The Highway Forums General Discussion Theology Discussion Forum Harold Camping proclaims new 'doomsday'

May 24, 2011 11:01 AM EDT
Source: International Business Times

An unrepentant Harold Camping took to the airwaves Monday night reasserting his beliefs in the end of the world, saying that judgment did come down on Saturday, and gave yet another prediction for the end of the world.

Speaking on his Open forum radio show from California, Camping, who publically predicted the end of the world was to come this past Saturday, defended his claims despite the events not happening.

"The timing, the structures, the proofs, none of that has changed at all," Camping said. Reiterating his numerology he used to determine the date, he says judgment day did come, but "it was spiritual."

"On May 21 this last weekend...God again brought Judgment on the world...We didn't feel any difference," he says, "but we know that God brought Judgment" on the world. "The whole world is under Judgment."

The spiritual judgment contradicts his widely publicized claims that rolling earthquakes were to hit the world beginning at 6pm on Saturday. When asked about the contradiction, Camping continued to defend himself.

"We don't always hit the nail on the head the first time," Camping says. "All I am is a humble teacher. I search the Bible. I search the Bible," he says.

The preacher said not only was he correct this time, but correct in the past as well.

"Actually there are four days that are very crucial at this point in time. We have talked about all four of these days in the past and we are not making any changes in these four days except for in the emphasis...The first part the end of the world began on May 21, 1988," he asserted.

Camping continues going over dates he deems important in church history. The next year he points out is 1994, which is the year he had previously predicted would bring the world's end.

"It is true, there was judgment in a terrible way and there was salvation in a wonderful way. The salvation came because in the previous 2,300 days...virtually no one could be saved in the entire world. We didn't even know how bad it was. Family Radio was broadcasting in those days and we had no idea what was really going," he says.

Camping clarifies that this "judgment" in 1994 was "spiritual, not physical," and says Jesus Christ did not arrive on Earth.
Originally Camping had said that the when May 21 came around, there would be massive earthquakes and believers would be raptured. The ones who were left would suffer great calamities until October 21.

He reasserted that date.

"It won't be a five-month terrible difficulty...that we have learned," said Camping. Instead, he says, the world will end quickly on Oct. 21 without any build up.

His radio show was met with a number of call-ins from journalists instead of the usual guests. When pressed on his stance he gave a forced apology.

"If people want me to apologize, I will apologize...I did not have all that worked out as accurately as I should have had it. That doesn't bother me at all."

The tone of Camping's response and the answers he gave closely matched readers predictions from a weekend IBTimes poll.
The survey of 20,000 people asking what would be Camping's most likely response now that the earth is still here.
The majority, 54 percent, believe that Camping will unrepentantly claim a calculation error and form a new Doomsday date.

Roughly 19 percent of respondents said that Camping would "claim God had mercy on mankind and spared the earth", while almost 16 percent believe he will claim that the rapture did happen, but just in an invisible way.

Just 8 percent predicted camping would say he was flat out wrong and apologize.

This man makes me angry and sad at the same time. Someone should ask him if he plans on giving a refund to everyone who made donations predicated on the prognostication being fulfilled.

I've continued to make the point that date setting is a natural corollary to the error of pre-tribulation and dispensationalist eschatology. St. Paul could not have been more clear in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2; not telling Christians when Christ would return but rather emphasizing what events must come first.

But more to the point, and just to add some perspective, Christians have at no point believed that a rapture would precede the prophesied tribulation period. Christ's return has always been held to immediately precede the fulfillment of the rest of prophesy to include the wrath of the Lamb falling in judgement upon the nations. It was only in the 19th century that pretribulation/dispensationalist teaching dawned in Britain and was imported into America. It didn't take long for the next logical step, date setting, to be taken by the Millerites. The subsequent Great Disappointment was a grave lesson about how destructive doctrinal error can be.

And here we are again, except with a twist. Instead of a 7 year period (Daniel's "missing" week) there was a 5 month period predicted to span the rapture and the final destruction of all life.

Setting a new date is hardly bold or edgy. Every date setter sets a new date when the first one fails. It's a scam and in this day of information, I'm appalled that so many continue to get sucked into it.

Sad.

Sad indeed!

I think it is important to mention however that as error prone as Dispensationalism is, I think it is important not to lump all Dispensationalists in the same mold.
For example, John MacArthur is a Dispensationalist, but he would never make the mistake of date setting etc...
In fact, I spent the majority of my Christian life as a Dispensationalist and not even one Church I attended back then are in favor of this kind of thing.

Understand that I am not saying you don't know this, but I think it is important not to give the impression that all Dispensationalists are nut cases like Camping.

Tom

True, not all Dispensationalists are 'date-setting nut cases' like Harold Camping. Given Camping's age, I have to wonder if that isn't a contributory factor since at one time he was rock solid theologically. Regardless of the cause, he is preaching/teaching heresy which goes far beyond the eschatological debacle that has made the papers.

Now, you mentioned John MacArthur shouldn't be lumped together with Harold Camping, and you are certainly correct to a certain extent. However, MacArthur has his own 'quirks' which may not put him into the 'nut case' class, but one has to question whether or not his brain sometimes goes on 'hold' in regard to his Dispensational views. And he too has a large following of people who will believe just about anything he says. Let me give you a perfect example here: A Reply to John MacArthur.

Well, even Hal can say he never 'set a date', in the strictest sense. I recon though, one holding to the twin deformities of the 'parenthetical church age' and the Millennial return to bloody sacrifices, fits into the walnut shell.

