The Climate Cult
Bodie Hodge, M.Sc., B.Sc., PEI
Biblical Authority Ministries, October 17, 2024
Have you ever listened to certain actors, secular
scientists, teachers, politicians, or peers spouting on about global warming?
Or global cooling? Or climate change?
They do it with such fervor and demand that you follow them
in their belief of doomsday scenarios. They even make prophecies about the
future destruction of earth in just a few years. Salvation is dependent upon
giving them your support, money, and doing what they command.
It almost sounds religious, doesn’t it? There is it reason
that it sounds religious—it is. It’s a religion that has catapulted into the
mainstream and caused massive division among cultures all over the world. And
if you don’t follow this religion with the same fervor as its leading
adherents, then you are labelled a “Climate Denier”—an evil and uncaring person
in this religion.
How Is The Climate Cult Classified?
The Climate Cult (sometimes called “Climatism”) is a subset
of the secular religions (think of secular humanism, atheism, agnosticism,
naturalism, etc.) but has an emphasis that is environmental-based, almost like “earth
worship”. Although the Climate Cult is secular in its historical understanding
of origins, it has morphed into its own beast of a religion. Although its roots
extend back over 100 years, it reared its head into public life particularly
around the 1970s.
Today, certain people are famous for pushing this religion
and making demands. Among these are Al Gore (former Vice President of the
United States), Greta Thunberg (a teenage Swedish activist), Bill Gates (one of
the richest people in the world), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (who pushed the Green
New Deal to be imposed), Hoesung Lee (who chairs the U.N.’s
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), actors like Leonardo DiCaprio, and
many more—including companies and institutions like colleges, universities, high
schools, and other government run schools.
Chances are you, or your children and grandchildren, have
been influenced by this religion one way or another. Adherents push this
religion through various means and it is largely funded by tax dollars being
pushed by an educational or political means.
The religious nature of this movement has not gone
unnoticed. Articles and books now abound that discuss this religion. For
instance, John Berry’s “Climate Cult” tackles this religion head on. With
caveats about certain theological and scientific positions, his take on this
religion was excellent. Writing about the Climate Cult, Berry, a former atheist
and environmentalist himself, writes:
“The modern secular environmental
movement is an example of the twisted thinking that occurs when people reject
God and a Biblical worldview. The passion of many climate change activists is
an outward expression of the quasi-religious nature of the modern environmental
movement. A mixture of secular atheism and pagan environmentalism has filled
the void created by the rejection of traditional Christianity among many
younger people. The result is radical environmentalism has become a form of
religion for atheists and others who reject God.”
The Scare Of Global Cooling And A New Ice Age
Beginning in the 1970s, there was a worldwide panic caused
by adherents of the Climate Cult. For those old enough to remember, it was the
global cooling scare.
Everyone was worried that there was going to be a new ice
age (in the secular religious story, they have ice ages from time to time going
back for millions of years). Looking at the average global temperature around
the world, there was slight trend where we were going down by tenths of a
degree. Yes, it was a very small amount.
So, climate cultists immediately began assuming the
worst—presuming we’re at the onset of a new ice age! Yes, mankind burns
things—wood, oil, coal, etc. and the industrial revolution was in full swing. It
didn’t help that smog was becoming a major factor in certain areas that had
direct localized effects.
We see a minor decline in the global temperature, and then
doomsdayers run with it and project their voice to say that a new ice age is
right around the corner. Just so you know, we didn’t enter into a sudden onset
ice age. This claim turned out to be false but sulfate particulates may have
played a role in the slight cooling effect by reflecting sunlight back to
space. This is significant.
Ice ages don’t occur by simply cooling the earth. If you
cool the globe, you get a cold earth, not an ice age. So…what is the different?
For an ice age, you need warm oceans and cool
summers. This way you get a lot of accumulation of snow and ice in the
winter months (because you had a lot of evaporation from the warm oceans). Then
you need cool summers so that the accumulation from winter doesn’t melt off.
Then, the next year there is more accumulation on top of the
previous year’s accumulation, so that it builds up into an ice age over
multiple years—with the weight compressing ice into glaciers and ice caps. But
warm oceans and cool summers are the key.
By the way, when we start with the Bible and have a major worldwide
catastrophe (the Flood of Noah’s day), the resultant actions of mountain
building (e.g., Psalm 104:8-9), continental shifting, and volcanism from
mountain building, are all going to heat the global ocean temperature.
