Global warming hiatus Global warming hiatus A global warming hiatus, also sometimes referred to as a global warming pause or a global warming slowdown, is a period of relatively little change in globally averaged surface temperatures. In the current episode of global warming many such 15-year periods appear in the surface temperature record, along with robust evidence of the long-term warming trend. Such a "hiatus" is shorter than the 30-year periods that climate is classically averaged over. Publicity has surrounded claims of a global warming hiatus during the period 1998–2013. The exceptionally warm El Niño year of 1998 was an outlier from the
Means of grace In Lutheranism, the Means of Grace are God's "instruments" by which all spiritual blessing are bestowed upon sinners. Lutheran churches teach that the means of grace are the ways that the Holy Spirit creates faith in the hearts of Christians, forgives their sins, and gives them eternal salvation. The efficacy of these means does not depend on the faith, strength, status, or good works of those who proclaim the Word of God or administer God's sacraments; rather, the efficacy of these means rests in God alone, who has promised to work through God's gift of these means to God's church.