What Happens on May 22, 2011?

In case you haven't heard, a man by the name of Harold Camping has predicted (in spite of Matthew 24:36) that the Rapture will occur on May 21, 2011.

And people are following him...I'm not kidding.

Folks are quitting their jobs, spending their savings, and staking everything on the belief that Harold Camping is right.

If you want to see how he thinks he got it figured right this time, then click HERE.

"This time?" you ask...

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OH YEAH, THIS IS NOT HIS FIRST PREDICTION!

Camping made his first public prediction with his book entitled "1994?" (Go to Amazon.com and see it HERE) that was published in 1992.  Yet, he was unmoved by his first failed attempt which for all practical intents and purposes pretty much makes him a "false prophet"...

"when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him."(Deuteronomy 18:22)

...or am I wrong?

And what about Camping's followers, or the "Happy Campers" as I like to call them?  Well, just watch the video below.

Did you hear what that one lady said?!?  She believed Camping's first prediction, and she's back following Camping on his second prediction!  It's hard to feel sorry for some folks, but I do feel sorry for all of the "Happy Campers".  Why?  Because this time things are a little different...

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Worldwide Coverage, Baby!

I mean we've never seen it like this.  Back in 1992, the Internet was just a toddler.  The first actual webpage had just been published in 1991 for crying out loud, and it was only text--no graphics!

Snapshot of the first published webpage.

Up until 1994, the Internet was basically a network used for government business.

In 1995, "O'Reilly, Spry, etc announce 'Internet in a box' product to bring the Web into homes."  Internet was not accessible to the general public back in 1994 when Camping's so-called "prediction" fell flat on it's face, and I bet it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that there was no YouTube, Yahoo Chat, Facebook, or discussion forums in 1995.  In 1995, the approximate number of Internet users was only estimated at 0.4% of the world population.  As of December 2010, that number had grown to 30.0% of the world population.

Camping has so much media coverage, and his "message" is being spread all over the world via the Internet.  You don't have to search very hard on any of the popular search engines to find some video, blog, news story, or discussion forum about Camping and his "prediction".  My point is that we've had false prophets in the past but never with this much worldwide coverage.

Almost 20 years have passed since the publishing of Camping's first book.  These days, you can't hardly find anyone that is not in some way connected to the Internet.  Even if a person doesn't have direct access to the Internet, they are most likely connected to it through other people.

I'll use my dad as an example.  The man doesn't use a computer or a cell phone and doesn't want either.  The only time he ever used one was when he worked for the government and had to key in the payroll info for the folks that worked for them--and he didn't want to use it then!  I remember him telling me more than once that it used to make him nervous because if he made one little slip-up then that means that someone might not get paid correctly and then he'd have to deal with one of his workers screaming wives when they called in to complain about it...I'm guessing he probably didn't make that mistake more than once. Ha!

Anyway, my dad doesn't want anything to do with computers or cell phones.  He doesn't care that he can get instantaneous information at anytime.  He doesn't care that he might have to walk a few miles to get to a payphone if his car breaks down on the road.  He does not want a computer or a cell phone...period.

Yet, he is indirectly connected to the internet because he has friends, family and others that actively use the internet.  I am one of those people that he connects to the Internet through.  He and I have a lot of the same interests about the biblical topics so if I see an interesting article, then I might print it for him to read.  Just how much difference is there between him reading that same article from the computer screen and a printed page in his hand?  Not much.  As a matter of fact, a few weeks ago he asked me to look up contact information one of his old Navy buddies.  Using the Internet, it didn't take me long to zero-in on his long lost buddy and get daddy the info that he needed.  My dad likes to keep up with world events to so he keeps up with the news.  Many times, news broadcasts and streamed across the internet from locations all over the world, and even if it weren't can you imagine how much research on the Internet and correspondence through email that takes place to put together a news story?  Dad is definitely connected to the Internet--just not directly.  And he's not the only one.

North Korea at night...no lights!

Think about folks in the poor areas of the world.  I'm talking about folks in poor countries and folks in isolated societies.  The folks in North Korea (isolated society) are connected to the internet.  How else did they launch cyber attacks on South Korea?

Zimbabwe is considered to be the poorest country in the world, but even they have their own ISP's (Internet Service Providers) and their own cellular services.  You would be hard pressed to find any part of this world where folks are not exposed to the internet in one form or another.

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Which brings me to my next point...

Let's just look at how it's shaping up.  Camping has the world's attention.  Just read this article: "Is May 21, 2011 'Judgment Day'?".

People are interested for all kinds of different reasons...even if they are just waiting to watch Camping fail as is depicted in this article.

Some (Atheists and non-Christians) are gearing up to capitalize on Camping's failure.  Just check out this article.

