Nicholas Melone
Mr. Yeagley
English 12
15 March 2010
The World Ending
Why I chose my topic…
Flipping through the channels on the television, I will go through several of my favorites,
one of these being the history channel. It will not take long on the history channel till I begin to
notice the topic is not so much concerning history but the dark future ahead, and the end of days.
Odd for a channel that labels itself with the word “History”. The topic of the end of the world is
one everybody knows, but may not fully understand. With so many theories being thrown
around, countless movies with apocalyptic scenarios, it makes me wonder which ones are based
on fact, and which ones just came out of somebody’s head while they sat around looking at the
stars? The history channel has a number of shows, some on Nostradamus, a famous man who
some believe was able to tell of future events, and others such as the antichrist, black holes, the
sun exploding, and many more.
I always found these shows interesting yet it makes me wonder, how the world could
possibly end in so many different ways, and it doesn’t help when nearly every show claims that
it’s happening soon. What to believe and what not to believe? So I decided that this would the
perfect topic to look into further. To find out where these theories of destruction come from,
what proof there is of them, and what are the chance they would even happen. Because we all
wonder what will happen in our lifetime, what catastrophic events we will live through. We
wonder, will I be here for end of all days?
What I already know about my topic…
A difficult part of this search is the vast amount of information thrown around on the
internet. There are countless websites that claim to know the truth, that lie about all their
information, and contradict themselves so many times its ridiculous. At this moment I am aware
of the big date, December 21st 2012, the date many people say is the end of times. It is said that
the Mayan calendar ends on this date, and some alignment of the planets or galactic alignment
will occur. But it doesn’t end there for the year 2012, earthquakes, volcanoes, and tsunamis have
also been said to occur. Also the possibility of the antichrist and Jesus coming back again. A
good example of all this mayhem would come from the movie 2012, released in late 2009. It
basically covers a sudden heating up of the inner earth which causes the earth to crack.
Volcanoes erupt, cities fall into bottomless pits throughout the planet, and a giant tsunami
dangers those that survive all this. It is such a farfetched and catastrophic movie that I am sure it
has people thinking about the year 2012 already and wondering if they should be preparing for
something.
So it would seem somebody is certain that something is coming. But being this sure
about an apocalyptic theory had its problem before. A memorable one would be the Y2K
theories that were thrown around before the new millennium. People believed the moment the
clocks reached 2000 many electronics would malfunction and cause mayhem. People got ready
for it, but the year came by; companies had checked their computers and made sure of no
malfunctions and it came by just as any other year.
So far my knowledge of the end of the world has shown me that it is filled with wrong
dates, false theories not backed up by any proof, and many people scared about things they are
not even sure of. Even at some points I felt scared knowing that theories claimed the world
would end in 2012. I looked at so many different things that are going to occur in that year, and
felt assured that something would end up happening. With all these random theories I still do not
have a full understanding of how I feel about the year. So with this began my search to find
some answers, and to maybe ease some of the tension people have on this scary topic.
The Search
To start my search I had to know where to begin. I need to get a basic idea of what has
been predicted, what has failed, and what has yet to come. Also where some of these major
theories began? And of course why they even began in the first place? So I figured I would do a
basic search on Google of “end of the world” and see what exactly I’m getting myself into. I
wanted to get a start on how many theories I may be looking at, perhaps a list of some sort. And
to my luck within the first two results that came up, one contained a list of 220 dates when the
world was going to end, just perfect, the other result being a flash video joking about a nuclear
war that destroys the planet.
As I opened the list I was surprised by just how many people believed the world was
going to end at different dates throughout history. In early times many people believed the
messiah would come to save them. In the year 500 multiple people had claimed that it would be
Jesus Christ’s second coming, one of these theories had the proof based on a random fact, “A
Roman priest and theologian in the second and third centuries, predicted Christ would return in
A.D. 500, based on the dimensions of Noah's ark.”
