Earth Day: God Will Destroy Those Who Destroy the Earth

I personally have witnessed massive glacial melting in trips to Alaska

April 22nd is called “Earth Day”. So this morning’s post will mainly concern the planet.

Some people believe that humans are causing global warming. Others vehemently deny that.

What I do know is that humans pollute and burn a lot of fossil fuels.

A news item that came out this past Sunday was interesting:

Independent – April 20, 2008

Pollution is dulling the scent of flowers and impeding some of the most basic processes of nature, disrupting insect life and imperilling food supplies, a new study suggests.

The potentially hugely significant research – funded by the blue-chip US National Science Foundation – has found that gases mainly formed from the emissions of car exhausts prevent flowers from attracting bees and other insects in order to pollinate them. And the scientists who have conducted the study fear that insects’ ability to repel enemies and attract mates may also be impeded.

The researchers – at the University of Virginia – say that pollution is dramatically cutting the distance travelled by the scent of flowers. Professor Jose Fuentes, who led the study, said: “Scent molecules produced by flowers in a less polluted environment could travel for roughly 1,000 to 1,200 metres. But today they may travel only 200 to 300 metres. This makes it increasingly difficult for bees and other insects to locate the flowers.”

The researchers – who worked on the scent given off by snapdragons – found that the molecules are volatile, and quickly bond with pollutants such as ozone and nitrate radicals, mainly formed from vehicle emissions. This chemically alters the molecules so that they no longer smell like flowers. A vicious cycle is therefore set up where insects struggle to get enough food and the plants do not get pollinated enough to proliferate.

Already bees – which pollinate most of the world’s crops – are in unprecedented decline in Britain and across much of the globe. At least a quarter of America’s 2.5 million honey bee colonies have been mysteriously wiped out by colony collapse disorder (CCD), where hives are found suddenly deserted.

The crisis has now spread to Europe. Politicians insist that CCD has not yet been found in Britain, but the insects have been declining here too, and the agriculture minister Lord Rooker has warned that “the honey bee population could be wiped out in 10 years”.

The researchers do not believe that they have found the cause of CCD, but say that pollution is making life more difficult for bees and other insects in many ways.” http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/why-flowers-have-lost-their-scent-812168.html

Bees are essential for the pollination of many plants that humans rely on for food. And there is no doubt that humans are the major cause of urban air pollution.

Actually, the Bible indicates that environmental factors will affect the food supply:

The vine has dried up, And the fig tree has withered; The pomegranate tree, The palm tree also, And the apple tree–All the trees of the field are withered; Surely joy has withered away from the sons of men (Joel 1:12).

Whether or not humans are the main cause of glacial melting or it is due to cyclical weather patterns, the Bible shows that the earth will warm-up and become very hot:

Then the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and power was given to him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues; and they did not repent and give Him glory (Revelation 16:8-9).

And while massive repentance is possible (Acts 2:38) to prevent disaster, various scriptures indicate that this will not happen.

Although the Bible does not specify that humans have had a specific part in glacial warming, it does teach that humans will suffer for destroying the earth:

The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come,
And the time of the dead, that they should be judged,
And that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints,
And those who fear Your name, small and great,
And should destroy those who destroy the earth (Revelation 11:18).

Bible prophecy also shows that there will be enough climate change (probably from combinations of heat and earthquakes) that most of the islands will be gone:

Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, “It is done!” And there were noises and thunderings and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such a mighty and great earthquake as had not occurred since men were on the earth. Now the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. And great Babylon was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath. Then every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. And great hail from heaven fell upon men, each hailstone about the weight of a talent. Men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, since that plague was exceedingly great (Revelation 16:17-21).

The glaciers will continue to melt, humans will apparently continue to pollute, but God will put a stop to it.

The end of humanity’s rule is coming soon (see End of Mayan Calendar 2012–Might 2012 Mean Something? and Did The Early Church Teach Millenarianism?).

And while people all over the earth will be affected by God’s wrath, those who live in islands have real reasons to be concerned about glacial melting.

An article of possibly related interest may include Islands and Bible Prophecy.