of mice and mayans inside this issue: why all the ... a spaced-out oddity.pdf · ley strieber,...

VOL. 30, NO. 2 APRIL-JUNE 2010 EDITOR: KEITH A. MORSE

by J. Greg Sheryl

‘‘The world, as we know it, willsoon come to an end.’’ This solemnannouncement is given by the UnitedStates President played by actorDanny Glover at a G8 Summit confer-ence in the ultimate disaster movie —one dealing with theend of the world —entitled 2012, whichmade its debut in the-aters nationwide inNovember 2009. Its titleand some of its themesreflect a fear on the partof some in our worldand a certainty on thepart of others that theyear 2012 — specifically,December 21, 2012 —will mark the end of theworld. During themovie several reasonsfor the world’s demisethat have been given by2012 doomsayers are ei-ther stated or suggested.

OF MICE AND MAYANSThe primary force behind these

fears is the fact that the 5,125-yearMaya Long Count calendar cycle isdue to end on December 21, 2012.1

One Christian author and publisherwrites:

‘‘This brings us to the centralfocus of this book — December 21,2012. What does the Mayan long-

count calendar have to say aboutthis date, and on what is thisconclusion based? December 21,2012, is the final day of theMayan calendar — the end oftime and possibly the end of the

world. The Mayansregard this day asthe point when hu-man history couldcome to a close.’’2

Although it is doubt-ful that the Maya lookedupon the end of thiscalendar cycle as repre-senting the end of theworld, this author hasaccurately presentedhow some people believethe Maya viewed thisdate.

Another Christiansource notes:

(continues on page 12)

Inside this Issue:Why All The Religious Confusion Today? ................... Page 2Memorial Numbers Problematic for Watchtower .......... Page 3Bruce Wilkinson as The Wizard of Odd ...................... Page 4

12 · The Quarterly Journal April-June 2010

13. Dave Breese, Know The Marks of Cults.Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books, 1975, pg. 69.14. You Were Born for This, op. cit., pg. 51.15. Ibid., pg. 26, ellipsis and italics inoriginal.16. Ibid., pg. 54.17. F. E. Hamilton and R. L. Harris inMerrill C. Tenney, Zondervan Pictorial BibleEncyclopedia. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zonder-van Publishing, 1976, Vol. 4, pg. 920.18. Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology.Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers,1999, Vol. 1, pg. 609.19. Zondervan Pictorial Bible Encyclopedia,op. cit., Vol. 4, pg. 921, italics in original.20. Know The Marks of Cults, op. cit., pp.58-59, 63.21. You Were Born for This, op. cit., pg. 45.22. Ibid., pg. 21.23. Ibid., pg. 23.24. New Testament passages which list orname spiritual gifts are Romans 12:6-8,1 Corinthians 12-14, Ephesians 4:11, and1 Peter 4:10-11. None of these passagesindicate a spiritual gift of ‘‘nudging.’’25. You Were Born for This, op. cit., pp.93-94.

26. Merrill F. Unger, Biblical Demonology.Wheaton, Ill.: Scripture Press, 1952, pg.161.27. You Were Born for This, op. cit., pg. 87.28. Ibid., pg. 20.29 Ibid., pg. 103.30. Henry C. Thiessen, Introductory Lec-tures in Systematic Theology. Grand Rapids,Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Com-pany, 1973, pg. 126.31. William Evans, The Great Doctrines ofthe Bible. Chicago: Moody Press, 1976, pp.31-32.32. You Were Born for This, op. cit., pg. 108.33. Ibid.34. Ibid., italics in original.35. J.D. Douglas, Editor, New 20th CenturyEncyclopedia of Religious Knowledge. GrandRapids, Mich.: Baker Book House, 1991,pg. 682.36. You Were Born for This, op. cit., pp. 113,114.37. Ibid., pg. 114.38. Ibid., pg. 115.39. Ibid., pg. 117.40. Ibid., pp. 117-118.41. Ibid., pg. 122.

42. Ibid., pp. 131, 133.43. Ibid., pg. 126.44. Ibid., pg. 129.45. Ibid., pg. 131.46. Ibid., pg. 147.47. Ibid., pg. 137.48. Ibid., pp. 138, 139, italics in original.49. Ibid., pg. 145.50. Ibid., pg. 150.51. Ibid., pg. 159.52. Ibid., pg. 168.53. Ibid.54. Charles C. Ryrie, The Ryrie Study Bible.Chicago: Moody Press, 1976, note forMatthew 6:4, pg. 1453.55. You Were Born for This, op. cit., pg. 169.56. Ibid., pg. 171.57. Ibid., pg. 184.58. Ibid., pg. 193.59. W.E. Vine, The Expanded Vine’s Exposi-tory Dictionary of New Testament. Minne-apolis: Bethany House Publishers, 1984,pg. 452.60. You Were Born for This, op. cit., pg. 213.61. Ibid., pg. 215, italic in original.62. Ibid., pg. 220.63. Ibid.

2012: A Spaced-Out Oddity(continued from page 1)

‘‘The newest band of [doomsday]soothsayers is telling us that theworld is going to end on orabout December 21, 2012. ... TheNew Age promoters of the 2012doomsday prophecy got it fromtheir interpretation of the Mayancalendar. Among their otherachievements, the Maya — nativeAmericans whose ancestral landsare in Guatemala, Belize, theMexican states of Tabasco andChiapas, the Yucatan Peninsula,and the western regions of Hon-duras and El Salvador — devel-oped a calendar which couldaccurately track the movementsof the sun and the constellationsover thousands of years. Suppos-edly (according to the LongCount of the Mayan calendar),the present world cycle, the Ageof the Jaguar, began on August13, 3114 BC, and is due to end onDecember 21, 2012.’’3

Christian pastor and author MarkHitchcock explains: ‘‘The Mayaweren’t just interested in time, they

were obsessed with it. ... The Mayancalendar keepers painstakinglycharted the cycles of the moon, thesun, and Venus.’’4 Further, ‘‘TheMayan obsession with time can beseen in the fact that they developedapproximately 20 different calen-dars.’’5

Maya expert Mark Van Stone notes:

‘‘Just as we do, the Maya hadseveral calendars to record time.The Maya had very complex andinterlocking calendar systems,which were as precise as modernday calendars. In the same wayour Gregorian count ties to animportant event, – the birth ofChrist – the Maya calendar alsocounts forward from an impor-tant ‘Creation’ date, 11 August3114 BCE. The Maya recordedtime mainly using 3 intercon-nected calendars – the Tzolk’in,the Haab, and the Long Count.Like us, they kept track of othercycles, but these only appearedin special circumstances.’’6

Van Stone also says:

’’...the Long Count (the calendarwhich reaches a critical numberin 2012). This is a number, used

similarly to our numerical ‘year2008,’ counting ‘years’ and dayssince the last Creation in 3114BC. (The ‘years’ here counted,called Haabs, are only 360 dayslong.)’’7

He further observes, ‘‘Immediatelyafter the Long Count is the Tzolk’indate. This is a divinatory calendar of260 days.’’8 And that ‘‘the ancientMaya were fanatical about situatingtheir events in time. Often the dateon a monument will occupy morespace than the event that it features.’’9

2012: DOOMSDAY ARRIVALOR PARADISE REGAINED?

