Posted on 03/19/2011 5:54:58 PM PDT by daniel1212
The CONCLUSION on CAMPING and his 2011 PREDICTION
“we have not followed cunningly devised fables” (2Pt. 1:16)
THE BIBLE GUARANTEES you do not need to heed a false prophet:
"But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die [by stoning in the O.T.). And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken? When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him." (Dt 18:20-22)
"But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only." (Mt. 24:36)
Overview
Harold Egbert Camping (born July 19, 1921) is the leader of an anti-church movement which engages in imaginative, esoteric eschatology (doctrine of the end times), and denies established Scriptural doctrines. He has already falsely claimed the world would end in 1994, but undeterred, he went on to
predict that the removal of all true believers from the earth — an event in the Bible known as the “rapture” (1Cor. 15; 1Thes. 4:4-17; 2Thes. 2:1) — will take place on May 21, 2011, followed by the destruction of the earth on Oct. 21, 2011.
Like many other false prophets before him, Camping invokes* the promise of Amos 3:7, that “the Lord GOD will do nothing, but He revealeth his secret unto His servants the prophets,” inferring that Camping is one, even if he denies he formally is one, and he states that the Bible guarantees his prediction.
While Camping claims to hold Scripture as the supreme authority for doctrine, yet, consistent with most “cults,” he misappropriates its authority, rejecting established truths and relegating all other visible churches as apostate, while fostering faith in himself and Family Radio as the uniquely correct interpreter of the Bible, and disparaging listening to church pastors. *(http://www.familyradio.com/graphical/literature/judgment/judgment.html)
This rejection of all other churches is based upon Camping's conclusion that the church age, together with its clergy, and ordinances such as baptism and the Lord's supper, has ceased due to its failures and Camping's contruance of numbers in the Bible. He thus holds that it is impossible to be saved while remaining therein.
Instead of belonging to the visible church, those who wish to be saved are instructed to gather in groups and listen to him and Family Radio, which overall refuses to air ministries associated with the local, visible church.
In contrast to Christians who are in local churches, Camping's congregation who spread his message are likened by him to the 144,000 virgin male Jews of the book of Revelation. But in this case rather than following Christ, the Lamb of God, they are following Camping, the logos of deception.
History and Doctrine
In 1958 Camping was a member of the Christian Reformed Church and a construction company owner who invested in a number of radio stations. He later became the president of Family Radio Inc. In 1988 Camping left the Christian Reformed Church, and joined a local fellowship in Alameda, Ca. which he would also later leave
In 1970, Camping dated the Creation of the world to the year 11,013 BC and the Flood to 4990 BC. In 1992, Camping published his 551 page book “1994(?)” in which he states that Adam and Eve were born in the year 11,013 B.C., and that total years of Biblical history was 13,000-years. And that the devil was unbound in 1988, (p. 512) which was to be followed by a 23-year tribulation. However, Camping's believed God decided to cut the tribulation short, and Camping calculated that the return of Christ would likely take place on September 6, 1994, with 2011 being a fall back date, and declared that true Christians must leave their churches and listen to Family Radio.
Before making his latest prediction, Camping stated, “At the beginning of this study I said that during the last twenty years I have answered the question concerning the end of the world with the statement. ‘I will be very surprised if we reach the year 2000 A.D.’ After having done this study I now say equally carefully, ‘I will be surprised if we reach October 1, 1994.’
“By God’s mercy there are a few months left. However, if this study is accurate, and I believe with all my heart that it is, there will be no extensions in time. There will be no time for second guessing. When September 6, 1994, arrives, no one else can become saved.” (The end has come.” — 1994?, Harold Camping, p. 533)
Camping also stated, “There is no time left to trust your pastor or your church. You must trust only the Bible.” But since all who do not concur with Camping are damned, what he really means is trust him to interpret the Bible. (The end has come.” — 1994?, Harold Camping, p. 534)
When his 1994 expectation failed, Camping went on, with his grandfatherly voice, to make his present prediction, becoming increasingly imaginative and deviant in his eschatology and doctrine.
