100.22 degrees Fahrenheit (37.9°C) recorded at Heathrow Airport. Wildfires raging in forests from Russia to Portugal. Extensive crop losses, especially in southern Europe. Italy’s rivers at their lowest level recorded in 100 years and World War 2 wrecks becoming visible on the shrunken waters of the Danube. Up to 10,000 deaths attributed to the heat in France with the government under fire for its failure to make better provision to deal with the heat wave. Swiss glaciers melting at a record rate, threatening a dramatic impact on water supply. In the United States records being set for scorching heat in the west and torrential rains in the east.
What is happening to our weather?
Is this a sign of global warming? What happens if the temperatures continue to rise?
Even before the effects of the heat wave in Europe were hitting the headlines, a study released by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) on July 2nd explained that the world is experiencing record numbers of extreme weather events. Laying the blame firmly at the feet of global warming, the agency warned that the number and intensity of extreme weather events could continue to increase. Examples given were:
• 562 tornadoes, which hit the United States in May, this year was a record, far higher than the previous record monthly peak of 399 set in June 1992.
• Far colder and wetter conditions than normal also prevailed in the eastern and southeastern part of the U.S. for much of May and June.
• A pre-monsoon heat wave, which hit India earlier this year, caused peak temperatures of between 45 and 49°C (113 to 120°F), killing more than 1,400 people.
• In Sri Lanka, heavy rainfalls from Tropical Cyclone 01B exacerbated already wet conditions, causing flooding and landslides and more than 300 fatalities.
• In the south of France average temperatures were between 5 and 7°C (9 to 13 °F) warmer than the long term average.
On their own none of these events is truly remarkable. But when viewed together they represent a clear and alarming trend towards wilder weather, according to the WMO. “These record extreme events (high temperatures, low temperatures and high rainfall amounts and droughts) all go into calculating the monthly and annual averages which, for temperatures, have been gradually increasing over the past 100 years,” the WMO stated. The World Meteorological Organization is a sober UN based organisation not given to hype. It normally confines itself to issuing scientific reports and statistics compiled from climate data. However, the weather events of 2003 have proved so remarkable, that the organization felt compelled to issue a generalized warning of the emerging pattern. The WMO said new analysis of data for the northern hemisphere showed the increase in temperature in the 20th century was likely to have been the largest in any century during the past 1,000 years. “It is also likely that, in the northern hemisphere, the 1990s were the warmest decade and 1998 the warmest year,” it said.
One of the causes of the great European heat wave in 2003 has been the shifting of the hot air mass that usually sits over the Sahara Desert to Europe. While this brought great heat to Europe it also brought unprecedented rainstorms across Africa from Senegal to Eritrea. This weird weather pattern produced the worst floods in Eritrea for 40 years and the most severe summer storms in living memory across parts of Algeria and Sudan.
This raises a number of big questions: ‘Is this just a one off freak summer or is it the shape of things to come? Is it the result of natural changes in the earth which are beyond our control or is it the result of human induced climate change driven by emissions of greenhouse gases?’ The even bigger question is ‘What, if anything, can be done about it?’
Some environmentalists are saying that global warming has now entered a critical stage, one where irreversible catastrophes begin to accelerate in a domino effect. Forest fires of the kind witnessed in Europe and North America this summer contribute to greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere and also remove trees, which are nature’s way of absorbing these gasses.
The melting of the Swiss glaciers threatens the water supply of the great rivers of Europe. Some fifty percent of the water carried by the Rhone from its source in the Alps through Lake Geneva to the Mediterranean comes from ice melt. If the glaciers retreat, the amount of water flowing through these rivers will go down. Once agriculture goes in areas hit by drought it becomes difficult to replace.
On the other hand opponents of the environmental movement are saying that the connection between global warming and human pollution has not been proved. There are even some fanciful suggestions that there could be beneficial side effects, for example making cold areas like Siberia open to agriculture. This is really like the ostrich burying its head in the sand. The evidence of climate change is almost beyond argument after the events of the past decade. The areas under threat are highly populated ones and the areas, which might benefit are virtually unpopulated. If climate change causes mass migration of people from one area to another, the effect on the stability of the world situation would be catastrophic.
If the environmental lobby is right that the change in weather is caused by human activity (and I think they are right), then the next question is ‘What is to be done?’ One solution has been proposed by Mikhail Gorbachev. Since his fall from power in Russia, he has been active on the world scene, based in the USA, promoting the need for a world government. The number one reason he cites for this is the environment. He contends that a global institution is needed to deal with this global problem, and if we don’t act soon, it will be too late – the world will self-destruct. As part of his push for world government, Gorbachev proposes his Earth Charter, a document for which he has become the chief spokesperson and which he believes will save the planet.
He is not alone in this. Radical members of the ‘Green Party’ want to use this looming catastrophe to push the world in the direction of a world government, which would have power to impose a control over the causes of pollution, for example how much we may use our cars. Inevitably this would lead to a radical shift in the way society is organised, especially in the developed world. It would probably require some kind of a police state to force people to change their life style in order to save the planet.
One can see a certain logic in the argument of those who are proposing a world government to take control of the situation. Given the vested interests of nations, especially the USA, the main producer of greenhouse gasses, it is unlikely that they will agree to the changes required without some kind of authority being given to a global institution like the UN.
Concern about the future of the world is causing people to look to supernatural sources for help. Astrologers, New Age gurus and all kinds of mystical teachings are sought as guides to the future of planet Earth. Some even believe that UFOs will beam down information the human race needs to get ourselves out of the mess we have made of looking after the planet. Or even better that aliens will come down themselves and sort us out!
There is actually some 100% reliable information on this subject, which was beamed down to us by God who created the heavens and the earth and who gave the human race the task of caring for this planet. Unfortunately many people deny that He exists and mock at the book He has given us. If they bother to look into this book they will find that both weird weather and a world government are prophesied in the Bible.
God predicted through Isaiah the terrible world conditions, which would come upon the earth at the end of this age: “The earth is also polluted by its inhabitants, for they transgressed laws, violated statutes, broke the everlasting covenant. Therefore, a curse devours the earth, and those who live in it are held guilty. Therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men are left.”
— Isaiah 24:5-6 NASB

