Apparently billboards are appearing all over the US announcing that Jesus will return on 21st May 2011 … (Insert your favorite scoff here). These have all been put up by folks who are followers of Harold Camping.
Who? … (Yea, thats exactly what I thought as well, and no I’ve never heard of him either).
Now this next bit will not surprise you, but apparently only his ministry has the pure truth. According to him all the others have their own unique set of doctrines and hermeneutics which dictate how they understand the Bible, so only they get the pure truth. (Sigh! … its an oh-so-familiar pattern … least you wonder, more or less every belief system on the planet will tell you that they alone have the most correct version of the truth and all the others have got it wrong).
So according to him, Jesus will return on 21st May 2011 … but why that specific date? Well if curious, here is a link to his website that nails the date. I’d recommend you don’t bother clicking the link, its total bollocks, but if curious to understand the mindset, it boils down to this … Apparently it was exactly 7000 years ago that a 600 year old chap herded every single species on the entire planet into a boat. I’ll not even bother to attempt to explain his bizarre logic that allows him to attempt to work out the precise date, there is only so much “stupid” that can be handled within a single blog entry.
Now, what is quite surprising here is that he has done this before, his previous prediction for the end of the world, within one of his books, was September 1994. That date has long ago come and gone, and yet this wingnut has people who are moronically stupid enough to be still following him. And so we now have a family who have been so sucked into this insanity that they have now paid for all these billboards.
As for the end of the world on 21st May … allow me to make a prediction for you … it will not happen, the 21st will be followed by 22nd May, at which point the believers will do the usual hand-waving shoe-shuffle dance we always see what such dates come and go, then proceed to suffer some form of collective alzheimer’s that allows them to completely forget this and instead proceed to spout some new date … exactly as they did the last time with the 1994 date.
As always folks … when faced with outrageous claims … be skeptical.
please read what is at number 7
http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/number_line.png
Every single person on earth needs to try and talk to God on their own “in the closet” if you will. Relationship with God is PERSONAL. If you have that, you won’t be swept away or brainwashed by lunatics! That said, God has given me NO indication he’s coming on May 21 and He is NO RESPECTER of persons.
Couldn’t agree more that this sort of claim is bizarre and ridiculous. But there is also a human cost to it that really angers me where people have sold their houses and given all thy have to someone like Harold Chambers.
Jena, interestingly, atheism is exactly what the early Christians were executed for as they denied the pantheon of Roman and Greek gods.
Dave, I think that the problem that many people get their knickers in a twist about is what sort of writing is the Bible. Its not a history book (although it has some history in it) and Christians do themselves a disservice when they tackle it in this way – as a factual manual. So, take Jonah. I think that some amazing writer thought about the court prophet in 2 Chronicles who prophesied against Assyria and wrote a really clever piece about God’s love even for our enemies using loads of literary devices.
Anyway, down with charlatans such as Harold Chambers, and I really worry for his followers on May 22nd.
Stamping Out Harold Camping
I don’t care a fig for date-setters, especially those who predict when Christ will return. The current champion is 89-year-old, headline-grabbing Harold Camping of Family Radio fame.
Is Second Coming date-setter Harold Camping worthy of death? He already has a zero batting average after his September 1994 prediction fizzle and, according to the Bible, is a false prophet.
Nevertheless that California shaman, who should be ashamed, claims he’s found out that Christ’s return will be on May 21, 2011 even though Matt. 24:36 says that no one knows the “day” or “hour” of it!
A Google article (“Obama Fulfilling the Bible”) points out that “Deut. 18:20-22 in the Old Testament requires the death penalty for false prophets.”
The same article reveals that “Christians are commanded to ask God to send severe judgment on persons who commit and support the worst forms of evil (see I Cor. 5 and note ‘taken away’).”
Theologically radioactive Harold Camping and his ga-ga groupies (with their billboards featuring “May 21, 2011”) should worry about being “stamped out” if many persons decide to follow the I Cor. 5 command.
The above article concludes: “False prophets in the OT were stoned to death. Today they are just stoned!”
PS – For many years Camping was not known as a pretrib rapture teacher. But now, for $ome my$teriou$ rea$on, he seeks support from those who believe in and teach an imminent, pretrib rapture which supposedly will occur SEVERAL YEARS BEFORE the traditional SECOND COMING to earth! For a behind-the-scenes, documented look at the 181-year-old pretrib rapture belief (which was never a part of any official theology or organized church before 1830!), Google “Pretrib Rapture Dishonesty,” “Pretrib Rapture Diehards” and “Pretrib Rapture – Hidden Facts.” These are from the pen of journalist/historian Dave MacPherson a.k.a the “Pretrib Rapture Answerman” & the “Rush Limbaugh of the Rapture” – author of the bestselling book “The Rapture Plot,” an “encyclopedia” of pretrib rapture history (see Armageddon Books).
Hi Karen … Your observation regarding what the Bible says is accurate. I’ve also no doubt that you truly believe it to be true … but it does in turn bring up the most obvious question, How do you know that what the Bible says is correct and factual?
I’m not suggesting you need to respond here, I’m simply putting that question for you to personally ponder over.
Personally, I fully understand your position because I used to be a Born Again believer, but I no longer am.
The Bible tells you that NO ONE will know the day nor the hour which the son of man returns, I disagree with what they are saying may 21 2011, The bible says not even the angels in heaven knows, so how do these people know. But what i do know is that he is soon going to RETURN, read ur bible for yourselves and figure it out, God says he will give u the signs before his return, and its coming, soon than we think, so people dont laugh, cause when it happen u wont be.,
I’d be interested if any of Camping’s flock wish to offload their goods and chattels at reasonably discounted, Armageddon-out-of-here prices.
These Christian Atheists always give me a good laugh. The reason that I call them atheists is because they have an atheistic perspective towards all the other thousands of gods. And when the “rapture” doesn’t occur this May, what will they say?
The Great Disappointment : The Coming of the Millerites has a sequel..
The Great Disappointment 2 : The Family Radio Attacks
All this has happened before and it will all happen again.