American Christian radio host
Harold Camping
Harold Egbert Camping (July 19, 1921December 15, 2013) was an American Christian radio broadcaster and evangelist. Beginning in 1958, he served as president of Family Radio, a California-based radio station group that, at its peak, broadcast to ...
stated that the
rapture
The rapture is an Christian eschatology, eschatological position held by some Christians, particularly those of American evangelicalism, consisting of an Eschatology, end-time event when all Christian believers who are alive, along with resurre ...
and
Judgment Day
The Last Judgment, Final Judgment, Day of Reckoning, Day of Judgment, Judgment Day, Doomsday, Day of Resurrection or The Day of the Lord (; ar, یوم القيامة, translit=Yawm al-Qiyāmah or ar, یوم الدین, translit=Yawm ad-Dīn, ...
would take place on May 21, 2011, and that the end of the world would take place five months later on October 21, 2011.
Camping, who was then president of the
Family Radio
Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...
Christian network, claimed the Bible as his source and said May 21 would be the date of the rapture and the day of judgment "beyond the shadow of a doubt". Camping suggested that it would occur at 6 p.m. local time, with the rapture sweeping the globe time zone by time zone,
while some of his supporters claimed that around 200 million people (approximately 3% of the world's population) would be 'raptured'.
Camping had previously claimed that the rapture would occur in September 1994.
The vast majority of Christian groups, including most Protestant and Catholic believers, did not accept Camping's predictions; some explicitly rejected them, citing Bible passages including the words of Jesus stating "about that day or hour no one knows" (
Matthew 24:36). An interview with a group of church leaders noted that all of them had scheduled church services as usual for Sunday, May 22.
Following the failure of the prediction, media attention shifted to the response from Camping and his followers. On May 23, Camping stated that May 21 had been a "spiritual" day of judgment, and that the physical rapture would occur on October 21, 2011, simultaneously with the destruction of the universe by God.
[Radio host says Rapture actually coming in October](_blank)
– ''Globe and Mail''. May 23, 2011. Retrieved May 23, 2011. However, on October 16, Camping admitted to an interviewer that he did not know when the end would come,
and made no public comment after October 21 passed without his predicted apocalypse.
In March 2012, Camping "humbly acknowledged" in a letter to Family Radio listeners that he had been mistaken, that the attempt to predict a date was "sinful", and that critics had been right in pointing to the scriptural text "of that day and hour knoweth no man". He added that he was searching the Bible "even more fervently
..not to find dates, but to be more faithful in our understanding."
Predictions
Camping's predictions
* The rapture would occur on May 21, 2011.
* Massive earthquakes (greater in magnitude than the
2011 Japanese earthquake) would happen across the world at 6 pm local time.
* The end of the world would take place five months later on October 21, 2011.
Related predictions by others
* Approximately 3% of the world's population would be called to
heaven
Heaven or the heavens, is a common religious cosmological or transcendent supernatural place where beings such as deities, angels, souls, saints, or venerated ancestors are said to originate, be enthroned, or reside. According to the belie ...
.
* Earthquakes would begin on May 21 on
Kiritimati
Kiritimati (also known as Christmas Island) is a Pacific Ocean atoll in the northern Line Islands. It is part of the Republic of Kiribati. The name is derived from the English word "Christmas" written in Gilbertese according to its phonolog ...
(Christmas Island),
Kiribati
Kiribati (), officially the Republic of Kiribati ( gil, ibaberikiKiribati),[Kiribati]
''The Wor ...
at 6 p.m. LINT (0400 UTC).
* Citing
Jeremiah
Jeremiah, Modern: , Tiberian: ; el, Ἰερεμίας, Ieremíās; meaning " Yah shall raise" (c. 650 – c. 570 BC), also called Jeremias or the "weeping prophet", was one of the major prophets of the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish ...
25:32, earthquakes would continue "as the sun advances" with New York, United States, to be affected at approximately 6 p.m. EDT (2200 UTC). Some earthquakes will trigger giant
tsunamis
A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater expl ...
100 times taller than the average
megatsunami
A megatsunami is a very large wave created by a large, sudden displacement of material into a body of water.
