Epic,
Global Climate Changes Prophesied
An
early assault of winter hit hard with a deadly snowfall and
record low temperatures. The news media calls these massive
polar shifts which are plaguing the Northern hemisphere as “epic,
"historic" and "of Biblical proportions."
What
do these alarming weather events mean for the future of man’s
home?
There
are other terms being commonly reported in the news today, as
well — “global warming,” “greenhouse
effect,” “polar vortex,” etc. This subject
has become politically charged with strong partisan divisions.
Our purpose is not to debate the issue, but to discover whether
the Bible sheds any prophetic light on the subject of climate
change.
First
— The Cold, Hard Facts
Reports
of shrinking polar caps grabbed the world’s attention
as far back as 140 years ago. By the late 1800s, scientists
were beginning to study the effects of the Industrial Revolution
on Earth’s atmosphere as more and more fossil fuels were
used to power cars, trucks and factories. In more recent years,
tests conducted on polar ice samples, indicate that there is
more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere today than at any point
in human history. Research conducted at NASA’s Goddard
Institute for Space Studies (GISS) examined the impact of carbon
dioxide and other gases upon Earth’s atmosphere and concluded
that carbon dioxide emissions were the underlying cause for
warmer temperatures.
The
debate continues as to whether the burning of fossil fuels is
the cause of warming temperatures, but whatever the cause, the
icy surface at the Arctic is beginning the annual melt three
weeks earlier than it did 30 years ago. As a result, the exposed,
open water is much darker than the white snow, and thus absorbs
and stores greater heat from the sun. This, in turn, hastens
the melting of this polar region. (Scientific American, 9/21/07;
11/10/08)
If
temperatures are getting warmer, some may ask, why are the winters
becoming more brutal? Researchers explain that the warmer Arctic
water heats the air above it and makes the jet stream weaker.
This weaker, high level river of air has been dropping farther
south, causing longer and more intense winters — creating
new wind patterns that push frigid winds and snow southward.
(See wunderground.com/climate/SeaIce)
In
addition to the extreme winter effects from the warmer atmosphere,
statistics reveal that tornadoes are touching down in clusters
more often than 50 years ago. On some days, more than 30 twisters
strike the United States.
If
the reported warming trend is a reality, there will be an upside
for the planet as a whole. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA) recently reported that the Arctic is expected
to be ice-free as early as late summer of 2030. It is estimated
that, once the ice cap has melted, the cause of the extreme
wind patterns will no longer exist, while average temperatures
will gradually become more evenly moderate worldwide. (See NOAA
Web Report, 4/12/13)
The
Deluge Effect: Global Shifts in Climate
Throughout
the history of this planet, there have been major shifts in
Earth’s climate. Fossil Butte National Monument in Wyoming
verifies this fact. Today, this geological wonder resides within
desert-like conditions, with bitter cold winters and bone-dry
summers. Under the surface, pressed between hundreds of layers
of sedimentary rock, geologists have unearthed thousands of
fossils that once lived in a lush, tropical environment. In
the prehistoric past, palm trees, alligators and fresh water
sting rays flourished in the moisture rich climate.
What
could cause such a drastic change in climate? Some geologists
believe that several water vapor canopies encircling the globe
have collapsed at the poles, causing global flooding —
shaping and reshaping Earth’s environment over thousands
of years. Fossil Butte is an example of this reshaping. Similar
areas of great sandstone, clay and shale beds exist in numerous
areas around the globe — all of which science declares
must have been placed as the settlings of great floods.
Astronomers
point to the rings of Saturn and Jupiter to illustrate this
deluge effect. These rings consist of minerals and water thrown
far off in a gaseous state when the planets were at white heat.
They subsequently cooled and formed into various strata or rings.
As the weight of the strata drew them nearer and nearer the
planet’s surface, these rings eventually spread out as
great canopies over the planet — thinner at the equator
and thicker at the poles. The rotation of the planet on its
axis gave least resistance at the poles, and when the weight
became so great as to overcome the strength of the firmament,
the canopy broke through from both poles, causing global flooding.