In 2001 Camping continued to teach, “this is the end of the church age,” and that “through Family Radio we can have this kind of fellowship,” and thus stated that “the gospel has never been sent out with more purity than it is being sent out now.” (cf. Open Forum, July 11,12, 2001)
Having dismissed the pastoral leadership which the New Testament places over the church, (Acts 20:28) Camping also rejected such commands as to baptize and observe the Lord's supper: “...the New Testament commands concerned with the ceremonial laws of water baptism and the Lord's Supper which should be obeyed within the churches and congregations until He comes can no longer be obeyed because God has brought judgment upon the institution of the church. Thus, God has effectively ended the possibility of the observance of the New Testament ceremonial laws of water baptism and the Lord's Supper.” (The End Of The Church Age And After, Chapter 13, page 232)
Camping did not stop there, but teaches that “the Holy Spirit is no longer working in the church” and thus “no one can become saved as the result of the preaching in that church.” (The End Of The Church Age And After, Chapter 8, page 107)
Having now rejected the full nature of the church, and transcendent commands given it, and sound rules of interpretation, Camping also went on to reject the eternal punishment of the wicked, imagining instead that text such as 2Thes. 1:8,9; Mt. 13:42,50; 25:41,46;Rev. 14:11; 20:10 refer to annihilation!
Methodology
Camping stated in an interview, "Because I was an engineer, I was very interested in the numbers," he said. "I'd wonder, 'Why did God put this number in, or that number in?' It was not a question of unbelief, it was a question of, 'There must be a reason for it.'" (San Francisco Chronicle, Jan. 1, 2010)
There is an obvious literal reason for dates and numbers in the Bible, with its extensive genealogies and historical records, and a few numbers can also have also denote things (such as 7 representing completeness), while only in a minority of times do they have prophetic significance, such as in Dan. 8:14. And self-evident rules of hermeneutics (Biblical interpretation) and the manner in which the Bible interprets itself limit these to what the context, etc. support. However, Camping has demonstrated that almost “any-digit-can-do,” a hermeneutic by which he can “prove” most anything he needs in order to fit his eschatological construct, in one may see a prophetic significance in every closet.
Many examples of Camping's numerology can be given, but one is what he extrapolates out of Jn. 21:1-14 in his book, “1994?.” The Lord had told His disciples, who were about 200 cubits out in the Sea of Galilee, to throw their net on the right side of the boat, resulting in a catch of 153 fish. Camping takes that to mean that the 200 cubits represent about 2,000 years between the first and second comings of Christ. (p. 503) Now as Camping believes that the most likely date for the birth of Christ is October 4, 7 B.C. when the Jubilee Trumpet allegedly sounded (p. 418), then he only needed to add 2,000 years, minus one year for the year 0, to get 1994. As for the 153 fish, Camping finds that 153 equals 3 times 3 times 17, and that “The number three signifies the purpose of God whereas the number seventeen signifies heaven. Thus we can learn that [the] purpose of God is to bring all believers that are caught’ by the Gospel into heaven p. 503,504).
As CRI also points out,
Camping’s book is also characterized by inconsistency. According to Camping, the seventy sevens of Daniel 9 are literal years, except for the last three and one-half. He calculates the years precisely up to the point of the death of Christ, which he says occurred in A.D. 33.He then turns around and says the last three and one-half years equal 2,000 years.
Camping takes a page to explain the subtitle “The Prerogative of God to Use Numbers as He Desires” (p. 403). This should be amended to say that it is the prerogative of Harold Camping to use numbers as he desires...(http://www.equip.org/articles/harold-camping-1994)
Biblical teaching on the church
Jesus Christ established the church in the New Testament, and promised that the gates of Hell would not prevail against it, (Mt. 16:18) because it was founded upon Christ, the sure foundation of the church. (Mat. 21:42; Mk.12:10-11;
Lk. 20:17-18; Acts 4:11; Rm. 9:33; 1Cor. 3:11; 10:4; Eph. 2:20; 1Pet. 2:4-8; 1Jn. 5:5; cf. Lk. 6:48; cf. Dt. 32:4, Is. 28:16) And which is made up of born again believers (1Cor. 12:13; Eph. 1:13) who overcome by faith in Him, (1Jn. 5:5), and are led by pastors who are to oversee the church, (Eph. 4:11; 1Pt. 5:1) and who are to be obeyed. (Heb. 13:17)
In addition, the church is given transcendent ordinances and practices such as baptism, (Mt. 28:19; Acts 2:38) the Lord's supper, (Lk. 22:19,20; 1Cor. 11:23-26) corporate discipline, (Mt. 18:15-17; 1Cor. 5:4); collections, (2Cor. 8:ff; 9:1ff); anointing and healing of the sick, (Ja. 5:14,15) and ordination, (Acts 14:23; Titus 1:5-7; Heb. 6:1) etc.