Megatsunamis have quite different features from ordinary tsunamis. Ordinary tsunamis are caused by underwater tectonic activity (movemen ...
which they claim is 100 meters (330 feet) tall . The waves will go as far inland as
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...
.
Camping's revised prediction
* On May 23, 2011, Harold Camping stated that May 21 had been a "spiritual" Judgment Day and that the rapture would occur on October 21, 2011, together with the destruction of the world.
In a web posting titled "What happened on May 21?",
Family Radio
Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...
explained "Thus we can be sure that the whole world, with the exception of those who are presently saved (the elect), are under the judgment of God, and will be annihilated together with the whole physical world on October 21, 2011, on the last day of the present five months period."
Rationale
Camping presented several arguments labeled "
numerological
Numerology (also known as arithmancy) is the belief in an occult, divine or mystical relationship between a number and one or more coinciding events. It is also the study of the numerical value, via an alphanumeric system, of the letters in ...
" by the mainstream media,
[''End of the world? How about a party instead?''](_blank)
Associated Press, quoted at NBC News, May 18, 2011. Retrieved May 19, 2011 which he considered biblical proofs, in favor of the May 21 end time. A civil engineer by training, Camping stated he had attempted to work out mathematically based prophecies in the Bible for decades. In an interview with the ''
San Francisco Chronicle
The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...
'' he explained "... I was an engineer, I was very interested in the numbers. I'd wonder, 'Why did God put this number in, or that number in?' It was not a question of unbelief, it was a question of, 'There must be a reason for it.'"
In 1970, Camping dated the
Great Flood
A flood myth or a deluge myth is a myth in which a great flood, usually sent by a deity or deities, destroys civilization, often in an act of divine retribution. Parallels are often drawn between the flood waters of these myths and the primaeval ...
to 4990 BC.
Using this date, taking the statement in Genesis 7:4 ("Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth") to be a prediction of the end of the world, and combining it with
2 Peter
The Second Epistle of Peter is a book of the New Testament of the Bible.
The text identifies the author as "Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ" and the epistle is traditionally attributed to Peter the Apostle, but most criti ...
3:8 ("With the Lord a day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years are as a day"), Camping concluded that the end of the world would occur in 2011, 7000 years from 4990 BC.
Camping takes the 17th day of the second month mentioned in Genesis 7:11 to be May 21, and hence predicts the rapture to occur on this date.
Another argument that Camping used in favor of the May 21 date is as follows:
# The number five equals "atonement", the number ten equals "completeness", and the number seventeen equals "heaven".
# The number of days (as calculated below) between April 1, 33 AD, and May 21, 2011, AD, is 722,500.
## Christ is believed by Camping to have hung on the cross on April 1, 33 AD. The time between April 1, 33 AD, and April 1, 2011, is 1,978 years.
## If 1,978 is multiplied by 365.2422 days (the number of days in a
solar, as distinct from
lunar
Lunar most commonly means "of or relating to the Moon".
Lunar may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Lunar'' (series), a series of video games
* "Lunar" (song), by David Guetta
* "Lunar", a song by Priestess from the 2009 album ''Prior t ...
, year), the result is 722,449.
## The time between April 1 and May 21 is 51 days.
## 51 added to 722,449 is 722,500.
# (5 × 10 × 17)
2 or (atonement × completeness × heaven)
2 also equals 722,500.
Camping said that 5 × 10 × 17 is telling us a "story from the time Christ made payment for our sins until we're completely saved."
Camping was not precise about the timing of the event, saying that "maybe" we can know the hour.
[''Countdown to Armageddon: Maybe the World Will End Friday Night (or Sunday Morning),''](_blank)
Slate, May 7, 2011. Retrieved May 17, 2011 He has suggested that "days" in the Bible refer to daylight hours particularly.
Another account said the "great earthquake" which signals the start of the rapture would "start in the
Pacific Rim
The Pacific Rim comprises the lands around the rim of the Pacific Ocean. The ''Pacific Basin'' includes the Pacific Rim and the islands in the Pacific Ocean. The Pacific Rim roughly overlaps with the geologic Pacific Ring of Fire.
