Tuesday, January 4, 2011

98. Harold Camping and May 21, 2011

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A friend at my former job sent me the following website link to get my thoughts. It's an MSNBC article entitled "End of Days in May? Believers enter final stretch." Click here to read

The article starts out: "If there had been time, Marie Exley would have liked to start a family. Instead, the 32-year-old Army veteran has less than six months left, which she'll spend spreading a stark warning: Judgment Day is almost here."
Harold Camping, the leader of an independent Christian ministry called Family Radio Worldwide, has calculated that May 21, 2011 is the date for the Rapture (the day when Jesus Christ returns to take the true Christian believers to heaven), and for the start of God's judgment upon the Earth. Unstated in this MSNBC article, but stated on Camping's website, is his prediction for the date of God's destruction of the world on October 21, 2011.

I'm familiar with Harold Camping as the man who, in 1992, wrote a book called "1994?", where he predicts (or perhaps, proposes) that the return of Jesus Christ would be in September 1994. Note how the question mark at the end of the title hedges his proposal. Also note that copies of this book are now available on Amazon for as low as 16 cents. I'll let you guess why.
For what it's worth, here is the Wikipedia link concerning Harold Camping, which is a fair summary although apparently done by one who opposes Camping's methodology and conclusions. Also, here is the link to Camping's website We Can Know!, where much of his thinking is spelled out more completely: http://www.wecanknow.com/

I have already addressed the problem of "date-setting" regarding the return of Christ and various related judgments in other blogposts. The following two posts are the most relevant:
#42 should be read before #95:
#42: How can we know that Jesus coming is near?
#95: How near is the return of Christ?
Blogposts #10, #11, & #49 add a little more to the issue of "date-setting".

However (as I say in one of those posts), as the true time draws nearer (be it 2013, 2023, or 5023) someone through sheer luck may unwittingly guess the date when major end-time events start happening. Obviously this would not make him or her a great prophet. In post #95 (written in March 2010) I myself mention the year 2011 but only because others have called attention to it.

As the May 21st date draws nearer, I am sure that more will come out about this so-called prophecy, and I'll address the issue further here on The Future History blog.
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97. Currently updating previous 96 posts

Yes, finally some action is taking place here on The Future History blog!

I am currently going back and updating (and in some cases correcting) the previous 96 posts. Generally these are additions or updates, which I indicate with an "added mm/dd/yy/tt" or "updated mm/dd/yy/tt". Where the corrections are grammatical or a rephrasing without a major change, I make no such notation.

It's good to be back, and new content will be added soon, and in increasing measure, Lord willing!

What do I mean by "soon"?

In the "Voyage of the Dawn Treader", Lucy bewails the fact that she will not be able to hear the Beautiful Story until Aslan reads it to her "soon". Lucy asks "Please, Aslan, what do you call soon?" Aslan majestically responds, "I call ALL times soon,"

Perhaps that's as close as I can come as to when words, sentences, paragraphs, and blogposts will roll forth here again in abundance, but one is coming right away!
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