ULC Sermon about 2012

Universal Life Church Sermon - 2012

Before we get started tonight on a journey over many eons of time I have to tell you that throughout my life I have been called a Gnostic because of my desire to seek knowledge of God and the religions of the world to better understand my God and as well theirs. 

I have been called pagan for the image of God I see is not some super imposed super human being setting on the edge of the universe judging us for our transgression. Then My peers have called me heathen or rebel. For my God is the life within us and around us spread throughout the universe. A vastness beyond our comprehension of space and time. This evening I'm going to bring to light topics that are theories, mixed with conspiracies and mystery.

We are going to travel back in time beyond the birth of Christ to the land of the Egyptians, and the Mayan and journey to the island of Patmos in the Mediterranean Sea. As we explore the Mayan 2012 Calendar and the Book of Revelation of the Christian Bible.

We will explore the Lost Books of the Bible, Dead Sea Scrolls and other predictions handed down through the ages of our existence. We will ask questions that throughout centuries we have plagued the universe in hopes to find answers to meaning of it all, and to come to peace with ourselves and the life, which we share with all creation.

In today's world, which we live, there are problems and societies ills all around us. We are faced daily with the question what can be done? Some will tell us that nothing can be done it is human nature! There is nothing we can do, so why bother? If it comes, let it come. The hassles and confusions wars, plagues, and destruction have come to be the mainstream of the self-professed civilization we live in. 

Made up of societies and cultures from all corners of this third rock form the sun and each one of us are a part of what is going on.

Yet, in our day's busy hustle and bustle we go about to and foe with blinders on like a horse drawing a carriage in Central Park of New York so we are not distracted from the world around us. However, we cannot escape the TV, The Internet, newspapers, magazines where we are confronted with, "the world is in decay and us along with it."

But "STRANGE ENOUGH" at this very moment upon Earth, there are heighten energies, of discovery, awesome enlightment, and new knowledge with each new dawn, that has never existed before. The opportunities and challenges of today's world are the climax of all that has proceeded us or were every created.

Never since our dawning existence has the population been greater than ever, by 216,000 births a day, give or take a few on either side. Never before has our biosphere been in such a state, with global warming, holes in the ozone layer and on and on. Not necessarily reflecting, the most balanced, healthy, or sane way to operate. It is for us to decipher how to live our lives with truthfulness to determine what truths empower us to model our lives according to our greatest potential.

All that is manifesting around us reflects the sacred strengths of these prophetic times.

More than ever we are seeing with a clear mind. Regardless belief, love, beauty, and compassion flood the world with multi-faceted victories of art, co-creation, communities coming together in support of one another, a healing and evolution shine all around us, that enlighten the spirit grace of our true self.

This all exists even tho around us down the block. Around the next corner or across the globe the world is in fear, with brutality, pain, disease, endless anguish of anxiety, separation, disconnection, confusion, and isolation alongside the toxic realities of the egoist, with their callous greed and corruption, materialism, additions and their dangerous ignorance.

Science reveals that (Earth's heart-beat), and the magnetic fields of the planet are dropping - reflected in the shifting migration patterns of animals. These shifting of the Earth's body allow physical and emotional patterns, conditioning, beliefs, attitudes, programming, and us to release unwanted baggage - mental. Simultaneously, that which we think or desire is becoming actualized increasingly swiftly.

• Temperatures are already on the rise. Since 1970, winter temperatures in the country have increased by an average of 1.3 degrees per decade—changing and damaging marine life, forests, agriculture, recreation and human health.
• Extreme storms are becoming more frequent. East coast for example, can expect a coastal flood equivalent to today's 100-year flood every two to four years on average by mid-century, and almost annually by the end of the century.
• The oceans are rising. Scientists project that sea levels could rise another 4.5 feet by the end of the century—inundating our coastline and claiming countless low-lying communities
• Heat waves are expected to increase. Within our children's lifetimes, Northeast cities could experience 20-30 days above 100 degrees causing pain, distress and even increased mortality for our vulnerable citizens.
• Our snow season is becoming shorter and shorter. By late this century, the length of the snow season could be cut in half across country, and reduced to a week or two in southern parts of the region, a trend that may have already begun.
• Plant and animal populations are shifting northward. Species like the fir and spruce are expected to all but disappear from the region by the century's end. The Baltimore oriole, American goldfinch and song sparrow populations will become much less abundant.

