Did the Mayans Get It Right?
December 21 is the winter solstice. It always happens around this time of year, so what is so different about it this time? For the past 2000 years the winter solstice heralds in the season when we celebrate the birth of Christ, a birth that brought with it the promise of life through God’s Son, Jesus, the Prince of Peace.
Yet this year it foreshadows something different. On October 16, 2012 a 4.6 magnitude earthquake hit Portland, Maine, and was felt all the way to Boston, Massachusetts, followed some three weeks later by a huge storm named Sandy. Sandy is what was considered by climatologists to be a “perfect storm” that literally desecrated New England and reached deep into the Heartland of America with devastation only to be followed by a second Nor’easter a few days later.
However, this time we have more than just the weather bureau forewarning us of terrible things to come; we have had many various and diverse cultures warning about this particular day (December 21) and this particular year 2012) for centuries. Here are a few of them.
When asked by His disciples what would be the signs of Jesus’ return (Luke 21:7), He describes the world as follows: “There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. People will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken” (Luke 21:25-26). (Notice what Jesus warned about in verse 26: “People will faint from terror.”)
When has the world been more fearful of terrorist attacks and wars than on the scale that it is today?
Signs in the sky? How about a crescent moon engulfing a lone star? Is this a sign taken from the heavens?
Nostradamus came from a Jewish family who converted to Catholicism. His name in Latin means “Our Lady” (Notre Dame/Nostradamus). His last book, addressed the year 2012 when he predicted enormous devastation caused by a comet. “In the sky will be seen a great fire dragging a trail of sparks.” Because of its devastation, the world will be plunged into darkness, allowing anarchists to prevail through the nations of the world while ushering in World War III, thus the earth’s destruction.
Nostradamus continues, “King of terror shall come from the sky. He will bring to life the King of Mongols.” This comet will enable China to ascend to worldwide dominance. “The Great Star will blaze for Seven days.” Notice that the Bible talks of Daniel’s last week or the seven years of tribulation and the end of the age. This comet will cause great destruction. “The Huge dog will howl at night, when the great pontiff will change lands.” The pontiff, also known as the pope, resides in Rome; therefore, it too will be destroyed.
The lost Mayan civilization also addressed this ominous date where we read in the Wikipedia account:
“There is a strong tradition of ‘world ages’ in Mayan literature, but the record has been distorted, leaving several possibilities open to interpretation. According to the Popol Vuh, a compilation of the creation accounts of the K’iche’ Maya of the Colonial-era highlands, we are living in the fourth world. The Popol Vuh describes the gods first creating three failed worlds, followed by a successful fourth world in which humanity was placed. In the Mayan Long Count Calendar, the previous world ended after 13 b’ak’tuns, or roughly 5,125 years. The Long Count’s ‘zero date’ was set at a point in the past marking the end of the third world and the beginning of the current one, which corresponds to 11 August 3114 BC in the proleptic Gregorian calendar. This means that the fourth world will also have reached the end of its 13th b’ak’tun, or Mayan date 13.0.0.0.0, on December 21, 2012. In 1957, Mayanist and astronomer Maud Worcester Makemson wrote that “the completion of a Great Period of 13 b’ak’tuns would have been of the utmost significance to the Maya.” In 1966, Michael D. Coe wrote in The Maya that “there is a suggestion … that Armageddon would overtake the degenerate peoples of the world and all creation on the final day of the 13th [b’ak’tun]. Thus … our present universe [would] be annihilated [in December 2012] when the Great Cycle of the Long Count reaches completion.”
Besides the above prophecies or warnings, we may actually be seeing the beginning of the end. A man named Barack Hussein Obama, whose father was a Muslim (remember the crescent moon and star), could be said to be born under that “heavenly” sign just as a person of Christian parentage could be said to be born under the sign of the Cross.
Other earth-shaking events also occurred two days after Sandy, the November 4th storm, with the re-election of one born under the moon sign. Perhaps President Obama’s election is a harbinger of the End Times.
Continue to pray and trust God because our and America’s destiny is, after all, in His hands (Romans 13:1). If this is the end of the age, we can take solace from Jesus who said regarding this time, “But when these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is near!” (Luke 21:28). As for Israel and the Jews, God promises, “I will bless those who bless you, I will curse those who treat you with contempt, and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Gen 12:3).
