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Harold Camping
Prophet’s non-profit staff expects to work Monday “I don’t believe in any of this stuff that’s going on, and I plan on being here next week,” a receptionist at their Oakland headquarters told CNNMoney. Make My Bed? But You Say the World’s Ending “People look at my family and think I’m like that,” said Joseph, their 14-year-old, as his parents walked through the street fair on Ninth Avenue, giving out Bibles. “I keep my friends as far away from them as possible.” “I don’t really have any motivation to try to figure out what I want to do anymore,” he said, “because my main support line, my parents, don’t care.”

Discussion

Fri, 05/20/11
http://www.wnyc.org/shows/lopate/2011/may/20/please-explain-apocalypse-… Leonard Lopate and http://www.wnyc.org/shows/bl/2011/may/20/judgement-day/ Brian Lehrer have both devoted segments to the oncoming apocalypse.

I am curious if Camping will expect an apology from God if He comes on Sunday at 7 instead of Saturday at 6.

"Our task today is to tell people — who no longer know what sin is...no longer see themselves as sinners, and no longer have room for these categories — that Christ died for sins of which they do not think they’re guilty." - David Wells

Fri, 05/20/11
This is from Sam Harbin. Seems like good advice:

“End-of-the-world prognosticators like Harold Camping have been around since nearly the world’s beginning, I suppose. I’m sure there is some multi-syllabic psychological label that applies to people who want to scoop the ultimate news story, i.e., the story that there will be no further news stories because the world is coming to an end.

I’m confident that Saturday evening’s news headlines will run something like, “Camping: Three Strikes and Still Not Out.” Camping’s math, and his hermeneutics, are equally suspect. It is sad that he has gathered so many followers by promising that he knows something which, according to Jesus, no human could ever know (Mark 13:32).

That being said, I’d like to suggest a few ways that followers of Jesus Christ can “prepare” for Saturday:

1. Treat Saturday like any other day, a day on which Jesus might return. Though I seriously doubt that the Lord would humor Harold Camping, the truth is we are to face every day with expectant watchfulness (Mark 13:35-37). Every day should find us making choices that please the Lord and further His work on the earth.

2. Pray that Harold Camping’s erroneous and arrogant claims will not fuel the scoffing of unbelievers who question, “Where is the promise of His coming?” (2 Peter 3:4). People laughing at a man with a big ego and a bigger broadcast budget is one thing. People laughing at the veracity of God’s promises or the certainty of coming judgment is something entirely different, something incredibly tragic.

3. Be on the watch for hurting people who were deceived by Harold Camping’s teaching (by some accounts Camping has 200 million followers worldwide). Some may react with despair, some with anger. Some may jettison their faith completely. God may give you the opportunity to minister love and encouragement to these hurting hearts. Though Harold Camping may twist and abuse the Scriptures, we should not fail to use our Bibles rightly to “comfort one another with these words” (1 Thess. 4:18; 5:11).

Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

Blessings,
sam
Sam Harbin, CBS President

Fri, 05/20/11
Family Radio radio stations might reach 200 million people, but I assure you that 200 million Christians are not buying into this. I have listened to Family Radio and, other than Camping, most of the preaching is sound. If the callers to Camping’s open-line segment are any indication of his following, then I doubt many people who listen to Family Radio agree with him (most callers call to argue with Camping). The main stream media is portraying this as something wide-spread, but I doubt that in a country of 300+ million people that there are more than a few thousand (and I’m thinking very low here) that actually believe Camping. For those few who do, they are about to learn a valuable lesson.

Fri, 05/20/11
It’s too bad that valuable lessons are so painfully learned though. I hope most of his followers have been quietly cautious.

Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.

Sat, 05/21/11
I was moving heavy boxes at the time. I missed the rapture by a letter. ;)

"Some things are of that nature as to make one's fancy chuckle, while his heart doth ache." John Bunyan