You can call it Armageddon, 2012, Mayan Prophecy, The Dark Planet, or simply, the end of the world. Hollywood has already taken its stance on the last days of mankind, and it’s been described in such films as 2012 (sixth mass extinction), I Am Legend (Pandemic), Armageddon (asteroid impact), Independence Day (alien invasion), The Day After Tomorrow (global warming), and The Day the Earth Stood Still (Ecosystem collapse). “Hollywood is trying to think of every way possible that we could destroy ourselves, or be destroyed,” says Phil Hotsenpiller, teaching pastor of Yorba Linda Friends Megachurch, and author of the book, Armageddon Now. Along with such thinking, comes the understanding that life outside the movie theater does not always bring happy endings. Regardless of whether or not you choose to believe or not, there is something a little bit frightening, if not mysteriously worthy of our attention about the upcoming date 12/21/12.
“Something has arrived over vast expanses of space and time, opportunistically cloaking itself within the ambiguities of human perception, seeking propagation channels where the race has vowed not to look. It is currently watching and testing the collective wit. If not recognized, it will simply depart. Then, lives that could have been saved will not. Suffering that might have been circumvented will be felt… The retreat uneventfully comes in 2012, if they fail to count the number of the beast.”
—The Creative Machine
The above is a quote by an Artificially Intelligent computer fathered by Dr. Stephen L. Thaler, describing the end of the world. The Creative machine is not the only advanced machine prophesying the sixth mass extinction. The computer search program, Web Bot, has a similar conclusion.
Web Bot is a system of organized, automated “bots” instructed by creator, George Ure, to scavenge the Internet searching for activity, otherwise known as “web chatter”. By picking up on subtle discussions and topics being written around the world, the Bot has so far been able to predict the attack on the US Trade Center (9/11), the stock market meltdown, and now it is telling us that the end of the world is on its way to our doorstep on December 21st, 2012. While many experts say it is impossible for such a machine to predict the end of the world, others disagree.
So what do we have here? We have gonzo journalists traveling out to distant bunkers of right wing fanatics who have been stocking up on ammunition, anti-radiation pills, and training for an end of the world scenario. We have mathematicians interpreting various cultural calendars, such as the Mayan calendar, each reporting one date as having particular importance (12/21/12). And if you don’t give any of these sources much credit, we also have buckets full of religious advocates pointing to the bible as one of our greatest prophetic sources, and its prophecies are being called out through the daily news.
“Between the earthquakes, the volcanoes, and the oil, it’s kind of like, are you kidding me,” says Hotsenpiller. “We’re seeing some things which point to what the bible saw as an end of days scenario—Where’s Al Gore?”
“These events (Armageddon) are unfolding as you are reading this,” warns Peter King, author of Letters to Earth You Can Survive Armageddon!:
Revelation 16:3– The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea and it became as the blood of a dead man, and every living thing died. “There is no doubt you have seen the large areas of reddish brown oil that look like giant blood clots covering everything in the gulf,” says Kling. “Thirty-five percent of our seafood comes from the Gulf of Mexico—get ready for higher prices and lack of availability.”
Revelation 16:12– The 6th one poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates and its water dried up that the way might be prepared for the kings of the east. “We’ve seen the expansion of Islam, but last month the UN pasted another sanction on Iran and Iran basically said, stick your sanction where the sun don’t shine, we’re going to enrich uranium and build rockets,” says Kling. “This takes us to Revelation 16:13 which will lead us to another major invasion of the Middle East by a world wide coalition of nations as we have seen twice before—and this will then take us to the war of Armageddon.”
“I’m not a religious nut,” justifies Kling. “I don’t preach religion—I have no need for it.” The prophecies in the Bible have no need for preaching when it comes to their predictive nature. According to Hotsenpiller, the Bible touts about a 90 percent accuracy rate, which pales in comparison to our current history books, which are bating closer to around 50 to 85 percent accuracy. “What is the likelihood that the Bible is truth,” poses Hotsenpiller, rhetorically.