One source has correctly noted:

‘‘All [the 2012 doomsayers] agreethat terrible things will happento the Earth in 2012, but manyalso assert that this will be thebeginning of a new age of happi-ness and spiritual growth for thesurvivors.’’10

Indeed, some who believe thatDecember 21, 2012 is significant be-lieve that this date will bring the endof the world. Whereas, others believethat this date will bring about ‘‘an eraof quantum transformation’’ and a

April-June 2010 The Quarterly Journal · 13

‘‘new age of human consciousness.’’And still others believe that somehowboth of these things will occur — forexample, that after a global catas-trophe occurs, a ‘‘New Age’’ willdawn for the survivors.11 This latter‘‘both/and’’ scenario was portrayedin the film 2012.

One article names several of the keyproponents and popularizers of somesort of special significance about De-cember 21, 2012, based on the Mayacalendar: José Arguelles, TerenceMcKenna, John Major Jenkins, Whit-ley Strieber, Adrian Gilbert, DanielPinchbeck, and Lawrence Joseph.12

There are, of course, others as well,including Patrick Geryl, GreggBraden, and Graham Hancock.

While it is true, as mentionedabove, that some sources have anoptimistic view of 2012, the focus ofthis article will be on the doomsdayview.

One source who deserves specialmention is José Arguelles. MarkHitchcock explains:

‘‘The man who put 2012 ‘on themap’ is José Arguelles, who au-thored a book in 1987 titled TheMayan Factor. He also establishedthe Harmonic Convergence in1987. It was a peace initiativethat occurred on August 16-17,1987. People all over the worldgathered at allegedly sacred sitesto awaken the ‘energy grid’ andbring in a 25-year era of spiritualgrowth that will culminate in2012. For Arguelles, ‘2012 is amarker, a wake-up call in ourDNA,’ and the cycle will culmi-nate during June-December 2012.After the Harmonic Conver-gence, the 2012 apocalyptic sub-culture began to emerge. Theybegan a 25-year countdown to2012. The 2012 movement hasremained under the radar foralmost 20 years, but has sud-denly exploded into the main-stream.’’13

As a result of researching for thisarticle, it is difficult to determinewhether José Arguelles is delusional,

a clever although unscrupulous busi-nessman, or both. One 2012 researcherstates, for instance:

‘‘An unnerving development oflate is that Argüelles has begunreferring to himself as ‘ValumVotan,’ the reincarnation of thegreat [7th-century A.D.] Mayaking of Palenque [called PacalVotan].’’14

Although the basis for predicting theend of the world on December 21,2012 is that the Maya Long Countcalendar ends its cycle on that date(or, according to others, on December23, 2012), a host of other supportingreasons are usually brought to bear inorder to bolster this theory. Twokinds of reasons are given:‘‘prophetic’’ and ‘‘scientific.’’

VARIOUS ‘‘PROPHECIES’’

On the back cover of one Christianbook dealing with 2012, propheciesfrom a number of sources are listed,including the Bible, Judaism, Islam,the Web Bot Project, the Q’ero Incashamans, the Toltecs and Aztecs, theBook of Changes (also known as theI Ching), the Hopi Indians, the Chero-kee Indians, Merlin the Magician,Mother Shipton, Nostradamus,Roman Catholic prophecies, includingthe ‘‘Last-pope Prophecy’’ (of St. Mal-achy — not to be confused with thebiblical prophet Malachi), Hindu,Buddhist, and Zoroastrian expecta-tions.15

We will examine four of these here.

1. The Bible. — There is certainlyno Bible verse that specifically saysthe world will end in 2012. In fact,according to Bible prophecy, it seemsthat some things would need to occurfirst. Many believe that the rapture ofthe Church needs to occur first. Andmany believe that the Bible teachesthat the reign of the Antichrist andthe Second Coming of Christ need tooccur before the world can end.Doomsday concerns over 2012 seemto be largely silent about Jesus, oreven about God; or at least about anymajor role for them regarding 2012.The 2012 doomsday scenario is a‘‘Christ-less apocalypse.’’

Although there are some appeals tobiblical passages — in Revelation orin Isaiah — the primary supportseems to be mystical: the so-called‘‘Bible code.’’16 Bible prophecy teacherMark Hitchcock explains how the‘‘Bible code’’ operates:

‘‘The basic tenet underlying thewhole Bible code phenomenon isthat there are hidden, crypticcodes in the Hebrew text of theOld Testament — ‘a Bible be-neath the Bible’ — that can bediscovered by using computersto search for the letters of specificwords that occur at a specificinterval or spacing. The processis referred to as ‘equidistant let-ter sequencing’ (ELS), or the‘skip’ process. ... In other words,the sequencer finds a Hebrewletter, skips ten letters, finds thenext Hebrew letter, then skipsten more letters, and continuesthis process until the ‘hidden’word is revealed. The skip can beof any length as long as the skipsare equal, and the word can bespelled forward, backward, verti-cally, horizontally, or diago-nally.’’17

Using the ‘‘Bible code,’’ its popular-izer, ‘‘[Michael] Drosnin points spe-cifically to 2012 as an ominous, eventerminal year. According to Drosnin,the words earth annihilated correspondto the year 2012.’’18

Hitchcock gives seven reasons forrejecting the ‘‘Bible code,’’19 includingexamples of past failed propheciesbased on it.20 Among the reasons is:

’’... there is absolutely no biblicalsupport for the practice of find-ing codes hidden in the Bible.Neither Jesus nor the apostlesever did such, even though theyquoted or alluded to the OldTestament hundreds of times.’’21

Concluding his discussion of thesubject of the ‘‘Bible code’’ theory,Hitchcock states:

‘‘Bible codes are totally unreli-able for predicting the future,including any events related to2012 or the end of the world. Ifyou search long enough and


make the skips between lettersfar enough apart, you can findjust about anything you want tofind.’’22

2. The Papal Prophecies of St.Malachy. — St. Malachy (1094-1148)was a 12th-century Roman Catholicbishop of Armagh, Ireland. He was afriend of the monastery abbot andhymnist Bernard of Clairvaux. Ber-nard wrote the ‘‘Life of St. Malachy.’’

Regarding his supposed ‘‘papalprophecies,’’ one Roman Catholicsource says:

‘‘But Malachy is better knowntoday for the alleged propheciesabout those who would be Popefrom the time of Celestine II,who died in 1144, to the end ofthe world. According to the al-leged list, which was not discov-ered until more than four centu-ries after Malachy’s death, therewould be 112 Popes after Celes-tine, ending with Peter the Ro-man, ‘who will feed his flockamid many tribulations, afterwhich the seven-hilled city[Rome] will be destroyed and thedreadful Judge will judge thepeople.’ Peter the Roman is theonly Pope listed by name; theothers are described by shortphrases that lend themselves tovaried interpretations.’’23

Of the 112 popes listed in theprophecy, the current pope is number111. Therefore, it is speculated thatthe next pope, called ‘‘Peter the Ro-man’’ in Malachy’s list, is the lastpope before the end of the world. Inother words, if the current pope, PopeBenedict XVI, dies prior to December21, 2012, then the next pope, whoseactual or symbolic name, according tothe prophecy, is Peter the Roman,could be head of the Roman CatholicChurch at the end of the world, whichthe 2012 prognosticators believe willbe December 21, 2012.