Pilgrim
Yes, I was aware of what MacArthur said concerning Premillennialism and Calvinism; in fact when he said that I lost a lot of respect for him.
I don't want to make light of what MacArthur said, but I think that is a far cry from what Camping has done. It does however remind me of something that I have been hearing a lot lately.
“Don’t put people on pedestals; they can be wrong like any person can. Be like the Berean’s who checked all things out by the Word of God.”

Tom

Tom,

Yes, in comparison, MacArthur's unwarranted and undeniably historically inaccurate remarks were nothing short of slanderous, and even preposterous but less dangerous than Camping's false prophecies, which is but one example of the errors he teaches.

I cannot but wonder if MacArthur will continue in this manner over the coming years? Let's not forget that Harold Camping in his former years was far more Reformed in his teaching than MacArthur ever was. It seems that more and more once notable and reliable Bible teachers, scholars, and pastors have fallen away into serious error over the past 50 years or so. Just think of all the men who have gone over to Open Theism, Barthianism, Federal Vision, New Covenant Theology, Klinian Republicationism, Neo-Hermeneutics, Neo Calvinism, New Calvinism, and those holding to various views of non-six day/24 hour Creationism (a misnomer if there ever was one). Then we could mention those men who are far more in number than perhaps we want to admit or even think about whose pride and hunger for notoriety have started teaching doctrines which are "questionable" at best and using methods of preaching and teaching to attract huge crowds which the Bible clearly forbids.

True Calvinists are not followers of John Calvin. They do not put the man on some pedestal and blindly parrot all that he wrote. Calvin was mightily gifted of God and served Him faithfully throughout his days, but he wasn't infallible nor sinless. There is nothing wrong with esteeming that which is good and God-glorifying as all that is good is from God. But we must be careful not to turn a blind eye to that which is false and evil, especially when it is found first in ourselves and secondly when it is found in men (and women) who have made a reputation for themselves.

Hey guys,

I followed this a little closer than I probably should have!

On Monday morning I saw a video of Harold from Sunday looking remorseful and muttering 'give me some time, this is a big deal'

Then at about 9:15pm while on my way to the gym I turn on Open Forum out of morbid curiosity. I couldn't believe what was happening. Camping was talking to reporters and treating them like he would his callers while defending his position, claiming it was a spiritual judgement, not a physical judgement like he first thought, while the timeline is still correct. I thought the reporters were going to throw their microphones at him.

I'm thinking, what does he mean a 'spiritual judgement'??? Is he saying, nobody can be saved any longer after the 21st???

Again the morbid curiosity kicks in the next night. I turn on the station and sure enough he's asked the question I had in my mind the previous night. His response: "I think so (nobody can be saved as of the 21st), but I'm still looking into it and I don't want to make that declaration yet"....at the same time the people who work at the station are declaring that NOW is the time of salvation....

Family Radio is a trainwreck!!! I will never put that station on again, even out of boredom or entertainment....

Pilgrim

I think it is safe to say that you and I are in agreement on this issue.

Tom

Tom,

Of course I don't mean to say that all dispensationalists become date setters, but there is a certain gravity in dispensationalist eschatology to date set and I used as an example the Millerites who set a date very shortly after pretrib teaching was imported to the United States. The brevity between the introduction of this error and the practice of date setting seems to prove this inclination.

Part of me wants to say that this was just a money scam. But listening to some commentators on the Catholic Channel who explored this possibility in depth has changed my mind. There was no effort to solicit donations and those who lost fortunes over this were spending their own money on billboards and other forms of advertising, not giving it to Camping. All appearances are that neither Camping nor his followers expected to be here and Camping was not anticipating reaping financial rewards. This is actually sadder than if it had been a scam. They actually believed they were on the eve of being whisked away into the sky.

Aside from pointing out the errors of pretrib teaching, I have to wonder what it is that makes Christians want to be rescued from persecution; to be extracted before anything bad happens? Is this the way God has worked in the past, sparing Christians from ridicule, hardships, beatings, imprisonments and death? Why do some want to be spared the refining process by which the Church is purged of superficiality, the cowards fall by the wayside, and the pure gospel of Christ is put on world display? The tribulation period is not a time to be avoided, it's the Church's finest hour; to reflect the glory of God and triumph amidst intense persecutions. It's a time to stand for Jesus when the cost of doing so is grave.

Who would want to miss out on that?

What an idiot. He's too prideful and saving face to not admit that he was wrong. What's the lesson learned kids? Don't date set! You know what "assume" means? It means you make an ass out of u and me. I hope at least his followers and humble themselves and admit they were wrong in following him. Yes, we all realize the world is eeeevil and needs final judgment. But it's been that way since Adam sinned. Harold, stop day dreaming about the end of the world and get out there and preach the gospel and be God's ambassador while you still can!!! God will judge you for what you did with your time, and date setting isn't even on God's list of things to be doing!

For me that whole "escape before the big bad beast gets here" is one the most offensive things about the popular "Left Behind" mythology. It is not MAN who we should fear, but GOD! It is His divine JUSTICE that should motivate unbelievers to seek a Savior, not fear of His plan in history. But the typical "Premil Dispensational" evangelist uses fear of persecution and the wrath of men as reasons to fear, then offers the "rapture" as an escape from the wrath of the Antichrist, rather than using the Law of God to demonstrate God's holiness and and to point out the REAL danger: Fallen men facing the justice of Holy, Almighty God!

-R