75. 2012 is Coming! In more ways than one.

The year, the movie, and the book.

Here is my first book recommendation on The Future History blogsite:
"2012, The Bible, and the End of the World"
by Mark Hitchcock, Harvest House Publishers, 2009

This book is hot off the press within the last two weeks, and the main subject is the proposed date of December 21st, 2012 for the end of the world (or at least the end of society as we know it) ((or a massive change for the better, a new kind of world consciousness, a new golden age, or other ?wonderful? things.))

This date was also the topic of my post #8, "Dec 21, 2012 (or Dec 12, 2012)" . See that post (click on link) for preliminary information about understanding what we are discussing here.

The big budget film "2012" is supposed to hit the theaters in November 13, 2009 or thereabouts. The film takes the position that the Dec 21, 2012 date will mark the time of Armageddon and the end of the world as we know it. (Followup: And the film did debut on Nov 13 '09, and was mildly popular) (See my reviews at Post #96 & Post #97))

Here is what the back cover of the book says:
The ancient Mayans were expert astronomers, and their advanced calendar cycles end on December 21, 2012. This has spurred worldwide speculation that this date will be a catastophic day of apocalypse for the entire globe. The doomsday scenarios include destructive solar storms, massive earthquakes, a polar shift of the earth's magnetic fields, and total annihilation.

Missing from all the furor is a biblical perspective. Bestselling author and prophecy expert Mark Hitchcock -- whose books have sold over 500,000 copies -- examines the following questions:
** Why December 21, 2012?
** Can we trust the Mayan alarm clock?
** Does the Bible say anything about 2012?
** What signs will tell us that Armageddon is near?

This book provides a fascinating survey of both the historical past and the prophetic future.

Here's the Amazon link: click here for a look at the book. There are two reader reviews there that give it a poor rating for its reading level. I would say that it is written for the person who knows hardly anything about the issues revolving around 2012, both secular and biblical. I may eventually post an review on Amazon -- preliminarily a four-star out of five.

I would add as a personal observation, having read a number of Mark Hitchcock's books, that Mark doesn't go for the sensational, unless called for by the Biblical text (which sometimes is quite sensational by itself). Instead, he tries to de-sensationalize what is floating out there among the people. For that reason, I also recommend his recent book "The Late Great United States: What Bible Prophecy Reveals about America's Last Days" which also can be found on the same Amazon link above.
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