Page 32 - 201004 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - April 2010

April 2010_june_july_2009.qxd 22/04/2010 11:27 PM Page 32 32 Doomsday rumors continue to circulate Doomsday rumors continue to circulate By Ben Garcia, Staff Writer April 17, 2010, 7:45 am, Kuwait City. What was expected to be a beautiful Saturday morning turned into a dark night from a horror movie within a nanosecond. The sky turned into a ball of darkness which gradually swallowed the entire country, with complete darkness covering Kuwait for over 20 minutes. Many compared the darkness as being similar to 12 midnight. Me and many others, as it turned out later, wondered why it had happened and what was wrong. Following the darkness a strong rain poured down. People who had watched the late night news concluded that it was the Icelandic volcanic ash covering Kuwait's atmosphere. Apocalyptic rumors The sturdy rumor got worst with people in about the message of 'the Christ'. The website of the 'Church of Critical Kuwait relating the daytime darkness to the And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of Thinking' reveals that the Mayan and Sumerian prelude to the end of the world. Expats wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these predictions are the same. Ironically, although questioned for this article likened the morning things must come to pass, but the end is not the two civilizations lived on two separate darkening to doomsday or to end the end of the yet." He said that in the Bible, it is foretold that continents, the Church of Critical Thinking site world. Natural disasters, such as hurricanes, "nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom claims that their predictions could be accurate earthquakes and tsunamis have always triggered against kingdom: and there shall be famines, based on astronomical calculations. According end-of-the-world rumors. The earthquake on and pestilences, and earthquakes in diverse to the site, the National Aeronautics and Space January 12, 2010 in Haiti in which 250,000 places. Administration (NASA) has located Nibiru, but people died was one such case in point. These signs are coming true, but we can is withholding information about the planet These events have also sparked a never say the exact date of [the Messiah's] from the public "as part of a worldwide resurgence in what religious scriptures say arrival," explained Pastor Espiritu. "The signs conspiracy. about the end of the world prophecy, which are there to remind us that we are mortal men Many scholars have dismissed the idea scholars claim was revealed in the holy books of and we need salvation, that we are sinners and that the world is going to end in 2012. However, the three Abrahamic religions, namely that we need to ask forgiveness and turn away the claim of Sumerians and Mayans could be Christianity, Judaism and Islam. There have from the work of evil." The pastor suggested true. In a report from Reuters on January 24, been countless predictions about the end of the that people should live every day as if it were 2002, a British space expert theorized that a world. Just before the eve of the year 2000, the last or final day of life. massive asteroid could hit Earth on Feb 1, 2019, some predicted that the 'Y2K bug' would hit the Imam Ahmed Yousuf Abaya echoed destroying life as we know it. Many believed world and cause its demise. The rumor never Pastor Espiritu's sentiment, adding that the that this asteroid could be the Nibiru or Planet became a reality. minor signs could be appearing right now, just X. The asteroid - the most threatening object There are other such cases. The most as the Holy Quran predicted, but Muslims ever detected in space - is 1.2 miles wide and recent apocalyptic speculation suggests that the believe that nobody knows the real date of the apparently on a direct collision course with world will end through a planetary collision set end of the world. Earth, according to report. to take place on Dec. 21, 2012. They (supporter We believe that the end of the world will Objects of this size only hit the Earth of the end of the world) quoted what they happen. The major signs have yet to appear," he every one or two million years," said Dr. Benny believed was the most accurate astrological explained. "The Holy Quran mentioned the sun Peiser, an asteroid expert at Liverpool John calculations, which they referred to the Mayan turning red. That is one of the major signs. But Moore's University in northern England as Calendar--the end of a 5,126-year era, after as to when and how it will come, we Muslims reported by Reuters.[] which a new era will come. do not believe what the sorcerers are saying. We In fact Hollywood movies and films don't believe this because we always base our have also tapped into the rich seam of understanding on what the Holy Quran would apocalyptic speculation. The latest of these was say to us. the recently released '2012' and the 2006 Mel Gibson's movie Apocalypto. The Mayans beliefs What religious scholars say? Apocalyptic tales have recurred throughout history and continue to the present Ahmed Yousuf Abaya, a Muslim day. Take the Mayan civilization, for one preacher and Jet Espiritu, a Christian pastor example, which can be traced to the highlands (priest) both agreed that while the end of the of Guatemala, Oaxaca and Mexico. Long before world will come, the rumors of planetary the revelations of the Mayan calendar, the collision, complete with specific dates, should Sumerians in Babylon (modern day Iraq) had be disregarded as these were merely Hollywood their own theory about the end of the world, promotional tales. believing that it was about the coming of what They are not real. The end of the world Sumerians referred to as Nibiru - a planet which is indeed coming just as the Bible says, but they predicted would collide with planet earth in nobody knows when," said Pastor Espiritu. 2012, very similarly to the Mayan prediction. Quoting Bible verses, Espiritu said the end of The planet Nibiru is referred to in contemporary the world will come after the world has heard science as Planet X or the tenth planet.