What is the difference between correlation and causation, when talking about heat death (of the universe) and entropy?

I was wondering about this, and so far I can't quite find many conclusive answers. <br>I was wondering about this for the following reasoning:<br>Is it that the universe will die, and then entropy will become high, or is it that entropy increases first, and then the heat death will follow? Or is entropy always the same in the universe; then how would we know that it increases in the direction of time?<br><br>Or is it the following reasoning:<br>Stable states (atoms) can become unstable states (molten iron, in the case of a star). But it takes energy to "fuse the iron" back in the star. On a universal scale, the total amount of entropy is the same, but locally, the amount of entropy in the universe can change. <br>So, when talking heat death, on a universal scale, when everything is in its most entropic state, then the heat death has occurred, but on a local scale, (stars in the universe), the heat death has already occurred a long time ago.<br><br>I hope that this makes sense, and I can find some peace in knowing how this works.