By Pastor Al Hughes
(Preached July 15, 2001 PM— Bible Baptist Church, Port Orchard, WA)

Genesis 8:22—"While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease."

There are all kinds of theories as how the world will end ranging from nuclear war, to a collision with an asteroid, to global warming. All of these theories have an element of truth in them according to the Bible.

1. There will are at least three world wars yet in the future (Ezek. 38-39 cf. Rev. 6:4; 19:11-19;
20:7-9) .
2. There will be a collision with a stone falling from outer space that will leave the kingdoms of this world like sand on a sea shore (Dan. 2).
3. There will be increased temperatures in the weather (Rev. 16:8-9).

Global warming is one of the "hottest" issues in the news today, with environmental, political, and economic implications.
In June 25, 2001 issue of Time magazine was an article entitled “The End of the Universe” which stated: “Now about halfway through its estimated 10 billion-year lifetime, our sun is slowly brightening. In about 1 billion years, its energy output will have increased at least 10%, turning Earth into a Venusian hothouse where plants wither, carbon dioxide levels plummet and the oceans boil off.”
The National Research Council of the National Academies (January 14, 2000) stated in it’s January 14, 2000 report, the warming of the Earth’s surface is ‘undoubtedly real.’” The Earth's surface temperature has risen about 0.7 to 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit during the last 100 years, the report says.
The Washington Post (April 13, 2001) stated, “Two studies released yesterday provide the strongest evidence yet that greenhouse gases are causing the Earth's oceans to warm, further bolstering the case that global warming is real and is being caused at least in part by air pollution, researchers said.”

THE GREENHOUSE THEORY
Global warming is attributed to the greenhouse effect, whereby certain gases in the atmosphere trap energy from the sun. Solar radiation enters the atmosphere and is about 92% absorbed by “greenhouse gases”, primarily carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane, and water vapor. Thus, heat builds up in the earth’s atmosphere. (A greenhouse enables plants to grow even in cold weather because glass performs this same “trapping”.) The greenhouse effect, by itself, is not a bad thing; in fact, it is necessary for life. Otherwise the planet would be too cold.
Environmentalists blame man’s burning of fossil fuels and cutting down trees for global warming.
Scientists have been telling us for years that man is destroying the earth. They say we need to protect
our ozone, stop air pollution, clean up the water, stop burning your trash, get rid of asbestos, make safer "cigarettes" and quit cutting down trees. If that is the case, consider this: It requires cutting down 300,000 annually to produce the paper necessary for all those IRS forms (Federalist Digest, 4/14/98). The IRS sends out 8 billion pages of forms and instructions annually. There are 7 million words today in the U.S. tax code alone. (Ibid) The Holy Bible has only about 773,000 words.
It is only a theory that “greenhouse gases” from the burning of fossil fuels and cutting down trees
causes “global warming.” Over 17,000 scientists have signed a petition saying, in part, "there is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of carbon dioxide, methane, or other greenhouse gases is causing or will, in the foreseeable future, cause catastrophic heating of the Earth's atmosphere and disruption of the Earth's climate."
The petition is being circulated by the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine, an independent research organization that receives no funding from industry. Among the signers of the petition are over 2,100 physicists, geophysicsts, climatologists, meteorologists, and environmental scientists who are especially well-qualified to evaluate the effects of carbon dioxide on the Earth's atmosphere. Another 4,400 signers are scientists qualified to comment on carbon dioxide's effects on plant and animal life. Nearly all of the signers have some sort of advanced technical training.

LAWS OF THERMODYNAMICS & Global Warming
Another explanation for global warming could be attributed to the LAWS OF THERMODYNAMICS: Thermodynamics is the study of the transformations that occur between heat and mechanical energy.

1. The First Law of Thermodynamics (energy conservation) states the total energy in an isolated
system (for example, the universe) is constant.
2. The Second Law of Thermodynamics, says it is impossible to convert heat energy entirely to work (some of it is lost).
3. Expressed another way, the two laws are: First, you can’t win; second, you can’t break even. As an example, consider how your refrigerator works. It cools the contents, but where does the heat go? Into your kitchen, so that the refrigerator must work harder to keep its contents cold.
4. How Thermodynamics relates to global warming is: as living and non-living things go through their life cycles, and eventually into a state of decay, there is a dissipation of energy in the form of heat. Not all of that heat can be recycled into the system (the earth and everything on it). Hence, global warming.

