Harold Camping, R I P

The Official Blog of the End of the World Notes the Passing of Harold Camping. We would be remiss if we did not do so. Camping, 92, was one who predicted unsuccessfully (We note that we are still here) the end of the world, on three different occasions.

People may differ on his motivation for doing so, but the sorrow, hardship and poverty that followed in the wake of his misguided prophecies are indisputable. Camping's beliefs stemmed from the fact that he believed one shouldn't use commentaries to interpret the Bible, because those are the thoughts of men. He believed that the Bible should be interpreted by the Bible alone. Over the years, he wrote numerous study guides based solely on his own studies, that promoted his beliefs. Over time, ironically, those became a de facto commentary, but not the only spiritual blind spot in his life. One studies commentaries not because they are infallible, but because they give insight into what other believers believe, and counsel about the pitfalls of sin, such as pride, even though we might be blind to them ourselves.

Jesus said that no man would know the time or the date of his coming. Camping was not the only man to deceive himself into believing that somehow he was exempt from the rest of humanity in this. Whether or not you believe in the literal Second Coming of Christ bringing the world to an end, there is a sense in which every generation faces the end of the world, in that they experience the end of their own world. For Harold Camping, the world ended in December 2013.

Camping died from a fall in his home. One that was preceded by a fall in his public ministry, which was ultimately preceded by the fall of our progenitor Adam. As the old horn book says, "In Adam's fall, sinned we all."

Harold Camping was a sinner. Now it's up to his Boss to set him straight.

World Ends Again Today!

As the Official Blog of the End of the World™, I said,

As the Official Blog of the End of the World™, we'll keep you posted on October 21st.

So far, so good. Well, not good for Mr. Camping, who has hit the proverbial three strikes and you're out, but for the rest of us!

On his Family Radio Network website, Camping noted that Doomsday predicting is not easy.

"There's a lot of things that we didn't have quite right, and that's God's good provision," he says. "I really am beginning to think, as I restudy 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 Oct. 21."

After May 21 came and went, Camping -- who blamed a similar 1994 misfire on a math error -- did readjust his assessment by saying "God's judgment" was completed on that day, and the final sword would fall today.

"Thus we can be sure that the whole world, with the exception of those who are presently saved (the elect), are under the judgment of God, and will be annihilated together with the whole physical world on Oct. 21," he says.

So, he made his first prediction in '94. We didn't see the End of the World, but we did suffer through Bill Clinton, which was more of a localized disaster!

Camping, not willing to finally admit that "no man knows the hour of the Lord's return", figured that just his "math" might have been off. (We'll put Camping in the Barbie™ school of "Math is hard" prognosticators.)

And again, after the End of the World failed to materialize when he predicted it again for May 21, he'd convinced a number of people of the certainty of that date, and they, like adventists of old, who dressed in white robes and sat on the mountaintops waiting for end to come, sold everything they had to spread the word. After all, what need would you have for material possessions after the world ends? Quite logical, given your presupposition.

But, they presupposed wrong. Now if Camping had just been some codger sitting on his front porch rocker (than than being off it), telling you about the date the world will end, you might have said something like, "Bless his heart!" But Camping had access to a large, and otherwise faithful, Christian broadcast network. I do not want to judge Mr. Camping, but the Good Book says, "By their fruits, ye shall know them." It also says that "Pride goeth before destruction..." Pride can be very insidious. If you genuinely thought that you were the only man in recorded history to ever figure out this great mystery, which God himself proclaimed would not be known unto any man, it would be very, very difficult not to be affected by pride in some way, shape or form.

But, instead, celebrate! This is the day the Lord hath made, and you are alive to see it! And there are people today who will draw their last breath, and to them, it will be indistinguishable from the end of the world. And I believe that is the point. Live every day as if it were your last, because one day, it will be true.

More End of the World stuff here.

World's End Prophet Harold Camping's "Open Forum" to End

Doomsday preacher Harold Camping, who is recovering from a mild stroke, will stop airing his Open Forum show at the end of this month.

Camping took questions live from listeners every weeknight on Family Radio's Open Forum program. Ever since the 89-year-old broadcaster suffered a stroke on June 9, Family Radio has been airing re-runs of his 90-minute program. Family Radio will air pre-recorded segments of the Open Forum program from Camping's May 23 to June 9 broadcasts to fill up the schedule until the end of June then wrap up the show, according to the Oakland Tribune.