The facts speak for themselves. It's clear that the road on which we're traveling is a dead end. Fortunately, we have the opportunity to make a u-turn—but it's going to take your help to turn this world and this rock around.

What can you do about it?

As we catapult towards the point of no return, it's time to hit the brakes and begin change. I'm not speaking of plaguing congress and world governments to make climate changes to laws that have proven to be wrong, or for some that may have given us a dent in the overall problem, we as beings upon this rock have created. The change begins with ourselves, and how we view our world and ourselves.

A lot of us even tho we may not say wander about the end time's wither we are going to be affected by the planetary alignment of 2012, will the world tilt on its axis.

On the other hand, will Jesus come, judge our sins, and give us paradise or damnation.

On the other hand, will we explode our rock with nuclear holocaust amiss a war as never seen before between good and evil? Of course, we have to ask ourselves as beings that may fight that war, just who are the good or evil. Of course, there are always the facts of possibility of super volcanoes or the big earthquake. Or will we choke to death by our own emissions. What a mess we have made and the funny thing is no God or gods have helped us do it. We have done a good enough Job on our own.

I'm no prophet yet there are some truths behind all I've said. First, I want to speak of the Mayan 2012 December 21^st. Is it doom or new beginnings? Regardless of belief, the Mayans were not alone.

This time we are now in has been called "The Time of Trial on Earth," "Judgment Day," "The Time of Great Purification," "The End of this Creation," "The Quickening," Not to be confused with the Highlander series and movies "The End of Time as We Know It," "The Shift of the Ages." It is foretold that the completion of the Precession brings regeneration of Earth, offering awakening to all open willing hearts. Many peoples spoke of these last days of the Great Cycle, including the: Maya, Hopi, Egyptians, Kabbalists, Essenes, Qero elders of Peru, Navajo, Cherokee, Apache, Iroquois confederacy, Dogon Tribe of Africa, and Aborigines.

The apocalyptic view popularly attributed to the Maya, many New Agers believe that the ending of this cycle will correspond to a global "consciousness shift" and the beginning of a new age. This theory is grounded in a apocalyptic vocabulary dating back to the 1950s and draws on many of the same sources and personalities of the 1987 Harmonic Convergence. Established themes found in 2012 literature include "suspicion towards mainstream Western culture", the idea of spiritual evolution, and the possibility of leading the world into the New Age, by individual example or by a group's joined consciousness. The general intent of this literature is not to warn of impending doom but "to foster counter-cultural sympathies and eventually socio-political and 'spiritual' activism".

Well, technically, the planets will never perfectly align. If you are looking at it from a 2-D perspective (from above) it seems that they would. However, if you look at a 3-D perspective, you will see that the planets are not all on the same level.

The planets when they do get close enough to be considering in alignment, there won't be too much to notice from it. If you are an astronomer or know what to look for, then you would have something interesting to look at in the sky in the weeks leading to and after the alignment. What you will be able to see is the planets grouped very close together.

In no way will this cause an eclipse. Mercury and Venus are way too small and too far away to cast a shadow on the Earth. The only thing that can cause an eclipse is the moon. That happens all the time already so you don't need an alignment to see that. You may have to travel to a different part of the world to really get a view of it though.

