Posted on 05/21/2011 2:47:16 AM PDT by Making_Sense [Rob W. Case]
Until recently, I have never heard of Harold Camping, but by now millions of Americans have heard of him because of his outrageous claim that he knows when the event exclusively known by Christians as the rapture of the church will occur. Camping is an 89 year old entrepreneur who runs a Christian radio network. Within the past several months, Mr. Camping has waged a vigorous campaign claiming that the rapture of the church will occur at 6:00pm on May 21st, 2011. Such a claim is extremely frustrating because it is, in a way, Satanic in nature. I will explain that more later on in this piece.
But first, what is the rapture?
Here is at least one of the verses that are key to this concept.
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 (New International Version) 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
The word rapture comes from the Latin word rapto which means “to seize, to carry off.” What’s interesting about this, is that it parallels with what Jesus talked about when he said that when he comes for his own, he will come LIKE A THIEF IN THE NIGHT (Matthew 24:43-44, Revelation 3:3). A thief (a burglar) seizes things, and he carries off. The main reason for the rapture is to take his people out of the world (those who have personally accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior) before it is judged, just as was done in the ancient cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Since God judges the hearts and minds instead of outward appearance (1 Samuel 16:7, Luke 16:15) and if all those hearts and minds can come up with is all evil all the time, as it was in the days of Noah (Matthew 24:37 in conjunction with Genesis 6:5-6) and Lott (hence the Sodom and Gomorrah comparison), then God is going to take his own away and test those who remain.
The Problem of Setting Dates:
People have set dates all throughout history as to when they believed that Jesus Christ would return. Click on the link below for a comprehensive list.
http://www.raptureme.com/rr-date-setters.html
This is where we tread into Satanic territory. To effectively be Satanic is to simply be adversarial to God and what He says. After all, Satan means adversary, and although the fallen angel Lucifer is God’s chief adversary, many individuals act as adversaries to God themselves by proclaiming that they and their opinions are above what God says. There is a stark difference between stating a theory, and dogmatically declaring that something will happen that God says nobody can know for sure and pinpoint exactly when. Case in point: In Matthew 24:36, Jesus says that nobody will know the day or the hour when he will come for his people.
"No one knows when that day or hour will come. Even the angels in heaven and the Son don't know. Only the Father knows.
So when Harold Camping is saying that the rapture will take place on May 21st, 2011 at 6:00pm he is confidently claiming that he knows what the Father knows, and that his knowledge is thus superior to the knowledge of Jesus Christ and the angels in Heaven. What’s even more fascinating is that he may not even realize, or have the slightest awareness that this is what he is actually doing, which makes him susceptive to a delusional spirit that causes him to confidently declare such a bold claim. After all, as is recorded in 1 Samuel 16:7b, “The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” And since the condition of a man’s heart leads a person to make the decisions he makes, those decisions either attract or repel what God has planned (in a collective way) within the arena of personal conduct, culture, politics, and so forth.
So When Will Jesus Christ Return?
God tests the hearts, minds, and motives of individuals. When millions upon millions of people collectively follow the influence of this world’s system (which in all its vanity is adversarial to God, his design, and his purpose for our lives), they will condone what God condemns, work to annihilate what God has established (like Israel), and work to eradicate any influence that works in truth to eradicate the lies that has been propagated to secure the power structure of said system. Our actions determine God’s next move, yet he is always gracious, merciful, and open to giving the world another chance. And if we decide to align ourselves with Him (by receiving Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior) and work in accordance with His will, the ever so rapid momentum of the direction we are heading will have the potential to, at least be restrained from its ever ambitious pace towards descent. If this does not occur, and when God Himself sees that all of those who He knows have received Christ as their savior and that there is indeed no more hope for anyone else doing so, the way things stand at that point, then he will make his next move, call His people out from among this world, send them the powerful delusion, and then judge the world in conjunction with which force they decide to put their faith and trust in. And since we are not all knowing, we are unable to know every heart and every mind, what choices they all will make, and where they all are destined to go, we are incapable (in our state of limitations) to put God in a box to a methodology or system that we established ourselves, period.
Its currently about 8 pm in Sydney, I guess there were no Christians there.
LOL!!!
I think he needed to explain whether or not he would come at 6pm central time, pacific, mountain, or what have you. Or is God supposed to wait until each time zone around the world reaches 6:00? LOL!!!
he forgot to factor in daylight savings time,,wait an hour to be safe.
Great article, Rob....thanks for posting.
Having served God in various ministries for over 45 years, I have at one time held most of the popular views of His 2nd coming.
I now am an agnostic as to “when” He is coming - I don’t know.
