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It is reported by The Christian Post that false teacher Harold Camping has finally confessed that he was wrong in setting his dates for Christ’s return and says that he deeply regrets his mistakes. He says that he was particularly wrong to claim that God had stopped saving people after May 21.

Camping had recently predicted that the world would end on October 21 after failing in his prediction earlier this year on May 21, 2011 and much earlier on September 6, 1994.

The CP article contains a transcript of the audio message made by Harold Camping on Oct. 28, 2011.

Response: It is good to see Camping finally responding to his false teaching. Only time will tell if he has really repented of his date setting or only regretting that he was wrong. He makes two statements that give some hope that he has finally seen the light:

“Why didn’t Christ return on Oct. 21? It seems embarrassing for Family Radio. But God was in charge of everything.

God is in charge of this whole business, and we are not. …we have to be very careful that we don’t dictate to God what He should do.

… But God is in charge, and we must always keep that in mind.”

The CP article seems to conclude that Camping has finally learned from his mistakes and has actually repented. I am not so sure. He also makes a couple of statements that leads me to believe that nothing has really changed except he now admits that he was wrong about the recent dates but still seems to be searching for the ‘right’ one. He says that he has some different language in the Bible that he needs to check out:

“And I do find that there is other language in the Bible that we still have to look at very carefully and will impinge upon this question very definitely. And we should be very patient about this matter.”

He still seems to be holding on to the thought that at some point God will reveal the right date to him through his studies:

“we must continue to look to the Bible, look to the Bible. Because there is where truth comes from. And God in His own timetable and in His own purposes will reveal truth to us when it’s His time to do it.”

So there you have it. Has Harold Camping really repented and given up on his date setting? I don’t think so. He still seems to expect God to reveal the right date “when it’s His time to do it.”            *Top

Related Posts?:

1. -Harold Camping Still Claims That Oct. 21 is Definitely ‘Probably’ The End
2. -When is the Rapture?

                                                   (Image via Wikipedia)

Family Radio Network preacher Harold Camping, failed in his high profile well publicized prediction for the end of the world on May 21. Now he says that his new date of Oct. 21 is ‘probably’ the definite date?:

“A lot of things we didn’t have quite right will probably be finished out on Oct. 21.

“It wont be spiritual on October 21st, the world is going to be destroyed all together, but it will be very quick.”

Following the May 21 debacle, Camping claimed that “We had all of our dates correct,” but now understands that Christ’s May 21 arrival was only “a spiritual coming” which started a 5 month countdown towards the final judgment and destruction supposedly on October 21.

Response: Hopefully not too many folks will be paying any attention to Camping this time around. He was wrong in 1994 and again in May. Hopefully he is right about one thing –it will end on October 21 –not the world but his ‘ministry.’

However, look for Camping to come up with a new way of looking at all of his date setting next week. Better yet, hopefully his followers will finally wake up and turn their backs once and for all and see Harold Camping for what he really is –a false teacher.            *Top

Related Posts?:

1. -When is the Rapture?

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When is the rapture? With all of the confusion sowed recently by Harold Camping and his date setting group, here is a good article by Greg Koukl defining what the Bible has to really say about when the rapture is going to happen:  “The Rap on the Rapture”

Koukl concludes from the scriptures that it is going to happen at the Second Coming of Jesus and that everyone alive at the time will see it:

“The second coming. Not the third coming, not the one-and-a-half coming. The passages call it the coming of the Lord. Not a coming. They call it the coming of the Lord.”…

“We read about the second coming in Matthew 24. That is a visible, powerful and conclusive coming. He says everyone will be able to see Him, right? Paul says these events that are called the rapture happen at the coming of the Lord and the coming of the Lord, according to Jesus, is visible and there is only one second coming.”

Response: Koukl definitely gives us all something to think bout when it comes to the Rapture regardless of our preferred approach. He sees it as a very simple proposition if we only take the scriptures and don’t let any eschatological presuppositions affect our reading and interpretation.            *Top

              (Image by Newbirth35 via Flickr)

There are nearly 2,000 billboards around the world warning folks that the world is going to end as we know it on May 21. Some of the warnings are painted on cars, vans, and RV’s like the one shown here.

This current prediction of doom and rapture is the latest product of Harold Camping, a Christian broadcaster who operates Family Radio.

Most people ignore the signs but some are serious followers of Camping and are setting their ‘life in order’ for the occasion. Reportedly some have sold their homes, others quit their jobs, and several students have stopped going to school. They have all been caught up in a serious miscalculation that will probably bring permanent damage to their faith and their lives.