In the Book of Revelation we read of a great heat at the end of this age in the days just before Jesus returns to the earth:
“Then the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun and power was given to him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues; and they did not repent and give him the glory.”
— Revelation 16:8-9

In the same chapter we also read of the River Euphrates being dried up (12). Revelation also contains a promise that those who are martyred for their faith will never again thirst from the effect of the scorching heat of the sun beating upon them:
“They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.”
— Revelation 7:16

Jesus also warned of the effect of global weather pattern changes: “There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken.”
— Luke 21:25-26 NIV

Jesus is here speaking about great storms that will come in from the sea, one of the recognised effects of global warming. Coastal areas are heavily populated on all continents, so the effect of this will be disasters of such magnitude that men will have fatal heart attacks from sheer terror.
On the other issue mentioned in this article, world government, the Bible also has something to say. In Revelation 13 we read about a coming world government, which will cause the whole world to come under the authority of one identified as the beast or the Antichrist. Other scriptures indicate that he will come in to power offering peace and safety to a generation traumatised by the possibility of world destruction. With the growing fear of what is coming on the world taking hold of people throughout the planet, it is not difficult to see how a charismatic world leader using modern mass communications could make this happen. Today more and more people are tapping into the occult and demonic realm, and the coming Antichrist will be energised and empowered by Satan himself ready to deceive a generation that rejects God’s truth with a false promise of being able to save the earth. In fact he will lead the planet to the brink of total destruction.
There will then be a dramatic rescue coming from outside the planet, not in the form of aliens being beamed down from outer space, but in the form of Jesus the Messiah returning in power and glory to save us and set up His Messianic Kingdom in which there will be real peace and safety. The mess, which we have made of the planet, will then be cleaned up as living waters flow out from Jerusalem (Zechariah 14:8) and the earth is full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea (Isaiah 11:9). Before this happens Jesus will judge the world and Satan will be bound and unable to deceive the nations during the 1,000 year reign of the Messiah on the earth (Matthew 25: 31-46, Revelation 20:1-6). Those who are saved and trust in Jesus will then inhabit the earth, which will return to the agricultural non polluting society God intended us to inhabit in the first place with weapons of war turned into farming equipment and everyone being fed and cared for (Isaiah 2:1-4; 11:1-9; Joel 3:8; Micah 4:4).
God does want us to care for the planet, as He instructed us to do in the Bible. In Genesis 1: 28-30 and Psalm 8 we read how God told the human race to have ‘dominion’ over the earth, which in the context implies caring for all that God has made, which was originally ‘very good’ but has now been spoilt as a result of human sin and the curse that has come upon the earth (Genesis 3: 17-19). Jesus the Messiah came to redeem the world from this curse, bringing salvation to the individual who calls on His name, as a result of His sacrifice at the cross when He came the first time. He promised to return and according to Romans 8: 18-22 the whole creation is eagerly waiting for this event, which will liberate it from the curse that human sin and mismanagement of the planet has brought upon all life on earth.
In the meantime we can do our bit for the environment by recycling our waste and being careful how we treat the earth, but to be honest the problem is now too big for any human effort to save the planet. Only God in the person of the returning Lord Jesus the Messiah can do this. The most important thing for each one of us to be sure of is that we are ready to meet Him by repenting of our sins and trusting in Him for eternal salvation. If we do this we have a glorious future to look forward to in a perfect environment where there will be no pollution and no global warming but only peace and harmony in the kingdom of God.

Tony Pearce

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Appeared in Issue 27 Volume 9.2 December 2003
"...contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints" -- Jude v3