Why do many religious people falsely predict an Apocalypse (Armageddon)?

The "otherwise intelligent" people are just crooks trying to hawk their books, websites, or get money some other way. Some also just like to pull hoaxes. Everyone else that believes in stuff like that is either gullible, uninformed, stupid, or some combination of the three. The world isn't ending in 2012 people. It ends whenever I decide to push the on.