I have often heard people claim that we all have a relative somewhere in the family tree that we metaphorically keep locked in the basement because we are embarrassed when folks find that we are related to them. I had a revelation this weekend that Harold Camping is such a blemish on the backside of the Church. Camping is a former minister in the Christian Reformed Church. He left the denomination in 1988.
On Saturday I was setting up our booth for the Galt Strawberry Festival. I had just parked my car when I noticed an RV painted with bumper to bumper advertising. Since it’s not an election year I was curious why they were there. The first thing I noticed was 2012 with a red circle and a slash thru it. I then noticed that it was something about the Bible and Christianity. I thought maybe someone was taking on all the hype about the year 2012 being the end of the world. The whole 2012 idea is just ridiculous. It is amazing the amount of half-baked publicity that has been generated just because an extinct South American tribe only had their calendar figured 500 years into the future. In my opinion, a society that lacked computers, slide-rules or an abacus and could achieve that had completed a great achievement. However as I read further my initial joy that someone was poking fun at the 2012 hype was turned to despair when I read that the world would not end in 2012 but next Saturday, May 21st!
Later at the Strawberry Festival I ran into a Lutheran Minister. I suggested that he invite the end of the world folks to church next Sunday (May 22nd). After they set-up their booth, the Campers began passing out literature. After about two hours of running amuck at the Festival, the event sponsors told them to stay in front of their booth. I did get to see two of their flyers. I would like to spend a few minutes going thru the text of these before “The End” so when it doesn’t happen I can say I told you so.
The text of the flyers will be in block quotes and my comments will be in regular type. Some of the formatting in the quoted flyers will not be identical to the flyer because my blog does keep all formatting when cutting and pasting from Microsoft Word.
No one except God knows the time of the end of the world. How does anyone dare to teach that the Rapture and the Day of Judgment will occur on May 21, 2011? Doesn’t the Bible say very plainly that no one can know the day or the hour of Christ’s return? Indeed the Bible did teach that.
Hint; Gnostics were heretics in the Early Church that claimed secret revelation. They always claim this secret is revealed only to them and has been hidden from all others. Only they know the Truth. This creates an Us vs. Them dichotomy. Other places you will hear similar claims of revelation of previously hidden truth is in Jehovah’s Witnesses and from the Latter-Day Saints. The best known political example is the John Birch Society.
NO MAN KNOWS THE DAY OR THE HOUR?
The Bible tells why the Bible did teach that. In Acts 1:7, at the time that the New Testament church age was about to begin, Jesus taught His disciples: And He said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in His own power.
Jesus then said in the next verse: But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
From these verses we learn that during the church age there would be a great curiosity concerning the time of the end, but believers were not to be at all preoccupied with this question. They were to concentrate and focus all of their attention on the task of bringing the Gospel to the whole world.
Therefore, regardless of how brilliant or how learned a theologian or Bible student might have been, or how diligently they studied the Bible or faithfully served Christ, it was impossible to learn from the Bible the timetable for the end of the world. Anyone who claimed he knew the time of the end was always wrong.
If Camping had stopped here he would still be in orthodox Christian territory. Ironically, in the version of the flyer that we were given, this was the end of the first page. My friend and I discussed this and I made the comment that I think a “But” is coming. He turned the page. I was wrong. The next word was “Nevertheless”.
Nevertheless, there is a very striking statement in the Bible. It is recorded in Ecclesiastes 8:5. There God declares:
Whoso keepeth the commandment shall feel no evil thing: and a wise man’s heart discerneth [better translation: will know] both time and judgment.
In the Bible a wise man is a true believer, to whom God has given a profound trust in the authority of the Bible. True believers have been in existence since the beginning of time. But the timeline of history as it is revealed in the Bible was never revealed to the hearts of the true believers. For example, throughout most of the church age it was generally believed that Creation occurred in the year 4004 B.C.
