Will This Ship of Fools Sink May 22? By Jan Markell May 17, 2011
There's going to be a party given by "heathens and skeptics" and I hope you have no desire to attend it. They intend to get together to mock the rapture. After months of enduring the unnerving dogmatism of Harold Camping's billboards, signs, cars, radio commercials and bumper stickers heralding the end of the world as we know it on May 21, American Atheists have announced that they are planning "rapture parties" in Oakland, Houston, and Fort Lauderdale on May 21-22.
The atheists boast of their own billboards which state, The Rapture: You KNOW it's Nonsense. Learn the Truth at our Party." The billboard is designed to knock two millennia of false predictions that the world was about to end. So, they are having a party to celebrate another rapture that wasn't. And the atheists will be more accurate than the Christians because they are going after the date-setters.
So who's behind the latest date-setting nonsense? None other than false teacher Harold Camping who has led a well organized "We Can Know" campaign for more than a year. Sorry, Harold. We cannot know. The Bible says that in Matthew 24:36.
What can we know for sure will result from Camping's prediction?
- He will be proven wrong.
- He will put all who long for the Lord's return in a bad light.
- This will push many more away from considering end-time issues as they will not want to be lumped into such a questionable category.
- Church pulpits will grow even more silent on this topic right at a time when a countdown has truly begun and it is nearing midnight.
- The mockers and scoffers will grow stronger and more vocal.
Due to natural disasters, economic tumult, efforts at forming a one-world system, and political corruption on overdrive, people instinctively know something is very wrong. American Atheists President, Dave Silverman, says in a statement, "What distinguishes the latest round of warnings is the sheer scale of 'gloom and doom' over everything from the economy to the environment."
Having been proved a fool back in 1994 with a similar prediction, one would think these guys would learn! Instead, Camping now insists that Jesus is coming back on May 21, 2011. On that day, true Christians will be raptured and everyone else will come under the judgment of Christ for a period of five months, ending on October 21, 2011.
But Camping states, "God has given so 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 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."
Camping is relying heavily on math and the mathematical formula seems known only to him. But Albert Mohler says, "The Bible does not contain hidden codes that we are to find and decipher. The Bible has been given to us in order that we might know the truth, and the truth is clearly revealed in its pages. We are not to look for hidden patterns of words, numbers, dates, or anything else. The Bible's message is plain and requires no mathematical computation for its understanding. The claim that one has found a hidden code or system in the Bible is an insult to the Bible as the Word of God."
His disciples are all across America. Recently, Christian friends of mine spent a day doing intense evangelism at a secular Minneapolis/St. Paul outdoor event. Camping's followers were there passing out their own doomsday literature. They would not listen. They were convinced they have a week before apocalyptic events begin. They are seduced. They insist, in this case, that the secret things don't belong just to God (Deut. 29:29); rather, the followers of Harold Camping have been let in on a giant secret. But Jesus himself said in Matthew 24:36, "Of that day and hour knows no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my father only." What part of "knows no man" do they not get? Isn't all of this just further proof that biblical illiteracy and deception are raging?
Rick LaCasse, who attended Camping's September 1994 service in Alameda, said that 15 years later, his faith in Camping has only strengthened.
"Evidently, he was wrong," LaCasse allowed, "but this time it is going to happen. There was some doubt last time, but we didn't have any proofs. This time we do."
Would his opinion of Camping change if May 21, 2011, ended without incident?
"I can't even think like that," LaCasse said. "Everything is too positive right now. There's too little time to think like that."
It appears this ship of fools will not sink on May 22, 2011. Camping will likely go back to the drawing board and come up with another sure-fire calculation and some sheep without shepherds will still follow him. But God never rewards the date-setters. If He did, He would show the Bible to be inaccurate and untrustworthy.
Jesus is coming again! But thanks to Harold Camping and friends, on May 22, more may be laughing and scoffing than anticipating. Those of us who long for His appearing can have joy amidst turmoil and expectation in spite of world chaos knowing that it will happen in His perfect timing!
Get acquainted with "Understanding the Times" radionow heard in 416 markets. We air out of Minneapolis/St. Paul Saturday, 9 - 11 a.m. CST on AM1280 the Patriot and AM980 KKMS. You can "listen live" there. All Saturday programming is posted to "Radio Archives" on our Web site on Sunday.
Go to this link for info on podcasting via iTunes.
Jan's guest this weekend is Jill Martin Rische, daughter of the late Dr. Walter Martin. Their topic is the alarming rise of the paranormal on all media outlets today. People love being entertained to death and following this pathway will lead to spiritual darkness. Listen so that you can be informed and alert loved ones.
Also, since Mormonism is now high profile, the Mormon Church has baptized Dr. Walter Martin and others posthumously into the Mormon Church. Holocaust victims have been baptized as well. What is behind this? Listen live here.
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