Furthermore, when violent volcanoes go off, they release
dioxins and other small particulates into the upper atmosphere that remain
suspended at higher altitudes and linger for a long time. We observed this to a
small degree with Mt. St. Helens! The particulates reflected sunlight so that
it doesn’t reach the surface of the earth, thereby causing a cooling effect.
Mt. St. Helens eruption in 1980 (and again in 1982) caused an observed cooling
effect on the earth for a short time of about a 0.1° C. Mount Pinatubo, a larger volcano, in 1991
changed the temperature by about 1.3° F.
To a much higher degree was the “year without a summer” in
1816. A volcano whose 1815 eruption dwarfed Mt. St. Helens in explosiveness, Mount
Tambora in Indonesia changed the global temperature by an estimated and
whopping 2-7° F. The
violent volcanic eruption of Krakatau in 1883 did much the same. Lack of
sunshine and a cool summer destroyed the following summers globally.
The point is that the Flood in Genesis 6-8 is the perfect
mechanism to have warm oceans and cool summers—with far more volcanoes going
off in unison as well as delayed for quite some time during the final phases of
the Flood and its early aftermath.
The Scare Of Global Warming And The Sea Levels
The global cooling scare came to an end—do you know what
happened? The global temperature stopped going down by tenths of a degree. It
reversed and started to go up by tenths of a degree!
Were climate cultists satisfied that it reversed? Not at
all. We saw, with even greater fervor, a new challenge. It was now global
warming and doomsday warnings came flying out at a record pace (even though
global temperatures were mildly rising by an excruciating slow amount just
before the cooling phase).
In fact, it is estimated that the global temperature has
risen 0.7°C since 1880—if the old measurements are accurately correlated.
So, there is some warming and we all agree on that—but what is the
cause? That is where the debate “heats” up.
In the Climate Cult it is automatically assumed that mankind
did something to cause global warming—it must be the industrial revolution—we
burn things like wood, and coal, and oil. Gas guzzling cars need to go, strict
new laws about burning were rampant and CO2 (Carbon dioxide, a
greenhouse gas) is the target.
Prediction about sea level rise due to melting ice caps were
pushed hard in Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth”, which turned out to be false
by the way. Sea Levels have remained largely the same as they were over 100
years ago, based on pictures. Nevertheless, small island nations were scared
witless because they were afraid, they would be flooded out!
Al Gore’s 10-year prediction of crazy high coastal flooding
(e.g., covering much of low-lying Florida and other coastal low-lying areas)
turned out to be false (and yet, Gore made lucrative money over global warming
and interestingly, bought a very nice house on the coast in California).
Josef Joffe writes:
“Eclipsed by Thunberg, Gore is
nonetheless still in the prophecy business. Writing in the New York Times last
September, he doubled down on doom. "More destructive Category 5
hurricanes are developing," he wrote. "Monster fires ignite and burn
on every continent but Antarctica, ice is melting in large amounts there and in
Greenland, and accelerating sea-level rise now threatens low-lying cities and
island nations."”
Gore was famous for his failed predictions about global
warming and climate change (e.g., there were bold claims that failed from his
2006 film “An Inconvenient Truth”). His failed predictions are well known and
well documented.
Well, what happened to global warming? The global
temperatures started to trend down again for a time. The same thing that
happened to global cooling now happened to global warming. But this time,
global warming had a bigger and longer lasting impact on the culture and lot of
money behind it. It had political pull and unprecedented wealth that had been
pushing it—and it was a money maker for so many (the UN gives out money for
climate issues and research measuring billion dollars per year since 2009).
Do you just give it all up?
What happens when global cooling turns out to be false; and
then global warming turns out to be false? Do you just give it up? These were
hard questions. So, what happened?
Adherents didn’t give it up. Instead, it was like adding
fuel to a fire! Thinking in terms of their secular religious worldview, they merely
adjusted it once again. This brings me to the latest form of this
religion—climate change.
The Scare Of Climate Change
Climate change has eclipses each of those before it. If
global temperatures rise—it is called climate change. If global temperatures
drop—it is called climate change. It seems that any weather at any time
can be used to justify “climate change”. Mark Perry writes:
“Regardless of the weather, they
are always intrinsically correct. Flood? Climate Change. Drought? Climate
Change. No Snow? Climate Change. Too much snow? Climate Change. Hurricane?
Climate Change. Lack of hurricanes? Climate Change. See how this works?”
Thus, the climate change religious view is arbitrary. There
is no logical basis behind this religious stance. It is that simple.
