Apocalypse When? Doomsday Postponed Again

October 22, 2011

Doomsday prophet Harold Camping — whose followers descended on Bermuda [pictured] earlier this year — said this week the end of the world was nigh. Again.

And he was wrong. Again.

The American Family Radio evangelist, who famously predicted the date of Armageddon back in May, had quietly announced the real end of the world would be yesterday, Friday, October 21.

In a message on his website, Mr. Camping declared “at this point, looks like it will be the final end of everything.”

But given doomsday was postponed for the second time this year, Mr. Camping is explaining it all away just as he did his May prediction mistake.  In another post on his site, Camping wrote that May 21 was the “spiritual” end of the world.

As for the massive earthquakes he has predicted as preludes to the Biblical Apocalypse , he says they have come in the form of “man-quakes,” since mankind shook with fear from the Rapture and the book of Genesis describes man as made from dirt.

As part of a multi-million dollar publicity campaign sponsored by Mr. Camping and his followers, supporters of his End Times prediction visited Bermuda earlier this year to warn locals they believed the beginning of the end was almost at hand.

Almost 30 proponents of Mr. Camping’s apocalyptic vision took to the streets of Hamilton, handing out leaflets and CD-ROMS to passers-by outlining the retired civil engineer’s Biblical scholarship and the calculations he had used to determine the supposed date of Doomsday.

Mr. Camping previously wrote a book in 1994 which predicted the end of the world that year.

“I hurriedly wrote a book, ’1994′, but I put a question mark after it,” he said after the Biblical Armageddon failed to take place then.

An outspoken critic of Mr. Camping, US Southern Baptist Seminary president Albert Mohler says two Bible verses actually forbid Christians to claim the knowledge of such dates and times.

And Catherine Wessinger, who studies doomsday groups and is the editor of “The Oxford Handbook of Millennialism,” told NPR that Camping is using a common trick of doomsday leaders.

When his end of the world prediction fails, she says, “the person making the prediction can give themselves a way out, sort of a backdoor way of getting out of the prediction. Or on the other hand, when nothing happens, the event can be spiritualised.”

While in May Mr. Camping spoke to nearly every media outlet he could, this time he was noticeably absent from the spotlight.

The “Christian Science Monitor” reportedx that calls to Family Radio were not returned and his daughter e-mailed to say they would not be speaking to the press.

Mr. Camping also seems to have learned how to better hedge his bets this time.

“I really am beginning to think as I restudied these matters that there’s going to be no big display of any kind,” he said in an audio address after suffering a stroke in June. “The end is going to come very, very quietly.”

Comedian Stephen Colbert, who was taking part in the Charleston Bermuda yacht race when Mr. Camping’s original Judgement Day prediction did not come to pass, joked at the time: “There is a cult out there that believes the world is coming to an end on May 21, so that’s one of the reasons I wanted to be out in the ocean. I’ll have nothing above me and I’ll fly straight up.”

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  1. will says:

    Jesus f-ing christ… obviously the end of the world isn’t happening according to biblical calculations purely because the bible is a piece of sh!t…obviously if the BIBLE SAYS god forbids christians to predict the end of the world then he would clearly punish them…as apparently thats all he did, apart from creating the world he did commit a fc#k ton of genocide…so lets see Camping x Not punished= NO GOD…people dont waste your time believing in an invisible man in the sky who tells you what to do..believe in man and yourself….otherwise prove to me a ‘god’ exists, and please don’t use the same ol’ boring a$$ answer about ‘faith’.

    • Portia says:

      Will,

      The Bible is NOT a piece of shit. How much of it have you actually read, if you believe that “all he did was commit genocide and punish people”?

      Please don’t dismiss Christianity because of the failings of weak-minded, dishonest individuals like Harold Camping, or because of the errors committed by others in the past. These people have abused Christianity for their own ends, and they do not speak for every Christian, nor do they even represent the majority.

      As for myself, I can tell you, I do not believe in “an invisible man in the sky”. I believe in someone is very real and right here, right now, and I know this not because of mere “faith” but because I demanded proof and He gave it to me. But that is something each person must experience for themselves, just be open to it.

      • will says:

        in other words prove to me that your Bible is right and that the Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Rastas etc are all wrong..and you cant say because the bible says so..please use hard facts, scientific evidence which is indisputable, reliable and valid

        • Truth (Original) says:

          Scientific evidence is indisputable? That’s highly inaccurate. Science is an ever evolving thing as we can only make decisions based on our best knowledge at the time. When more information is discovered science disproves its own previous position. Facts.

          • Bloominal says:

            Science still makes use of its knowledge to dig deeper, to know more than it already does.

            Whereas with the bible there is no way of proving anything and people are criticized for even questioning anything it says as the bible is regarded as absolute truth.

