Beware The Doom (Again!)

photo via Google

If you are as entertained by the tabloids as I am, you have no doubt come across the sensational claim by a"Christian numerologist"
(more about him later) and a legitimate sounding source that the world is about to yet end-again. Sigh. This time the date is September 23,2017. Mark your calendars!

According to News4 KTLA, in an article published in March of this year, NASA issued a doomsday advisory that the Earth would be struck and obliterated by Planet X, or Nibriu because the orbits of both planets cross.

They cited Caltech researchers, who described "Planet X" as being 10 times the mass of Earth, supposedly speeding unabated toward our Blue Boat Home. The article states, " NASA continues to tiptoe around the subject" and dramatically concludes, " We all deserve to know our days are numbered".

Huh. Well, I would certainly want to know if that were possible, wouldn't you? Or not.

There are several problems with this declaration of apocalyptic devastation:

News4KTLA is a fake news site. Appropriating and inserting the call letters of the legitimate television station KTLA (Los Angles) and its local channel designation 4 and adding the word 'news' makes this designed as click-bait atrocity look impressive. The first report posted on the web by this fake news site about the "rogue planet" was dated March 10, 2016. The current articles are just re-hashes.

In keeping with previous doomsday missives, the report is a total fabrication. NASA has repeatedly stated that planet Nibriu does not exist. There has never been any warning issued by the agency. They stand firm on their research that no such even planet exists. Scientists at Caltech did find evidence of a hypothetical planet situated deep in space that could possibly fit the bill for Planet X, but according to Jim Green,director of NASA's Planetary Science Division "This is not... the detection or discovery of a new planet. It's too early to say with certainty there's a so-called Planet X. What we're seeing is an early prediction based on modeling from limited observations. It's the start of a process that could lead to an exciting result."

In layman's terms, 'a definite maybe'.

( If the name 'Nibriu' is at all familiar and you have read any of Zecharia Sitchin's works on the Anunnaki creation of the Sumarian culture, you will recall that this is the planet that hosted that particular race of extraterrestrials. Interesting reading even though Sitchin's theories are dismissed as pseudoscience and pseudo history in academic circles.)

In keeping with their love of conspiracy theories and pseudoscience, Fox News (aka Faux News) put forth a statement from 'Christian numerologist' David Meade who cited verses from the Bible as 'proof' that Nibriu was tied in with the solar eclipse in August, and the newest spate of hurricanes (see Luke 21:25-26). Like most Biblical apocalyptic prophesy, Meade's  'dire warnings' are vague, misleading, and applicable  to whatever situation you care to tweak them to fit. He even threw in mysterious codes from scripture and a "date marker" from the Egyptian pyramids of Giza. This set Christian  Dominionist's zealotry aflame, with hopes of the Rapture eminently emerging from forthcoming tsunamis, floods and other natural disasters; if you haven't already figured this out, the Dominionist cult keeps moving the date of the Apocalypse around to suit their agenda ( e.g. so they can gloat about being right later, since only they will be 'Left Behind'). In fact, members of the Dominionist cult ( including the American 'Christian Right') want these world wide afflictions to be see as harbingers of the the End Times so desperately that they will go to any length to shamelessly make their case. Excuse me...I just rolled my eyes so far back in my head that I nearly hurt myself.

Enter the Rev.Ed Stetzer, executive director of Wheaton College's Billy Graham Center, who not only took umbrage to this nonsense, he courageously tore the Dominionist fruit loops "a new one" in Christianity Today magazine,"First, there is no such thing as a legitimate ‘Christian numerologist.’
Sure, the writers of Scripture do, indeed, use numbers to point to a few things—that’s first-year seminary. But, it stops at first-year seminary because there are not secret numerical codes that require a profession called “Christian numerology.” Seminaries don’t offer this as a formal degree nor do any professional, accredited institutions." ( May I also add the observation that many, if not most conservative mainstream Christians would  turn several lovely shades of purple at the suggestion of a 'Christian' numerologist, as numerology in its common form is considered a part of the occult and lumped in with divination and witchcraft in the Old Testament. Their heads would explode.)

Oh, and by the way, David Meade, the Fox News expert, doesn't have any formal training in numerology or academic credentialing to back up his theory. In other words, it's simply his opinion, which, like all opinions,and  combined with a dime, will fail to buy you a cup of coffee. If this so-called 'Christian numerologist' has actually ever read the Bible, he would have come across the proclamation found in Matthew 24:36"  "But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father."( New International Version)
 As if this weren't enough, as Rev. Stetzer points out ,Meade doesn't seem to exhibit any real evidence of training in Christian scripture for him to speak empirically to these matters with any legitimate authority. Plainly put, he is talking out of his ass.

Please do read Rev. Stetzer's article found at the following link. It puts everything into perspective concerning false End Time claims and false prophets. And it takes a hearty jab at religious news outlets and Christian news 'sharing', for good measure.http://www.christianitytoday.com/edstetzer/2017/september/end-times-fake-news.html
And so, despite all the boo hoo and hoo hoo of the latest Dominionist cult heralds, I'll be back AFTER September 23...presumably unscathed. In the meantime, may you reap the blessings of Mabon, and the comfort of Harvest Home.