Many contend that the propheciesare a forgery, not written by St.Malachy at all. One contemporaryRoman Catholic dictionary says:

‘‘[The prophecies of St. Malachyare] falsely attributed to St. Mal-

achy, Bishop of Armagh (d.1148); [instead they are] actuallyforgeries by an unknown writerin the sixteenth century. The firstseventy-five ‘prophecies’ arefairly accurate because they wereactually history, but from thenon the list becomes vague, fanci-ful, and subject to wide interpre-tation.’’24

Except for the 112th ‘‘prophecy’’about Peter the Roman, the other 111so-called ‘‘prophecies of Malachy’’simply consist of a short Latin phrase,supposedly descriptive in some way,of each pope.25 But as contemporaryRoman Catholic educator JamesDrummey has noted, ‘‘the propheciesare so vague, and require such imagi-nation to fit them to modern-dayPontiffs, that they are probably spuri-ous.’’26 Furthermore, some have sug-gested that it is possible that theremight be an indeterminate number ofadditional popes between the 111thpope on the list and Peter theRoman.27 Nevertheless, some todaystill regard the prophecies of St.Malachy as worthy of belief. Doubt-less they will be eagerly watching forthe next pope, whose papacy willsupposedly signal the end of theworld.

3. Nostradamus. — Nostradamus,whose name was Michel de Nostre-dame (1503-1566), is one of the mostfamous seers in Western history.28 Hewas both an astrologer and a physi-cian. He seems to be referenced when-ever prophecies of doomsday arediscussed, because his prophecies arefilled with themes of gloom anddestruction.

One source analyzing his work says:

‘‘By 1550 Nostradamus had be-come fully engaged in the proph-ecy business. ... he soon em-barked upon a project with far-reaching implications — the Cen-turies. Composing prophetic four-line verses [called quatrains], hearranged them in ten books ofone hundred verses each —hence the name Centuries. Nos-tradamus’s fame rests upon thisvolume, which contains prophe-cies from his time to 3797. The

quatrains are not in chronologicalorder. They jump back and forththrough history, allegedly proph-esying events at different pointsin time. Moreover, Nostrada-mus’s predictions are couched inobscure, ambiguous symbols —and can thus be interpreted inmany ways.29 To further compli-cate matters, he does not date hisprophecies. Nostradamus’svagueness can in part be attrib-uted to the threat of persecution;it may also be that he enjoyedbeing mysterious.’’30

The same author notes:

‘‘Nostradamus is notable for hav-ing furthered a different ap-proach to doomsday. Nearly allprevious end-time thinkers hadexpected God to bring an end tothe world. ... [But] Nostradamusadvanced the notion of a secularend of the world. He saw theapocalypse as a political event;the world would end as a resultof secular causes. Accordingly,Nostradamus never spoke of adivine judgment or a future para-dise.’’31

Likewise, those who predict a 2012doomsday also tend to portray asecular apocalypse, rather than onebrought about by God.

Nostradamus was a Roman Catho-lic. However, the Roman CatholicChurch has distanced itself from hisprophecies. The New Encyclopedia Bri-tannica notes, for instance:

‘‘The subject of many commen-taries, Nostradamus’ prophecieswere condemned in 1781 by theCongregation of the Index, thebody set up by the RomanCatholic Church for the examina-tion of books and manu-scripts.’’32

Roman Catholic educator JamesDrummey, wrote:

‘‘The [Roman Catholic] Churchmade clear its attitude towardNostradamus in 1781 when it puthis works on the Index of booksthat Catholics were forbidden toread without ecclesiastical


authorization. That Index nolonger exists, but the reasons whythe Church included the unreli-able writings of Nostradamus onit are just as valid today.’’33

His prophecies’ vague, obscure, andambiguous nature guarantees thehighest possible chances of at leastsome of them seeming to be fulfilled.Nevertheless, The Encyclopedia Ameri-cana states that, ‘‘Although his predic-tions were often wrong, Nostradamus’reputation as the greatest Renaissanceseer appears unshakable.’’34 Christianinvestigative reporter Richard Abanesnotes:

‘‘In truth, Nostradamus mayactually be history’s worst prog-nosticator. According to well-known illusionist/magicianJames Randi (famed debunker offraudulent faith healers and psy-chics), an investigation of onehundred three prophecies byNostradamus that specificallymention a date, place, or personyielded an amazing discovery:none of them came true! ... Howcould a prophet so inaccurategain such widespread notori-ety?’’35

Those who believe in Nostradamus’prophecies at times do ingeniousword juggling and twisting to make itappear that some of his propheciesthat failed actually came true. Buttheir efforts sometimes fall apart uponcloser examination.

Christian author B. J. Oropeza givesa fitting summation:

‘‘Finally, Nostradamus’s meansof prophesying conflicted withScripture. He went into trances,consulted horoscopes and usedother forms of divination (Deut18). By Scripture’s standards, hisfalse prophecies make him a falseprophet.’’36

4. The Web Bot Project. — SynthiaAndrews and Colin Andrews havethis to say about the Web Bot Project:

‘‘This project has been underwaysince the late 1990s. The personwho originated it prefers toremain anonymous and just calls

himself ‘Cliff.’ It relies on asystem of ‘spiders’ that ‘crawl’the Internet, much like a searchengine, looking for particularkinds of words. According toCliff, the spiders, ‘target discus-sion groups, translation sites, andplaces where regular people posta lot of text. No, we don’t doe-mail scanning: that’s what wehave the government for.’ ...Whenever the spider finds akeyword, it takes a small 2,048-byte snip of the surrounding textand sends it to a central collec-tion point. Over a period of timethe ‘chatter points’ concentrate,revealing a spike in intensity.Like the Bible Code, the technol-ogy doesn’t come out with directmessages. It gives words orphrases that reflect people’sthought processes. Web Bottechnology appears to tap intopreconscious awareness, or thecollective unconscious. It findspatterns before events occur.’’37

And the pair further note:

‘‘When the Mayan calendar enddate is used as a keyword, thereis only one Web Bot prediction. Itpredicts a pole shift in 2012.Since this is a main theme peopleare discussing, you may wonderwhat use it has. The interestingfact is that the spikes arrivebefore the events, not after.’’38

The authors list three events thatthe Web Bot Project seemed to havesome success predicting.39 On the onehand, they suggest that the Projecttaps into a sort of collective ESP thatmankind supposedly has.40 On theother hand, they appar to imply thatperhaps people are magically creatingthings by thinking about them!41 Thisis very reminiscent of the philosophycontained in the contemporary NewThought/New Age book The Secret,42

as well as the idea of modern-dayWord Faith teachers who teach that aperson’s spoken words createrealities.43

It should be obvious that the onlything the Web Bot Project is capableof revealing is what people are cur-rently discussing. It is utterly inca-

pable of predicting the future or ofcreating the future.