          • mrwiggin says:

            So you yourself acknowledge that science is based off of the best knowledge we have at the time?

            So where’s the (scientific)evidence supporting the validity of a ~2000 year old book?

            The beauty of science is the fact that it CAN disprove itself in light of better and/or more recent evidence. It’s humble in that sense.

            Try getting religion to back itself up with evidence; or prove itself wrong for that matter…

            • Loveness says:

              Will, if you have Cable TV, turn your channel to 85…RIGHT NOW!! you’ll get the message ~ PLAIN & CLEAR!! God Bless You

            • Truth (Original) says:

              Science is playing catch up to the Bible. 

              God revealed things about the heavens long before the telescopes were invented;

              Job 9:9 (KJV)
              Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south.
              http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcturus

              Job 26:7 (KJV)
              He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing.

              Who could know that the earth hanged upon nothing at the time of this writing? Only the one who created it.

              Proverbs 8:27 (NKJV)
              When He prepared the heavens, I was there, When He drew a circle on the face of the deep,
              Isaiah 40:22 (NKJV)
              It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.

              When science contended that the earth was flat, God long revealed that it was a sphere/circle that “hung on nothing”. 

              I could go on and on but I have read enough to know of a surety that God is real. He revealed things in that  ”2000 year old book” that no man knew.

              Science is still playing catch up. Having said that, I am not of the opinion that science and the Bible are opposed, after all God created (and used) science as well when he created all things.

              I would like to hear your thoughts on the ancient scriptures presented. Particularly, how did the writers of these passages come about with this factual information?

              Peace.

              • Whistling Frog says:

                @ Truth (Original) Amen to that…

              • Jeebus Christ Naive FOlk says:

                YOu are an idiot. You are the same kinda person who I can post a million frigign things that prove you wrong, yet you will say ‘its not to be read literally’
                clown. lol

              • Sebastian Matcham says:

                Hi Truth,

                If you’re interested in the origin of cosmological thought, Hindu cosmology was around a couple thousand years before anyone had heard of Christ. If you’re still interested after reading about that, it goes back earlier! I’d be happy to point you in the right direction.

                I have read much of the Bible, the Qur’an, the Talmud, the Vedas, Buddhist / Taoist / Jain / Confucian scripture and other religious texts alongside the study of classical literature… Have you made a concerted effort to inform yourself, or are you simply recycling divisive divinatory rhetoric?

                Take care,
                Sebastian

              • mrwiggin says:

                First of all, you cannot quote “the” bible in order to provide evidence for the bible… what you just did is like saying there’s a tea cup orbiting the moon, and when someone asks you to prove it, you tell them that it’s there.

                “Job 9:9 (KJV)
                Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south.”

                The bible did not beat science to the punch… it’s just naming stars. Which at that point in history were just dots of light in the sky. That’s simply pointing and naming. You don’t need to be a god to observe the stars.

                Regarding your “flat earth” comment:

                The ancient Greeks, arguably some of the first true scientists, proposed that the earth was flat in the 6th century BCE.

                http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spherical_Earth

                Also, the earth doesn’t hang upon nothing. It floats in a spacetime gravity well. A “dip”, if you will, in the fabric of spacetime. The earth is also moving constantly around the Sun, which essentially means it is in a stable “freefall” towards the Sun… not “hanging upon nothing.”

                All of my points have EXTERNAL evidence to back it up.

                Do yours?

                • mrwiggin says:

                  *typo: the ancient Greeks proposed that the earth was a sphere, not flat.

      • Sebastian Matcham says:

        You ask Will not to dismiss Christianity, while Christianity is ready to [dismiss / send to hell] billions of non-believers.

        Moreover, just as you have been provided proof of God, others have been provided proof of Buddha/Ganesh/Thor the god of lightning/Themselves as God/The world being flat/etc. but it doesn’t mean anyone else can see it their way!

    • Truth (Original) says:

      Romans 1:18-25 (NKJV)
      For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, [19] because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. [20] For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, [21] because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. [22] Professing to be wise, they became fools, [23] and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man-and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. [24] Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, [25] who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

    • Changing Status says:

      will, you are the problem with people now-a-days. you have no respect for others nor their belief. how childish can you be?

      yes, i am christian and i’m not rubbing my beliefs in anyones faces, likewise you have no need to disrespect me and my religion just because you have little faith in it. just as easily as you believe in science and how equations answer all your questions – i believe in God.

      please be mature and think next time you choose to childishly pull apart someones belief. as portia says, if you open your eyes and mind, you may find that proof you’re demanding.

