Is God Changing Our Climate?

Most people agree that something strange is happening to our weather. It doesn't seem to be the same as it was a generation ago. It depends where you are, but there seems in general to be less snow, more (or less) rain, and more severe weather. Some will dismiss this as a natural cycle, and point out the Biblical promise:

'While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall not cease' (Gen 8.22).

In other words, the basic cycle of things will continue. But we overlook the fact that God already has used the weather as a way of arresting man's attention, and Bible prophecy says that He will do it again!

God's Climate Control in the Past

Let's consider some historical events:

Darkness and Gloom

When Pharaoh refused to allow the Israelites to leave Egypt, God instructed Moses to 'stretch out his hand toward the sky, that there may be darkness over the land - a darkness that could be felt' (Exod 10.21). This resulted in 'thick darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days' (Exod 10.22).

Again, when Ezekiel was in exile in Babylon he challenged Israel to turn from their wicked ways, but he also spoke to the surrounding nations like Assyria and Egypt. He warned Egypt of God's coming judgement, when clouds and darkness would be used as a way of arresting their attention. We read 'It will be a day of clouds, a time of doom for the nation ... all the shining lights in heaven I will darken over you and will set darkness on your land' (Ezek 30.3, 32.8).

Drought

As the Israelites wandered in the wilderness on their way to the Promised Land, God gave them the Ten Commandments, together with many sundry laws. He warned Israel to obey them and if they did not then one of the consequences would be drought; the sky would be like bronze and the earth like iron (Deut 28.23,24).

Violent Storms, Floods and Hail

When the kings of the Amorites attacked friends of Israel, Joshua's army went up to defend them. It is recorded that God helped Israel by throwing large hailstones at the enemy: '... more died from the hailstones than those killed by the sons of Israel...' (Joshua 10.11).

Later, the prophet Ezekiel challenged the false prophets of Israel, saying that God would judge them. The Lord spoke to these false prophets through Ezekiel, saying:

'I will make a violent wind break out in My wrath ... flooding rain and hailstones ...' (Ezek 13.13)

When Jonah tried to ignore God's instructions by taking a boat trip, God sent 'a great wind and storm' (Jonah 1.4) that threatened to destroy the ship. Then, in New Testament times, God reversed the situation and calmed the wind and sea in order to save the the disciples:

'Jesus rebuked the wind and sea ... and the wind died down and it became perfectly calm' (Mk 4.39)

From these few examples we are left in little doubt that, in the past, God has used climate (the weather) to arrest man's attention.

God's Climate Control in the Future

The Bible makes it quite clear that there will be a definite end to life as we know it. Earth's governmental systems, economic and trading systems, animal kingdom, and even geology will all be changed at the Second Coming of Christ. Our current age is coming to a dramatic end as God deals with rebellious nations. During a brief period at the end of this age God will exact a series of judgements on the nations, and this includes changes to earth's climate! Isaiah 24-27 is sometimes called 'Isaiah's Apocalypse' since it describes God's judgement upon the entire world for its sin (it also correlates well with judgements on the earth described in Revelation).

Drought and Scorching Heat

One of the judgements predicted by Isaiah appears to be drought:

'The earth will be completely laid waste ... the earth mourns and withers, the world fades and withers...'(Isa 24.3,4)

Drought is one of the consequences of disobedience (Deut 28.23,24)(Zech 14.17). Another form of judgement prophesied by Isaiah appears to be extreme heat - heat severe enough to kill people:

'Therefore ... the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men are left' (Isa 24.6)

The book of Revelation appears to speak of the same end time events and predicts extreme weather as part of God's judgement upon the nations. There will be fierce, scorching heat:

'The fourth angel poured out his bowl upon the sun, and it was given to it to scorch men with fire. Men were scorched with fierce heat ...' (Rev 16.8,9)

Storms, Torrential Rain, Snow and Extreme Hail

When questioned about the end of the age, Jesus hints at wild weather:

'There will be ... dismay among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves' (Lk 21.25)

The root meaning of the Greek in this verse can mean nothing else but literal sea and literal waves. The word 'roaring' comes from the Greek 'echeo' meaning 'to make a loud noise'. Hurricanes and coastal flooding spring to mind.

Then there's the future Gog-Magog War. At some point in the future, Iran, together with other nations, will invade Israel from the north (Ezek 38). Just as God intervened to release Israel from the grips of Pharaoh, so He will intervene to protect Israel from the invading armies. As with Joshua (see above), the weather plays an important part in their defeat, with torrential rain and hail (Ezek 38.22).

Hail features high on the weather ingredients list at the end of the age. It is part of God's judgement upon the nations. Besides fierce heat there will be extreme hail and snow storms (Job 38.22,23)(Rev 16.8,9,21):

'... and huge hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, came down from heaven upon men ...' (Rev 16.21)

Clearly, God intends to use the climate to influence world affairs in the future. Since there is clear Biblical support for God's control of past and future climates, it is logical to ask 'is He speaking through climatic events in today's world?'. How close are we to these future events?