Theories at a Glance
There are many different theories considering the end of the world. Some are recycled threats we have heard before, while others are somewhat new in the past few years.
Mayan Prophesy
The Mayan Prophesy is not so much an event, but an ancient calendar which some say foretells the likelihood of an event. One side of its believers are chanting the coming of an awakening and spirituality; the other shouting fire and brimstone. The calendar has been counting down for almost 5,000 years, and it appears to be coming to an abrupt halt on December 12/21/12. “Most of what you’ve heard is BS, written by hucksters who have never stepped foot in Guatemala,” says Omar Rosales, Expert of the Mayan culture and author of The Elemental Shamen. “It’s like Y2K all over again—there are no catastrophes, no earthquakes, no mention of an Apocalypse in any of the Maya texts, glyphs, archeology, or burial sites.”
Conclusion
Myth. 2012 is not an end for the Mayan people, but rather a recycling of their circular long-calendar which spans every 5,000 years. “Even the Mayans know the world is not going to end in 2012,” says Hotsenpiller. “Only Hollywood does.”
Galactic Superwave (Alignment)
The Mayan calendar was developed by priests by tracking stars in the sky, measuring their movement. Part of what makes Dec 21st, 2012 such a special day for many cultures (including the Hopi, Cherokee, Pueblo, Hindus, Incas, Aztec, Tibetans, and Egyptians), is what has been called the Galactic Alignment. This is when the solstice of the sun directly aligns with the center of the Milky Way Galaxy, creating electromagnetic pulse waves (superwaves) that could blast down upon the earth’s surface, causing worldwide devastation.
Conclusion
Myth. “There is no planetary alignment happening on 2012,” affirms Christine Pulliam, a Public affairs specialist for the Center for the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. “A number of planets are going to be on the opposite side of the sun from us, unlike 2000 (Y2K), when we did actually have several planets lining up.”
Chaos/Bee Theory
Caosticians look for ways in which seemingly small variations in objects or organisms can magnify themselves over time, thus creating chaos. The Bee theory is a perfect example. Studies have shown honey bees are flying away from their colonies to die, perhaps due to stress or changes in the earth’s magnetic resonance, but some people have begun to consider that such a seemingly small breaks in the agricultural chain could bring forth famine, war, and mass extinction within just a few years.
Conclusion
Some truth, but no proof.
Mother Shipton & Nostradamus Prophecy
Born of the devil as legend has it, Mother Shipton is one of several prophetic theories published to open our eyes to the signs that the end of the world is near. She is particularly known for her poetic and eerily accurate descriptions of the future. Such verses include:
And men shall fly as birds do now, (Airplanes?)
When boats like fishes swim the sea, (Submarines?)
When men like birds shall scour the sky
Then half the world, blood drenched shall die. (Armageddon?)
Mother Shipton is famous for her prediction of the worlds end in 1881. That date has obviously come and gone, but followers say the above verse proves the end of the world will be soon. Airplanes, submarines, sounds like our modern world, but could it be describing 2012? Maybe, but perhaps one of the most famous prophets known for his predictions is Nostradamus.
Nostradamus’ book, The Prophecies, predicts destruction, turmoil, and end of the world. The final days will come in the form of a dark comet plunging to the earth’s crust, followed by acts of unruly gravitational forces, and boiling seas. Not many people would pay too much mind to such crazy talk, if it wasn’t for several of his predictions appearing to have come true. Nostradamus is said to have predicted the death of Henry II, the great London fire of 1666, The French Revolution, Napoleon, Hitler (WWII), and the assassination of US President Kennedy, leaving one important prophecy to go… the dark comet.
Rob Bast, webmaster of the popular 2012forum.com and author of Survive 2012, puts his vote on the comet as the final blow to earth. “Of particular concern, is that we would not see a dark comet,” says Rob. “One that has lost all of its reflective ice while approaching.” However, Christine Pulliam, a Public affairs specialist for the Center for the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, has a much more optimistic view.