This is the same Harold Camping who was wrong when he made a similar prediction in 1994 in a book called ‘1994’. He was wrong then, later he chose 2000 as the year and he was wrong once more. He will be this time also. The one thing I can say with some certainty is that we will all be here on May 22 and those who believed In his calculations will all be devastated.

Remember what Jesus said about the end of the world:

“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. –Matt. 24:36

Jesus says here that he doesn’t know but Camping arrogantly thinks he does? I don’t think so.

Here’s a link to a fine article by Hector Avalos , a professor of religious studies at Iowa State University, who writes specifically about the problems with Camping’s calculations: “No Judgment Day on May 21”

See you all on May 22, blessings.            *Top

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There is an under current and subtext to all of the revolts that are going on across the Muslim Middle East and North Africa.

There is an Muslim dream and ideal that is being expressed that continues to go unreported because it does not meet the Western template nor does it make any sense to most of the Western observers.

There is an underlying hope among the demonstrators in the Middle East for a new Islamic Caliphate that would include the entire Middle East and North Africa. In order for that to happen all of the current regimes must fall and the new leaders must be willing to cooperate together.  

Young Muslims have been taught and have been indoctrinated with a historical view of past Muslim glories when the Islamic Caliphate was the greatest power and empire in the world and ruled all of the Middle East, North Africa, and even Southern Spain and a large part of the Balkans in Europe. It was an empire that overthrew Constantinople and threatened to take Vienna and all of Europe with it.

The last Muslim Caliphate –the Ottoman Empire was overthrown by the Western powers in WWI. Following WWI the lands were divided up and the current countries were defined and set up by the Western allies with governments and rulers put in place substantially under the tutelage and guidance of Britain and France. Later after WWII the USA also became a major player and king maker (or sponsor) in the ‘oil rich’ Middle East and sponsor of Israel.

Many look upon their current countries and governments as illegitimate fabrications of the Western infidels. Some of the countries do have a storied past like Turkey, Egypt, and Iran but most were made-up lands with Western negotiated borders in the 20th century. So not only are the leaders considered illegitimate but also the countries themselves.

For many young Muslims in the Middle east, the world is upside down with the Western countries dominating in so many different ways. They blame their leaders for their current condition and look upon many of them as contributing to the Western domination of the Middle East.

With the coming of Arabic 24 hour news and the internet, now far more folks have become aware of how bad they really have it compared to the rest of the world. Then they go to services on Friday and their imam tells them that Islam is destined to dominate the World and that it is time to rise up.

Underneath all of the current unrest there is Iran providing organization and support to all Islamist organizations like the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, and Hezbollah. The subtext behind all of the Iranian efforts is that a New Caliphate is coming and the Mahdi of Muslim prophecy (12th Imam) will soon rise up and lead all Islam to world leadership and dominance once more.  

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Isn’t God done with Israel? Didn’t the church replace the Jews as God’s people?

I hear this from well meaning Christians from time to time. The answers are no and yes but not completely.

It is plain from scripture that God is not done with Israel. Paul writes on this issue in Romans 9-11. Rom 11:25-30 in particular speaks about Israel’s future salvation:

Lest you be wise in your own conceits, I want you to understand this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written,

“The Deliverer will come from Zion,
he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”;

27 “and this will be my covenant with them
when I take away their sins.”

28 As regards the gospel, they are enemies of God for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. 29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.  -ESV

While Jewish folks have been hardened of heart for nearly 2,000 years when it comes to the Gospel, this scripture indicates that at some time in the future the ‘time of the Gentiles’ will be complete and they will accept Jesus as their Messiah and Savior.

That time could be coming soon since more Jewish folks have come to Christ in the last 10 years than ever before.

Meanwhile the church is the current covenant people of God made up of both Gentiles and Jews. Plus there is only one way to Heaven, through faith in Jesus Christ and him alone.

However, all of the promises of God to Israel and the Jews have not been forgotten-they are ‘irrevocable’. Also, all of the prophecies concerning that people will be fulfilled.           *Top

(Image by Ben Piven via Flickr)

Today in Iran they are ‘celebrating’ the 31st anniversary of the capture of the American embassy by Islamist students. As usual mass protests are scheduled by the government and the authorities get to harangue the USA before hand picked crowds of thousands of students bussed to the capital for the event.

After 31 years the USA continues to be identified as the ‘Great Satan’ by the Iranian authorities but why?

Why ‘Great Satan’?- The Title Comes From Shiite Eschatology

Most of us in the America laugh at the event and wonder why we are considered the ‘bad guys’ since they were the ones who attacked our embassy and took our personnel hostage. We were the violated party yet we are still called the ‘Great Satan’?