While Camping rejects baptism, the Lord told those that He commanded to baptize that he would be with them to the end of the world. (Mt. 28:18-20) In addition, the Lord's supper, another ordinance that Camping's “church” rejects as for today, is a remembrance until He returns, (1Cor. 11:26) while anointing of the sick and ordination specifically calls for elders.
And the church is revealed in the New Testament as a body consisting of believers with different gifts and offices, (1Cor. 12:4-11,28; Eph. 4:11) including deacons, (1Tim. 4:8) and is overseen by pastors, (Act 20:28; 1Pt. 5:1-14) these being elders/bishops. (Acts 20:17; Titus 1:5-7) Biblical obedience to the latter is required. (Heb. 13:17)
While the church is essentially a spiritual body, into which believers enter upon conversion, (1Cor. 12:13) there is no such thing as a world-wide invisible church without any visible local expression, to which God gave pastors, etc. so that they would not be deceived! (Eph. 4:11,14)
Camping also teaches that local churches no longer preach salvation by grace alone, in which it only occurs when God chooses to save a person (versus a person choosing to “accepting” Christ), as well as the rise of “signs and wonders” teaching, which he says adds things to God’s Word, in opposition to Rv. 22:18-19.
However, multitudes of local churches teach that God elects a person and makes him born again so that he can repent and believe, or that regeneration occurs as a consequence of believing, but that no one can come to the Lord Jesus unless the Father draws them, and enables and moves such to do what they normally would not, with both holding that justification is by faith, not by any moral merit of works.
As for miraculous signs and wonders, one need not believe God still does such in order to be saved, though regeneration itself is a miracle, but the fact is that we would not have a Bible or Christianity if God not done what Camping now forbids, (Jn. 5:36; 14:11; Heb. 2:3) and that such things are not adding to the canon of Scripture, but are a fulfillment of it, (Mk. 16:20) and are subject to testing by the Scriptures, as is preaching “the word.”
In so testing Camping and Family Radio by the Scriptures, we see that by him teaching that the Bible guarantees his prediction, it is Camping who is essentially doing what he charges the local church with, while he subtracts from Scripture things it commands, which are to be kept until He returns.
In addition to his doctrinal aberrations, Camping's extreme, esoteric eschatology follows the doomed trajectory of others, such as William Miller and Ellen White (SDA) or the so-called “Jehovah’s Witnesses,” who presumed to know the exact date of the Lord's return, and failed in every attempt, as the Lord stated that day was not revealed. (Mt. 24:36) (Camping makes plans for future business on earth: “Time has an end”.)
Many of the very Scriptures which Camping contorts to conform to his end-time construct were written to local churches, including the Thessalonians and Corinthians, which believers would be taken in the rapture if it had occurred. (1Cor. 15; 2Thes. 2) While an overall falling away will take place before that Day, the Biblical church with its local, pastored, baptizing bodies will endure, while those who deny this are actually part of the great falling away!
Now and not just May 22 is the time to “forsake the foolish and live” in obedience to Christ, versus the heretic Camping and his “cunningly devised fables.”
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To download the above as a ''8.5x11'' 3 column brochure, download PDF HERE. To print in most printers, first choose to print only side 1, and simply then pick up the last end of the paper that was printed and place it back into the paper slot, the blank side facing you, and then print side 2.
To fold, place the beginning of the message side down facing you so that the beginning (“The END of HAROLD CAMPING's..”) is under your left hand, and fold up and over just inside the last column line on the top. Make sure it is even. Then rotate the paper to the right, and fold the “Methodology” column under the beginning column and hard up against into crease. Note that use of space is maximized, and rather than doing more formatting now, space is really tight.
FRemail me if you have any excerpts of referenced material from Camping that further documents his errors.
