A couple of days ago, I noticed there’s a guy who’s been standing outside of Walmart here in Brookhaven, holding a sign. It’s not a “will work for food” kind of sign, or one asking for donations. The white foam poster board reads “Google Planet X” in large black marker letters. Then the next day I saw a bright green handwritten sticker in a drive-thru reading, “You Tube Planet X Get Ready!!!”

So, I Googled and YouTubed.

Apparently what this man wants people to see is a group of 44 videos uploaded within the past two months that supposedly warn of Planet X and/or a celestial body named Nibiru impacting Earth in “an extinction-level event” in October of this year. The narrator is a man named Scott Reed.

Reed claims to have proof of this event from NASA and other sources such as “Russian TV,” the Vatican, the CIA and aliens, and that “the Illuminati” are behind it. Nine of the videos say they are the “FINAL WARNING.” For some reason, it makes me think of The Eagles’ “Hell Freezes Over: The Final Tour — Part 2,” or the 18th spam email that promises me this is the absolute, final, last time this offer will ever be offered for me to learn to play blues harmonica in only three minutes a day.

So who is Scott Reed? Good question. The YouTube video listing only says he is from the United States. He’s a balding white man with glasses and a goatee, a lot of energy and too much time on his hands.

So what does Reed want people to know? Well, he says this is God’s promised destruction of the world and the coming return of Jesus Christ. But there are problems with this.

First, the idea of a cataclysmic event with the mysterious Nibiru was first put forward in 1995 by Nancy Lieder, founder of ZetaTalk, who said aliens told her this through an implant in her brain. The collision would occur in the early 21st century. It has been linked to other events since then, most notably the idea that the world would end in 2012. Then it was Sept. 23, 2017 — the eclipse proved it. Now, it appears that the, um, actual date is in October 2018. Yeah.

Reed says God’s Word, the Bible, reveals that these are signs that the world is about to end, and says it will happen when Earth has a collision with another big rock.

No matter what biblical passages he’s quoting, Matthew’s and Mark’s gospels both record Jesus saying, “No one knows the day or the hour, not even [Me].” He also answers the question of what signs will let people know the end is coming by saying there would be wars, food shortages, earthquakes, persecution, fleeing to the mountains and the gospel being preached throughout the nations. Whether you believe this to refer to the imminent destruction of Jerusalem (which occurred in 70 A.D.) or to the coming end of the world or both, anyone who has looked at history can tell you all of these things have happened and are happening. Is “the end” closer now than yesterday? Of course.

I believe Jesus came to Earth, is the Savior of the world and is coming back as King. I have no doubt. Because he fulfilled every biblical prophecy made about his first coming, I believe he will fulfill every one in Scripture about his second coming. I also believe Scripture when it says Jesus himself does not know the exact day of his return — that’s something only God the Father knows. It seems foolish to believe one and not the other.

There’s also one other thing that Jesus said would serve as a sign of the end: false prophets — people who say anything other than the truth and claim that it is true, especially about spiritual things, the return of Jesus and the end of the world. I’m not calling Reed a false prophet, but I am implying it.

If Planet X or Nibiru or Subaru or Cockatoo destroys the world in a cataclysmic event in October, I will miss my next birthday and I will offer Reed an apology for being right when no one else who predicted a certain time/event/etc. as “the end” has ever been correct. And there have been many, many wrong predictions. Every one, so far.

But if we’re still here in November, will Reed apologize and say he was wrong? More likely, he’ll say that things have changed or been altered and the world is really going to end on (insert date here) because of (insert other earth-shattering news here).

I’ve seen over and over again that God will decide how long I live, not someone or something else. No matter what, I trust in God’s providence. In Reed, not so much.

I’m not afraid. This is fear-mongering, and fear is a liar.

News editor Brett Campbell can be reached at brett.campbell@dailyleader.com or 601-265-5307.