Secondly, to attempt to use the WebBot Project, the Bible Code, or someother means of predicting the futureis to involve oneself in the practice ofdivination — a practice clearly forbid-den in the Bible:

‘‘When you come into the landwhich the LORD your God isgiving you, you shall not learn tofollow the abominations of thosenations. There shall not be foundamong you anyone who makeshis son or his daughter passthrough the fire, or one whopractices witchcraft, or a sooth-sayer, or one who interpretsomens, or a sorcerer, or one whoconjures spells, or a medium, ora spiritist, or one who calls upthe dead. For all who do thesethings are an abomination to theLORD, and because of theseabominations the LORD your Goddrives them out from before you.You shall be blameless before theLORD your God. For these na-tions which you will dispossesslistened to soothsayers and di-viners; but as for you, the LORDyour God has not appointed suchfor you’’ (Deuteronomy 18:9-14).

APPEALS TO ‘‘SCIENCE’’

The 2012 doomsday advocates don’tjust appeal to various mystical andoccultic prophecies to argue for asupposed Maya-predicted end of theworld in 2012. They also try to enlistscience — actually, pseudo-science — tosupport a 2012 apocalypse. Variousscenarios are projected that might endmost life on earth. One populartheory that has made the rounds isthat there is a ‘‘Planet X,’’ sometimesreferred to as ‘‘Nibiru’’ (or ‘‘Eris’’),heading toward earth. David Morri-son, a NASA astrobiologist, has re-ceived many questions about this‘‘planet.’’ He explains:

‘‘Although the name of the Sum-erian god Nibiru is most oftengiven to this object, I quicklylearned that some Web sites werealso calling it Planet X or Eris.Planet X is a generic term used


by astronomers over the pastcentury for any unknown orhypothesized planets beyondPluto. Eris is an actual, newlydiscovered dwarf planet, a littlelarger than Pluto but much far-ther away. By conflating these,some were claiming that NASAhad found Nibiru or that Eriswas going to fly past Earth in2012.’’44

In a follow-up article about Nibiru,Morrison catalogs other dangers, sup-posedly based on science, that mighthappen on December 21, 2012:

‘‘As the [Planet X/Nibiru] storygrows in complexity, many moredoomsday scenarios are beingsuggested, often unrelated to Ni-biru. These include a reversal ofthe Earth’s magnetic field, severesolar storms associated with theeleven-year solar cycle (whichmay peak in 2012), a reversal ofEarth’s rotation axis, a 90 degreeflip of the rotation axis, bom-bardment by large comets orasteroids, and bombardment bygamma rays or various unspeci-fied lethal rays coming from thecenter of the Milky Way Galaxyor the ‘dark rift’ seen in a nearbygalactic spiral arm. A majortheme has become celestial align-ments, which fascinate layper-sons. Supposedly, the Sun willalign with the galactic center (ormaybe with the Milky Way DarkRift) on December 21, 2012, sub-jecting us to potentially deadlyforces.’’45

One exponent of a 2012 doomsdayis Lawrence Joseph, about whom onearticle reports:

‘‘Lawrence Joseph, author ofApocalypse 2012, summarizes al-most every available path to glo-bal disaster to make the case thatthe world is about to end, andthat the Maya predicted it. ... Hesays that on December 21, 2012,at 11:11 pm Universal Time[Greenwich Mean Time], the so-lar system will eclipse the viewfrom Earth of the center of theMilky Way, ‘disrupting whateverenergy typically streams to the

Earth’ from the center of ourhome galaxy. This will ‘throwout of kilter vital mechanisms ofour bodies and of the Earth.’ (Toinject a note of realism here: thecenter of our galaxy is 26,000-28,000 light-years from our solarsystem. One wonders what realenergy flow could be disrupted.)Meanwhile, all those who haveever lived on the Earth will havebeen reincarnated by 2012, inorder to ‘fulfill the sacred mis-sion of that year.’’’46

David Morrison has received ques-tions about reports submitted to himat NASA’s ‘‘Ask An Astrobiologist’’website (http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/ask-an-astrobiologist). In two articleswritten for the Skeptical Inquirer maga-zine, he gives the substance of someof the questions he has received,along with his responses to the ques-tions. Given below are his responses(or excerpts from some of his re-sponses) to inquirers, gleaned fromhis first article in the Skeptical Inquirerabout these matters:

‘‘The bottom line is that Nibiru isa myth, with no basis whateverin fact. To an astronomer, persis-tent claims about a planet that isnearby but invisible are just plainsilly.’’47

‘‘Please don’t be scared; the en-tire Nibiru story, as well as anyconcerns about Eris threateningEarth are a hoax, nothingmore.’’48

‘‘There is no planet alignment in2012 or any other time in thenext several decades. As to theEarth being in the center of theMilky Way, I don’t know whatthis phrase means. If you arereferring to the Milky Way Gal-axy, we are rather far toward theedge of this spiral galaxy, some30,000 light-years from the cen-ter.’’49

‘‘Quite a few people have beenasking me about the danger of apolar shift. ... ‘Polar shift’ seemsto have become a buzzword onwebsites that promote catastro-phist ideas and various con-

spiracy theories, and so thisphrase gets passed on from oneblog to another without everbeing defined. If this means somesudden change in the position ofthe pole (that is, the rotation axisof the Earth), then that is impos-sible. There is no point in specu-lating about the consequences ofsomething that has never hap-pened and never will. ... Thebottom line is that there is nopossibility of a ‘polar shift’ andno danger associated withone.’’50

‘‘The magnetic pole is different;it regularly shifts position by asmall amount, and ... the polarityof the Earth’s magnetic pole re-verses roughly once per millionyears (on average). This magneticreversal appears to be generatedinternally and not to be influ-enced by any outside events.There is no indication that it willhappen anytime soon, but moreto the point, a magnetic reversalwould not cause any of thehorrible consequences that youfind associated with ‘pole shift’on the catastrophist Internetsites.’’51

Near the end of this article, Morri-son writes:

‘‘Some even accept ... that theworld is ‘turning upside down.’They also accept that we will bein the center of the Milky WayGalaxy, 30,000 light-years away,in 2012. The fact that none of thisis being reported in newspapersor on television is simply ac-cepted as evidence of a grandconspiracy. Do they ever askthemselves why governments arepursuing wars in Iraq and Af-ghanistan, worried about globalwarming, and conducting an en-ergetic presidential election inthe U.S. if they all know theworld will end in four years? Ithas been a revelation to me toglimpse this underworld of con-spiracy theories and doomsdaypredictions.’’52

Some people have predicted a cata-strophic ‘‘solar maximum’’ for the


year 2012. One source notes:

‘‘There’s always some type ofsunspot activity happening onthe sun’s surface. However,every 11 years there’s a surge ofactivity, called the solar maxi-mum. Five to six years after thesurge, or maximum activity time,there is a minimum activity pe-riod, called the solar mini-mum.’’53

Later, this same source says, ‘‘Thenext solar maximum will be in 2012and is expected to produce severestorms and electromagnetic disrup-tion.’’54

However, in a section of his evange-listic website ‘‘Reasons To Believe’’that deals specifically with the 2012hype, Christian astronomer and au-thor Hugh Ross states:

‘‘While it’s true that the Sun willbe at sunspot and flaring maxi-mum in 2012, such a solar eventoccurs every eleven years. Theworst case scenario for a solarmaximum is that a few giantsolar flares could temporarilydisrupt satellite and radio com-munications. Some GPS satellitescould possibly be knocked out,but certainly life on Earth wouldnot be threatened. So far, sunspotmonitoring indicates that the2012 solar maximum will likelybe moderate to minimal.’’55

The website also assures readers:

‘‘From an astronomical perspective,no one should be particularlyconcerned about December 21,2012. Dire warnings about Vene-tian gravity, Planet X, and solarflaring spring from misinforma-tion and distortion, not on fact.From a biblical perspective, we allwould do well to heed the wordsof Jesus: ‘Therefore keep watch,because you do not know onwhat day your Lord willcome.’’’56

NASA astronomer David Morrison,mentioned above, writes:

‘‘While I hope that many peoplewho read my replies are pleased

to learn that the world is notabout to end, I am surprised atso many angry responses. Thesecome from people who seem towant the world to end in 2012,who are upset to be told that thiscatastrophe will not happen.’’57

DON’T BLAME ITON THE MAYA

Although the December 21, 2012,doomsday date is based on the MayaLong Count calendar cycle end date,the previous ‘‘prophetic’’ and ‘‘scien-tific’’ warnings (and more besides)have been used to add support to thetheory that the world will end at thattime. So everything about this theoryreally depends on the meaning of the5,125-year Maya Long Count calendarcycle that purportedly began onAugust 11, 3114 B.C.58 and ends onDecember 21, 2012 (or, according tosome, on December 23, 2012 —although it seems that most of theattention has been given to the formerending date rather than to this latterone). The start date and end date ofthis Maya Long Count calendar cycleare both written as 13.0.0.0.0. It is thisdate which supposedly correlateswith the Gregorian calendar date ofDecember 21 (or 23), 2012.

However, it does not appear thatthe Maya really believed that the endof their Long Count calendar cyclesignified the end of the world.

Maya scholar Mark Van Stonewrote:

‘‘Maya Scholars, in Mexico,Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, ElSalvador and North Americahave been watching with amuse-ment and dismay as self-styledexperts proclaim that ancientMaya prophets foretold an earth-shattering happening to occurDecember 21, 2012. This pre-dicted phenomenon gets de-scribed in contradictory but oftencataclysmic fashion — as anecological collapse, a sunspotstorm, a rare cosmic conjunctionof the earth, sun, and the galacticcenter, a new and awesome stageof our evolution, and even asudden reversal of the Earth’s

magnetic field which will eraseall our computer drives. ... Insum, the world as we know itwill suddenly come to a screech-ing halt. These predictions arealleged to be prophecies by so-called ‘Ancient Mayans’ whose‘astronomically precise’ calendarsupposedly terminates on thatdate. According to such accounts,these mysterious Maya geniusesappeared suddenly, built anextraordinary civilization, de-signed in it clues for us, and thensuddenly, inexplicably, vanished,as if they had completed theirterrestrial mission. These sameexperts claim special credibilityfor the Maya prophecies by as-serting that these historic sages,with their possible extraterres-trial origins, had tapped into anastonishing esoteric wisdom. ...First, let me affirm that the year2012 does hold particular signifi-cance in Mayan scholarship.Those of us who study the an-cient and modern Maya ... havebeen anticipating the end of theMaya Great Cycle for some time.... We have known for half acentury that this date probablycorrelates to December 21 (orDecember 23) in the year 2012 inthe Gregorian calendar.’’59

In another article elsewhere on thesame website, Van Stone states:

‘‘There is nothing in the Maya orAztec or ancient Mesoamericanprophecy to suggest that theyprophesied a sudden or majorchange of any sort in 2012. Thenotion of a ‘Great Cycle’ comingto an end is completely a moderninvention. Maya inscriptions thatpredict the future consistently showthat they expected life to go onpretty much the same forever. AtPalenque, for instance, theypredicted that people in the year4772 AD would be celebratingthe anniversary of the coronationof their great king Pakal.’’60

He further notes:

‘‘Even if we were to find evidence ofactual Maya prophecies about 2012,that doesn’t make them true. Ap-


parently all of Christendom ex-pected Jesus to return in the year1000, for example.61 And maybethe most important question toask was voiced to me by BillSaturno, discoverer of the SanBartolo murals. If the Maya weresuch skilled prophets, how couldthey have missed the [Spanish]Conquest? ‘Didn’t see that onecoming, did they?’ The singlemost devastating disaster to be-fall the peoples of the Americasof all time, and not a word aboutit in the entire corpus of Mayanprophetic literature.’’62

When discussing whether or not theMaya calendar was more accuratethan our own — a common claimmade in reference to the Maya — VanStone says it:

‘‘Depends how you define ‘accu-rate.’ ... Although it is technicallyincorrect to say the ancient Mayahad a ‘more accurate calendarthan we do,’ one must respectthat the precision of their obser-vations and their astronomicalrecordkeeping were astonish-ingly accurate. However, theywere no more precise than theancient Greeks, and considerablyless accurate than our modernmeasurements. Claiming that theMaya calendar was ‘more accu-rate’ than the Gregorian implies,of course, that they had access toknowledge superior to our own,knowledge of a highly esoteric oreven extra-terrestrial nature. Thisis simply not true. They simplyused the tools they had at hand,and their penetrating, persistentintelligence to do the best theycould. An advantage they pos-sessed was a clearer, darker skythan we of the Industrial Agewill ever see again.’’63

In her book, 2012: Science or Super-stition, author and researcher Alexan-dra Bruce states:

‘‘The Maya Long Count calendarhad fallen out of use hundreds ofyears before the Spaniards ar-rived in Mesoamerica [where theMaya lived]. ... Technically, 2012

is NOT the ‘end of the Mayacalendar’ because the LongCount is linear and theoreticallyinfinite, with the ability to ex-press any date in the past orfuture, much like the calendarused in the West. Also, there aremany ancient Maya inscriptionswith dates beyond 2012, notablyone with a date that correspondsto October 21, 4772 ... December21, 2012 does correspond to theend of the current World Ageand the beginning of the nextWorld Age, as described in theancient Maya creation myth, thePopol Vuh. ... While it is true thatthe 2012 date marked the end ofa World Age for the ancientMaya, most modern-day Mayado not believe that this date isparticularly significant.’’64

Another source notes:

‘‘But for all the hype, there islittle evidence the ancient Mayaever intended for the end of theircalendar to be read as a portentfor disaster. ‘These prophecies ofdoom really don’t have any basisin what we know about theMaya,’ said Stephen Houston, aprofessor of anthropology atBrown University and a special-ist of Maya hieroglyphic writing.‘The Maya descriptions barelytalk about this event.’ Instead,Houston said, the Maya sawtheir ‘long count,’ the longest oftheir cyclical calendars, comingto an end in 2012 but alsobeginning anew on that date,without disastrous conse-quences.’’65

One final source makes a goodsegue into what will be said after-ward:

‘‘But scholars are bristling atattempts to link the ancient Mayawith trends in contemporaryspirituality. ... ‘For the ancientMaya, it was a huge celebrationto make it to the end of a whole[calendar] cycle,’ says SandraNoble, executive director of theFoundation for the Advancementof Mesoamerican Studies in