Short interview with Camping here
If you see were this needs improvements say so, and referenced excerpts of material from Camping that further documents his errors are welcome. --------------------- Much more could be added, but suffice to add that major doctrines have major substantiation, and Camping's teachings, such as the unmentioned momentous event of the cessation of elders over the flock, and ordinances as the Lord's supper no longer being practiced, with no organized visible church having the Holy Spirit - in contrast to a few devotees listening to the prince of this prophecy on the air - require such an extrapolation or "wresting" of scriptures as to rival the Watchtower Society. His eccentric eisegesis (reading into Scripture) alone is a classic example of autocratic allegorical interpretation, and is contrary to how any established life giving doctrines are derived, but follows the pattern that like eccentrics such as William Miller exampled, but whom Camping makes look sober.
In addition, the very idea that such a major salvific doctrine would require his esoteric eschatology and numerological contortions is an insult to the Holy Spirit.
He attempts to draw a parallel with God no longer working with Israel (though this curse will be reversed) but the ending of their stewardship and the establishment of the church was well attested to by scripture and miracles, both of which Camping does violence to.
The authority of Moses or the Lord or any apostle, which authority Camping basically presumes in leading a new anti-ecclesiastical movement whose authority is effectively him, was not due to them promoting in cultic numerology, but by scriptural conformity and complementarity in life and doctrine, with powerful Divine attestation, which overcame the devil's attempts to do likewise.
Come May 22, with Camping's autocratic, adaptable any-digit-will-do Armageddon esisgesis, then we can expect May 22 will met with reworked calculations, as he is the latest eschatology edition of aberrant apocalyptic authors who deceive the heart of the simple.
Though the truth anyone uses to contrive errors can itself be used for good, and i have far to go in holiness and faith, yet with the Christian faith under attack as never before in recent history, king Harold is much serving the serpent in this regard . "Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them." (Acts 20:30)
Thought some of you might be interested..
Just think if the world ended in 1994 we would of missed our GOP first take over of both houses of congress since 1952.
Honestly? I don’t think you need to give this Camping fellow one bit of attention. The weak minded may follow him, but they wouldn’t listen to logical arguments otherwise because they’re not capable of critical thought.
I listen to him a lot on Family Radio via shortwave
Well, i do understand, but he has a LOT of workers which make up in commitment what they lack in discernment. And which i think is an increasingly phenomenon, resulting from an antipathy to authority and or a misguided quest for a better form of Christianity in the face of a increasing spiritual declension, but which can indicate a relationship with God which is not strong enough to transcend shortcomings the church.
Do you believe in his May 21st prediction?
I disbelieve anyone setting a date. We’re to know the season but not the day nor the hour.
THX TONS.
His nonsense needs slapped down hard.
Thx.
I’ve known of him all my life. When I was a boy in North Jersey in the ‘60’s and ‘70’s, my mom would listen to WFME (Family Radio). As a Assemblies of God preacher’s kid, I listened to Camping come on the radio as well as when my dad would go down to the station and Camping would have him on and they would debate (Camping vs. my dad). I realized early on that although Family Radio had some good (read Biblically sound) programming and songs (many of the theatre plays - forgot the name of the show where a story was told) - I knew that Camping was off his rocker, doctrinally speaking.
This guy is so far off base. It’s hard to imagine some one so deceived.
Family Radio stations play the best Christian music on the radio—except for the few that carry the Old Fashioned Revival Hour. However, when Camping comes on and starts talking, I change stations.
Thanks for the info. He has only gotten more extreme, with a hermeneutic that knows little restraint. But king Harold is one thing, yet perhaps most disturbing is the degree and dedication of his disciples.
People fall into it again and again. What is it that leads them astray so, hubris? I don’t get it. We’re told specifically that we won’t know what he purports to know.
That’s Camping’s problem.
“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. “ (Matthew 23:15)
But Christians are to help those who are deceived by both moral or doctrinal sin,
“Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. “ (Galatians 6:1)
Jamews White does a good job on exposing what is going on: http://thebloviatinghammerhead.wordpress.com/2011/01/04/fool-me-twice-shame-on-you-harold-camping-and-his-suckers/ (second video)
Sometimes Christians are among the most gullible people on earth.
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