But I’ve come to boil down the essentials for every believer to this, and it is extremely simple:
1. He is coming;
2. No one knows when;
3. We are clearly told all will be not expecting Him, many not ready. Indeed, no one knows the time;
4. We all must be ready, live each day as if He is coming in hours, if not minutes;
5. If we love Him, we will “long for His appearing”, “love His appearing”, knowing this world is not our home, and desiring at all times to rather “be with Him.”(many who believe in a soon Rapture live in a manner showing they clearly do not believe this, or that they think their lifestile and walk are irrelevant to His coming - to their peril);
6. If we have the attitude “He is not coming soon..”, we are condemned for this attitude;
Regardless of one’s doctrine, Pre-Trib, Mid-Trib, Post-Trib, partial Rapture, a-Trib, these six essentials are clear. It’s not the doctrine that is essential, but the heart attitude - and life that results.
Oops, forgot to include most important point: tons of scriptures emphasize and warn that we must “be ready” for His coming, and this is the most important element.
Any doctrine or belief that leads us to NOT “be ready” thus cannot be of God.
Whenever He comes I will be ready. If it happens to be 6 pm today. I am ready and unafraid. Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior and being with Him isn’t a bad thing.
LLS
I’m not holding my breath.
Examples -
"That guy was really 'Camping' at the craps table"
"What a Camper!!!!"
Camper is the new Clymer!!! LOL! (for all you FR oldtimers)
Anyone know if Camping considered the ten-day calendar correction in the 18th century that moved Washingtons birthday from 2/12 to 2/22?
Those chosen "in Him" before the foundation of the world have no reason to fear. By God's shear grace they were elected by Him, given a new heart, a regenerated mind, and a measure of faith out of the spiritually dead. Not because of anything they would do, otherwise there would be grounds for boasting.
Thus Salvation is completely of the Lord and the one who believes can have full assurance since they have eternal life "He who believes in the Son has eternal life" - The Lord Jesus Christ (John 3:36).
Good article. Thanks for posting.
THX THX.
In my heart, he never left me.
Nice one Bob!
That is a wonderful checklist. Those general points are compatitble with every generation. because no matter what, every one of those points will always be true regardless. Thank you.
Beware. The attitude of the humble servant is, “I am an unworthy/unprofitable slave/servant...”
Those who really are ready will know their own failings, weaknesses, frailties, and that they “are but dust”, and feel that they are never ready.
Generally, one who believes that he/she is ready knows not their own heart or the immeasurable holiness and righteousness of God. Yes, our only plea is not “I am ready”, but His blood was shed for me....I have no righteousness of my own - He alone IS my righteousness.
I am not judging you. But scripture is clear: “Let he who thinks he stands beware lest he fall....”
I do not feel/believe that I am ready as I should be. Only that by His grace and His finished work am I ready.
I do long for His appearing, to see His face, and my heart cries the last words of the Bible: “Come, Lord Jesus! Come!” If today is that day, wonderful- even though I believe that Camping and his followers are deceived. Still, I’d prefer to see His face - TODAY!
Camping is a victim of replacement theology. IMHO the lie of replacement theology is almost as insidious as idolatry. The key to holistic understanding of Bible prophecy is to understand the role of Israel in it. God keeps his promises to Israel. This is a model to the rest of us that he will keep his promises to us as well.
A majority of the church going world has been victimized. I believed the lie for 35 years. During the past 20 I have been seeking the truth and only recently did I stop saying IMHO replacement theology is a lie and replaced it with: Replacement theology is a lie dropping the IMHO. For those that do not know, Replacement theology is the lie that the Church has replaced Israel in God’s plan.
The church was polluted by Replacement theology early on. Origen and Augustine, early Fathers of the church, were the first to muddy up the scriptures in this way when they arrogantly took on the mantle of Israel for themselves. Martin Luther apparently did not study it and this lead to his anti-Semitism and Hitler. In many ways IMHO it is like a reverse of the circumcision party that led to Acts 15.
This replacement theology lie has lead to the church we have today. Everyone is running around not knowing what is happening in these end times we are in. The truth is The Church, the Bride of Christ, has a role and Israel has a role. Think of men and women, children and parents, husbands and wives, angels and people, dogs and cats, sheep and goats, wheat and tares. All these have roles God invented.
So the solution: Open your Bible, drop your preconceived notions and open your mind, ask God to reveal the truth about all this Israel stuff written in the Bible. The Lord Jesus Christ is central in it all. Gods Grace and Mercy is incredible, He does all the work. Faith and hope and love permeate the entire Bible and the greatest of these is love.
well I woke up a few minutes agi and realized God passed me over for the rapture (big time /S)
This Bozo should have been able to definitevely predict the hour.
Frickin Charlatan...
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