Answer
Nibiru is the name given to a large planetary object that is supposedly going to crash into Earth at some point in the not-so-distant future. This event is commonly known as the Nibiru cataclysm. Some link the idea of Nibiru with the Mayan calendar’s “reset” date of December 21, 2012. Some believe Nibiru is what the Bible refers to as “Wormwood” (Revelation 8:10-11). Is there any truth to the Nibiru cataclysm / end of the world theory?
First, we’ll look at Revelation 8:10-11, since this passage is cited by some believers in the Nibiru cataclysm. It reads, “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.” Many Bible interpreters believe this passage refers to some kind of interplanetary object, likely a meteor or comet, crashing into Earth. While this sounds similar to the Nibiru idea, the object the Bible describes is much smaller. If a planet-sized object were to crash into Earth, it would do far more than poison the waters. It would very likely destroy the entire planet. So, no, what the Bible refers to as “Wormwood” is not the same thing as Nibiru.
All reputable astronomers and planetary scientists dismiss the idea of a planet-sized object crashing into Earth in the foreseeable future. While ancient Babylonian mythology contains some parallels to the Nibiru concept, the modern Nibiru theory was invented by a woman in the 1990s after she was supposedly contacted by extraterrestrials called Zetas. She has since predicted the arrival of Nibiru multiple times. As each of her cataclysmic predictions fails to occur, she simply adjusts the date. The origin of the Nibiru theory is yet another reason to reject it.
The idea of a Nibiru cataclysm is not supported by the Bible or by science. Like the Mayan prophecy and other end-of-the-world theories, the Nibiru idea is a result of irrational fear and biblical ignorance. The Bible gives a great deal of information about what will happen in the end times. While the idea of a space object crashing into Earth has biblical support, the Bible also makes it clear that the world will not end due to Nibiru or anything else impacting Earth. The world will end when God makes all things new: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away…” (Revelation 21:1).