Crystal River, Fla. To render Dec.21, 2012, as a doomsday or mo-ment of cosmic shifting, she says,is ‘a complete fabrication and achance for a lot of people to cashin.’ Part of the 2012 mystiquestems from the stars. On thewinter solstice in 2012, the sunwill be aligned with the center ofthe Milky Way for the first timein about 26,000 years. This meansthat ‘whatever energy typicallystreams to Earth from the centerof the Milky Way will indeed bedisrupted on 12/21/12 at 11:11p.m. Universal Time,’ [Lawrence]Joseph writes. But scholars doubtthe ancient Maya extrapolatedgreat meaning from anticipatingthe alignment — if they wereeven aware of what the configu-ration would be. Astronomersgenerally agree that ‘it would beimpossible the Maya themselveswould have known that,’ saysSusan Milbrath, a Maya archaeo-astronomer and a curator at theFlorida Museum of Natural His-tory. What’s more, she says, ‘wehave no record or knowledgethat they would think the worldwould come to an end at thatpoint.’ University of Florida an-thropologist Susan Gillespie saysthe 2012 phenomenon comes‘from media and from otherpeople making use of the Mayapast to fulfill agendas that arereally their own.’’’66

THE UGLY TRUTHNew York Magazine reported on a

promotional event for the movie 2012,which took place in a ballroom at theFour Seasons at a city in Wyoming.Featured at the event were three‘‘2012ologists’’ (a term that seems torefer to students and/or exponents ofvarious theories about the year 2012holding some special significance):Daniel Pinchbeck, John Major Jenkins,and Lawrence Joseph. All three arebig names in the ‘‘2012ology’’ world,and all three have authored bookschampioning some sort of significanceassociated with 2012. The words andattitudes of these famous 2012 authorsregarding that year as reported areinteresting:


‘‘2012 is also the name of abig-budget disaster movie basedon the Mayan scenarios depictedin [Daniel] Pinchbeck’s books. Topromote the film, Sony Picturessponsored this junket, featuringthe stars and director of themovie; three 2012ologists, includ-ing Pinchbeck. ... But nobody inthe Four Seasons seemed to be-lieve that the end was near, leastof all Pinchbeck, who was oncedescribed in the Times as ‘equalparts Jesuit and Jim Morrison’and is known for ingesting psy-chedelics in the Amazon. ‘I’m nota fundamentalist about the date,’Pinchbeck said, and his fellow2012ologists nodded in agree-ment. ... ‘Two thousand twelve isthis date, you know, whichthere’s a lot of ideas about,’ saidthe [movie’s] director RolandEmmerich. ... ‘And we chose thedestructive one.’ After givingPowerPoint presentations, the2012ologists were ... subjected toa gauntlet of five-minute televi-sion interviews. They were askedcountless variations on the samequestion: ‘Will the world reallyend in 2012?’ The 2012ologistsanswered, patiently at first, ‘Ac-tually, the Maya never predictedany doomsday scenario,’ [theysaid]. ... By the time the 2012olo-gists sat down with me, off-camera, they looked beatendown. ‘I think the real story isthat 2012 is not about dooms-day,’ John Major Jenkins said. Atsome point, each of the 2012olo-gists used the word counterpro-ductive to describe the film’s cata-strophic vision. So why werethey there? ‘That’s a good ques-tion,’ said Lawrence Joseph. ‘Igot a message today that thetuition for my kids’ privateschool’s going up. And whatdoes that mean? That means I’vegot to sell x number of morebooks to pay it. And as true tomy principles and beliefs as I’dlike to be, you know, I’ve got tocome up with another ten grandnext year above what I expected.There’s a certain level of compro-

mise that is indefensible but, tome, unavoidable.’ While I talkedto Jenkins and Joseph, Pinchbeckhunched over his BlackBerry andpounded out e-mails with histhumbs. When I asked the2012ologists how they planned tosell books in 2013, Pinchbeckglanced up from his screen andoffered, with a glint of hope,‘[The George Orwell book] 1984still sells well.’’’67

SO WHAT IF THEMAYA CALENDAR CYCLE

ENDS IN 2012?

However, let’s suppose for a mo-ment that the Maya had actuallyprophesied the end of the world in2012. Christians need to first put theirtrust in the Lord Jesus Christ and inthe words of the living God as givenin the Bible. It is His recorded Word(the Bible) that is true and holy; notwords from pagan or occultic sources;nor the words of New Age hucksters.Nor are these pagan prophecies on apar with God’s Word.

The prophet Jeremiah noted thedifference between the words of Godand the prophecies of men:

‘‘‘I have heard what the prophetshave said who prophesy lies inMy name, saying, ‘‘I havedreamed, I have dreamed!’’ Howlong will this be in the heart ofthe prophets who prophesy lies?Indeed they are prophets of thedeceit of their own heart, whotry to make My people forget Myname by their dreams whicheveryone tells his neighbor, astheir fathers forgot My name forBaal. The prophet who has adream, let him tell a dream; andhe who has My word, let himspeak My word faithfully. Whatis the chaff to the wheat?’ saysthe LORD. ‘Is not My word like afire?’ says the LORD, ‘And like ahammer that breaks the rock inpieces?’ ... ‘Behold, I am againstthose who prophesy falsedreams,’ says the LORD, ‘and tellthem, and cause My people to errby their lies and by their reck-lessness. Yet I did not send them

or command them; therefore theyshall not profit this people at all,’says the LORD’’ (Jeremiah 23:25-29, 32).

And the Lord told Isaiah theprophet:

‘‘And when they say to you,‘Seek those who are mediumsand wizards, who whisper andmutter,’ should not a people seektheir God? Should they seek thedead on behalf of the living? Tothe law and to the testimony! Ifthey do not speak according tothis word, it is because there isno light in them’’ (Isaiah 8:19-20).

And again, Isaiah the prophet testi-fied of God’s words to him:

‘‘For the LORD spoke thus to mewith a strong hand, and in-structed me that I should notwalk in the way of this people,saying: ‘Do not say, ‘‘A con-spiracy,’’ concerning all that thispeople call a conspiracy, nor beafraid of their threats, nor betroubled. The LORD of hosts, Himyou shall hallow; let Him beyour fear, and let Him be yourdread’’’ (Isaiah 8:11-13).

Part of this latter passage is reminis-cent of the words of Jesus to Hisdisciples in the Upper Room on thenight before His crucifixion, when Hetold them:

‘‘Let not your heart be troubled;you believe in God, believe alsoin Me’’ (John 14:1).

And also:

‘‘These things I have spoken toyou, that in Me you may havepeace. In the world you will havetribulation; but be of good cheer,I have overcome the world’’(John 16:33).

SUMMING UP

Christian astronomer and authorHugh Ross has written:

‘‘The Mayan ‘end’ date is alsosaid to align with Incan andEgyptian calendars, as well aswith the prophecies of Nostrada-mus, Edgar Cayce, and I Ching.


