Climate Change
TimeWatch Editorial
June 03, 2017
The present debate regarding climate change is rather interesting, especially since the “end of the world is described in the book of Matthew this way.
Matthew 24:3 - And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what [shall be] the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?
Matthew 24:4 - And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
Matthew 24:5 - For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
Matthew 24:6 - And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all [these things] must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
Matthew 24:7 - For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
The prophetic utterances found in the book “The Great Controversy” lines up with the texts found in the book of Matthew and other texts which concur with the exact same end time events.
“Satan works through the elements also to garner his harvest of unprepared souls. He has studied the secrets of the laboratories of nature, and he uses all his power to control the elements as far as God allows. When he was suffered to afflict Job, how quickly flocks and herds, servants, houses, children, were swept away, one trouble succeeding another as in a moment. It is God that shields His creatures and hedges them in from the power of the destroyer. But the Christian world have shown contempt for the law of Jehovah, and the Lord will do just what He has declared that He would--He will withdraw His blessings from the earth and remove His protecting care from those who are rebelling against His law and teaching and forcing others to do the same. Satan has control of all whom God does not especially guard. He will favor and prosper some, in order to further his own designs; and he will bring trouble upon others and lead men to believe that it is God who is afflicting them.” The Great Controversy, page 589, paragraph 2.
The book Prophets and kings makes the point that science seeks to explain away the issues of the changing climate.
“The time is at hand when there will be sorrow in the world that no human balm can heal. The Spirit of God is being withdrawn. Disasters by sea and by land follow one another in quick succession. How frequently we hear of earthquakes and tornadoes, of destruction by fire and flood, with great loss of life and property! Apparently these calamities are capricious outbreaks of disorganized, unregulated forces of nature, wholly beyond the control of man; but in them all, God's purpose may be read. They are among the agencies by which He seeks to arouse men and women to a sense of their danger.” {Prophets and Kings 277.1}
Testimonies Volume 6 deals with the fact that scientists seek to explain away the changes that have already begun to take place.
“Hurricanes, storms, tempests, fire and flood, disasters by sea and land, follow each other in quick succession. Science seeks to explain all these. The signs thickening around us, telling of the near approach of the Son of God, are attributed to any other than the true cause. People cannot discern the sentinel angels restraining the four winds, that they shall not blow until the servants of God are sealed. But when God shall bid His angels loose the winds, there will be such a scene of strife as no pen can picture.” Testimonies, vol. 6, p. 408.
This is a part of the process that has been completely overlooked. Cutting back on carbon emissions will surely create a cleaner environment, but the real issue here is the departure of the Spirit of God from the earth. Listen to the book Maranatha.
“Satan puts his interpretation upon events, and they [leading men] think, as he would have them, that the calamities which fill the land are a result of Sunday-breaking. Thinking to appease the wrath of God, these influential men make laws enforcing Sunday observance. They think that by exalting this false rest-day higher, and still higher, compelling obedience to the Sunday law, the spurious sabbath, they are doing God service. Those who honor God by observing the true Sabbath are looked upon as disloyal to God, when it is really those who thus regard them who are themselves disloyal, because they are trampling underfoot the Sabbath originated in Eden.” {Mar 176.5}
What is even more compelling is the fact that the drastic change in the climate will not just be a scientific event, but will have a profound impact upon society as a whole. Listen to what the Southern Watchman says.
“It is on the law of God that the last great struggle of the controversy between Christ and His angels and Satan and his angels will come, and it will be decisive for all the world. . . . Men in responsible positions will not only ignore and despise the Sabbath themselves, but from the sacred desk will urge upon the people the observance of the first day of the week, pleading tradition and custom in behalf of this man-made institution. They will point to calamities on land and sea--to the storms of wind, the floods, the earthquakes, the destruction by fire--as judgments indicating God's displeasure because Sunday is not sacredly observed. These calamities will increase more and more, one disaster will follow close upon the heels of another; and those who make void the law of God will point to the few who are keeping the Sabbath of the fourth commandment as the ones who are bringing wrath upon the world. This falsehood is Satan's device that he may ensnare the unwary.”--Southern Watchman, June 28, 1904.
So the present climate change debate might be very compelling, especially with the withdrawal of the United States from the agreement, however it should be known that agreement or no agreement the events to come will come.
Cameron A. Bowen
