The end of the world has been a major theme of prophesy, sermons, literature, movies, and song from nearly the beginning of time. Certainly, the end of the world was on people’s minds when it starting raining back in the days of Noah. Then it continued to rain, and rain, and rain until only Noah and his immediate family survived.
No doubt the people in the plains of Sodom and Gomorrah back in Genesis 19 thought that they were facing the end of the world when what appeared to them to be some giant meteorite (the Bible calls it fire and brimstone) crashed down on top of them. Only Lot and his two daughters made it out of the holocaust alive. In those days, the people did not have newspapers, Internet, or CNN News. The people of the cities there didn’t know but that the whole earth was experiencing what they were experiencing. To them it was the end of the world.
Obviously, the world survived those two cataclysmic events. Now, again, talk of the end times and the end of the world is on people’s minds due to the predictions of a man by the name of Harold Egbert Camping. Camping was born July 19, 1921. He is a Christian radio broadcaster and president of Family Radio, a California-based religious broadcasting network. Family Radio is an empire of more than 70 stations worldwide.
Camping earned a B.S. degree in Civil Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. He and his family were members of the Christian Reformed Church until the year 1988. I understand that in more recent times he has served as an Elder and Sunday school teacher at the Alameda Bible Fellowship.
Camping gained notoriety due to his prediction that the Rapture of the church as well as Judgment Day were to take place last month on May 21.
On May 11, New York magazine ran a feature article entitled “A Conversation With Harold Camping, Prophesier of Judgment Day.” I want to share a portion of the piece with you. Remember, the piece came out ten days prior to May 21:
How certain are you that world is going to end on May 21 — do you have any doubts? God has given so much information in the Bible about this, and so many proofs, and so many signs, that we know it is absolutely going to happen without any question at all. There’s nothing in the Bible that God has ever prophesied — there’s many things that he prophesied would happen and they always have happened — but there’s nothing in the Bible that holds a candle to the amount of information to this tremendous truth of the end of the world. I would be absolutely in rebellion against God if I thought anything other than it is absolutely going to happen without any question.
Describe to me what exactly you expect to happen on May 21. … when we get to May 21 on the calendar in any city or country in the world, and the clock says about — this is based on other verses in the Bible — when the clock says about 6 p.m., there’s going to be this tremendous earthquake that’s going to make the last earthquake in Japan seem like nothing in comparison. And the whole world will be alerted that Judgment Day has begun. And then it will follow the sun around for 24 hours. As each area of the world gets to that point of 6 p.m. on May 21, then it will happen there, and until it happens, the rest of the world will be standing far off and witnessing the horrible thing that is happening.
What will you be doing on that day? Are you just waiting for the earthquake, are you having some kind of ceremony? There’ll be no gatherings of any kind that I have anything to do with. There’ll be no — it’ll just be simply waiting, and the likelihood is that I’ll be doing what everybody else will be doing, which is listening to the radio or watching TV, seeing what is happening as it begins on the other side of the world.
If six o’clock rolls around and there are no major earthquakes, are you going to start to get worried? It’s going to happen. It’s going to happen. I don’t even think about those kind of issues. God is not playing games. I don’t even want to think about that question at all. It is going to happen.
Are you going to do something with all your money before the 21st? Are you going to donate it to charity or something? What’s the point? In other words, Judgment Day is the end of the world. That means that the whole world is in judgment, it will not be business as usual at all. At all. Nothing that goes on is important any longer, either if you’re a true believer and you’re caught up to be with Christ, of which there are many people that this will happen to, but on the other hand, there will be almost 7 billion people who will be in a tremendous, terrible situation undoubtedly. With those kind of earthquakes millions will die and the Bible teaches that they will not be buried, in fact there will be no one to bury them it’ll be so awful. It will not be business as usual at all. This world will be in chaos. It will be in awful suffering.
