Is 2012 the End?
The 2012 phenomenon has reached fever pitch. Alarm has spread like wildfire. Uncertainty, anxiety—and FEAR—have gripped many people. Literally, millions are panicking, wondering whether 2012 will be their last year. The end date is supposedly either December 21 or 23, 2012. Doomsday authors point to December 21, the winter solstice. But the Mayan calendar, on which the end-of-days theory is based, ends December 23.
Like the Y2K panic of 1999 about the year 2000, 2012 hysteria is all over the Internet—in endless books—and in a $200 million movie, filled with the usual sensational Hollywood graphics. And so-called prophecy experts are weighing in on the subject.
People of all ages are asking if cataclysmic events will occur in late 2012 and bring the end of the world. Some are deeply concerned—truly frightened!—that they will not live into their teen years or enter adulthood. They desperately want lives beyond 2012—but fear this will not happen.
Incredibly, some teenagers, and even younger children, have asked if they should end their own lives—and some mothers have expressed thoughts of killing their children—and then themselves—rather than enduring “Earth ending” events!
No one predicts exactly what will happen in 2012, but according to some, it will be “big!”—“Earth shattering!”—and “civilization ending!” There are concerns that the entire earth will be flooded, or burned up by solar flares. The North and South poles may suddenly reverse, wreaking untold havoc on electrical systems. Catastrophic earthquakes may rock the planet, destroying all buildings and opening huge holes in the earth’s crust. Chaos will reign. Mankind will come to thebrink of annihilation...and on and on go the theories.
Source of Belief
The Mayan “Long Count” calendar tracks “Great Cycles” of time, and is one of at least three calendars that the ancient Mayans used. It is important to note that one particular calendar indicates that December 23, 2012, is the end of the current cycle of time—which began August 13, 3114 BC on the Gregorian calendar. The Mayan calendar itself states nothing of the world coming to an end, or of any cataclysmic events occurring. It states only that the current time cycle will end. Many of the fantastic stories and much of the hype come from various archaeological and astronomical speculation, as well as mythology and numerological interpretation. Predictions of impending doom and destruction are nowhere to be found in Mayan accounts or in the Long Count calendar itself. To the modern Mayans, including those who study the ancient calendar, 2012 is actually inconsequential. If you were to travel to any of the many present day Mayan communities and ask about 2012, and the end of civilization, you would see looks of bewilderment. Modern Mayan sources explain that this calendar was never intended to suggest the world would end in 2012, or at any other time. They will also tell you that professing Christians have deliberately twisted their calendar to suit their own prophetic theories and timelines. Yet millions, with little or no understanding of the Mayan culture, attach civilization-ending significance to 2012. All but two ancient Mayan inscriptions are strictly historical. They make no prophetic declarations whatsoever. The two that supposedly do are unclear at best, and open to a wide array of speculation and interpretation. Regardless of what the ancient Mayans actually predicted (the mere end of a time cycle!)—wild ideas about 2012 abound. The frenzy is worldwide and picking up steam, with no slowdown in sight. 2012 has also become big business, and many are cashing in on the uncertainty! Will either the planet or civilization come to a violent end on December 21, 2012, as so many believe? Could the speculation still somehow be true? What does the Bible say? Does it in any way validate 2012 as the “end of all things”? You will soon have no doubt of the correct answers. It is time to prove whether late December 2012 is the end.
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