List of co ...
at around the 6 pm local time hour, in each time zone."
In Camping's book ''1994?'', self-published in 1992, he predicted that the end times would come on September 6, 1994. When the rapture failed to occur on the appointed day, Camping said he had made a mathematical error.
Criticism
![Doomsdayer in New York](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5e/Doomsdayer_in_New_York.jpg)
Camping's rapture prediction, along with some of his other teachings and beliefs, sparked controversy in the Christian and secular Western worlds. His critics often quoted Bible verses (such as ) they interpret as saying that the date of the end will never be known by anyone but
God
In monotheism, monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator deity, creator, and principal object of Faith#Religious views, faith.Richard Swinburne, Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Ted Honderich, Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Ox ...
until it actually happens. However, Camping and his followers responded that this principle only applied during the "church age" or pre-
Tribulation
In Christian eschatology, the Great Tribulation ( grc, θλῖψις μεγάλη, thlîpsis megálē) is a period mentioned by Jesus in the Olivet Discourse as a sign that would occur in the time of the end.
At Revelation 7:14, "the Great Tri ...
period and did not apply to the present day, citing other verses (such as ) in their rebuttal.
In a 2001 pamphlet, Camping asserted that believers should "flee the church", resigning from any church they belong to, because the "Church Age" is over and the "
Great Tribulation
In Christian eschatology, the Great Tribulation ( grc, θλῖψις μεγάλη, thlîpsis megálē) is a period mentioned by Jesus in the Olivet Discourse as a sign that would occur in the time of the end.
At Revelation 7:14, "the Great Tri ...
" has begun.
This assertion was controversial and drew "a flurry of attacks".
Edwin M. Yamauchi critiqued Camping's dating of the Flood when Camping first published his ideas in 1970.
Criticism of the May 21 prediction ranged from serious critique to ridicule. Theology professor Matthew L. Skinner, writing at the
''Huffington Post'', noted the "long history of failed speculation" about the end times and cautioned that end-of-the-world talk can lead Christians to social passivity instead of "working for the world's redemption". Some columnists mocked the prediction with humorous essays. A group of Christians set up a website called RaptureFail with the stated intention of undermining "this embarrassment to the Body of Christ."
Evolutionary biologist and
atheist
Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...
Richard Dawkins
Richard Dawkins (born 26 March 1941) is a British evolutionary biologist and author. He is an emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford and was Professor for Public Understanding of Science in the University of Oxford from 1995 to 2008. An ath ...
dismissed Camping's prediction, writing that "he will inevitably explain, on May 22, that there must have been some error in the calculation, the rapture is postponed to ... and please send more money to pay for updated billboards." California Director of
American Atheists
American Atheists is a non-profit organization in the United States dedicated to defending the civil liberties of atheists and advocating complete separation of church and state. It provides speakers for colleges, universities, clubs, and the ...
Larry Hicock said that "Camping's well-intentioned rapture campaign is indicative of the problems with religion".
Prediction for May 21, 2011
Information campaign
![2011-rapture-car](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/2011-rapture-car.jpg)
In 2010, Marie Exley of
Colorado Springs
Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the largest city in El Paso County, with a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States Census, a 15.02% increase since ...
made news by purchasing advertising space in her locality, promoting the alleged rapture date on a number of park benches. After that, more than 5000 "Judgment Day" billboards were erected in locations across the world, including the
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...
,
Ethiopia
Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...
,
Ghana
Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...
,
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
,
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
,
Jamaica
Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...
,
Jordan
Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...
,
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...
,
Lesotho
Lesotho ( ), officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a country landlocked country, landlocked as an Enclave and exclave, enclave in South Africa. It is situated in the Maloti Mountains and contains the Thabana Ntlenyana, highest mountains in Sou ...
, the
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
,
Tanzania
Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...
and the United States.
Some people adorned their vehicles with the information. Many who believed in the prediction took time off work to prepare for the Rapture.
Others spent their life savings on advertising material to publicize the prophecy.
One retired transportation agency worker from New York spent $140,000 on advertising.
