The world is going to end today at 6 pm Pacific time…if you believe Christian radio host Harold Camping. He and his followers at Family Radio Christian network say that based upon his findings in the Bible, May 21 is the day of the Rapture. According to his beliefs, about 200 million people around the world will be raptured today, leaving the rest to suffer until October 21 when the world will come to an end.
Now, call me a skeptic, but I have thought about what we should do for my son’s 7th birthday in July, how I want to celebrate my birthday in June, my doctor’s appointment next Wednesday and what I am wearing to church tomorrow morning.
Camping has been off in his biblical ciphering before. He had previously stated that the world was going to end in September – of 1994.
Now before I get too down on Camping, I should point out that people have been predicting end times for a long time.
As far back as 1806, people thought had the key to the ultimate question – when is the world going to end. It was in 1806 that the hens of Leeds, England were predicting the rapture. They were laying eggs that said “Christ is coming.” While several of the towns people were certain the end was near, it turned out that a prankster had written the phrase on the eggs in corrosive ink, then reinserted the eggs back into the hens.
William Miller was another who carefully studied his Bible then decided he knew the key. He preached that the world would end between March 21, 1843 and March 21, 1844. Many of his followers, known as Millerites, sold their possessions or gave them away. But, March 21, 1844 came and went and the world was still here. The Millerites still believed and another date was chosen – April 18, 1844. Well, we all know what happened. But, the Millerites went on to form several still existing denominations, including the Seventh-Day Adventists.
Since I find this kind of fun, I will blog about more failed doomsday predictions, unless this Camping prediction does come true.