Harold Camping's May 21st Date Setting - Is Date Setting Biblical?

http://www.theignorantfishermen.com/2011/05/harold-campings-may-21st-date-setting.html ^ | 5/10/2011 | George Zeller/ Dr. Manfred Kober

[The Ignorant Fisherman]

Billboards like this one have been placed throughout the nation. Harold Camping, 89 year old nationally known radio host (Family Radio) has predicted the exact date of the Lord’s return: May 21, 2011. He teaches that the rapture will take place on this day which he also refers to as "judgment day." He also teaches that the end of the world will occur five months later, on October 21, 2011. On the billboard, the claim is made that the Bible guarantees this presumptuous prediction.

"The Lord warned against foolish date-setting when He taught that no one knows the day or the hour of His return (Matt. 24:36)"

To the discerning believer, red flags are raised immediately. First red flag: The Lord warned against foolish date-setting when He taught that no one knows the day or the hour of His return (Matt. 24:36). Second red flag: The day of the rapture will not be a "judgment day" for the world. Rather it will be the day when the members of the body of Christ (the true church) will be caught up to meet their Lord in the air (1 Thess. 4:13-18). Third red flag: The world cannot end in 2011 because the millennial kingdom of 1000 years must run its course before this earth is destroyed (Revelation 20; 2 Peter 3).

"History has proven Camping wrong and it must have been a major national embarrassment to him! Why he would now want to be embarrassed a second time is hard to understand"

This is not the first time that Harold Camping has predicted the time of Christ’s return. His earlier false prophecy was that Jesus Christ would return on or between September 15, 1994 and September 27, 1994. History has proven Camping wrong and it must have been a major national embarrassment to him! Why he would now want to be embarrassed a second time is hard to understand. Camping failed to learn his lesson from his first failed prediction. How unwise to try to announce that which God has chosen not to reveal. God has not told us the time. He wants us to be ready always.

"How unwise to try to announce that which God has chosen not to reveal"

There have been many other date setters. Edgar Whisenant wrote a book entitled, 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Could Be in 1988. Of course, the Lord did not come in 1988 so he presented his new theory: 89 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Take Place in 1989. Someone humorously surmised that the added reason given in the new book might be this: "Reason #89—Because He did not come in 1988." Jehovah’s Witnesses taught that the second coming of Christ took place in 1914. Other cults have likewise engaged in date-setting. --George Zeller

Is Date Setting Biblical?

By Dr. Manfred Kober

Harold Camping, owner of Family Radio Network, claims, "God has led us in these last days to discover Biblical evidence that judgment day for the unbelievers and the rapture of believers will occur on May 21, 2011." (FRN Pocket Calendar for 2009)

Hundreds of previous dates set for the return of the Lord and the end of the world were erroneous predictions uttered by false prophets. Date setting is unbiblical. Below are some reasons why it is dangerous and wrong.

1. It disregards the fact that all previous date-setting attempts were doomed to failure. Rather than repenting, most erring date setters just recalculate and recalibrate. When Edgar Whisenant s book, 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be In 88, turned out to be a false prophecy, he promptly suggested 89 reasons why the rapture would be in 1989. Camping’s publication, 1994?, failed to come true but he is now certain that the rapture will be on May 21 of this year.

2. It disobeys the injunction from Christ to refrain from unwarranted speculation. A hundred years ago, Sir Robert Anderson, chief of Criminal Investigation for Scotland Yard, and great theologian, said of date setters: "They have brought reproach on Scripture itself, and have given a stimulus to the jaunty skepticism of the day. We might have hoped that whatever else might be forgotten, the last words which the Lord Jesus spoke on earth would not be thus thrust aside: ‘It is not for you to know the times nor the seasons which the Father has put in his own power’ (Acts 1:7)...the result has been that the blessed hope of the Lord’s return has been degraded to the level of predictions of astrologers, to the confusion and grief of faithful hearts and the amusement of the world" (The Coming Prince, 11th ed., 132).

3. It delves into areas of privileged knowledge that only belongs to God. Christian psychiatrist O. Quentin Hyder warns believers, "God has not given us knowledge of the future nor the ability to obtain it. In this dispensation we are limited in knowledge but expected to live by faith. One day we shall know even as we are known. Craving for knowledge of the future is absolutely contrary to God’s will for man and therefore any attempt to obtain it is devil inspired and eventually damaging or even destructive to all who pursue it." (The Christian’s Handbook of Psychiatry [1971], 75-76).

4. It discounts the fact that even secular predictions are totally inaccurate and impossible. Who in the summer of 1989 would have predicted the collapse of the Iron Curtain on November 9 of that year? Who predicted the ouster of Egyptian President Mubarak a week before it happened in February 2011?

