Some Final Thoughts on Harold Camping

Yesterday I was invited to be a guest on the local radio program Off the KUF with Tom Sumner. It was a fun experience for me to return to my roots in the radio studio as we discussed Harold Camping, faux raptures and what the Bible really says about the end of the world. I want to point out a couple of good things to come out of this whole experience that I mentioned on the radio program. After this, we'll leave Harold Camping alone...at least until October, which is when he says the world will actually come to an end.

I am thankful first of all that, because of this whole episode, there was a great deal of talk (and hopefully at least a little bit of thought) about spiritual matters. News outlets around the country discussed the idea of the rapture. As I drove home on Friday afternoon, it even dominated the discussion on sports radio. And hey, I got the opportunity to talk about the gospel on the radio yesterday.

Secondly, we were reminded of a reality that is especially important in our day. Harold Camping believed quite passionately in what he proclaimed. But no matter the fervency with which he believed these ideas, that did not make them true. It is not our faith that is ultimately most important, but rather the Object of our faith.  And truth is not dependent upon what we believe; it is what it is. We can't all be equally right. Even in this age of relativism, there are those whose beliefs are wrong.

If you'd like to think further about issues of the Lord's return, others deal with it far better than I have. Click here to listen to Allistair Begg's sermon, or click here to read a short devotional message from Mike Wittmer. And while we should certainly refrain from date/time predictions, may those of us who are Christians long for Christ's return. For when he returns, we will experience the greatest good: We will be with Him.

What We Can Learn From Harold Camping

If you're reading this, odds are that you've probably heard about Harold Camping and his "prophecy" that the judgment day is coming on May 21. If you're reading this more than a day after it was written, then you've also probably heard that Harold Camping's "prophecy" was wrong.

Actually, even if it is still Friday (or early on Saturday), you can still know that Camping is wrong. He has suggested that the Bible is perfectly clear in its teaching that May 21 is the big day. Any time someone says something is perfectly clear, even though they are the only person who has noticed it over the last 2000 years, that ought to give us some pause. More importantly though, Jesus seems to speak pretty clearly to the issue in Mark 13:32 where he says, "But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father." After his resurrection, Jesus has still not changed his tune. In Acts 1:7 we read, "He said to them, 'It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.'"

All that being said, I do feel we have something to learn from Mr. Camping. Just as the word of God is perfectly clear that not a single person knows the day or hour it will occur, it is also perfectly clear that we need to constantly be prepared, because Jesus will indeed return to judge the living and the dead. We read in 1 Thessalonians 4:16, "For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God;" and in Daniel 7:13-14, "...behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed."

There has been much fun made of Mr. Camping, by Christians and non-Christians alike. He has earned the derision which has come his way. But as we make jokes about his foolishness, let us not lose sight of the seriousness that underlies the whole issue. After all, Harold Camping is right to expect the return of Christ. Just not this Saturday.