Another Doomsday Prediction?
The big hype prediction of Judgment Day on Saturday, May 21, 2011 by Family Radio preacher Harold Camping came and gone with nothing happened and no lives changed except those who believed in his false teaching.
Yahoo! News reports that a California woman was one of those who heard Camping's message, and became concerned that her daughters would suffer terribly in the coming apocalypse. She allegedly forced her daughters, 11 and 14, to lie on a bed and then cut their throats with a box cutter. She then tried to kill herself, though police arrested her. All three survived.
Others were not so lucky. An elderly man in Taiwan reportedly killed himself on May 5 ahead of the "Rapture" by jumping out of a building. He had heard that doomsday was imminent, and had taken recent earthquakes and tsunamis as early warning signs.
A New York man is convinced the world will end last Saturday that he poured his life savings into letting people in New York City know. Robert Fitzpatrick spent at least $140,000 in proclaiming "judgment day" with 1,000 subway-car placards and ads on bus kiosks and subway cars. The ads are simple: "Global Earthquake: The Greatest Ever! Judgment Day May 21, 2011."
This is not the first time that failed doomsday predictions have led to tragedy. The most famous pre-apocalypse suicides in recent times occurred in 1997 when the Heaven's Gate Christian UFO group came to believe that the comet Hale-Bopp was a sign that Jesus was returning, and the world would end soon. Prompted in part by scripture, rumors, and late-night radio talk shows, the group's fanaticism led to nearly 40 deaths.
Camping is now predicting a new Doomsday date as he was off by five months. This only confirms Jesus' prediction that "many false prophets will appear and deceive many people" (Matt. 24:11). The apostle John admonishes us to "not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God" (1 John 4:1). Paul adds, "Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition (2 Thess. 2:3).
While we wait for Christ's second coming, we heed Paul's counsel to the Colossians: "Be very careful, then, how you live-not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is."
Yahoo! News reports that a California woman was one of those who heard Camping's message, and became concerned that her daughters would suffer terribly in the coming apocalypse. She allegedly forced her daughters, 11 and 14, to lie on a bed and then cut their throats with a box cutter. She then tried to kill herself, though police arrested her. All three survived.
Others were not so lucky. An elderly man in Taiwan reportedly killed himself on May 5 ahead of the "Rapture" by jumping out of a building. He had heard that doomsday was imminent, and had taken recent earthquakes and tsunamis as early warning signs.
A New York man is convinced the world will end last Saturday that he poured his life savings into letting people in New York City know. Robert Fitzpatrick spent at least $140,000 in proclaiming "judgment day" with 1,000 subway-car placards and ads on bus kiosks and subway cars. The ads are simple: "Global Earthquake: The Greatest Ever! Judgment Day May 21, 2011."
This is not the first time that failed doomsday predictions have led to tragedy. The most famous pre-apocalypse suicides in recent times occurred in 1997 when the Heaven's Gate Christian UFO group came to believe that the comet Hale-Bopp was a sign that Jesus was returning, and the world would end soon. Prompted in part by scripture, rumors, and late-night radio talk shows, the group's fanaticism led to nearly 40 deaths.
Camping is now predicting a new Doomsday date as he was off by five months. This only confirms Jesus' prediction that "many false prophets will appear and deceive many people" (Matt. 24:11). The apostle John admonishes us to "not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God" (1 John 4:1). Paul adds, "Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition (2 Thess. 2:3).
While we wait for Christ's second coming, we heed Paul's counsel to the Colossians: "Be very careful, then, how you live-not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is."