping such people dirt-poor and desperate is the most predictable outcome of “Green” policies imposed worldwide by the wealthy West.

For centuries fossil fuels such as coal, gas and oil allowed economic explosions in Europe and North America. That meant longer lives, less infant mortality, and the development of modern medicine. Now “Green” activists want to snatch all that away from Africans.

Don’t Stifle Our Growth and Freeze Our Children

You know who understands this better than the average Western Prius driver? People in rural Africa. They know what our elites have in store for them. Jusper Machogu is a family farmer in Kisii, Kenya. Like many Africans, Jusper is increasingly concerned about the energy colonialism of Western “Green” elites. They want to limit agricultural emissions worldwide, threatening the global food supply. They’d restrict his use of fertilizers, pesticides, and even gas-powered tractors.

“Modern agriculture (fossil fuel-based) is the solution to Africa’s hunger and poverty,” says Jusper. Jusper also laments how these policies impede the extraction and use of naturally available fossil fuel resources in the continent: “Africa is energy poor and needs fossil fuels. Some 1.4 billion people in Africa today use 3.9m barrels of oil per day. Compare that to the US where 330m people use 20m barrels per day. We are energy poor.”

Vijaya Ramachandran, the Director for Energy and Development at The Breakthrough Institute, has three decades of policy experience on energy and development in Africa. She says Africa needs reliable energy infrastructure, not rich-world hypocrisy. In her Nature article, Ramachandran notes the average Ethiopian consumes only 130 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year, about the amount the average person in the United States consumes in 4 days. … For hundreds of millions of people across Africa, energy is scarce, food is expensive and often imported, and full-time employment is hard to find. Much of what is necessary for development — roads, schools, housing, reliable power — cannot be realized quickly with green power alone.

Leave Your Wealth in the Ground

Limiting access to fossil fuels without viable alternatives will leave people to freeze and starve, in every worsening conditions of gross inequality. To abruptly abandon fossil fuels would plunge entire populations into despair, and likely drive many to migrate to Europe. Why stay in countries condemned by powerful foreigners to perpetual poverty?

Many African nations are endowed with abundant coal and oil reserves. Nations such as Nigeria and Angola depend significantly on oil exports, while South Africa’s extensive coal reserves provide the energy for its power grid. There are dozens of other nations who are developing their oil and gas fields. Our elites want to seal off that wealth, leave it in the ground, while more than a billion people live pre-modern lives. All to salve our Western consciences about offending the Climate god.

The West African country of Gabon has 39.2% of its population — 900,000 people — living under the poverty threshold. Some 30% are believed to be unemployed. But things are looking uphill with oil projects that promise to bring in employment and economic growth. Gabon aims to increase production to 220,000 barrels per day. Should we let Bill Gates and John Kerry snatch hope away from these poor people?

Tom Alweendo, Minister of Mines and Energy, Namibia, has been particularly vocal about safeguarding Africa’s energy rights. He says,

Let’s remember, no nation has achieved industrialization solely through solar or wind power… there’s a concerted effort by the West to stifle investment in African fossil fuel projects … . Capitalizing on Africa’s natural gas resources is about more than just enhancing power capacity or addressing electricity shortages. It is a means to build industrial capacity and revitalize African economies, lifting people from poverty and energy scarcity. In light of this, there is a clear imperative for African leaders to take immediate actions to foster an environment conducive to oil and gas investments.

Ramachandran in her article, “Rich Countries’ Climate Policies Are Colonialism in Green,” states that

in sub-Saharan Africa, which has large gas fields offshore and includes many of the world’s poorest countries, a ban on financing gas projects would practically end support for the critical energy infrastructure necessary to support economic development and raise living standards — including electricity for homes, schools, and factories; industrial heat for producing cement and steel; the carbon dioxide that is an essential component of synthetic fertilizer; and liquefied gas for transportation and cooking fuel.

Africa’s progress is threatened by Western “Green” hypocrisy and the Climate Cult. Nations in Africa must stand strong against our depraved elites, whatever they’re pushing. Why should they swallow the poisons that are currently killing the West?

Jason Jones is a film producer, author, activist, popular podcast host, and human rights worker. He is president of the Human-Rights Education and Relief Organization (H.E.R.O.), known for its two main programs, the Vulnerable People Project and Movie to Movement. He was the first recipient of the East Turkistan Order of Friendship Medal for his advocacy of the Uyghur people. Jones was an executive producer of Bella and an associate producer of The Stoning of Soraya M. His humanitarian efforts have aided millions in Afghanistan, Nigeria, and the Ukraine, as well as pregnancy centers and women’s shelters throughout North America. Jones is a senior contributor to The Streamand the host of The Jason Jones Show. He is also the author of three books, The Race to Save Our Century, The World Is on Fire, and his latest book The Great Campaign Against the Great Reset. His latest film, Divided Hearts of America, is available on Amazon Prime.