‘Global Warming’ Coming! [v132]

FEBRUARY 2010

‘GLOBAL WARMING’ IS COMING!
Last month, the world’s attention was focused on Copenhagen, for the United Nations “Climate Summit,” where the topic of global warming took center stage.

What happened there, however, ‘frightened’ me. A legitimate concern for the stewardship of our resources has been replaced by a ‘hysterical panic’ over a globally-averaged temperature increase of a few ‘tenths’ of a degree, and is based on gross exaggerations of highly uncertain projections combined into implausible chains of inference. To top it all off, they are contemplating a ‘rolling-back’ of the industrial age!

Surveys have noted that 8 out of 10 people ‘on the street’ believe that man’s activities are the cause for “global warming”—and most would cite Al Gore’s “Inconvenient Truth” provides ‘incontrovertible’ evidence to that fact. Yet, contrary to what you hear in the media, there is OVERWHELMING EVIDENCE that the “warming” we are experiencing IS NATURAL, with a ‘very small’ amount that is contributed by man’s activities.

Our planet’s climate is anything but simple—all kinds of factors influence it. From massive events on the sun to the growth of microscopic creatures in the oceans, there are subtle interactions between many of these factors.

Yet despite all the complexities, we are told that the world is warming, and this warming is due to human activity increasing levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere—and if emissions continue unabated the warming will too, with increasingly serious consequences.

IS THIS ‘FEAR’ JUSTIFIED?

With so much at stake, my view is that “climate science” should be subjected to the most intense of scrutiny. What does not help is for the real issues to be muddied by discredited arguments or wild theories.

So, for those who are not sure what to believe, here is a ’round-up’ of the most common climate myths and misconceptions.

First, some ‘SCIENCE’ regarding some of the major issues:

– Man-made carbon dioxide emissions throughout human history constitute less than 0.00022 percent of the total naturally emitted from the mantle of the earth during geological history

– After World War II, there was a huge surge in recorded CO2 emissions, but global temperatures fell for four decades after 1940

– Despite activist concerns over CO2 levels, CO2 is a minor greenhouse gas—unlike water vapor which is tied to climate concerns, and which we can’t even pretend to control

– It is claimed the average global temperature increased at a dangerously fast rate in the 20th century, but the recent rate of average global temperature rise has been between one and two degrees Centigrade per century—within natural rates

– Despite activist concerns over CO2 levels, rising CO2 levels are our best hope of raising crop yields to feed an ever-growing population

– Despite activist concerns over CO2 levels, rising CO2 levels of some so-called “greenhouse gases” may be contributing to higher oxygen levels and global cooling, not warming

– Today’s CO2 concentration of around 385 ppm, which is very low compared to most of the earth’s history—we actually live in a carbon-deficient atmosphere

– Rising CO2 levels in the atmosphere can be shown not only to have a negligible effect on the Earth’s many ecosystems, but in some cases, to be actually a positive help to many organisms

– Rising CO2 levels increase plant growth and make plants more resistant to drought and pests

– Ice-core data clearly shows that temperatures change centuries before concentrations of atmospheric CO2 change. Thus, there appears to be little evidence for insisting that changes in concentrations of CO2 are the cause of past temperature and climate change

– From 900 AD -1350 AD, Greenland was warm, had a rich agriculture, and the Vikings colonized it (not much ‘man-made’ carbon gas or “SUV’s” back then). [Note: The “Little Ice Age” followed this for 400 years, and many Viking bodies and settlements have been found under the permafrost].

Now, for a few ‘STATISTICS’:

– Global temperatures have not risen in any statistically-significant sense for 15 years, and have actually been falling for nine years

– Figures from the respected US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration show that almost all the “lost” ice has come back

– Figures show that there is nearly a third more ice in Antarctica than is usual for this time of year

– According to the US National Snow and Ice Data Center in Colorado, arctic summer sea ice has increased by 409,000 square miles, or 26%, since 2007—and even the most committed global warming activists do not dispute this

– 2008 Winter Temps:
Nebraska, USA: Coldest winter since 1973
Florida, USA: Coldest since 1980
Altnaharra, Scotland: Coldest since 1995
Amsterdam, Holland: Coldest since 1993
Beijing, China: Coldest since 1970
Siberia, Russia: Coldest since 2001
Hamburg, Germany: Coldest since 1965

– A large body of scientific research suggests that the sun is responsible for the greater share of climate change during the past hundred years.

