Posted on 05/16/2011 7:14:13 AM PDT by lasereye
Dover, Del. —
For at least three years, Family Radio in Oakland, Calif. has broadcast across the ether that May 21, 2011 is the Day of Judgment.
Family Radio President Harold Camping preaches that on that day a great earthquake such as never has been seen in the world will occur – as spoken of in the book of Revelation. Those who are raptured will dwell with Christ forever in heaven while those left behind will agonize in a ruined world that finally comes to a fiery end on Oct. 21.
Many people do not listen to Family Radio, which is available locally on 106.9 FM. But, two huge billboards have been erected in Kent County to advertise Judgment Day and they have people talking.
One billboard is on Route 8 on the right just before Byler’s country store. The other billboard is on Route 13 near Cheswold.
But to a man, all of the local churches and congregations contacted for this article agree, “... of that day and hour knoweth no man” (Matthew 24:36). It did not matter if they were Episcopalian, Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist or a nondenominational Bible church.
“As Christians, we believe that on Judgment Day at the end of the world, Christ will come in glory to achieve the definitive triumph of good over evil and to judge the living and the dead,” Catholic Diocese of Wilmington spokesman Bob Krebs said. “The Bible tells us, ‘… Be watchful! Be alert! You do not know when the time will come’ (Mark 13:32-33).”
Camping expects to hear that from the churches, which he has characterized as spiritually dead since 1988 – the so-called end of the church age. “That’s exactly what God predicted would happen in the churches,” Camping told the Community News in a telephone interview from Oakland. “He said in Revelation 3:3, ‘If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.’ In the last verse of Mark 13, it says ‘I say unto you watch’ because God has given us this information. We have to know it in order that we can warn the whole world just like Noah had to warn the world of his day. He was a preacher.”
Associate Pastor Jeff Dyer, of Calvary Assembly of God said that while Jesus wants people to prepare for Judgment Day, there is no formula to determine the actual date.
“The Bible shouldn't be read as a document used to predict Judgment Day precisely. That's not its intention. Matthew 24:36 says 'about that day or hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.'” Dyer said, “Jesus asks us to be ready and prepared but doesn't give a day. The Bible does speak of a Judgment Day but there isn't a formula to figure out the date."
Moreover, Dyer explains that Camping has been wrong before and his calculations don’t make sense.
"It's based on a lot of assumptions and giving numerical value to the atonement, completeness, and heaven. He multiplies and squares the number, there's no real logic to it. Certainly on May 22nd he'll start working on the numbers again."
Pastor Raymond Bertolet, of Bible Fellowship Church in Camden, comments on Judgment Day are similar to those of Dyer. He said scripture has taught people they’ll never know the time or day the world will end.
“Another thing scripture has taught us is if someone says a prophecy that is not true, that they are not speaking from God,” Bertolet said, “This is the third occasion he [Camping] said this and he has always made excuses as to why he is wrong. I have no doubt in my mind that all of us will be breathing naturally come May 22.”
Email Jennifer Dailey at jennifer.dailey@doverpost.com
So, you observe that it’s a God-sized job.
Now observe, also, that it is God who’s going to do it, and note that St. Paul already affirmed the instantaneous nature of the event:
Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all die, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the Last Trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and teh dead wiall be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
— I Cor. 15:51 & 52
It will definitely be either 5/21/2011 or some other date.
When I first became a Born-Again Believer some thirty years ago, I listened to Christian Radio CONSTANTLY. It was a real variety; J. Vernon MaGee, John MacArthur, Dr Charles Stanley, Dr. D. James Kennedy, Sid Roth, R.W. Shambauch,Zola Leavitt, various “Prosperity” preachers, Orel Roberts, etc. I learned a LOT about the Bible, and a lot about the different schools of thought in Christianity.
However, there was a program on between 10:00PM and midnight that was very disturbing, even to my untaught baby Christian mind. The host on the show took calls from distressed people seeking Biblical advice, and he would be so abusive to these poor sinners that I despaired of them EVER being connected to the Love of Christ.
I’ll never forget the droning mean monotone that abused these poor people. It was the voice of Harold Camping.
“Family Radio”? yeah. right.
I understand...
