Last week was an anomaly in content, a result of a bad illness I suffered. Unfortunately I couldn't get as deep into some of the issues I raised as I'd hoped. So I'm taking the opportunity to do so now. If you recall, I asked a question about Global Climate Change: When I say "Global Climate Change" you say...? Global warming? man-made climate change? Or how about: "For look, I am ready to create new heavens and a new earth! The former ones will not be remembered; no one will think about them anymore" (Isaiah 65.17).

Unless you've been living in a cave, you are aware of the debate over the issue of Global Climate Change. Some have proposed that the industrialization of the world economies has resulted in an irreversible effect on the planet's climate. This is not a new proposal and has existed in one form or another for at least 50 years. The idea is supported by about 150 years of data that indicates the average temperature of the Earth has risen 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit. They point to the increase in extreme weather systems as evidence of their theory.

There are many who argue against this idea, arguing that the temperature change is an indication of how remarkably stable the planet's climate really is. They also point out that 150 years of data is too small a sample to tell us anything. Whether one believes the Earth is less than 10,000 years old, or as evolutionists do that its 4.5 Billion years old, 150 years is a drop in the bucket. It is also argued that the data set is still more limited, as the first 50 years of data was collected by the UK only, and not a global sampling. Also, the majority of the following 100 years is data collected from land only. It has only been in the last decade that we began monitoring the temperatures of the worlds oceans, which suggests the temperature's have risen even more. All this points to too little information to make any kind of predictions about climate change, much less to state that it is man-made.

Christians largely deal in truth rather than theory. Many Christians oppose the theory because it has been hijacked by social groups who want to push mankind into a controlled, socialist state that dictates what technologies we can and cannot use. Christians understand and value freedom more than most as they have already been liberated from sin. But what if there were another way to look at the issue, rather than a socio-political one?

In Matthew 24 Jesus tells us many signs that lead up to the end times. Among those signs are many environmental indicators, including:

• Famines
• Earthquakes and other natural disasters will increase
• Oceans will rise
• Days will be cut short to decrease suffering — indicating either global cooling or warming
• The sun will darken

I'm not saying we are in the end times, but I'm not saying we aren't either. It could be that what we are noticing is not man-made, but events unfolding as God intends. If this is the case, while indeed difficult times are ahead for many, it is good news for those whose hope is in Jesus and his return.