DOOMSDAY 2012: PROHETS OR PROFITS
FINAL
Kimesha K. Sanders
Western Governors University

DOOMSDAY 2012: PROPHETS OR PROFITS

Ever since the beginning of time people have been obsessed with the concept of the end of days. So if there is one topic that can create a good conversation, it’s the “Apocalypse”. In our times, we get more than our share of talk about the apocalypse. An apocalypse is a revelation, an unveiling or unfolding of things not previously known and which could not be known apart from the unveiling (wikipedia.org). This means that no one could possibly know when this event will occur. Still, for thousands of years people have tried to predict when and how the world will end. From where do all these apocalyptic prophecies originate? Are we the victims of the hidden agendas of the media and secret societies? Are modern interpretations of ancient Mayan calendars and prophecies accurate; and do these prophecies predict the end of the world in 2012? And what has NASA said about all of this? When it comes to apocalyptic or “end of the world” prophecies it doesn’t matter. “End of the world” prophecies are ridiculous. We can’t rely on people, books, internet sites or movies to tell us an exact date because it is clearly something of the unknown? People are using prophets for profits!
Apocalyptic prophecies derive from the stories told about the death of Jesus Christ and his ascension from the grave. It was said that He would one day return. The first written stories about His return are told in the Bible and are often referred to as the “apocalypse” or the “great reveal”. But even the apocalyptic prophecies of the Bible, have been altered during translation, and they are inaccurate to some degree. These stories have an astonishing amount of different and contradictory interpretations. The most popular story and timeline for the end of days is found in the Bible’s book of Revelation. It contains one of the interpretations of the story of the “Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” which serves as my proof that even if the timeline is right, the interpretation of the story can still be wrong. Scholars have used this story for years to prove our position on the “end of days” timeline. And it is a great story to use when the translations are correct. But who is to say which interpretation of the story is correct, when from the very start the interpretations from researcher to researcher differ? For example, there are two interpretations of the first horse. The scripture says, “Now I saw when the lamb opened one of the seals; and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a voice like thunder, ‘“Come and see.” And I looked and behold, a white horse. He who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he when out conquering and to conquer (NKJV Revelation 6: 1-2).” This rider has been depicted to represent evil, righteousness, the Holy Spirit and even Christ himself, depending upon the source. In the book of Revelation alone, he said to have one crown in chapter six and many in chapter 19. Collectively, all these things are confusing. But the events of the story cause people to try to find out where we stand on the timeline. Because of course, we are another generation of people who believe that we are living during the “end of times”
An untold number of people have tried to predict the Lord's return by using elaborate time tables. Many researchers and date setters do not realize mankind has not kept an unwavering record of time. For example, anyone wanting to chart 100 BC to 2000 AD would have to contend with the fact that 46 BC was 445 days long, there was no year 0 BC, and in 1582 we switched from Julian Years (360 days) to Gregorian (365 days) (information found at http://www.bible.ca/pre-date-setters.htm). And because most prognosticators are unaware of these errors, from very beginning, their math is already off by several years.
Dating back as far as the disciples of Jesus, every generation has believed they were living during the end of times. Those multitude generations could produce undisputable evidence, mostly from the Bible, that they were right. But they were all wrong. I can't help but make a connection between the current generation of people and the people off 999-1000 AD as an example. This year goes down as one of the most pronounced states of hysteria over the return of Christ. All members of society seemed affected by the prediction that Jesus was coming back on Jan 1, 1000 AD. And at that time, none of the events required by the Bible were transpiring. It was just the number 1000 that was the primary reason for the expectation. “During December 999 AD, everyone was on their best behavior; worldly goods were sold and given to the poor, swarms of pilgrims headed east to meet the Lord at Jerusalem, buildings went unrepaired, crops were left unplanted, and criminals were set free from jails. 999 AD changed to 1000 AD and nothing happened (Klein, T., 2011, p.2).” This was an event that was similar to the Y2K scare where everyone went out and bought tons of water among other things, thinking something bad was going to happen. Everyone has their own agenda for wanting people to believe certain things. And this is certainly true of Zecharia Sitchin, author of The 12th Planet, where he brings the Sumerian civilization to life. This civilization consists of a group of extraterrestrials from Planet Nibiru who come to Earth, fashion mankind, and ultimately give us civilization and religion (Sitchin, 2007, p.1). This is a case where the ignorant masses have been misled and frightened by the irresponsible predictions of “end of the world” date setters who only set these dates, to get higher TV ratings and boost book sales. From The 12th Planet to The End of Days, a Prophecy of the Return, Sitchin has written several books relating the end of days. And despite the fact that he has no background in science, people have begun to ask questions. His readers have ultimately been confused by his mixture of facts with fiction in his series of books that are related to the end of days. Why would someone want to misinterpret something that will negatively affect so many people? This particular author did it for money.
