Will Jesus Return on May 21, 2011?

Will Jesus return on May 21, 2011?

Possibly, but no man knows, not even Harold Camping in California.

According to his website and the many billboards posted across the nation, Camping says Jesus will return on May 21, 2011, to call His people to heaven. This will usher in a five-month period of horrible plagues and firestorms that will kill millions daily, ending on October 21, 2011, with a lake of fire and bottomless pit as he understands these from Revelation. He points to the Gay Pride movement as a "dramatic and clear" sign that the judgment is near and calculates his date using an imagined seven-day time period he describes as the time it took Noah to build the ark (nowhere in the Bible does it say it took Noah only seven days to build the ark). Camping points to 2 Peter 3:8 to show that these seven days should be understood as seven thousand years, and based on his calculated date for the Flood, he arrives at May 21, 2011. Of course, it will be Camping's followers who will be whisked away to an eternal glory while everyone else will suffer unspeakable torture for months.

Camping says the reason no one has been able to calculate this date before is because the seventh seal of Revelation 8:1 was not broken until May 21, 1988--the beginning of a 23-year period where "very few, if any, were saved." It was that day that God withdrew the Holy Spirit from the churches and employed Satan to officially rule all the churches and the world. This resulted in the silence in heaven for "half an hour." 2,300 days later (in 1994), the Holy Spirit was once again poured out as a "latter rain" to produce a final harvest before the day of judgment. When the seventh seal was broken in 1988, a vast knowledge of what the Bible really says was given to the true believers (Camping and his followers). His explanation for being able to circumvent Matthew 24:35-42 is simple: it was true that no man could really know until the seventh seal was broken in 1988.

Camping has some very serious problems before him: 1) He is the latest of a very long list of people who have tried and failed to predict the second coming of Jesus Christ and the day of judgment. 2) He is making all who seek to follow Jesus Christ look really stupid. 3) He' deceiving many people for which he'll have to answer when it comes his time to stand before the Judgment Seat of God.

The following is my response to those who try to predict the second coming of Christ. I'm going to give you the ending up front: you don't have to worry about what Camping or any end-times prophet is saying. They do not speak the truth.

Problem 1: Every single end-times prophet who has come and gone robs the book of Revelation of its tremendous value to a Christian and forces it to refer to things in the future. "Well it talks about Jesus coming back, and since He hasn't returned, it must be yet future, right?" Revelation talks about Jesus coming in battle against all who declare war against the church, beginning with the Roman Empire. Revelation is NOT about end-time events written for a group of people sitting around waiting to go to Heaven. It was written to give comfort and assurance to Christians who face persecution and even death at the hands of godless men. The point of Revelation is that the only true and living God is sitting on the throne and IN CONTROL NOW. Not Caesar, not Kim Jung Il, not Gadhaffi, not the bullies at school or the thugs in the alleys, not anyone on Wall Street, not Obama. The only true and living God is in control and will avenge those persecuted and/or martyred for the cause of Christ. Since Revelation is not a list of end-time events, it does not point to a specific time for the second coming. Matthew 24:35-42, therefore, stands firm, Mr. Camping: NO MAN KNOWS, NOT EVEN THE SON...

Problem 2: Every single end-times prophet who has come and gone robs 2 Peter 3:8 of its tremendous value to a Christian by forcing it to indicate time is relevant to God. "A day is like a thousand years...so that must obviously mean the seven days I think it took to build the ark in the literal sense equals seven thousand years in a spiritual sense." The use of 2 Peter 3:8 in this manner is highly inconsistent. What, then, do the 40 days Moses was on the mountain of God represent? 40,000 years? Where does that fit into the equation? What about the day the sun stood still for Joshua? Where does that 1000 years fit? End-times prophets have each had their own equations, and none of them worked. This one of Campings is no different! 2 Peter 3:8 speaks timelessly of the patience of God who does not want anyone to perish but for all to come to repentance! It does not at all indicate how He views time or give any spiritual key to Biblical numerology. In fact, we read in Isaiah 46:10 that God sees the end from the beginning and declares it. All of time is like a single sheet of paper before Him. One day or a thousand years means nothing to Him.

Problem 3: Every single end-times prophet who has come and gone robs the world of the good message of Jesus Christ and not only reveals himself to be false because his predictions fail but also because he teaches the gospel of Jesus Christ as about focusing on self--A FALSE GOSPEL (Galatians 1:6-9). Peter says much against these teachers in his second letter. The gospel of Jesus Christ is not about Christ returning to destroy the world, "so you'd better repent!". The gospel is about God's LOVE FOR THE WORLD (John 3:16--remember this??) and what He is doing through Jesus Christ because of that love to reclaim a world destroyed by sin. It's about Christ's sacrifice--His giving Himself in order to rescue us from this present evil age (Galatians 1:4-5). Certainly, there is a crown of life waiting for the "faithful unto death" (Revelation 2:10), but that is not the focus. Those who focus on the afterlife and teach others to do the same are ignoring the purpose of Christ's coming to begin with--to give us an example to follow (1 Peter 2:21-25). Jesus said, "If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me" (Matthew 16:24). There's no such thing as a free ride to Heaven by simply inviting Jesus into your heart. Yes, the gift of God (Romans 6:23), the gift of the Son (John 17:2) and the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38) is freely given, but it is given for a reason, and that is to continue the work of Jesus in demonstrating the love of God to a sick world, not as an arbitary deal whereby man simply dances into Heaven.

Harold Camping is no different from William Miller, Joseph Smith, Charles Taze Russell, Hal Lindsey, Edgar Whisenant, David Koresh, and a host of other end-times prophets--these have all failed. And, believe it or not, this is not his first prediction for the end of the world. His previous prediction was to happen in September 1994 (though, to be fair, he noted 2011 should his 1994 prediction fail--and it did fail). If such Bible knowledge was poured out on him like he claims after the seventh seal was supposedly broken in 1988, why did he fail at his 1994 prediction?

"When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not come about or come true, 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).

It's important to understand that a day of Judgment awaits all men (Hebrews 9:27). It's important to be ready for that day--a day on which the only true and living God "will render to each person according to his deeds" (Romans 2:6). No man knows when his day will come. The deeds to which we are called through Jesus Christ concerns a life of faith--a life of complete trust and reliance in God through Jesus Christ as we continue the work of Christ as His people--His body, the church. Those who choose to follow the example of Christ are those whom God has called and those whom God justifies before Him. And as we live by faith, we can be certain of our salvation in this life and the afterlife--it's something the Christian doesn't have to worry about. If you are not a follower of Jesus Christ, won't you turn from a life of seeking to please self to a life in service to God--make this choice and save yourself from this perverse generation (Acts 2:40). Upon the understanding that Jesus is the Christ, step into the water and be immersed into the forgiveness of sin, clothing yourself with Christ, and you WILL receive the gift the Holy Spirit gives freely--salvation. Walk with Christ as His disciple and join Him and the rest of His body in demonstrating the love of God to your community, your nation and the world, understanding that God is in control regardless.

Mr. Camping needs to read further than vs. 8: The day of the Lord will come like a thief (2 Peter 3:10)--absolutely no one will know the date.