Spirit of Discernment

The ‘Curse’ of Harold Camping August 4, 2011

3Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, 4And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. (2 Pet 3:3-4)

Harold Camping predicted that the rapture would occur on 21 May this year. Of course we all now know that the rapture did not take place then and that the day itself passed without event. It is of course presumptuous of Mr Camping to attempt to try and calculate the date of the rapture (or indeed the date of Christ’s return) particularly when scripture tells us that “no man knows the day nor the hour” when the Son of Man should put in His appearance. This however is not the main problem with Mr Camping’s prediction but rather the fact that by this act he has caused Christianity in general to be the laughing stock of the whole world and will no doubt cause some to reject Christianity. He has caused the way of truth to be evil spoken of by this foolish act.

Rather than be treated as a loose canon in the church or as a senile old man for that matter and be passed over, instead Mr Camping ceremoniously drew the attention of the World’s media, not so much because it cares about Christian thought but so that Christianity can be put on show to be jeered and mocked at once again. The reality is that the media cannot distinguish between truth and falsehood in Christendom so everyone who calls themselves Christians are lumped together and painted with the same brush in the media’s eye. The more discerning amongst us however know the truth that Christ will indeed return one day, when we think not. We also know from scriptures that despite this eternal truth, scoffers will be asking “where is the promise of His coming?” It is this same reaction that has been drawn by the worlds media which they then use to attempt to disprove the existence of God and our Lord Jesus Christ. People like Mr Camping however would do better in preaching the Gospel instead of attempting to calculate the date of Christ return, which no one can know. If Jesus Himself didn’t know the date of His return (as He said only the Father knew) it is very foolish of us to attempt to hazard any guesses as to the date.

As if once was not enough though, Mr Camping has again insisted on prolonging the charade by recalculating the date of the rapture and forecasting it to occur this time on October 21, 2011. Apparently he made a mistake with his first calculation and that this time his calculation is a dead cert. When this second prediction fails to materialize however (and it will) Christianity and the Church will once again be subjected to the ridicule of the world.

Perhaps someone needs to get the message to Mr Camping that he needs to desist from such foolish, vain and unfruitful works and to stick to preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, whilst waiting patiently for the Son of Man to be revealed in His time.