Saturday, April 25, 2009

Global Warming and Prophecy

There is a great emphasis on global warming in the news, in politics, and in the media at large. It is certainly a biblical principle that mankind should care for the environment (Genesis 2:15, Genesis 1:27-28, Revelation 11:17-18). Yet this current emphasis on global warming can obscure a more important issue and a greater danger to the United States and other nations.

It seems that every time there is any kind of weather disaster, whether it be a hurricane, drought, flooding, tornadoes, extreme heat, or extreme cold, there are many who try to tie this to global warming. People are being conditioned to blame every weather disaster on man's pumping of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere through the burning of fossil fuels for energy.

Yet the Bible does predict disasters to come, including weather disasters, but not necessarily due to global warming. The disasters that are coming are punishments for our sins, such as murder, adultery, idolatry, stealing, lying, Sabbath breaking, and every other violation of the Ten Commandments.

And this is the issue that the emphasis on global warming obscures.

The United States is declining in morality at a breathtaking pace. Americans only fifty years ago would be shocked to see what our society has become today. Abortions since Roe vs. Wade total in the tens of millions. Immorality is commonplace. Lying is expected. Few people keep God's Sabbath. People have made an idol out of pleasure, and that idol is one they serve more than God. Few people take the time to seriously seek God by studying the Bible to know His will. There is injustice and oppression of the poor.

The Bible shows that God does intervene to protect or punish His people. There are rewards for obedience and punishments for disobedience. This is shown by the history of Israel and God's promises of blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience (Deuteronomy 11:13-15, 26-28, Deuteronomy 28:1-14, 15-67). Notice especially Deuteronomy 28:23-24: "And your heavens which are over your head shall be bronze, and the earth which is under you shall be iron. The Lord will change the rain of your land to powder and dust; from the heaven it shall come down on you until you are destroyed."

Drought and weather disasters are among the ways God punishes His people for their sins. And these things are written as examples for our learning (1 Corinthians 10:6).

Yet some of the very people who are most zealous about the cause of global warming are very lax when it comes to upholding moral standards and obedience to the Ten Commandments of God who is able to bless us with good weather or withhold that blessing to punish us for our sins.

If we do not repent as a nation and if our sins continue, a time will come when God will punish us for our sins with drought so serious that it can bring about food shortages and even famine.

Yet the public is being conditioned to blame weather disasters on global warming, not on our sins such as abortion and the open disrespect for God in the media and entertainment industry.

We are dependent on God for good weather but we are also dependent on His protection in an increasingly dangerous world.

I have studied the history of World War II, and I am convinced there were many times when God intervened to help the United States and the British nations to survive and win the war. Had we lost that war it is unlikely we would have the freedom of religion we have today.

But our morality has declined, and we are not using our freedoms responsibly. We are being more and more anti-God in our culture. And unless we turn around as a nation, God will not continue to protect us from our enemies indefinitely.

I talk about this topic in more detail in chapters one and three of my book Preaching the Gospel (see link in right panel of this blog).