Some people have claimed that when the alignments of the planets happens, their increased gravity will wreck havoc on Earth. That is not true. The alignment will not increase their gravity or combine the effects of their gravity. The gravity that Mars or Venus impact on Earth is insignificant and would be impossible to measure. The same goes for the planets that are even further away. The gravity of Jupiter (the planet with the most gravity in our solar system) has no effect on Earth. The closest Jupiter ever gets to Earth is 365 million miles. The effects of its gravity are weaker and weaker as you move away from it. After 365 million miles, there is almost nothing left to feel. Therefore, the alignment of planets will not cause something bad to happen on Earth.

Will Jesus come, judging us giving us paradise or damnation? Depending on whom you listen to, Mathematic, theology, or biblical scholars will tells us the book of revelations tells us of our doom. What I'm about to tell you will put me on thin Ice with ministers and Christian alike. Yet the facts stands that John the individual who wrote the book was imprisoned on the Island of Patmos

Modern scholarship suggests that John the Apostle, John the Evangelist and John of Patmos were three separate individuals. This can be determined via new means of inquiry such as textual criticism. Certain lines of evidence suggest that John of Patmos wrote only Revelation, neither the Gospel of John. For one, the author of Revelation identifies himself as "John" several times, but the author of the Gospel of John never identifies himself directly. While both works liken Jesus to a lamb, they consistently use different words for lamb when referring to him—the Gospel uses amnos, Revelation uses arnion. Lastly, the Gospel is written in nearly flawless Greek, but Revelation contains grammatical errors and stylistic abnormalities which indicate its author may not have been as familiar with the Greek language as the Gospel's author.

Most commentators accept Revelation to be the unified text of one writer. Robert Henry Charles saw things slightly differently. He agreed that Revelation possessed an underlying original structure because the seven beatitudes, which exist unobtrusively in the text, have not been disturbed and that the first of these is right at the beginning (1:3) and the seventh near the end (22:7), Thus, prologue and epilogue are part of the original. However, he reasoned on internal textual grounds, that the book was edited by someone who spoke no Hebrew and who wished to promote a different theology to John's. As a result, everything after 20:3 has been left in a haphazard state with no attempt to structure it logically as John would surely have done. Furthermore, the story of the defeat of the ten kingdoms has been deleted and replaced by 19:9 and 10. John's theology of chastity has been replaced by the editor's theology of outright celibacy, which accounts for 14: 4 'they which were not defiled with women: for they are virgins', and which makes little sense when John's true church is symbolised as a bride of the Lamb. Most importantly, the editor has completely rewritten John's theology of the Millennium which is "emptied of all significance" In the edited version, the martyrs when raised to glory, are "sitting on thrones in splendid idleness for full one thousand years" when, according to Charles, John's intention had been to show "the Millennial Reign is one of arduous spiritual toil" in which Christ and his martyrs evangelise the whole world, Jewish and Gentile.

It has been contended that the core verses of the book, in general chapters 4 through 22, are surviving records of the prophecies of John the Baptist. The Lamb of God references in the Gospels are all associated with John the Baptist, and other hallmarks of Revelation can be tied to what is known of John the Baptist. With this take into acount that John the Baptist lost his head on the King's daughter request. John the Apostle is believed to be one of the 12 disciples. Matthew links John's death as well with Herodias, as he related that her daughter so much delighted Antipas with a dance that he vowed to grant her any wish to which, after asking her mother (Herodias), she demanded the head of John the Baptist. (Matthew 14:6-8) The Gospels date John's death before the crucifixion of Jesus. Josephus places John's death no later than 36 CE (common era). Neither Josephus who was a first-century Jewish historian ,nor the Gospels state where John was buried, though the Gospels state that John's disciples took his body and placed it in a tomb and then told Jesus all that had occurred, to which Jesus replied that there had been no greater son of woman than John the Baptist (Matthew 14:3-12). I believe that John of Patmos imprision on a barian Volcannic Island saw visions and wrote what he saw. Was it the destruction of Rome or today's predictions depends on who you talk to and your belief.

