The Mayan calender caused consternation when it was discovered that the last date on the stone timekeeper was December 31, 2011. The general populace surmised that the end of the ancient civilization's calender meant that the world would end in 2012, the year
not found on the calender. A movie was made, and the tale was immortalized (or at least magnetized), on DVD's all around the world.
The Mayan calender is not the only timepiece that may end this year though.
Just yesterday, the "Doomsday Clock", a large clock face used by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists to depict how close the world is to an atomic destruction, moved one minute closer to midnight, bringing the barometer of human fate to 11:55.
Well,
was moved, I should say. The minute hand has fluctuated back and forth over the years, being anywhere between 2 minutes til midnight when the Cold War began, and almost 17 minutes til when the U.S. and Russia signed the START treaty, beginning to destroy nuclear stockpiles. The recent reset is due to several factors, as the co-chairman of the Atomic Scientist board, Lawrence Krauss, says, "Faced with clear and present dangers of nuclear proliferation and climate change, and the need to find sustainable and safe sources of energy, world leads are failing to change business as usual. As we see it, the major challenge at the heart of humanity’s survival in the 21st century is how to meet energy needs for economic growth in developing and industrial countries without further damaging the climate ... and without risking further spread of nuclear weapons — and in fact setting the stage for global reductions."
So a question: is this clock just hype over the nuclear situation of the world, or is the concern real?
First of all, the mere change of the time on the clock has caused overt amounts of worry and consternation, and though the occurrence has raised awareness, awareness is useless if it is mixed with fear. It is a fact, however, that the world may very well be on the brink of a war. With Iran at some point of the nuclear weapon process, Israel darting suspicious looks at any military occurrence in the Middle East, and with the U.S. still acting in the world as the major keeper of the peace, anything could happen. Russia is sitting back on it's laurels apparently disinterested with the world, yet the laurels it rests upon cover a nuclear arsenal to match the U.S. The end of the world could be right around the corner.
However, the Doomsday Clock has forgotten one variable to the equation, one that cannot ever be defined. Though the nations involved are large and powerful, the God involved is in control of them all. And while leaders may bluster and threaten, they are powerless to kill and destroy until the appointed time. And when that appointed time comes, they will fight. But, being the end of the world, Christ will return in His glory, and the Doomsday Clock will be reset all the way back to the beginning, though never to tick again.
If the end is near, then so is Christ.