So what about conspiracy theories about the hidden agendas of secret societies, such as the Free Masons? Many of the founding fathers of our country were Free Masons. Although the U.S. Treasury Department denies the one-dollar note contains masonic symbols, and some historians dispute that the plan for Washington D.C., was laid out according to Masonic beliefs, there is a great deal of compelling evidence to bolster belief in a Masonic Link (Jeffers, H., 2005, p.6). The Free Masons origins are up for debate but are traced back to biblical times, and have been said to be headed by the illuminati, who is said to be the “inner circle” of this secret society today. Leaving most Free Masons oblivious to their true motive, it is said that they strive for a one world government and a population controlled by religion as a plan to usher in the Antichrist. Conspiracy theorists warn us to watch for more surveillance in public areas and the gradual erosion of our freedoms and rights as individuals. Some people that have been linked to this secret society through order of Skull & Bones, based at Yale University from which they are all coincidentally graduates include President Barack Obama, former presidents George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, and other top officials like Dick Cheney and John Kerry. Conspiracy theorists really believe that some secret societies like this have some kind of “big plan” for 2012. But whatever their plan; if they have one, it remains a secret. Which means no one knows except those involved, making this whole theory just a speculation.
Even schools teach a little about Nostradamus who is recognized as one of the most accurate prophets in history. His predictions, written in quatrains, contain information about Napoleon, Hitler, World Wars I, II, and the 9/11 attacks. Still to come is a comet; natural disasters such as earthquakes, plagues, pestilence, and giant storms; another antichrist and World War III (Andrew, C., & Andrew, S., 2008, p.139). He too predicted how the world will end with a year of 3797; when the sun will expand into a red giant, causing the Earth to experience great gravitational and climatic stress predicted (Hogue, J., 2002, p.249). But there is one problem. This rare astronomical occurrence is actually going to take place 42 years before his predicted year of 3797 which now makes his date questionable at least. In 1566 Nostradamus died exactly in the manner he had predicted (Hogue, J., 2002, p.8). Something that was odd about his prophecies was that he fails to see Dalton’s atomic theory, Darwin’s theory of evolution, the discovery of steam power, the industrial revolution, the South-Sea bubble and the American Civil War. Yet there are prophecies that appear to be detailed accounts of French political life over the same period. Researchers have discovered that Nostradamus’ quatrains tend to be interpreted by different scholars to reflect their own personal interests (Wilson, D., 1999, p.388).
But perhaps, one of the most popular, ancient apocalyptic prophecies of today is that of the Ancient Maya, which is said to have predicted the end of the world, with a date of December 21, 2012. But the Mayan calendar doesn’t even consist of the twelve months that are on the modern day calendar. So how was this date calculated and what does it truly represent?
The Mayan calendar is actually a complex system of multiple calendars used in conjunction and serves as much more than just a method of recording the passage of time. These calendars are said to be prophetic and very important in guiding evolutionary consciousness. After correlating them to the Gregorian calendar, which is the calendar used by most people in the world today, modern researchers calculated that the winter solstice of 2012 marks the end of the Mayan calendar’s long count period. But more importantly it marks the end of the precession cycle of the equinoxes which is a period of time lasting 26,000 years (Cooper, D., 2009, p.14). And since ancient Maya actually used the weather and the solar system for their predictions and, to code the dates into their calendars, it’s actually the solstice that makes the date important. They concluded their long count calendar on this date because of a rare astronomical occurrence that they believe is set to take place on that day. Their belief is that on that day the sun will be seen in a conjunction with the crossing point of the galactic equator and the ecliptic which is referred to by the Maya as the Sacred Tree. The ancient Maya believed that December 21, 2012 often called the “Creation Day”, represented the date of the great transformation of the earth into the fifth age and they believed that the light coming in during the year 2012 will raise people’s self-worth and confidence (Cooper, D., 2009, p.15). People who study the Mayan calendar respect it as one of the most amazing, complex, and accurate systems ever invented by anyone. But modern researchers often misinterpret its information. And Mayan Elders frequently speak out against those who do so.
In a 1999 speech, Elder Don Alejandro denounces those who frighten people with visions of destruction in 2012 (Andrew, C., & Andrew, S., 2008, p.139). He says, “The Mayan prophecies tell us it is time to awaken, time for the dawn, so that the people will have peace and will be happy (Alejandro, 1999).” And he even uses a totally different date of March 31, 2013, when according to him the sun will be hidden for 60-70 hours, sending us into the next age. His speech can be found at www.compassion.org.
