The Big Picture

Composite of Cultural Calendars

The prophecies covered by the book Don't Worry... Be Faithful and this web site speak about a new world coming at the change of the ages. In general terms, this is the change from the Piscean to the Aquarian precessional age. There are twelve ages in the great precessional cycle of 26,000 years. As such, this change from age to age is very gradual and can not, by its nature, be pinned down to a single year. The transition between ages as viewed by the stars lasts at least a half century. Of the prophecies referenced, though, some offer calendars and timelines to help be more specific. These prophecies also suggest the new world will manifest after a climax, a climax resulting from many forces building over time and coming together at the end of the age. These forces are drawing out the darkness within us so that we may prepare ourselves to be contributing partners in the new age of peace. Preparation involves purification, coming to terms with all the issues in your life. If you resist these forces, you will find yourself in tribulation.

In Christian terms this climax point has come to be called the Second Coming of Christ. In Biblical terms it is called the Day of the Lord and can also be expressed as the time the Messiah manifests as the lion. In Mayan terms, this point comes once the sun aligns with the galactic core, for there will be a birth of a new world age. The climax point is implied by the sudden end of their calendar for the current age. In Hopi, the climax is called Purification Day. Some ancients called it the Shift of the Ages. I prefer to call this point of climactic change, the point of transformation. This type of transformation does not occur at the change of every age, yet many prophecies indicate to expect it for the current change from the Piscean to the Aquarian age.

The Biblical model of 7 days representing 7,000 years begins around 4,000 B.C. (See "Outer arc" on graph above beginning "Reemergence of Civilization".) However, this date is only approximate, probably within one or two centuries. The model does offer another anchor point, the sacrifice of the life of Jesus Christ, the Messiah come as a lamb. Yet the date of this key point in Jesus' life has been obscured by history and is in question by as much as a decade at a time in history when most dates are known more precisely. Even if the exact year of Jesus' death is known, the model is not meant to be interpreted as saying the Messiah coming as a lion would be exactly 2,000 years later. What it can tell us, when combined with the perspective of the "generation" that will witness all things, is that by the year 2,000 A.D., we are probably no more than a half century away from the point of change.

Even so, the Bible also offers the additional perspective of Daniel's 70^th week, the 7 years immediately preceding the end of the age, as an added guide for specific timing. This is a sequence of events that is prophesied to occur over the 7 years leading up to the point of transformation. In addition, as explained in The Keys of Daniel, it is expected that the Messiah will return on a Jubilee year (49 year cycle); however, the timing of the cycle of Jubilees has been lost to the ravages of time. While this cycle is lost, the underlying cycle of sabbatical years (7 year cycle) has not; and further, it is marked in history by the fulfillment of the first 69 weeks of Daniel's prophecy. From the decree in 444 BC to the Messiah being cut off in 33 AD (according to this reckoning), we follow forward from these sabbatical years and note that the year 2000 AD is also a sabbatical year.

Since a jubilee year follows a sabbath year, the 70^th week will begin and end on the year following a sabbatical year. Since we don't know the jubilee cycle, the best we can say is that the potential for the day of the Lord occurs once every seven years; yet, it is actually once in 49 years but we need to keep watch each seven.

For those who long for the coming of the Lord and wish to hasten the day of the Lord, they should pray that 144,000 of God's faithful will be ready. Each sabbatical year is a reminder that the following year may bring the start of the 70^th week, the covenant involving many nations which affirms Israel and determines the status of Jerusalem. It appears to my eye that as of December 2005, we have not yet entered this final seven years prior to the point of transformation.

The Hopi prophecies describe many events that are signs indicating that the end of our current cycle, called the 4^th world, is near. The point of climactic change is called Purification Day. I am not aware of any calendars or timelines; however, there is a petroglyph of seven antelopes, suggesting seven hunting seasons and thereby seven years. Its signs are a star or comet coming at the beginning and end of the 7 years but how it fits into the big picture is uncertain. Regardless, many of the Hopi events have been fulfilled, so again the indication is that we are close. Another system is that of the Aztec. Their Calendar Stone depicts the current cycle ending by earthquakes and their belief says it will occur at the end of a 52-year cycle. This is a bit vague, but there's probably more of the picture that needs to be uncovered.

