He saw some kind of New Age guy on TVwho said something about the Mayan calendarending in 2012. Bob doesn’t know where orwhen these Maya lived—maybe it was some-where in India—but those ancient people couldhave known something we don’t.

Bob is thinking he might cash in that retire-ment account and do something fun with itwhile there’s still time. He might just put off thatdental work—and maybe that colonoscopy thedoctor says he needs and take a long vacationsomewhere with Emma.

After all, if gurus and pastors alike are talkingabout 2012—there just might be something to it.Bob sees his workplace coming up on the right.Instead of turning into the parking lot, he gunshis Taurus and heads toward the bank to find outabout closing out his retirement account (penal-ties notwithstanding). By this time next week, he

could be relaxing on a beach in Cancun withEmma.

Bob and Emma are like a lotof people. Bob and Emma

are not “prophecy buffs.”They may not even be

very “spiritual”—but allthis talk about 2012makes them morethan a little bit anx-ious— and it mayeven cause them tomake decisions theymay later regret.

The End Is Near?

The frenzy surround-ing 2012 has been

bubbling for nearly adecade. Why, you ask?

Could it be because ofthe summer Olympics in

London and the first Win-ter Youth Olympics in Aus-

tria? Because of the DiamondJubilee of Queen Elizabeth II? Be-

cause Australia and Ireland will switch todigital television broadcasts? Because Universal Studioswill open a theme park in Korea? Because Ontario and Ot-tawa will phase out incandescent light bulbs?

No—while all of the above (and more) are scheduled tohappen in 2012, none of these things are the cause of thecurrent mania.

Some people are becoming hysterical because they areconvinced that December 21, 2012 is the end of the worldas we know it. Others—the Bobs and Emmas of the

Bob backs his 1987 Ford Tau-rus out of the driveway onthe way to his second job. Hestarted the job only a few weeks

ago in a futile effort to make ends meet.His wife, Emma, needed surgery and thehigh deductible and co-pay pretty muchwiped out their meager savings.

Bob has been under a lot of pressure lately, andright now he doesn’t see much light at the end of thetunnel. He feels like he is on a treadmill—endlessly labor-ing but getting nowhere. Bob and Emma, both in their‘50s, have a modest retirement account, but lately Bobwonders if they’ll ever see retirement, what with the stateof the economy, the nation and the world. The futurelooks bleak.

And then there’s that thing about 2012.Heck—there may not even be a future.Not that Bob lends any credence to thatkind of rumor. But still, he wonders.

While Bob has never been much of achurch fan, Emma regularly goes to achurch down the street. Her pastor saysthe Rapture and Tribulation could happensoon, maybe in December 2012. Bob isn’t sure about theexact definition of those terms—but that kind of talk stillmakes him antsy.

RP024 2012—IS IT THE END? PAGE 1

...scholars point out that classic Maya inscriptions make few if any

predictions — and certainly none regarding the end of the world

(and even if they had done so, why would their

predictions hold any credibility?).

I s i t t h e E n d ?

by Monte

Wolverton

world—may not be hysterical, butthey are being influenced by theissue.

The insanity has been fueled by a series of books, articles, websites, assorted blogs and a popular motionpicture. The delirium continues togrow. A recent search of “2012 books”on Amazon.com returned some 33thousand results!

Just a few of the fascinating titles:The Mystery of 2012: Predictions,Prophecies, and Possibilities; Apocalypse2012: An Investigation into Civiliza-

tion's End; Planet X Forecast and 2012Survival Guide; Apollyon Rising 2012:The Lost Symbol Found and the FinalMystery of the Great Seal Revealed; Aftermath: A Guide to Preparing For andSurviving Apocalypse 2012; and ofcourse The Complete Idiot's Guide to2012.

Hollywood Hype

A couple of years ago, as the fire of2012 paranoia was spreading throughour impressionable western culture,Hollywood did us the “favor” of pour-

ing gasoline on the flames with a sen-sational science fiction movie—2012.