“The prophecies of Nostradamus are very similar to today’s newspaper horoscopes,” laughs Pulliam. “They are vaguely worded and could be interpreted in any number of ways.” The phenomenon of these predictions can best be explained by retroactive clairvoyance (post-diction), which is applying a prediction to an event after it has already happened. It’s kind of like getting dumped by your girlfriend, and then looking back over the day to see if there were any prophetic signs leading to that occurrence.
Conclusion
Mostly myth. “If the writings of Nostradamus were to accurately predict a comet impact,” says Pulliam. “It would be the first prediction he’s had right in 450 years.” Not that we should take a comet impact lightly, as a direct impact into the earth, could cause fires, earthquakes, super volcano eruptions, and a host of mass devastation. Fortunately, automated searches looking for asteroids can also pick up on comets, spotting them months or even years before reaching the Earth. The only truth, Pulliam reminds us, is that we have been hit before and will again, just not necessarily on 12/21/12.
Nibiru (Planet X) & Crustal Polar Shifts
A story goes, 6,000 years ago the Sumerians (modern day Iraq) served “living” gods, called the Anunnaki, who lived on Planet Nibiru (Planet X). It is the Anunnaki who were believed to have created the human race after their own likeness to serve as slaves. Nibiru is the 10th planet in the solar system, is four times the size of earth, and is said to be located too far into deep space to normally be seen from earth. It has also been used to explain the orbit deviation of planets Neptune, Pluto, and Uranus. This dark planet passes by earth every 2,148 years, which would place its next encounter somewhere around the year 2012.
What’s the big deal of a dark, alien planet passing by earth’s surface? According to past history, it could cause a pole shift, which would result in all sorts of ruckus. Imagine the North Pole being shifted around to become the South Pole, but unlike a magnetic pole shift where the magnetic pull of the North and South gradually reverses over thousands of years, the poles would be instantly swapped, forcing the outer crustal portion of earth to spin in the opposite direction. The results would be tsunami’s, earthquakes, and a massive atomic bomb-like eruption of the super volcano located underneath Yellowstone.
Conclusion
Myth. “This is an idea that keeps getting recycled,” says Pulliam. “There is no evidence of a Planet X—it would be visible by now.” Some conspiracy theorists believe the government is purposely withholding information about the dark planet that is hurling towards earth, but Pulliam confirms that would be impossible with the hundreds of amateur astronomers keeping tabs on the midnight skies.
Solar Storms/Solar Flares
There is talk that all the auspicious activity taking place around 2012 could somehow increase our chances of experiencing a severe solar storm of mass extinction proportions. The earth’s outer magnetosphere normally protects us from such storms, but due to the gradual magnetic pole shift we are experiencing now, that field has been weakened, and thus we are slightly more vulnerable.
The last time a solar eruption knocked out power to millions of people, was in Quebec in 1989. Our sun goes through stormy periods every couple of years. Currently we are experiencing a calm period, and prophecy says these storms will be escalated within the next year. With our current predictive technology we have only a 24 hour advanced noticed that a particle storm is headed our way, which would not give us ample time to take strategic action, as a comet or asteroid would.
Conclusion
Possible, but not likely. “There is some science behind this one,” says Pulliam. “The sun does blast charged particles and x-rays to the earth and if there was a really strong one, it could effect the magnetic field and cause ground currents, knock out electric grids and fry satellites,” Pulliam admits that our technology is vulnerable to these occurrences, but it would take something alot stronger than anything we’ve experienced before to cause the mass effects that have been touted for 2012. Furthermore, we are in a calm period lasting longer than usual, and while the fiercest solar activity might come around late 2012, we probably won’t see the strongest storms until 2014.
“…The retreat uneventfully comes in 2012, if they fail to count the number of the beast.”
—The Creative Machine
(Photo via Jonny Chapps Media, Story originally written for UMM)