Ted’s Response:

Indeed, 2012 does seem to be very significant to many religions, cultures, and even scientists. December 21, 2012, commonly is accepted to be the end of the 5,125-year Great Cycle on the Mayan calendar. The ancient Egyptian calendar may predict the same. The Chinese "I Ching" also seems to predict the end of history in 2012.

Some claim that Nostradamus wrote about a devastating collision with a comet-planet in 2012. Many scientists say that in 2012, the earth is to complete its cyclic 26,000-year wobble (as part of the precession of the equinoxes); and our solar system will align with the plane or equinox of our galaxy, the Milky Way. This is to cause potentially catastrophic gravitational tugs on the earth and on other bodies in our solar system.

Other predictions of the end of the age seem to include a major shift in the earth's poles, by Albert Einstein and by NASA; the final Pope by St. Malachy; the return of Atlantis by Edgar Cayce; a maximum in sunspot activity by many scientists; and even the destructive entrance of the planet Nibiru (or "Planet X") into our solar system. There's even a website that shows several ways in which 2012 may be the "doomsday" year: December212012.com.

Common "doomsday" scenarios, leading up to the so-called "end of the world," include a marked increase in droughts, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, climate change, intense solar storms, famines, plagues, pestilences, human suffering, disregard for human life, wars, increased terror attacks, and an escalating nuclear threat. I believe that all of the latter are distinct possibilities, and that many are certainties—especially during the last half of the 70th Week.

In fact, the year 2012 does fit precisely into my final seven-year hypothesis. However, it has nothing to do with anyone else's predictions or prognostications of that year. My deductions and calculations are based solely on the timing and content of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), combined with passages taken from the Bible.

For instance, Isaiah 34:8, 61:2, and 63:4 all seem to indicate that God's "day of vengeance" will last for one year; and I would place the devastating beginning of this catastrophic and cataclysmic period, very possibly, in the Fall of 2012. In short, on my proposed time frame, the Second and/or Third Trumpet Judgments very likely would strike late in 2012:

The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water—the name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter (Revelation 8:8-11).

First, in the Bible, here is the first part of the prophecy that addresses the final seven-year period (known as the 70th Week):

He will confirm a covenant with many for one "seven," but in the middle of that "seven" he will put an end to sacrifice and offering (Daniel 9:27a).

Now, here are some facts about the seven-year ENP:

• It was funded on October 17, 2006, and established on October 24, 2006.
• It is scheduled to run for exactly seven years: from January 1, 2007, through 2013.
• Israel was the first non-European nation to sign on.
• The ENP confirms, strengthens, complements, and reinforces a prior agreement: the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (EuroMed), also known as the Barcelona Process, of 1995.
• There are several things planned for review in 2010, the middle of the seven-year agreement, including animal rights evaluations.

Now, let's count 1,260 days from the week that the European Neighbourhood Policy was funded and established: October 17-24, 2006, which I consider to be its practical starting point. We come, 42 months later, to the week of Passover: March 30 through April 6, 2010. Presumably, once the third temple is standing in Jerusalem, Passover week will be one of the primary times of the Hebrew year to sacrifice animals and present offerings to God. Yet, if 2010 is the year in which the protection and welfare of animals are re-evaluated, this might be a reason why such sacrifices and offerings are put to an end in the middle of the seven-year period.

Next, I will explain what I believe will take place in 2012, assuming that my seven-year time line is correct. First of all, to understand the proper chronology, let's look at a prophecy spoken by Jesus to His disciples:

So when you see standing in the holy place "the abomination that causes desolation," spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand—then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains (Matthew 24:15,16).

He will confirm a covenant with many for one "seven," but in the middle of that "seven" he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing [of the temple] he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him (Daniel 9:27).

The woman fled into the desert to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days (Revelation 12:6).

We know, then, that the things Jesus predicted after this point will take place during the last half of the 70th Week. For instance, He said,

For then there will be great distress [or great tribulation], unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again. If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened (Matthew 24:21,22).

Immediately after the distress [or great tribulation] of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken (Matthew 24:29).

I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as late figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind (Revelation 6:12,13).

At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other (Matthew 24:30,31).

Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and every free man hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. They called to the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand? (Revelation 6:15-17).

