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2012, The Mayan Calendar,

and

The Second Coming of Christ

Dear Reader,

In the past several months, I have been hearing that claims are being made by both Christians and non-Christians alike to the effect that the end of the world and the Second Coming of Christ will occur in the years 2012 AD. I was recently asked what I thought of that by a visitor to this site. Then a friend of mine from my church spoke to me about it. And he's not a person who is usually into Prophecy! I decided when he brought it up that I should put in a page that would say something about that.

Another visitor to this site sent me the link to a site that claims that terrorists will destroy the USA in 2012. That same site also claims that we are in the Great Tribulation. I am absolutely certain that we are not.

Now, you may be aware that I do expect the Second Coming to occur soon, and have considered 2012 a possible target year for the fulfillment of the prophecies of the Second Coming. See my page, "When Will Jesus Come Again". However, I give that a plus or minus two years and I also name 2026 as the more likely approximate year. In other words, I see 2012 as a possible approximate year, not necessarily the exact year. I also say that the Great Tribulation happens first. We are already past the point in time when 2012 can be the exact year. If it is plus two years, then the Tribulation has to begin before the end of this year, or very early in 2010. (Another Christian who has written to me believes the Tribulation will start in early 2010.) But that also means the exact year would be 2014 or 2015. If the Tribulation does not start in early 2010, then the later target date is the only possibility I see. That target year is 2026. For that, I put the beginning of the Great Tribulation in 2021, again plus or minus two years.

Even if both dates prove wrong, I am sure that the Second Coming must happen soon. See "The Doomsday Factors", "Can The Church Survive", and the "BABEL RISING!" pages. As I said in the last Online Newsletter, now "BABEL RISING Sets A Deadline", the deadline is the same as the latter date mentioned above for the beginning of the Tribulation.

However, what troubles me now about the predictions of the Second Coming and the end of the world in 2012 is that many people, Christian leaders included, are basing their predictions on an ancient Mayan Calendar. Before I go into this further, let me remind you of a seriously relevant passage of Scripture, Isaiah 8:19-20;

19.   "And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead?
20.   "To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them."

Why am I quoting this? Because the ancient Mayans were in the same class with the people mentioned in verse 19. The Mayan culture was pagan. They worshipped idols. Worse yet, they sacrificed people to their idols. They also used hallucinogenic drugs. These things were probably the spiritual cause of the collapse of their civilization. Should Christians believe a prediction of the end of the world that they made? I think not!

Many Christians think that a sin is a sin, period, and do not believe that what kind of sins you commit matters to God. However, that idea does not stand up to real knowledge of the Scriptures. By the Scriptures, sacrificing humans to idols is the worst sin you can commit. The Bible prophesies destruction to any culture that engages in that practice. This was true even of the ancient Kingdom of Judah, as prophesied in Jeremiah 7:30-32

    "For the children of Judah have done evil in my sight", saith the Lord: "they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to pollute it.
    "And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart.
    "Therefore, behold, the days come", saith the Lord, "that it shall no more be called Tophet, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter: for they shall bury in Tophet, till there be no place."

I should add that the use of narcotics and hallucinogens has long been associated with sorcery. The association predates the time of Christ.

So again, Christians are giving credence to the product of a culture that practiced human sacrifice and used drugs? To me, it reeks of lack of discernment. Again, in the words of Isaiah, To the law and to the testimony", which is to say, to the Scriptures! As I said in the "Eye Salve" page, we should not base our faith on anything else. That includes our thinking about the Second Coming.

It is known that for a generally primitive culture, the Mayans were very accomplished in astronomy and mathematics, but there is no information that they could have gained from those sources that could have truthfully predicted the end of the world. They did use thier knowledge of math and astronomy to create a highly accurate calendar. It is true that one of their calendars ends with the year 2012, but that only means that that is as far into the future as the Mayan astronomers and mathematicians calculated it. It does not mean that that will be the end of the world.

More precisely, the calendar in question ends on December 21, 2012. That date is often the first day of winter. Many cultures have observed that date as the last day or the first day of the year. That is probably why the calendar ends there.