Others have predicted the return of Christ or the end of the world. However, none ever did so with the zeal as did Camping and his people. How many of you saw at least one of the end-time billboards? I have seen several. It was reported that Camping had about 1,000 of these billboards placed across the country.
They also used a number of other means to get the word out including vehicle wraps, signs in subway cars, bumper stickers, and signs on park benches.
They also advertised on the web. Camping and his people then took out a full-page advertisement in USA Today. As you can see here, the rate for such an ad would be in the neighborhood of $242,600. A longtime employee at Family Radio said Camping spent around $100 million to advertise his May 21 end times prediction.
The New York Times ran a photo essay on some of Camping’s followers.
Make no mistake about it, the people believed what they had been told. They believed and acted on their beliefs!
A fellow in Staten Island, New York, spent his entire life savings – about $140,000 – on bus and subway ads warning of the end of the world. The brother says that he still believes Camping. The 60-year-old man, who now lives off his pension, says he is waiting for the new date, October 21, when he believes the rapture and the complete destruction of the world will take place simultaneously.
“We’ve always had October 21 as a date for the end of the world,” Fitzpatrick told the Staten Island Advance. “We understand May 21 now as the date in which God brought spiritual judgment.”
The only difference now, he explained, is that what they believed would happen physically on May 21, is now to happen on October 21.
“I just can’t see us getting past 2011 with nothing happening,” he added.
Sadly, much more was at stake than money. A few people actually attempted suicide before or after the May 21 date because of Camping’s predictions. Tragically, at least two people succeeded including a 14-year-old girl from Russia.
Investigators found that the teenager wanted to choose death rather than be among the ones suffering on earth after the rapture. The girl’s personal diary entries revealed how terrified she was of the suffering that was to take place. She believed that she was not one of the “righteous” people that would be taken up to heaven but someone who would remain on earth and suffer.
“Whales are trying to beach themselves and birds are dying – it is just the beginning of the end,” Zachinova wrote in her last diary entry. “We are not righteous people, only they will go to heaven, the others will stay here on Earth to go through terrible sufferings,” she wrote. “I don’t want to die like the others. That’s why I’ll die now.”
A local news agency reported that the girl hung herself.
Investigators looking into the circumstances of the death of a young man from Florida are suspecting Harold Camping’s predictions and the publicity generated by the Family Radio man’s followers may have pushed him over the edge as well.
Victor Frasno, 25, described by investigators as very religious, was staying with family in California when he became hysterical as Harold Camping’s Judgment Day was about to arrive. Despite the fact that he couldn’t swim, he jumped into a huge reservoir saying he had to “get to God.” Frasno’s brother and his wife jumped in to rescue him, but although they were able to initially drag him out, the disturbed man managed to jump back in and tried to take his brother with him. Frasno’s body was recovered from the reservoir just moments before midnight as May 21 was about to arrive.
A police detective explained that Frasno had not been drinking, and was not taking any prescription drugs, and had no history of mental illness.
Back to Harold Camping. Camping still insists that he was right in his predictions. The only adjustment in his forecast is that the judgment on May 21 came in a “spiritual” sense rather than a physical one. However, he still maintains that the end of the world is going to happen on October 21. Are you ready?
CAMPING IS JUST THE LATEST IN A LONG STRING OF DATE-SETTERS.
Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon Church, claimed to be a prophet of God. Smith, who was born in 1805 and died in 1844, made 64 specific prophecies in the course of 18 years including a number of apocalyptic or end time prophesies including:
- Several major American cities including Boston would soon be destroyed.
- The then coming Civil War would be the start of a global conflict.
- In a few years, the people of the United States would be destroyed by pestilence, hail, famine, and earthquake.
- He predicted the return of Jesus Christ to earth by the year 1890.
It is apparent that none of these prophesies were fulfilled. Nevertheless, the man who proclaimed them has millions of devoted followers today. Go figure.
