Apocalypse, again: Camping says today's the day

Harold Camping speaks during a taping of his show "Open Forum" in Oakland, Calif., May 23, 2011. / AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez

SAN FRANCISCO - A California ministry has again predicted the end of the world is at hand.

The Oakland-based Family Radio International that stirred a global frenzy when it predicted the Rapture would take 200 million Christians to heaven on May 21, now says the cataclysmic event will destroy the globe on Friday.

But the world on Friday was undergoing its usual give-and-take with no signs of such an event.

This time, the ministry and its 90-year-old leader, Harold Camping, have avoided the media and perhaps a repeat of the international mockery that followed when believers awoke on May 22 to find themselves still on Earth.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, but we at Family Radio have been directed to not talk to the media or the press," Camping's daughter Susan Espinoza wrote in response to an email request about Friday's doomsday scenario.

Calls to the ministry in Oakland Thursday went to voicemail and were unreturned. Several followers who were contacted also declined comment.

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Camping, who suffered a mild stroke three weeks after his prediction failed to materialize in May, still spreads the word through his Family Radio International website. God's judgment and salvation were completed on May 21, Camping says in a message explaining the mix-up in his biblical math.

"Thus we can be sure that the whole world, with the exception of those who are presently saved (the elect), are under the judgment of God, and will be annihilated together with the whole physical world on Oct. 21," he says on the website.

Followers were crestfallen in May when the Rapture did not occur, particularly those who had quit their jobs or donated some of their retirement savings or college funds for the more than 5,000 billboards and 20 RVs plastered with the Judgment Day message.

Camping, a retired civil engineer, also prophesied the Apocalypse would come in 1994, but said later that didn't happen because of a mathematical error.

[anonymouslady777]

The Word of God is our safety. The Bible talks about the end times in great detail. One thing Jesus said is that we would not know the day or the hour that the Lord would come for His true, obedient people that have the real Baptism of the Holy Ghost and living free from all sin. The Bibles says this: Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.

Jesus likened the Rapture as a thief in the night. Jesus said, Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. The scripture talks about the false prophets that will come. Ministries or individuals that are predicting times that Jesus would come could not be real for this very reason--because it is not in line with the scriptures. It's sad though because this focus on this person predicting the Rapture will also desensitize people in general to the reality that the Rapture is going to take place in our day. The Rapture is compared to Noah's Ark in the Bible. People mocked Noah for 120 years and finally the doors closed, it began to rain, and just as God said would happen... then they were believers, but it was too late, those unbelievers perished in the flood. The Bible clearly states:

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.

And just as the Bible states, people are doing just that today. We don't know the day or hour, but the Bible tells His true believers to pray that we would be accounted worthy to escape. It says verbatim: Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.

[Jhihmoac]

Wow! This was Camping's second prophecy day? Wonder why I (Duh) forgot?

[kansas1946]

Well, P.T. Barnum said it best. "There is a sucker born every minute."

[gadfly65]

He's a retired civil engineer who says that his repeated failures at predicting the apocalypse are due to math errors. What projects did he work on as an engineer? Maybe someone needs to go back and make sure no bridges are in danger of collapsing.

[jxknowles]

His world is pretty much coming to an end, so I guess in a way he's right. Everybody else can rest easy.

[billpl-2009]

at least one good comes from this idiot

it's one thread that both christians and atheists can share a laugh

[mgdvt]

Knock Knock
Who's there?
Me...you blew it again!!! ;-)

[gruven13777]

Jesus just called....he wants his religion back.

[ralphing]

The entire bible is just a book of fiction written by people who hoped to control others by the fear that they are being watched by a fairy in the sky. That they will punished if they don't listen to what his followers ask them to do. There is no way you can take the ever changing tripe in this book and use it to predict the end of the world.

And why would I believe his version of the bible over the muslim, or any other book of nonsense?

Maybe his followers will wise up after losing their life savings to this idiot.

[antoniof123]

If he keeps this up he might get lucky and get it right.