      • Sebastian Matcham says:

        God is dead, but so is Nietzsche… hmmmm…

        I’d say Will is just frustrated by being surrounded by hypocrisy in the form of Christians who practice normal, sinful lives while maintaining a holier-than-thou attitude… Our little island home is full of lip service and no elbow grease ;)

    • Bloominal says:

      To be honest Bible defined what a traditional marriage is:
      - Man + Woman
      - Man + Wives + Cocubines
      - Man + Woman + Woman’s property
      - Man + Women
      - Man + Brother’s Widow
      - Rapist + Victim
      - Male Soldier + Prisoner of War
      - Male Slave + Female Slave

      See how amazing that is?

      source: http://innertubes.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/how-the-bible-defines-marriage.jpg

  2. Roger Sherratt says:

    Sort of reminds me of the Peter Cooke and Dudley Moore sketch where they climb to the top of a hill and “prepare for the end of the world” When it doesn’t happen as predicted some bright spark asks if the bible meant “GMT”! Their leader finally asks them all suggest they assemble at the same time and the same place tomorrow “because we can’t always be wrong!” Let’s see how many times Harold Camping proves to be wrong to his gullible followers. I’ll make a confident prediction. Harold Camping will die long before any end of the world scenario, and on that you can bet your house!

  3. What ! says:

    I love the fact that the disciples names are reflective of the common names in the middle east.

  4. Cancer says:

    Welcome back Bernews – your new format is gonna need to take some getting used to. Anyway Harold Camping is a dreamer!

  5. kiskadee says:

    When I was at school over 60 years ago the end of the world was predicted every year—it did cause a bit of excitement though!!

  6. Philip J Seaman says:

    Harold Camping should be committed to a mental institution…
    Sick man..

  7. Mike says:

    Camping is a loon But the writers need to get their facts straight Camping has NOTHING to do or any affiliation with American Family Radio. His organization is family Radio. I don’t want afr to get a bad rap.

  8. will says:

    yes but your god says according to the bible (which was written by man who is biased) that any impeachment of his rules the individual(s) would be punished…so please do inform me with proper evidence that the ten plagues struck egypt, that sodom and gomorrah were actually destroyed..also eating shellfish is an act deemed by god to be punishable by death..how many people you see dying in Bermuda because of eating shellfish…and why is Harold Camping dead and being punished as we speak? hmmmm, guess the answer is there is NO GOD…otherwise i should be struck down now….hmmmm, still waiting for thy wrath…o smite me mighty smiter…..oh well not happening

    • Truth (Original) says:

      You need a Bible study. There is much you don’t understand and much you simply have wrong. Regarding the eating of meats;

      1 Timothy 4:1-5 (NKJV)
      Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, [2] speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, [3] forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. [4] For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving; [5] for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.

      I’ll be happy to study with you, if you are willing.

      • Can't Take It Anymore says:

        Which bible? Depending on which version, year written and religion, all the bibles explain each story and revaltion with complete differences.

        • Don says:

          There is saying in the Far East, “Anything that has it’s back facing the Havens is edible”

      • will says:

        But anything in the seas or the rivers that has not fins and scales, of the swarming creatures in the waters and of the living creatures that are in the waters, is detestable to you. Leviticus 11:10

      • Sebastian Matcham says:

        What about Leviticus 11? The Lord has set out quite extensive rules about eating. The Lord has told us that we must not eat Camels, Rabbits, Pigs, Shellfish (anything which lives in the water and doesn’t have fins & scales) as well as eagles, vultures, owls, hawks, storks, herons, bats, four-legged insects (except hopping ones), weasels, rats and more!

  9. drunkenUrsula says:

    I got so drunk Friday night,I thought the world had ended Saturday morning…hung right over!

  10. Whistling Frog says:

    @ will, your going through a mental crises and don’t know it… It happens sometime even to the best of people. Who do you think created man and all there is? Man didn’t create himself, dummy! Sorry, I didn’t mean that. SMH Nor did man create anything on earth or in the Heavens… I hope you come to your scenes before the shell you dwell in expires.. But not to worry, that’s just material matter which belongs to mother earth which must return to her, you also have an unseen element that keeps you physically alive known as the Holy Spirit…

    • mrwiggin says:

      Saying man didn’t create the universe does NOT, in the slightest, prove that a god created it instead.

      He is not suffering from any sort of “mental crises.”

      YOU, however, are suffering from both denial and arrogance.

      • will says:

        amen to that…im not mental..these people truly believe an invisible man created all around us..and im crazy..smh..you people need to pull your heads out of the sand and focus on man, not ‘god’…and still no one answered my above questions about proving that the bible is right above all other religious books

  11. 1minute says:

    NIV – Matthew 24:36
    “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father”

  12. cocoa says:

    Mr. Camping needs to give up! SMH

  13. Totally Disgusted says:

    When GOD says its the end then and only then will it be the end.