Family Radio spent over US$100 million on the information campaign, financed by sales and swap of broadcast outlets. On October 27, 2010, they launched "Project Caravan". Five
recreational vehicle
A recreational vehicle, often abbreviated as RV, is a motor vehicle or trailer that includes living quarters designed for accommodation. Types of RVs include motorhomes, campervans, coaches, caravans (also known as travel trailers and camper ...
s announcing on their sides that Judgment Day was to begin on May 21, 2011, were sent out from their headquarters in
Oakland, California
Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...
, to
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
, Washington. Upon arrival, teams were sent out to distribute
tract
Tract may refer to:
Geography and real estate
* Housing tract, an area of land that is subdivided into smaller individual lots
* Land lot or tract, a section of land
* Census tract, a geographic region defined for the purpose of taking a census
...
s. The caravan subsequently made stops in many states in the U.S. and Canada.
Impact
Camping's prediction and his promotion of it via his radio network and other promotional means spread the prediction globally,
. Some followers of Camping gave up their jobs, sold their homes, stopped investing in their children's college funds and spent large sums promoting Camping's claims.
About 5,000
ethnic
Hmong
Hmong may refer to:
* Hmong people, an ethnic group living mainly in Southwest China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand
* Hmong cuisine
* Hmong customs and culture
** Hmong music
** Hmong textile art
* Hmong language, a continuum of closely related ton ...
gathered at a remote town in
Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
's
Mường Nhé District in
Điện Biên Province in early May, where they planned to await the arrival of Christ. The Vietnamese government broke up the gathering and arrested some people, describing them as "extremists". Pastor Doan Trung Tin indicated that a translated version of Camping's prediction had influenced about 300 of his parishioners to go to the assembly point, selling their belongings to be able to afford the journey via bus. Many of the Hmong Christians who escaped arrest were reportedly forced into hiding after the gathering.
On May 19, 2011, the search term "end of the world may 21st" reached second position on
Google Trends
Google Trends is a website by Google that analyzes the popularity of top search queries in Google Search across various regions and languages. The website uses graphs to compare the search volume of different queries over time.
On August 5, 20 ...
, based on the popularity of the search term in the United States. The related searches "Harold Camping", "May 21 doomsday", and "May 21 rapture" were also represented among the top 10 positions. The
New York Police Department
The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement agency within the City of New York, the largest and one of the oldest in ...
stated: "We don't plan any additional coverage for the end of the world. Indeed, if it happens, fewer officers will be required for streets that presumably will be empty."
[ – quote is on second video under the main one, approximately two-and-a-half minutes in.]
Reaction
Reaction from Family Radio and Harold Camping
On the weekend of May 21–22, the Family Radio headquarters was closed with a note stating, "This office is closed. Sorry we missed you!"
['']USA Today
''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...
'' article:
Apocalypse some other time
" The Family Radio network remained on the air during May 21 and May 22, mostly broadcasting its normal schedule of programming, but with no mention of the rapture and without the usual replays of Harold Camping's program ''Open Forum''.
On Sunday, May 22, Camping emerged briefly from his home, saying "Give me a day, no interviews today ... I've got to live with it, I've got to think it out." He said he would make a public statement on Monday, May 23.
Camping said he was "flabbergasted" that the rapture did not occur, that he was "looking for answers," and would say more when he returned to work on May 23.
On May 23, he returned to his ''Open Forum'' radio program, with members of the press in attendance, and, departing from his typical format, took questions from the reporters present instead of from callers.
[''Harold Camping Concludes Silence, Predicts October 21 Rapture''](_blank)
The Christian Post, May 23, 2011. Retrieved May 24, 2011 He stated that May 21 had been an "invisible judgment day" which was purely spiritual in nature, and that he now realized that the physical rapture would take place on October 21, simultaneously with the destruction of the universe. "We've always said May 21 was the day, but we didn't understand altogether the spiritual meaning," he said. "May 21 is the day that Christ came and put the world under judgment."
He offered no apology for his earlier interpretation and said that all of his predictions had actually been fulfilled: on May 21, 1988, judgment came upon the churches; on September 7, 1994, judgment continued on the churches; then on May 21, 2011, judgment came upon the entire world.
