Harold Camping Errs on Prediction of the End of the World – Once Again

Harold Camping predicted that the world would end on October 21st. Image courtesy of Wikipedia.




Joel Kontinen

Harold Camping made headlines with his prediction that Jesus would return on May 21st and that the world would end five months after that or on October 21st.

Mr. Camping used his date for Noah’s Flood to calculate the rapture. He said that one day in the Bible corresponds to a thousand years in human history. He dated the Flood at 4990 B.C. or over 2,500 years earlier than archbishop James Ussher’s traditional computation. According to Camping, May 21st marked the 7,000th year (or the seventh day) after the beginning of the Flood.

Camping appealed to the apostle Peter’s statement: “With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day” (2 Peter 3:8, NIV).

However, the apostle did not mean that a day is a thousand years. Instead, he emphasised that God would fulfil His promise and return – in due time:

“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. “

Nothing in Peter’s teaching suggests that we can calculate Jesus’ return from the year of the Flood.

Jesus said of His return, “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come.” (Mark 13:32-33).

While cults like the Jehovah’s Witnesses have predicted erroneous dates for Jesus’ return, Christians have not been called to speculate on dates that they cannot know.

Jesus Did Not Come Back – Yet

Jesus did not return – yet. But the day will come when He will return. Christus Pantokrator in a Greek icon. Image courtesy of Wikipedia.




Joel Kontinen

May 21st came and went, but Jesus did not return.

Recently, Harold Camping gave sceptics a good reason for criticising some Christians for their lack of critical thinking.

Mr. Camping is an old man so we should refrain from throwing stones at him. After all, none of us is omniscient or all-knowing.

It is good to keep in mind that Mr. Camping was not the first one who failed in his prediction of Jesus’ return, and hardly the last one, either.

Camping forgot a very essential element. Jesus had said of His return, “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come.” (Mark 13:32-33).

In addition, Mr. Camping misinterpreted a key verse in Second Peter: ”With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.” He forgot the little word like. We cannot use a verse like this to predict the Lord’s return.

So here we are and live and work until Jesus will return.

Harold Camping: Jesus Will Return on May 21st, 2011

Harold Camping is a well-known radio broadcaster and author. He predicts that the world will end very soon. Image courtesy of Wikipedia.

Joel Kontinen


There has been no shortage of end-of-the-world predictions lately. Many have suggested that December 21st, 2012 is the most likely date for the grand finale.

Harold Camping (born 1921) is an author and media personality who specialises in end-time events. He suggests an even faster timetable, predicting that Jesus will return in just nine days’ time or on May 21st.

This kind of speculation is nothing new. Christians and cults in particular have often predicted the date for Jesus’ return. Jehovah’s Witnesses for instance taught that Jesus would return in 1914. However, the events of that year do not fulfil all the characteristics of the Second Coming.

Our world does not look like the Millennium during which the lion eats grass like the sheep and wars would only be a memory.

Mr. Camping says that one day in the Bible corresponds to a thousand years in human history. He has dated the Flood at 4990 B.C. or over 2,500 years earlier than archbishop James Ussher’s traditional computation. According to Camping, May 21st will mark the 7,000th year since the beginning of the Flood.

He is right in that Peter did speak about the Flood of Noah’s days and a thousand years in the same context:

“With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day” (2 Peter 3:8, NIV).

However, the apostle did not mean that a day is a thousand years. Instead, he emphasised that God would fulfil His promise – in due time:

“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. “

Nothing in Peter’s teaching suggests that we can compute Jesus’ return from the year of the Flood.

Mr. Camping has computed that God created the world in the year 11,013 B.C. I do not know of any theologian who would share this view. Ussher for instance suggested the year 4004 B.C. but even his dates are not inspired.

A few decades ago Mr. Camping predicted that Jesus would return in 1994.

Although we might be tempted to compute a plausible date for the Second Coming, it is good to keep in mind that “the day of the Lord will come like a thief” (2 Peter 3:10, NIV). Our primary task is not to compute dates but to fulfil the Great Commission of taking the gospel to all nations.

When the apostles asked the risen Christ about future events, He said:

“It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:7-8).

Source:

Camping, Harold. JUDGMENT DAY. THE END OF THE WORLD IS ALMOST HERE! HOLY GOD WILL BRING JUDGMENT DAY ON MAY 21, 2011.

Will the World End on December 21, 2012?

The ancient Mayan calendar is said to predict that the world will end on 21st December, 2012. Image courtesy of Wikipedia.





Joel Kontinen

”The world is coming to an end. The planet Nibiru, discovered by the ancient Sumerians, will collide or come very close to Earth on December 21, 2012 and put an end to our civilisation.” This is what we are told on many blogs and websites.

How credible is this scenario?

At least Hollywood has turned it into dollars. The film 2012, directed by Roland Emmerich, released on Friday, November 13, is based on the assumed ending of the ancient Mayan calendar.

The calendar is said to end with the winter solstice, i.e. December 21, in 2012.

Wait a minute. Our calendar ends on the 31st of December but this does not necessarily mean that the world will end.

There is a further problem with this end of the world scenario. In contrast to what some conspiracy theories claim, the planet Niburu does not exist.

Several decades ago, Zecharia Sitchin, a science fiction author, claimed he had found ancient Sumerian manuscripts that describe the discovery of a planet called Niburu. However, no archaeologist has verified the existence of such texts.

Niburu could possibly be associated with the Babylonian god Marduk who is not exactly known to be a planet.

The hype concerning 2012 has been influenced by both new age ideology and evolutionary faith in the existence of intelligent life in outer space. A psychic named Nancy Lieder claims she had been contacted by aliens living on a planet revolving round the star Zeta Reticuli. They warned her of a planet that would collide with Earth in May 2003.

When May 2003 came and went without the predicted collision, the catastrophe was postponed until 2012 and associated with the Mayan calendar and the hypothetical reversal of Earth’s magnetic poles that are supposed to cause great upheavals.

Describing impending catastrophes and the end of the world have proved to be efficient means of making money in the past.

G.K. Chesterton, a famous British author, wrote that people who espouse materialism are credulous and easily believe everything.

When one rejects the Bible’s revelation, one might soon come to believe in UFOs, parapsychology, horoscopes and even the Mayan calendar.

Sources:

Neuhaus, Richard John. 2005. RJN 12.31.05 One more word... First Things (31 December). http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/2005/12/rjn-123005-one-more-word.


Nibiru and Doomsday 2012: Questions and Answers. http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/ask-an-astrobiologist/intro/nibiru-and-doomsday-2012-questions-and-answers

2012: Beginning of the End or Why the World Won't End? NASA. http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/2012.html