Harold Camping Future Shock

Harold Camping has predicted another date for the end of time. Since the first century, history documents the failed predictions of Jesus' return. As early as A.D. 50, some Christians mistakenly believed that the Second coming had occurred. See 2 Thessalonians 2:2.

Only, they did not believe that it had anything to do with the end of time, a literal coming of Christ in the clouds, the destruction of the universe or the raising of dead bodies from the grave. They expected life to continue on earth as it had been and were not alarmed by this concept as many are today.

The difference between these early Christians and end time futurists of today is that they associate the end time with the absence of life and the present universe. While the Thessalonicans were misguided on the Lord's return, it appeared to be an honest mistake, one which Paul corrected very easily by writing a few verses in the Thessalonian epistle. He told them how to recognize two visible signs that would signal the time of the Lord's return.

We have no such signs to which we can look today. All of the signs we hear about are devised from the imagination of man and focus on current events. Too quickly does the current generation forget that of the recent past where men made similar predictions and failed.

Among those are Harold Camping of Family Radio. 1992 was the year Mr. Camping published that the world would end in 1994. Glossing over the historical evidence for the fulfilled prophecies of the Lord's return, he predicted that Jesus' second return would occur September 6, 1994.

It did not occur. Are we surprised? Public embarrassment on the end time predictions is short-lived. So he readjusted the date by adding 7 years to it.

We continue to point out the error of futurists. That is the problem; they are futurists. Here's what we mean. It is impossible for an event already completed in the past to occur in the future, no matter how long we hold our breathe. Believe me, death will come first! So please, don't hold your breath. Harold Camping will once again be in for a "future shock," when his prophecy fails.

Several years ago, a couple of young Muslims attended morning worship with us at our congregation. The time was 1997. Young, zealous and handsome, these men predicted with supreme courage that Christ would return by the year 2000.

I knew they were in for disappointment, but they didn't understand the historic fulfillment of Jesus' return. So, I made them a little friendly wager (which I had no intentions of holding them to.) I did it just to reinforce the point so they would be emotionally invested in their prophecy. My proposal was this. If Christ did not return in 2000 as they predicted, then they would renounce their Muslim beliefs and become Christians. Confident in their theory, they accepted.

I saw those men a few years after the year 2000. They were no longer Muslims and they were embarrassed that their prediction had failed. Nevertheless, they did not become Christians at that time. But I made certain they realized their predictions had failed.

It is unlikely that a second time around will have much effect on Harold Camping. He is well known with a lot of followers who are extremely loyal to him. We already know his prophecy will fail, because of what Jesus tells us has already happened. His returned occurred in A.D. 70, in connection with the fall of Jerusalem. (Matthew 24:3, 30, 34). Any prediction which seeks to negate this fact is and will always be false.