Actually the term comes from Shiite Muslim eschatology. According to their ‘end-time’ scenario in the last days before the coming of the Muslim ‘Messiah’-the Mahdi’ also called the ‘Hidden Imam’ or the ‘12th Imam’ in their current cultic understanding. An infidel power will be dominating the world politically, economically, and militarily. That end-time power is called the ‘Great Satan’.

The current leaders believe that they are in the end-times and that the 12th Imam is coming back soon. In fact the Ayatollah Khamenei (Iran’s supreme leader) claims that the ‘Hidden Imam’ has appeared to him and told him so!.

The current Iranian leaders including President Ahmadinejad and the Ayatollahs identify the USA as the ‘Great Satan’ that must be defeated by the coming Mahdi who according to their eschatological scenario becomes the one world leader and Islam the only authorized religion. But first the ‘Great Satan’ must be utterly defeated and all Jews and Christians that will not join Islam must be killed.

The students are smiling today but the implications of their end-time religious convictions are anything but joyful.            *Top

Here’s a concise article by Bill Pratt about what the early church thought about the Millennium:

“Did the Early Church Believe in a Literal Thousand-Year Reign of Christ on Earth?”

Excellent synopsis with a poll at the end testing our current understanding.               *Top

There really could be dueling Jesuses in the future—Isa-Almasih (Jesus Messiah in the Quran) of Islam verses Jesus Christ of Christianity.

First of all the birth of Jesus is portrayed in similar ways by both religions but the results are quite different. Both teach that Mary was a virgin and the angel appeared to her but in the New Testament, God is the Father of Jesus while the Quran teaches that the angel Gabriel was somehow responsible.

As strange as it seems, I believe that there is a strong possibility that the two might actually meet up and battle each other at the end of history—That’s right—two claiming to be the real Jesus.

One who supports the coming Mahdi and tries to destroy all who reject Islam particularly the Jews, and another who is the Son of God who comes in the clouds with the host of Heaven where everyone can see Him and saves Jerusalem and what is left of Israel.

What it really amounts to is dueling scriptures—the Quran verses the New Testament.

I started thinking about this possibility when I received the following in a comment from a Mohammad in Pakistan:

“I believe soon the promised one will reappear and fill this earth with justice.  …we are waiting for the promised one our Mahdi our imam our love our respect our leader our heart. …O my imam my leader soon we will pledge with you along with all good inhabitants in this world along with Jesus Christ who will pray behind you and will ask his followers to accept the straight path of Islam.”

There is one scenario I can see where the prophetic eschatological expectations of both the Quran and the Bible may be largely fulfilled.

Those in Islam are looking for a Mahdi to appear on the scene and become the ruler over the entire world—with one world government and one official World religion–Islam. Isa-Almasih, the historical Jesus is supposed to come back and support the Mahdi and ask all of his followers—the Christians to convert. Those who don’t are to be beheaded. Meanwhile he is also suppose to be instrumental in conquering Jerusalem, defeating the Dajjal (Evil One) and finally killing off the Jews who naturally refuse to join.

In the New Testament there is an  almost identical scenario presented, only the one world ruler is called ‘The Anti-Christ’ and the religious leader who supports him is referred to as ‘The False Prophet’. Thousands of Christians will be martyred by beheading and millions of Jews will also be killed. Just when it looks like Jerusalem will be conquered and all Israel will be eliminated, Jesus Christ appears in the clouds with the Hosts of Heaven, everyone shall see him, and He will touch down in Jerusalem and save the day. By the way—the Anti-Christ (Mahdi?) and his False Prophet (Isa?) are thrown alive into the Lake of Fire.

Like I said, the scenarios are quite similar but in a potential battle between the two Jesuses, Jesus Christ the Jewish Messiah and Son of God will prevail, the Muslims might call him the ‘Dajjal’ but it is the pretenders who will be overthrown. All of the scriptures in the Bible will be fulfilled, and He will reign for 1,000 years on planet Earth.            *Top

(Image by Yukari* via Flickr)

For the small fee of $110, a new business will take care of your pets after the Rapture. They have signed up confessed non-believers to be involved in the ‘service’.

Eternal Earth-Bound Pets styles itself as a service that will take care of ‘left behind’ pets when their Christian owners are raptured. The motto on their website is:

  “The next best thing to pet salvation in a Post Rapture World”

On their site they have the following caption:

"You’ve committed your life to Jesus. You know you’re saved. But when the Rapture comes what’s to become of your loving pets who are left behind? Eternal Earth-Bound Pets takes that burden off your mind."

Response: Wow, how clever! I wonder what they’re going to do with all the $ money? Maybe buy some more anti-God ads on busses?             *Top          (Cross-posted on the Main Page)