Don’t make any weekend plans. Harold Camping, the end-of-times preacher who incorrectly calculated that the world would end on May 21, has a new prediction. The apocalypse is actually going to be Friday, he now says.
After the first Rapture date came and went, Camping came in for a bit of static, especially from people who'd depleted their savings figuring they'd be whisked to heaven. Not to fear, Camping explained. May 21 was merely the spiritual Rapture. Friday is the real deal.
Unlike this spring, we’re not seeing massive coverage of people camped out awaiting the end of the world. (Unless some of the “Occupy” protesters have worked that into their list of demands).
So, are you getting your affairs in order?
Well, Timothy Lloyd, pastor Oakhurst Church in Decatur, is. Sort of. "I am working on my sermon for Sunday," he said with a smile. "I have compassion on the folks who get fooled by this stuff because life is tough and these predictions give people a glimmer of hope. It gives folks a solid sense, an assurance of where things are going, because they can actually point to a date on a calendar."
He isn't big on headline-grabbing Rapture talk, though.
"I have much less compassion on people like Camping whose blatantly irresponsible interpretation of scripture harms the faith of so many people while simultaneously damaging the public face of Christianity on a large scale," Lloyd said. "After all, Jesus taught his disciples to pray ‘Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, here on earth as it is in heaven,' not, ‘God, please evacuate us from this broken, sinful world.' Evacuation is certainly not the plan."
So, onward, Christian soldiers.
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