Good morning everyone,
This weeks article will be on whether on not the world will end in the year 2012 as predicted by the ancient Mayan culture. Before we all perish however, I still have time to fill you in on a few details regarding this blog site. After reading the article (that is a hint!!!), scroll all the way to the bottom of the page. You will find an area for comments and I welcome anything you have to share or any questions that I can answer for you regarding scripture, prophecy or the general mess that the world finds itself in today. You may also contact me directly at propheticsword@hotmail.com
The second thing you will find in the lower left corner is called a feedjit---a world map that YOU CAN HAVE FUN WITH, as do I. Anytime anyone in the world hits my blog, a flag pops up over their nation. If you click on the map, you can use your mouse to move the map right or left or up and down. Click the area closest to your home and a map will pop up indicating the city you live in (or at least the largest one nearest you). You can also select the Satellite map which is REALLY COOL!!!
We will only put out one email per week to let you know about the weekly main article but if you have extra time on your hands, the following is my publishing schedule. This may vary from time to time as we travel for conferences, speaking engagements or other ministry requirements:
MONDAYS: Main articles for blog including many dealing with Biblical prophecy as it applies to today's world.
Tuesdays: Answers to questions or comments you send in.
Wednesdays: Referals to intriguing articles or stories from other ministries.
Thurdays: "Back to the basics" Mom, apple pie, Old Glory, church, family and fellowship.
I was very gratified last week by all the responses we received from my first blog article "meet the Cooks". A special thanks to Pastor Jeremiah and Rose Nimely in Liberia. And to our good friends Leon and Teresa, who are doing ministry on the other side of the planet but my traffic map showed me the city you are in. I received lot's and lot's of happy comments regarding the pictures on the blog so here are a couple more.
As you can see my workspace is compact but filled with memorabillia from many adventures throughout my life. I almost always have a baseball cap on and basically believe that there should be a law against wearing anything but sweats. If you ever see a picture of me in which I am not holding a coffee cup, you may well be seeing an imposter! If you look closely at the cup, you will notice a likeness of "GOOFY". I keep this as a daily companion because anytime I begin to take myself too seriously, I just look at the cup.
Before we move on to the really important stuff, a small observation seems in order. Brandy my sweet wife tells me frequently that I remind her of a little boy. Frankly I like that and don't ever intend to grow up. Life is an extremely exciting thing and it certainly beats whatever is in second place. Unfortunately with all the problems in the world today, many people are not doing well with the uncertanties of their future---if they have one at all? Are you one of those? Is your "very secure future" of just a couple of years ago, suddenly crumbling before your very eyes?Are you discouraged? Things just not working out for you? Thinking of quitting?
Let me tell you a story of a man who SHOULD have quit but did not! This man ran for the legislature in a large state and was badly beaten. He tried business, failed and spent 17 years paying off debts of a partner who cheated him. The woman he was engaged to died. He tried politics again and was defeated in a congressional race. He tried to get appointed to a Government position and was rejected. He tried again for the Senate and was again defeated. He tried again 2 years later and was beaten yet again. On top of all that he was painfuly skinny, not good looking, and the object of many jokes. He was unhappily married and his home nation was beginning to fall apart.. His name however will be forever remembered as Abraham Lincoln. No matter what, old Abe did not give up!
Before YOU give up, take some time to pray and spend time with your Bible. Remember just how important you are to your Heavenly Father and the horrible price that He paid for your life and salvation. If you know in your heart that you do not have a relationship with God through His Son Jesus Christ, don't you think it's about time that you gave this some serious thought? I am not much into scare tactics but none of us can avoid the inevitability that this could be our last day on this earth??? Do you really want to take that chance?
If you agree with me then simply say this prayer out loud "Lord Jesus, I repent to you for my sins. I believe that you are the son of God. I believe that our heavenly Father raised you from the dead. I need you in my life and I give myself to you right now, without reservation. Teach me and guide me Lord from this day forward!" If you prayed that prayer contact me for any questions you may have and WELCOME TO THE KINGDOM OF GOD!
A question for you to consider: Has anyone told YOU lately that you remind them of a little boy or a little girl? No? Really? How long has it been? Mark 10:15--Jesus said "Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it"!
Right this second, Brandy is sitting at her desk just across from me. What I see in her is the little girl who is filled daily with the awe of her Lord and what He does every single day in our lives.
So, we are hearing a lot lately about the end of the world happening in the year 2012. Since we are already well into 2010, I guess we don't have much time left to "smell the flowers" or watch for dolphins?
A good friend was visiting my home recently and asked what I thought of the year 2012 prophecy phenomenon. My answer pleasantly surprised him because he had heard so much lately about the "end of the world" being just around the corner. Friends, I can absolutely guarentee that the world will NOT come to an end in the year 2012! That is not to say that big things could not happen in the very near future because frankly we all know that the world and it's governments are in a very real mess right now and seemingly not getting any better. I will do an article later about that but for right now let's remember that the book of Revelation chapter 20 verse 6 tells us that (AFTER) the second coming of Jesus Christ the King, He will reign for a period of 1000 years on this earth---. Chapter 21 verses 1-2 tell us that the new heaven and earth will not become a reality until the first one has passed away---and that all happens AFTER Christ's second coming. Have I missed something here? Did the King come a second time---roughly 998 years ago? No, He most certainly did not and because of this fact, I can guarentee that good old terra firma and it's inhabitants will not come to an end in 2012.
