We are all inundated with messages of how climate is changing and people must ultimately be responsible for such change. There may be some truth to the latter part but not in the way people have been led to believe. Of course, many will simply not understand or agree and that is perfectly fine. But even those who should know better remain silent or choose not to take any particular stand what so ever. Disappointing to say the least. So lets dive right in.
While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.” Sound a bit familiar? It should be. It is found in Genesis 8:22. Right from the start, we are promised a continuum of the familiar seasons. Obviously this has been true thus far and there are no signs of any climate issue changing that fact. The power to control nature and weather is illustrated in Exodus 9:18 when God says “Behold, about this time tomorrow I will cause very heavy hail to fall, such as never has been in Egypt from the day it was founded until now.” It would seem the He is claiming power and control over weather and the record seems to indicate this indeed occurred as written. But it doesn’t end there.
As punishment for wrong doing, we read in Deuteronomy 28:23 that “the heavens over your head shall be bronze, and the earth under you shall be iron. 24 The LORD will make the rain of your land powder. From heaven dust shall come down on you until you are destroyed.” No man made climate change here either. Simply punishment from God for wrong doing by withholding rain. This is similar to what we see in 2 nd Samuel 21:1. “Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year. And David sought the face of the LORD. And the LORD said, “There is bloodguilt on Saul and on his house, because he put the Gibeonites to death.” Yet God is not without mercy in these matters as we see in 1 Kings 8:35-6 “When heaven is shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, if they pray toward this place and acknowledge your name and turn from their sin, when you afflict them, then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel, when you teach them the good way in which they should walk, and grant rain upon your land, which you have given to your people as an inheritance.” By now we should clearly see that these weather events are not man induced, but changes God executed.
If for some reason we were still unclear on any of that it is explained well in the book of Job. It could not be more clear than in Job 5:10 where it states “he gives rain on the earth and sends waters on the fields”. In case we missed it, Job 36:32-33 also tell us “He covers his hands with the lightning and commands it to strike the mark. Its crashing declares his presence”. Clearly, He is telling us that climate is in His control and not some man made construct. He continues in Job 37:6 to tell us “For to the snow he says, ‘Fall on the earth,’ likewise to the downpour, his mighty downpour.” Can there be any doubt as to what is being said here? It is the hand of God, not man that determines weather. It continues in Job 37:10 with “By the breath of God ice is given, and the broad waters are frozen fast.” This is followed up in the next two verses with “He loads the thick cloud with moisture; the clouds scatter his lightning. They turn around and around by his guidance, to accomplish all that he commands them on the face of the habitable world.” What we do not see is any reference to burning too much coal or any other of man’s activities as being a cause.
Other scriptures such as Psalm 29:10 say “The LORD sits enthroned over the flood” and Psalm 107:29, “He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed”, and Psalm 147:8 “He covers the heavens with clouds; he prepares rain for the earth; he makes grass grow on the hills”. All seem to indicate His sovereign reign over the earth’s weather. Isaiah 30:23 says much the same thing – “And he will give rain for the seed with which you sow the ground, and bread, the produce of the ground, which will be rich and plenteous.” Even Jeremiah makes this clear in 51:16 “When he utters his voice there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain, and he brings forth the wind from his storehouses.” Again in Amos 4:7 where rain is withheld as punishment it says ““I also withheld the rain from you when there were yet three months to the harvest; I would send rain on one city, and send no rain on another city; one field would have rain, and the field on which it did not rain would wither”. This is seen even today where some areas are overwhelmed and others are spared. Even Jonah was not immune or in control of any changes in climate. “When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”, Jonah 4:8. God’s wrath often includes a form of climate change just as in Haggai 1:11, “And I have called for a drought on the land and the hills, on the grain, the new wine, the oil, on what the ground brings forth, on man and beast, and on all their labors.
Some may argue this was the God of the Old Testament. Mathew 8:27, however, asks this question of Jesus: “And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?” Similarly Mark 4:39 tells us that “he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.” Those thinking this was all confined only to old Testament Bible times are sorely mistaken as Luke 21:11 says of the future: “There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven.” James ties both old and new together by stating in 5:17 “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth.” There is no doubt that past, present, and future are involved and controlled by God, not man. Any so called climate change we see is only by His hand and for His purposes. That is what scripture teaches plainly and in Revelation the powers to control wind and weather are given to specific angels as part of the tribulation.
Never does the Bible show man contributes to climate change except as it pertains to his level of sin and God’s wrath. A serious study of weather events indeed leaves perplexing questions when it comes to the diversity and array of storms we see. It also isn’t hard to imagine a just and righteous God being angry with the way people live today. It only seems reasonable that similar situations as those spelled out in God’s word would continue to occur just as we see today. This doesn’t preclude man’s stupidity or deliberate choices to set fires, alter rivers and streams, or clear cut forrest to produce dire consequences, but it does indicate the ultimate authority over weather is not man, but God. Any Godly church or institution worth it’s salt should be able to tell you this much as should any self proclaimed Christian who has read their Bible from cover to cover.