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…”

“But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left. Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.” (Matthew 24:1-4, 36-42)

Harold Camping Is A Spiritual Huckster Who’s Bringing Disgrace To Jesus Christ

The online apologetics and discernment work Apprising Ministries has been documenting the growing falling away of the mainstream evangelical community; and I’ve warned you that there is a tsunami of apostasy—pushed along by 1 Peter 4:17 judgments—headed toward the church visible. Therefore, I don’t find it all that surprising any more when I see professing Christians who ought to know better becoming taken up with all kinds of lunacy in the Lord’s Name.

Not a few of these judgments have come through evanjellyfish’s foolish embrace of the sinfully ecumenical Emergent Church, headed by the unholy trinity of apostates, Living Spiritual Teacher and EC guru Brian McLaren, universalist Emerging Church pastor Doug Pagitt, and his friend Tony Jones, the progressive “theologian in residence” at Solomon’s Porch.

Sadly, spiritual blindness now continues to spread across the lukewarm landscape of the visible church leading to a real dearth of discernment within. Into this vacuum have come all kinds of deceptions and false prophets. One of those would be Harold Camping who, yet again, prophesied a dubious date where he predicted the beginning of Judgment Day.

You may be aware that Camping, who actually was a somewhat respected radio personality with his Family Radio Worldwide (FR) from the Oakland area, had said he discovered a secret code in the Bible that taught this past Saturday, May 21, would be the day the rapture of the Body of Christ takes place. Camping lost most of the rest of his credibility when he previously predicted that the rapture would come in September of 1994.

As Phil Johnson, executive director of Grace to You, which is the ministry of John MacArthur, has pointed out concerning FR “the teaching here is profoundly bad” and:

After being out of control for more than a decade (during which Camping’s board and co-workers refused to hold him accountable to Scripture) he finally wigged out completely shortly after the turn of the millennium. He had already utterly embarrassed himself and sacrificed all credibility in the early 1990s by predicting that Christ would return to earth on September 6, 1994. After that prediciton failed to materialize, Camping continued to make false prophecies, culminating in his absurd pronouncement that the Church age has come to an end and we are living in the Tribulation.

God is through with the church, Camping insists—and judgment has now begun. Camping tells his listeners they need to leave their churches and look to Family Radio to be the main vehicle through which the gospel is preached to the whole world. (You can guess where Camping thinks Christians need to send all their money.)… This once-fine ministry is a tragic example of what can happen when one man is given too much control with no accountability. (Online source)

Unfortunately, Harold Camping still had many followers who remained confident in Camping concerning his May 21 mythology:

(Online source)

Camping mused that supposedly some 200 million people would be saved on in his forcasted rapture and then those who were not saved would be left behind in a Judgement Day and Apocalypse until the end of the world, which he guessed will be on October 21, 2011; apparently, that is, until last night. Today Michael Cabanatuan, staff writer for the San Francisco Chronicle, is reporting:

The end is still near, radio preacher Harold Camping said in a broadcast  Monday night, but the world will be around until Oct. 21.

Camping, the 89-year-old East Bay preacher who gained international fame with his prediction that the rapture would come at 6 p.m. Saturday, said that he misinterpreted the Bible and that May 21 was not really the end of the world but the spiritual beginning of the physical end. (Online source)

While we’ve been praying that Camping would be repentant after leading so many astray and embarrassing himself and the Christian faith before the world, it appears that instead he’s continuing with his spiritual shell game. As you can see below, his Open Forum program from last night is not archived as of this writing, but you can hear it by clicking here:

It seems, rather than humbly admitting his error, Camping now speculates he “misinterpreted the Bible” and rather than May 21st beginning “the end of the world” supposedly we’re to believe that it was actually “the spiritual beginning of the physical end” not too unlike the eschatology of the non-Christian cult of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Camping is quoted as dreaming:

“Were not changing a date at all; we’re just learning that we have to be a little more spiritual about this,” he said in a rambling 90-minute radio  broadcast that was part sermon, part press conference. “But on Oct. 21, the world will be destroyed. It won’t be five months of destruction. It will come at once.” (Online source)

Sort of reminds one of the Pathological Liar, an old SNL character of Jon Lovitz, “this isn’t changing a date…um, I’ve had a new revelation from God—yeah, that’s the ticket—er, an invisible thing happened, see. So, you can’t say I’m wrong; trust me, yeah, it happened. Really, it did.” Cabanatuan continues:

The good news, for those dreading five more months of talk about the rapture,  is that Family Radio will be taking down its billboards, ceasing distribution of  Bible tracts and literature about Judgment Day and focusing its programming on  religious music and God’s word, not on a countdown to the end.

“We don’t need to talk about it anymore,” Camping said. “The world has been  warned – my it has been warned. We have done our share and the media picked it  up. The world has been warned that it is under judgment.” (Online source)

Yes, it has; in Scripture, and now we’re in the position of having to warn the world about false prophets like Harold Camping, whom the Lord did not send, that are in reality prophesying to you a lying vision, worthless divination, and the deceit of their own minds (Jeremiah 14:14) and are not repentant for the damage they cause:

Despite being pressed by reporters, Camping refused to take responsibility  for any pain or suffering his prediction may have caused, saying that he was  merely interpreting the Bible, and that he did so incorrectly.

“I have never, ever told anyone I’m infallible,” he said. “But God is  infallible.” (Online source)

Indeed; however, Camping clearly told his followers that it was God Who was saying in the Bible what Camping was prophesying—supposedly from Scripture—was absolutely going to take place:

You haven’t thought about what you’ll tell your followers on May 22 if the Rapture doesn’t take place?
I’m not even thinking about that at all. It. Is. Going. To. Happen. Because I trust the Bible implicitly, the Bible is God’s word — it’s not from a man, it’s not from an organization of some kind where there’s plenty of room for error. It is the word of God. When God speaks that it is going to happen, the Bible is a very factual book, and God gives many examples of how he has made prophesies and it always has happened in exact accord with what God has prophesied. (Online source)

As I’ve pointed out before, this is the heart of this matter; Camping is most certainly among those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions (2 Timothy 3:6). You also need to understand here that it’s not only women but also includes all those who don’t know their Bibles, which in this time of such Biblical illiteracy includes way more people than we may even realize.

That’s why these false prophets like Harold Camping can so easily prey upon them because as God’s Word—the Bible—tells us they’re so easily led astray by various passions, always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth (2 Timothy 3:6-7). So because the world is now watching this issue closely, and mocking Christianity over this spiritual knucklehead, I say again that the prophecies of true Biblical prophets are absolute for it is God Who is speaking through them, and there are no do-overs; what they prophesy either comes true, or it doesn’t.

If it doesn’t, the Bible is clear — when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him (Deuteronomy 18:22). Harold Camping has brought disgrace to the Christian faith because 1) his foolish setting of dates is antibiblical and 2) he’s being passed off in the secular media as if he actually represents the historic orthodox Christian faith. He certainly doesn’t; in fact, by mocking God’s Word with his ridiculous speculations he has shown himself to be a fool.

Here is what the Lord says about the Harold Campings of the world — Avoid such people (2 Timothy 3:5).

See also:

OUTREACH TO FOLLOWERS OF FALSE PROPHET HAROLD CAMPING

YOU LOVE JESUS; GOOD FOR YOU, BUT WHICH ONE?

MARCUS BORG AND CHRISTIANS WHO DON’T BELIEVE IN JESUS