According to Mayan legend, the deity Itzamna brought the knowledge of many things, including their series of calendars with cycles of different lengths. This system of calendars date back to the 5th century BC. and it rivals the accuracy and sophistication of our modern calendars that are based on the most precise astronomical measurements and observations. According to the Mayans, we are living in the fourth cycle of time, which began on August 11, 3114 B.C. (Gregorian), and will end on the December 21, 2012 winter solstice, when the next cycle will begin. The ancient Mayans believed that reaching the end of a 5,125 year cycle was an occasion for a great celebration, much like our New Years Eve celebrations, but there is no evidence to believe that the Mayans thought there would be an apocalypse of biblical proportions on this date. Any such notion is a modern fabrication and has nothing to do with the end of the world. Of course, those who the Mayan believed inhabited the earth during the first three cycles are long since extinct. They also believed that their flying dragon god Kulkulkan is going to return at the end of 2012.
If that is all that there was to the basis of the 2012 apocalyptic phenomena, then I would be the first to join in the mocking laughter of others. However, there is a little more to it. In the last chapter of their book, Petrus Romanus, The Final Pope is Here, Thomas Horn and Chris Putnam point out:
· The Mayan calendar ends in 2012 with the return of their flying dragon god Kulkulkan.
· The Aztec calendar ends in 2012 and their flying dragon god Quetzalcoatl returns.
· The Cherokee Indian calendar ends in the year 2012 and their flying rattlesnake god returns. The “Cherokee Rattlesnake Prophecies,” also known as the “Chickamaugan Prophecy” or the “Cherokee Star Constellation Prophecies,” are part of a series of apocalyptic prophecies made by members of the Cherokee tribe during 1811-1812. Like the Maya, the Cherokee calendar ends mysteriously in the year 2012 when astronomical phenomena related to Jupiter, Venus, Orion, and Pleiades cause the “powers” of the star systems to “awaken.”
· According to ancient Mayan inscriptions, in 2012 the Mayan underworld god Bolon Yokte Ku also returns.
· The Hindu Kali Yuga calendar ends in the year 2012 at the conclusion of the age of “the male demon.”
· According to the book, Apollyon Rising 2012, the prophecy of the Cumaean Sibyl on the Great Seal of the United States (novus ordo seclorum) points to the coming of the Antichrist in 2012.
· Over two hundred sixty years ago, the leader of the first Great Awakening in America, Jonathan Edwards, tied the arrival of the Antichrist and Great Tribulation period to the timeframe 2012.
· One hundred thirty years after that, in 1878, Reverend William J. Reid did the same, writing in his “Lectures on the Revelation” concerning the Papal system: “. . . we are prepared to answer the question, When will the Papal system come to an end? [It] will be destroyed in the year 2012.”
· Also of interest is the Web Bot Project, which was developed in the late 1990s for tracking and making stock predictions. This technology crawls the Internet, much like a search engine does, searching for keywords and following “chatter” in order to tap into “the collective unconscious” of the global community for tipping points regarding past, current, and future buying patterns. In 2001, operators began noticing what looked like more than coincidences, and that the “bot” was taking on a mind of its own, accurately predicting more than just stock market predictions, including June of 2001 when the program predicted than a life-altering event would be felt worldwide and would take place within sixty to ninety days. On September 11, 2001, the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center fell. The Web Bot also predicted the 2001 anthrax attack on Washington DC; the earthquake that produced the December 26, 2004, tsunami; Hurricane Katrina; and more. The Web Bot has now foretold global devastation for late December 2012.
· In 2012, the United States will elect a President.
· In 2012, the United Nations will get a new leader.
· And in 2012, Petrus Romanus is predicted to arrive during a Final Conclave. (pp 483-485)
The Prophecy of the Popes was written by the bishop of Armagh, Saint Malachy, in 1139 AD, when he was summoned to Rome by Pope Innocent II. While he was in Rome, Saint Malachy had a vision in which all future popes were revealed to him. He wrote down Latin phrases which described all of the 112 future popes. Our current pope, Benedict XVI, is number 111 on the list. Malachy has been incredibly accurate so far. If he continues to be this accurate, Benedict XVI will be replaced by the final pope, Petrus Romanus (Peter of Rome) in 2012, and Rome will be destroyed sometime shortly after that. As a possible note to his credibility, Malachy was attributed to several miracles, and was the first Irish saint to be canonized by a pope.
I need to point out that some see the final pope as a possible candidate for the Antichrist, and others see the final pope as a candidate for the false prophet. Only time will reveal, which (if either) of these predictions are true.