However, about 35 years ago God began to open the true believers’ understanding of the timeline of history. Thus it was discovered that the Bible teaches that when the events of the past are coordinated with our modern calendar, we can learn dates of history such as Creation (11,013 B.C.), the flood of Noah’s day (4990 B.C.), the exodus of Israel from Egypt (1447 B.C.) and the death of Solomon (93l B.C.)*
However, it was not until a very few years ago that the accurate knowledge of the entire timeline of history was revealed to true believers by God from the Bible. This timeline extends all the way to the end of time. During these past several years God has been revealing a great many truths, which have been completely hidden in the Bible until this time when we are so near the end of the world.
Please notice two things here. First, Camping throws Bishop Usher under the bus by discounting the creation as occurring in 4004 BC. While most of us that believe in creation think Usher was off on his calculations, Camping makes a claim that is presented as fact with no foundation. Usher took all the Bob begat Sam statements and tried to work backwards to the date of creation. Further scholarship has shown the “begat” can actually mean someone was related but not necessarily as father and son. Sometime ancestor or grandparent is a better match. Camping presents as facts things without foundation. Second, we are once again presented the claim that special revelation was give to “true believers” just a few short years ago.
How can this be happening?
That this should happen was clearly prophesied in the Bible. The Bible is the living Word that requires the Holy Spirit to open the spiritual understanding of the person reading or hearing the words of the Bible. Therefore, since it was not God’s plan to open anyone’s understanding of many truths of the Bible until very near the time of the end of the world, it is only now that exceedingly important Biblical truths are being understood. The Bible tells us that this was going to happen.
OK, the Holy Spirit is required to do something if a person reads the Bible! Harold, are you kidding? I know many people that have read parts of the Bible that have not had their eyes opened. Jews read the Old Testament all the time and never see that Jesus is the Messiah. Yet on the road to Emmaus, Jesus was able to use the Scriptures (Old Testament) to prove he was the Christ. Luke 24: 27 “And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.” Harold please don’t tell me that God is obligated to do anything because we as fallen creatures perform some work in our own strength. God is the sovereign not the genie that we manipulate by some formula. That is sorcery not God’s Grace.
THE BOOK THAT WAS SEALED
In the book of Daniel God has much to say about end-time events. Much of this was understood by Daniel, and because it was such awful information, great agony came upon Daniel. We read for example in Daniel 8:27:
And I Daniel fainted, and was sick certain days; afterward I rose up, and did the king’s business; and I was astonished at the vision, but none understood it.
But then God told Daniel in Daniel 12:4 and 9: But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. And He said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.
In other words, God is telling us that there is important information concerning the time of the end that has been recorded in the Bible (“the book”) but is not to be revealed by God until the world is near its end.
In Revelation 22:18-19 we read: For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.
These verses absolutely assure us that after the Bible was completed about 95 A.D. no other words could ever be added to the Bible. Therefore, whatever end-time information had been given to Daniel, but was not to be understood until the time of the end, had to have been included in the Bible before the Bible was completed. However, God wrote it in such a way that it could not be understood until the world was almost at its end. Remember, understanding comes only from the Lord Jesus Christ, as we read in Luke 24:45: “Then opened He their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures.” This explains why the Bible is written in such complex and difficult-to- understand language. It is one reason why Christ spoke in parables, even as we read in Mark 4:34: “But without a parable spake He not unto them.”
Why does “the time of the end” referred to in Daniel have to be the end of the world? Couldn’t be the end of national Israel? Like maybe 70 A.D.? What about Antiochus, surnamed Epiphanes? “The event fixed from which the time of the trouble is to be dated, from the taking away of the daily sacrifice by Antiochus, and the setting up of the image of Jupiter upon the altar, which was the abomination of desolation. They must reckon their troubles to begin indeed when they were deprived of the benefit of public ordinances; that was to them the beginning of sorrows; that was what they laid most to heart.” Matthew Henry Commentary on Daniel Chapter 12. Henry later adds, “The completing of their deliverance, or at least a further advance towards it, which is here set forty-five days after the former, and, some think, points at the death of Antiochus, 1335 days after his profaning the temple.”