Thanks to the Internet, there are folks all over the world who have heard or read about Camping, the preacher from America (America being considered by most of the world as still being the fountainhead of Christianity) who proclaims that the date of the Rapture is May 21, 2011.  The difference between Camping's first prediction about 1994 and his current prediction about May 21, 2011 is the expansiveness and pervasiveness of the Internet.  Most of these people who have heard about the May 21, 2011 prediction probably never knew who Camping was or heard of his first prediction about 1994 until just recently.  Some of these folks are considering making a decision for Christ.  Some of these folks are brand new Christians.  Some of these folks are Atheists, Muslims, Hindus, and any other belief you can think of.

Guess what happens to all of these folks on May 22nd, 2011 when Camping and the rest of his "Happy Campers" are still here on planet Earth??

Well, I guess I can't say what might happen to Camping.  If he survives, will he try to deceive the world with a third prediction?  Will the man learn??

Camping's followers will be poor (they quit their jobs!), disheveled, and ridiculed.  I cannot even begin to imagine the level of sneers, jeers, and overall mistreatment that these folks will receive on May 22, 2011.  Think about it.  These folks have no jobs, they will all realize that what they staked their lives on was a lie, and they will have zero credibility with anyone.  I can very easily see some of folks running off into obscurity, hiding from society, and unfortunately some of these folks are likely to commit suicide.  I hate to say that, and I don't wish that on anyone, but it would not shock me to read a news story about one of these poor souls deciding that they just can't take it any more.

Those who are considering making a decision for Christ may decide not to trust in the Lord.  I would hate to know that I caused someone to reject the Lord because of a promise that I made.

The brand new Christians who believe Camping may have their new faith decimated and turn away from the Lord.

Those of other religions and Atheists will feel that this is confirmation that they are correct in their own non-Christian beliefs.  This could be the act that emboldens them to lash out against Christianity even more so than before.

The bottom line to this whole fiasco is that this is that people are being deceived.  I don't just mean these poor souls who quit their jobs to follow Camping, but I mean the Church as a whole.  How much credibility will the Church lose as a result of this.  Not just here in America, but all over the world?  The idea of a Rapture (which is real and is coming...just not on May 21, 2011) will lose it's appeal.  Think about when you found out that that there was no Santa Claus, no Easter Bunny, no Tooth Fairy?  Those guys are known lies that people knowingly deceive kids with.

How did you feel when you found out that the Tooth Fairy was a lie?  I don't know about you, but it caused me to be skeptical about a lot of things--including the existence of God and His Son Jesus.  I mean if mom and dad lied to me about that, then what else had they lied to me about.  I had never actually seen the Tooth Fairy and now I find out that there is no such thing as a Tooth Fairy.  I had never seen God before.  Perhaps mom and dad had lied to me abotu Him too??

I thank God that He gave me an undying thirst for knowledge.  I say that because it took me years of questioning and research before I got all of this straightened out in my head.  I now know without a doubt that the Bible (Old and New Testaments and every verse out of all 66 books) is the infallible and inspired Word of the real and living God.  It is without error and without contradiction.  No other so-called "holy book" can stand up to it.

No other so-called "holy book" has the integrity.  

No other so-called "holy book" can withstand the scrutiny that the Holy Bible has.  

Lastly, no other so-called "holy book" is even in the same category as the Holy Bible.

Not the Vedas.  

Not the Kaballah.  

Not the Koran!

But not everyone is as convinced about the validity of the Holy Scriptures.  I'm not trying to showboat here.  I in no way consider myself a model Christian.  Far from it!  But there is nothing in this world or outside of it that can make me believe anything otherwise.  I've seen the truth.  I've tested it.  I've debated it.  I checked it out for myself, found it to be true, and I am not alone.  But these poor folks who are convinced that Camping is correct don't have that luxury.  Other Christians outside of Camping's group who are watching the approach of May 21, 2011 and hold their breath and secretly hope that he is right are about to lose a little something because they were foolish enough to put hope in it.  All of these folks (the "Happy Campers" and the secretly watching hopefuls) are all about to get their hot air balloons busted.  What's worse is that the Atheist, the Muslims, the Hindus, and everyone else are all waiting back down at ground-level to watch these people bounce and splatter after they plummet to the earth.  They're planning celebrations and preparing to wallow in the mess that is created by the demise of Camping's design.

Is Christian persecution about to get a whole lot worse?

This is a catastrophe, and it could have been avoided if these folks would have only taken seriously the Holy Bible that they claim to represent.  The words of our own Lord Jesus, the Messiah, our King said concerning this:

"But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only."

(Matthew 24:36)

Camping not only claims to know the day of the Rapture.  How foolish can someone be?

The worst part of this is not that Camping is trying to do what Jesus Himself has said Camping (or anyone else) cannot do.  The worst part is that people are being deceived all over the world.

That's what happens on May 22nd.