As the list nears more present times it becomes more and more populated, which is most
likely due to the fact that there is more recorded history, and the world was becoming more
connected with communication. Some of the ones that I found funny were two different dates
where people claimed that the return of Jesus was soon, and found themselves and their
followers as invincible. But soon after this claim they were killed, clearly showing their theories
were wrong, and nothing had occurred. 1988 was another busy year with a book called “88
Reasons Why the Rapture is in 1988”, with this there were people frightened that they were not
on the right path and they began attending church. Many looked for the new coming of Jesus
with excitement. The person talking of this time in 1988 said on the list, “I personally had
friends who were measuring themselves for wings. In the dorm where we lived, my friends were
also openly confronting all of the unsaved.” But for those that believes they were faced with
disappointment.
As I move down the list I come on to what has yet to happen. According to the list, next
year, 2011, we will see the rapture, a time when followers of Christ will rise up with him in
heaven. The proof of this theory is Noah hearing of the great flood in 7 days. The date of this
occurrence is a supposed 4990 BC. They claim that these 7 days also means 7,000 years. When
you add 7,000 years to the date Noah heard this it puts our destruction in the year 2011. It would
be a sad day for all those preparing for the year 2012, for they would never expect it to be a year
earlier.
With this successful first search of faulty theories, it is possible to divide these theories
into those that are religious and those that are based on some scientific belief. So on the
scientific side the year 2012 is as big as it gets. The third page I had seen on Google earlier
would be useful to get some idea about some facts for the year 2012. It is an article posted on
NASA’s website about the year, and why it is nothing unusual when it comes to the facts. As it
is plainly put by NASA, “Nothing bad will happen to the Earth in 2012. Our planet has been
getting along just fine for more than 4 billion years, and credible scientists worldwide know of
no threat associated with 2012.” So there it is, NASA themselves stating there is nothing wrong.
There is no meteor, and this supposed planet alignment they claim will not happen in the next
few decades.
One other thing NASA claims to have no evidence of is the so called “Planet X” or
Nibiru as some call it. I do recall seeing many videos on YouTube about the topic. One video I
had seen even had a whole series that gave you preparations you should be making for when it
arrives. But what was this planet exactly? On the bottom of the NASA article I followed a link
to another page from someone known as Phil Plait. On this page he covers the bad astronomy
found behind the proof of Planet X, or Nibiru. He claims that “Nancy Lieder, Mark Hazlewood
and the rest of these Planet X people (hereafter referred to as "PXPs") are completely wrong. No
rogue giant planet is about to destroy the Earth, in May 2003 or otherwise. The webpages on this
and other sites give lots of details, but I thought it might help if I made a brief synopsis of the
arguments I and others make to debunk this pseudoscientific silliness.” These people must have
been the start of this huge scare of Planet X. He has much back up as to why these theories are
false, and even posts a picture that was used to prove the existence of Planet X and says how the
person who came up with this picture also claimed they had made it in Photoshop. So is this
whole Planet X thing some large hoax?
So I took the search to where this Nancy Lieder does most of her work. On Zetatalk.com
Nancy Lieder tells of her telepathy with the alien race known as the Zetas. These Zetas speak to
Nancy about the incoming Planet X and the troubles it will bring. She regularly posts videos up
on YouTube to update her followers on current troubles. Most of which she blames on Planet X.
She claims most of the explanations for today’s catastrophes as cover ups all used to shroud the
existence of Planet X. One video that she posts she uses the same picture NASA mentioned was
a fake that somebody even claimed to have made. Nancy dates the picture to 2003, which is the
year that she previously said Planet X would arrive. So I am going to have to side with NASA
on this one, how is a planet supposedly so close in 2003 still the same distance as it is now, and
why can we not see it with our naked eye yet?
