Yesterday was the day when all Born-again Christians should have disappeared into Heaven leaving behind the pagans, gays and non-believers to face eternal wrath .... but wait, its Sunday morning and the Church bells are ringing and everyone is still here. So, did any silly, foolish Christian dumped their life savings for this false prophecy? If you are one, you deserved to be called a fool.
(CNN) – Theirs had been an unwavering belief, the sort that inspired some to quit jobs, leave their homes and walk away from family and friends to issue a doomsday warning.
Without question, they believed May 21 would be the day that Jesus Christ would return and rapture them - and a select 2 to 3 percent of the world’s population - up to heaven. Everyone left behind would be on a crash course to final destruction, scheduled for October 21.
But now it’s May 22.
The sun rose, birds are singing and life as we know it continues. Those anticipated earthquakes that the May 21 doomsdayers said would ravage the earth on Saturday at 6 p.m. in each of the world's time zones never came.
And the faithful believers - who said the Bible guaranteed this day - are still here, trying to make sense of it all.
“Of course there’s disappointment. There’s no getting around that,” said Tom Evans, who’d left his northern California home to spend the weekend with family and friends. “When you as a person believe that God is coming back, and you believe the evidence is very clear that he’s coming back, that is something every child of God longs for. In a moment, we’d be changed and spend eternity with God. I’m not ashamed of that at all. I’m not ashamed of wanting and hoping for it.”
But Evans did reveal some regret.
“For us to say it was absolute, I think that’s where we went wrong. That’s where we strayed, and that I would gladly apologize for,” he said. “Whether I personally have done something dishonorable, I’m still mulling it over. I was trying to be faithful.”
Evans spoke to CNN as an individual, not as a spokesperson for Family Radio, the Oakland, California, Christian broadcasting network behind the May 21 movement.
But Evans has been a paid spokesman for the network, a job he said he expects to resume – at least in the short term – after he and Family Radio's board of directors meet with Harold Camping, the network's 89-year-old founder.
“I have not spoken to Mr. Camping about the issue of what to do next,” Evans said. “But he and his wife are fine, and our response will come in the early part of next week.”
Camping, a degreed engineer (not a pastor) who claims to have made the Bible his “university” for more than 50 years, has experience with failed prophecies. He once claimed the world would end in September 1994, later chalking that snafu up to biblical miscalculations and the need for further study. This time around, he said earlier this year, he had no doubts.
Calls to Camping's Alameda, California, home, went unanswered. Link
Well of course there are no answers! Camping must have raptured himself to Mexico with the boat load of millions he received as donations.
There is a scripture out there that says no one but the Father will know the date and time of this so-called rapture. No one knows when it will happen. No one can mathematically pinpoint God's 2nd coming.
This whole rapture episode just proves how Christian Fundamentalists will pick and choose what they read in the Bible and deem it as ultimate truth. Harold Camping and his followers just disregarded scripture that counters his prophetic claims. This was all an exploitation of fear and Harold Camping should be held liable for creating universal hysteria.
Here's is one horrific attempted murder/suicide made by one of Campings devout listeners:
PALMDALE, Calif. - A California woman who says she wanted to protect her children from the May 21 “tribulation” is in jail after slitting the throats of her daughters’ before cutting her own Friday night, KTLA reports.
Lyn Benedetto, 47, told authorities that to prevent her family from suffering, she had her daughters, 11 and 14, lie on a bed, took a box cutter knife to their throats, then cut herself.
The suspect reportedly drove the victims to a friend’s home that she thought was empty, planning to die there.
Lancaster deputies say they responded to call regarding an assault with a knife around 5:30 p.m. from the owner of that home. Link
The father of these 2 girls should file a Civil action lawsuit against Harold camping!