He said that the publicity campaign would not continue, explaining that since God's judgment had already occurred, there was no point in continuing to warn people about it.
He added, "We're not going to put up any more billboards – in fact they're coming down right now." Responding to a question, Camping said his organization would not return money donated by followers to publicize the May 21 prediction, saying "We're not at the end. Why would we return it?"
As October 21 approached, the Family Radio website stated:
A Family Radio staffer suggested that the delay might be God's way of separating true believers from those willing to doubt the "clear biblical warnings."
Reaction from Harold Camping believers
![Judgment Day 21 May 2011 (Spanish)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0b/Judgment_Day_21_May_2011_%28Spanish%29.jpg)
Individual followers who had spent time and money promoting Camping's prediction were "crestfallen" after May 21 passed without evidence of the rapture. A New York man commented "I was doing what I've been instructed to do through the Bible, but now I've been stymied. It's like getting slapped in the face."
Associated Press, in Colorado Springs Gazette, May 24, 2011. Retrieved May 25, 2011
There were rumors that people had killed themselves or attempted suicide to escape the predicted Judgment Day. There was one documented case, in which a 14-year-old Russian girl killed herself on May 21. Her family told a Russian tabloid, ''
LifeNews
Life (stylized as L!FE, formerly LifeNews) is a Russian pro-government news website owned by and published by . Its offices are in Moscow. The brand is most commonly associated with the now-defunct LifeNews channel.
Life News
The television ...
'', that she did it because of her fear of the "terrible sufferings" predicted by Camping.
Reaction from other Christians
A group of Christians in
Milpitas, California
Milpitas (Spanish for "little milpas") is a city in Santa Clara County, California, in Silicon Valley. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 80,273. The city's origins lie in Rancho Milpitas, granted to Californio ranchero José Mar ...
, offered a session to comfort those who had believed in the prophecy. Church deacon James Bynum told a local newspaper that "We are here because we care about these people. It's easy to mock them. But you can go kick puppies, too. But why?"
Reaction from non-believers and protesters
In response to the prediction, more than 830,000 registered as attending a "Post Rapture Looting" event on Facebook.
[Facebook group page:]
Post rapture looting
" The group
American Atheists
American Atheists is a non-profit organization in the United States dedicated to defending the civil liberties of atheists and advocating complete separation of church and state. It provides speakers for colleges, universities, clubs, and the ...
sponsored billboards in several American cities declaring the rapture to be "nonsense".
The group Seattle Atheists formed the Rapture Relief Fund which they said would be used "to help survivors of any Armageddon-sized disaster in the
Puget Sound
Puget Sound ( ) is a sound of the Pacific Northwest, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and part of the Salish Sea. It is located along the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected ma ...
area"; since the rapture failed to occur on May 21, the money will fund a camp that teaches children about science and critical thinking.
The comic strip ''
Doonesbury
''Doonesbury'' is a comic strip by American cartoonist Garry Trudeau that chronicles the adventures and lives of an array of characters of various ages, professions, and backgrounds, from the President of the United States
The president ...
'' spent the week leading up to the predicted day making fun of the prediction.
On May 21, groups of protesters gathered at Family Radio's headquarters in
Oakland
Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...
to mock the evangelical broadcaster's failed prediction. One group released human-shaped helium balloons to simulate souls rising to heaven, while another person played
The Doors
The Doors were an American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger, and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most controversial and influential ro ...
' song "
The End
The End may refer to:
Films
* ''The End'' (1953 film), a film by Christopher Maclaine
* ''The End'' (1978 film), a comedy by Burt Reynolds
* ''The End'' (1997 film), a Canadian film of 1997
* ''The End'' (1998 film), a skateboarding document ...
" over a
boombox
A boombox is a transistorized portable music player featuring one or two cassette tape recorder/players and AM/FM radio, generally with a carrying handle. Beginning in the mid 1980s, a CD player was often included. Sound is delivered through ...
.
['']Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' article:
In the end, rapture believers weren't going anywhere
" Many atheist and secular groups in the United States hosted "Rapture parties" on May 21.
American Atheists hosted a two-day conference over the May 21 weekend in Oakland, not far from Camping's radio station. President David Silverman commented, "We're going to poke fun at these people, but in the end we need to keep in mind that there are people being hurt here ... We're hoping people look at this and learn to use their brains … so we don't have an occurrence of this in 2012" (when
some believed the
Mayans
The Maya peoples () are an ethnolinguistic group of indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica. The ancient Maya civilization was formed by members of this group, and today's Maya are generally descended from people who lived within that historical reg ...
predicted as the Earth's final destruction).
Other reactions
Nickel Creek
Nickel Creek (formerly known as the Nickel Creek Band) is an American bluegrass band consisting of Chris Thile (mandolin), and siblings Sara Watkins (fiddle) and Sean Watkins (guitar). Formed in 1989 in Southern California, they released six alb ...
's album
''A Dotted Line'' features a song entitled "21st of May" that is based on the prediction.
Prediction for October 21, 2011
Camping continued to predict that October 21 would mark the end of the world, based on adding the
153 fish of John 21:11 to May 21,
but modified his prediction with words like ''probably'' and ''maybe''. "I really am beginning to think as I've restudied these matters that there's going to be no big display of any kind," Camping said in a podcast. "The end is going to come very, very quietly." He kept a low profile as the date approached, and his daughter responded to a media request by saying, "I'm sorry to disappoint you, but we at Family Radio have been directed to not talk to the media or the press."
Reaction
No statement was issued by Camping or Family Radio on October 21 or 22.
It was later reported that Camping told an interviewer on October 16 that God has not given anyone the power to know exactly when the rapture would come.
He retired from his leadership position at Family Radio.
Sometime after October 21, Family Radio posted an audio message from Harold Camping on their home page. In the message, Camping stated, regarding end times prophecy, that "we are finding it very very difficult". He also told followers to "not feel abandoned by God" and that "God is still in charge of everything".
As October 21 approached, the
Freedom from Religion Foundation
The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) is an American nonprofit organization, which advocates for atheists, agnostics, and nontheists. Formed in 1976, FFRF promotes the separation of church and state, and challenges the legitimacy of many ...
bought space on more than 40 billboards in the Bay Area to mock Camping's predictions and urge viewers to use rational judgment. The billboards featured slogans such as, "Fool me once...", "Still here", and "Every day is judgment day. Use yours. Use reason."
Media reports on October 21 and 22 stressed that Camping had been "wrong again". The ''
International Business Times
The ''International Business Times'' is an American online news publication that publishes five national editions in four languages. The publication, sometimes called ''IBTimes'' or ''IBT'', offers news, opinion and editorial commentary on busi ...
'' proclaimed him a "false prophet." On October 21, 2011, ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' magazine's website listed Camping's end times predictions as one of the "Top 10 Failed Predictions", a list compiled in Camping's "honor".
Personal developments
Family Radio removed from its web site the archive of audio recordings of Camping's Open Forum program recorded prior to May 2011.
On June 9, 2011, Camping suffered a stroke and was hospitalized. Family Radio broadcast reruns of his May 23 – June 9 ''Open Forum'' segments for several weeks. As of June 23, Family Radio began to provide new programming in his time slot.
Camping died on December 15, 2013, at the age of 92, as a result of complications from a fall at home two weeks earlier. His death was confirmed by an employee of the network.
In September 2018, Family Radio announced it would no longer air programs featuring the voice of Harold Camping, and would no longer distribute literature of Camping's teachings. The decision was made as part of an effort to both move away from Camping's theology, and to reintroduce programs from outside ministries into the network's schedule. The changes went into effect on October 8, 2018.
Publications
Camping's writings that detail the timing of the end include:
;Books
* ''1994?'' (1992) – predicts the end times for September 1994
* ''Time Has An End: A Biblical History of the World 11,013 B.C. - 2011 A.D.'' (2005) – discusses Camping's belief that 2011 is in all likelihood the end of the world.
;Booklets
* ''The End of the Church Age...and After" (2002) – advises that the Great Tribulation has begun and that Christians should "flee their churches"
* ''We Are Almost There!'' (2008) – contains information on how the end's date of May 21, 2011 was deduced
* ''To God Be The Glory!'' (2008) - a follow-up to the book ''We Are Almost There!''
