It is Sunday, May 22, 2011 and I and everyone I know is still alive and here on earth. Normally, that would be a superfluous statement, but I imagine most Americans know exactly event (or non-event) to which I am referring. According to Harold Camping or Family Radio in Oakland, I was supposed to have been taken out of this world yesterday. I was not, and as far as I know neither were any people I know.
The word “cult” has quite a few definitions ranging from the common usage of people today to more specialized descriptions utilized by scholars. I have generally used the word to refer to a religious group claiming to be “Christian” while denying the deity of Christ. However, there are other, more colloquial definitions that could be used instead. One of several definitions of a cult found in the Encarta World English Dictionary is “a group of people who share religious or spiritual beliefs, especially beliefs regarded by others as misguided, unorthodox, extremist, or false.”
Harold Camping has a group of very devoted followers; people who listen exclusively to his teachings, believe everything he says, ignore evidence of his errors, and who will continue to be led like mindless robots by this modern day idol. It is vitally important that everyone understand that Camping is not a teacher of truths generally accepted by any group upon which the label of Christian is normally affixed. He does not rightly discern the Word of Truth, even though he carries, reads from and studies a huge Bible. Many people read and study the Bible but fail to grasp the truths they read.
Camping has taught quite a few things with which I disagree. That does not mean he is a cult leader. Many people interpret various passages differently. What makes him a cult leader is that he teaches people ideas that are specifically opposed to passages that are easily understood by most Christians. He has taught that the angel Michael is Jesus Christ! (The End of the Church Age…And After p. 56) That is a denial of the deity of Christ, and puts him square in the definition of a cult I have adopted. He further has urged his followers to leave the churches they attend and listen only to him. This is in direct contradiction of Hebrews 10:25, “Let us not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching” (NIV). Isolating his followers from any other people who could help them evaluate his teachings honestly is the classic tactic of a cult leader.
This latest prediction about the end of the world and the return of Christ is not his first. He predicted the same event in 1994--twice. Of course, it did not take place then either. However, he had an explanation: He had miscalculated. Therefore, 1996 was set as the correct date. The latest, and let us hope it is the last, prediction was May 21, 2011--6:00 P.M.--in each time zone. Unlike so many charlatans who deliberately deceive others for financial gain, I think Camping actually believes he has the only real truth. He is a sad case of an ego gone wild.
I am most disappointed that he has provided so much fodder for the masses of unbelievers who hungrily sit waiting to pounce on any misstep Christians make in their attempts to discredit the church, the Bible or God. He has not only led many away from God, but has now placed enormous obstacles in the paths of others who now may disregard anything they hear about Jesus Christ.
Deuteronomy 18: 20; “But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded him to say…must be put to death.” Then in verse 22, “If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken.” Now, I am not suggesting we stone this sad, old man. However, I am admonishing all to disassociate from him. Shun him. Leave him to preach his nonsense to an imaginary audience. He does not represent God. He is a heretic.
Amen! Totally agree.
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