Maybe these passages make me think that our turn might take some time
1 Corinthians 15:23 But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.
1 Thessalonians 4:15 According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.
Well, let's take a look...
Here is the verse from I Corinthians, along with a few preceding verses for context:
20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.
21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.
Paul writes of resurrection, and establishes two resurrection event's: Christ's, which has already taken place; and "they that are Christ's," which Paul notes will take place at his coming. Since the dead in Christ are to be raised "at his coming," if that resurrection is a process of any duration at all, it must be on the order of minutes, not days. The Thessalonian verse notes that there are all these living Christians who are taken up immediately following the resurrected dead, and that event is also described with a sense of happening quickly. Although we who are alive in Christ are certainly waiting for the resurrection of the dead to begin, we see no scriptural reference to living Christians hanging around waiting for the resurrection of the dead to get finished.
Here's the Thessalonian verse along with the verses following, which further clarify the timing:
15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
So, whereas v.15 by itself may lend credibility to the idea that the resurrection of the dead who died in Christ occurs over a long enough time period that those who remain alive in Christ have wait while it happens, once the successive verses get into the mix, it becomes more clear that both things occur fairly quickly, as they describe the events coming in immediate succession. A delay waiting for a prolonged process of raising the dead would have Jesus hovering in the sky the whole time while the living Christians stood around so, again, it would have to be minutes, at most; certainly not days or weeks.
Of course, we've got to include the other Corinthian verse that I cited previously, which says the resurrection of the dead in Christ will happen "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet." That's a pretty definitive description of how quickly it will occur; even it being a process of some minutes seems to stretch the limits of what constitutes "a moment" and "the twinkling of an eye."
If Jesus took an hour, say, or even two, to sweep the Christian dead up to eternal life from out of their resting places around the entire Earth, that'd be plenty quick enough to "fit" with the descriptions given in the two verses you quoted, but when we include the descriptives in I Cor. 15:52, I think we're down to a matter of seconds; MAYBE a minute or two. I think all three verses taken together give us a pretty good picture of a rapid, and quite possibly instantaneous, world-wide resurrection of the dead in Christ.
No, but I can’t see how it could change what other preposterous hate screeds she has written, unless it’s primarily contrition and repentance from her bizarre slander. But since it predates much of her worst slander, it can’t.
Ever read Cardinal Bernadin? He’s really quite rhetorically masterful, and every word seems positively gushing with a Christ-like love. Until you realize, from external knowledge, that his “seemless garment” is a rationalization for supporting pro-abortion statists.
Speaking of abortion, do you know the building in which the most American lives are destroyed daily, with a killing more babies than any dozen Planned Parenthood clinics? Shady Grove Adventist hospital in Maryland, the singular leader in in-vitro fertilization, where nine out of ten babies (”embryos”) are killed. All because Ellen Gould White decided to prophetically announce that life begins at quickening... and so the Adventist hospital believes it isn’t killing babies.
Stuartcr, a troll since before the dawn of time.
You should make that your tagline.
Excellent response. I prefer my current tagline, ‘...since before the dawn of time’, does have a nice ageless sort of sound.
I can see why you prefer your current tag instead of my suggestion. Mine would merely identify you as a troll, whereas yours allows you to troll every time you post. Much more efficient.
Certainly is...besides, your tagline is wrong.
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. --Hebrews 13:8
God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? --Numbers 23:19
He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a human being, that he should change his mind. --1 Samuel 15:29
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. --2 Timothy 3:16,17
The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught." --Isaiah 29:13
The [human] heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? --Jeremiah 17:9
Truly, you are wise beyond measure, Stu.
In what way is it wrong? Can you back it up with empirical data?
Also, who cares if it’s wrong? God wrote it anyway, if what you have to say is true.
If you’re going to preach the Gospel of Automatonism, you don’t get to criticize anyone’s behavior.
??? Thanks?
Can you show that I’ve been here since before the dawn of time?
God was messing with you when He had you write that...He knows I haven’t been here that long.
I’m not preaching anything, so I do get to criticize if I want.
Please point out the threads where I have criticized people, then I’ll check to see if it’s really criticism or you just not having much to say, but wanting the last word anyway.
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