In the movie, solar radiation causesthe earth to heat up, with ensuingvolcanic eruptions and earthquakes ofunprecedented strength. As scientistssee that the earth is about to be flood-ed, world leaders get together and create huge “arks” to save a remnantof the human race from annihilation.It works. The end. Sorry, I gave awaythe plot.

The problem wasn’t the movie itself—hundreds of sci-fi flicks and TV

THE END IS ALWAYS NEAR:A TIMELINE OF ABANDONED APOCALYPSES

c 420Augustine of Hippo rejects mil-lennialism, explaining that themillennium is an allegory forthe spiritual reign of Christ inthe hearts of Christians.

70First century Christians, expectingChrist’s imminent return, are dis-mayed when Roman legions de-stroy Jerusalem, yet Jesus doesnot come back.

c 135In Asia Minor, Montanus pro-claims that the NewJerusalem will soon descendfrom heaven in Phrygia. Hisisolationist movement,known as Montanism,spreads throughout theChristian world.

shows (most with far betterstories) are screened everyyear without people taking them se-riously and going off the deep end.

The problem was the unethicalpromotion of the movie. 2012’s viralmarketing campaign exploited end-times hysteria through a fictional organization called the “Institute forHuman Continuity” with press releases, blogs, radio broadcastsand websites dedicated to further fanning the apoca-lyptic flames.

While the campaignwas roundly criticized forits unscrupulous and deceptive tactics—andthe film received mixed tonegative reviews—that did-n’t stop the public from eatingit up. It grossed nearly a billiondollars, including DVD revenues.

Of course the movie, as well as themisinformation disseminated in itsslick promotional campaign, was fic-tion. Yet apparentlymany people had atough time makingth i s d i s t inc t ion .Scientists were bom-

c 600-700The growth of Islamprompts European Chris-tians to believe the end isnear, and that Muhammadis the Antichrist.

The Plain Truth recently received a sincere notif-ication of “the order in which the end time

events will occur.” The author invited us to “printoff this list and keep it handy to test if this is true(and share it with as many as you care or dare to).”

Space does not permit reprinting the long listsent to us. However, here are some of its dog-

matic claims about events predicted to takeplace soon:

“The monumental collapse of the free western economies…The Euro will crash first (2011-2012) and then 2-3 weeks after-wards the dollar will do the same.”

“Martial law will be enacted at this point, if it already hasn’tbeen enacted prior for some other unforeseen event, like a

massive cyber attack or a pandemic, for example.

“Ten global regions, with a leader placed over each will emerge from the chaos and the New World Order will be born.”

The author invited us to “share it with as many as you care or dare to”—weshare an excerpt of these claims as a way of illustratingthe irresponsible fear-mongering that is deeply embed-ded within some religious minds.

1066The Norman con-quest of Englandand the appearanceof Haley’s Cometconvince many thatthe end is near.

c 990Widespread famines, the eruptionof Mt. Vesuvius, a fire at St.Peter’s and civil war in Rome areall taken as clear signs of “theend” by many Christians. Mid-night, January 1, 1000 was seenas the likely time of Christ’s return.

1099Crusaders captureJerusalem fromthe Muslims, anevent which manybelieve will promptChrist to return.

We Don ‘t Make This Stuff Up!

c 1200Italian mysticand theologianJoachim setsthe date of1260 for thebeginning ofthe “Age of theSpirit” or theMillennium.

RP024 2012—IS IT THE END? PAGE 3

barded by email questions from fran-tic people, wanting to know if theworld is truly ending on December21, 2012. One scientist reported thatsome teens told him they were con-templating suicide prior to that date.

