Harold Camping The End Times And The Rapture
Family Radio preacher Harold Camping is at it again!
This time he’s claiming that he got it wrong, but only partly so – the rapture and the end of the world both happen on October 21 according to him!
Camping said that his prediction that the world would end on May 21, 2011 was off by five months because Judgment Day will actually come on October 21.
His ministry, Family Radio International, had spent millions on advertising, including more than 5000 billboards covered with the Judgment Day message.
He’s now saying that the rapture will occur and that the world will be consumed by a fireball on October 21, 2011.
Get the full news story from The Sydney Morning Herald
I’m not sure how this all ties in with all the predictions of the Mayan calendar, if at all, and predictions of the end of the world in 2012.
Will there be a rapture, and How will the world end?
1 Thessalonians 4 gives an account of believers being caught up to be with Jesus, and this is interpreted by many Christians to be talking about the rapture.
It would seem though that just as many believe the opposite – that there won’t be a rapture!
Is the rapture Biblical?
In view of 1 Thessolonians Ch 4, if taken literally, yes it is, but if you listen to many Bible scholars, they will either talk you out of it, or send you to sleep.
Being a Christian involves living by faith, and by faith having a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
What I do know is this, that we should live as if today is the last day we’ll be here, and plan as if we will be here for ever!
How will the world end, and will it happen in our life time?
2 Peter 3:10 (New International Version) says:
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare….
Many who have left this life believed that it would happen in their life time.
If we read the Bible as a whole, while we can see signs that we may be in the end times, it still comes down to a matter of faith.
In the words of a very wise man who had a great impact on my life way back in 1981, “We can be born once, and die twice, or be born twice, and die once”.
We could sit and argue about the new world order, Illuminati and whether rock and roll is a tool of the devil.
Christians will argue those points and more, and they get quite heated too, but…
Jesus said that the world won’t end until everyone in the world has heard the gospel.
Now, that won’t happen until the Christians that are here get off their collective back side and get out and preach the gospel…
Also, the Bible says above that that day will come like a thief – unexpectedly, unannounced!
…And it contains this piece of advice:
But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief.
The Point Is:
Whether the return of Jesus and the Rapture occur in October 2011, or in 500 years time, the Bible clearly states that we need to be ready.
That means being right with God, and as far as within our power, with our fellow man.
We can argue for a pre-tribulation or a post tribulation rapture, or none at all.
The fact is that we are not guaranteed our next breath, so none of us can take anything for granted.
The point to all of this is that regardless of when the rapture occurs, we need to be ready, and waiting.
In the end it comes back to the finished work of Christ. We either accept the gift given and have no fear of “that day” or we can refuse the gift and have the worry and fret over it….He set before us a choice: Life or death; blessing or cursing…and told us to choose life….
How very true, which is where the adage that I learned all those years back: “born once, die twice… born twice, die once” comes in. The choice needs to come well before the events of “that day…”
O_o I’m impressed. Out of the literally dozens of articles I’ve read on Camping this is the first I’ve seen where the writer put thought into what they wrote instead of just bashing Christians in general. Thank you for a well thought out and well written article. The mass media would be much better were they to have more writers like you.
Hi, and thanks for stopping by. This is one of my first posts in a long time, so I’m glad that you liked it!
I’d expect the media to perform in exactly the way that they have – because sensationalism sells.
I won’t condemn Harold Camping, even though I feel that he has done the wrong thing. He has proven yet again that us humans are fallible, and that Christians should prayerfully read the Bible for them selves so that they can tell when there is deception about.
The scriptures shared in this post clearly state that that day will come like a thief in the night, i.e., unexpectedly, but that believers walking in His (Jesus’) Light had no reason to fear…
I wrote another article on Harold camping and the end of the world here
Thanks again for stopping by,
Allan
[1:02:54 p.m.] Peter and Val Mitchison
Good one Doug (Allan) We just read through your post and see you had a couple of responses as well.
To those who are not looking for his appearance he will come as a thief but there is another scripture that indicates that for those who are looking for him he won’t come as a thief, for they will recognise him, hence the parable of the 10 virgins the 5 wise and the 5 foolish.
There are still prophetic sign post that must be fulfilled before the end comes, although it is fair to say that the generation born from 1948 onwards will be the generation that see the return of Christ.
The point to all this is be ready, and not be caught out.
G’day Pete and Val,
How’s the weather in Sunny New Zealand? Bathurst is freezing at present, so I expect that it wouldn’t be much warmer there!
The point to all this is be ready, and not be caught out.
And that my friend is the key to it all!
Have a great weekend.
I think that we need to keep the main thing, the main thing, which is, Jesus Christ will return to this planet. That is for sure, but I think that He is the only one who knows exactly when. Until then, we need to carry on the work that He started, for night is coming when no man can work.
The Gospel of the Kingdom must be preached to all nations, then the end will come. I come from the “pan” group of believers, which believes that it will all pan out in the end, according to God’s timetable. Everyone is entitled to their opinions about eschatology (end time events) but I think we need to pencil them in & not be dogmatic about them, & we certainly should not go around setting dates about when the world will end.