The most recent of major convulsions in Earth’s climate
was that of Noah’s Flood.
God’s
Timing Perfect
God,
foreknowing all things, anticipated the necessity of the Noachian
Deluge, and hence so timed the features of His Plan that the
last of Earth’s rings was still unbroken when man was
created. (Genesis 6:9-22; 7:11-24) At the time of Noah, the
temperature was nearly the same at the poles as at the equator
— the sun’s rays acting upon the watery canopy as
they do upon the white glass of a greenhouse. It is because
of those previously warmer temperatures throughout the Earth
that we find the remains of tropical animals and plant life
imbedded under layers of rock as in the Fossil Butte region
and under the ice in the polar regions. The sudden break of
the canopy of water not only caused a deluge to come down at
the poles, but it also produced a sudden and intense cold. The
water froze rapidly, as evidenced in Siberia by the discovery
of a huge woolly mammoth encased in clear, solid ice —
perfectly intact with grasses still in its mouth in process
of chewing.
Such
catastrophic global events give rise to fear of the future for
man’s home. However, looking to the Scriptures, the current
changes of severe weather events will result in the blessing
that God has planned for humanity. Prophecy shows that there
is a silver lining to these ominous clouds on the horizon.
Earth
— Man’s Home — Was Cursed
To
understand what God’s plans are for the future of Earth,
it is necessary to review the past. Man’s original home
in the Garden of Eden was perfectly suitable for living —
forever. When Father Adam sinned, the curse also extended to
the Earth. He was driven out of his perfect Edenic environment
into an unfinished Earth where the components of nature were
still imperfect and unstable. God said to Adam: “…cursed
is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all
the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring
forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In
the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return
unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou
art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” Genesis 3:17-19
God
left man’s home in an unfinished condition, so that mankind
would have to work hard to survive. Ever since Adam was expelled
from Eden, mankind has been subjected to sporadic upheavals
of nature, as yet, unbalanced. Regrettably, many call these
natural disasters, “acts of God.” But are they?
No, these alternations of drought and deluge, of blizzards and
scorching heat, of hurricanes and tornadoes are actually random
acts of nature upon this yet to be perfected planet.
Curse
Upon the Earth to be Lifted
While
the first Book of the Bible began with this curse upon man and
his home — the last Book assures us that this curse will
come to an end! “And there shall be no more curse…”
(Revelation 22:3) He who prepared our planet for habitation
is also able to recover it after man’s experience with
sin and its consequences.
Despite
the suffering and sorrow that comes as a result of extreme weather
events, God has promised that something constructive will result
from it in due time. The Bible foretells of an everlasting kingdom
to come where death and destruction will be no more. There,
mankind will exist in a perfect Garden of Eden condition worldwide,
such as Adam experienced before Satan’s deception led
him into disobedience. The whole creation groans under this
curse upon the Earth. But, because “God is love,”
He intends to take away these cursed conditions upon the Earth,
in due time. (Romans 8:22; 1 John 4:16) He promised in Genesis
8:22 that there will always be “seedtime and harvest,
and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night...”
But when the habitable parts of the Earth become a paradise,
the extremes of dangerous weather patterns will no longer plague
mankind as they do now.
An
early assault of winter hit hard with a deadly snowfall and
record low temperatures. The news media calls these massive
polar shifts which are plaguing the Northern hemisphere as “epic,
"historic" and "of Biblical proportions."
What
do these alarming weather events mean for the future of man’s
home?
There
are other terms being commonly reported in the news today, as
well — “global warming,” “greenhouse
effect,” “polar vortex,” etc. This subject
has become politically charged with strong partisan divisions.
Our purpose is not to debate the issue, but to discover whether
the Bible sheds any prophetic light on the subject of climate
change.