The Preacher Who Cried “Rapture!”
May 20
88 Reasons Why Jesus is Coming Back in ’88
Harold Camping is just the latest in such a trend to say when Jesus is returning. And everyone is dismissing his prediction, not surprisingly.
Of course, it concerns me when someone thinks they know the day or the hour when Jesus himself said He didn’t know it when He walked this earth. I guess some people interpret Jesus’ words, “You will do even greater things,” to mean they can know things that even Jesus didn’t know…
But there is one thing that concerns me even more about the silliness of such a prediction: It seems to me that people, even Christians, should be cautious about what exactly we dismiss. Jesus is indeed coming back, and it could very well happen on May 21, 2011. It could happen today. It could happen several thousand years from now.
When people wrongfully predict Jesus’ return, it’s like the boy crying wolf. There is a danger that people will dismiss the very notion that Jesus is coming back at all. Jesus says, “When I return, will I find faith in the world?” He is indeed coming back.
People are making all sorts of jokes about how to prepare for Jesus’ return on May 21. But being prepared for His return is no joking matter. While I think it’s great to poke fun at such a silly prediction as Camping’s, we must be diligent to separate that from poking fun at merely the idea of Jesus returning on May 21.
What if we take this as an opportunity to say… get married? Since Jesus is coming back, why wait any longer? 🙂
My grandma has been listening to Harold Camping for years. The guy has been off his rocker for a long time. I used to listen to him in high school and yell at the radio. He would allegorize everything. There were no controls to his hermeneutic. I once heard him say that the pagan king Xerxes in Esther represented God. And another time he said that in Acts, when the ship Paul was on was destroyed in the storm…that meant that the Church age had ended. And that the ones who were holding on to the planks were holding on to the Church and they shouldn’t because God destroyed it.
And on and on it went.
ooo… that’s fun! What about the marriage supper of the Lamb? Does that mean we’re supposed to have lamb when celebrating after a wedding? Someone should ask him!
LOL, Erik. Now I have a clearer understanding of what the “plank” in my eye really is.
Good advice, Tim. Jesus is coming back… someday. I think one of the good things that can come out of these predictions is that it gives you an opportunity to consider: if Jesus really were coming back on (insert predicted date), what would I be doing differently? I think if you come up with a good answer then you should make that change even after the date comes and goes with no Rapture. Last night I jokingly told my husband we’d better get to bed on time because “if the world really does end on Saturday, I want to make sure I get my prayer time in.”
Joel, you sure seem to be bringing up marriage a lot…
And you sure seem to be using ellipses a lot…
This may be the last time I ever use ellipses…
Its too stressful to live every day like it’s your last. I like not knowing when Christ will return cause if He doesn’t take me as my authentic self then I will know my salvation has been in vain. I hope I’m pleasing God daily in the mundane tasks of life and I hope despite my failures He will rapture me:)
I like what you say about your authentic self! I hope that every day that passes, my authentic self is becoming more and more like Christ, so that each day that passes, I live more and more like it could be my last–and that if so, it would be perfectly ok with me. I agree with you that it’s too stressful to pretend like this is your last day every day.
I agree that we shouldn’t make light of being ready for Christ’s return. I think that this incident with Camping should give us pause about approaching end times teaching with the humility to acknowledge that there is much that we do not know, timing being one thing. Our focus should be on being the faithful servant regardless, though.
That being said, it’s hard to know how to respond to Camping’s audacious claims. I believe that Camping and his teachings drive people away from Christ, so that makes me want to disown and discredit. At the same time, that may not be the right approach.
Drew, Perhaps what you describe is similar to how many Muslims feel toward terrorists. It’s hard to tell when they don’t speak out against terrorists. I appreciate it when Muslims do speak out against wackos within their faith–I think it’s ok for Christians to do the same. With love, of course. 🙂