When it comes to making false predictions though, the Jehovah’s Witnesses take the cake. Charles Russell, the founder of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, predicted that the “battle of the Great Day of God Almighty” (Armageddon) would happen in 1914. It didn’t. In addition, the January 1957 issue of The Watchtower magazine noted, “Some-time between April 16 and 23, 1957, Armageddon will sweep the world! Millions of persons will perish in its flames and the land will be scorched.”
I find it absolutely amazing that people continue to follow and believe Harold Camping. However, he is really small potatoes when it comes to the Jehovah’s Witnesses. They have false prophesy down to an art form. They currently hold the record with nine wrong doomsday predictions.
In August, 1953, a teacher by the name of David Davidson wrote a book titled “The Great Pyramid, Its Divine Message”. In it he predicted that the world would end in 1953. Unless I missed something, he too was wrong.
The late Moses David (formerly David Berg) was the founder of cultic group The Children of God. He predicted that a comet would hit the earth, probably in the mid 1970′s and destroy all life in the United States.
Edgar Whisenaunt wrote a book early in 1988 entitled 88 Reasons Why the Rapture is in 1988. The author point-blank stated that he was absolutely convinced that Jesus was going to return to Planet Earth in the Rapture between the dates of September 11-13. I well remember the excitement the book generated. Book stores had a difficult time keeping the book in stock. I heard of people – seriously — who were measuring themselves for wings. As you know, nothing happened. After the passing of the deadline, the author came out with a new book called “89 Reasons why the Rapture is in 1989.” This book sold only a fraction of his prior release.
Some of you may remember an Assembly of God prophesy teacher named David Lewis. In July, 1988, Lewis wrote the following response to Whisenant’s date setting attempt: “Jesus may come back today. He could come back on September 10. He could come back on September 14, or any other day, at any time. He definitely will not come back on September 11, 12, or 13, 1988” though. Dr. Lewis then cited Matthew 24:44 which says, “So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”
In 1992, David Koresh of the Branch Davidians in Waco Texas changed the name of his commune from Mt. Carmel to Ranch Apocalypse, because of his belief that the final all-encompassing battle of Armageddon mentioned in the Bible would start at the Branch Davidian compound. Koresh had calculated that the end would occur in 1995. After a 51-day standoff, on April 10, 1993, 76 members of the cult died in a fiery inferno.
A group from Korea placed a full page ad in USA Today as well as scattered posters around announcing October 28, 1992 as the day of the Rapture as well as the day when “50 million people will die in earthquakes, 50 million from collapsed
buildings, 1.4 billion from World War III and 1.4 billion from a separate Armageddon.”
This brings us back to Harold Camping. Back in 1992 Camping ventured for the first time into the date-setting scene. He put out books, papers and taught in his Family Radio worldwide outreach that the day of grace would end on September 6, 1994 and later in the month Jesus would return and preside over the end of the world.
Following last month’s failed prophesy, a former follower of Camping called Camping while the talk show host was on the air. The unidentified caller shared that he had spent thousands of dollars on billboards, mail-outs, and tracts to warn about the May 21 Rapture/judgment. The fellow then pressed Camping to admit that he – Harold Camping — was a false prophet. He said, “I’m not mad at you, or I don’t blame you. I did it of my own free will and it’s not your fault. I’m not calling to complain about that.”
“But I will say that me, you, all May 21sters are false prophets because we said that the Rapture would occur on that day and it didn’t. So I can’t understand why you are still on the radio talking about all this stuff because at this point nobody can believe anything you or I say.”
The radio preacher cut the man off and denied that he was a false prophet.
I want to go on record here as saying that from the time of the early church until now there have been hundreds, if not thousands, of date-setting or date-suggesting or date-hinting schemes. Every single one of them have been proven false. Further- more, date-setting is a sin; a sin that is practiced best by those whom the Bible calls false prophets and false teachers.
SO HOW DOES ONE KNOW WHETHER OR NOT A PERSON IS A FALSE PROPHET?