The problem is that anything weather-related that happens
get chalked up to climate change. And climate change religious adherents start
throwing out blame and demand money and power to stop it.
To clarify, when people say “climate change”, they mean
something very specific. I don’t want you to miss this. They mean that man
has caused these weather issues. If there are hurricanes, then man
caused it. If glaciers are melting—then man caused it. If the global
temperature changes back and forth, man caused it.
You need to understand that in the climate religion, man is
the ultimate evil and causing all these problems. Man is seen as an enemy which
is why this religion really pushed population control—to reduce people on the
earth.
Why do they think this? It has to do with the made-up
secular history that they believe. Let me explain.
In the secular viewpoint (not the biblical viewpoint), since
the last ice age (in the secular religions an ice age last happened about
10,000 years ago) there is this presumption that global temperatures have
largely been about the same. Thus, when we see minor fluctuations by tenths of
a degree in the global temperature, they go crazy and think the world is about
to end because we did something to mess it up! Climate cultists then blame man
and say we are ruining the world.
This has led to a number of doomsday predictions by climate
activists over the years. Dire famines, another ice age, acid rain, arctic will
be ice free in a few years, rising sea levels dangers and more—these are just a
tip of the failed prophecies in this religion. John Berry documents at least 15
failed predictions in his book, Climate Cult.
Now, let’s pause because there are a couple of things
climate change believers and I agree on. I love that they see a desire to care
for the earth. But that is a Christian principle of dominion—care for the earth
in a responsible way. They have warped this belief into a religious fervor of
worshipping the earth instead of using it the way God intended (e.g., Romans
1:25).
Is it good to have cleaner air and water, recycle, and be
responsible for our environment? Yes, it is. So please don’t get me wrong. I
love that we can use technology to burn things cleaner—coal for example is
burned 80% cleaner than in the past. Or that we can reuse certain things to be
more efficient (e.g., recycling) and discover new or improved energy sources. I
love that.
So, what am I talking about? I’m talking about the
application of a false religious worldview that has zeal without knowledge. The
Climate Cult is fueled by a false worldview, false predictions, and making
demands that were unwarranted from the data because of these strict religious
views.
In the secular view, it’s much more of a problem. If we are
just rearranged chemicals on a planet that ultimately came from nothing and has
no purpose, and has no meaning, and there will be heat death in the universe
where nothing really mattered (as the secular worldview teaches), then why do
they care? Note the inconsistency.
Another thing we agree on is that man is involved. But we
don’t agree on how man is involved. In the biblical view, man had
dominion over the earth and when we sinned, the originally-perfect earth is now
subjected to sin and its effects. And sinful man is living with those effects
and will die (culminating in an eternal death in Hell after we die physically).
This is why we need a Savior to save us from sin and death.
So, climate problems are because of man—man’s sin at the beginning in Genesis
3 as well as man’s sin that led to the Flood (more on these in a moment), but
subsequently our action contribute to very little. Obviously, we have two
different understanding of how man was involved.
CO2 (Carbon Dioxide) Is Essential To A Healthy Planet
Without CO2, the planet would “die” quickly. How
often are we told this? Without CO2, plants would wither and cease
to produce clean air and oxygen (O2). So, we need CO2 to
maintain a healthy balance. There is a range of course—too much could be bad
too.
CO2 is a recyclable gas naturally in our
environment as phytoplankton and plants devour it. When there is a little more
in the atmosphere, the plants and phytoplankton do very well (e.g., in
controlled environments CO2 is added to promote good plant growth).
When there is less—plants aren’t as vigorous. When CO2 starts to get
a little higher, nature balances it out—this is what we expect based on God’s
Word—even in our broken and sinful world.
God designed the world to remain in balance and has promised
this balance will not get out of hand until He returns and the earth no longer
needs to endure per Genesis 8:22:
“While the earth remains, Seedtime
and harvest, Cold and heat, Winter and summer, And day and night Shall not
cease.” (Genesis 8:22, NKJV)
God is making a new heaven and a new earth if you didn’t
know that (Isaiah 65:17,
66:22;
2 Peter 3:13;
Revelation 21:1).
This cursed and broken creation (since Genesis 3 with sin) does have its
problems. This is but a taste of what life is like without God upholding things
in a perfect state. We look forward to a perfect world again for those who
believe in Jesus Christ and put their faith in Him.
So Why Does The Earth Experience Fluctuations In Temperature?