My point here is that since Daniel and the other prophets were looking to the promise of Messiah, why does the passage in Daniel have to be some future, unfulfilled event? Even if it is, why in the history of Christendom does Harold Camping alone get the calling? Harold Camping has effectively excommunicated himself from the body of Christ. Once again the words of Saint Cyprian echo thru my mind, “You can not have God for your Father without the church for your mother.”
THE BOOK IS OPENED
But then we read in Revelation 5:1-9: And I saw in the right hand of Him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof? And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth was able to open the book, neither to look thereon. And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon. And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof. And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. And he came and took the book out of the right hand of Him that sat upon the throne. And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints. And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.
These verses teach that there is a book that had been sealed and that was to be opened by Christ, Himself. The only book that can be in view is the book that the Bible describes in Daniel 12.
This book was sealed with seven seals. Therefore, in order for the full information written in the book to become available for understanding, all of the seven seals must be removed. Indeed, Revelation 8:1 describes the removal of the seventh seal: And when He had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.
WHEN WAS THERE SILENCE IN HEAVEN?
Several years ago we had learned that the silence in Heaven for about half an hour referred to the 2,300 days that were the first part of the 23-year (exactly 8,400 days) Great Tribulation period. This period began on May 21, 1988. It was during this 2,300-day period that, both in the churches and throughout the world, very few, if any, were saved. Revelation 8:1 reports that there was silence in Heaven. This would have been the situation beginning on May 21, 1988, because joy in Heaven occurs as sinners repent. In Luke 15:4-32 the Bible reports this joy in Heaven, a joy that was not in silence.
We had learned that May 21, 1988 was the last day of the church age and was also the first day of the 23-year period of Great Tribulation, during which Satan has been employed by God to officially rule all of the churches as well as the whole world. During the first 2,300 days of this 8,400-day period the Holy Spirit was withdrawn from all of the churches as well as the entire world. This produced silence in Heaven. This sad situation is to continue in the churches until the end of the 23-year Great Tribulation period. However, beginning 2,300 days after May 21, 1988 (the end of the church age), the Holy Spirit was again poured out, producing what the Bible calls the “latter rain” (Zechariah 10:1; James 5:7) throughout the world (but not in any church), and God began a final great harvest of salvation, bringing great joy in Heaven. This salvation is not occurring in any church, but will continue outside of the churches to the end of the Great Tribulation, on May 21, 2011.
Because at the beginning of the Great Tribulation period (May 21, 1988), Christ removed the seventh and final seal from this book that Daniel was commanded to seal, we can now understand why it is that during these past years God has revealed to us so much new truth from the Bible. This includes the precise time of the end and much about God’s Judgment plan. The word “time” is a synonym for “hour.” Judgment refers to the Day of Judgment, which is frequently called “the Day.” Thus, to know time and Judgment as prophesied in Ecclesiastes 8:5 is to know the “day” and the “hour.” This fits perfectly with the mercy and love of God for the whole world. Remember, God gave Noah precise information so he could warn the world of impending destruction. Similarly, God commanded Jonah to give the people of Nineveh the precise day He planned to destroy the city of Nineveh. Likewise, in His mercy and love God has given the true believers of our day the exact time of the Rapture, which is the first day of the Day of Judgment, so that they can warn the world. How kind, how gracious, how loving God is. And wonderfully, God is still saving many people today (Revelation 7:9-14) even as He saved the citizens of Nineveh in Jonah’s day (Matthew 12:41).
OK, let me get this straight. In 1988 Harold quits the Christian Reformed Church and God just happens to unleash the Apocalypse? Hey Harold, I read Hal Lindsey’s book and this ain’t how he described it. (FYI David Chilton’s book Days of Vengeance is better.)
God created the Church. It is the only institution that will continue into eternity and just when you say believes need Him most, God withdraws his Holy Spirit and turns the Church over to Satan. What you are really saying is that only you have the Spirit of God in you and all the rest of us are God forsaken apostates?
