On Sunday, May 22, 2011, the day after the Rapture, as predicted by Harold Camping, I gave Mr. Camping the benefit of the doubt. I even felt a bit sorry for him. I mean, to have put that much into something you believe so strongly in only to be proven dead wrong . . . well, I felt for the guy.
But then only a few days later, after a brief silence, Mr. Camping spoke publicly. He apologized that things did not go the way he predicted they would - namely, that all the good and faithful Christians were not visibly raptured to heaven by the Lord. At the same time, he did not admit that he is wrong. Instead, he covered his tracks by claiming the rapture did in fact occur as scheduled on May 21, 2011. He now claims that what he didn't count on was a "spiritual" rather than a "physical" rapture. Thus, Mr. Camping seemed to spend his days of silence dreaming up a way to save face. A better use of his time would have been in repentant prayer to the Lord for the damage he has done in his fallacious and borderline (if not completely) heretical claims.
Unfortunately Mr. Camping continues to believe he is in the right. He continues to believe that it has been given to him by the Lord to know the times and seasons fixed by the Father (something that Jesus Himself said it is not given to anyone to know, Acts 1:7). And so for Camping, the rapture happened May 21st [spiritually] and the end of the world remains set at October 21st.
Don't believe it!
I don't say this because of Camping's atrocious track record (he's made similar claims and has been just as wrong before). Rather, I say this because Jesus says this. No one knows the day or the hour of the return of our Lord (Matthew 24:36, Mark 13:32, Luke 21:34-36, Acts 1:7, 1 Thessalonians 5:2, etc.). (Furthermore, the rapture and the Last Day shouldn't be seen as separate events anyways, but that's a topic for another time!) In Matthew, Mark, and Acts, Jesus is quoted as saying that only the Father knows when the End will come.
Harold Camping is a symptom of a larger problem. Many believe that because they are able to read the words on the pages of the Bible, they are equally able to interpret what the Words on said pages mean. Harold Camping is proof that this is clearly not true. He has read and thoroughly studied certain aspects and passages of Holy Scripture but has made critical mistakes in his understanding. The basic mistake he made was accepting some words of the Lord recorded in the Bible while rejecting others. For example, Jesus said "but concerning that day and hour [of the End], no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only" (Matthew 24:36). These words were rejected in favor of Mr. Camping's belief that he could "decode" the dates, times, and events of the Books of Daniel and Revelation in such a way as to determine an exact date for the End.
The problem is magnified by Camping's radio medium by which he propagated his erring interpretations and viewpoints. If his misunderstandings could have been limited to him and his close circle of associates, the impact could have remained localized. As it turned out, however, there were many who heard his interpretations and acted in ways they saw fit. That is, we've heard many stories of people who refused to address their problems because the rapture would take them all away; people who sold everything they owned because they wouldn't be needing those things where they planned to go; and even a sad case in which a mother injured her children and herself in an apparent effort to escape the promised rapture.
Admittedly, Mr. Camping cannot be blamed for the choices made by people who followed him. However, he can and will be held accountable for his mishandling of the Lord's Word. He has led people astray in an Ezekiel 13 manner. By immersing himself in a relentless attempt to know what is not given to him to know from Daniel and Revelation, Mr. Camping has attempted to say more than what has been revealed to us by the Lord. This is always a dangerous endeavor that is best to be avoided at all costs!
The Lord has revealed much. He has also left much to be revealed at a later time with the invitation to accept the revealed and trust Him about the rest. Trust that the Last Day is coming and that through your faith in Jesus, it will be the best day of your life!
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