From Apocalypse to Spin Cycle

You remember when people started disappearing on May 21, 2011 for the Rapture, right?  Or how about when God divided all of us as either sheep or goats, as either the citizens of Heaven or the denizens of Hell, back on October 21, 2011?  These were the prophetic dates given by Harold Camping, the leader of a Christian ministry which is broadcast through Family Radio.

Prior to these dates, Camping explained how God had given us many infallible(!) proofs from His word that those days would be the markers of the ends of human history as we know it.  When May 21 came and went without any divinely driven exodus, Camping admitted that he didn't know why there was no Rapture, expressed that it was God's prerogative to alter plans as He saw fit, and held fast to the October 21 date as being Judgement Day.  Then October 21 passed into history like any other day...

From that failed prophesy, there are essentially only two paths such a believer can go down:

One path is to renounce the faith completely.  If the proofs of the prophetic dates were infallible and Bible based, then obviously the Bible is wrong.  If the Bible is wrong, then faith in the Bible is not justified.  Psychologically speaking, this is an extremely difficult path.  It involves admitting you are wrong, admitting that you were fooled, and admitting that you have wasted time, money, and effort on something that had false value.

The other path is similar to the first, but different in a critical way, and that makes all the difference in preference of the options.  If you don't renounce the faith, you still can't avoid admitting that you were wrong and that you had been fooled.  Harold Camping has come to terms with this, and posted an open letter on the Family Radio website this month (it took a while to come to terms, obviously) stating among other things:

"... In Romans 3:4 God declares: "Let God be true but every man a liar." Events within the last year have proven that no man can be fully trusted. Even the most sincere and zealous of us can be mistaken. 

...

We must also openly acknowledge that we have no new evidence pointing to another date for the end of the world. Though many dates are circulating, Family Radio has no interest in even considering another date. God has humbled us through the events of May 21, to continue to even more fervently search the Scriptures (the Bible), not to find dates, but to be more faithful in our understanding. 

... 

We have learned the very painful lesson that all of creation is in God’s hands and He will end time in His time, not ours!"

So you see the humble recognition that Camping had gotten it all wrong, trusting more in the wisdom of himself than the wisdom of God.  He is OK with being wrong, because that is the lot of all humanity.  He has also learned his lesson, and will not be claiming any new dates for the End.

But that's not all that he said.  By choosing this path, he did not have to admit that he had wasted time, money, and effort on something that had false value.  In fact, he is quite certain that it did have value:

"Yes, we humbly acknowledge we were wrong about the timing; yet though we were wrong God is still using the May 21 warning in a very mighty way.

... 

Yet this incorrect and sinful statement allowed God to get the attention of a great many people who otherwise would not have paid attention. Even as God used sinful Balaam to accomplish His purposes, so He used our sin to accomplish His purpose of making the whole world acquainted with the Bible."

And so you see how even the most grand of follies is "spun" into an affirmation; both of the awesome power of God, and of the fact that their precious resources were not wasted.  The misguided believer humbles himself only to pat himself on the back for playing his part faithfully in God's master plan.


I've seen the same patterns of self-deception played out on lesser scales time and time again.

Ten Days and Amish Angst

Believe it or not, these could be your last ten days on earth.  Everybody remembers Harold Camping, right?  The May 21, 2011 day was just supposed to be the date of the Rapture.  October 21, 2011, that is supposed to be the actual end of the world.

What's that?  You still don't believe that these are the End Times?  Well then, consider this:

These are the times of Amish on Amish violence!  It is incredible!  According to a news story at Huffington Post, the "Bergholz Clan," a splinter group of Amish, have acted out against their fellow Amish, breaking into their homes to cut off their beards and hair!

The Bergholz Clan is led by Sam Mullet.  Supposedly Sam wasn't involved in the follicle foible, but is suspected to have been the one directing his followers to lop off the obvious, personal symbols of the Amish lifestyle. 

The Amish, normally ones to settle issues within their own communities, sought the local law enforcement for help on this one.

Sam could not understand why the police were getting involved in this purely religious matter.  Sam told the police that these trimming raids "started with us ex-communicating members that weren't listening or obeying our laws."  Presumably, Sam felt that if you weren't going to obey the laws, you should not be permitted to call yourself Amish or outwardly present yourself as Amish, and that's why he felt he had to take action.

There's not enough detail to say who is more correct from a Biblical doctrine, Sam's splinter group or its victims.  The Amish follow a code of self-imposed, non-Biblical laws, known as Ordnung, as part of an attempt to maintain a more-pure faith in the God of the Bible.  Go figure.

What makes this most amazing is that the Amish are known for their quiet and calm humility, as well as butter, cheese, and quality basic construction labor.  Nonresistance and nonviolence are tenants of their faith.  They are religious extremists, but on the peaceful side of the scale.  So when Amish people start attacking each other, my friends, you know the end has truly come.

Time to start that bucket list!  ;-)

Those Who Do Not Learn from History...

According to Harold Camping, the Judgement Day is coming soon; May 21, 2011.  Just two weeks away.  That has spurred some people to sell there possessions and tour around to spread the word of this revelation.  This got me thinking:  Where have I heard that storyline before?

Oh, yeah, I remember.  It was in the Bible.  You see, as I detailed in the study "The Time Has Come," Jesus was preaching that God's day of Judgement was coming very soon too.  With Judgement Day coming at very soon, what is the point of having possessions?  None, really.  So just like some of the unfortunate people who are deceived by Mr. Camping, those who were deceived by the early promoters of the Christian Church did likewise.  It's true!  Check out Acts 2:44-45 and Acts 4:32-37.

And people still ask "what motivation would the early church leaders have had to lie about the Gospel?"  Traditionally, people giving you large sums of money for lying has always been good motivator to continue (Acts 4:36-37).