Time is a synonym for hour? Are you kidding? You’d get laughed out of seminary for that one. Hey, Harold, did you know there is more than one “Day of the Lord” in the Bible?
Camping connecting the book sealed in Daniel with the book sealed in Revelation is really playing fast and loose with the text. Yet another statement of fact with no foundation.
A SOLEMN WARNING TO THOSE IN THE CHURCHES
A knowledge of the actual time of the Rapture and an understanding of Judgment Day is of enormous significance. God warns in 1 Thessalonians 5:2-3 of the Day of Judgment coming to destroy those who deny that near the end of the world the true believers will know the time (the hour) of Christ’s coming to bring to Heaven (to rapture) the true believers and to begin the Day of Judgment (the day). There God tells us: For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
In Revelation 16:15 Christ teaches that He, Himself, will come as a thief (see also Revelation 3:3). Christ obviously is not a thief. He is Holy God. But He and Judgment Day will come like a thief. In John 10:10 God describes what a thief does when he comes: “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.”
Thus when Christ comes with Judgment Day, He comes to take away life and to destroy those for whom He comes as a thief.
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” John 10: 10. If Harold actually quoted the Apostle John in context, it would be a great help. The next verse is one of the best known in the Bible. “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” John 10: 11. Harold says Jesus “comes to take away life” while Jesus said, “I came that they may have life and have it more abundantly.” Who do you believe?
THE THIEF COMES IN THE NIGHT
Christ and Judgment Day come in the night. In 1 Thessalonians 5:3 Christ tells us, “When they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them.” Because destruction comes upon them, we can know for certain that these people are not saved. Being unsaved, they are in spiritual darkness. They are in the night. Judgment Day is coming for them as a “thief in the night.” Yet they believe they are at peace with God and safely under His care. WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?
The language of this verse describes perfectly all of those in the world who on May 21, 2011 are still following any church. Because churches teach many things that are not true to the Bible, including a plan of salvation that is contrary to the Bible, and the Holy Spirit has abandoned all churches, those still following any church on May 21, 2011 are not saved. Nevertheless churches teach their members that:
1. They as confessing members of their church are safely in Christ’s care.
2. No man can know the day or hour of Christ’s return. Therefore, they are certain that Christ will come as a thief in the night.
These dear people do not realize at all that they, themselves, are in spiritual nighttime, a condition that guarantees that when Christ comes they, themselves, will be destroyed in the Day of Judgment. How awful! It is the true believers who know the time (the hour) and much about Judgment Day (the day). They are not in the nighttime of spiritual darkness.
REMEMBER, God is very, very merciful and loving. There is hope for anyone who humbly cries, who begs, and beseeches God that maybe they, too, might become saved.
Compare Harold’s view of the Church with Joseph Smith’s First Vision.
“My object in going to inquire of the Lord was to know which of all the sects was right, that I might know which to join. No sooner, therefore, did I get possession of myself, so as to be able to speak, than I asked the Personages who stood above me in the light, which of all the sects was right (for at this time it had never entered into my heart that all were wrong)—and which I should join.
I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that: “they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.””
It sounds to me like Harold Camping and Joseph Smith are quoting from the same revelation.
• Don’t join any church—they are all wrong.
• All their creeds are abominations.
• Their professors (members or lay people) are all corrupt.
Once again I call upon Jesus, “And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Matthew 16: 18. Christ has built the Church and given his life for it; not for listeners of Family Radio network.
The other tract we were handed on Saturday is called Judgment Day. This has nothing to do with Terminators, SkyNet or Arnold Schwarzenegger. This tract claims to prove that May 21st is the day God’s wrath is poured out upon all unbelievers. According to Camping’s previous track, none of my children are believers because God has withdrawn His Spirit since 1988 and they were born after that date.