- Jesus warned that in the end times “… many false prophets will appear and deceive many people” (Matthew 24:11).
- In Luke 21:8 Jesus adds, “Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not follow them.”
- The Apostle Peter then warned, “But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you” (2 Peter 2:1).
The point? Being able to identify a false prophet is important; critical!
Notice Isaiah 41:22-23 (Contemporary English Version): “Come near me, you idols. Tell us about the past, and we will think about it. Tell us about the future, so we will know what is going to happen. Prove that you are gods by making your predictions come true.”
While here, I want to point out Deuteronomy 18:21-22 (New Living Trans-lation), “You may wonder, ‘How will we know whether the prophecy is from the Lord or not?’ If the prophet predicts something in the Lord’s name and it does not happen, the Lord did not give the message. That prophet has spoken on his own and need not be feared.”
Isaiah 48:3,5 then adds, “I foretold the former things long ago, my mouth announced them and I made them known; then suddenly I acted, and they came to pass. Therefore I told you these things long ago; before they happened I announced them to you so that you could not say, ‘My idols did them; my wooden image and metal god ordained them.’”
From these and other passages, we find that in order for a prophesy to be a true Word from God, it has to come true. That amazing standard holds true for me, for Billy Graham, Harold Camping, the Jehovah’s Witnesses or anyone who presumes to speak in the name of the Lord. Simply put, IF THE WORD DOESN’T COME TO PASS, IGNORE THE PERSON. HE OR SHE HAS NOT HEARD FROM GOD.
The Apostle John also weighed in on this subject. He wrote, “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1). The Word commands us to “test the spirits”. We should never blindly accept a teacher’s message just because he or she is holding a Bible and a microphone.
In order to test the spirits, we compare every “word” with The Word. Listen to these passages of Scripture:
Jesus cautioned, “Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come” (Mark 13:33). What time is He talking about? The time of the Lord’s return. The time of the establishment of His Kingdom here on earth. Again, you don’t know. I don’t know. Harold Camping doesn’t know “when that time will come.”
Jesus adds to this thought in Matthew 24:36, “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” Important point. While Jesus did not know the time of His return back then, He certainly does have that knowledge now. I think I can prove my point.
Is God still growing in knowledge or is He complete and perfect in knowledge? Our study of Scripture teaches us that God is all-knowing. He knows everything about everything. I have preached several messages on this fact since I have been here.
Jesus, on the other hand, was not complete and perfect in knowledge when He was here on earth for 33 years. For instance, He had to ask for directions to the grave of Lazarus after His friend Lazarus had died.
Then Luke 2:52 takes us back to when Jesus was a mere boy of twelve years of age. And the Bible says, “And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.”
Other translation state:
- “Jesus increased in wisdom.
- “Jesus became wiser….”
- “Jesus advanced in wisdom….”
- “And Jesus was increasing in wisdom and in years….”
- “So Jesus grew both tall and wise….”
If his knowledge was incomplete at twelve, it was still incomplete at thirty. When Jesus became a man, he voluntarily gave up the unlimited use of His divine powers. (His divine attributes). As a result, He got tired like a human. He got thirsty as a human. He got hungry as a human. He died as a human. And, yes, He grew in wisdom as a human.
Today, though, He is no longer human. Then too, He is no longer limited. He knows what the Father knows. He is all-powerful like the Father. He is perfect like the Father. He is indeed God – just like the Father. As such, Jesus certainly DOES KNOW the day and the exact hour when He will return to earth. To say otherwise, is to maintain that He is not all-knowing; all wise. That he is less than divine. That would be a grave error.
Now back to Mark 13:32-33. This time I want to read it from the New Living Translation, “However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows. And since you don’t know when that time will come, be on guard! Stay alert!
- Imagine the arrogance of claiming to have knowledge that the Father did not even grant to Jesus when the Lord was here on this earth.