THE EXPANSION OF HELL (Isa. 5:14)
I have another explanation for global warming from the Bible: The Bible says, “hell hath ENLARGED herself…” (Isa. 5:14). Evidently, there are so many lost souls dying without Jesus Christ, hell must be expanded to make room! “Global warming” could be coming up from beneath the planet the result of the escalation of hell as it grows closer to the surface of planet.

FUTURE GLOBAL WARMING — “THE BIG HEAT-UP”
If you think we have “global warming” now, “You ain’t seen nothing yet!” (Al Jolson) The big HEAT-UP is coming soon to your city! And there is nothing you or anyone else can do about it! God says it is going to happen.

1. The prophet Isaiah foresaw that “the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left” (Isa. 24:6).
2. The prophet Joel in his vision saw that “fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath burned all the trees of the field... The rivers of the waters are dried up…” (Joel 1:15, 19, 20).
3. Even “the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up” (Rev. 16:12).
4. Before this, the prophet warns that “the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up” (Rev. 8:7).

The events described in these verses will occur on earth during a time the Bible calls the “great
tribulation” (Mt. 24:21). This period of time will be an out pouring of God’s wrath upon the inhabitants of the earth. In Revelation 16:8-9 we read, “And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.” I would say that it would define global warming quite well.

IT GOING TO GET EVEN HOTTER
But, that’s not all. “Global warming” will get so bad it will eventually destroy everything you own! When the Lord Jesus Christ returns to planet earth to set up His Kingdom, He comes “in FLAMING FIRE taking vengeance on them that know not God” (2 Thess. 1:8). What will it be like?

1. “Hear the word of the LORD: Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will KINDLE A FIRE in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee and every dry tree: the FLAMING FLAME shall not be quenched” (Ezek. 20:47).
2. “Behold, the day cometh that shall BURN AS AN OVEN; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall BURN THEM UP” (Mal. 4:1).
3. “For it is the day of the LORD’S vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion. And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become BURNING PITCH. It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste…” (Isa. 34:8-10).

Whew… You talk about “the greenhouse gases,” this makes me perspire just reading these verses!
But wait… IT GETS worse!
Before it’s all over, Satan will launch one final rebellion against Christ to overthrow His Kingdom (WW 5).

1. Revelation 20:7-9 says, “And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and FIRE CAME DOWN FROM GOD out of heaven, and devoured them.”
2. “Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth” (Zech. 14:15).
This is not merely “global warming”—We’re talking about a GLOBAL MELTDOWN!!! 2 Peter 3:10-13 —“But the day of the Lord WILL COME as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and THE ELEMENTS SHALL MELT WITH FERVENT HEAT, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be BURNED UP. Seeing then that all these things shall be DISSOLVED, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the HEAVENS BEING ON FIRE SHALL BE DISSOLVED, and THE ELEMENTS SHALL MELT WITH FERVENT HEAT."
Hot stuff, huh?
Is there any hope of escape? Here are a couple of proposals made in the Time magazine article on “The End of the Universe”— One possible escape route: an exodus to Mars, which is farther from the sun and hence cooler. But it would take a lot of engineering to turn Mars' frozen surface into a livable habitat (called terraforming by scientists). Among proposals that have been floated: heating the planet with artificial greenhouse gases, deploying huge orbiting mirrors to catch sunlight and sprinkling heat-absorbing soot on the Martian icecaps. Eventually, says Mars promoter Robert Zubrin, visitors wouldn't need spacesuits anymore.
But terraforming (as scientists call it) a neighboring world is not the only exit strategy. Donald Korycansky of the University of California at Santa Cruz and his collaborators suggest that Earth could be edged out of harm's way with a gravitational slingshot, a trick long used to boost the speed of planetary probes. Earth would be the spacecraft, grabbing orbital energy from a passing asteroid. That would increase Earth's speed and enlarge its orbit. Repeated every few thousand years, Korycansky & Co. reckon, such flybys could stretch Earth's habitable lifetime by billions of years.
The good news is God has provided a “fire escape” off this planet. "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9).
Here is God’s plan of salvation: When Jesus Christ came the first time 2,000 years ago, He shed His blood for the sins of the world. He died on the cross to pay the penalty for your sins and arose from the dead three days later. He is willing to save you if you will trust Him. Romans 10:9—“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, THOU SHALT BE SAVED.” No church can save you. Your good works cannot save you. “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us…”(Titus 3:5). “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." (Eph. 2:8-9). “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 6:23).
Only Jesus Christ can save you from the awful hour that is coming upon planet earth! Now the choice is YOURS. Will you repent and trust Christ to save your soul?