Since you have this bulletin in hand you obviously are still on the earth. According to the prediction of Harold Camping, his version of the rapture was to occur yesterday. If he was right, all of the redeemed are now in heaven and those of us who are left here missed it.

I have not had a chance to check the latest from Camping’s cult, but I anticipate he already has an explanation for his miscalculation. This is not the first time he’s been wrong. In the last century he predicted that the Lord’s return was slated for mid-September 1994. Wrong, then and now!

Harold is a deluded numerologist who is convinced that the Bible gives us the exact time table of past and future events. He claims the Bible as been revealing (note the implication regarding recent and new information) the date of May 21 for the judgment and October 21, 2011 for the end of the world.

If it is spelled out so clearly and God wants everyone to know the exact date of the end, why did Harold miss it twice? One short glance at some of his written materials will give you the answer. His logic makes no sense. He, like all other false teachers, “twists the scriptures” to their own destruction (2 Peter 3:16). 

For example he claims Gen. 7:4 predicts the end of the world 7 days after Noah’s flood. But each of these “days” is literally 1,000 years based on 2 Pet. 3:8. He has calculated the year of the flood as 4990 B.C. He simply adds 4990 to 2011 and presto he has his 7,000 years. (He reminds us in his tract that there is no year “0” thus accounting for the apparent addition error [4990 +2011=7,001]).

Besides all of his assumptions and assertions, I notice that he conveniently says nothing about 2 Peter 3:10. This is one of the many verses that tell us that the Lord will return as a thief in the night (Mat. 24:43; 1 Thes. 5:2). Nor does he point out that Jesus said the end of the world will come “in an hour that ye think not the Son of Man cometh” (Mat. 24:44). Yet, Mr. Camping says we can expect it on October 21, 2011, exactly 5 months after the rapture. His proof text? Revelation 9:5 where John wrote, “And they were not permitted to kill anyone, but to torment for five months…” (end of the world language ???? - kd) Allegedly, we have five months of pure torment to endure before the end of the world.

Sadly, people believe this guy, give him money and promote his false teaching. I read where one man gave Harold his life savings ($140,000) to buy billboard advertising. Unfortunately, some look at this nonsense and conclude that all religious people must be wrong about their beliefs.

However, this could open a door of opportunity for you to ask a friend to study the Bible with you to see how clear the untwisted truth really is.