JUDGMENT DAY
THE END OF THE WORLD IS ALMOST HERE! HOLY GOD WILL BRING JUDGMENT DAY ON MAY 21, 2011
JUDGMENT DAY is feared by the world and is the day that God will destroy the world because of the sins of mankind. The world is correct in believing that Judgment Day will come. The Bible gives us the correct and accurate information about that Day.
The Bible is the Holy Book written by Holy God who is the Creator of this beautiful world. The Holy Bible is without question a very ancient book, having been completed about 1,900 years ago. In its original languages (mostly Hebrew and Greek) it has never been changed, and each and every word in the original languages is from the mouth of God. The Bible is divided into two parts (the Old Testament and the New Testament), with each part divided into many books. Each book is divided into chapters, and each chapter is divided into verses. One of the books is named Second Timothy (2 Timothy). In Chapter 3, verse 16 (2 Timothy 3:16) of this book Holy God tells us: All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.”
Camping once again dishes out some sloppy half-truths as fact. The Bible is sixty-six books written by various authors over a period of about two thousand years that agree as to the nature of God, his attributes and man’s relationship to their Creator. The Old Covenant (Testament) is about man’s separation from God due to his sin and the promise of a restored relationship with God. The New Covenant (Testament) is about God sending his only Son to repair the separation caused by sin and allowing us to have new life in him. The chapter and verse breakdown of the Bible was added by man over a thousand years after the Cannon of Scripture was completed. The modern chapter and verse divisions were not done until about 1440 for the Old Testament and the New Testament in about 1560.
In Jeremiah 36:1-4 God gives an example of how the Bible was written: And it came to pass in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, that this word came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, Take thee a roll of a book, and write therein all the words that I have spoken unto thee against Israel, and against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day I spake unto thee, from the days of Josiah, even unto this day. It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I purpose to do unto them; that they may return every man from his evil way; that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin. Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah: and Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the LORD, which He had spoken unto him, upon a roll of a book [the roll of the book is the Bible].
Harold should have kept reading the chapter. The roll was not the Bible but a pronouncement of judgment on Israel if they would not repent. Jeremiah had written it down because he was in prison and could not give the message himself. “Therefore go thou, and read in the roll, which thou hast written from my mouth, the words of the LORD in the ears of the people in the LORD’S house upon the fasting day: and also thou shalt read them in the ears of all Judah that come out of their cities. It may be they will present their supplication before the LORD, and will return every one from his evil way: for great is the anger and the fury that the LORD hath pronounced against this people.” Jeremiah 36: 6 & 7
Finally the king was able to hear the words that Jeremiah had written: Jeremiah 36: 21-23 “ So the king sent Jehudi to fetch the roll: and he took it out of Elishama the scribe’s chamber. And Jehudi read it in the ears of the king, and in the ears of all the princes which stood beside the king. Now the king sat in the winterhouse in the ninth month: and there was a fire on the hearth burning before him. And it came to pass, that when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, he cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, until all the roll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth.”
Clearly this scroll was destroyed by the King and was not part of the actual text that made it into the Bible. Not all writings mentioned in the Bible were included. In I Corinthians 5: 9 we read about another letter, “I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators”. This letter appears to be one that has been lost and never made it into the Cannon. Harold is making vague generalities without regard to context.
Holy God is far, far greater than our human minds can even begin to explain or understand. In Genesis 1:1 God declares: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth
The Holy Bible is a book written to us so that we can know that Holy God created this beautiful universe, including all of its plants and animals, birds and sea creatures, and mankind who was created to rule this earth. Indeed there is no being of any kind that can compare with Holy God, who simply by speaking brought every kind of plant, animal, sea creature, and mankind, sun, stars, etc., into existence. For example, Holy God tells us in His Holy Bible in Genesis 1:24-26: And God said, let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
The people of the earth, which we call mankind, were created to rule over this earth. God gave laws by which we can live as happily and wisely as possible. He warns, however, that the breaking of those laws is sin, and sin will bring punishment from God. The Bible declares in Romans 6:23: For the wages of sin is death….
The Bible teaches there is only one God. The Bible says in Deuteronomy 4:39: Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the LORD He is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else.
