Imanuel G. Christian
February 2012
You may have heard, or, will certainly hear, about the predicted end of the world on December 21, 2012. There has been so much hype and hoopla on this subject. Web sites, articles, books, YouTube videos and major motion pictures are spreading the message of an imminent destruction of the world as we know it. If you do a Google search on “2012 end of the world” you would find millions of web sites. People are selling things like survival kits and shelters and T-shirts. YouTube has hundreds of thousands of videos informing and warning people of the coming doom in 2012. You can even get an app on your iPhone that features an animated countdown to 12-21-12. As the time draws near we will be bombarded more and more, even by the main line media.
All this is based on the Mayan calendar. The Mayan Long Count Calendar has five “world cycles” and each of these is made up of 5,160 years totaling 25,800 years. According to Mayan belief each of these cycles ends with world destruction and beginning a new world order. The mythical creation of the Mayans is believed to be August 11, 3114 B. C. That is Day One on the Mayan Long Calendar. The fifth and final cycle is supposed to end on December 21, 2012 (Day Last). So, the Mayan alarm clock of the doomsday is set to go off on 12-21-12.
Along with the Mayan calendar, the year 2012 coincides with the “galactic alignment” of the sun and the earth with the “galactic equator” that bisects the black hole at the center of the universe. This rare alignment occurs once every 26,000 years, the time it takes the earth to complete one wobble around its axis. As the earth rotates on its axis, it wobbles very slightly. This wobble creates a small circle in the galaxy. The earth wobbles one degree every seventy two years. It takes 25,800 (around 26,000) years to complete one full circle, exactly the total number of years of the five cycles of the Mayan calendar. So, the scientists are thinking that maybe there is something to the Mayan calendar and something unusual is going to happen when this takes place on 12-21-12. Amazingly, the Mayans were able to figure all this out without the use of even the simplest telescope, what we now can know only by using our advanced computer technology and powerful telescopes.
And mix with this the current world situation: The rogue nations gaining an upper hand and acquiring nuclear power, the Middle-East crisis, especially nations rising up against Israel and the West, the shortage of oil, food supply and vital natural resources, the economic meltdown, wars and rumors of wars and rising terrorism, the erratic weather patterns that create unprecedented earthquakes and tsunamis. All these have created frenzy like sense of an impending world crisis like an enormous volcano ready to erupt any moment.
So, how much should we be concerned about the end of the world this year? Not much! Will the world as we know it end on 12-21-12? Certainly not! Nothing as predicted by the 2012 fanatics is going to happen!
How can we be so sure? Let me give you just three reasons. One, although the Mayan calendar cycle seems to exactly coincide with the earth cycle, as the modern scientists have calculated, there is no scientific basis for the end of the world at the end of the Mayan calendar cycle. The hypothesis of the end of the world is based not on astronomy, but on astrology, on the New Age thinking. Most of the 12-21-12 doomsday predictors are New Age followers. The New Age followers are commonly associated with the movements of the constellations and cosmic convergences with the help of demonic practices. Their idea is that the end of the present world will usher in a new beginning, the dawn of a new golden age, an age of awakening, of higher consciousness, a new plane of existence, much like what the Serpent promised Adam and Eve in the Garden (Genesis 3:5).
How could the Mayans come up with such an elaborate calculation of the solar system without the aid of even the simplest telescope or computer technology? We do not know. But because of the New Age ideology behind it, we can safely assume that demonic sources are behind it, like the prophesying spirits in Paul’s time (Acts 16:16-18).
Of course, the world is hurling towards a precipice and that may lead to many catastrophic events like major wars or major natural catastrophes, as we noted above. But that has nothing to do with the 12-21-12 hypothesis.
Secondly, nobody knows, or, can know, exactly when the end of the world will be. In the past, many such dates have been set. According to one web site there have been 242 past predictions about the end of the world. They all have come and gone. Similar hoopla was created about Y2K, predicting that we would experience crisis of a mammoth proportion and even the end of the civilization as we know it. Many, including believers, were caught up in that frenzy, storing up enough food and water supply to last for months. Nothing happened! As Jesus said no one knows that day except the Father (Matthew 24:36; Mark 13:32; Acts 1:7).
Thirdly, the prediction of the end of the world on 12-21-12 does not match with the end time calendar that God has given us in His Word. Before the end of the world happens as described in 2 Peter 3:10, there will be the rapture of the church, the seven year tribulation, the second coming of Christ and His one-thousand-year reign. The next major event on the eschatological calendar is the rapture, not the end of the world.
So, we do not have to panic as the people of the world who ignore the Word of God do. Nor do we have to go into frenzied preparation or in hiding in a remote mountain place as many, even believers, did during the so called Y2K crisis. BUT, we do have to be ready for the coming of the Lord to take His Bride. We can be sure that the world will not end on 12-21-12. But we do know for sure that some day it is going to end and this world is not our home. “The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:10-13).
(Information for this article was gleaned from various web sites and the book 2012, The Bible and the End of the World by Mark Hitchcock; Harvest House, 2009)
