“Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And 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 Peter 3:4)
There has been so much publicity about one group’s prophecy that “the rapture of the Church” will happen on Saturday, May 21, 2011, that I imagine many readers will at least have heard about it. The “prophet” is 89-year-old Harold Camping of Oakland, California. Camping founded “Family Radio” in 1959 and has hosted the evening call-in radio program known as “Open Forum” since 1961. I really don’t know if Harold Camping’s “Open Forum” still airs in the Boston area, but it did back in the early 1980s. I was a regular listener. Please don’t misunderstand. I was never a supporter of Harold Camping. I disagreed with him about many matters. Camping taught, for instance, that all Pentecostals and Charismatics proclaimed “another gospel other than the true gospel” and that such people were on their way to Hell. (The Assemblies of God is a Pentecostal group- thus I was among those bound for Hell!) Camping’s not a stupid guy. I’d guess he has a very high I.Q. Some of his Biblical exposition and teaching was quite well done and fascinating, but he could also be very narrow-minded and judgmental. In those days, Harold Camping didn’t even believe in “the rapture”!
Camping belonged to the Christian Reformed Church, a highly Calvinistic denomination made up of mostly people of Dutch ancestry. I don’t want readers to fall asleep on me, do I will try not to become too “cerebral” here- the bottom line is, the church holds to a strong “predestination” position- that is, God pretty much planned everything out completely, and it’s all playing out as He planned it. The C.R.C. is also “amillennial” and does not believe in “the rapture”.
“Amillennial” means “no millennium” or “no thousand years”. In Revelation chapter 20 the Bible speaks of Jesus Christ returning to planet Earth and literally reigning from Jerusalem for 1000 years. Most churches ARE “amillennial”... that is, they don’t take this stuff literally. That’s why many of you church going people have never heard of “the rapture”. A number of churches (mostly evangelical) DO believe in “the rapture”, however, and DO take the passages about the return of Jesus Christ to this planet to rule it for 1000 years very literally. Such churches would include most (but not all) Baptist groups, most Pentecostal groups including the Assemblies of God, the Evangelical Free Church, and others.
I heard Harold Camping interviewed by secular radio broadcaster Michael Smerconish a couple of nights ago. On-line biographical references about Harold Camping indicate that he left the Christian Reformed Church a number of years ago. Camping now believes ALL churches are corrupted and wrong. Camping no longer believes in a literal Hell. Camping is no longer a strict Calvinist. And, Camping now believes in “the rapture”. Smerconish tried and tried to get Camping to explain why he believes “the rapture” will happen on May 21. Camping totally ignored the question and prattled on about judgment coming to the unrepentant. Smerconish later wonder on air if ANYONE outside of Harold Camping and his small group of followers believes “the rapture” will happen on May 21. Smerconish suspects no one does. I think Michael Smerconish is correct about that!
When I “got saved” back in 1970, there was much talk in evangelical Christian circles about “the rapture” and the Second Coming of Christ. We were all reading Hal Lindsay’s “The Late Great Planet Earth” and books like David Wilkerson’s “The Vision”. I really wondered if I’d ever make it out of Bible College before “the rapture” took place. I certainly couldn’t imagine ever having grandchildren- “the rapture” was likely much too close for that! While dates were never set for “the rapture” and some preachers said it could be decades and decades away, for most of us there was the sense that it was right upon us. Today, evangelicals still believe in “the rapture” and the Second Coming of Christ, but it’s frankly not preached about much or talked about much any more. What’s happened?
For one thing, there was Edgar Whisenaunt. Edgar Whisenaunt began distributing a soft cover book in early 1988 entitled, “88 Reasons Why Christ Returns in 1988. He set September 12 or 13 of 1988 as the time for “the rapture”. Probably 2 or 3 percent of evangelicals believed Edgar’s prophecy, but the rest were disgusted, embarrassed, and believed it was all wrong. Ironically, Whisenaunt came out with another book in 1989 saying “the rapture” would happen in 1989 and that he had miscalculated by one year. NOBODY took that seriously! “Prophets” like Whisenaunt and Camping make born-again Christians look so foolish that many are ashamed and embarrassed to say anything about “the rapture” or even to THINK about it. I suspect this latest escapade will only service to reinforce that reluctance to proclaim or acknowledge “the rapture” and the Second Coming.
When I did listen to Harold Camping’s “Open Forum” in the 1980s, Camping was constantly warning against false prophets, false teachers, and false churches who proclaimed “another gospel other than the true gospel”. Isn’t it ironic? That’s EXACTLY what Harold Camping has become! He’s become a false prophet proclaiming another gospel other than the true gospel!
Listen, I don’t expect “the rapture” to happen on May 21. Well, if it does, it will be entirely coincidental and will be in spite of Harold Camping and not because of him! The Bible never used the word “rapture” nor does it ever use the word “trinity”. But it DOES teach the Trinity and the rapture. Where is “the rapture” taught about? Check out First Thessalonians chapter 4 (and there are other places as well such as I Corinthians chapter 15).
Friend, there WILL be a “rapture of the church”. It may be today, or tomorrow, or in six months, or in six years, or in a hundred and sixty years. I sincerely hope evangelical Christians will NOT be afraid of speaking about “the rapture” and the Second Coming. I hope we all speak about it MORE with boldness! Yet, no one knows the day or the hour of “the rapture”; no not even Harold Camping.
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4 comments:
With reference to May 21, 2011 (day of judgment spoken with affirmation by Haold Camping); I trust in Matthew 24:35-51.
Carlene Mason
I'm not concerned anyway, because unlike many pro-Rapture evangelicals, I remain unconvinced of a "pre-Tribulation" rapture. That is, that the rapture is a precursor or the first event in the end of the world, and that all the Christians are pulled out to be spared God's wrath. Based on Matthew 24, I don't buy it. Verse 29 and 31: "Immediately after the tribulation of those days [emphasis mine] ...they will gather together his elect". I didn't change the meaning of the passage by what I omitted; it was only for space. You can check it yourself. Also the oft-cited Thessalonians passage heavily agrees with Matthew. (I'd further add the resurrected saints in Revelation 20 who rise AFTER Christ returns.) Certainly signs are indicating its nearer than it was, but they do not point to it being Saturday.
As to that other billboard, Matthew's got that covered too: verse 26 -- "if they say to you, 'look he is in the desert!' do not go out, or "look! he is in the inner rooms!' do not believe it."
Problems with the pre-tribulational view are highlighted by Baptist (and premillennial) theologian Dale Moody, who wrote: "Belief in a pre-tribulational rapture . . . contradicts all three chapters in the New Testament that mention the tribulation and the rapture together (Mark 13:24–27; Matt. 24:26–31; 2 Thess. 2:1–12). . . . The theory is so biblically bankrupt that the usual defense is made using three passages that do not even mention a tribulation (John 14:3; 1 Thess. 4:17; 1 Cor. 15:52). These are important passages, but they have not had one word to say about a pre-tribulational rapture. The score is 3 to 0, three passages for a post-tribulational rapture and three that say nothing on the subject.
. . . Pre-tribulationism is biblically bankrupt and does not know it" (The Word of Truth, 556–7
Oopsies. Looks like you guys were wrong. Do you really think a benevolent omnipotent universal force would let you humans figure out its inner workings?
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