This was almost unbelievable how many gaps there are in her logic. I could only have
hoped to ask her how she was contacting these aliens and when this telepathic communication
with aliens began. Also, why would these aliens that are talking to her give her false information
on a date in 2003? Can you really delay the end of the world? So as I looked around for
information on her and I began to notice she did not seem to want to be questioned. I figured
this by looking at some of the conversations she had with other people where she resorted to
name calling to try and disprove them. But I was able to find an interview someone had done
with Nancy that asked many questions I was wondering.
In this interview done on the Lou Gentile Show in November 2004 Nancy explains how
she first became connected with the Zetas. She claims that around the age of 8 she was
physically contacted by the Zetas, and it wasn’t until she was 55 that she was aware of a
telepathic connection with the Zetas. So she was able to relay messages to the world from the
Zetas, and this is what started Zetatalk. She tells him that the Zetas said “in the near future we’re
going to have another one of those passages and it will cause a pole shift, and they were very
exacting in their description of what this pole shift would entail. Now this was in addition to a lot
of other stuff the Zetas were talking about - life forms from other planets, moving in and out of
other densities, do we reincarnate, how does that work, what happens when we die, why are we
having increased UFO sightings and alien sightings.”
She goes on to talk of how the Zeta’s mission is not to prove of their existence and that is
why they do not go out of their way to prove themselves. But after the pole shift there will be a
hybrid race that we will all be reincarnated to. We will become immediately futuristic in our
ways, and the world will change dramatically. This is all of course after a supposed 90% of the
population is wiped off the face of the planet. At this point I am actually not sure what causes
these deaths, all I know that she claims is a “pole shift”. So I personally do not believe in any of
this, especially since I read of her false date given by these so called “Zetas”.
With all these false scientific theories, the only ones I find believable are ones put out by
scientists that have such a slim chance of happening, or they are incredibly far into the future.
Like the date our son becomes too hot and scalds the earth, which will be happening in a couple
billion years, which I would say is long enough for us to figure something out. Our earth is also
always threatened by asteroids and meteors, but every object people get frightened about are said
to have an incredibly small chance to hit earth. So I think it is safe to say there is no scientific
proof of impending doom on the earth, at least not anytime soon.
The other possibilities range within religion. This is all based on what you believe for the
bible has the chapter Revelations which is located at the end of the bible. It supposedly describes
the end of days which people contribute to the antichrist, and the new coming of Jesus. Many of
these religious theories of apocalypse are supported by the famous prophet known as
Nostradamus.
His theories were said to show three antichrists. The first, Napoleon Bonaparte, and the
other, which may come as no surprise to most, Hitler. So just who is the third? He is said to be
code named, Mabus. There is much speculation as to who it is but what is said to be true, is that
9/11 was the start of the days of the antichrist. For the most part, as I searched through possible
candidates, none of them seemed possible to deceive us as an antichrist would. The one I felt
held almost no backup was the theory that Obama was the antichrist. There was a simple way of
playing around with his name, combining it with Bush, forming ObamaBush, and if you look in
the middle you see Mabus. So once again, Nostradamus may put out many theories that are
either coincidence or he is lucky, but it seems nobody is ever able to use it to predict anything.
They only seem capable to put the pieces together after it has already happened.
What I learned…
Throughout this search for answers it seems that much of the scare for immediate
destruction is all based on false information and strange coincidences. At least in the realm of
science this remains true, one other possibility is the religion based ending to times. But even
with this there is a quote from Jesus which was located on the initial list of 220 dates of the end
of the world, “Mathew 24:35-36 "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words shall not pass
away. But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the
Father alone." Jesus Christ.” I feel that this quote sums up most of what I have seen in this
search for answers. Those that seek the answers to apocalypse in the Bible may want to look at
that quote, because if they take the Bible literally they will only contradict themselves if they feel
it tells them the ending.
In this search I found out how many theories are based on random facts and coincidences.