I recommend that you consider a book by pastor Mark Hitchcock with the title "2012 the Bible and the end of the world". In it he explains the media hyperbole involving the so called doomsday calendar of the ancient Mayan people. This is the latest craze among those (sadly including some Christians) who just simply LOVE to live in the dark recesses of doom and gloom. According to Hitchcock, way back in 2008, 16% of Americans answered yes when asked "do you expect any apocalyptic events to happen on December 21, 2012?"
December 21, 2012 is the day that the Mayan calendar ended---the last day recorded by this ancient people group who did in fact have a remarkable grasp of solar and lunar events and were able to calculate a very accurate calendar, extrapolated into the future year of 2012. Actually there were several Mayan calendars in use at various times but the one ending in 2012 is the one that has caused so much speculation regarding the "end of the world"!
The truth is that the Mayan's NEVER EVER said that the world would end on that day. That date, December 21, 2012 was simply the last one they recorded on their calendar. Why their calendar ended on that particular day may simply have been because their last calendar guy died? or perhaps they ran out of paper and ink (stone and chisels)? They went over the calendar budget? Their office of Freddie Mack made too many bad loans? Or perhaps because their society finally came to and end so the calendar was not continued? We simply do not know the answers to this and neither does anyone else.
Were the Mayan's a terrifically advanced civilization with distinctly scientific abilities? Yes, there is no doubt about that. Cudos to them and their very early achievements. Their civilization thrived between 1500 B.C. and 1500 A.D.. At the pinnacle of their ascension in world prominence they numbered as many as fourteen million people. They occupied territory in what is now the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico but they extended into areas currently occupied by Guatemala, Honduras and Belize. There were many cities and one of them was TIKAL. It had about 50,000 residents, over 3000 buildings and covered about 6 square miles. Incredibly, without the aid of modern computers or even telescopes, this ancient people were able to chart the cycles of the sun and moon. A writer by the name of Lawrence Joseph notes that the Mayan's were able to calculate the length of the lunar month to be 29.53020 days. That is only 34 seconds difference from our modern Gregorian calendar of 29.53059 days. In other words, their solar year was estimated to be 365.2450 days minus an error of .0002. Our modern calendar is calculated to be 365.2425 days plus an error of .0003. How is that possible? But they did it! So they recorded this phenominal calendar that ended mysteriously on December 21, 2012. BUT, I reiterate that the world ending on this date is mere reckless speculation and in fact based on Biblical writings is nothing more than "Buck Rogers" science fiction.
The problem is that several MAJOR news outlets including Fox and Friends, the History Channel, Geraldo at large, ABC News, USA Today, the Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, The New York Post, U.S. News and World Report---have all done programs or articles on this phenomenon. Add to that roughly 65000 YouTube clips plus more Web sites than I can count! Then you have the commercial folks who are cashing in by the multiple millions of dollars on the ball cap and t-shirt 2012 frenzy. Then of course there are the late night "talking heads", book deals and survivalist publications, all seemingly MAJORING ON THIS MINOR.
Well, there you have it. Nothing more than hypothesizing on an end of the world scenario that is NOT based upon fact.
My advice? Stay away from this junk. Stay away from star charts or the"lost book of Nostradamus"!
I am sure Nostradamus was probably a nice enough old guy who meant well but the fact is that he had an extremely low success rate at predicting anything substantial. If you want to know what the future has in store for mankind then stick with the BIBLICAL PROPHETS who have a 100% success rate across the board.
Above all, stay far far far away from anyone that tries to set dates about future events. Jesus told us that we SHOULD recognize the "signs of the times" (a future article) but we will not know precisely the timing of future events until we see them occur. Do you remember Y2K? Do you remember the black helicopters and secret concentration camps of the 1980's that were supposedly already in place to lock up all Christians? Have you ever personally seen any of these things or actually known someone who HAS seen these things?
So here is a question for all of us to consider: So what if there are secret plots brewing under every rock? So what if there are black helicopters and storm troopers lurking around to capture believers? So what if there are flying saucers and demons disguised as aliens from other planets? So what if the Governments of the world really are listening in on all of our cell phone correspondance? Wow, if that really is the case then let's spend our time on cell phones talking about Jesus. Maybe some of those dirty old Government spies will get saved? Now let's be clear here because I want you to know that I do not believe in any of this stuff or the paranoia that goes with it. Furthermore, I could care less!
But let's just pretend for a minute that IT IS ALL TRUE! So what should our response be to all this as Christians? For me, if it were all true it simply represents a fantastic opportunity to preach the Gospel even more. Fine, let's get all those aliens and storm troopers down here and give them tracks. Let's do an outreach to the guards at the supposed concentration camps and the pilots of those black helicopters. But for goodness sake let's stop running scared!
Mathew 28:18-20 "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always even to the end of the age."
2 Timothy 1:7 "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind"!
Please allow me to close today by saying that I personally know people that got caught up in the Y2K scare. Now I am not talking about solid believers that stocked up on supplies. Personally I think that it is good to be prepared for a worst case scenario when we are obviously living in a world gone mad. But we STILL have a job to do and getting caught up in the fear factor is a sure way to become paralyzed spiritually. Fine, let's be prepared but in the meanwhile, let's get busy and figure out ways to accomplish the GREAT COMMISSION. Figures vary on this but we are somewhere approaching 7 BILLION people on this earth. Of those about 1 1/2 billion are professing Christians??? If that is the case what do you think would happen if all 1 1/2 billion believers were as serious about the great commision as were Paul the Apostle, Peter, James and John?
Tomorrow I will answer a letter from a dear lady that has been told by one of her pastors that there is no "satan". Also another letter from Canada written by a worried mom who's daughter and son in law were concerned that it may be too late in world history to have children.
God bless you all and keep the Faith!
