24 May 2011

Oops: A 4-letter word God has never used

Just when you thought it was safe to listen to family radio again, today Harold Camping has done it again. The Australian reported this arvo, "The US preacher who predicted the end of the world would occur on Saturday says he was off by five months - Judgment Day will now come in October.

Camping said the apocalypse or the so-called global "Rapture" will come five months after May 21, the original date he predicted. Camping says he felt so terrible when his doomsday prediction did not come true on Saturday that he left home and took refuge in a motel with his wife.

The 89-year-old retired civil engineer appeared publicly on Monday night. Rather than give his normal daily broadcast, Camping made a special statement before the press at the Oakland headquarters of the media empire that has broadcast his message.

Last week he had predicted the global "Rapture" would begin with powerful earthquakes at 6pm local time in each of the world's regions, after which the good would be taken into Heaven." Australian

Oops. I made a mistake. I was wrong. Tough words, to be sure. And we have each said them. Or have we? Camping needs to say them. He was wrong. And one more thing...he needs to stop saying when Jesus is returning. Come on, someone, someone who lives near Camping or who can speak into his life. Tell him to preach what IS clear in the Bible, and to quit announcing (wrongly) when the Rapture or the Final Judgment will take place. Jesus clearly said, "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone."(Matthew 24.36)

Oops. That's a word God has never used. Why? He never made a mistake. Remember William Shakespeare, "to err is human, to forgive divine." It's a human reality-- we are going to make mistakes. We shouldn't excuse ourselves with "I'm only human," but we need to know others will disappoint us and fail us and say wrong things.

But God won't disappoint us. He won't lie to us. He will never leave us or forsake us. "The Lord our God will not abandon us, He will never forsake His people."(Psalm 94) He does not lie. "the Glory of Israel will not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man that He should change His mind.” (1 Sam 15.29) He will not say, 'oops.' Thanks be to God. He is faithful and reliable and believable.

3 comments:

Veronica said...

This foolish man is a hypocryte and a liar and is no Christian at all. He doesn't believe in the Gospel and he deceives many, so he must be a follower of the father of all lies. He is giving true Christianity a very bad name.

Gil said...

The deceived are those who do not encline into what the Bible says,
Deut.18:22 is a clear evidence that Mr. camping is a con artist and totally ignorant of God's word.

Stuart Dauermann said...

I first heard Mr Camping about fifty years ago. He has gotten more bizarre and idiosyncratic with the passage of the years. But he is a Christian--one who bends the Bible horrifically because he says every verse MUST be about Jesus. And he is not " a con artist, totally ignorant of God's word.". He knows the text but not the intended meaning of the Bible very very well. But he is deceived because he thinks that all he needs is the Bible. He has long ago severed himself from the voice of community and tradition so that his quirky voice is the only one he hears. The same could happen to any of us.

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