“YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT HOUR YOUR LORD IS COMING”

As you may have noticed, the world did not end last night at six o’clock as had been widely foretold by Harold Camping, President of Family Radio. To be more precise, you may have noticed the so-called “rapture” – an event never actually mentioned in Scripture – did not occur. According to Mr. Camping, the end of the world is set for October 21st of this year, but all the living saved were to be “raptured” up to heaven yesterday. Either way, it didn’t happen.

God warned Israel of false prophets, saying, “When a prophet speaks in the name of Jehovah, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which Jehovah has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him” (Deuteronomy 18:22). Accordingly, Harold Camping merits neither the attention nor respect of anyone; in fact, if the Law of Moses were still in effect, Camping’s false prediction would have earned him the death penalty (Deuteronomy 18:20). Yet, deliberately ignorant fanatics will likely continue trusting this false prophet, just as they did following his previous failed attempt at setting the date of Judgment in 1994.

Paul stated, “Evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived” (2nd Timothy 3:13). Camping certainly meets the description. He is demonstrably a liar, proving himself a son of Satan (John 8:44), hellbound (Revelation 21:8) unless he repents.

Of course, there was no need to wait past six o’clock last night to confirm that the President of Family Radio has been lying. Answering the question “What will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” (Matthew 24:3), Jesus asserted, “Of that day and hour no one knows, no, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only” (Matthew 24:36). The Master elaborated, “Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (Matthew 24:42-44). In the span of nine verses, our Lord thrice declared that the “hour” of His coming will remain a mystery until it is upon us, yet the very hour – six o’clock yesterday evening – is exactly what Mr. Camping claimed to know. On that basis, his prognostications ought to have been summarily dismissed.

The greatest tragedy to result from the deceit perpetrated by Harold Camping is the blasphemy he has invited from skeptics. Peter foretold, “Scoffers will come… saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming? For… all things continue as they were’” (2nd Peter 3:3-4). Every time some liar, claiming to present the message of Christ, predicts the Day of Judgment, and his prediction inevitably proves false, that man becomes accountable (James 3:1) for all the souls who subsequently mock the very idea that Christ will ever return.

Judgment will surely come. God “has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead” (Acts 17:31). However, such will not transpire at a specific moment of time impostors like Harold Camping are insisting on for fulfillment. Rather, the opposite will be the case, “For when they say, ‘Peace and safety!’ then sudden destruction comes upon them” (1st Thessalonians 5:3). The point is to be ever ready.

By Bryan Matthew Dockens

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