Elder Carlos Barrios is unhappy with the way researchers have interpreted the Mayan calendars and prophecies (Andrew, C., & Andrew, S., 2008, p.139). He says that these researchers and their translations of the glyphs engraved in the steles and the temples are inaccurate. He says, “Other people write prophecies in the name of the Maya. They say the world will end in 2012. The Mayan Elders are angry with this. According to Barrios, the world will not end. It will be transformed.
NASA believes that the media is looking to profit from all these false stories. And the idea of using the fact that we live in a fear based time, to make millions of dollars is not far-fetched. The fact is that date setting guarantees the acceptance of ministry and the generation of T.V. and book revenue for many years to come. Some people have even created future world maps to corroborate the inaccurate stories of a polar shift, and how it will affect the Earth. And of course these maps are for sale with publishers who urge us to “hurry and buy them and move to safe ground immediately, if we want to live”.
So how about a scientific explanation for all of this talk about the sun and transformations of the earth? In NASA’s answers to frequently asked questions about 2012, we found that even the Mayan story of the Earth, crossing the galactic center is inaccurate and will not happen in 2012. There will be no polar shift and they have dismissed all rumors about the existence of Nibiru, a dwarf planet that is supposed to strike the Earth in 2012 as untrue. Their claim is that this fable was originally dated for 2003 and when nothing happened, was later dated for 2012 and unfortunately linked to the Mayan calendar and the winter solstice. Their senior research scientist says, “If there were something in the atmosphere that is going to strike the earth on December 21, 2012, it would have been tracked by astronomers for at least the last decade and by now it would be visible to the naked eye (Yeomans, D., 2009, p.1).”
When asked about solar storms that are said to occur with widespread destruction, the answer was that we have solar cycles every eleven years; and the next that should occur in the 2012-2014 timeframe will be no different from previous cycles (Townsend, 2009, p.1). NASA asserts that what is happening now is no different than the Y2K scare. But just like that, 2012 and the end of the Earth has been thoroughly studied. So whether it is an internet hoax, book or movie, though entertaining, it’s just not based on science. But fact is fact. And one fact is that the Earth has been getting along just fine for over 4 billion years and credible scientists worldwide know of no threat associated with 2012 (Townsend, 2009, p.1). Even the worst scenarios of ecosystem loss; deforestation, species extinctions, global warming, and crop monoculture would not inevitably result in the extinction of man (Glavin, T., 2007, p.281).

When reading apocalyptic prophecies, we have to realize that everything can be interpreted as a sign of the end of the world if one believes strongly enough (Danelek, 2009, p.181). And people would love to know exactly when it will happen. Maybe people would like to know because of their own religious issues, or maybe some of us just want to live another day. Maybe some just want to wait until the last minute to try to correct all of their mistakes. But even the oldest written accounts of prophecies relating to the end of the world that are found in the Bible, have been altered during translation, and they are inaccurate to some degree. “End of the world” prophecies are ridiculous. We can’t rely on people, books, internet sites or movies to tell us an exact date because it is clearly something of the unknown? People are using prophets for profits! The bottom line is that figuratively speaking, in the saying, here today gone tomorrow, gone tomorrow means that whenever it’s your individual time to go, that’s the end for you. So in a sense, we will all each experience our own individual apocalypse. No matter how accurate the prophecy, nobody really knows when the world will end. And that is a fact.
"Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words shall not pass away. But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone (Jesus Christ Mathew 24:35-36)."

References
Wikipedia.Org was used for the definition of the word Apocalypse.
Jeffers, H. (2005). Freemasons: A History and Exploration of the World’s Oldest Secret Society,
New York, NY: Kensington Publishing Corp
Townsend, J. (Ed), (2009). 2012: Beginning of the End or Why the World Won’t End. http://www.nasa.gov/home/index.html
Some information was taken from an article written by Thermo Klein and retrieved from www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread679603/pg2.
Andrews, S., & Andrews, C. (2008). 2012, An ancient look at critical time. New York, NY: the Penguin Group
Elder Don Alejandro’s 1999 Speech was retrieved at www.compassion.org
Sithchin, Z. (2007). The End of Days, Armageddon and Prophecies of the Return. New York, NY: Harpers Collins Publishers
Wilson, D. (1999). The Mammoth Book of Nostradamus, and Other Prophets. New York, NY: Carroll & Graf Publishers, Inc.
Hogue, J. (2002). Nostradamus, The New Millennium. New York, NY: Harper Collins Publishers
Danelek, J. Allan (2009). 2012, Extinction or Utopia. Woodbury, MN: Llewellyn Publications
Newton, I. (2009). Observation of the Prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse of St. John. New York, NY: Feather Trail Press
Glavin, T. (2007). The Sixth Extinction. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press
Nelson, T. (1985). The Holy Bible: New King James Version. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers