I’m glad that not many of the people in our congregation have not heard or, or at least wondered about Harold Camping. We will, audaciously enough, gather together on May 22 and worship, as we do every Sunday, despite Camping’s claims that we are apostate for being a part of a “church,” and despite Camping’s claims that the end of the world and the rapture will most certainly occur on May 21, 2011. I’ll even prepare a sermon for that day, despite claims that Jesus will certainly return rapture his true church (people who follow Harold Camping, but who are not in a “church”) on Saturday. I know, I’m just that gutsy.
I will be even more bold. Here are a few of my own predictions:
- The end of the world will not begin on May 21, 2011.
- Harold Camping will still be on earth May 22, 2011.
- Camping will “discover” that he “misread” a crucial element of scripture that lead him to mistakenly mark May 21, 2011 as the end of the world.
- Camping will not admit he is crazy.
- Camping will set a new date for the rapture.
- Everyone will forget about him.
- That is, everyone except the folks who gave up their life savings to follow his end times predictions.
- There will be a lawsuit.
Those are just predictions. We’ll see.
Here’s something else though. The Christian teaching is that Christ has died, Christ is Risen, and Christ will come again. I do believe that no one knows the day nor the hour (Acts 1:7 for example), but that doesn’t mean that we can put things off. Whether or not Jesus comes back in my lifetime, I ought to be ready today for judgment. We will all die, and not all of us know when. If Christ does return prior to that, the scripture tells us it will be a surprise, so we ought to be ready.
This is not really about making people afraid of Hell and trying to get “fire insurance.” Instead it is about getting our priorities really straight, because if what we do in this life does have eternal consequences, and those eternal consequences could begin at any moment, then we ought to live our lives as if certain things really do matter. If my behaviors are leading me down a path towards an eternity apart from God, I ought to change that direction immediately, not at some future convenience. So, although Camping’s predictions ought not to be taken seriously, as they are clearly contrary to the New Testament teaching on the return of Christ, we must always be prepared in our hearts for the end to come in one form or another. Furthermore, we ought to be clear about our hope as Christians in the return of Christ, where he will bring justice upon this earth, not as a part of some sideshow or mysterious fortune telling exercise, but rather as the act of a good and faithful God to restore and rescue his good creation. That message of the end times, seen through an old traditional Christian view, ought to be proclaimed and then we would probably find the interest in the Harold Campings of the world may just wane.