WE’RE STILL HERE!!

(written on 5/19/2011 for the bulletin on 5/22/2011).

5-22-11

Harold Camping made news by warning the world that Judgment Day would begin around 6:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 21, 2011. The 89-year-old founder of Family Radio has made such pronouncements before and says that he simply miscalculated - then. Making sobering observations from something so insidiously wrong certainly brings home the truth that nearly any instance in human history can be used to bring home some real truth after all. However, millions of Americans hear Camping’s radio program and many have seen the more than 1,200 billboards across the nation and 2,000 plus worldwide. This widespread campaign of error needs to be called what it is because such foolishness will lead people to the brink of unbelief as fast as unloving Christians will (John 13:34).

Michael S. Rosenwald (Washington Post) wrote, Camping “says he came up with the very precise date of May 21 through a mathematical calculation that would probably crash Google’s computers.” Yet, “He seems to be the only one who understands the equation,” said Paul Boyer, a University of Wisconsin historian who studies apocalyptic beliefs (Washington Post). Yet, he has not been the first to announce the doomsday. William Miller and the Adventists believed that Christ would return on March 21, 1844 (see Wikipedia.org). In the 1970s, others brought more speculations, the Left Behind series perpetuates more of the frenzy. And even now, some allege that the Mayans have their own Doomsday prophets for December 2012 although experts deny the allegation (see USAtoday.com). All of this from Miller to Camping, will, however, make Christian teaching laughable to some because of these false and extreme conclusions that have no basis in Scripture.

What does Scripture say? Jesus explained to His Apostles that even they could not have such knowledge in Acts 1:7, when He said, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.” Jesus explicitly forbids Christians to claim the knowledge of such dates and times – and that includes Mr. Camping. Yet, Mr. Camping believes he knows more than the Apostles, the Angels and Christ Himself. Such arrogance and presumption is foreign to the heart of someone who is really a true disciple of Jesus. The Bible was written so that we all might understand. Paul said that “when you read, you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ” (Ephesians 3:4) – a mystery that Paul explicitly says “has been revealed” (v.3) and “has now been made known” (v.5). There are no hidden codes to crack and no secrets to unveil. The Bible has been given to us so that we would have access “to everything pertaining to life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:4).

It is a blatant lie and insult to claim that only a select one can crack the code – especially since the only mystery that matters has been revealed and there is no other truth yet to be revealed (Jude 3). Lastly, we are to wait for His return by living for Him – and not stopping life until He comes. When people taught error in Christian circles that impacted the lives Christians lived like this, Paul called it an ungodliness like gangrene (2 Timothy 2:16-18).

We are not to set dates – we are to set examples. We should “handle accurately the word of truth” (2:15) through “diligent study” (2:15), as we “flee youthful lusts” (2:22), “pursue righteousness” (2:22) and “refuse foolish and ignorant speculations” (2:23). Nothing needs to stop – we need to be busy – or we will rot with gangrene. The writer of Hebrews tells us that Christ will return His second and final time to “save those who are eagerly waiting for him” (9:28, ESV). So don’t sell all you have. Don’t close up shop. Live and serve the Lord in every way He commands today and tomorrow and every day after that. Work until Jesus comes. Because as you noticed, we’re still here.

Don Hooton

{edited and adapted for the bulletin}

Should Jesus come on any day that somebody has predicted, it will not be because that person(s) knew. It will be because God, the Father chose for time on earth to end. Remember the statement of Moses long ago: “When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a work that the LORD has not spoke; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him” (Deuteronomy 18:22, ESV).