I have never, until this issue arose, made a point of studying the Mayan civilization. I consider it irrelevant to Biblical issues. However, one point should be made: the Mayan civilization is known to have self-destructed, though I am not certain of the causes. The Mayans couldn't even predict and prevent the collapse of their empire. How, then, could they have possibly predicted the end of the world? Furthermore, what I have learned suggests that the Mayans themselves gave no apocalyptic significance to the year 2012.

Christians should also be aware that the belief that the world will end in 2012, based on the Mayan calendar, is being promoted mainly by people from the New Age Movement. There is no support for this idea from science. Should Christians base their thinking on ideas from the New Age? Doesn't Psalm 1 say...

    Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

To believe in a prophetic idea being promoted by the New Age Movement is walking in the council of the ungodly!

Christians who are alert to what is happening in the world should know better to believe something like that. Older readers will remember that back in the late 1970's, a book was published called "The Jupiter Effect". The book claimed that there would be a total lineup of the planets in space in March 1982, and that the lineup would indirectly trigger a major earthquake that would destroy the US city of Los Angeles. Of course it didn't happen, but many Christians believed that the earthquake was the one prophesied in Revelation 6:12, and thought it signaled the Rapture or something like that. See my page "Report on the Stupider Effect".

More recently, many Christians and non-Christians were saying that the Y2K Bug would cause a global social and economic catastrophe, and many Christians, relating that to the year 2000 on our calendars, thought, again, that that date signaled the Rapture and the beginning of the Tribulation. Again, it didn't happen. See the February, 1999 Update in my page "Where is the Promise?".

Another disturbing issue is that the year 2012 is being associated with the so called Planet X, also called Nibiru. Many people are saying that it will pass close to the earth in 2012 and cause a global catastrophe. Part of the nonsense that is being propagated about this is the idea that NASA knows about Nibiru and is covering it up. Unfortunately, some gullible Christians are giving credence to this nonsense.

Planet X, aka Nibiru does not exist. This crackpot idea originated with a man named Zecharia Sitchin, who has published a series of books containing all kinds of pseudo-science ideas. He bases his thinking on wild, fanciful misinterpretations of Babylonian mythology. In addition to Nibiru, he is also one of the proponents of the nonsensical idea that space aliens visited this planet in ancient times and gave humans the knowledge to build civilization. These people believe that the God of the Old Testament was a space alien! (For more on this, see the page "The Occult-New Age Connection". Scroll down to the words "The Ancient Astronaut Theory" and read from there.) Christians should not base their faith on 'information' from sources like that!

Two things should be noted concerning Nibiru:

1. Crackpots are accusing NASA of knowing about Nibiru and studying it while denying it exists. For the truth about this issue, see this NASA Web page.

2. Nibiru was supposed to pass close to the earth in 2003 and cause a global catastrophe. Of course, it didn't happen. For proof that this was predicted, see this crackpot Web page.

In none of these cases is there any true Biblical reason to believe in those dates, imagined events, or pseudoscientific ideas as having any prophetic significance.

Frankly, the very fact that so many people are embracing belief in the year 2012 as the year the Tribulation will begin, or whatever, actually gives me cause not to believe it. There are a number of Scripture passages that tell us that when the Great Tribulation begins, the unsaved world will be taken by surprise. As Paul wrote in I Thessalonians 5:3,

    For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

But Christians who are really ready will not be taken by surprise, as Paul went on to say in I Thessalonians 5:4-5,

    But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.

By the Scriptures, the final proof of a prophecy or an interpretation of prophecy is not how well it is argued nor is it how many people believe it. The proof is what happens. As in Deuteronomy 18:21-22,

    And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken? When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.

However, if a prophecy or an interpretation is the word of the Lord, as stated in Isaiah 14:24;

The Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand:

So again, the final proof is what happens.

However, do remember that the 'signs of the times' show that the Second Coming of Christ has to be near. So...

Jesus REALLY is coming soon. BE READY!!!

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