Harold Camping - At It Again Already?

There is something to be said for the virtue of persistence, But that all depends on the area in which it is being exercised. For the leader of Family Radio, Harold Camping, there seems to be no limits to this virtue – whether he is wrong or not, or even taking the money from, and leading tens of thousands astray or not.

As most know even in secular circles, the famous Bible teacher, radio broadcaster, and modern day prophet had proclaimed for months that the Rapture would occur on May 21, 2011. He was so sure that he verbally stated, “There is no backup or contingency plan. This will happen – period.” It seem that confidence, maybe too much of it, is also one of his many virtues.

Well, if it had occurred, I, and all of the true Christians I know, would have missed it. That's because Camping believes that the modern church, and anyone who attends it, has been apostate for decades. So who is it that was supposed to accompany him on his ill-advised journey on Saturday around 6:00 p.m. EST? That is a good question – one I still am not quite sure about.

I never watch his TV show, or listen to his nationwide radio program, that is broadcast in 40 languages world-wide. But a few days before the prediction I just could not resist. I watched Mr. Camping just to see what he would be communicating to callers. Three times in ten minutes he spoke of the rapture on May 21.

At one point, a fairly scared young man called in and asked, “How can I get ready? I don’t know what to do!”. To this, the 89-year preacher of the Scriptures said, “You had better get ready and get saved.” So far so good. But then the man asked the ultimate question. “But how will I know if I am saved?” To this, the great TV communicator said simply, “You can’t. Only God knows.” Excuse me? I felt like jumping through the screen to help the poor soul whom Camping had scared to death but then offered no real concrete solution, hope, or certainty.

Over the weekend of the predicted and failed rapture, I was with a group of teens from our church on a retreat in Pennsylvania from Friday night through Sunday afternoon. On Friday night I spoke on salvation and laid it out as fully, clearly and biblically as I knew how. Of course we mentioned the Camping thing, but in the context of the real event. The following night, one of the teenage boys there who was brought by a friend from our church, asked me the same basic question as did this poor caller to Harold Camping several nights earlier on TV. Around midnight this boy, who must have been listening to me the night before asked, “How do I know if I’m saved?” Being in a semi-conscious state, I tried to give him some of the evidences of what a true believer looks like, acts like, and knows about his or her salvation.

The next morning, as the kids all headed into the barn for breakfast, I called this young man aside into a van parked outside. Within 10 minutes he had confessed Christ as personal Savior and entered the family of God forever. He had heard the call of God’s Holy Spirit at some point and responded appropriately and confidently. It was a personal thrill on numerous levels as you might well understand.

I also quickly reminded him, from Friday night’s message, of a few rather ‘key’ Bible verses he should take hold of – verses that must be ignored or not be in Mr. Camping’s Bible! After telling him to expect the adversary to bring doubts about his decision, I showed or quoted to him the following verses:

“These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.” (1 John 5:12-13)

“We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren.” (1 John 3:14)

“The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs — heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ,” (Roman 8:16-17)

“By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.” (1 John 4:13)

Needless to say, it was the highlight of the weekend and likely the reason for all of the grief and stress leading up to getting it all off the ground. Satan had lost a soul and heaven gained one. I pray that there may have been others too who made silent professions of faith based on what we covered each night.

As for Mr. Camping, who can’t tell someone that they can know they are even saved, but does tell them to get ready since the end is coming, he has now dug in his heels for strike three! And this comes despite Jesus’ words in Mark 13:32-33. "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”

His public explanation of his massive, and second, error came Monday. Camping said that he's now realized the apocalypse will come five months after May 21, the original date he predicted. He had earlier said Oct. 21 was when the globe would be consumed by a fireball. Saturday was "an invisible judgment day" in which a spiritual judgment took place, but the timing and the structure is the same as it has always been.” He said, "We've always said May 21 was the day, but we didn't understand altogether the spiritual meaning. May 21 is the day that Christ came and put the world under judgment." So strike 2 does not seem to have dimmed his pride or rocked his stunning arrogance or confidence. Maybe even more tragic are the millions who still follow him and give financial help to promote his teachings. One thing is certain. He will not be going on our church missions budget! Of course why would he want to? We are apostate!

But for the grounded Christian who knows he or she is saved, little of this should be shocking considering Paul’s words in 2 Timothy 3:1. “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come.” Then couple that with the words of 2 Peter 2:1-2. “But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed.”

I don’t know what your Bible says, but mine tells me clearly and repeatedly in verses like Acts 16:31, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.”

And in Romans 10:13 Paul writes, “For "whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved." Predicting the exact moment of the Rapture is impossible, and trying to do so is total folly. But preparing for it, when it really does come, is not only eternally wise, but is clear, precise, and absolute!

Bill Breckenridge