| I can certainly understand why
neo-pagans like Al Gore believe, despite overwhelming scientific
evidence to the contrary, man-made, catastrophic global warming is
the gravest threat to the planet.
What I can't understand is why people
who claim to believe in the Bible as the inerrant, inspired Word of
God do so.
Even more difficult to comprehend is
why some evangelical Christians are caught up in the notion that
government and international action are the proper methods to fight
this phantom threat.
First of all, in Genesis 8:22, we're
told of a promise by God never to use global floodwaters again as a
means of destroying life on Earth. In that promise, the Bible
explicitly states:
| "While the earth remaineth, seedtime
and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter,
and day and night shall not cease" (Genesis 8:22). |
In other words, no more cataclysmic
floods - the result Al Gore promises in the near future as a
consequence of global warming. Just as importantly, there is
another promise there that cold and heat shall not cease. What
does that mean? It means God controls the world's temperature,
not man. God controls the climate, not man. God controls
the earth's 'eco-system', not man. God controls our
environment, not man.
It is so presumptuous and haughty of
believers and non-believers alike to think man is in control of the
destiny of the planet God created for us.
If it were so, would he not have
warned us? With all of the prophecies in the Bible, should we
not expect to be told that such matters are actually in our hands?
Why would we be told exactly the opposite throughout scripture?
It's not that the Bible tells us
there no consequences for our actions on the planet. In fact,
it quite explicitly does. But it is not the production of
carbon dioxide that God finds offensive. It is the commission
of sin. Nowhere in the Bible does God ever suggest that
producing CO2 is sinful.
Keep in mind, it is not a pollutant.
It is a naturally occurring gas - just like oxygen. God
created CO2, not man. And nature's God still produces a lot
more of it than does man.
In Isaiah 49, in a passage
evangelicals believe represent the words of Jesus Himself, there is
another promise - that those who follow Him would never perish from
the heat of the sun:
| "They shall not hunger or thirst;
neither shall the heat nor the sun smite them: for he
that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the
springs of water that shall guide them" (Isaiah 49:10). |
If cataclysmic global warming
represented a real threat to believers, would God have made such a
promise through Isaiah?
That is not to say heat will never be
used as a means of judgment. In fact, it will be according to
the Bible:
| "And men were scorched with great
heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power
over these plagues: and they repented not to give him
glory" (Revelation 16:9). |
What this means is that scorching
heat will be used as a judgement against non-believers, and, most
importantly, that God and God alone has the power over such
calamities.
Yes, there will come a time when the
Earth is destroyed - and intense heat will be the mechanism God
employs. But we're not talking about a rise of a few degrees
over centuries. We're talking about heat so severe it melts
the very elements that comprise the Earth.
That comes in a day that sounds very
much like the time in which we live. It is described in 2
Peter 3:
| "Knowing this first, that there shall
come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own
lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming?
for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue
as they were from the beginning of the creation.
For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the
word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth
standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the
world that then was, being overflowed with water,
perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now,
by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire
against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly
men. But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one
thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand
years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord
is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count
slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing
that any should perish, but that all should come to
repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a
thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass
away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt
with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are
therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all
these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons
ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of
God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be
dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent
heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise,
look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth
righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye
look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found
of him in peace, without spot, and blameless" (2 Peter
3:3-14). |
Are today's evangelicals who agree
with the worldly that the greatest threat to mankind is represented
in catastrophic, man-made global warming without spot and blameless?
It is sheer folly and ego for man to
believe he controls the destiny of God's creation. But it is
even more disgraceful when those who claim to believe His Word
preach a false gospel of global warming that directly contradicts
the entire body of scripture.
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