  14. Family Man says:

    ….When science contended that the earth was flat, God long revealed that it was a sphere/circle that “hung on nothing”…

    If I recall, the church essentially controlled science. At least until a few brave souls started to think for themselves.

    Poor Galileo. I guess it was just a big misunderstanding with the church that he was imprisoned for saying the Earth circles the Sun rather than the other way around. After all, didn’t your god make us the centre of the universe? I guess the church just couldn’t read the bible as well as you.

  15. Whistling Frog says:

    will and mrwiggin must be knuckle head buddy’s who obviously believe in the big bang theory… From the looks of your corny names I would think your related… its common sense that everything was created and put in its places and didn’t happen by chance. Try throwing two rock together and see what happens. What’s the chances of another earth, sun and moon growing and replacing this present one? Why do you think the sun is where it is and not placed closer like the moon? Why is your big toe on your foot and not in your mouth? Cause that’s not where its suppose to be according to God great plan… I’d bet my bottom dollar you two guys were book worms in school…

    • will says:

      so i guess you fell on the intelligent design boat a while back then..if your talking about a wise all powerful being who created us perfectly, then answer me this..why did he give us the human eye with retina in the back..the squids eye is more highly evolved and designed than any humans is?

    • Sebastian Matcham says:

      Hello Whistling Frog,

      Now I don’t mean any disrespect to your or your beliefs (despite your flagrant disrespect to everyone else’s) but I thought I’d type some words for you here.

      Toes are located on our feet to provide balance when we stand, not to prove the existence of God by their lack of appearance in a totally useless location.

      The sun was not “placed” anywhere, in fact – through thousands of years of observation, thought, and lately science, we have now deduced that planets form around stars as a result of the effect of gravity on space debris!

      Here is some common sense, the way I see it: We are conscious, mortal beings. We struggle to come up with some kind of meaning for our lives, some greater purpose or at least a light at the end of the tunnel. Many different cultures have spawned many different creation myths and deities, and each of them had devout followers who gave up their lives for what they believed. You, Whistling Frog, are righteously asserting your own beliefs in the same way that people like Will righteously assert theirs. Are either of you wrong? For eachother, yes. For yourselves, maybe not. To each his own, to each his own God. Now go do something positive.

  16. The Future says:

    Truth,
    Don’t be ridiculous. The science that understood these realities were ancient before it was even documented over 6000 years ago. Long before “the” bible texts were stolen, misinterpreted, abused. Science and God are one and the same. Don’t confuse the western man’s uncultivated pseudo scientific techniques with true science. There was nothing scientific about proposing the earth as being flat. Why “the” bible is revered as some master reference in the face of all the absurdities contained in it, is beyond reason. I find two camps. Those who haven’t actually read and understood it all and yet defend it as “the” truth and then there are those who have read it all and a gloss over the abundance of absurdities written to somehow conclude it is the truth straight from God. Either way, there is nothing scientific about that. Check out the skeptic’s annotated

  17. Jeebus Christ Naive FOlk says:

    Ezlekial 23:20 There she lusted after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and who’s emission was like that of horses

    AWW YEAH

  18. Jeebus Christ Naive FOlk says:

    Timothy 2:12
    I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent.

    AWW YEAH

  19. Jeebus Christ Naive FOlk says:

    Corithians 14:34
    women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says.

    Yeah we are really playing catch up to the bible.
    In before: ITS NOT TO BE TAKEN LITERALLY BLAH BLAH. Blow it out your arse.

  20. Jeebus Christ Naive FOlk says:

    @Those of you who say you are Christians and you don’t rub your beliefs in others faces:

    I will stop criticizing and attacking your beliefs when those in power stop making decisions based on dumbfounded ideas of false morality from religion. Its got to stop, its affecting my life, and restricting the world around us.
    That is all.
    Burn a bible day soon!

  21. will says:

    Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and torturous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness, with which more than half the bible is filled, it would seem more consistent that we called it the word of a demon than the Word of God. It is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind.
    Thomas Paine (1737 – 1809)

  22. The Future says:

    Finally some sense here. My earlier comments were posted in the wrong spot up the chainso to reiterate:

    Truth,
    Don’t be ridiculous. The science that understood these realities were ancient before it was even documented over 6000 years ago. Long before “the” bible texts were stolen, misinterpreted, abused. Science and God are one and the same. Don’t confuse the western man’s uncultivated pseudo scientific techniques with true science. There was nothing scientific about proposing the earth as being flat. Why “the” bible is revered as some master reference in the face of all the absurdities contained in it, is beyond reason. I find two camps. Those who haven’t actually read and understood it all and yet defend it as “the” truth and then there are those who have read it all and a gloss over the abundance of absurdities written to somehow conclude it is the truth straight from God. Either way, there is nothing scientific about that. Check out the skeptic’s annotated bible if you have any doubts about absurdities….