- Imagine the absurdity of disagreeing with the written Word of God. The Bible says that no one knows. Is Camping and the other date-setters implying that God was mistaken? The record stands, “God keeps his word even when the whole world is lying through its teeth” (Romans 3:4, The Message).
- Finally, to set a date for the Lord’s return makes one vulnerable to the charge that he or she is a false prophet or a false teacher.
Back to the billboards. I found one that I did like. It simply states, “That was awkward. “No one knows the day nor the hour.” Matthew 24:36. Simply put, Harold Camping is one of many false teachers predicting the end of the world. Ignore him and don’t be troubled by him.
GIVING THE WORD OF GOD A BAD NAME
In Galatians 1:8-9 (Contemporary English Version) the Apostle Paul warned, “I pray that God will punish anyone who preaches anything different from our message to you! It doesn’t matter if that person is one of us or an angel from heaven. I have said it before, and I will say it again. I hope God will punish anyone who preaches anything different from what you have already believed.”
Why would Paul use such strong language?
Earlier I read to you from 2 Peter 2:1. Again, the passage warns of false prophets as well as those who are false teachers. Verse 2 (I will read it from several translations) goes on to say that due to these false prophets and false teachers:
- “And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed.”
- “…and will cause others to dishonor the way of truth.”
- “And because of these teachers, the way of truth will be slandered.”
- “They give the way of truth a bad name.”
- “Because of them, the true Way will be maligned.”
- “And because of them Christ and his way will be scoffed at.”
Due to the whole Camping debacle, the enemies of the Cross have had a field day.
Atheists in various cities threw “Rapture Parties.” Look at this billboard: The rapture. You KNOW it’s’ nonsense. 2000 years of “any day now.” Join us for a rapture party, May 21, 2011.
In Tacoma, Washington, producers of a local talk show “Ask the Atheist” sponsored a rapture party themed “Countdown to Backpedaling”
As the Apostle Peter noted, due to the words and actions of false teachers and false prophets, the way of Christ is truly given a bad name.
Then too, due to false teachers and false prophets:
- People come to ignore prophecy; to not take it seriously.
- Some will abandon the faith. When people are disappointed with date-setting failures, they are tempted to “throw out the baby with the bath water.”
- As I just pointed out, the secular world will scoff and attack the true faith all the more vehemently.
- I repeat, at least two people – one a teenager – have committed suicide due to Camping’s predictions.
- The devil will use this to his advantage. He has found that many gullible people will easily follow a false prophet even giving up their homes and life savings to farther the cause. Satan must think that he has found a winning formula since he uses the error over and over again.
IN CONCLUSION, I do believe that Jesus Christ is going to return to Earth some grand day. He will return, according to Scripture, as a groom returning to receive His bride. It will be a glad day; a glorious day. The Bible describes it as a day of hope. Acts 1:11 promises “This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back….” He is coming again. When is coming? We – that is you and me – we do not know. Therefore we need to be ready. Are you ready for the return of Jesus Christ?
If, as you read or listened to this message, you felt the pull on your heart to respond to God. Today, you would acknowledge, “Lord, I need Your forgiveness. I’ve fallen short of Your desires, and even though I try, I cannot fix this on my own. I need You.” If that is you today, know that the Lord is waiting for you with open arms. He loves you. So, if you want to accept Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, repeat this prayer wherever you are…
“Lord, thank you for sending Your Son to die on a Cross for my sins. I know that I have sinned, and I need Your forgiveness. It is Your forgiveness alone that can save me. I believe that your Son shed His bled for my sins so that I am now able to live for You. Thank you for your grace and mercy. Change my heart Lord that I may live for you. Amen.”
If you prayed that prayer then Scripture says heaven rejoices over your commitment today. If you are in need of a Bible or a Bible study, we encourage you to contact one of our pastors. In fact, if you have made this commitment today, please contact one of the pastors as we would like to pray for you and your faith in Christ. Have a blessed day!