– Worldwide Record High Temperatures:
Africa; 136; 1922
North America; 134; 1913
Asia; 129; 1942
Australia; 128; 1889
Europe; 122; 1881
South America; 120; 1905
Oceania; 108; 1912
Antarctica; 59; 1974

– The hottest years for America in the 20th century were in the 1930’s (24 states had their high temperature records set in the 1930’s, and only 17 had their temperature records set in last fifty years of the 20th century)

– During the 20th century the Earth warmed up about 0.6° C. The warming correlated with the great increase in solar activity. Similarly, astronomers noted that Jupiter, Mars, Saturn, Neptune, and Pluto also warmed up in the 20th century. Since 1998, global warming has taken a ‘vacation’. We’ve had global cooling from a lazy sun with its reduced sun spot activity

– Largest recorded one-year temperature drop was in 2007

– The Medieval “warm period” was significantly warmer than the temperatures today—and was a golden age for agriculture and lifespan

– Potpourri:
Global warming stopped in 1998
Antarctica is getting cooler, not warmer—disproving global warming
Polar bear numbers are increasing!
The lower atmosphere is cooling, not warming
The oceans are cooling
Human CO2 emissions are too tiny to matter
CO2 isn’t the most important greenhouse gas
Ice cores show CO2 increases lag behind temperature rises—disproving the link to global warming
Ice cores show CO2 rising as temperatures fell
The cooling after 1940 shows CO2 does not cause warming
Global warming is up to the sun, not humans
The ‘hockey stick’ graph has been PROVEN WRONG!

And we can’t forget ‘ULTERIOR MOTIVES’:

– There are big bucks to be made—many of the businesses that lobby for global warming policies will make “land-slide” profits from it

– The “Climate-gate” scandal pointed to a expensive public campaign of disinformation, and the denigration of scientists who opposed the belief that CO2 emissions were causing climate change

– It has been proven that U.S. agencies (NASA being one of them) have been ‘cherry-picking’ readings used to assess global temperatures by simply “eliminating” the locations that are showing cooling

– In the United States, the “Cap-and-Trade” is an approach designed to control carbon emissions and will impose huge costs upon American citizens via a “carbon tax” on all goods and services produced in the United States. The average family of four can expect to pay an additional $1,700 more each year. It is also predicted that the United States will lose more than 2 million jobs as the result of cap-and-trade schemes

– The United Nations gave birth and has nurtured “Anthropogenic Global Warming” (AGW) to frighten people into accepting the U.N. as, in their words at the 1992 “Earth Summit”, “the centerpiece of the emerging system of democratic global governance” [i.e. ration the world’s supply of fossil fuel—because “if you control ‘carbon’, you control life!” (quote from top climatologist, Dr. Richard Lindzen, an original member of the U.N.’s IPCC team before he discovered they were a fraud—and quit). [Ed: Sound like a plan to shift ‘power’ from sovereign nations to a small band of un-accountable international elites? Remember the notorious U.N. Iraqi “Oil for Food” fraud?].

– Follow the money—tens of billions of dollars are funding “global warming”

– Former Texas Congressman, Steve Stockman, said that the Copenhagen “Climate Summit” was all about American money: “It was about transferring the wealth of taxpayers. This has nothing to do with science.”

– The world’s most famous “hurricane expert,” William Gray, said that the “East Anglia e-mails are but the tip of a giant iceberg of a well-organized international climate warming conspiracy that has been gathering momentum for the past 25 years.”

