January 22, 2011 Forward Motion Faith

Engineered Error

I can’t help myself.  When I drive by and see the billboard I have to cringe.  It speaks to the mockery of faith and end time prophecy. You’ve seen it along with literally thousands of drivers headed in Lancaster on SR 33.  It looks me right in the face as I turn up 33 headed home when leaving the church.  It’s bold.  It’s a powerful statement and investment for someone’s conviction that Jesus is coming back on May 21.  I want to call this ridiculous and a waste of someone’s or some ministries funds.  I want to criticize the ad.  I want to personally tear it down.  But I can’t and will not.  This is America and the last time I checked we still practice freedom of speech.   Whoever put up the billboard has a right to his faith, his opinion and his calculations of scripture to arrive at the belief that the rapture is going to occur on May 21, 2011.  He has the year and the day down…maybe eventually he’ll arrive at the very moment of the rapture.  I mean, if you’re going to ask for wisdom to know the day and year it seems to me you could at least take a shot at the hour!  Forgive me, I’m being purposefully cynical.

I checked his website out.  Familyradio.com is his website. The ministry started in 1958 by a guy named Harold Camping who is now 88 years old!   The website is loaded with end time prophecy statements and articles about this and that.  Camping is, (retired more than likely) a civil engineer by profession.  He claims to be a mere unpaid volunteer for Family Radio.  Whatever!  One thing about Camping is you pick immediately that he is true to his convictions – one thing we can say “kudos” to Camping for.  Standing up for what he believes – even if what he believes contradicts scripture.  Allow me a moment here, please.

He has made other attempts at predicting the end of the world.  I’m intriqued that after missing it in the past he still has choice disciples who cling to his coat-tail.  I never cease to be amazed.  Again, I shouldn’t so critical of a person who has something they are so committed to – but his commitment is so wrong I can’t help but be critical of it.  His “engineering mathematics” has gone awry.  His calculator has run out of juice.  Something went wrong – like picking up the calculator in the first place. This is his second (known to me anyway) attempt at predicting the unpredictable.  He wrote a book in 1992 entitled “1994” which he published a huge effort at defining the Lord’s return in the month of September 1994.  Obviously he missed it!  

I remember and so do you the attempt to predict the coming of the Lord in 1988. Something about 88 reasons the Lord was coming back…back then.  Scary but Biblically correct.  Matthew 24 teaches us that in the last days false prophets would show up.  They would preach their miscalculated messages.  It would be only one indicator of many that would point to the Second Coming of Christ.  Jesus made one comment that should’ve shut all the date setters up.  He said in Matthew 24.36 that no one knows when Jesus will return.  Jesus said the angels don’t know nor does He know.  Only the Father knows.  That rapturous moment has not been released from the Father to the Son – but with guys like Camping still around we can be sure of one thing – we’re not far from it.  Date setting is something Camping has wasted a lot of time on.  When one reads his website to defend his date setting you get the idea (or at least I did) that this is scriptural mumbo jumbo on his part.  He takes a few dates, subtracting and adding some figures, and smoking the calculator to arrive at a date for the rapture that no one knows anyway.  Unbelievable! 

What Camping has done is to one more time give reason for unnecessary scorn, laughter, jokes and finger-pointing to occur at the expense of Christianity at large.  He is feeding the frenzy of the world to mock the church and accuse of being out of our minds.  He has given them reason to accuse us of digesting some spiritually Xanax.  When you add to these purposeful attempts to make us look stupid along with all of those who don’t really try that hard but still make us all look like spiritual morons – it can get pretty hard for us once in a while.

Fasting has taken me to an intimacy with the Lord I really was asking for.  In praying this morning I realized that Camping is just one of many.  He is one of thousands who just happened to have the financial backing to do a national campaign in relationship to his miscalculated calculations!  What a waste!  But then again…it’s his money and his convictions.  Sad but true – he has every right to do what he is doing.  All I can say is that this is one civil engineer who missed it on every count.  I just wonder what will happen on May 22 when we’re all still here – unless the rapture takes place before May 21.  Wouldn’t that be a hoot!  I guess we can say it would be God Almighty laughing at the expense of those like Camping who honestly believe they have arrived at some understanding of end time prophecy that no one else has – not even the Son of God.  Someone needs to be available on May 22 to help Camping take off his cape, black tights and his shirt with a big red “S” on it.  Before the 21^st of May, in his mind he is a prophecy superman.  On the morning of the 22^nd the “S” may point more toward stupidity than anything else.  There I go again…shame on me.  Shouldn’t be so rough on the guy.  It is what it is!  Good night folks!