;Tracts
* ''The End of the World is Almost Here! Holy God Will Bring Judgment on May 21, 2011'' (2009)
* ''God Gives Another Infallible Proof That Assures the Rapture Will Occur May 21, 2011'' (2009)
* ''No Man Knows the Day or the Hour?'' (2009)
Other ministries or organizations that taught the 2011 end times prediction
eBible Fellowship
Owned and operated by Chris McCann.
Publications include:
* ''The End of the World October 21, 2011''
* ''The Bible Reveals WE CAN KNOW May 21, 2011 is Judgment Day!''
McCann continued to teach that October 21, 2011, would be the end of the world, even after the failed May 21, 2011 prediction. And after October 21, 2011, he taught that the end of the world would occur in March 2012.
At the end of 2012, McCann began teaching the possibility that the last day would be October 7, 2015. He said that there was "a strong likelihood that this will happen" and "an unlikely possibility that it will not".
This date was arrived at by adding 1,600 days (taken from ) to May 21, 2011, which McCann still teaches is the beginning of the day of judgment. He noted that October 7, 2015, is the last day of the
Feast of Tabernacles
or ("Booths, Tabernacles")
, observedby = Jews, Samaritans, a few Protestant denominations, Messianic Judaism, Messianic Jews, Semitic Neopaganism, Semitic Neopagans
, type = Jewish, Samaritan
, begins = 15th day of Tishrei ...
, and exactly 10,000 days from May 21, 1988, which he claims is the date the Church Age came to an end.
Robert Fitzpatrick
Robert Fitzpatrick wrote a book entitled ''The Doomsday Code'', based on the writings of Camping.
See also
*
2012 phenomenon
The 2012 phenomenon was a range of eschatological beliefs that cataclysmic or transformative events would occur on or around 21 December 2012. This date was regarded as the end-date of a 5,126-year-long cycle in the Mesoamerican Long Count cale ...
*
End time
The end time (also called end times, end of time, end of days, last days, final days, doomsday, or eschaton) refers to:
* Eschatology in various religions—beliefs concerning the final events of history or the destiny of humanity
End Time, En ...
*
Great Disappointment
The Great Disappointment in the Millerite movement was the reaction that followed Baptist preacher William Miller's proclamations that Jesus Christ would return to the Earth by 1844, which he called the Second Advent. His study of the Daniel 8 p ...
*
Last Judgment
The Last Judgment, Final Judgment, Day of Reckoning, Day of Judgment, Judgment Day, Doomsday, Day of Resurrection or The Day of the Lord (; ar, یوم القيامة, translit=Yawm al-Qiyāmah or ar, یوم الدین, translit=Yawm ad-Dīn, ...
*
List of dates predicted for apocalyptic events
Predictions of apocalyptic events that would result in the extinction of humanity, a collapse of civilization, or the destruction of the planet have been made since at least the beginning of the Common Era. Most predictions are related to Ab ...
*
David Meade, another end-times theorist
*
Millennialism
Millennialism (from millennium, Latin for "a thousand years") or chiliasm (from the Greek equivalent) is a belief advanced by some religious denominations that a Golden Age or Paradise will occur on Earth prior to the final judgment and future ...
*
True-believer syndrome
True-believer syndrome is an informal or rhetorical term used by M. Lamar Keene in his 1976 book ''The Psychic Mafia''. Keene coined the term in that book. He used the term to refer to people who continued to believe in a paranormal event or pheno ...
*
Unfulfilled Christian religious predictions
This article lists unfulfilled Christian religious predictions that failed to come about in the specified time frame, listed by religious group.
Adventism, Millerism
Adventism has its roots in the teachings of a Baptist preacher by the name of ...
References
External links
Family RadioEBibleFellowshipThe Latter Rain
{{DEFAULTSORT:2011 End Times Prediction
End times prediction
End times prediction
Christian eschatology
Christianity and society in the United States
End times prediction
End times prediction
Prophecy in Christianity