A lot of people are talking about global warming these days. The evening news and the Internet are all abuzz. Al Gore did a documentary on it called Inconvenient Truth, at won an Oscar. Representative Ed Markey from Massachusetts referred to Al Gore during some proceedings on Capitol Hill as a prophet. It seems years ago Mr. Gore predicted some of the climate difficulties we are facing today. You have to be careful if someone calls you a prophet. A prophet speaks for God, and you better be 100% accurate when you speak for God or there will be some problems coming up in your future. It is better to stick to the other definition of prophet, which is one who proclaims the word, rather than one who foretells the future.
As always, we must go to the Word of God to find out what His opinion of global warming and the environment is.
One thing we should look at is the plagues that God performed through Moses in Egypt. One of them was the turning of much of the water into blood.
Exodus 7:19
And the LORD spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and stretch out thine hand upon the waters of Egypt, upon their streams, upon their rivers, and upon their ponds, and upon all their pools of water, that they may become blood; and that there may be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood, and in vessels of stone.
God didn’t seem too concerned about the environment when He did that.
God sent frogs all across the land in Egypt and then had them die. The Lord also had the cattle and horses of Egypt die. I guess that group called PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), would be having a problem right about then.
Exodus 9:24,25
So there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, very grievous, such as there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation.
And the hail smote throughout all the land of Egypt all that was in the field, both man and beast; and the hail smote every herb of the field, and brake every tree of the field.
It looks to me like we have a problem here. God doesn’t seem to be as concerned about the environment as some Christians are today.
When we go to the New Testament, there are also some plagues that we need to look at:
Revelation 8:7-9
The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up. And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood; And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.
It seems God might look at His creation just a little bit differently than we do:
Revelation 8:10-12
And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters; And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.
And all of this doesn’t include the many other plagues in the Scriptures, plus famines, and of course a worldwide flood. So what can we infer from all of this? One thing we know for sure is that the God of this universe is in complete control. He can decide if He wants to warm the sun up to warm things up here on earth, He can decide if He will allow a tsunami, or turn all waters into blood. The global warming experts of today predicted global cooling just 30 years ago. On the CBS Evening News, I saw Katie Couric quoting a study that the temperature here on earth would rise 7.2 degrees by the year 2100. Recently, I traveled to Iowa and checked the weather forecast five days in advance. They were off by ten degrees on the high, so if they can’t give me the right temperature five days in advance, how can they give the right temperature 90 years in advance?
Christians out there do me a favor: Be careful in the coming days! I know Christians who are more concerned about the environment than anything else. We should all care about the environment, but there are things much more important than the temperature outside. Jesus didn’t die so you could have a beautiful yard. Jesus didn’t die so you would have perfect weather for Spring Break. Jesus died because the sins of mankind were, and are, repulsive to a holy God. Jesus died to atone for our sins. Jesus died so we didn’t have to die in our sins. So go ahead and let Jesus worry about the environment. We need to be about the business of seeking and saving those who are lost. Jesus died for those people. Let’s go reach them before they die and go to hell. Make sure you are not known for a beautiful yard in your neighborhood, but make sure you are known as the man or woman of God who cares where every soul in the neighborhood is going to spend eternity. Christians don’t get persecuted because they care about the environment. Christians get persecuted because of their bold stand for Jesus Christ. I do hope some persecution comes your way this spring and summer. Your front yard looks great, but make sure your next door neighbor will be coming to heaven with you.
Until the nets are full,