People bring up old, outdated information to support their claims. They gather followers and use
them for support. I learned that humans throughout all of time have been thinking the world will
end in their lifetime, so this is nothing new, simply put people just want answers in life, they do
not like uncertainty. The best example of this dating back is on another list of I had found of
many theories, “ca. 2800 BC According to Isaac Asimov's Book of Facts (1979), an Assyrian
clay tablet dating to approximately 2800 BC was unearthed bearing the words "Our earth is
degenerate in these latter days. There are signs that the world is speedily coming to an end.
Bribery and corruption are common." This is one of the earliest examples of the perception of
moral decay in society being interpreted as a sign of the imminent end.”
Conclusion…
If the world was ending all the way back in 2800 BC, I feel it’s safe to say we are okay
for quite some time if we can hang around for 4800 years after the “imminent end.” So this
whole search has shown me that we should lighten up. I was sure that we were not in any major
problems before, but now after looking at this topic deeper I am even more certain of that now.
These theories are mostly based on false information spread around by fearful individuals
looking for answers.
Many will try to scare others, sadly it is sometimes to promote their publishing and get
money out of people. Some people may just like the attention. But overall we are in no for sure
trouble. The world has been fine for quite some time, and I am sure it will remain to do so. I
have renewed faith in our planet that it will keep us safe. And currently the main harm that is
done to it seems to be done solely by us. The search for answers went well and as expected I had
found many false theories. Whether it be Nancy Lieder and her Planet X theories, the strange
theories behind Nostradamus, or random thoughts on the year 2012, it seems there is nothing
gained out of believing in such theories. So next time you hear of an insane theory, think of the
possibilities behind it, and live your life without worry, because odds are its just some scare
tactic promoting some book.
Works Cited
"220 Dates for the End of the World!!! Date Setters!" Interactive Bible Home Page
www.bible.ca. Web. 14 Mar. 2010. <http://www.bible.ca/pre-date-setters.htm>.
“A Brief History of the Apocalypse.” 22 June 2003. Web. 14 March 2010.
<http://www.abhota.info/end1.htm>.
Hogue, John. "Nostradamus: Mabus, the Mabus Code - WHO IS IT?" Nostradamus and Other
Prophets, Prophecies, Predictions, by John Hogue. Web. 14 March 2010.
<http://www.hogueprophecy.com/nostradamus/mabus.htm>.
Lieder, Nancy. Interview with Lou Gentile. Lou Gentile Show. 24 November 2004.
Lieder, Nancy. “Zeta_Report_-_SOHO.mov.” 18 December 2009. Online Video Clip. Youtube.’
Accessed on 14 March 2010 < http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9SbQq70nhY>.
"NASA - 2012: Beginning of the End or Why the World Won't End?" NASA - Home. 06
November 2009. Web. 14 March 2010.
<http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/2012.html>.
"Obama Is Mabus Antichrist." Godlike Productions - Conspiracy Forum. 10 Jan. 2008. Web. 14
Mar. 2010. <http://www.godlikeproductions.com/forum1/message486743/pg1>.
Plait, Phil. "Phil Plait's Bad Astronomy: Misconceptions: The Planet X Arguments in a
Nutshell." Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine. Web. 14 March 2010.
<http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/misc/planetx/nutshell.html>.
1. Why I Chose My Topic (2-3 Paragraphs)-------------------------->15 Points/ 15
2. What I Already Know About My Topic (1-3 paragraphs)--->15 Points/13
3. The Search: Steps I took to complete my research (1-2 pages)--->50Points/47
My Interview (1-2 pages)--->30 Points/0
4. What I Learned (1-2 Pages)--------------------------------------------->25 Points/24
5. Conclusion/Reflection (1-2 pages)-------------------------------------->20 Points/20
6. Works Cited---------------------------------------------------------------->15 Points/15
134/170
Nick,
It is obvious that you did not find somebody to interview. I would have picked a scientist or
someone along those lines at a larger university. That aside, I really enjoyed reading your paper
as it was interesting and well written. You did a good job a finding and implementing your data.
I few times you could have been more a part of this, but overall this was well done. Thanks.