Because God is so great and glorious He calls Himself by many different names. Each name tells us something about the glorious character and nature of God. Thus in the Bible we find such names as God, Jehovah, Christ, Jesus, Lord, Allah, Holy Spirit, Savior, etc. Names such as Jehovah, Jesus, Savior, and Christ particularly point to God as the only means by which forgiveness from all of our sins and eternal life can be obtained by God’s merciful and glorious actions. For more information on this subject, you may request a free copy of I Hope God Will Save Me.
Many books have been written about the Bible, or are regarded as additions to the Bible, like the Koran or the Book of Mormon. But however old or prestigious or well- accepted as a holy book they may be, no book other than the Bible is written by God Himself, and is Holy as the Bible is Holy. God warns in Revelation 22:18: For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book.
The word “plagues” in this verse refers to the punishment of death and destruction that will come upon all those who sin. The Bible teaches that even though God loves this world, which He in His infinite wisdom created, the law of God requires that those who sin must be punished by death. The Bible says in Ezekiel 18:20: The soul that sinneth, it shall die. In Romans 3:10 the Bible declares: There is none righteous [has not sinned], no, not one.
God must also obey His law and therefore, since all the people of the world are sinners, He finally must destroy the world. It is evident that sin in the world has become very great. The Bible warns in Jeremiah 25:33: And the slain of the LORD shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground.
However, the Holy Bible tells us that Holy God is a God of great mercy, compassion and love. That is why He has given us in advance of the destruction the exact time of the Day of Judgment. The Bible tells us in Amos 3:7: Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but He revealeth his secret unto His servants the prophets.
Consequently we now can know from the Bible the exact time and many details of God’s destruction plan that is to come upon the whole world.”
“God must also obey His law and … must destroy the world.” Harold is once again telling God what to do and when he must do it. You would think that a sinner that has been redeemed by Christ would show a little humility and compassion for his fellow man. Perhaps Harold could start with sharing the “good news” instead of ranting that ya’ll are gonna burn and I’m not. But this message has no offer of the forgiveness of Christ; not plea to repent; no testimony of the grace of God.
The quotation of Amos 3: 7 is Camping’s way of claiming the mantle of biblical prophet. Let us hold him to the standard of a prophet. More on that later.
While there is still time we can very humbly cry to God for His gracious mercy. Maybe, since God is such a merciful God, He might forgive someone who is humbly pleading with God for mercy. God promises for example in Zephaniah 2:3: Seek ye the LORD, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought His judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the LORD’S anger.
Holy God demonstrates for us that He is completely able to bring destruction on this whole world because of sin. The Holy Bible informs us of this awesome fact in Genesis 6:12-13: And God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
By careful study of the Bible we learn that in the year 4990 B.C. (Before Christ) God brought a flood of water and destroyed the entire earth except for eight people and the animals that were with them. They were not destroyed because God brought them into the safety of the ark. Their leader, Noah, had obeyed God’s command to build a huge boat, called an ark, about 450 feet (137 meters) long.
Why does Camping fixate on Noah and the Flood? Is he now equating himself with Noah? Why insert the length of the ark? It doesn’t seem to add to the discussion. If we are just hours away from the end couldn’t he put this space to better use? Could this be related to some numerology “proof” of his calculations?
The Holy Bible tells us in Hebrews 11:7: By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.
Seven days before the beginning of the Flood that completely covered the entire earth, God commanded Noah to warn the peoples of the world that they had seven days to get into the safety of the ark. The Holy Bible tells us that on the 17th day of the 2nd month of that year God shut the door of the ark. Then, the Flood began to completely cover the entire earth.
Another scholarly error from Camping. God shut Noah and the animals in the ark seven days before the flood but there is no record in Genesis of the claim, “…God commanded Noah to warn the peoples of the world that they had seven days to get into the safety of the ark.” Only Noah and his family were to be saved. In Genesis 6 were read, “And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.” Only Noah is remarkable for his faith. It never says his wife or sons deserve saving for any reason other than the righteousness of Noah.