"When those are completed, we will have other programming that is scheduled to run in that time slot," -Family Radio's program department secretary Judi Rathbone

Not sure how much of the program change is due to the stroke and how much to his discredited proclamation of the end of the world, or both. (It was discredited, right? Are we still here? Is this thing on?? *thumps microphone* )

When his prophecy for the May 21 rapture failed, Camping held a press conference to insist that his predictions were overall correct. He said he made a mistake in forecasting that Judgment Day for May 21 would be physical but clarified that the judgment did occur in a “spiritual” sense.

In the days following his public statement, Camping continued to assert his prediction that the End of the World is still on for October 21, 2011, but acknowledged that he moved the rapture date from May 21 to Oct. 21.

Up until his stroke, angry listeners have used the Open Forum segment as a time to directly chide Camping for shamelessly standing by his false teachings. The callers to the program also included followers of Camping, some who said they still believe in his predictions and others who told the preacher that they lost their faith.

Family Radio programs are broadcast on over 100 stations throughout the U.S. and reach listeners as far away as sub-Saharan Africa.

I've known some good people over at Family Radio. Hopefully, the stroke will limit Camping's influence (and doctrine) on the organization and they can go back to what they were doing best. Only time will tell.

As the Official Blog of the End of the World™, we'll keep you posted on October 21st.

Harold Camping Suffers Stroke

ALAMEDA -- Harold Camping, the Doomsday radio preacher who sparked international media attention by predicting the end of the world last month, has been hospitalized after suffering a stroke at his Alameda home Thursday night.

The 89-year-old radio evangelist and president of the Oakland nonprofit Family Radio was taken by ambulance from his house Thursday night, a neighbor said, but his well-known, gravelly voice that led many believers to donate millions of dollars to his cause may never be the same.

I would imagine Camping has been under a lot of stress since erroneously, and most would say foolishly, predicting the end of the world. Some of his followers sold everything they had, not believing they would be in need of their possessions after the end of the world. Logic, as always, is only as good as its presuppositions.

I met Harold Camping a number of years ago. I do not believe those who claim he did this for any kind of personal gain. I believe he was sincere and was sincerely wrong.
In matters of faith, sincerity is not enough. One may believe literally any number of things and be sincerely, completely, utterly wrong.

And some may now, in light of the unintentional damage and pain he's caused so many people, rejoice in his illness. I do not. I just feel sorry for him.




H/T Mememorandum
Cross posted at Say Anything

New Date For End of the World - *Sigh*

I really hate to bring this up again, but as the Official Blog of the End of the World™, I have an obligation to stay current. In case you haven't heard, Harold Camping is at it again. Mark October 11th on your calendars.

In spite of making predictions in the face of pretty clear scriptural teaching that "no man knows the day or the hour", and getting it wrong not once, but twice, you'd think he'd learn just a little bit more humility, wouldn't you?



My own predictions center around the number of desertions, as Family Radio staffers find other employment or other ministries that might make better use of their talents.

Mr. Camping, I expected better from you. Still, if I were you , with your track record, you should work on your press release for next October 12th.

H/T theblogprof

The World Ended Last Night...

..and you're not reading this! Reports of the world coming to an end, like the earliest reports of Mark Twain's death, seem to be a bit exaggerated.


You can always see it in the movies!

Inhabitants of New Zealand, scheduled to be among the first to meet the apocalypse according to a US fundamentalist preacher, this morning confirmed they were still in existence as the appointed time was reached in their time zone.

There were also unconfirmed reports that Tonga has, thus far, failed to boil into the Pacific.

Eighty-nine-year-old tele-evangelist Harold Camping had prophesied that the “Rapture” would begin with powerful earthquakes at 6pm in each of the world’s regions, after which the good would be beamed up to heaven.

This morning, Kiwis confirmed there were no signs of the dead rising from the grave, nor of the living ascending into the clouds to meet Jesus Christ.

Twitter users were disappointed by the absence of Armaggedon.

I myself, upon awaking,sorting through a number of strange dreams from last night, finally realized that I was indeed awake and the place was still here! A reason to be thankful, I thought, for the promise of a new day.
And then, as I fixed my breakfast, the other thing about the "prophecy" occurred to me, about some folk getting "left behind". "A fine development this is!", I thought to myself. What's the best way to prove this? Wait until tomorrow morning, go to church and look at all the empty pews? Or, go to church and look at all the full pews of folks who thought they were going to make it and didn't?

