Saturday, May 21, 2011

‘The World Ends Today’

At first glance, the billboard may look like an advertisement for a radio talk show, but they are more than that. According to the 89-year old radio talk show host, Harold Camping, the end of days are near.

Camping’s latest mathematical prediction is that the world will end today. He and his followers claim that as many as 200 million people will disappear. The San Francisco based group previously predicted the rapture would occur on September 4 ,1994.
“We are almost there”, Camping says, and the Bible provides a lot of information about the “timeline of history”. The Bible speaks of the vigilant as “watchmen” (Ezekiel Chapter 33, verses2-9), in that they are able
to warn the unsaved. The goal is to help others become “saved”.

The Bible does not point to any particular day, and Camping says he can’t know the “precise” Day of Judgment, but there is “a great amount of Biblical signs and proofs that absolutely guarantee that Judgment day will begin on May 21 of this year.”

Camping, the founder of the Family Radio Network, bases his prediction on a few factors, including the Jewish feast days in the Hebrew calendar, the lunar moon calendar and the Georgian calendar.

Stephen Colbert, the host of Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report, has taken notice. In a segment called “Yahweh or No Way”, he wondered if Jesus could beat Thor in a fight. He also made fun of the Family Radio Network’s apocalypse prediction, saying there are only 11 shopping days left until it all ends. He also said he will be safe because he will be in international waters that day.

The followers of Camping don’t seem phased by the criticism and point to scripture to back up their claim. “The tens of thousands of hours he has spent analysing the Bible has given him (Camping), a unique perspective of the entirety of scripture,” the Family Radio Network said in a statement.

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