The Mayan calendar is a different story, though. It is specific and based on things every culture can relate to: math and the stars. The end of the Mayan Long Count Calendar is based upon a celestial event, the alignment of the sun with the galactic core (For more detail see web site for John Major Jenkins .) The sun, on the morning of the winter solstice, is slowly, at precessional time, moving to the center of the Milky Way galaxy. The optimal point of that alignment can be calculated and that has been done by the Maya. The common translation of the end date of the Mayan Calendar is December 21^st, 2012 A.D., but it can vary by a year either way. This date is 13 baktuns (which translates to 5,125.37 years) from the start of the calendar, August 11^th , 3114 B.C. It is interesting to note that the end of the Mayan Calendar, the winter solstice, is very close to the end of the Biblical calendar, which occurs on Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights. This feast usually comes in December and can fall on the solstice.

If the point of transformation is to happen by 12/21/12, then we should have seen the start of the 70^th week by late November 2005. Since we have now passed November of 2005 and the event has not occurred, then by biblical reckoning, we must conclude that the day of the Lord cannot occur by the end of 2012. Also, we note that 2012 can not be a jubilee year because it does not follow a sabbatical year.

While I believe the Mayans have done the best job on the planet of pinpointing the changing of the ages and the time of optimal energy being applied to help us makes this transition, it still depends on how we process that energy. When do the forces prodding us result in a decision to live the way and thereby affect a transformation?

In the book of Revelation, the Bible makes a key statement about when the time will be right for the final events to begin. Four angels hold back the four winds of tribulation until the 144,000 are ready to be sealed (Rev 7:1-8). The 144,000 are the saints, those people who live the way of Christ, the way of love. In Mayan terms, they are the rainbow warriors. Cayce refers to the faithful making the way clear and passable (262-49). God is the one who guides souls to repentance and ultimately spiritual maturity over the millennia. God knows when the seed of Christ's example will result in the fruit of at least 144,000 people ready to follow his example.

By resurrecting Israel in 1948, God has declared confidence that 144,000 faithful will be ready on time. A generation of people will probably see at best two jubilee years in their lifetime. So one might say there are two opportunities to bring the Messiah in at the right time. Once the 144,000 are ready, God will put the events of the final week in motion so as to end the sequence on a jubilee year. We should realize that as of the year 2005, it has been over 50 years since the formation of Israel, so already a jubilee passed at some point and we were not ready. All should strive to live their lives as Christ now, so that when the time is right, God will have more than 144,000 to choose from when applying His seal to those special servants, the elect, who will witness on God's behalf during the time of the Antichrist: the time, times and half time.

In a world of free will, Daniel 12 and 2 Thessalonians 2 explain how God controls this timetable. The Archangel Michael holds down the forces of evil. The dark side does not finally get strong enough to take control of the world. The forces of darkness have been strong enough. It is the active intervention of the army of heaven that keeps it in check. The world government of the antichrist will come to power because God decides it is time. So at the right time, God will order the Archangel Michael to stand up, to pull back, and thus release the tide. It is by then that we must all be clear as to the object of our daily sacrifice. To what or to whom do we owe our allegiance? We share responsibility for the actions of the institutions and governments we support. To what type of persuasion are we willing to commit ourselves and thereby our souls?

There will be those who demonstrate the passion to remain faithful to the way of Christ, to the way of love with respect for the law, despite the atmosphere giving license to lawlessness. We live in a time when technology has empowered individuals to be able to express themselves in almost any way. What choices do we make when we can do anything we want? For those who remain faithful through this time of temptation and indulging of all desires, these people will surely be transformed and worthy of ruling with Our Lord. The rest will continue the normal cycle of life in a transformed world.

Yet the darkness that is all around in this world comes from us. We created it. It is not something to defeat, but something to come to terms with. We all share some responsibility for the way the world is today. The way we treat each other and the Earth moment by moment, day by day, adds up and accumulates over time. The only way to create paradise is by holding everyone in the highest regard each moment. Every person, every living being, every moment is sacred. If we approach life this way, then we will live in peace. The perspective of the Sabbath is in essence intended to be a reminder of this approach to life.

When we choose to live outside the will of the Creator, living only for today and ourselves, then we end up creating the kind of world we have today. It is collapsing under its own weight. We don't need prophecy to tell us this. But prophecy can help us keep a perspective that life is an eternal cycle that renews and when it does renew after the collapse, our experience in this world should remind us of the consequences of our decisions, our free will, so that in the next world we follow the creator's guidance by choice, with understanding and compassion, rather than just by obedience.

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