Calculating the Approximate Date of the Apocalypse?

The Apocalypse — Impact.

As the year 2012 draws on, a part of humanity brood over the Mayan calendar predictions that allegedly establish the year 2012 as the end-date of a 5,125-year-long cycle in the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, which might refer to cataclysmic or transformative (if we’re lucky) events in the making. While I was wondering why this particular source of eschatological beliefs is such a hit among doomsday prophecies lovers since " Mainstream Mayanist scholars state that predictions of impending doom are not found in any of the extant classic Maya accounts, and that the idea that the Long Count calendar "ends" in 2012 misrepresents Maya history", it occurred to me that our good old Bible — as valid a source of historical events and past predictions as the Mayan calendar or any other mythology for that matter — could provide a way of calculating at least an approximate date of the Apocalypse whatever the word implies.


If you’ve ever read the Revelations, the 20th book might have especially mystified you.

Revelation 20
1 And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.

2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,

3 And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

Why not finish him off altogether? A thousand year break before the second sifting? That’s holydays! Or they‘re kind of short of staff in the Heavenly Office?

4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

So some virtuous souls will rise from the dead for a thousand year paradise, while the rest will be leading a miserable life or stewing in the purgatory. At first glance, that doesn’t seem much different from modern society — a bunch of self-serving nobs enjoying dolce vita, while the rabble will at best paddle in a rut. I wonder what the “mark” will be, so far the only clear mark on the forehead of a human being has been that of stupidity.

5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.

6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

So only the blue-eyed boys / teacher’s pets were handpicked for the first resurrection.

7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,

8 And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog, and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.

That’s the second sifting, but where will the nations Satan is going to deceive come from, if only “the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands” will be raised from the dead the first time?

9 And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.

10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. 

Does this mean that the Earth and heaven will be destroyed? Or is it just a figure of speech?

12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.

These two verses hold the key to the date of the apocalypse, in my humble opinion. You see, all the dead will be rallied to be judged according to the imprinted chronicles of their evil deeds, which means that starting from Adam every single human being that ever lived on Earth will have to rise from the dead, join those currently alive and therefore be physically present on the planet, unless the living humans will be judged in a joint session with the ghosts of the dead.

Pharisees believed in reincarnation and Jesus didn’t deny anything that Pharisees claimed, then all the dead will be born again, so it’s only logical to deduce that once the earth population equals the total number of those who had died since the dawn of time it could be the right time for the final purge to start.

Total number of the dead = Earth’s population —> Apocalypse is due

I would even hazard a conjecture that the final number could be somehow related to “the human number” 666.

The current trends in human society seem to substantiate this hypothesis: unchecked population growth is reaching unsustainable levels, our deeds stink to high heaven and technological progress is destroying our habitat. Sounds like a good time for Divine Power to take action.

The total number of the dead can be calculated by summing the results of population census results / nose count results throughout history, however the snag is that a couple of variable should probably be thrown into the equation, for example — on the assumption that multiple reincarnations are true (a central tenet of most religions) we can infer that the total number of the dead should be divided by the number of reincarnations per soul to calculate the exact number of the souls to be judged. After all, what counts are the souls, not the physical bodies. Another moot question is whether the idea of commutations of souls between animals and humans should be factored in too.

Anyway, some luminary could try and work out an equation or create a computer model.

14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life (a specific genetic marker?) was cast into the lake of fire.

As a matter of fact, after a thorough reading of the text you get a feeling that the whole Revelations story is best interpreted in the light of a massive alien invasion and the ensuing war.
Personally, I’m inclined to believe that ‘It is a major misconception that Apocalypse means the end of the world; it is much closer to "the end of the world as we know it."’
 

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