The world will come to an end in December this year, an American evangelical pastor and conspiracy theorist has claimed.
Citing Mayan predictions, Reverend Paul Begley said that the ancient South American people were eight years off in their original alleged prediction that the world would end on December 21, 2012.
Addressing his congregation on YouTube, Mr Begley said that the Mayans had got a few forecasts wrong, adding that another possibility for the apocalypse was June 21.
Speaking on June 21, he said: "Of course, the Mayan elders said this could have been the end of the world today [21 June]. They might have made a mistake.
"Well, they obviously made a mistake on December 21, 2012, so they said maybe today would be the end of the world.
He added: "December 21, 2020, during the great conjunction when Jupiter and Saturn come within 0.1 degrees of one another and create the brightest star in the skies since the star of Bethlehem.
"So this is so rare and it's going to be on the winter solstice. It's going to be on December 21, 2020. The Mayans are now reorganising and saying this could certainly be the end of the world as we know it."
Mr Begley, who said his birthday happens to fall on December 21, went on: "Some of the Mayan elders, who were so big on the end of the world on December 21, my birthday, in the year 2012, they missed it. They're now saying that they were eight years off and that this Sunday [21 June] could be the end of the world according to the Mayan calendar.
"But if it's not then it's definitely going to be on my birthday, December 21 2020, during the great conjunction.
"You got two shots at the apocalypse according to the Mayan calendar again."
Experts have consistently rubbished conspiracy theories linking the Mayans to predictions about the end of the world.
Writing in Syfy, astronomer Phil Plait said: "There is no suggestion, not even a hint, in Maya writing that they thought the end of this current [time period] had any connection to doomsday. It's entirely possible it may have even been thought of as a time of celebration (just like we celebrate New Year's Eve).
