Is the Mayan Long Calendar the only source of the 2012 “end of the world” prediction, or are there other factors that support this dire forecast?
There are other factors besides the Mayan Long Calendar that are fueling the 2012 hype. One is the fact that the same date, December 21, 2012, allegedly marks the first time in thousands of years that the galactic alignment of the sun and earth with the center of the Milky Way will occur.7 Some have theorized that this cosmic event will cause the earth’s poles to reverse, resulting in major catastrophes.8
Also causing concern is the prediction by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) that 2012 will be a peak year for the sun’s cycle, resulting in a very dramatic increase in solar flares.9 Estimates are that the next sunspot cycle will be 30% to 50% stronger than the previous one in 2000. If correct, the years ahead could produce a burst of solar activity second only to the historic Solar Max of 1958.
To no one’s surprise, the Nostradamus fans have also jumped on the 2012 band wagon. In 1994, Italian journalist Enza Massa was at the Italian National Library in Rome when she stumbled upon an unusual find. It was a manuscript dating to 1629, titled: Nostradamus Vatinicia Code. Michel de Notredame, the author’s name, was on the inside in indelible ink. This manuscript, never published by Nostradamus, was handed down to the seer’s son and later donated by him to Pope Urban VIII.10
The book is full of bizarre images and mystical quatrains. Its contents have not yet been completely revealed to the public, but there are rumors all over the Internet that it contains predictions of the end of the world in 2012.
And then there is the Bible Code. Michael Drosnin, the author of the book that popularized the code, states that the words, “earth annihilated” appear in correspondence with the year 2012.11
Finally, there is the Web Bot Project that was started in 1997. It was originally created to predict stock market trends. But it has expanded in recent years into a program that claims to be able to predict future events by tracking keywords entered on the Internet.12 When the date, December 21, 2012, is entered into Web Bot, the prediction emerges that there will be “a cataclysmic pole shift in 2012.”13
In the next installment of this 2012 series, we’ll look to see if there is any truth to the claim that the world will end in 2012.
Notes
7) Dan Eden, “The Real Doomsday? December 21, 2012,” www.viewzone.com/endtime.html, accessed October 16, 2009.
8) Patrick Geryl, “Pole Shift & Pole Reversal in 2012,”
http://survive2012.com/index.php/geryl-pole-shift.html, accessed October 16, 2009.
9) NCAR News Release, “Scientists Issue Unprecedented Forecast of Next Sunspot Cycle,” March 6, 2006,
www.ucar.edu/news/releases/2006/sunspot.shtml, accessed October 16, 2009.
10) Mendhak, “The Lost Book of Nostradamus,” www.mendhak.com/40-the-lost-book-of-nostradamus.aspx, accessed October 16, 2009.
11) Michael Drosnin, The Bible Code (New York: Touchstone, 1997), pages 153-154.
12) Wikipedia, “Web Bot,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_Bot, accessed October 16, 2009.
13) Andrews and Andrews, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to 2012, page 162.
I guess this proves even the "Bible Code" which some Christians may have put stock in is just as wrong as any date prediction based work.
The ONLY way to read the signs (or season) of the end times is in the Word of God. No one can predict dates (until the end times have actually started – but by then it won't matter for Christians as we will be long gone).
Setting dates is ultimately futile and silly. Every date set so far has been proven to be hooey. This will be no different.
Also, the calendar shown is Aztec not Mayan. Trust me, I have one.
Mayan, Aztec, Martian…they look awful similar to me.
They do look similar and they are ugly, but I only point it out because I think we should be as accurate as possible.
So should the caption read
"Ugly Aztec Calendar"
🙂
I don't know whether Bible codes are accurate or not, and I don't really care. The only way I could know for certain is to research them myself. However, I don't have the time, inclination, or tools to study them, and there's more than enough in Scripture that I don't understand without looking for a "secret code." However, in all fairness, I would like to point out that some Christians who have studied and support Bible codes strongly denounce their ability to predict the future (Grant Jeffreys book, for instance). Instead, these people look for codes that point to historical events (such as the Holocaust).
P.S. My word verification for this comment is "patern." Perhaps we can find some kind of meaning in that. (I jest!)
Billy: Yes
The thing about these "Bible codes" is that they have also found these things in "Moby Dick". The thing about Bible codes is you can find whatever you're looking for if you look hard enough.
One code said 2012 is the end. But one has to wonder how long they had to look to find it.
God made what He's doing clear enough without some silly code.
I like what Dr. Reagan said about the Bible Code.
He said (to the effect of) the author is like a guy who finds the secret strip in a monetary bill and focuses on that strip while ignoring or taking his focus off everything else on the bill.
That's an excellent analogy.
Another way to say it is like looking at that little logo they insist on putting in the corner of the TV screen and ignoring the rest of what's on it.
I could have "Christ in Prophecy" on, but if all I look at is the Daystar logo, it does me no good and I learn nothing.
In the lastest blog post Dr. Reagan referenced the article re: The Bible Code which I had once read and tried to somewhat quote so now I can paste in his exact words:
"That conclusion made me want to scream: "What spiritual blindness!" It made me realize that Drosnin is like a man who has discovered the magnetic strip that is embedded in every $100 bill. That strip can be seen only if the bill is held up to the light. It certifies that the bill is authentic.
The man is so excited by his discovery that he spends all his time holding the bill up to the light, showing everyone the strip. He is so fascinated by the strip and so obsessed with it, that he never notices the large picture of Ben Franklin on the face of the bill.
That's where Drosnin is with the Bible Code. He is so fixated on something that authenticates the Bible as the Word of God that he cannot see the very clear surface picture that the Bible presents of the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth. Nor can he hear the surface message of the Bible that is calling him to repent of his sins and receive Jesus as his Lord and Savior. If the Bible teaches anything, it teaches that we cannot save ourselves!"
Dr. Reagan made wrote that above in response to the author saying the following…
"I am persuaded only that no human could have encoded the Bible in this way. We have the first scientific proof that some intelligence outside our own does exist, or at least did exist at the time the Bible was written… The Bible Code demands that we accept what the Bible itself can only ask us to believe — that we are not alone." A very New Age, Star Wars type of conclusion, to say the least.
The most important future event that Drosnin feels he has found with the Code is a world war in which nuclear weapons will be used. He feels this is more of a warning than a prediction, and this leads to the incredible conclusion of his book: "[The Code] is not a promise of divine salvation. It is not a threat of inevitable doom. It is just information. The message of the Bible code is that we can save ourselves."
The link to the entire Bible Code article by Dr. Reagan is
http://www.lamblion.com/articles/articles_bible4.php