I figured the quickest way was to go online and see if the earthquakes had started, because if there was no "end of the world", there'd be no one "left behind".

So, here we are. The world didn't end. What are you going to do about it? Have a good laugh at those church people and then life your life exactly the same as you did before? Or maybe give some thought to what's really important in life and be thankful you still have the opportunity to pursue it?

Me? I've got to finish painting the bathroom. You know there's a lot of chores I could have put off, if I only I could have counted on that whole pesky "end of the world" thing! Later!

(Such a lovely word, "later"!)


H/T Mememorandum

Cross posted at LCR.

"The Rapture Is Not Saturday -- It's Tonight"

The Rapture Is Not Saturday -- It's Tonight




Like Elvis and UFO sightings, we wouldn't want you to miss it!

LOS ANGELES -- In his relentless study of the Bible, 89-year-old Oakland-based Harold Camping has seen the signs. You may have also seen them recently.

They read, "Judgment Day: May 21, 2011 -- Cry mightly onto God," followed by a bright yellow stamp that proclaims, "THE BIBLE GUARANTEES IT!"

The end is near ... very near, according to the billboards and Camping. Indeed, it's this weekend.

The end of the world will be at exactly 6 p.m. on May 21, 2011, says Camping, who along with his organization, Family Radio, are behind those billboards across the country forecasting the Rapture this Saturday. The Rapture, the Last Days, Armageddon and the Final Days of Judgment are all interchangeable. It's when God will destroy the Earth to show his love for humanity.

Is that Eastern Standard or Pacific Standard Time?

Neither, says Camping, whom I interviewed recently for my online news show TYT Now. The Rapture is at 6 p.m. on May 21, 2011, where ever it's 6 p.m. first, with the "fantastically big" world-ending event taking place on a time zone by time zone basis.

That means we can expect the Rapture to start when it hits 6 p.m. at the International Dateline at 180 Longitude -- roughly the between Pago Pago, American Samoa, and Nuku'alofa, Tonga. We'll know it's Judgment Day because there will be an earthquake of previously unprecedented magnitude, Camping predicts.

So, according to these calculations, the Rapture will actually begin like a rolling brown out across the globe at 11 p.m. PST on Friday, May 20th. "Everyone will be weeping and wailing because they'll know in a few hours it'll come to their city," said Camping

.

One way or another, another 24 hours or so and we can go back to our nasty, brutish and short lives. Stay tuned.

H/T Memeorandum

World Ends Tomorrow! Women and Minorities Hit Hardest!

Sorry. That's the punchline to an old New York Times joke. Obviously, if the world ends tomorrow, there will be no discrimination according to gender or race.



And, although I can't quite bring myself to believe that the world is truly ending tomorrow, it did get me thinking: If I knew the world was going to end tomorrow, what might I do differently today?

I've heard some talk of sex parties on the beach, others might run up huge debt, knowing they'd never have to pay it off. But ask yourself, is that what's really important to you?

The first group would be considered hedonists, living for pleasure, living for the moment. If that's you, then consider whether or not your constant quest for pleasure has any meaning beyond the moment or it it ultimately satisfies you.

The second group are materialists. "He who dies with the most toys, wins!" And some people take pride and pleasure from their possessions, but, in the end, the person who dies with the most toys is still dead.

A third group might be the kind of person you'd like to be. The kind you would be if you just weren't so darned busy! If you knew the world was going to end tomorrow, is there someone you would call, just to say hello? A child you would hug? Someone to whom you would say, "You know, I really don't say this often enough, but, I love you" ?

And then, I think there's a fourth group, whom if they knew the world was going to end tomorrow, wouldn't change anything at all. An admittedly small group, but can you imagine living a life where you have no regrets for what you might have done, because you did it? A life lived conscious of the fact that life is short and uncertain, and that for someone you care about, there may be no tomorrow, so you need to let them know today.

I wondered why the Almighty would allow Mr. Camping to wander so far astray that he would be setting dates for the end of the world. Maybe, it's to teach some of us a lesson. There's the obvious one about "not stetting dates for the Lord's return", but also that someday, someone you thought would always be there will be gone. And you will have regrets over missed opportunities to spend time with them and let them know how you feel.

I have a hunch that on Sunday morning, a bunch of people are going to wake up feeling a little foolish, and some embarrassed and some even wondering how they are going to live, having taken, in some cases, a life's savings to buy advertising, out of a concern for the souls of their fellow men.