5. It destroys the concept of imminence, namely, that Christ could return at any moment. Camping’s insistence on a May 21 rapture means that the Lord cannot return today. Yet we are to look daily and hourly for His coming. In Titus 2:13 Paul literally says the we are "excitedly expecting continually the joyous prospect" of Christ’s glorious appearing.

6. It displays a certain arrogance of the date setter by suggesting a novel interpretation hidden from everyone else. Date setters claim to have special insights. Camping observes that previous speculators were wrong because "they did not base their conclusion upon a careful analysis of everything the Bible had to say about the return of Christ." (We Are Almost There, 18) As for himself, Camping says, "We indeed can be certain that the rapture will occur on May 21, 2011 and the final day of the history of the world is October 21, 2011" (Ibid. 63, emphasis in the original).

7. It distorts genuine interpretation and holds all legitimate teachers of prophecy up to ridicule. Camping’s sensational warning has appeared on many billboards: Judgment Day-May 21, 2011-The Bible Guarantees It. The news media are ridiculing these precipitous predictions. After May 21 skeptics will point out that Camping s claim that the Bible guarantees his view implies that the Bible cannot be trusted. Unfortunately, doctrinal error seldom stands by itself. Harold Camping s horrible and heretical hermeneutics also lead him to insist that the church age ended in 1988, that there is no millennial rule of Christ, and that all the wicked will be annihilated rather than suffer everlasting punishment in hell.

8. It disseminates its error with missionary zeal and thus influences others to be heretical. Untold harm is done to immature and young Christians! What will the life of Camping s followers and employees be like when the Rapture does not occur on May 21? What of their witness to their neighbors or their credibility and usefulness in any future ministry?

Conclusion: Rather than engaging in speculation and sensationalism, the believer is characterized by a. Eager anticipation (Tit. 2:13, "excitedly expecting..." b. Energized activity (Lk. 19:10, "occupy till I come") c. Extraordinary alertness (2 Thess. 2:13, "Let no man deceive you. . .") May this be our concern until the trumpet sounds and summons us into the presence of the Saviour!

The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!

GWZ I.F. Dr. Manfred Kober

[Artemis Webb]

Not only is it specifically not Biblical but Harold and his followers are nutjobs. They are doing more damage to the image of Christianity than most atheist could ever dream of doing.

[youngidiot]

Camping and idiots like him just serve up fodder for anti-Christian fools.

[television is just wrong]

with the shit I have had in my life lately, I almost hope he is right. the last two years the rug has been pulled out of my life, and I am holding on dearly to survive, but I would not be surprised if he turns out to be correct. I’m hoping he is wrong.

[Lawdoc]

Is Date Setting Biblical?

No.

[SkyDancer]

Rapture (May 21st) explained: Essential to the math is equating one day with 1,000 years. Therefore, since the Flood happened in 4990 B.C., and the seven days in Genesis are really 7,000 years, uh, wait, where was I?

[Salvation]

**Is Date Setting Biblical?**

No

[Salvation]

I am currently reading this book. A much different story than Camping's

BTW, this book was written in 1881; you wouldn't believe how accurate it is!

 

Reading this book was one of the greatest graces of my life!"
— St. Thérèse of Lisieux

In the late nineteenth century, Father Charles Arminjon, a priest from the mountains of southeastern France, assembled his flock in the town cathedral to preach a series of conferences to help them turn their thoughts away from this life’s mean material affairs—and toward the next life’s glorious spiritual reward. His wise and uncompromising words deepened in them the spirit of recollection that all Christians must have: the abiding conviction that heavenly aims, not temporal enthusiasms, must guide everything we think, say, and do.

When Father Arminjon’s conferences were later published in a book, many others were able to reap the same benefit—including fourteen-year-old Thérèse Martin, then on the cusp of entering the Carmelite convent in Lisieux. Reading it, she says, “plunged my soul into a happiness not of this earth.” Young Thérèse, filled with a sense of “what God reserves for those who love him, and seeing that the eternal rewards had no proportion to the light sacrifices of life,” copied out numerous passages and memorized them, “repeating unceasingly the words of love burning in my heart.”

Now the very book that so inspired the Little Flower is available for the first time in English.

