Posted on 05/16/2011 11:15:20 AM PDT by Choozer
Every time some maverick like Camping decides to go off the reservation and promote a prophecy like this, scorn is brought on all of us who believe Jesus is coming again. The mockery factor will be quite high come Monday the 23rd.
I do not know what Camping is going to do. He has closed every door on his options. He has said the Bible guarantees it. There is no plan B. This is it, plain and simple, no question marks after May 21, 2011? or the like to fall back on. I have thought he might spiritualize it, like Miller did back in 1844 or so, but he has really not left that option open either. He could always claim a blown calculation, but that would leave him without much credibility as a number-cruncher, and his system is nothing if it isn't based on number-crunching. Will he even show up on Open Forum on Monday? I mean, at 89 years of age, you'd think retirement would all of a sudden become a very viable option.
I can't imagine what a Monday, May 23rd, 2011 Open Forum broadcast would be like. Can you imagine the calls? Not only the mockery from unbelievers, but the anger from his own followers? It would probably be the highest rated program ever. Their servers would melt down on the Internet side. But that would be temporary, and one can surely predict the collapse of Family Radio as a result of Camping's second major prophetic failure. One would hope, at least, that finally he would be removed and taken off the air so as to deceive no more. But, you would have thought that would have happened back in 1994. It didn't. There is always an audience for false prophets.
(Excerpt) Read more at aomin.org ...
Matthew 24:36
But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
I actually saw a car on Sunday that had this May 21’st thing on a magnetic door sign. I so much wanted to talk to the guy, but we were waiting for a light and I was going one way and he the other.
These idiots give Christians a bad name.
Not only that in explicit statement, but about a dozen parables describing the end of the world coming by surprise; A thief in the night.
>> There is no plan B.
Well, he *could* be right... after all, Jesus is coming back on *some* date. Maybe Camping will get lucky. :-)
No one but the Father knows.
But all jesting aside... when this subject comes up among fellow believers, I say this:
“How would you live differently if you knew the date certain? What changes would you make in your behavior? Very well — make those changes NOW and begin living NOW like He is coming again in the next ten minutes! Then you’ll be covered NO MATTER WHEN the date really is, and you don’t need to concern yourself with it!”
(Not that I necessarily follow my own advice very well — but I know that’s how I *should* live.)
>>I can’t imagine what a Monday, May 23rd, 2011 Open Forum broadcast would be like. Can you imagine the calls? Not only the mockery from unbelievers, but the anger from his own followers?<<
Jahova’s Witnesses used to predict a precise date for the end of the world every so often. They would see their membership swell before the event and then, afterward, eventually drop below its previous levels. They learned from their mistakes and don’t do that any more.
Christianity is NOT about predicting the coming of Christ. It is about being IN Christ. These guys have the cart before the horse. So do legalists, for that matter, but I digress.
I hope you waved good-bye.
He can always fall back on the old excuse for missing the end of the world: the error in math. Oops, now the Rapture is May 29, 2013.
Or maybe the Rapture did occur and just about no one went.
>>I hope you waved good-bye.<<
Interestingly, the car was a 1980’s american full sized car customized only with windows tinted so heavily I could not see inside. That was actually what I noticed before the sign. It was odd.
Is James White amillenial?
Is he a preterist?
Camping and others may be wrong on their interpretation of prophecy but I find no condemnation for those who eagerly anticipate the coming of Jesus. On the other hand, scripture has much to say about scoffers and none of it is glowing or supportive. Rest assured I will not be joining the scoffers.
bttt
bttt
These people are not idiots. They have been mislead.
When I was a young Christian, I listened to Camping about 1994. I didn’t believe it, but when he taught about it, he was very persuasive.
His first point was that the bible is infallible, inerrant, and every word has purpose. He then lept to even the numbers have meaning. For instance, the disciples pulled in 153 fish. Why would that number be in there, if there was no meaning? There must be a reason.
For the young believer, he spins an incredible web of illogic that can captivate the naive. He’s got charts and papers, and calculations up the whazoo. He makes it sound logical - unless of course, you are an experienced Christian and see how he breaks every law of hermaneutics right and left.
In fact, I got into hermaneutics simply because I knew it was nonsense, but I needed to have a reasoned answer.
He is going to have so much to answer for, when he finally does meet eternity. Because he should know better.
I know this post is long but I thought people might like to really SEE why he is so persuasive to the uneducated:
Here is some Camping stuff:
The number 3 signifies Gods purpose. When the Bible writes about Christ being crucified, the number 3 is featured about 15 times: 3 crosses, 3 apostles, 3 denials by Peter, etc. All of these 3s are emphasizing it was absolutely Gods purpose that Christ be crucified.
The number 5 signifies the atonement or redemption (that is, Christ died to pay for the sins of those who become saved). This is seen, for example, by the ½ (.5) shekel atonement money which pointed to the atonement. Exodus 30:15 declares:
The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when they give an offering unto the LORD, to make an atonement for your souls.
It is seen by the 5 shekels being a picture of redemption, as demonstrated in Numbers 3:47-48:
Thou shalt even take five shekels apiece by the poll, after the shekel of the sanctuary shalt thou take them: (the shekel is twenty gerahs:) And thou shalt give the money, wherewith the odd number of them is to be redeemed, unto Aaron and to his sons.
The number 10 or 100 or 1,000 signifies completeness. For example, the Bible speaks of 10 coins or 100 sheep or 1,000 years. God speaks of Satan being bound 1,000 years in Revelation 20:2-3. However, from much additional Biblical information we know he was bound between the years 33 A.D. and 1988 A.D. These 1,955 actual years are symbolized by 1,000 years. The Bible speaks of Him being bound 1,000 years to signify that He was bound for the completeness of Gods plan, which actually was 1,955 years.
The number 17 frequently signifies Heaven. For example, in Jeremiah God describes the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem by the king of Babylon. This was typifying the end of the church age, at which time Satan, typified by the king of Babylon destroying Jerusalem and Judah, would rule in the churches. In that seemingly hopeless context Jeremiah was instructed to buy a field for the purchase price of 17 shekels of silver. God instructed Jeremiah that this purchase of land for 17 shekels was done as a guarantee or demonstration that the time would come that Israel would again occupy Jerusalem. That is, people again would go to Heaven. See Jeremiah 32:7-17.
We were discussing this at work once- my thinking is, no I am not going to know beforehand the date/time etc. But I do not need to know. What I do need to do is be as prepared as I can be, so whenever whatever happens, if I am still around, it will not matter.
Am I to that point yet? Nope. But I am working on it.
I’ve noticed they are still asking for donations, even in the last week. Selling God’s Wrath must be a good money-making venture.
>> Selling Gods Wrath must be a good money-making venture.<<
Selling Gods wrath?
Yeah. Read Revelation to see what is going to happen. But if the Rapture is this week, why is he still asking for donations? It’s not like he will have bills to pay next week.
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