Over 50 Years of Arcane Speculation

Decades before the 2012 moviehit the movie screens, scholars

had noticed that theMesoamerican Long-Count calendar (proba-bly invented by theOlmec and used by theclassic Maya civiliza-tion) would completeits 13th minor numeri-cal sub-cycle (b’ak’tun)in December of 2012—completing a period ofroughly 5,125 years.This, however, was allbased on debatable for-mulas and startingpoints.

As early as 1957,Mayanist and astro-nomer Maud WorcesterMakemson asserted that“the completion of aGreat Period of 13 b’ak-’tuns would have been of

the utmost significance to the Maya.” In1966, Michael D. Coe more ambitiouslyclaimed in his book The Maya that“there is a suggestion…that Armaged-don would overtake the degenerate peo-ples of the world and all creation on thefinal day of the thirteenth [b’ak’tun].Thus…our present universe [would]

be annihilated[in December2012] when theGreat Cycle ofthe Long Countreaches comple-tion.”

In the 1970s, several New Age au-thors speculated that December 2012would mark a global “consciousnessshift.” Mexican author José Argüellesclaims that on that date, the earthwill pass through a “great beam” em-anating from the center of the galaxy.

With the publication of other booksand articles over the years, these ideascaught on among those who seem tobelieve that primitive and blood-thirsty cultures (engineering and archi-tectural advances notwithstandi n g )have special insight into the future.

But several reputable scholars, suchas Rosemary Joyce, professor of an-thropology at UC Berkeley, tell us thatthe ancient Maya ascribed no signifi-cance to this date—other than theircalendar rolling over in the distant fu-ture. They certainly did not think itwas the end of the world, as they cal-culated the dates of festivals beyondthis date. “There is nothing in theMaya or Aztec or ancient Mesoameri-can prophecy to

c 1560Nostradamus predicts that “TheGreat King of Terror” will come in1999, triggering the destruction ofthe civilized world.

Given the right timing and

circumstances, and without keeping

a clear focus on faith alone, grace

alone and Christ alone, it seems that

nearly anyone can be taken in by

some kind of religious scam.

1348As the plague kills athird of the populationof Europe, prophetspredict Christ’s returnwithin ten years.

c 1540Martin Luther predicts thechurch's final conflict againstthe Turks and the Pope.

...“apocalypse” is a Western concept that has little or nothing

to do with Mayan beliefs. Rather, it is connected with American

traditions such as the New Age movement and millenarianism.

suggest that they prophesied a sud-den or major change of any sort in2012,” says Mayanist scholar Mark VanStone. “The notion of a Great Cyclecoming to an end is completely a mod-ern invention.”

Other scholars point out that clas-sic Maya inscriptions make few if anypredictions—and certainly none re-garding the end of the world (and even

if they had done so, why would theirpredictions hold any credibility?).

Somewhat ironically, even the mod-ern Maya lend no significance to theyear 2012. Mayan elder ApolinarioChile Pixtun notes that “apocalypse”is a Western concept that has little ornothing to do with Mayan beliefs.Rather, it is connected with Americantraditions such as the New Age move-ment and millenarianism.

In spite of the facts, unsuspectingfolks continue to gobble down the fool-ishness like a herd of hogs at sloppingtime. According to another theory, theearth will be blown to smithereens onDecember 21, 2012 by a collision witha “rogue planet” called “Nibiru” or“Planet X.”

Again, this particular piece of in-telligence seems to have bypassedlegitimate scholars. NASA scientistDavid Morrison reports that neitherhe nor his colleagues are aware ofany such planet, much less an im-pending earth-shattering collision.

Are people just gullible—or igno-rant—or both? Or, perhaps, as WillRogers once said, “Everybody is ig-

norant, only on different subjects.”Maybe many otherwise intelligentpeople are ignorant when it comes tomatters of faith—or what they willallow themselves to believe.

Does it Really Matter?

So what if a bunch of New Agers andother fringe eccentrics want to believein Nibiru and the Mayan calendar?After all, don’t we live in a pluralisticsociety where anyone has the right tobelieve anything?

