Well, maybe not exactly, but it sure looked like Armageddon on Sunday afternoon as the smoke from forrest fires over in Lincoln National Forrest descended upon our community. I was hoping to capture the gloominess of the moment, but I don’t think I quite got it.
I’m not one to look at all the signs and wonders around the world and say, “The end is near!” But I am one to say that Christ could return at any moment. Some believe that there are certain things that must happen before Christ returns, like the gospel going forth to all nations and peoples, or the temple in Jerusalem must be rebuilt, etc. I don’t believe that anything must happen before Christ returns because all that is necessary for His return has already happened.
Remember, the gospel has gone forth to all nations. Yes, I know there are un-reached people groups around the world, but that doesn’t mean that the gospel hasn’t been there before. Places like India, China, and that area all had the gospel there back in the 10th Century because of the Apostle Thomas. There are places, like South America, that didn’t get the gospel until the last 100 years or so, but that shows us it has been there.
The point is that Jesus could return at any moment. Our goal is to be ready for His return by believing in Him while it is yet today.
And I do not mean that in any way that can misconstrued as a compliment. He has broken his silence after his failed prediction of the end of the world on May 21st. What does he say? Basically what I said he would when I wrote:
The problem is, he will resort to his old tactics of spiritualizing what was to take place on Saturday. Once again, many will be duped.
I wrote that back on May 20th. This is Camping’s pattern. Make a prediction that the world will definitely end on a certain date at a certain time. Then when it doesn’t occur, spiritualize the event saying that only the faithful can fully understand what took place. He will then go on to say that we should only follow teachers that understand these deep truths lies. While he knows of no other teachers than himself that teach these truths lies, he is at least open that there could be someone like him.
Camping offered no sincere apology when he spoke publicly Monday for the first time since his failed May 21 Judgment Day prediction. He insisted that his predictions have been right all along, only that his interpretation was more literal when it should have been spiritual.
Judgment Day on May 21 did come, said Camping. However, he clarified that the Judgment Day arrived in a spiritual sense rather than manifesting physically.
“On May 21, this last weekend, this is where the spiritual aspect of it really comes through. God again brought judgment on the world. We didn’t see any difference but God brought Judgment Day to bear upon the whole world. The whole world is under Judgment Day and it will continue right up until Oct. 21, 2011 and by that time the whole world will be destroyed,” he proclaimed. (Emphasis added).
Please, if you are follower of Camping, quit now! Follow Christ and the Bible instead. Also please note: I am far more accurate in my predictions about how Camping will respond when he is wrong than he is in the return of Christ, arrival of Judgment Day, end of the world, the rapture, etc.
Proverbs 12:15 The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, But he who heeds counsel is wise.
The rapture hour has come and gone and we are all still here. We knew this would be the case since Harold Camping has done this before… and that pesky truth in the Bible about no one knowing the hour or day of Christ’s return. But it’s time to step up the pressure on Camping. I know that he will come out and say something along the lines of this being a spiritual rapture, or it’s not a true rapture per se, but one that means there will be no more new Christians. He’ll have an excuse ready to go.
I do like what Southern Baptist Ed Stetzer is calling for: repentance.
The California radio broadcaster’s wrong prediction about the rapture and the end of the world reflected poorly on Christians, said Ed Stetzer, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s LifeWay Research and LifeWay’s missiologist in residence.
Stetzer issued a series of tweets about Camping’s eschatological prediction on Saturday, among which one noted that there was no earthquake in New Zealand after 6 p.m.
“Harold Camping, pls update http://www.family.radio.com w/your repentance statement & instructions to your now-broke followers,” Stetzer tweeted.
An hour later he tweeted again, “6pm here in Turkey. I’m standing at the Temple of Athena waiting for the Rapture. Nothing happened. ”
Of course, Camping won’t do a thing like repent. False teachers never do. They just keep on spewing forth their heresy. I have stopped by the Family Radio page, or tried to, but I can never get it to load. Camping must be busy writing that apology.