The Zohar is a medieval Aramaic collection of books written over 700 years ago and are a part of the Jewish Kabbalah, which contain commentary on the Pentateuch (the five books of Moses, also known as the Torah). Authors Horn and Putnam note in Petrus Romanus:
In addition to interpreting Scripture, the “Vaera” section (volume 3, section 34) includes “The signs heralding Mashiach,” or “The coming of the Messiah.” The fascinating date for “his” appearance is set in the Zohar in late 2012! Given the rejection of Jesus by orthodox Jews as Messiah, Christians understand this “coming” would herald the unveiling of Antichrist in 2012. (p. 482)
Much has been said about various astronomical alignments, as well as speculation about a possible magnetic pole reversal (The north magnetic pole has increased the speed of its traveling to approximately 40 miles per year, and is accelerating). Authors Horn and Putnam also noted in Petrus Romanus :
The exact date of this [Mayan] calendar is December 21, 2012, when during the winter solstice at 11:11, GMT (Greenwich Mean Time), the New Age crowd says the sun will align with the galactic center of the Milky Way galaxy, an event that occurs only every thirteen thousand years. This precession of the equinoxes will conclude a twenty-six-thousand-year cycle, bringing the astrological Age of Pisces to an end and introducing the beginning of Aquarius, when the next cycle begins and the sun rises out of the mouth of the Ouroboros (great serpent of the Milky Way). (pp. 451-452)
As we can see, there is a lot more to the 2012 apocalyptic phenomenon than just the arbitrary ending date of the Mayan long count calendar. This, in itself, is more than enough to encourage those of us who believe that we are, indeed, in the “season” of the end of the Age of Grace and the rapture of the Church. We should not be discouraged because the last of the Jewish feast in 2012 has now passed and nothing has happened. After all, nobody told us that we would be able to guess the “day or the hour.”
Even more encouraging, there are signs out there that may not specifically mention the year 2012, but are nevertheless shouting at us that we are not only in the last days, but that we are, in fact, in the “last” of the “last days.” There has certainly been a huge up-tic in the frequency and intensity of signs in nature, such as earthquakes, volcanoes coming back to life, wildfires, floods, droughts, mass animal die-offs, strange sounds all over the planet we cannot explain, plagues, epidemics of all manner of diseases, record high temperatures, record low temperatures, record size hailstones, storms of such violence that we cannot remember the likes of, landslides, hurricanes, and typhoons. We have seen an incredible number of signs in the heavens. There have been a huge number of solar storms as well as solar and lunar eclipses, and blood moons, many of which have frequently occurred on prophetically significant Jewish feast days. We have seen the movements of the planets through the constellations that many feel portend apocalyptic significance. We have also seen the apocalyptic trifecta Japan experienced with Fukushima’s earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown of three of their atomic reactors.
Israel was back in the land a generation ago. The worldwide economy is teetering on the brink of collapse in the greatest Ponzi scheme of all time. Political unrest can be found in every corner of our world as the people cry out for a leader to take them out of our economic morass. Morality has run rampant, with many calling good evil while calling evil good, and those who openly practice perversion demand to be recognized as a privileged class. There is a worldwide push to authorize every possible immoral lifestyle. Children are openly and legally slaughtered in their mother’s womb literally by the millions. Other evil acts that are so heinous as to be unmentionable (as well as unthinkable) are now commonplace. Many Christians and church doctrines have departed from the faith. There has been a huge increase in blasphemy. Idolatry in all its forms has become acceptable. False christs and false prophets are everywhere, actively deceiving the very elect. Christians and Jews are hated for their faith and are being hunted down and slaughtered in many places throughout the world. Humanity has become increasingly materialistic and lovers of pleasure, bringing worldwide despair instead of happiness or contentment. Tiny, little, insignificant Jerusalem has become the point of contention that the entire planet is ready to go to war over. Israel became a nation in a single day and is once again speaking Hebrew (just as prophesied). RFID chips now make the prophesied mark of the beast a technological reality. The armies of the Middle East and aligned exactly as predicted by Asaph In Psalm 38 over 3,000 years ago, and by Ezekiel over 2500 years ago, as recorded in Ezekiel 83. Food is becoming increasingly scarce as the food supply is being attacked on every front. Fresh drinking water is also becoming increasingly scarce.
The Book of Acts (chapter 2) and the Book of Joel (also chapter 2) tells us that in the last days young men will see visions and old men will dream dreams. There certainly seems to have been a significant increase in dreams and visions in recent years. Of course, not all prophetic visions and dreams are from God, but scripture tells us that many are legitimate. One thing that I have noticed as of late is the building crescendo of urgency that time has run out, the door is just now slamming shut, and that both the rapture and the “sudden destruction” mentioned in the Bible is imminently imminent.
Based on all of this, I believe the question we should be asking is not if the rapture and sudden destruction will happen before the end of 2012. I believe the question should be how the rapture and sudden destruction could possibly delay until the end of 2012. Either way, something big is about to happen, and it is going to happen really soon. It’s not just the Mayans. The earth and everything in it is screaming at humanity to get ready. That something is the rapture of the Church and the sudden destruction that will kick off a period of incredible tribulation such as mankind had never seen before. This deafening “screaming” has become so loud, and has been going on for so long, that we have become numb from it. It is coming at us from every conceivable direction. How much longer can it, or will it, continue? Are you ready???
Carl Worline