About 5,000 years later God wrote in His Holy Bible in 2 Peter Chapter 3 about this worldwide destruction by water in the days of Noah. In the same chapter He also warned that the time would come when Holy God would destroy the whole world by fire. Our entire universe would be forever destroyed. In between these two declarations of worldwide destruction that would come because of sin God made a very important statement. God declared in 2 Peter 3:8: But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
God had written in the Holy Bible in Genesis 7:4: For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.
God added in Genesis 7:10-11: And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the Flood were upon the earth. In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
The ark that Noah had built was the only place of safety from the destruction of the Flood. Likewise, God’s gracious mercy is the only place of safety from the destruction that is coming on the Day of Judgment.
Camping has built his entire claim on a reimagining of the Flood and Second Peter 3: 8. Look at the context of the verse in Peter. “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” Verses 8 & 9.
In verses 14 & 15a we again see longsuffering: “Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless. And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation…” The point is God’s love and patience with us for our salvation. The 1 day = 1,000 years is not literal but a metaphor to show that God is patient.
In 2 Peter 3:8, which is quoted above, Holy God reminds us that one day is as 1,000 years. Therefore, with the correct understanding that the seven days referred to in Genesis 7:4 can be understood as 7,000 years, we learn that when God told Noah there were seven days to escape worldwide destruction, He was also telling the world there would be exactly 7,000 years (one day is as 1,000 years) to escape the wrath of God that would come when He destroys the world on Judgment Day. Because Holy Infinite God is all-knowing, He knows the end from the beginning. He knew how sinful the world would become.
Seven thousand years after 4990 B.C. (the year of the Flood) is the year 2011 A.D. (our calendar).
4990 + 2011 – 1 = 7,000
[One year must be subtracted in going from an Old Testament B.C. calendar date to a New Testament A.D. calendar date because the calendar does not have a year zero.]”
This section is the core of Camping’s argument. Talk about a leap of faith. For Noah, it was a literal seven days but somehow Camping is able to turn that into seven thousand years with the insertion of a “therefore”? I have patiently been trying not to quote Walter Martin but it’s time that I did. “A text without a context is a pretext; usually for error.” Camping clearly has no regard for biblical hermeneutics.
My other comment is that virtually no scholars in Christendom believe that Pope Gregory was correct in his calculation that Jesus was born in the year zero (or one) A.D. Most think Gregory was off a few years. From the reading that I have done, six to three B.C. is a better range. Banking on Gregory’s calculation is another problem for Camping’s theory. In fact if other scholars are correct, Camping already missed the Rapture by several years.
Also, why should the age of Christ’s reign be shorter than the amount of time from the Promise in the Garden to the Incarnation?
Thus Holy God is showing us by the words of 2 Peter 3:8 that He wants us to know that exactly 7,000 years after He destroyed the world with water in Noah’s day, He plans to destroy the entire world forever. Because the year 2011 A.D. is exactly 7,000 years after 4990 B.C. when the flood began, the Bible has given us absolute proof that the year 2011 is the end of the world during the Day of Judgment, which will come on the last day of the Day of Judgment.
Amazingly, May 21, 2011 is the 17th day of the 2nd month of the Biblical calendar of our day. Remember, the flood waters also began on the 17th day of the 2nd month, in the year 4990 B.C.
The Holy Bible gives several additional astounding proofs that May 21, 2011 is very accurate as the time for the Day of Judgment. For more information on this subject, you may request a copy of We Are Almost There, available free of charge from Family Radio.
God is proving to us that we have very accurately learned from the Holy Bible God’s time-plan for the end of the world.
Harold, if this is all you’ve got then I hope to see some of your followers at church next Sunday.