If a comet hit the Earth, would not all the wars end immediately as we bonded together or would a rogue leader use it to initiate international aggression? In a little more than five years, all the major prophecies in the world coincide into a singular event. From the Book of Revelations to the Bible Code and from the Hopi to Lakota prophecies, they all agree and are starting to synchronize. There is a time in the future coming soon when they all agree about what will happen. Are you ready? It is a time to prepare now not out of fear but hope and excitement. Something both terrible and wonderful is about to happen.

Some will tell us the book of Revelations is unfolding in Israel now. According to the prophecy, Jerusalem is where this final battle is to be played out. No stranger to conflict and violence, this city is the focus of dreams of eternal paradise. According to most Christians' beliefs, this is where Christ will come back to earth. But first, the Jews must return. Most Christians believe that the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 was a fulfillment of the biblical prophecy and since then 'the last days clock has been ticking'.

Many Christians interpret the US government's policies on Israel and the Middle East from a biblical point of view. Many Israelis are very worried about the kind of 'support' they are being offered. Some say this is not based on Israel's needs and that there is no support for peacemaking. On the contrary, the agenda of the Christian Evangelicals is war, to fulfill the violent prophecy of Revelation.

Provocatively, some Christians have joined forces with fundamentalist Jewish groups who want to rebuild the Temple of Solomon, touching on the ancient Jewish yearning for their destroyed Temple. However, the place where they plan to build it has deep meaning for the three Abraham religions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The Temple Mount is Islam's 3rd most holy site, Al-Aqsa Mosque. The spot where Muslim, Jewish and Christian believers think that God created Adam, Abraham prepared his son Isaac to be sacrificed, and according to his vision, Muhammad was carried on a winged horse.

The Hopi prophecies came from a man known as Time's Special Witness, around 7th century Mayan prophet Pacal Votan. He left a universal message for future generations of an evolving Earth. Proclaiming "If humanity wishes to save itself from biospheric destruction it must return to living in natural time." He foretold of our accelerated technological society and the resulting damage of our collective divergence from Natural Law in exchange for materialist values.

Votan's prophetic call is alerting present-day humanity that our biological process is transforming, approaching the culmination of a 26,000-year evolutionary program. Bringing the return of universal telepathy, heightened sense capacity, and self-reflective consciousness, this is a return to the sacred domain of our inner technology. This grand cycle of evolution will culminate winter solstice, December 21, 2012 AD.

The Lakota prophecies are called The Prophecy of White Buffalo Calf Woman. To the Lakota, the birth of a white buffalo is a sign for the whole world. It is said that when this calf matures, it will turn the four colors of the peoples of the earth (white, red, brown and black), and upon turning black, the world and all its peoples will be united in peace. The birth of a white buffalo is said to be the fulfillment of age-old legends.

It's a one in 60-million chance that a pure breed buffalo will be born white. And an even smaller chance that it's offspring will also be white, but a couple near Belle Fourche say they have a matched set. Three years ago Jim and Dena Riley were surprised with a very special new comer at their bison ranch, a white buffalo, who they call Miracle Moon. And now that she's three years old, Miracle Moon has had her first baby, another white buffalo. Jim and Dena have named their new white buffalo Rainbow Spirit. "My husband saw a rainbow in the sky right after the birth so it was kind of appropriate to name her that," says Dena. This buffalo unfortunately died.

The birth is significant to many because Native American cultures tell of a young woman who taught them how to use the buffalo for survival. When she left the people, she turned into a white buffalo and promised to return. When she returned it would be a time of chaos and disaster in the world. And when she returned it would be a time for all races to come together in peace, balance, and harmony, and bring healing to the world.

The Nostradamus predictions have been interpreted many ways but his end-times predictions are very clear. From Part IV: The Time of Trouble. Prelude to the Antichrist and W W III, there will be volcanoes, earthquakes, floods, droughts, famines and rioting. The death of a world leader and revolt coincides with a comet. Fiasco from communication breakdown between two superpowers causes Russian and American submarine and naval confrontation. Crazed leader launches atom bombs on Mediterranean and Europe.

