The End of the World
By now most of us have heard that Harold Camping is predicting the Lord’s return this Saturday. We should forget that Jesus said, “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven nor the Son, but only the Father.” (Matt 24:36) We should forget that Harold Camping was wrong before when he predicted that Christ was coming back in 1994. We should just believe him. How did he arrive at this date? I finally found a source (MSNBC.com) that laid it out succinctly: Here’s the gist of Camping’s calculation: He believes Christ was crucified on April 1, 33 A.D., exactly 722,500 days before May 21, 2011. That number, 722,500, is the square of 5 x 10 x 17. In Camping’s numerological system, 5 represents atonement, 10 means completeness, and seventeen means heaven. “Five times 10 times 17 is telling you a story,” Camping said on his Oakland-based talk show, Family Radio, last year. “It’s the story from the time Christ made payment for your sins until you’re completely saved. I tell ya, I just about fell off my chair when I realized that.”
There are so many flaws to his logic, I don’t know where to begin. First, where in the Bible does it teach us that 5 is the number of atonement? Where does it teach us that 10 is the number of completeness?? And how do we know that the number 17 represents heaven??? But let me put those things aside for a minute. For arguments sake, let’s say that those numbers are accurate. Where do we get the teaching that we should multiply them all together, square the result, and use that as the basis for determining the date of Christ’s return??? Yet people are falling for it by the thousands. The reality is, all of us as believer long for Christ’s return. We want to believe that Jesus is coming back on Saturday. It is easy to sell something that people want. The truth is, however, that Harold Camping is a false teacher. Or perhaps he is just plain nuts. Maybe both. In any case, I’ll look forward to seeing you all at church on SUNDAY! And if anyone reading this thinks I’m wrong and Camping is right, I challenge you to “put your money where your mouth is.” Sell all of your possesions. Max out your credit cards. And give the money to our church to help us pay down the mortgage. What do you care? You won’t be here after Saturday anyway!
