Source: Black Christian News
Tonight on Harold Camping’s Open Forum Radio show, he gave his thoughts on what most view as a failed prediction. His claim in this situation is that all the dates he predicted were in fact correct. You may be thinking: REALLY? Apparently, Jesus did return on May 21st, but it was a “spiritual coming.” He didn’t return how Camping thought Christ would but the fact of such a ‘coming’ still remains in tact. And on October 21st, Christ will enact the physical rapture “on the last day.”
His view is that from this day forward, the whole world is under the final judgment and the time of salvation coming to the world has ended. Rather than recanting, he is holding out that his interpretation is correct, except the Lord didn’t perform the rapture in the way Camping and others thought. It was only in the “form” of second coming that Camping admits to being wrong, but not in the reality of the day of judgment. This means that the timetable still stands. October 21st will be the final day of human history. God will take “true believers” to heaven and the world is gonna be destroyed. When discussing money, his point was made clear “We’re still in business!”
In sum, The second coming DID take place on Saturday “spiritually,” it will be completed on October 21 with the destruction of the planet and a physical rapture, and all who are “true believers” will be taken to be with God for eternity in heavenly bliss.
KURT’S THOUGHTS:
- Camping failed. He failed in his prediction and failed in his owning up to his failure. This breaks the heart of God.
- I am glad that Camping separates himself from the Church. I certainly hope that those who are not Christians will take note of this. He is not US!
- Camping claimed that he is “not the authority… the bible is the authority.” The problem is that he is acting authoritatively by making definitive truth-claims and them allowing his unprovable assumptions to dictate the path of good folk’s lives. That is “power-over” authority masked as humility, if you ask me.
- Spiritual judgment day started… this is a weak view. Yet, he sincerely believes it. I wonder what percentage of his followers will believe it and continue in a similar path for the next few months? What happens after he is proven wrong yet again? I beg you! If you believe what Camping is saying… please reconsider! Do not reconsider Jesus, just the things you believe about Christ. Find a church that will accept you and love you through this confusing time.
- I wonder if after Oct 21 fails to come to fruition if Camping will go into hiding? Change the timetable? Recant? I have a feeling he will not recant until after he meets the Creator.
- My heart aches for Mr. Camping. I think he is sincere, and truly believes what he teaches. He is greatly confused and part of me feels great compassion for this man. I do not want to demonize him, just point out the fallacy of this teaching.
- This whole situation is an invitation to the church. Just as Rob Bell’s Love Wins gave us the impetus to reflect on what we actually believe about God, heaven, and hell; this is an opportunity to reflect on two related areas: 1) the extreme result that comes from modernistic Bible study methods that treat it as a test tube case. The result is that the Scriptures are distorted. We need to move beyond the scientific method / enlightenment style approaches to Biblical interpretation. 2) The need to re-evaluate what the church teaches about “end times” views. Are we brokering a message of hope, or of a coming day of destruction? My view is that we need to look at better ways of understanding Revelation, the OT prophets, and the Olivet Discourse (something I am passionate about on this blog. See: eschatology)
- Ultimately, this is a reminder (as I alluded to above) that what we believe about the ongoing story of God, actually matters! “Pan-millennialism” (‘it’ll all ‘pan’ out in the end) is fine if humility is the aim, but if we are honest – What we believe about the end of God’s story has HUGE missional implications for the church today! Let’s keep searching, and move with God in mission towards the coming completion of Creation… the renewal of all things… the consummation… the reality of God’s kingdom fully come “on earth as in heaven.”
Here is the first part of the audio (a couple minutes in there is a storm warning… it only lasts a bit):