We are quickly approaching Harold Camping’s doom date, which is tomorrow. This is really sad because Camping is scaring millions of people with his fallacious prediction that the end of the world will come at 6 p.m. EST May 21. Yet, Camping isn’t willing to put his money where his mouth is. WorldNetDaily is reporting that Sol David Cuddeback of Eugene, OR offered to take possession of all Campings worldly goods for $1 on May 22 since Camping won’t be needing it any longer. Camping has yet to reply.
Let me reassure you, Camping is a nut case. He goes so far to say that we must believe in his prediction of the rapture in order to be saved. No where in the Bible does it say “believe in the rapture as interpreted by Harold Camping to be saved.” What it says is that we are to believe and trust in Jesus Christ for salvation, not a prediction by Harold Camping. This makes Harold Camping officially a heretic. He is teaching another gospel all together. All you have to do is alter the gospel just a bit, and you join hands with him. The gospel is that Jesus Christ saves us from sin and death, through HIS atoning work on the cross. We are to believe in His Second Coming, but there is nothing about believing in a particular date of His Second Coming. Jesus even tells us that we cannot know the day or the hour of that coming. So Camping is at odds with Christ’s words.
Here is a bit of the WND report:
Harold Camping, 89, of Oakland, Calif.-based Family Radio is standing firm in his claim that mankind has run out of time and the Creator of the universe is arriving this Saturday, with earthquakes around the globe heralding the event.
In fact, when asked how he was feeling in this so-called final week, Camping admitted he’s already got a case of the shakes.
“I am trembling. I have never been at this place before,” Camping told CNN. “When we are only a few days away from the last thing that has to happen – the whole world destroyed by God – I have never been here before. Where can you get direction so you know how to feel?”
I hope he trembles on Sunday morning, when he realizes how he is duped so many people. The problem is, he will resort to his old tactics of spiritualizing what was to take place on Saturday. Once again, many will be duped.
Now, some might say: “But Timothy, look at all those who are coming to faith because of this prediction. Shouldn’t we rejoice?” (I know, straw man… but there are those who would naively say this very thing.) Not at all because they are coming to faith in a lie, not in the person and work of Jesus Christ. What happens to all those who believe in Camping’s message, and then it doesn’t happen? They are worse off than if they hadn’t believe at all because now they return to unbelief with a vengeance. This entire news event should sadden us because it is the result of a madman, not the truth of the gospel.
The truth of the matter is that we need to ignore Camping and his ilk. Let the Scripture dictate to us what we believe about the second coming.
Here is Hank Hanegraaff’s refutation of Camping.
I don’t believe in the rapture as Hanegraaff does. But you see that I’m not the only one refuting this heretic.
Realize that the idea of the rapture comes from the Plymouth Brethren about 150 years ago. Before that day, the church never heard of the rapture. What the Plymouth Brethren then did, was read their prophecy back into Scripture. This is a big problem. We are never to read our prophecies or views of the world back into Scripture. Scripture is to dictate what we are to believe and our view of the world. The Plymouth Brethren were doing the same thing that liberals are doing, reading their worldview into Scripture. This leads to heresy every time.
Greg Koukl at Stand to Reason, gives a good biblical account of the rapture, or Second Coming as I would call it, here. (Hattip: Neil.)
Also, there are some good links and an Mp3 download on the topic at Reformation 21, here.
The end of the world is being predicted by a man from New York. His prediction is that the world will end this coming Saturday just before 6 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time.
A New York man spent his entire $140,000 life savings advertising his prediction that the world will end May 21, the New York Post reported Friday.
Robert Fitzpatrick, a 60-year-old Staten Island resident, said he spent at least that sum on 1,000 subway-car placards and ads on bus kiosks and subway cars.
They say, “Global Earthquake: The Greatest Ever! Judgment Day May 21, 2011.”
In a self-published book, “The Doomsday Code,” Fitzpatrick said the Bible offers “proof that cannot be dismissed.”
Read more here. Just allow me to dismiss this guy. I know these people are everywhere. The only reason he is getting attention is that he spent so much money trying to make his case. I hope this lesson is worth the money for him. If Jesus says that no one knows the time or the date, why does this man think he does know? Again… heavy sigh.
BTW, it has occurred to me that he thinks he will make his $100,000 and more this week when his book flies off the bookshelves so that every one else will know what he says he knows. I’m sure there are enough New Yorkers to buy into his scheme.
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