Credit: LeClair/Reuters/Corbis
Apparently 2012 will not see the end of the world, but just the transition into a new era. This is according to Australian researcher Sven Gronemeyer, who said the Mayan calendar ends at 2012 because the ancient Mexican culture was looking forward to the arrival of one of its gods, Bolon Yokte (For more go to Mayans never predicted).
As a Christian and a believer in the Bible, I was never too concerned about the doomsday predictions. On one hand, I didn’t share the snarky suspicions of some in the media, who view all such prognostications with furrowed-brow condescension. The Bible does talk about an end of this current world system and a world ruled by Jesus. But Jesus was very careful to say that he didn’t even know the hour or the day when this would happen, only the Father.
Some might look at this new information about the Mayan calendar as a prediction of the coming of the antichrist. I think it’s a stretch since the Mayans believed Bolon Yokte was the god of creation and war. One interpretation of biblical prophecy, which I hold, says there will be a 7-year period of rule by a figure who sets himself up as god. This 7-year timeframe, known as the Tribulation, is predicted in places like Daniel 9:27. About this world ruler, 2 Thessalonians 2:4 notes,
He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.
At the end of that 7 years, Jesus will come to establish his rule. So, will we see the antichrist at the end of 2012? Only God the father knows. In 2 Thessalonians, Paul says the arrival of this person will be marked by amazing and miraculous displays of power meant to wow and woo the earth’s population into following him. Daniel says this person will make a peace treaty with the people of Israel. I suppose if we see someone doing grand and spectacular things and talking about making a deal to guarantee Israel’s safety, then we’ll have something to worry about.
How will I react when the arrival of the end is near, if I live to see that day? I 
hope I have peace and confidence. I think I will. I do know this, whether the day of reckoning is near or far, I should cultivate the attitude of the famous believers of the past, who, rather than have such predictions rattle their world, were “longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them” (Hebrews 11:16).
No Mayan prediction or any other prognostication can mess with that certain destiny.