If we took a poll of North Americanbeliefs and opinions regarding the“end time,” we would likely find suchbeliefs distributed in a classic bell-shaped curve. That is, a minority ofpeople believe in a specific or immi-

nent date for the end ofthe world, while on theother end of the curve

a minority of people absolutely rejectthe idea of any kind of apocalypse,whether brought about by God or hu-mans. In the center of the curve is thebroad majority of people—the Bobsand Emmas—who may allow theirthinking and beliefs to be influencedby the purveyors of end-time hysteria.

Christendom at large likes to believe it is not part of this extremistfringe. But unfortunately, that idea isan illusion. The 2012 paranoia is notlimited to Birkenstock-wearing, pony-tail-bedecked, crystal-stroking NewAgers living in ashrams in the moun-tains north of Malibu, California.

Sadly, a major source of 2012 misin-formation is end-times Christendom.All the Bobs and Emmas of the worldare far more likely to accept such hare-brained ideas (and act on them) if theybelieve them to be somehow biblical(which they are not).

Christendom at large likes to believe it is not part of this extremist fringe.

But unfortunately, that idea is an illusion.

Sadly, a major source of 2012 rumor and misinformation is end-times

Christendom. The Bobs and Emmas of the world are far more likely to accept

such harebrained ideas—and act on them—if they believe them to be

somehow biblical (which they are not).

1664The Great Plague of London kills 75,000,followed by the Great Fire of London. Chris-tians believe these events portend the end.

c 1830John Nelson Darby inventsdispensationalism, asserting animminent Rapture, Tribulationand Millennium.

c 1760Methodismfounder JohnWesley suggests1836 as a date forChrist’s return.

RP024 2012—IS IT THE END? PAGE 5

The 2012 frenzy, and apocalypticismin general, is grounded in religiousmillenarianism (the idea of an end-times cataclysm or Great Tribulationfollowed by a utopian millennium).

Some go so far as to claim thatBible prophecy specifies 2012 as thedate of the Rapture and the begin-ning of the Great Tribulation. As one“Christian” website fulminates, 2012is “…a year fraught with meaningand prophetic importance. Thecourse of world events and globaltroubles seems to have suddenlypicked up speed and accelerated.”

What, exactly, does that mean?How do events “accelerate”? Andwhat kind of contemporary writeruses the word “fraught”?

Many “prophecy experts” in Chris-tendom scoff at the 2012 date—whilepropounding a date of their own devising. Others, perhaps moreshrewdly, leave the date open whilecontinuing their alarmist preaching or writing that the Rapture and theGreat Tribulation are just around thecorner (witness the success of Tim LaHaye’s Left Behind series). You wouldthink that after decades of such failedpredictions, people would catch on.But history tells us that end-time prog-nostications have been thriving fornearly two thousand years (see “TheEnd is Always Near: A Timeline ofAbandoned Apocalypses”) and few

people seem to be the wiser.Today, end-time preaching,publishing and movie-making is a huge part of the big business of Chris-tendom.

“End-Times” Teaching—Keeping People in Line?

The fact is , there is ab-solutely no Bible prophecythat points to 2012 or anyother date for the end ofthe world or the Rapture orthe Second Coming ofChrist or the beginning ofthe Tribulation. Most ofthe prophecies in the OldTestament that p e o p l ew r o n g l y apply to the“end-times” were fulfilledmillennia ago, and manyNew Testament prophe-

Two Case Studies

in Failed End-

Times Prediction

Elizabeth Clare Prophet, whodied in 2009, was the founder (alongwith her husband Mark Prophet, whodied in 1973) of the Church Universaland Triumphant (CUT). CUT is a NewAge group (related to Theosophy)which claims to receive teachings froma cadre of dead “Ascended Masters.”Mark Prophet, allegedly now an As-cended Master himself, claimed to

have lived past lives as several notablefigures, including Noah, Mark theEvangelist, Pharaoh Akhenaten, LouisXIV, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow andSir Lancelot (that last figure is general-ly regarded as fictitious by reputablescholars, but what do they know?).