– Over 31,000 American scientists (with over 9,000 PhDs) have endorsed the “Petition Project” which states: “There is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of carbon dioxide, methane, or other greenhouse gasses is causing or will, in the foreseeable future, cause catastrophic heating of the Earth’s atmosphere and disruption of the Earth’s climate. Moreover, there is substantial scientific evidence that increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide produce many beneficial effects upon the natural plant and animal environments of the Earth.” (FYI: There are only about 2,500 scientists that support “global warming”…worldwide!).

[Note: These scientists are instead convinced that the human-caused global warming hypothesis is without scientific validity and that government action on the basis of this hypothesis would unnecessarily and counterproductively damage both human prosperity and the natural environment of the Earth].

– Top glaciologist, Zbigniew Jaworowski, M.D, PhD., D.SC. came to the conclusion that since there has been no difference in CO2 levels in the 83 years since the Mauna Loa volcano erupted in 1890, he believes that “Human beings may be responsible for less than 0.01*C of warming during the last century” and that “AGW” is a myth.

– P.S. Many of the “global warming” scientists are the same ones that ‘vehemently’ warned of the coming “ice age” back in the 70’s!

I know this was a lot—and there is MUCH MORE if you are interested (see the “resources” I listed at the end of this newsletter). I just wanted you to get a sense of the magnitude of this, and how most of this has not been reported by the ‘media’.

Though I do not believe that we humans are affecting the Earth with “global warming,” I DO BELIEVE that the Earth will be ‘affected’ by “GLOBAL WARMING”—I’m referring to what the Bible states will happen in the “last days.”

I’m sure what I’m going to say has been said before (especially during the reign of Nero in Rome during the 1st century), but I believe that there is more of a sense now than ever before that this ‘world system’ is going to end—and sometime soon.

Someday there will be an end to ‘history’, but that doesn’t mean an end to ‘life’ as we know it—but the end of a world that has been dominated by evil and injustice. In fact, the Bible speaks often—in very graphic detail—about the FIERY END of this world. There will be “global warming”—and it won’t takes ‘eons’ of time to get ‘unbearable’—it will be very quick and very intense.

In the “Book of Revelation,” the Apostle John tells us that the present world ‘system’ will pass away, and Jesus Christ will come again to set up His kingdom of righteousness and social justice—where hatred, greed, jealousy, war, and death will no longer exist.

But, before that time comes, Jesus wants to SET A ‘FIRE’ in your heart—to help you ‘turn’ from the dominion of sin over you life, to save you from the ‘jaws’ of Hell, and to assure you of eternal life with Him.

In the Bible (Romans 12:1-2) it says, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—His good, pleasing and perfect will.”

God has also used fire to ‘judge’ this world, but He ALWAYS WARNS the people of the coming destruction. He warned the people in Noah’s day before the flood; He warned the people of Sodom and Gomorrah before the “fire and brimstone” fell; and He warned the Jews before the destruction of Jerusalem came—and He is WARNING ALL OF US NOW! [“As it was in the days of Noah (lawlessness and doing what is right in their own eyes), so will it be at the coming of the Son of Man” (Luke 17:26)].

Even though the Bible says this will all come “suddenly and unexpected, and that the “very elements will disintegrate in heat and the earth and all that is in it will be BURNED UP to nothing” [2 Peter 3:10], God is giving all of us AMPLE WARNING of what is to come—and a ‘special provision’ for us.

One of the reasons that I truly believe that the time for all of this is short is that the Bible says that just before the end, knowledge will increase tremendously, and the Gospel will be “preached to the whole world as a testimony to all nations.” Can anyone one say “Internet”?

But, if you ‘receive’ Jesus as your Savior, you will be ‘protected’ by God and will not perish! (“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” [John 3:16]).

In addition to that, after the world has been ‘purified’ by fire (i.e. removing the ‘dross’ from silver), there will be a “new earth” (“But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness” [2 Peter 3:13]).

The Bible also says that when Jesus comes back, “The government will be on His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace”…and He will “establish and uphold justice and righteousness from that time on and forever” [Isaiah 9:6-7]—PARADISE WILL BE RESTORED!

