I have bad news – the globe is warming. I have viewed the data myself, and although there are many different sources with slightly different data, they all seem to be in general agreement. They all show that the average temperature of the earth has risen by about 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit since around 1910.

You can tell this is happening in several ways. You can either view the data like I did. Simply Google “Average Global Temperature,” and you will find several charts showing you the information I presented above.

Another way you can tell is by listening to almost any news source over a period of a few days – there is a significant amount of discussion about Global Climate Change, and you can’t go more than a few days without hearing something about it. If you go this route, prepare to hear a lot more than just the facts.

Another more interesting way you can tell that something is happening is by mentioning recent weather events to the global warming prophets. Recently, I was stranded away from home when my flight got cancelled due to a freak snow that hit my home state of Washington in early November. Although Washington is fairly far north, due to the warming influence of the Puget Sound and Pacific Ocean, we don’t get much snow. In fact, we have very few days each winter when the temperature gets low enough to snow. One or two small snows in a given winter is pretty typical. A snow that leaves any decent accumulation only happens every two or three years, so a snow in early November is definitely out of the ordinary.

I talked to another stranded traveler needing to get back to Seattle. In discussing the weather in our home state, his voice took on that eerie quality that one usually reserves for the hushed-tone discussion of a terminal illness or the occult. You know the tone – the one that betrays that the speaker is really weirded out by what is happening. During the discussion, he said “we sure have been experiencing odd weather.” the speaker put the stress on just the right words to communicate the existence of some looming force that was going to be the death of us all.

In another recent conversation, I spoke with a guy willing to take it even a step further. In a similar discussion, he went as far as to follow up his eerie-voiced oracle with sarcasm, “but global warming isn’t happening.”

I have never been a global warming denier. From the first time I saw the data I could see what is happening – the average temperature of the globe is increasing, at least according to the graph. By definition, the globe is warming. There’s nothing to believe in – the little line is going higher in the graph the more it moves to the right. If this data represents sufficient data points to be accurate, and I have no reason to believe otherwise, then the earth is warming. I can see that.

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly when the discussion of global warming began. There is some evidence that the idea of greenhouse gas was being discussed around the turn of the 20th century. The remainder of the 20th century saw times when scientists put thought and resources into studying these gases, but by the 70s it was becoming a discussion topic. As the later 1980s were underway, it had become a more significant discussion topic. Through the turn of the 21st century it became the prominent concern of some environmentalists and scientists.

Today, the global warming evangelists are seeing signs of global warming in every snowflake. Equipped with a little data, some extrapolation, and some ominous warnings, they are ready to change the nature of industry around the globe for the sake of their belief. Now that’s conviction.

I said I believed that the globe is warming, but that is only half the story. The assumption made by all the global-warming doomsayers is that the warming of the earth is abnormal and it is caused by our activity. That, in my opinion, is conclusion-jumping of epic proportions. Why?

The global warming evangelists typically fail to discuss what the temperature may have been prior to the end of our data in 1880 (if you look at the data, take note of the valley in the temperature chart that occurs around 1910, indicating that the temperature was higher prior to 1910 and that 1910 may have been the end of a period of global cooling). They fail to answer the question of how we ever arrived at the expectation that the earth should remain at the same temperature, especially considering we only possess 130 +/- years of data. There is plenty of evidence in the geologic record to support that the temperature of the earth was not static long before industry. They completely fail to recognize that the greenhouse gases we are turning out are not, in fact, new materials found on an alien planet and brought here, but elements that were manipulated here and that can be just as easily manipulated by the myriad chemical processes that take place by the megaton every second in the earth’s atmosphere.

The earth is warming, but let’s not lose our cool. We have no good reason to believe it is out of the ordinary. Sure, I can see the value in being better stewards of the environment. I can see the value of improving our business practices and our energy forms so that their environmental cost is lessened. What I can’t see is a Henny-Penny response to the matter based on the arrogance that our puny lives are going to ruin the universe.

Christ lived on the earth 2,000 years ago. He was prophesied about for thousands of years before his birth, prophesied Himself about events that occurred during his earthly life and afterwards, and has been testified to since his resurrection by millions of followers.

One-third of the earth’s population claim Him as their God. His acts can be seen through history, such as the life, works, and martyrdom of the apostles, the spread of the gospel through the world, the various councils that answered thorny questions and defined the biblical canon, and so on. His workings today can be seen in the salvation of thousands in closed countries throughout Asia, the mercy ministries carried out by His church in His name, and the worship of Him that takes place weekly.

We have two very distinct, mostly mutually exclusive groups ready, willing, and able to believe in something. The comparisons are interesting. The global warming evangelist has some historical data, some signs in everyday life, and an ominous prediction for us if we don’t bow down. The Christian has some historical data, some signs from everyday life, and an ominous prediction for us if we don’t bow down. The contrasts are even more interesting.

One group conjured up a hypothesis, uses 100 years of random data to attempt to support it, and then looks to throw most of the blue-collar world under the bus for the sake of this hastily assembled and over-played hypothesis. They use the powers of the state to attempt to make us all bow down, and regale us with ominous predictions of death and destruction if we won’t be evangelized.

The other group has sixty six books presenting thousands of years of data as their historical proof. They have the miserable deaths of the Apostles and prophets to commend the historicity of the bible. They have the acts of the holy spirit throughout thousands of years to show the ongoing activity of God. They use their understanding to do good, albeit imperfect good, throughout the world. When they attempt to utilize the power of the state for evangelism, they are punished.

One group looks for the proof of their hypothesis in every raindrop, the other group recognizes that every raindrop is from the Lord who “gives showers of rain to all people, and plants of the field to everyone.” Zechariah 10:1

There are, indeed, ominous outcomes for ignoring the signs. God has told us in his bible that there will be a last day. On that day, there will be “weeping and gnashing of teeth” for those who failed to worship the one true God. That is a warning worth heeding.