Prophet and his wife had grown upunder the influence of various meta-physical philosophies, including Rose-crucianism, New Thought, Christian

Charles Taze Russell in 1911

Chart showing endwould come in 1975—Watchtower Society’s

magazine Awake!

c 1880Charles Taze Rus-sel, founder of Je-hovah’sWitnesses,preaches thatChrist has alreadyreturned “invisibly”in 1874 and thathe will take fullcontrol in 1914.

Millerite prophetic time

chart from 1843, about the

prophecies of Daniel and

Revelation.

William Miller, founderof Adventist movement

c 1840Adventistmovementfounder WilliamMiller sets 1844as the year ofJesus’ return.

1909Cyrus Scofieldpublishes hisReferenceBible, contain-ing John NelsonDarby’s dispen-sationalistscheme.

The end-times... is one of religion’s most

effective tools to keep its followers in

line…obeying its tyrannical rules….

PAGE 6

Science and the Self-Realization Fel-lowship.

Their original organization, foundedas the Summit Lighthouse in Washing-ton D.C., moved through several itera-tions and locations, including ColoradoSprings and Pasadena, finally landingin Montana, where they planted theheadquarters of the Church Universaland Triumphant.

Church members followed a long listof religious rules and regulations—most of these rules were supposedlygiven to Elizabeth in thousands of “dic-tations from the Ascended Masters.”

Members believed Elizabeth to beinfallible, despite shortcomings, suchas her fiery temper and the favoritismshown to her own family. As the churchexpanded, Elizabeth conducted confer-ences in Africa, attended by thou-sands. She also met with Africanheads of state.

In the late 1980s, Elizabeth predict-ed that nuclear war with Russia wouldbreak out on April 23, 1990, and urgedCUT members to build fallout sheltersand stock them with provisions. Ofcourse, nuclear war did not happen,and the cost of building fallout sheltersin addition to paying the required titheshad taken its toll on many churchmembers, who were left heavily in debtor bankrupt.

Unfazed, Elizabeth explained thatnuclear war had been narrowly avertedby the prayers of her faithful followers.Not long afterward, it was discoveredthat her church (which purported to ad-vocate peace and love) was using the

offerings of the faithful to amass ahuge cache of weapons and ammuni-tion—just in case.

Not surprisingly, church membershiptook a sudden drop. This should havebeen the welcome end of another reli-gious cult.

Yet the church continues, with con-gregations in major U.S. cities and agrowing international membership—in addition to several successfulspinoff groups led by former churchofficials.

One major lesson we can learnfrom this story is that no matter howthoroughly an idea has been de-bunked, people will persist in theirbelief.

Harold Camping is presidentof Family Radio Stations, boastingworldwide broadcast facilities andmore than 150 outlets in the UnitedStates.

Camping was brought up in theCalvinist Christian Reformed church,and served as an elder and SundaySchool teacher, while running a con-struction company. He holds a B.S. incivil engineering.

Camping founded Family Radio in1958, with San Francisco stationKEAR, later adding affiliates in NewYork City, Philadelphia, WashingtonD.C. and Los Angeles.

His Open Forum program, in whichhe answers listeners’ Bible questions,is translated into several languagesand aired on shortwave, cable and In-ternet worldwide.

Until recently Camping

claimed to have calculated the exactdates of the Rapture (May 21, 2011)and the end of the world (October 21,2011).

As early as the ‘70s, Camping haddeveloped his own unique view of bibli-cal chronology. In 1992, based on his

calculations involving the Hebrew cal-endar, Jewish festivals and the lunarmonth, combined with other numbersfound in the Bible, he suggestedChrist’s return might be on September6, 1994. Failing that, he offered theabove dates in 2011.

