There’s a lot of praise over on FiveDoves.com for the “great work” that Harold Camping did for the Lord by popularizing belief in the rapture and the end of the world. Here are some samples. I begin with this post by Fay on May 23 [source]:
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Originally Posted by Fay
I just wanted to mention dear old Harold Camping. I have no idea what torment he is going through right now – he and all his followers. However, they were sent for a very real purpose. They should not be ashamed or lose hope in any way. Our LORD needed this to be done. It got the whole world talking. It got a good many mocking – just as the days of Noah. You see – I believe that these things had to come to pass in order to fit in with the ‘ as in the days of Noah’ scripture. Harold Camping fulfilled prophecy for these end times. He showed great courage – knowing it could – realistically – subject him to mocking, ridicule and utter resentment. Think about it – it’s a very brave thing to do. With every hour that passes, after the non event of 21st May 2011, the more I am aware that Harold Camping was a very necessary part of the coming Rapture. With our LORD – nothing is for nothing. Please lets all pray for Harold and his followers. Their heart break must be crippling.
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It is certainly true that the Campster looked tormented, shell-shocked and flabbergasted on Sunday, the day after he was proven to be a false prophet. Take a look at this video:
But by Monday he had completely recovered his utterly deluded composure by copying the “Jehovah’s Witnesses defense” for his ludicrous failed prophecy. He now glibly asserts that everything about his prophecy was correct, except it only happened “spiritually” rather than physically, and he assures everyone that the entire world really will be physically destroyed on October 21, 2011 right on schedule. He’s absolutely certain! There’s no way he could be wrong like his last two predictions, because the Bible guarantees it! 
Some folks on FiveDoves really loved Fay’s post. Jimmy wrote “Fay, your piece was excellent. I don’t think you could be more correct, and I wish I could write as well as you. Enjoyed it, Jimmy.” And Ola Ilori wrote this amazingly deluded response to Fay, which includes yet another false prophecy about the rapture, predicting it will happen ten days from today [source]:
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Originally Posted by Ola Ilori
Hi Fay,
I couldn’t agree with you more! Harold Camping has done exactly what the Lord wanted him to do! The Lord used Harold Camping to put the Rapture event right up close in their faces! Everyone was forced to make a choice either to mock the Rapture event, or take time to find out more about it from the Word, and as a result reflect on their relationship with God. The World chose to mock the Rapture event and blaspheme God! Those in the Apostate Church, as to be expected, just didn’t get it, as they joined the World in mocking Harold Camping. Already with tornadoes causing massive destruction in the US and volcanoes going of in Iceland, Judgement has begun! This means the rapture is sooooo close. The Lord used Harold Camping to put the rapture event on CNN, ABC, FOX News, SKY News, the BBC, on the Internet, on the Radio, in Newspapers and on Billboards all over US. What was the Lord suppose to do? He couldn’t us End-time Ministries like the Hal Lindsey Reports and Jack Van Impe International, to get the Word out that Judgement was imminent! Why? Because they’re too concerned about maintaining there credibility. The Lord needed a radical! Some one who was prepared to put everything on the line for what he believed. Harold Camping has had more impact on getting the Word out about the rapture than all the End-time Ministries put together! This isn’t just another “88 reasons why the rapture will be in 1988” situation. For the World doesn’t have another 23 Years to wait before the Rapture occurs! I believe as at today, the 25th of May 2011, the World is just 10 Days away from the Rapture! The Lord wasn’t using Harold Camping to prepare souls for the Rapture, for He’s already sealed all those who are to be raptured! The Lord used Harold Camping to inform the Christ-rejecting-World that they’ve corrupted themselves in and mind and body, and that He’s about to execute Judgement on them!!! Ola. |
Say what? Harold Camping is the paragon of absolute mental corruption and religious delusion. He is off the charts BAT-SHIT-INSANE. But Ola reverses reality and thinks that all who reject Camping’s ridiculous rapture ravings are the ones with the “corrupt minds.” Oh! The irony!
And what’s gonna happen when Ola’s rapture prediction is proven false like every other rapture prediction ever made in the history of the universe? Absolutely nothing! It will probably strengthen her faith, because that’s what happens when a cultist is confronted with evidence. Believe it or not, but evidence that they are wrong tends to strengthen the belief of religious people. This is because religion teaches that blind faith without evidence is a virtue, and so it’s an even greater virtue if you continue to believe when all the evidence proves your wrong. This is why religion corrupts the mind.
Finally, would someone like to explain how an utterly deluded Bible teacher like Harold Camping who has made multiple false predictions about the rapture date and then covered his ass with the ludicrous “it happened spiritually” excuse could be “used by God” to “inform” anyone about the reality of the crazy rapture doctrine? Anyone? Beuller? Beuller?
Once again ignorance….the word of God says that NO ONE KNOWS the day or the hour, not even the Son, but only the Father Knows and if DARN Christians would read their bible they would not be speaking presumptously and in turn making the rest of us Christians look bad and turning people off for the Lord, that might not have been. They don’t understand prophecy and obviously these people don’t either….