GOD’S SUBLIME MERCY AND COMPASSION
God in His Holy Bible has given us a beautiful example of His compassionate mercy. Included in the Holy Bible is the book called Jonah. In it God tells of a very wicked city with a population of more than 120,000 people that existed about 2,800 years ago. It was called Nineveh, which was a capital city of the nation of Assyria that knew nothing of the Bible. But because of its wickedness and because Holy God is merciful, He sent a prophet named Jonah to that city. Jonah’s message from God to them was that in 40 days the whole city was to be destroyed.
The whole city correctly believed with all their hearts that this warning was from Holy God. Thus from the king on down to the lowest servant they repented, which means they turned away from their sins and their pride. The Holy Bible tells us that they sat in sackcloth and ashes. This meant that they fully realized that because of their sins they had dreadfully shamed God. To put on sackcloth and ashes was an act of supreme humility to show in the clearest way to God and to all of the people how greatly they were humbled by their sins against Holy God. It showed that they knew that they fully deserved that God should destroy them because of their sin.
But maybe, there was hope that Holy God might change His mind and instead have mercy on them. The Bible tells us in Jonah 3:6-9:
For the word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water: But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?
In answer to their complete humility we read of God’s fabulous, incomprehensible mercy toward these extremely wicked people. God tells us in Jonah 3:10: And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that He had said that He would do unto them; and He did it not.
Because this entire wicked city of Nineveh turned from their evil ways and with great humility cried to God for mercy, Holy God did change His mind and did not destroy them.
Harold is now trying to cover his ecclesiastical butt by inserting weasel words. There is no “if clause” in the Scripture for the end of the age. He can’t make a definitive claim “the Bible has given us absolute proof” and then say “Who can tell if God will turn and repent…” There is no magic formula to put off the final judgment. The only place I have ever see such teaching is in Hollywood movies. Demi Moore in the Seventh Sign; Arnold Schwarzenegger in The End of Days and whoever did the movie Legion.
Sadly, the Holy Bible tells us that only a small percentage of today’s world will turn from their evil ways, and with great humility and fear will cry to God for mercy. Nevertheless, the Bible assures us that many of the people who do beg God for His mercy will not be destroyed. We learn from the Bible that Holy God plans to rescue about 200 million people (that is about 3% of today’s population). On the first day of the Day of Judgment (May 21, 2011) they will be caught up (raptured) into Heaven because God had great mercy for them. This is why we can be so thankful that God has given us advance notice of Judgment Day. Because God is so merciful, maybe He will have mercy on you. The Holy Bible says in Psalm 51:17: The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
And in Psalm 51:1-3 Holy God shows us the attitude we ought to have as we pray for His mercy: Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.
At this point I was fully expecting there to be 144,000 that would be saved but 200 million? Here is another number presented as fact with no proof or foundation. From Camping’s tracts we have learned that all churches are apostate and God has withheld his Holy Spirit since 1988 so where are these folks coming from? Surely the donor list for Family Radio is smaller than this. Besides I thought the song said, “We haven’t had that spirit since 1969”.
Since salvation is a work of the Holy Spirit and He is no longer with us, how could anyone be saved? How could any person be convicted of sin? Once again Camping is at odds with Jesus.
“Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on me; Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.” John 16: 7-11
Sadly, you can’t turn to your religion or go to your priest or pastor or spiritual leader for help. They, too, should be begging God for mercy for themselves. This is a matter only between you and Holy God. God knows every one of your thoughts, words, and actions. Turn away from your sins and humbly beg, beseech, and implore God for forgiveness.
And, thank God that in His great mercy He has given you this warning of the destruction that is almost here, and the great hope that you, too, might be one whom God will bring to Heaven to be with God forevermore in the highest happiness and joy and glory. Holy God in the Holy Bible teaches us in Luke 18:10-14: Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
May God have mercy on you as He did on this publican.“
Mr. Camping, you are a heretic; a false prophet. You deserve the punishment of such.
“If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, And the sign or the wonder come to pass , whereof he spake unto thee, saying , Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known , and let us serve them; Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him. And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee.” Deuteronomy 13:1-5
“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. 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.” Deuteronomy 18: 20-22