What's Happening to Our Climate?

If we accept traditional dating methods, the earth's climate has cycled through warm and cold periods for millions of years [National Geographic]. Cycle periods of 100,000 and 400,000 years are partly attributed to the changing orbit of the earth around the sun (expanding and contracting between more circular and more elliptical paths). Currently we are in a warm period and we might conclude that the climatic changes we see at present are merely abberrations to these long-term cycles. However, when long-term CO2 changes are plotted alongside long-term temperature changes the conclusions are alarming. Warm and cold periods correlate very well with high and low CO2 concentrations respectively, the CO2 dropping to about 180 ppm during ice ages and rising to about 275 ppm during warm periods.

The significant point here is that the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere has risen sharply since the industrial revolution in the 19th century and is fast approaching 400 ppm! This is a sudden 45% rise on the highest CO2 concentrations in the long-term cycle. To make matters worse, CO2 concentrations are expected to double by the middle of the 21st century. All this implies a corresponding massive temperature rise, together with related effects such as increased storm severity, rising sea levels, and drought.

Global temperatures

Last century the average surface temperature rose by 1 deg F and 1998 was the hottest year on record. Since then temperatures have broken more records e.g. 2006 was the hottest year on record for the UK. By 2100 global warming is predicted to raise temperatures by 2.5 – 10.4 deg F [UN Panel on Climate Change]. This will lead to more frequent and intense storms, and sea level rising by up to a meter, depending on CO2 concentration [National Geopgraphic]. In fact, it is estimated that a mean annual temperature rise of just 3 deg C in Greenland will cause the ice sheet to melt, leading to a long-term sea level rise of 7m. Paradoxically, global warming could lead to an abrupt cooling of North America and Western Europe as the Gulf Stream slows down. Average annual temperatures could drop by 5 deg F in North America and 6 deg F in Europe, but temperatures could rise by 4 deg F in the southern hemisphere. These effects could well be underway now! The flow of dense cold water (part of the Gulf Stream conveyor belt) in the North Atlantic has already diminished by over 20% since 1950 [Nature].

Storms

Whilst Atlantic hurricane frequency and intensity has certainly increased over the past 30 years, scientific opinion is currently divided on any long-term global trend. Some claim the global percentage of category 4,5 hurricanes is simply varying on a decade basis and shows no real upward trend [Kossin et al, 2007]. Others disagree. The graph opposite (courtesy Webster et al, Science, 309, 2005) shows that category 4,5 hurricanes as a percentage of total hurricanes have increased from 17% around 1970 to 35% around 2002.

A bottom line is that sea surface temperatures are a major factor, and these are rising. Consider a few figures. Hurricane models project a 3-5% increase in wind speed per degree C rise in sea surface temperature, and global warming projections are for 2-5 degree C rise by 2100 relative to 1990 levels. So a 2 degree C rise could show a 6-10% increase in wind speed. Since the power dissipated by a hurricane (cyclone) is proportional to the cube of the wind speed, we might expect a hurricane power increase of 20-30%. A 5 degree C increase by 2100 could give a 50-95% increase in hurricane power (super-hurricanes).

Drought

Water tables are falling on every continent e.g. 1.5m/year in China and 1–3m/year in India. Persistent drought since the late 1960’s has caused Lake Chad in Africa to shrink by over 95% in the last 40 years. Aquifers are being increasingly exploited because of the shortage of river water; they are the primary source of drinking water for half of the U.S. and nearly a third of the world. Unfortunately, aquifers can take hundreds of thousands of years to recharge, compared to typically 20 days for rivers. Consequently, two out of every three people will be short of water by 2025 [National Geographic, Worldwatch Institute, and Tearfund].

The effect on Society

A Pentagan Report warns that climate change may lead to global catastrophe costing millions of lives. The report predicts that "abrupt climate change could bring the planet to the edge of anarchy" and concludes that "disruption and conflict will be endemic features of life". It envisages European conflicts over failing supplies of food and water, flooding of Japanese coastal cities, conflicts between India, Pakistan and China over rivers and arable land, and floods of refugees from Mexico and the Caribbean. The Pentagan report states that, although this scenario is not the most likely, nevertheless, it "is plausible". To back this up, the UN reports that up to 50 million people could be displaced by climate change by 2010, bearing in mind that 40% of the world's population live within 60 miles of the coast. For example, a 1m sea level rise would submerge a substantial part of Bangladesh.

The Stern Report says "climate change will affect the basic elements of life (water, food production, health and the environment). Hundreds of millions of people could be affected by coastal flooding".

So is God Speaking Through Our Changing Climate?

Consider four facts:

If we are indeed close to the end of this age, then the correlation between biblical and scientific statements on climate seems significant. Both predict increasing temperature, more severe storms and more severe drought. God does indeed appear to be changing our weather in order to speak to, and judge, the nations. Clearly, it is a very effective tool to arrest the world's attention!

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Bible quotations are from the New American Standard Bible