Rosh haShanah always takes place on a new moon. Before methods were available to calculate the exact time of each new moon, no one knew the exact day or hour of the new moon until two witnesses, peering into the sky, detected the first tiny sliver of the waxing moon. Upon their announcement, Rosh haShanah, officially, would begin. Thus, when Jesus said, "No one knows about that day or hour [of His appearance in the sky]...," He most likely was making an explicit reference to Rosh haShanah.

Even if we could know in which year Jesus' aerial appearance will be, Rosh haShanah, traditionally, is observed on two consecutive days. A shofar (ram's horn or "trumpet"—Psalm 81:3, 98:6; Joel 2:1,15) is blown on both days. So we would not know on which of those two days, nor at what hour, Jesus will materialize in the clouds. Only the Father knows.

So, following the opening of the Sixth Seal, the primary Rapture event will take place.  Then the Seventh Seal: the Day of the Lord will ensue, during the initial phase of which (the "day of vengeance") God's wrath will be dispensed upon the earth, via the seven Trumpet Judgments. This will be God's righteous vengeance (Isaiah 34:8, 61:2, 63:4)—a direct and specific response to the slaying and spilling of blood, during the Fifth Seal period, of slain believers whose souls will have been crying out for God to avenge their blood (Revelation 6:9,10). No longer will the blood from these slain believers be concealed (Isaiah 26:21).

I propose that the "day of vengeance," composed of the Trumpet Judgments, will contine for one year (Isaiah 34:8, 61:2, 63:4—see The Seventh Year). It is from the wrath, during this period, that true believers will be protected (1 Thessalonians 5:9), via the Rapture. But can we deduce when the Rapture event will take place? I believe that we can—once we know the beginning point of the 70th Week.

Jesus fulfilled all of the Jewish Spring feasts at His first coming. As such, it is expected that Jesus will fulfill the Jewish Fall feasts at His second coming, beginning with the Rapture on Rosh haShanah and His second advent to earth (as the Rider on a white horse), at the Great Trumpet (shofar) of Yom Kippur (Leviticus 25:9; Isaiah 18:3, 27:13; Zechariah 9:14; Revelation 11:15).  Moreover, He will accept the worship of many nations, in Jerusalem, annually, on Sukkot or the Feast of Tabernacles (Zechariah 14:16), five days after Yom Kippur.

If a Hebrew month is considered to be 30 days in length, then 84 months (7 Hebrew years) would consist of:

84 months × 30 days/month = 2,520 days.

If September 14, 2013 is the day of Jesus' second advent to earth, and if the "day of vengeance" is to last for a year, then we would expect for the Rapture to take place about a year prior to Jesus' second advent. In fact, the first full day of Rosh haShanah, in the prior year, is on September 17, 2012. Potentially, on this date (or, perhaps, on the next day: September 18, 2012), the catching up of multitudes of Christian believers will take place (whom John saw in heaven in Revelation 7:9,10). Soon thereafter, the Seventh Seal will be opened, beginning the "day of vengeance" period for a year. (Perhaps the Seventh Seal will be opened on September 19, 2012, allowing exactly a 360-day Hebrew year to transpire until the day of Jesus' physical advent to earth.)

The "day of vengeance" (lasting a year) will consist of the seven Trumpet Judgments (Revelation 8:7–10:7). These judgments by God will devastate the earth. The Second and Third Trumpet Judgments will be like this:

The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water—the name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter (Revelation 8:8-11).

These probably will cause the most devastating destruction to earth, and to mankind, ever to take place in human history. This certainly could qualify as the "culmination of things as we know them," which is a common description of many proposed 2012 events at websites such as December212012.com. My three-part Chronology of Revelation should be helpful in understanding, even better, the sequence of events to take place during the 70th Week.

By the way, biblically speaking, God has considered days of the new moon to be significant (1 Chronicles 23:31; Psalm 81:3; Isaiah 66:23). On a Hebrew calendar, the beginning of each new month (also known as Rosh Chodesh), as well as the beginning of each new year (Rosh haShanah), commences with a new moon. Interestingly, there was a new moon on my proposed beginning of the 70th Week: October 22, 2006. It seems quite plausible, then, that we have entered the final prophesied seven-year period of this age and that God has determined that it would begin on a new moon. If so, then 2012 will be an extremely significant year, in many ways.