So why does the global temperature go up and down. The obvious
reason is due to the output of the sun. The sun fluctuates its radiation and
the earth mimics this. Is it really this simple? Yes. Dr. Jason Lisle, an
astrophysicist who specialized in the sun in his PhD, points out that the sun
is the primary culprit.
The sun goes through a 22-year cycle of magnetic reversals
(to get back to its original polarity) which affect things like sunspots and
output. In short, more sunspots—more heat output and less sunspots equate to
less heat output. Dr. Lisle writes:
“We must understand that the most
important natural factor in determining the earth’s temperature is the sun. We
take for granted that the sun is stable and warms the earth in a uniform way.
For the most part, it does; it is an unusually stable star. But the sun does
have natural cycles and minor changes in intensity that affect climate on the
earth. One such cycle is the relatively short-term sunspot cycle. However, much
longer variations may also exist. There is evidence that such variations have a
substantial effect on earth’s climate.”
Although greenhouse gases like methane, water (H2O),
and CO2 add a little as well—and thank goodness—without these
effects the earth’s temperature would be significantly lower to a point that
life may not be possible!
Again, a great balance on the part of God’s design even in a sin-cursed world.
But here is the crux—in the Climate Cult, man is blamed for
global warming and changes because we’ve adding greenhouse gases like CO2
to the atmosphere. This neglects the fact that the manmade additions of CO2
and methane are only considered minor contributions to the overall influx of CO2
into the air.
Furthermore, the primary greenhouse gas in the atmosphere
is water! About 95% of greenhouse effects are from water. CO2 and
methane are not the powerhouse like water is. Our atmosphere is made up
primarily of these 4 gases:
·
Nitrogen 78.08%
·
Oxygen 20. 95%
·
Water—up to 4% (fluctuates)
·
Argon 0.93 %
After these, there are trace gases like Carbon Dioxide
(0.04%) and then hydrogen, helium, neon, and methane—all having less than
0.00182%:
It was pointed out that CO2 production by man is
dwarf by natural means of CO2 production. So, what else produces CO2
naturally? Massive sources of CO2 come from outgassing from oceans,
venting volcanoes, fungi, decomposing vegetation and other biologicals, wildfires,
and animals. These sources produce most of the CO2 in our
atmosphere. Of course, the amount of CO2 released go up and down as
well.
Greenhouse gases are essential and they too fluctuate
because of natural production, while man’s contributions are actually minimal
by comparison. All the while, the earth is designed to balance things out and
that is what we observe.
Have Climates Changed?
Yes. Bible believers believe this and it surprises people!
Originally, the earth was designed perfectly and very good (Genesis 1:31,
Deuteronomy 32:4).
The earth was designed in such a way that man—without wearing clothes—should
have been able to inhabit the entire world (they were commanded to be fruitful
and multiply and fill the earth, Genesis 1:28).
After sin in Genesis 3, God cursed the ground and the
animals (which were under man’s care) and sentenced man to death. The world
changed. Then there was the Flood of Noah’s day which was the largest climate
disaster ever—even rearranging continents, coastlines, and mountain ranges to
what they are today. Of course, there has been minor changes since then as
well.
The Flood triggered an Ice Age (in caps usually denotes the
single Ice Age that followed the Flood as opposed to “ice age” or “ice ages” in
the secular story going back for eons). This major climate change also includes
warming and cooling periods like the medieval and Roman warm periods and the
Little Ice Age (1300-1800) as ice retreated and came back again in ebbs and
flows.
An Ice Age causes fluctuations in sea level and affects
global weather patterns (by taking water out of the seas and lakes resulting in
less water for the global water cycle). This in turn likely caused certain
droughts that may have been in correlation with certain famines in Scripture
(Abraham’s day, Joseph’s Day, and so on).
So yes, there was definitely climate change—but note this
was not because of burning fuels in the industrial revolution—which are minor
additions when compared globally.
Biblical Response to Climate Cultism
As Christians, we want to take care of the earth, but not
worship it. We also want encourage those who have been caught up in the Climate
Cult to realize that it is the biblical worldview that gives us a basis to take
care of the earth (i.e., have dominion)—not secular religions.
It is also a biblical worldview that explains why the earth
is broken, even though it still balances things out fairly well. We need a new
heaven and a new earth due to sin and the curse.
The only solution is through Jesus Christ, the Creator
Himself, who died for our sins (our rebellions against God’s law). Christ took
the punishment we deserve and offers the free gift of eternal life through His
death, burial, and resurrection. We hope those trapped in the Climate Cult will
come to repentance through Jesus Christ.
