July 7, 2018 
Most people know global warming as a hot-button environmental and political issue.
But did you know it’s also prophetic?
Whatever you think about current global warming theories or models, one thing is clear about the end-times.
If the Bible is right, things will be heating up.
Whether a gradual, full-planet melt is in view or a solar anomaly yet to be seen, the results are predicted to be…well, apocalyptic.
Check it out:
“Then the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was permitted to scorch people with fire. Thus people were scorched by the terrible heat, yet they blasphemed the name of God, who has ruling authority over these plagues, and they would not repent and give him glory.” Revelation 16:8-9 (NET)
This verse slices through the political controversy for Christians and cuts to the chase: one way or another, we’re headed for a hotter planet.
Looking at this week’s headlines, it appears we may be further down that path than we thought. For example:
Those are just a few. The last two weeks have been peppered with headlines of all-time highs and record breaking heat in places from Vermont to Belfast, Montreal to Siberia, and Algeria to Russia. Several cities in California broke heat records yesterday alone. Thirty-three deaths in Quebec have been attributed to the heat wave— and the list goes on.
We may yet be a little ways off from the fourth bowl of wrath. But with headlines like, “Guys, Our Planet Is on Fire. Here Are The All-Time Heat Records Set Worldwide This Week”, the prophetic road ahead is shrinking like Arctic ice— faster than we imagined.
But the Revelation 16 brand of “scorching” is nothing compared to the one in 1 Timothy 4:2.
This passage reveals a more harrowing sign. Using a word derived from the same root as “scorching”, it describes a burning or searing of the conscience itself.
“Now the Spirit explicitly says that in the later times some will desert the faith and occupy themselves with deceiving spirits and demonic teachings, influenced by the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared.” 1 Timothy 4:1-2 (NET)
The worst part of the sign in Revelation 16:9 is not the scorching heat itself, but people’s reaction to it. Though they know the plague is a consequence of sin and that God is the one who can stop it, they become incapable of the one thing that could lead to relief.
Repentance.
Hot-Ironed Hearts: The Scariest Sign
A seared conscience is one that is “rendered insensitive.” Picture a world where the inner alarm that goes off when you do wrong— and the inner voice that makes you feel regret afterwards— is silenced.
Paul describes that scorched spiritual landscape in 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12:
“The arrival of the lawless one will be by Satan’s working with all kinds of miracles and signs and false wonders, and with every kind of evil deception directed against those who are perishing, because they found no place in their hearts for the truth so as to be saved. Consequently God sends on them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false. And so all of them who have not believed the truth but have delighted in evil will be condemned.”
Think about what that means: a scorched conscience and a deluded heart.
No compass. No compassion. No moral bearings.
As a Christian, there could be no greater horror. Imagine walking through life, certain you know the truth, believing you’re righteous— only to find out you were actually serving the antichrist.
Now reel yourself back to 2018 and heave a sigh of relief.
Because we’re not there quite yet. You still have two great gifts from God available to you.
Time to repent, and a conscience that still works.
The Hotter It Gets: An End-Times Thing
This is what Christ says He wants us to remember as we experience what He called “the beginning of birth pangs”— like wars and rumors of wars, natural love growing cold, the terrifying tossing of the seas, lawlessness, false prophets…and record-breaking, fire-breathing, scorching heat from the sun.
Above all, no matter how intense the trials get— even if your world goes up in flames— you don’t want your conscience to be seared.
Because for those of us who hang on to our ability to feel in these difficult times— to love God and love our neighbor even when it hurts, and hold on to Truth no matter the cost— a furnace is nothing to fear. You know, like Nebuchadnezzar said:
“I see four men, untied and walking around in the midst of the fire! No harm has come to them! And the appearance of the fourth is like that of a god!” Daniel 3:25
Like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, no furnace will be hot enough to destroy you if you trust in God. You’ll walk around impossibly free right in the middle of it, knowing that Jesus is with you and your bonds are the only thing that burned.
Like Jesus said, let these signs serve as reminders: the day of your redemption is drawing near.
That means Jesus is coming back— and you could very possibly see it from this side of heaven.
So lift your eyes. Because the hotter it gets…the closer He is.
Monica Dennington 
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