These are good hearted people. They didn't hunker in the bunker saying, "I've got mine, the rest of you can go to blazes". Literally. They tried to help in the best way they knew how.

So, cut them some slack next week. Such a lovely thought: "Next week". How we would crave it if we could not have it.

Life is a gift. You've only got one. As they say, this isn't a dress rehearsal. Go out and live your life with purpose and meaning and with joy. And if you can't do that, find the reason why. Today. It's all any of us have for sure.



While I was thinking of what I would say on this occasion, this song kept coming into my head.

Less of Me

Let me be a little kinder
Let me be a little blinder
To the faults of those about me
Let me praise a little more

Let me be when I am weary
Just a little bit more cheery
Think a little more of others
And a little less of me

Let me be a little braver
When temptation bids me waver
Let me strive a little harder
To be all that I should be

Let me be a little meeker
With the brother that is weaker
Let me think more of my neighbor
And a little less of me

Let me be when I am weary
Just a little bit more cheery
Let me serve a little better
Those that I am striving for

Let me be a little meeker
With the brother that is weaker
Think a little more of others
And a little less of me

Will the World End Saturday?

A slight departure from the usual grist for the mill. If matters of faith and belief are not your "cup of tea", then note that we will return to our regularly scheduled programming shortly.



I suppose, there is a sense in which, if true, this story should surpass every other one in the last couple of millennium, but, other than a bit in Doonesbury, it hasn't been covered that much in the MSM. Someone bought a full page on the back of USA Today proclaiming May 21, 2011 as being Judgment Day. I've also seen billboards along side I-5 and Hwy 880 in California proclaiming the same thing.

Now, in case you are not so inclined to rent a billboard or buy a full page ad, if you really believed the message, what else would you spend your money on between now and the end of the world?

I don't want to belittle these people. They are somewhat reminiscent of the Adventist movements of the mid to late nineteenth century. Convinced that the "Advent" of Christ was upon them, some believers wrapped themselves in white robes and went up into the hills to wait for Jesus to come back. When it was apparent that he had not returned as yet, the movements found ways to rationalize why their calculations were wrong and modified their beliefs to match their new reality.

This movement is fueled by the efforts of one Harold Camping. Mr. Camping is a fairly quiet and unassuming man, who believes that the Bible alone should be the guide to the Christian faith and the only guide to interpreting the Bible itself.

I've met Harold Camping. He does not strike one as a wild eyed street corner preaching proclaiming the "End is Near".

Behind thousands of “Judgement Day” billboards from rural highways to city skylines and a small army of volunteers that have traipsed across the country preaching May 21 as the beginning of the world’s destruction is a frail, 89-year-old California multimillionaire who runs one of the largest Christian radio networks in the world.

Each day, Harold Camping’s slow and sonorous Bible readings and his Open Forum call-in show broadcast for hours from the Oakland, Calif. headquarters of Family Radio.

Family Radio has been preaching and teaching the Bible as a worldwide ministry for many years now. My children, when they were little, used to listen to their children's programming on Saturday mornings. (Big Jon and Sparky) Big Jon Arthur himself became a convert to Christianity and was a part of Family Radio for many years up until the time of his death.

It is hard to fathom, how a man like Mr. Camping, who believes the Bible to be the infallible Word of God, can read something like Matthew 24:36, "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only." and then presume to make a prediction as to what day Christ will return.

There have been those through the ages who believed that times couldn't be any worse than theirs, that whatever tyrant or despot they faced was a fulfillment of prophecy.

Nero persecuted Christians, and many thought he was the Beast of the Revelation. Hitler was believed to be the Beast, as well. There is a sense in which they were all correct. For every generation, it is the last. Sometime in this generation, every man woman and child will stand before their maker. Because, dear friend, you are going to die. Someday.

So, if you consider whether or not the world will end Saturday, you can safely answer, yes it will...for someone. Maybe not for you, likely not for everyone, but for some. And for them, it will be, you'll excuse the expression, as serious as a heart attack.

I believe that was one of the reasons why Christ did not reveal a day or set a time. He wanted every generation to be as diligent to prepare themselves and their fellow men for eternity as if the world might end tomorrow. Because for some people, it will.

Note: I thought about frivolously asking if perhaps Obama listened to Family Radio, if he was trying to fulfill prophecy with his new anti-Israel policy. But, as much as I don't think it will foment thermonuclear war in the next twenty four hours, it's not for want of trying!

See? I told you we'd return to our regular programming!