Perhaps few people realize thatdoomsayers for over a hundredyears have been alleging that theMayan, Incan, and Egyptian cal-endars predict a specific, immi-nent date for the end of theworld. In my lifetime, over halfdozen such dates have come andgone without incident. A closerlook explains why: these calen-dars and prophecies are so eso-teric, so vague, that one can pullalmost any doomsday date fromthem.’’68

Christian pastor and Bible prophecyteacher Mark Hitchcock hits the nailon the head when he says the Decem-ber 21, 2012, date has been nicknamed(among other things), ‘‘A Y2K for theNew Age.’’69

The Y2K reference is to the turn-of-the-millennium from 1999 to 2000,which was prophesied by many —including some Christian authors —to bring worldwide disaster, due tothe millennium computer bug forwhich there wasn’t adequate time toaddress. This ‘‘problem’’ would sup-posedly cause computers to malfunc-tion when January 1, 2000, arrived,creating worldwide catastrophe.Nothing catastrophic happened.

As Hitchcock notes, the ‘‘Maya 2012end-date’’ is truly the New Agemovement’s end-of-the-world sce-nario. Says Hitchcock:

‘‘The 2012 phenomenon is theNew Age eschatology.70 It’s theiranswer to how the world willend, or at least how the world aswe know it will end and usher ina new stage of collective con-sciousness. ... The New Agemovement has adopted theMayan calendar as the center-piece for its view of how thisworld will end and the next one,if there is one, will begin. Thestartlingly unique feature of theMayan doomsday prophecy, andthe New Age eschatology, is thatit names the specific date for theend: December 21, 2012.’’71

As we have seen in this article, theMaya apparently didn’t believe thatDecember 21 (or December 23), 2012,

would usher in the end of the world.However, some people who saw achance to make a quick buck frompeoples’ gullibility — or else, somesincerely misled people — have pro-moted this erroneous notion about theMaya and their Long Count calendarcycle.

We agree with Mark Hitchcock,who, after surveying several differ-ent views regarding the meaning ofthis supposed ‘‘Maya doomsday,’’says:

‘‘[The view] I hold, is that 2012will bring neither global catastro-phe nor global enlightenment. ...The vast majority of scientists,archaeologists, and anthropolo-gists reject the 2012 doomsdaytheory. ... End date 2012 simplydoesn’t hold up to serious scru-tiny. Anne Pyburn, an anthro-pologist at Indiana Universitywho studies the Maya, saysbluntly, ‘I don’t pay any atten-tion to this stuff because it’sbunk.’’’72

The year 2012 will undoubtedlyhold its share of surprises, but don’tget caught up in the end-of-the-worldhysteria or panic. Even the committed2012 followers can’t agree on what’sgoing to happen. Their theories rangefrom the end of the world to somenew plane of awareness. There’s a bigdifference between apocalypse and anew spiritual awareness. Any predic-tion with such a wide range ofpossible scenarios should be viewedwith skepticism and caution.

When Jesus gave His final greatdiscourse to His disciples in Matthew24-25, He listed many of the key signsof the end times, and the very firstthing He said was, ‘‘See to it that noone misleads you’’ (Matthew 24:4).The chief sign of the times is surgingdeception. The New Age 2012 escha-tology is a part of this deception.

Endnotes:1. Alternatively, it could end on December23, 2012. ‘‘Scholars propose several correla-tions between the Maya and moderncalendars; the two most-accepted differ bytwo days.’’ The GMT Correlation has theend date of the Maya calendar as Decem-

ber 21, 2012. The GMT+2 Correlation hasthe end date as December 23, 2012. MarkVan Stone, ‘‘Part IV — Appendix: Techni-calities of the Calendars.’’ Documentavailable at: www.famsi.org/research/vanstone/2012/2012Part4.pdf. Slide #39, italicsin original. Most material I have seenregarding the Maya end date simplyassumes the December 21, 2012 (i.e., theGMT Correlation) end date.2. Lloyd B. Hildebrand, 2012: Is This theEnd? Alachua, Fla.: Bridge-Logos, 2009,pg. 5, italics in original. This book iswritten by a Christian author and pub-lisher, and is well-designed and well-written and makes for interesting reading.However, I regret that I can only recom-mend it for knowing what various populartheories are regarding 2012 being the end ofthe world. Several things make this bookan undesirable choice for evaluating 2012doomsday theories: The book seems toocredulous regarding popular theoriesabout a 2012 doomsday event. It alsoseems to repeat popular theories uncriti-cally, passing along some inaccurate infor-mation in the process. Very importantly,the author also seems to regard the Bibleas only slightly more authoritative thanprophecies given by various non-Christiancultures, pagan religions, occultic sources,and prophecies of questionable origin.Finally, the author doesn’t give a clearanswer to the question posed by thebook’s title.3. Lee Penn, ‘‘The Mayan Apocalypse of2012,’’ SCP Journal, Vol. 32:4-33:1, 2009,pg. 5, italic in original.4. Mark Hitchcock, 2012, The Bible, and theEnd of the World. Eugene, Ore: HarvestHouse Publishers, 2009, pg. 31. This isunquestionably the best book I have seenon the possibility of a 2012 doomsdaygiven from a sane, Christian perspective. Iheartily recommend it.5. Ibid., pg. 32.6. ‘‘Part IV — Appendix: Technicalities ofthe Calendars,’’ op. cit., Slide #1, italicsand bold type in original.7. Ibid., Slide #6, italics and bold type inoriginal.8. Ibid., Slide #7, italics and bold type inoriginal.9. Ibid., Slide #22, italics and bold type inoriginal.10. David Morrison, ‘‘Update on theNibiru 2012 Doomsday,’’ Skeptical Inquirer,Vol. 33, No. 6, pg. 57.11. 2012, The Bible, and the End of the World,op. cit., pp. 15-16, 61-62.12. ‘‘The Mayan Apocalypse of 2012,’’ op.cit., pp. 5-10.13. 2012, The Bible, and the End of the World,op. cit., pg. 16. See Synthia Andrews andColin Andrews, The Complete Idiot’s Guideto 2012. New York: Alpha Books, 2008, pp.153-154, where the words and phrases that


