The Harold Camping Countdown: It's Almost Over!

Is Camping preparing a "contingency plan" in the likely event his prediction is a complete flop tomorrow?

Time is progressing and news is leaking out from the staff of Family Radio that Harold Camping is aware that May 21, 2011 might not be judgment day after all. Consequently, he has already prepared a defense to explain to the radio listeners that he was not wrong, but that God has heard all the prayers and seen the repentance of people, and in His mercy has postponed the judgment.

This was submitted to me by a person close to Family Radio:

“I was speculating about this the other day. I believe comments Harold has made recently about Jonah and Nineveh indicate the approach he will take. Here is what I expect him to say.”

“You see what has happened? The Bible is correct. Judgment day came, and just as God’s mercy was granted to Nineveh, He has shed His abundant mercy upon us. We can only speculate about what has moved Holy God to forestall judgment. Perhaps it is the reverence of the Japanese in the face of the stress they have faced during the earthquake and tsunami. Or perhaps, in the secret hearts of many who have been listening to Family Radio, we can expect that countless thousands have turned to God and prayed, ‘Oh God have mercy on me.’ We really do not need to know why, but it is obvious that Holy God has shown His mercy. He has validated what He told us in the Bible, validated it fully. We should thank Him, thank Him so deeply. Now it is all the more important, with these extra days He has given us to proclaim His Gospel in all the corners of the earth. So we need to sacrifice financially in every way to spread Family Radio still further and to strengthen this ministry.”

Camping is already preparing the people by speaking about Jonah and Nineveh. It is obvious there is something mentally wrong with him because he has wrongly predicted the end of the world multiple times since 1988.

...


Harold Camping has been challenged before and survived. In the 1970’s, Tom Summerville tried to rally the Family Radio staff and asked Camping to step down as the CEO of Family Radio. He refused and then started to fire the people who had challenged him. Camping’s philosophy of hiring is that all employees are expendable and anyone can be replaced. The entire staff can be replaced because he believes that all things are pre-ordained by God, and if a person becomes a problem to Family Radio, God has already selected a replacement for the person. So Camping does not hold back when it comes to firing an employee at Family Radio; people are useful as long as they support him and do what he tells them to do.

It has also been pointed out to me that the Family Radio staff are not all in unity. A number of them actually believe what Camping is teaching, therefore the people that want to evict him know that they cannot do that since loyal “Campingites” would rally to his side, and Camping would again fire those who are challenging him.-The Contingency Plan

Well, the Jehovah's Witnesses have survived numerous false predictions of the end of the world, including their first major one for 1914. Camping even holds (strangely) to some JW doctrines, such as that the archangel Michael was Jesus, and that the unsaved don't go to Hell, but are unconscious forever after death (just like atheists believe). Even I wasn't aware that Camping held that last belief. The Family Radio organization may transform into a very cult-like group that sees itself as the only home of true Christians (much as the Jehovah's Witnesses proclaim for themselves) after Camping's latest prophecy of the end fails. Camping already calls all other churches "apostate", so it wouldn't be far-fetched to see it happen. People don't tend to give up beliefs they've invested so much of their lives in, so even though there will be many that will abandon Camping after tomorrow, just as the 19th century Millerite movement lost followers after William Miller's failed prediction of the end in 1844 (it became the foundation for the Seventh Day Adventists) perhaps even more will believe all the more strongly in Harold Camping and accept his ridiculous explanation (whatever it turns out to be) for his second major failed prediction of the return of Jesus.




For more Christian hilarity, check out the kook-filled Rapture Ready Forum on the subject of May 21 2011, where one person states about Camping: "It's kooks like this that make people turn against Christianity."-May 21 2011 False Prophecy Day - Camping

Rapture Ready prohibits "date setting", but they're as big a fail as Camping, because Jesus has been returning soon for decades but always fails to show up. Sure, you'll never be called on a particular date if you don't set one, but your general expectation of the soon coming of Jesus will still look pretty stupid decades from now.






Throughout our history, religious leaders and organizations have claimed that their holy books provide accurate prophecies about the End Of The World. The examples shown in this video are (relatively) fringe organizations, but despite their overt activism and cult-like behavior, organizations like FamilyRadio.com provide a glimpse into what the more mainstream religions adhere to and believe.

Pastors, priests, apologists, ministers, religious philosophers and leaders of every kind, from every generation, have quoted from the books of Daniel and Revelation about the End of Days. Are their claims any less ridiculous? And should they be held any less accountable?