Heck, the early church leaders even created a story to further motivate people to give everything.  You'll find that in Acts 5:1-11, where God supposedly kills Ananias and Sapphira for lying about how completely they gave the church.  The story stinks of greed, but beyond the supposed greed of Ananias and Sapphira.

Anyway, it seems that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. The followers of the early church never saw the Day of Judgement.  Generation after generation just continued on.  Camping's followers are in the same boat.

However, in a way, Camping's followers are in a better position.  They at least have a defined date.  They are not going to be strung along forever like the rest of Christianity...

One Month From Now...

One month from now, the world will end as we know it.  Or at least Harold Camping thinks so.  That is such a crazy idea to ponder.  I mean, it's flat out crazy in and of itself, but what if you did know the world would end in one month?  What if you knew for certain that one month from now, God would fulfill His promise to unleash His full wrath upon the overwhelming majority of the world; those who could not manage to walk the narrow path and enter the narrow gate.

Walk into a crowded mall or supermarket.  Look around.  Consider that most of the people you see are going to be punish by God in a way such that no person has ever been punished.  Perhaps even you.

Camping and his followers must be walking a fine line between extreme anticipated bliss and dire mourning for all of the lost souls around them.  I imagine it must be something like being the only one on a 747 with an ejection seat and a parachute as it plummets to the ground due to engine failure.  Sure, you'll survive, but what about everybody else?

I can't imagine the emotional roller coaster those poor, misguided souls are on.

Camping at the End of the Universe

I travel a lot, and that means a lot of in-car time; time with a radio and a selection of unknown stations.  I bump into Christian stations often, and sometimes I stick around to listen.  This past Thursday night was one of those nights when I ran into one of my Christian favorites:  Family Radio.  The program that time was a live call-in Q&A session with Harold Camping.

For those of you unfamiliar with Harold Camping, he is the leader of Family Radio, a network of four satellite channels, over one hundred AM and FM radio stations, and two television stations, and in 40 different languages worldwide.  More significantly, a cornerstone teaching of the Family Radio ministry is that the Rapture will occur May 21, 2011, and the end of the world will be October 21, 2011.  That's what makes his ministry so fascinating to me, in an amusing way.

Let's get back to the show...

This was the order of three calls which came in while I was listening.  I'll use quotes, but this is paraphrasing based on my memory:

Caller #1)  "You are going to get a whole bunch of enemas on May 22."

Camping)  "Huh?  What?  May 22?  I'm not sure, uh, what do you mean May 22?  Oh dear, we seem to be having some problems.  Well, thank you for calling and sharing.  On to our next call."

As you may imagine, I had a few good chuckles about that.  But seriously, calling in and harassing a host like that is just immature and rude, even if it is funny.  The thing to keep in mind here, though, is that the perpetrator of this heckling call was a Christian!  No, I can't be 100% certain, but atheists don't tend to heckle Christians like that.  An atheist doesn't argue that someone has picked the wrong date, but rather that they have picked the wrong god, which would pretty much be any of them!

Caller #2)  "I don't know what to do, Mr. Camping.  I have called you several times before to try to get you to stop spreading this false doctrine, Mr. Camping, but you just keep on teaching it."

Camping)  "Which doctrine is that?"

Caller #2)  "Well I guess we are going to have to wait until May 22, Mr. Camping, and see what you do then."

Camping)  "Oh, well, by what authority do you have to say that there will be a May 22?  Can you point to verses in the Bible to make a case that there will be a May 22?  On what authority can you say that?  I have many, many passages in the Bible which collectively all point to May 21 as being the day of our Lord's Second Coming.  Tell me, by what authority do you have to say that there will be a May 22?"

Brilliant!  Just brilliant!  Camping's defense is impenetrable, at least to the Christian.  Despite it being Christian doctrine that Jesus could come back at any time, none of them really seem to live that way, at least not by majority.  They all assume life will go on; day in, day out.  Even those who believe that His Coming is soon, you don't find them emptying their 401k's and giving all their money to the poor.  Yet this caller, despite knowing for certain in his heart that there would be a May 22, could not refute Camping's claim, because who really knows when Jesus is coming back?

Caller #3)  "Hi Mr. Camping.  You know, I am so excited by these Times.  The Bible says that there will be scoffers in the End Times, and callers like that last one just seem to be more and more proof of that.  I am so happy that Jesus is coming soon.  Thank you so much for your ministry."
Camping)  "I can understand that you would be happy that the time is near for Jesus to return, but the Bible tells us that this is going to be a time of great mourning.  All of our loved ones who are unsaved will be destroyed by God's wrath, and those who are already dead will be raised from the grave for final destruction in a final shaming of them.  Oh no, this will not be a time of happiness.  We should be mourning the coming destruction of all of those people and trying to spread the Word as much as we can before that time."

From these calls, I got a new respect for Mr. Camping.  I mean, I gave him some street cred before just for being an engineer by training, even if it was in target building (civil engineering).  ;-) 

Here, Camping handled his scoffers professionally and did not get angry or flustered or retaliatory.  He kept on in his sonorous, steady voice.

Beyond that, though, Camping's motivations seem to shine through, particularly with that last caller.  He's not some quack cult leader in this to stroke his own ego or pad his pocketbook or simply get famous.  He's not bubbling over in the stupor of impending holy glory.  He's genuinely concerned for the imminent fate of the unsaved, and so he is just trying to do what he can about that by spreading the Word.

I get the sense that he's the kind of believer who, upon waking up on May 22 in his own home, is going to first think that he failed God in some way and therefore was not Raptured.  And so, in a way, I admire him.  Even if his beliefs do not align with reality, he is one of the few who is actually compassionately trying to obey the convictions of his faith.