After the Non-pocalypse

Well, it is almost over. In fact, many of you will read this well after it is over. Soon, December 21, 2012—and all of the New Age delirium associated with that date—will be a faded memory. No planetary collision with a “Planet X” or “Nibiru.” No reversal of the earth’s magnetic poles. No UFO rescues. For that matter, no new global wave of peace and prosperity. December 22 will bring the same worldly worries as December 20—and December 21 will have made hardly any difference, like any other day. So, what do we do now?

When December 21 passes with little more than the usual range of world crises—no “cosmic happening” at all—how will people respond? For those who have been most invested in the date, there may still be a temptation to claim that something big did occur—that, although we did not notice it, invisible and ephemeral “cosmic energies” have “permeated our galactic consciousness” to begin a “grand age” of peace and understanding.  Or, perhaps, the reverse—that the end has quietly begun.

Many hucksters who have made loads of 2012-related profit off of “gullibility farming” will simply move on, looking for the next sensational event they can write about to rake in more money from those willing to pay. Those who paid handsomely for special survival equipment, or for prime land in “power spots” said to be favored by the new cosmic convergence, will quickly learn that they wasted their money, and will move on with their lives. Sadly, the handful of troubled people who committed suicide over 2012 fears will not have the opportunity to do even that.

For some, the effect of December 21 will most be felt on the morning of December 22, with hangovers and painful regrets over the choices they made the night before during tongue-in-cheek “end of the world” parties. Most observers, however, will simply shrug their shoulders, laugh, and think to themselves, “Well, there goes another one! Another prophesied ‘doomsday’ come and gone, with the world pretty much just the same as before. You just can’t believe all that junk!”

Yes, there is a lot of “junk” out there in the name of prophecy. Yet your Bible warns of exactly this attitude being common in the days leading up to the actual end of the age, when we are told that “scoffers will come in the last days walking according to their own lusts, and saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming [that is, the return of Jesus Christ]? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation’” (2 Peter 3:3-4).

Did Jesus Christ expect us to be cynical about His return and the end of this present age? No!  He told His followers to “watch” for the signs of the end-times. And indeed those signs are beginning to intensify as never before. The failure of the December 21 prognostications is not an excuse for complacency—after all, we are fragile human individuals, and our personal “end of the world” could come at any time. It is important that Christians not let down their guard, even when a cynical world mocks their beliefs. “And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved”  (Matthew 10:23).

Those who have been seeking the truth in old Mayan calendars will be disappointed. But, when all is said and done, after the New Agers and 2012-ologists move on to other topics, there still remains one clear, predictably accurate guide to future events: the Holy Bible. Its prophecies have unerringly been fulfilled in the past, and its prophecies for our immediate future demand our attention as well. The Bible offers true understanding available nowhere else about the world ahead for all of us. To learn more, order your free copy of our powerful booklet, Prophecy Fulfilled: God’s Hand in World Affairs. And watch our Tomorrow’s World telecast, “How to Know When Christ Will Return!”