Hitchcock has in quotation marks (as wellas some of the information he gives)seems to have come.14. Alexandra Bruce, 2012: Science orSuperstition. New York: The Disinforma-tion Company Ltd., 2009, pg. 157.15. 2012: Is This the End?, op. cit., backcover.16. For more on the Bible code, see G.Richard Fisher, ‘‘The Bible Code: Pro-phetic Insight or Fertile Imagination?,’’The Quarterly Journal, January-March 1998,pp. 4, 9-13.17. 2012, The Bible, and the End of the World,op. cit., pp. 81-82. Hitchcock referencesMichael Drosnin, The Bible Code. NewYork: Touchstone, 1997, pp. 153-154.18. Ibid., pg. 83, italics in original.19. Ibid., pp. 84-86.20. Ibid., pg. 88.21. Ibid., pg. 85.22. Ibid., pp. 88-89.23. James J. Drummey, Catholic Replies.Norwood, Mass.: C.R. Publications, 1995,pp. 77-78, brackets in original.24. Rev. Peter M.J. Stravinskas, editor,Catholic Dictionary, revised edition.Huntington, Ind.: Our Sunday Visitor,Inc., 2002, pg. 619, s.v. ‘‘Prophecies of St.Malachy.’’ Except for space constraints,other contemporary sources, both RomanCatholic and secular, could be cited heresupporting this same view that the proph-ecies are ‘‘forgeries.’’25. Interested readers can check out theso-called ‘‘prophecies of St. Malachy’’ forthemselves in The Prophecies of St. Malachy:Introduction and Commentary by PeterBander. Rockford, Ill.: TAN Books andPublishers, Inc., 1973. Originally pub-lished in 1969 by Colin Smythe, Ltd.,Gerrards Cross Buckinghamshire, Englandunder the title, The Prophecies of St. Mal-achy and St. Columbkille.26. Catholic Replies, op. cit., pg. 78.27. Ibid.28. For more on Nostradamus and hisprophecies, see M. Kurt Goedelman, ‘‘TheTarnished Prophet of the 16th Century:The Legacy of Nostradamus,’’ The Quar-terly Journal, July-September 1998, pp. 4,13-17. An older, shorter article, also fromPFO, is Keith A. Morse, ‘‘A 20th-CenturyLook at Nostradamus: Was He God’sProphet During the 16th Century?,’’ PFONewsletter, Vol. 3, No. 2, pp. 5, 7.29. A very useful trait for a would-beprophet.30. Richard Kyle, The Last Days Are HereAgain. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books,1998, pg. 63.31. Ibid., pg. 64.32. The New Encyclopedia Britannica. Chi-cago: Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., 1993,Vol. 8, pg. 803, s.v., ‘‘Nostradamus.’’33. Catholic Replies, op. cit., pg. 425.34. The Encyclopedia Americana, Interna-

tional edition. Danbury, Conn.: Grolier,Incorporated, 1997, Vol. 20, pg. 484, s.v.,‘‘Nostradamus,’’ emphasis added.35. Richard Abanes, End-Time Visions: TheRoad to Armageddon? New York: FourWalls Eight Windows, 1998, pp. 188-189,italic in original. For the source of theremarks made by James Randi, Abanescites ‘‘James Randi, interview on LarryKing Live, September 21, 1990; cf. RussellChandler, Doomsday. Ann Arbor, Mich.:Servant, 1993, pg. 67.’’ Abanes’ bookdevotes an entire chapter to Nostradamusand to debunking his prophecies.36. B. J. Oropeza, 99 Reasons Why No OneKnows When Christ Will Return. DownersGrove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1994, pg.131. The Scripture reference that Oropezapartially gives is Deuteronomy 18:9-14.37. The Complete Idiot’s Guide to 2012, op.cit., pg. 161.38. Ibid., pg. 162.39. Ibid., pg. 161.40. Ibid.41. Ibid., pp. 161-162. For further evidenceof these authors’ magical view of thinking,see pg. 253.42. For more information on The Secret, seeJ. Greg Sheryl, ‘‘Do You Want to KnowThe Secret?,’’ The Quarterly Journal, Octo-ber-December 2007, pp. 1, 11-21.43. See Gary E. Gilley, ‘‘The New Look ofthe Prosperity Gospel - Joel Osteen OffersYou Your Best Life Now,’’ The QuarterlyJournal, January-March 2010, pp. 1, 16-21.44. David Morrison, ‘‘The Myth of Nibiruand the End of the World in 2012,’’Skeptical Inquirer, Vol. 32, No. 5, pg. 51.45. ‘‘Update on the Nibiru 2012 Dooms-day,’’ op. cit., pp. 57-58.46. ‘‘The Mayan Apocalypse of 2012,’’ op.cit., pg. 9, italics, bold type, and bracketsin original. Penn references the book,Lawrence E. Joseph, Apocalypse 2012. NewYork: Broadway Books, 2008. The quota-tions he references above from that bookare, in order, pp. 32-33, 33, and 35-36. Hegives ‘‘The Milky Way Galaxy’’ as hissource for the distance to the center of ourgalaxy (i.e., 26,000-28,000 light-years).Document available at: http://seds.org/messier/more/mw.47. ‘‘The Myth of Nibiru and the End ofthe World in 2012,’’ op. cit., pg. 52,quotation in source rendered in italics.48. Ibid., quotation in source rendered initalics.49. Ibid., pg. 54, quotation in sourcerendered in italics.50. Ibid., quotation in source rendered initalics.51. Ibid., pg. 55, quotation in sourcerendered in italics.52. Ibid. Concerning some of the events hementions here, bear in mind that he wrotethis article in 2008.53. The Complete Idiot’s Guide to 2012, op.cit., pg. 85.

54. Ibid., pg. 86.55. Hugh Ross, ‘‘Response to 2012 Prophe-cies.’’ Document available at: www.reasons.org/response-2012-prophecies.56. ‘‘RTB Response to the Motion Picture‘2012’,’’ emphasis added. Document avail-able at: www.reasons.org/2012.57. ‘‘The Myth of Nibiru and the End ofthe World in 2012,’’ op. cit., pg. 55.58. ‘‘or August 12 [3114 B.C.], or August13,’’ as stated in The Complete Idiot’s Guideto 2012, op. cit., pg. 74.59. Mark Van Stone, ‘‘It’s Not the End ofthe World: What the Ancient Maya TellUs About 2012.’’ Document available at:www.famsi.org/research/vanstone/2012/index.html. This website contains muchextremely helpful information regardingthe Maya and the 2012 doomsday issue.60. Mark Van Stone, ‘‘2012 FAQ (Fre-quently Asked Questions),’’ emphasisa d d e d . D o c u me n t a v a i l a b l e a t :www.famsi.org/research/vanstone/2012/faq.html.61. Whether or not the Christian world atlarge expected Jesus to return in A.D. 1000is a matter of some scholarly disagree-ment. For a discussion of this debate, seeEnd-Time Visions: The Road to Armageddon?,op. cit., pp. 170-174.62. ‘‘2012 FAQ (Frequently Asked Ques-tions),’’ op. cit., emphasis added.63. Ibid.64. 2012: Science or Superstition, op. cit., pg.12, capitalization and italics in original.65. Christine Brouwer, ‘‘Will the WorldEnd in 2012?,’’ article dated July 3, 2008.Document available at: http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=5301284.66. G. Jeffrey MacDonald, ‘‘Does Mayacalendar predict 2012 apocalypse?,’’ articledated March 27, 2007. Document availableat: www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2007-03-27-maya-2012_n.htm.67. Andrew Marantz, ‘‘How to Sell anApocalypse,’’ article dated November 1,2009, italics in original. Document avail-ab le a t ht tp : / /nymag. c om/news/intelligencer/61745/.68. ‘‘Response to 2012 Prophecies,’’ op.cit., italic in original.69. 2012, The Bible, and the End of the World,op. cit., pg. 15. Hitchcock here referencesLisa Miller, ‘‘2012: A Y2K for the NewAge,’’ Newsweek, May 11/May 18, 2009,pg. 12, (see pg. 175, note #6).70. One definition of ‘‘eschatology’’ is ‘‘thebranch of theology dealing with the end ofthe world or of humanity,’’ The AmericanHeritage College Dictionary, 3rd edition, s.v.‘‘eschatology.’’71. 2012, The Bible, and the End of the World,op. cit., pg. 80.72. Ibid., pg. 63. The quotation Hitchcockcites here is from Lisa Miller, ‘‘2012: AY2K for the New Age,’’ op. cit., pg. 12,(see pg. 180, note #44).

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