Of course, the May 21, 2011 Rapturedid not happen—and neither did thepredicted October 20, 2011 end of theworld.

In January of 2010 a San FranciscoChronicle reporter asked one of Camp-ing’s followers what would happen ifMay 21, 2011 came and went withoutincident. He answered: “I can’t eventhink like that. Everything is too posi-tive right now. There’s too little time tothink like that.”

Is there time to think now?

1980Hal Lindsaywrites thatthe 1980s“could verywell be thelast decadeof history aswe know it.”

ILLU

ST

RA

TIO

N B

Y B

AS

IL W

OLV

ER

TO

N

1966Jehovah’s Wit-nesses predict1975 as the datefor the beginning ofthe Millennium.Evangelist HerbertArmstrong alsosuggests this date.

PAGE 7

cies were fulfilled with the fall ofJerusalem in 70 AD. The remainingprophecies are largely misinterpreted—but there are still no dates given (formore details read Greg Albrecht’s bookRevelation Revolution). All such dates arefiction—not the entertaining kind offiction, but destructive religious fic-tion (the worst kind).

The end-times, as it is popularly con-ceived is really nothing more than alongstanding and elaborate hoax perpe-trated by those who really should knowbetter. It is one of religion’s most effec-tive tools to keep its followers in line,paying and obeying its tyrannicalrules, rituals and regulations.

Given the right timing and circum-stances, and without keeping a clearfocus on faith alone, gracealone and Christ alone, itseems that nearly anyonecan be taken in by somekind of religious scam. I have been down that roadmyself, so it isn’t too hardfor me to recognize thisprocess with regard to the2012 phenomenon.

In reality, there is alwaysthe chance of some disaster or catastrophe occurring at any time andplace. We hope and pray that it does-n’t, but some disaster could happenin the year 2012.

Or 2013. Or tomorrow. The appropriate Christian response

is not endless speculation as to whenthe next cataclysm will occur—buthow we can help our fellow human beings if and when disasters strike,whether they be big or small.

There are, in fact, many tribulations(Acts 14:22) and many an-tichrists (1 John 2:18) inthe world as you read this.Christ is coming for a lit-

tle over six thousand people in theworld every hour—in the sense thattheir physical lives are ending andthey face their Creator.

The good news is—while Christen-dom may be rife with end -times anxi-ety— Jesus himself is a source ofcomfort and hope. Christians oughtto be resting in and trusting in Jesusirrespective of threats or fears, real or

imagined, fictional or factual. As Paulwrote, “For I am convinced that nei-ther death nor life, neither angels nordemons, neither the present nor thefuture, nor any powers, neitherheight nor depth, nor anything elsein all creation, will be able to sepa-rate us from the love of God that isin Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans8:38-39). ❑

Adapted—originally printed in the Summer 2011issue of Plain Truth.

1988Edgar Whisenant publisheshis book, 88 Reasons Whythe Rapture Will Be in 1988.Target dates were subse-quently revised to 1989,1993, 1994 and 1997.

1992A Korean prophet declares thatthe Rapture will be on October20 or 28 of that year. 20,000Korean Christians leave schoolor quit jobs to await the end.

The appropriate Christian response is not endless speculation as to when the

next cataclysm will occur—but how we can help our fellow human beings if and

when disasters strike, whether they be big or small.

The good news is — while Christendom may be

rife with end -times anxiety — Jesus himself is a

source of comfort and hope. Christians ought to

be resting in and trusting in Jesus irrespective of

threats or fears, real or imagined...

Constant speculation

about “the end”

requires frequent

moving of the

goalposts that

supposedly mark

“the end zone.”

2000The end of civilization ispredicted because com-puters allegedly will notrecognize the year2000. Opportunistscash in selling booksand freeze-dried sur-vivalist food. January 1comes and goes. Anyproblems are easilyremedied. The worldmoves on.

PAGE 8 PTM RESOURCE