CAMPING ON THE EDGE OF DISASTER

Jesus left the temple and was going away, when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. But he answered them, “You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”

As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age?” And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray.”

“For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray… But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.” ( Matthew 24:1-5, 36).

If Jesus Didn’t Know The Day Or Hour, Be Sure Harold Camping Certainly Doesn’t Know

As an online apologetics and discernment work people are turning to more and more while spiritual blindness grows and superstitions replace proper Biblical theology Apprising Ministries continues covering a glut of compromise infiltrating the visible church.

As such, I don’t find it all that surprising any more when I see professing Christians who ought to know better becoming taken up with lunacy in the Lord’s Name such as A durable doomsday preacher predicts the world’s end — again.

This March 2011 report from USA Today brings out that:

If preacher Harold Camping is right, that’s the exact date Jesus will return and the righteous will fly up to heaven, leaving behind only their clothes.

That will be followed by five months of fire, brimstone and plagues, with millions of people dying each day and corpses piling in the streets.

Finally, on Oct. 21, the world ends exactly as the Book of Revelation says it will — with a bottomless pit, a lake of fire and, at last, a new heaven and new earth. (Online source)

Well, isn’t that special. This bears every imprint of the enemy of men’s souls; just enough truth for the spiritually gullible to grasp onto as a lifeline they hope will help them avoid having to follow the admonition of Jesus Christ to His genuine Christians — “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you” (John 20:21).

From Scriptures such as this we advance the idea that the Christian is to be out in the world about God’s business while at the same time not being of this world. If you’re not familiar with the false prophet Harold Camping, here’s some background for you from Phil Johnson, executive director of Grace to You, which is the ministry of John MacArthur.

Camping is president of something called Family Radio and under Really Bad Theology in his Bookmarks Johnson tells us:


(Online source)

Since no one has noticed Christ Jesus has returned to earth, it’s a pretty safe thing to say this is a false prophecy; and since what a prophet actually sent by God says will always come about, no Christian should pay any attention whatsoever to this false prophet.

As you can see, Harold Camping is a monumental fail when it comes to the prophetic office. With this in mind then I’m pleased to point you to an op-ed piece yesterday from Dr. Al Mohler entitled The End Is Near? The False Teaching of Harold Camping.

Mohler fills us in that:

Harold Camping is now warning the world that the Day of Judgment will begin at about 6:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 21, 2011. The 89-year-old founder of Family Radio has made such pronouncements before, most recently in 1994. He now says that he simply miscalculated then, but he is absolutely certain that he has the right calculation now. You have been warned.

Actually, millions of people in America have been warned through Camping’s radio program and by means of the more than 1,200 billboards his ministry has put up across the nation. According to press reports, Family Radio has put up 2,000 billboards in other nations, as well. Camping is no stranger to controversy, but this one has caught national and international attention. He was wrong before, but this time he is absolutely certain that he is right. As he told New York magazine:

“God has given sooo much information in the Bible about this, and so many proofs, and so many signs, that we know it is absolutely going to happen without any question at all. There’s nothing in the Bible that God has ever prophesied — there’s many things that he prophesied would happen and they always have happened — but there’s nothing in the Bible that holds a candle to the amount of information to this tremendous truth of the end of the world. I would be absolutely in rebellion against God if I thought anything other than it is absolutely going to happen without any question.”

If you know the Bible and this statement confuses you, you are in good company. Harold Camping believes that God has revealed to him the exact dates of biblical events and the timeline of the judgment. He says that God revealed some “exquisite proof” that enabled him to determine a “finished product” timeline that ends on May 21, this coming Saturday…

The Christian church has seen this kind of false teaching before. William Miller and his Adventist followers (known, surely enough, as Millerites) believed that Christ would return on March 21, 1844. In the 1970s, popular Christian preachers and writers predicted that Christ would return on various dates now long in the past. All this is embarrassing enough, but now we have the teachings of Harold Camping to deal with…

Christians are indeed to be looking for Christ to return and seeking to be found faithful when Christ comes. We are not to draw a line in history and set a date, but we are to be about the Father’s business, sharing the Gospel and living faithful Christian lives. We are not to sit on rooftops like the Millerites, waiting for Christ’s return. We are to be busy doing what Christ has commanded us to do.In Hebrews 9:28, we are taught that Christ will come a second time “to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.” That is the faithful Christian response to the New Testament teachings about Christ’s coming. The church is not to be arrogantly setting dates, but instead to be eagerly waiting for him. Of that we can be truly certain. (Online source)

You can read Al Mohler’s helpful article in its entirety right here.

See also:

EVANGELICALISM AND THE NEW TRADITIONS OF MEN

WORSHIP THE GOD OF SCRIPTURE

YOU REALLY WANT AN ABUNDANT LIFE?