A third world leader creates strife. Antichrist profits from radar research in Europe. International political and social incidents occur. War-game simulation by Britain in Europe leads to disaster. American Electoral College voting ends in stalemate. Earth abuse causes agricultural devastation in U.S. and Britain. Underwater Russian submarine base defanged by diplomacy. Extraterrestrials shot by paranoid nation and bacteriological agents released. Extraterrestrial probe discovered by scientists.

From Part V: Scientific Achievements in the Time of Troubles. Dangers of weaponry mixed with natural disaster. Weather modulation devices go awry causing ice and hail. Nuclear reactor meltdown near city with underground chambers. Space shuttle accident releases microorganisms into atmosphere. Devastating accidental weaponry explosions from earth tumult. Ruptured earth energy fields cause meteorite storm. Research into warping time leads to disaster. The weapons of W W III are new, horrific, secret and radical weapons monstrosities. WMDs unleashed on San Andreas and New Madrid faults. Antichrist obtains WMD through espionage, bribery and treachery. Death caused by radio waves.

The Bible Code predicts wretched cosmic. Meager year for 2010. God year for 2012. 2012 has comet impact. Revelation 16:18 "No earthquake like it has ever occurred since man has been on earth." Revelation 16:21 "From the sky huge hailstones of about 100 pounds each fell upon men." 2012 is Day of Judgment. 2012 is human extinction.

Looking for confirmation of published code on a possible cosmic impact with an extremely large body (60 miles diameter) in 2012 could be corroborated with other codes. The odds on any one of these matrices appears to be on the order of one in a million, and to get 33 of them might lead someone to think that an important message was embedded. The probability estimate is driven by the relative rarity of 5, 6, and 7-character words and the fact that multiples of these words are found in the same frame. Let us all pray that it's not the extinction of the human species that we might find encoded here. In America 2012-2013 Ohio may be one of the few places in America that will still be habitable after Yellowstone erupts. There are persistent rumors about internment camps being prepared for use in an emergency.

It seems that there is going to be a time when many great and terrible things will coincide into a body and spirit opening for many and death of the ego for most. It is time to get prepared. It is not a time to fear but a time to embrace what will be world unity and eventual world peace. A time when our super senses will be activated fully and we will experience life in a whole new way. It happens in less than 2500 days

Metaphysical predictions

2012 is sometimes claimed to be a great year of spiritual transformation (or apocalypse). Many esoteric sources interpret the completion of the thirteenth B'ak'tun cycle in the Long Count of the Maya calendar (which occurs on December 21 by the most widely held correlation) to mean there will be a major change in world order.

In Conclusion

We are living in strange and interesting times friends! And many times the word apocalypse comes up in regards to "the end of the world" etc. But the REAL meaning of the word is to "uncover," a "revelation," to REVEAL.

The poor stone carver of the Mayan calendar ran out of rock or broke his chisel.

John on the island of Patmos wrote to the 7 churches in a code so his Roman guards just thought he was crazy or writing a fantasy.

Hollywood's "2012" opens in cinemas, featuring earthquakes, meteor showers and a tsunami dumping an aircraft carrier on the White House.

A Guatemalan, says the doomsday theories spring from Western, not Mayan ideas.

It may sound all too much like other doomsday scenarios of recent decades — the 1987 Harmonic Convergence, the Jupiter Effect or "Planet X." But this one has some grains of archaeological basis.

One of them is Monument Six.

Found at an obscure ruin in southern Mexico during highway construction in the 1960s, the stone tablet almost didn't survive; the site was largely paved over and parts of the tablet were looted.

It's unique in that the remaining parts contain the equivalent of the date 2012. The inscription describes something that is supposed to occur in 2012 involving Bolon Yokte, a mysterious Mayan god associated with both war and creation.

