Will Jesus Return and Judgment Day Begin this May 21st?

It is with great disappointment that I must rebuke a prominent fellow minister of the Gospel for recklessly predicting an exact date for the return of Jesus Christ. His name is Harold Camping, the 89 year old founder and president of Family Radio, Inc. which includes more than 150 outlets which broadcast Christian content. He has accomplished great things for the Kingdom of God in past decades. It is personally depressing to see that he has again embarked on a foolish path that will bring not only embarrassment and ridicule to the Body of Christ as a whole, but will damage the faith and spiritual health of all those who naively follow his latest teachings. This is a significant spiritual tragedy that cannot be understated.

As of this writing, Family Radio, under the direction of Mr. Camping, is sponsoring bill boards and caravans of followers all across the nation to broadcast the prediction that Jesus Christ will return and Judgment will occur on May 21, 2011. Incredibly, this is not Mr. Camping’s first failure at predicting Christ’s return. Back in 1992, Mr. Camping published a book indicating Jesus would return September 6, 1994. Mr. Camping is just the latest in a line of “date-setters” in the church that goes back more than a century.

The problem with “date-setters” is that they remain unaffected by their previous failures; instead, they become more adamant that their next prediction is the “real McCoy.” Not surprisingly, Mr. Camping is following this same pattern. The only explanation I can come up with is that Mr. Camping is becoming delusional or he is inexplicably ignorant of the devil’s deceptions and the reality of spiritual warfare. It may be a combination of both. Though aging does not affect everyone equally, most people do experience a downward slope in their mental and physical health at some point during a long life, such as Mr. Camping’s. Mr. Camping is almost 90 years old.

To answer the question “is Jesus coming back May 21, 2011”, the answer is a guaranteed NO. Jesus may come before May 21st or, more likely, at some point after May 21st. But He definitely will not come back on May 21, 2011. Why? Because he will not honor a man’s prideful prediction of His return. Mr. Camping’s prediction is prideful because he admits his prediction is based on his own intellectual (albeit defective) ability to decipher what he claims is a code supposedly embedded in scripture. In effect, Mr. Camping is suggesting that he has single-handedly, through human ingenuity alone, outsmarted God; robbing Him of His secrets.

Just as God cursed the work of the tower of Babel builders who tried, by human ingenuity alone, to build a tower to heaven, so God will curse this man’s attempt to build an intellectual “tower” to heaven. And Camping should know better: in Acts 1:7 Jesus tells his own disciples, regarding His return in glory, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.” And again in Luke 12:40 Jesus says “You also must be ready all the time, for the Son of Man will come when least expected.” Clearly, putting up billboards proclaiming that May 21st is Judgment Day would tend to fly in the face of Jesus’ promise that He will come when it is “least expected.” Are you sure you'll be ready when Jesus actually does return? If not, click here.

I have carefully evaluated Mr. Camping’s bizarre explanation of this prediction. I am disappointed to say that it is unworthy of a point-by-point rebuttal here. I found his explanation to be a convoluted rabbit trail of presumptuous misinterpretations and outlandish numerological conclusions completely unsupported by the Bible or any scriptural scholar. As stated earlier, only an immature Christian lacking a comprehensive knowledge of the Bible would be deceived by the absence of Biblical logic and critical thinking evident in Mr. Camping’s explanation. It should be a red flag that no other prominent minister of the Gospel has jumped on Mr. Camping’s bandwagon. And as if the embarassment being brought on Christianity by Mr. Camping were not enough, he is also making outrageous charges against the Church as a whole.

Mr. Camping is outlandishly teaching that the Holy Spirit has withdrawn from ALL CHURCHES and that ALL CHURCHES are now apostate!! In line with this, he encourages everyone to leave their church families in complete contradiction of God’s express will revealed in the Bible. 1 John 1:17 says: “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin”. Regardless of the fact that all churches are not created equal, they nonetheless provide a vehicle for Christian community and fellowship. In Hebrews 10:24, 25 Paul says: “Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.” God is all about relationships, especially those involving His children. God would NEVER suggest that we disrupt our fellowship with other believers, even if that fellowship occurs through a less than perfect church. Regardless of the reason, Mr. Camping and his arrogant insistence on setting a precise date for Jesus’ return and Judgment Day must be rejected completely and unequivocally. And along with that, so must his teachings that all churches are apostate, devoid of the Holy Spirit and destined for destruction on judgment day.

In closing, I must recommend the most severe rejection of Mr. Camping’s current ministry. Despite all of the good works he has done for the Kingdom of God in the past, it is more than clear that he has now fallen victim to delusions and deceptions of Satan himself. Prominent Christian leaders are primary targets of the enemy, just look at history. Most unfortunately, Mr. Camping has joined the ranks of prominent Christians who have fallen victim to the devil’s deceptions. Let this be a reminder that spiritual warfare is real. Spiritual warfare is NO JOKE. And no one--no matter how righteous or prominent--should consider themselves invulnerabale to the devil’s deceptions. That said, regrettably, I must now recommend a complete boycott of Family Radio and Mr. Camping’s ministry and teachings until such time that he humbles himself in repentance. By the same token, I urge you to join me in prayer for Mr. Camping; that he be delivered from the devil’s lies. If Mr. Camping does not confess and repent of his pride-motivated (and satanically inspired) teachings along these lines, God’s judgment and his personal eternal destiny will be less than ideal.

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