Let the pages of The End of the Present World and the Mysteries of the Future Life fill you with the same burning words of love, with the same ardent desire to know God above all created things, that St. Thérèse gained from them. Let them also enrich your understanding of certain teachings of the Faith that can often seem so mysterious, even frightening:

• The signs that will precede the world’s end
• The coming of the Antichrist, and how to recognize him
• The Judgment and where it may send us: heaven, hell, and purgatory
• Biblical end-times prophecy: how to read it and not be deceived

  Jesus commands us to be ever-watchful for his return, and ever-mindful that we have no lasting city on earth. The End of the Present World and the Mysteries of the Future Life is an invaluable aid to inculcating in your spirit that heavenly orientation, without which true human happiness cannot be found—in this world or the next.

[TSgt]

Still available on Amazon.

[mountainlion]

A lot of people are hoping for the Rapture to be saved form the gloom and despair of life here on earth. It don't work that way. Jesus said fear not.

[Olog-hai]

---

**Is Date Setting Biblical?**

No

---

Utterly correct. Matthew 24:36 and Mark 13:32 are the last word on the matter. There are signs that indicate when this time will be "at the doors", but never should any human presume that this knowledge has been revealed, especially if Jesus doesn't know it and only the Father knows it—no human will ever know something the Father does not.

[TSgt]

[AppyPappy]

No but it is profitable. They are still taking “love offerings”

[Rashputin]

Thanks for the review. I just ordered this book a few days ago and am now looking forward to it even more. I had seen it referred to a couple of times but couldn't ever find it anywhere then it just showed up about a month ago as available in English.

Regards

PS - Thanks for all the good posts and links you regularly post

[Revolting cat!]

Dude could be right!

[Terabitten]

Mostly I just feel sad for Camping and for the foolish people that follow him. I hope he repents of his heresy before he passes away.

[Revolting cat!]

There is a nice generous serving of crow warming up in Hades for all use cynics, if Dr Camping is correct.

[dadgum]

Unequivocally - NO!!! No one but the Father knows the day or the hour of Christ’s return.

However, this may be part of the larger process of separating the “sheep” from the “goats”. Just a thought.

[Longbow1969]

How anyone falls for this garbage is beyond me.

What’s worse is that when the rapture doesn’t come on May 21st, this Camping jerk will just explain away his mistake by setting an entirely new date (new math) - and many people will actually believe him and send him money.

Just goes to show you how many suckers there are. This world is truly a con man’s dream.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***Still available on Amazon**** What is the price? I have two copies I bought years ago and keep it with my other missed dates books.

Here are a few more failed prophecies...

Prophecy about to come true! Like glo-bull warming! The Day after the Day after tomorrow!

Still waiting...
SOON COMING WORLD-SHAKING EVENTS! John T Sharrit (Christian Missionary Society) 1977.

foundation of Ubiquity page six of Suicide by Cop.

http://www.threatlink.com/pr/publications/Suicide%20by%20Cop-VZA.pdf

Still waiting!
“Since a generation of judgment is forty years and the Tribulation period lasts seven years, I believe the Lord could come back for His Church any time before the Tribulation starts, which would mean any time before 1981. (1948 + 40 - 7 = 1981).” (Hal Lindsey, The Late Great Planet Earth)

Still waiting!
“I’m convinced that the Lord is coming for His Church before the end of 1981.” (Chuck Smith, Future Survival)

Still waiting...
88 REASONS WHY THE RAPTURE WILL BE IN 1988/ON BORROWED TIME by Edgar Whisenant, 1988

Still Waiting...
WARNING! REVELATION IS ABOUT TO BE FULFILLED by Larry Wilson, 1988

Still waiting...(This is a dilly! An anti-Israel prophecy claimed to be taken out of the bible)
OCTOBER 1983—UNIVERSAL EARTHQUAKE! (October 22/23, 1984)
OCTOBER 1984-APOSTOLIC MILLENNIUM BEGINS!
THE 12 ORIGINAL APOSTLES RESURECTED TO THE EARTH ON YOM KIPPUR, OCT 5/6,1984....
The USA will be totally inactivatd in the UNIVERSAL EARTHQUAKE on October 22/23, 1984, loose all it’s atomic and satellite defenses and be completely incapable of defending ISRAEL III from the prophetic free and direct attack of the USSR on PASSOVER, April 17-24 1984, until it’s total destruction by Sept 7 1984....The USSR will drop on Jerusalem the THIRD NUCLEAR DEVICE used in anger against an inhabited city........The USSR will torture and murder 3,300,000 Jewish men, women, and children, as did the USSR and the USA armies with Germany in WW2, their only TRUE HOLOCAUST, by Sept 7, 1984.
( Jonah 3,R Macdonald, San Pedro Sula, Honduras C A. MAKE COPIES SEND TO ALL THROUGHOUT THE WORLD! (Two page spread in the SPOTLIGHT, October 10, 1983)
Still waiting....