My purpose in all of this has not been to ‘frighten or alarm’ you without reason. I don’t want to cause a ‘panic’ or create ‘unfounded uncertainty’, but to offer the BRIGHT HOPE of Jesus as the One who will indeed bring a new and glorious ‘dawn’ to all humanity!

The world, someday, will fall into perilous times: wars will be rampant; the “Antichrist” will rise to immense worldwide power and be seen as the world’s only hope—but he will mislead and destroy. There will also be an “apocalypse” that has never been seen before. But, you can choose to CONFIDENTLY ‘REST’ in Jesus, Who will not allow the “evil one to snatch you from His hands” [John 10:28].

There is no greater joy than the peace and assurance of knowing that, whatever the future holds, you are SECURE in the loving ‘arms’ of Jesus, the Savior!

A “new heaven and a new earth” will be created from the charred, smoking ruins, and it is said that it will have more grandeur and beauty than we ever could have imagined! There will be streets of gold; it will have be-jeweled foundations; there will be no night; there will be a crystal river; and there will be the “tree of life” for “fruit every month,” and the leaves will have the “healing of the nations” (“No eye has seen, nor ear has heard, no mind has conceived, the things which God has prepared for those who love Him” [1 Corinthians 2:9].

It’s also important to mention what will be ‘missing’ from this new ‘home’. There will be no more death, tears, sorrow, pain, impurity, or deceit—what a WONDERFUL PLACE!

As the ‘countdown’ nears “12 o’clock,” the time for making a DECISION to accept the FREE ‘GIFT’ from God is ‘ticking’ away.

I have tried to give you an honest assessment of what will be coming: indescribable bloodshed, horror, and death on one ‘hand’, and a glimpse of bliss and goodness that surpasses all human comprehension on the other. The day is coming, perhaps soon, when Jesus will return for “His own” and share His millennial reign with them—living in a perfect world of happiness and fulfillment.

If you haven’t yet done so, let me encourage you to make a decision today to ‘trust’ Christ as your Savior—I want you to be there with me…forever!

[Excerpts from: Franklin Graham; Billy Graham; Martin R. De Haan II (RBC Ministries booklet); Edward F. Blick; many “New Scientist” writers; “Daily Mail”; “The Telegraph”; “NewsMax” ]

[P.S.: If you would like to investigate further how you can make this MOST IMPORTANT DECISION, visit the following link:

http://www.thesearchformeaning.net/sfm_pres/sp_q12_d1_1of10.html

RESOURCES:

Edward F. Blick, PhD.: “Global Warming Myth”
http://icecap.us/images/uploads/GlobalWarmingMyth.pdf

New Scientist: “Climate Change: A Guide for the Perplexed”
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn11462-climate-change-a-guide-for-the-perplexed.html

Blessings…

Mark

LIFE’S DEEP THOUGHTS (v132) for FEBRUARY 2010

If you have a ‘neat’ story or some thoughts about an issue or current event that you would like me to try to respond to, I would be glad to give it a try…so, send them to me at: mbesh@comcast.net

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“We should be contending for truth in every area of life. Not for power or because we are taken with some trendy cause, but humbly to bring glory to God. For this reason, Christians should be the most ardent ecologists. Not because we would rather save spotted owls than cut down trees whose bark provides lifesaving medicine, but because we are mandated to keep the Garden, to ensure that the beauty and grandeur God has reflected in nature is not despoiled. We should care for animals. Not because whales are our brothers, but because animals are part of God’s kingdom over which we are to exercise dominion.”

[Charles Colson – from “The Body”, 1992]

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“Man has dominion over the ‘lower’ orders of creation, but he is not sovereign over them. Only God is the Sovereign Lord, and the lower orders are to be used with this truth in mind. Man is not using his own possessions…When we have dominion over nature, it is not ours either. It belongs to God, and we are to exercise our dominion over these things not as though entitled to exploit them, but as things borrowed or held in trust which we are to use realizing that they are not ours intrinsically. Man’s dominion is under God’s dominion and in God’s domain.”

