Harold Camping and the End of the World

Harold Camping is best known for his statement that the world would end May 21, 2011. When that didn't happen, Camping maintained that it would happen October 21, instead... which, if you haven't noticed, is tomorrow! Camping is still maintaining this position; according to a recent message he gave to his followers, he stated in part:
If he had not kept us from knowing everything that we didn't know, we would not have been able to be used of Him to bring about the tremendous event that occurred on May 21 of this year [DCFblog note: Camping believes that on May 21st a "spiritual" rapture did indeed take place], and which probably will be finished out on October 21, that's coming very shortly. That looks like it will be at this point, it looks like it will be the final end of everything.
Whereas the true believers will quietly receive the new heaven and the new earth. I really am beginning to think as I restudied these matters that there's going to be no big display of any kind. The end is going to come very, very quietly probably within the next month. It will happen, that is, by October 21.
I wrote an open letter to Harold Camping back in May, when he was predicting the end of the world at that time. Among the things I wrote there -- and I would like to point out here as well -- is that the end of the world is not going to happen when everyone is looking for it. Furthermore, I think it is pure none-sense to state that it will happen "very quietly" as Camping says. Jesus said that it would indeed happen very suddenly, like a thief in the night, so in that sense, it may seem that it could happen quietly (a thief may prowl around trying to be unnoticed under cover of darkness); but the flip-side to that is that a thief also comes upon someone suddenly, when they are not expecting it. In that respect, it is not a quiet event. Additionally, Revelation 1:7 says that "every eye will see Him..." This, to me, indicates that no one will know "the day or the hour," as Jesus put it, but everyone will know it when it happens.

No human can accurately predict the end times, but when Jesus predicted it, He left us with a warning: "Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming—in the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning— lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping. And what I say to you, I say to all: Watch!" (Mark 13:35-37) We need to make sure that we aren't so caught up in false prophets' predictions that we aren't ready when Jesus actually does come back.

For more of my thoughts on this topic, please see this Open Letter to Harold Camping.

Comments

  1. The Other AliceThursday, October 20, 2011 at 11:27:00 PM EDT

    Oy, very good points and excellent closing thought; we who are in Christ eagerly wait for the day He does return... let us remember that while no one knows the day or the hour, thousands of people die every day, who are not right with their Maker.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Rebecca MecomberFriday, November 11, 2011 at 10:32:00 AM EST

    OHHHH I only WISH he'd been right.....

    ReplyDelete

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