Hi Renee,
I agree … but then again, is not every Christian who says that we are currently in the “end times” and that Christ is coming “soon” doing the same thing? I mean, if words have any meaning, then they are saying Jesus will be coming sometime in the next few years, or at most in the next few decades, and that is exactly what a recent poll discovered that 41% of Christians believe. So it seems to me that all “evangelical” and/or “fundamentalist” Christians are implicit date-setters.
This hysteria has been going on since the modern secular state of Israel was founded in 1948. Folks took that as a “sure sign” of the “soon return” of Christ. The went particularly nutty in the 80s because they figured a “generation” was 40 years and so added that and subtracted seven for the “tribulation” and came up with 1981. Ooops. That’s was thirty years ago!
BTW – do you know how Camping got around that verse you quoted? He said the “son” in that verse can’t be Jesus because Jesus is God and God knows everything. So it must be the “son of perdition” – i.e. Satan. This is the crazy way that old loon interprets the Bible. The sad thing is that almost all of his zombies continue to follow him no matter how many times he is proven to be totally and absolutely wrong! Blows my mind. And now he is saying that it was all God’s plan from the beginning because if he hadn’t predicted the rapture and the world-wide earthquake, then no one would have paid attention to him, and then the prophecy about the Gospel being preached to the whole world before the end would not have been fulfilled. Yes, that’s right. He thinks that he personally is fulfilling all the end-time prophecies, and in the year 2009, his zombies gave him 18 MILLIONS DOLLARS.
Thanks for the time and effort in creating this site. Regarding Mr. Camping and Christians stance on the “last days”. It’s my understanding that we’ve been in the last days since the reforming of Isreal as a nation. I realize that this statement will immediately strike a line of demarcation and that’s fine. Also, the Holy Spirit has expressed in detail that in the last days perilous time WILL come with an ever increasing frequency, as a woman in travail with child birth.
God’s plan to have a family has only been slowed a bit due to the Luciferian revolt, still, nothing catched the Eternal Father by surprize and all things will work together for good to those who are called and to demise to those who despise His words.
Jesus clearly instructed his disciples to go not after those who direct other to go here or there. The scripture clearly teaching that “of the times and seasons, brothers, you are not ignorant.” Satan has and continues to be blinded by his own light and believes he can subdue the Malkuth or kindon, of which the Father desire to give to the Adamic children.
We are close, but no man, angel or even Jesus, in the personification that member of the Godhead has chosen to submit to, will be privy to the exact day and hour! Would love to discuss more details if you like!
Hey there Rob,
I’m glad you wrote. There are lots of folks who share your views about the “end times.” But as you may have guessed, I’m not one of them. But that doesn’t me we can’t have a fruitful discussion about our different points of view.
I think the primary issue is the plain teaching of the Bible concerning the “end times” and the “last days.” The Olivet Discourse (Matt 24, Mark 13, Luke 21) begins with Christ’s prediction of the destruction of the Temple. He said all things would be fulfilled before the first century generation (this generation) died. History declares that his words were fulfilled with the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 AD. This is confirmed by the universal testimony of the entire New Testament which declares that the events would happen “soon” (in the first century) BECAUSE “the time” was “at hand” then, in the first century. Hebrews says that Christ came to earth “in these last days” and that he was crucified “in the end of the age.” John says that it was “the last hour!” in the first century, and Paul said the “ends of the ages” had come upon the first century Christians. The testimony is overwhelming and uniform throughout the NT. The “end times” came and went in the first century. Everyone who has predicted the “end” every since that time (and they are legion) has been proven wrong by history. I never cease to be amaze as I watch each generation bring forth a new crop of “end time believers.” This has been going on for two thousand years now! Martin Luther thought the world would end in his lifetime over 400 years ago!
Therefore, all the Futurist speculations about the “end times” beginning in 1948 make no sense to me and appear to be directly contrary to both history and the plainest of all the teachings found in the Bible.
Oh, and by the way, “Lucifer” is not a name of Satan. That is a translation error. The KJV followed the Latin Vulgate which translated the Hebrew “heylel” of Isaiah 14:12 as “lucifer” meaning “light bearer” or “morning star.” It was, in fact, the name of the planet Venus. The same word appears in the Latin Vulgate version of 2 Peter:
Or in English:
Basically, that verse says we should look forward to the time when the day dawns, and LUCIFER rises in our hearts! Hummm …. bet you didn’t hear that in Sunday school!
I stood against Camping when the publicity began to arrive on international forums. The judgement began when the sign of Jonah arrived in Israel in May 2010, exactly as Christ predicted it would. Following that there was the flotilla disaster then 5 million trees burned down on Mount Carmel. The Queen of the South is indeed here.
Lucifer, an angel created by Our Creator, most definitely did rebel against the LORD. This is taught in the Bible very clearly..
Lucifer is now called the Devil in the Bible, we so we should never pray that the evil one comes to resist with us. That would be the worst decision anyone could make, for he is the father of lies.
Those who desire to honour God will resist the devil. Let’s follow the example of the sinless One who replied to the devil with holy scripture.
Correction: We should never pray that the devil, the evil one, comes to reside with us for he is the ferocious enemy of our soul.