[Francis Schaeffer – from “Pollution and the Death of Man: The Christian View of Ecology,” 1970]

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“The earth was given to man, with this condition, that he should occupy himself in its cultivation… The custody of the garden was given in charge to Adam, to show that we possess the things which God has committed to our hands, on the condition that, being content with the frugal and moderate use of them, we should take care of what shall remain. Let him who possesses a field, so partake of its yearly fruits, that he may not suffer the ground to be injured by his negligence, but let him endeavor to hand it down to posterity as he received it, or even better cultivated. Let him so feed on its fruits, that he neither dissipates it by luxury, nor permits it to be marred or ruined by neglect. Moreover, that this economy, and this diligence, with respect to those good things which God has given us to enjoy, may flourish among us; let everyone regard himself as the steward of God in all things which he possesses. Then he will neither conduct himself dissolutely, nor corrupt by abuse those things which God requires to be preserved.”

[John Calvin – from “Commentary on Genesis,” 1554]

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GOD’ S GRANDEUR
“The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil

Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

And, for all this, nature is never spent;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
And though the last lights off the black West went
Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs–
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.”

[Gerard Manley Hopkins]

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THE WONDER OF CREATION
Here’s a web site that discusses the most appropriate ways to honor our Creator/Savior, and build ‘bridges’ to those who think that saving spaceship earth is our only hope:

http://www.wonderofcreation.org/

[Mart De Haan – RBC Ministries]

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“From the perspective of McGuffey’s Readers, every object in the natural world, like every phase of experience, can be understood properly only in relation to God. That is, everything in creation is grounded in and expressive of God’s purposes. We, therefore, live most meaningfully in harmony with nature. Our ideal environment is not what we have created, but what God has created. We are called to be stewards of God’s creation. While acknowledging that we all benefit from God’s creation, the lessons in McGuffey’s Readers impress upon us the point that we are not to misuse nature for our benefit. Respect, not control, is our proper relationship to the natural world.

A person may speak of “my” garden or property, but everyone knows that these are only entrusted to our care. God created them, and they are His. He has given the care of His creation to His creatures and will one day require an account of our faithfulness.

God designed nature for our benefit, both for our physical needs and our spiritual training, be we are never to forget that the natural world belongs to God. We depart from a steward’s life close to nature at our peril. Further, the design of the world is evidence of God’s faultless planning. Nature, therefore, can be studied to reveal the character and glory of God.”

[John H. Westerhoff III]

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STEWARDSHIP AND LOVE FOR NATURE
Since nature is no longer sacred, man is taken to be the lord of nature. But the essential thing has been forgotten: This nature is the creation of God, who handed it over to Adam and Eve – not to do as they pleased, but to manage and care for in the [superintending] absence of God.

What does this mean? From the perspective of the Hebrew Scriptures it means two things. It means that God does not want to rule over his creation directly; he does not want creation to be an object that runs exactly the way he sets it up like some automatic mechanism. God places people in nature precisely so that everything will not be submitted mechanically to some over-riding power, but in order “to give room to play.”  This in turn means that humanity (in the image of God) is called to act toward creation in the same way God does, although without His total power. And this God is given the name love. If God created, it is through love; if He gives independence to creation, it is through love. We must treat nature in the same way, managing it not for blind and egotistical profit, but through love. Such are the implications of the first chapters of Genesis.

[Jacques Ellul]

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DEEP THOUGHT:
“A wrong attitude toward nature implies, somewhere, a wrong attitude toward God.”
[T.S. Eliot]

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Hope you enjoyed some of these insights—share them with your friends and colleagues—so we can have a larger ‘pool’ to receive from, and more to share with!  Also, remember to include your name as the “source,” if some of this wisdom is of your doing—I would like to give credit where credit is due!

“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare” [2 Peter 3:10].

Mark

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Disclaimer: All the above jokes & inspirations are obtained from various sources and copyright are used when known. Other than our name and headers, we do not own the copyright to any of the materials sent to this list. We just want to spread the ministry of God’s love and cheerfulness throughout the world.

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