However — shades of Indiana Jones — erosion and a crack in the stone make the end of the passage almost illegible.

Archaeologist Guillermo Bernal of Mexico's National Autonomous University interprets the last eroded glyphs as maybe saying, "He will descend from the sky."

Spooky, perhaps, but Bernal notes there are other inscriptions at Mayan sites for dates far beyond 2012 — including one that roughly translates into the year 4772.

And anyway, Mayas in the drought-stricken Yucatan peninsula have bigger worries than 2012.

"If I went to some Mayan-speaking communities and asked people what is going to happen in 2012, they wouldn't have any idea," saids, a Yucatan Mayan archaeologist. "That the world is going to end? They wouldn't believe you. We have real concerns these days, like rain."

The Mayan civilization, which reached its height from 300 A.D. to 900 A.D., had a talent for astronomy.

Its Long Count calendar begins in 3,114 B.C., marking time in roughly 394-year periods known as Baktuns. Thirteen was a significant, sacred number for the Mayas, and the 13th Baktun ends around Dec. 21, 2012.

"It's a special anniversary of creation," said David Stuart, a specialist in Mayan epigraphy at the University of Texas at Austin. "The Maya never said the world is going to end, they never said anything bad would happen necessarily, they're just recording this future anniversary on Monument Six."

Bernal suggests that apocalypse is "a very Western, Christian" concept projected onto the Maya, perhaps because Western myths are "exhausted."

If it were all mythology, perhaps it could be written off.

But some say the Maya knew another secret: the Earth's axis wobbles, slightly changing the alignment of the stars every year. Once every 25,800 years, the sun lines up with the center of our Milky Way galaxy on a winter solstice, the sun's lowest point in the horizon.

That will happen on Dec. 21, 2012, when the sun appears to rise in the same spot where the bright center of galaxy sets.

Another spooky coincidence?

"

"If we want to honor and respect how the Maya think about this, then we would say that the Maya viewed 2012, as all cycle endings, as a time of transformation and renewal,"

As the Internet gained popularity in the 1990s, so did word of the "fateful" date, and some began worrying about 2012 disasters the Mayas never dreamed of.

Another History Channel program titled "Decoding the Past: Doomsday 2012: End of Days" says a galactic alignment or magnetic disturbances could somehow trigger a "pole shift."

"The entire mantle of the earth would shift in a matter of days, perhaps hours, changing the position of the north and south poles, causing worldwide disaster," a narrator proclaims. "Earthquakes would rock every continent, massive tsunamis would inundate coastal cities. It would be the ultimate planetary catastrophe."

The idea apparently originates with a 19th century Frenchman, Charles Etienne Brasseur de Bourbourg, a priest-turned-archaeologist who got it from his study of ancient Mayan and Aztec texts.

Scientists say that, at best, the poles might change location by one degree over a million years, with no sign that it would start in 2012.

While long discredited, Brasseur de Bourbourg proves one thing: Westerners have been trying for more than a century to pin doomsday scenarios on the Maya. And while fascinated by ancient lore, advocates seldom examine more recent experiences with apocalypse predictions.

Dooms day predictions have been, predicted, and handed down throughout the ages. If 2012 as the western culture predicts perhaps we will see a change in ourselves and our world.

The bible states we know not the time of Christ's Return and if we are in the last of times we have only began to scratch the surface of the signs of His coming. That is if the book of revelations predicts our doom and not that of the Roman Empire.

If I have pasted on this evening a desire for you to research the topic spoken of so that you may come to your own conclusions, then I have done what I set out to do. 


Pastor Pat

********************************************

To ordain yourself with the Universal Life Church, for free, for life, right now, click on the Free Online Ordination link.

Rev. Long created the ULC seminary site to help ministers learn and grow their ministries. The Seminary offers a huge catalog of materials for ministers of the Universal Life Church. 

Try our new free toolbar at: ULC Toolbar