Preacher says world will actually end in October

[Sefket]

AP – Harold Camping speaks during a taping of his show 'Open Forum' in Oakland, Calif., Monday, May 23, 2011. …

By GARANCE BURKE, Associated Press Garance Burke, Associated Press – Tue May 24, 3:56 am ET

Source

OAKLAND, Calif. – A California preacher who foretold of the world's end only to see the appointed day pass with no extraordinarily cataclysmic event has revised his apocalyptic prophecy, saying he was off by five months and the Earth actually will be obliterated on Oct. 21.

Harold Camping, who predicted that 200 million Christians would be taken to heaven Saturday before catastrophe struck the planet, apologized Monday evening for not having the dates "worked out as accurately as I could have."

He spoke to the media at the Oakland headquarters of his Family Radio International, which spent millions of dollars_ some of it from donations made by followers — on more than 5,000 billboards and 20 RVs plastered with the Judgment Day message.

It was not the first time Camping was forced to explain when his prediction didn't come to pass. The 89-year-old retired civil engineer also prophesied the Apocalypse would come in 1994, but said later that didn't happen then because of a mathematical error.

Through chatting with a friend over what he acknowledged was a very difficult weekend, it dawned on him that instead of the biblical Rapture in which the faithful would be swept up to the heavens, May 21 had instead been a "spiritual" Judgment Day, which places the entire world under Christ's judgment, he said.

The globe will be completely destroyed in five months, he said, when the apocalypse comes. But because God's judgment and salvation were completed on Saturday, there's no point in continuing to warn people about it, so his network will now just play Christian music and programs until the final end on Oct. 21.

"We've always said May 21 was the day, but we didn't understand altogether the spiritual meaning," he said. "The fact is there is only one kind of people who will ascend into heaven ... if God has saved them they're going to be caught up."

Josh Ocasion, who works the teleprompter during Camping's live broadcasts in the group's threadbare studio sandwiched between an auto shop and a palm reader's business, said he enjoyed the production work but never fully believed the May 21 prophecy would come true.

"I thought he would show some more human decency in admitting he made a mistake," he said Monday. "We didn't really see that."

Follower Jeff Hopkins said he spent a good deal of his own retirement savings on gas money to power his car so people would see its ominous lighted sign showcasing Camping's May 21 warning. As the appointed day drew nearer, Hopkins started making the 100-mile round trip from Long Island to New York City twice a day, spending at least $15 on gas each trip.

"I've been mocked and scoffed and cursed at and I've been through a lot with this lighted sign on top of my car," said Hopkins, 52, a former television producer who lives in Great River, NY. "I was doing what I've been instructed to do through the Bible, but now I've been stymied. It's like getting slapped in the face."

Camping's hands shook slightly as he pinned his microphone to his lapel, and as he clutched a worn Bible he spoke in a quivery monotone about some listeners' earthly concerns after giving away possessions in expectation of the Rapture.

Family Radio would never tell anyone what they should do with their belongings, and those who had fewer would cope, Camping said.

"We're not in the business of financial advice," he said. "We're in the business of telling people there's someone who you can maybe talk to, maybe pray to, and that's God."

But he also said that he wouldn't give away all his possessions ahead of Oct 21.

"I still have to live in a house, I still have to drive a car," he said. "What would be the value of that? If it is Judgment Day why would I give it away?"

Apocalyptic thinking has always been part of American religious life and popular culture. Teachings about the end of the world vary dramatically — even within faith traditions — about how they will occur.

Still, the overwhelming majority of Christians reject the idea that the exact date or time of Jesus' return can be predicted.

Tim LaHaye, co-author of the best-selling "Left Behind" novels about the end times, recently called Camping's prediction "not only bizarre but 100 percent wrong!" He cited the Bible verse Matthew 24:36, "but about that day or hour no one knows" except God.

Camping offered no clues about Family Radio's finances Monday, saying he could not estimate how much had been spent advertising his prediction nor how much money the nonprofit had taken in as a result. In 2009, the nonprofit reported in IRS filings that it received $18.3 million in donations, and had assets of more than $104 million, including $34 million in stocks or other publicly traded securities.

___

Associated Press writer Tom Breen in Raleigh, N.C., and Videographer Ted Shaffrey and AP Religion Writer Rachel Zoll in New York, contributed to this report.

GETTING OLD....

[Triko]

BULLSHIT

[Octavarium]

Again, if I'm going to believe what any man tells me I'll choose Isaac Newton's prediction. Not before 2060.

[Acclaimed|Jordan]

needs to be shot

[Ronald]

illuminati

[Ollie]

Fucking idiots.

I wish they'd stop with these stupid & ridiculous "theories" already. They're getting old and extremely boring.

HINT: NONE OF THESE PEOPLE ARE ASTROPHYSICISTS OR COSMOLOGISTS THEREFORE THEY KNOW FUCK-ALL.

[Like a Baws]

nooo but my birthday is in november

[Adam|Spakka]

He's such a divvy...

[Ben]

Didn't read.

[Animal]

*Sigh*

[Adam|Note]

May 21st Rapture Begins.

October 21st The World Ends.

Is the correct prediction, not that I think it will happen.

[Octavarium]

May 21st Rapture Begins.

October 21st The World Ends.

Is the correct prediction, not that I think it will happen.

That can't be right as it's past May 21st and there has been no rapture. Not to mention that the greek word for Rapture isn't even found in the bible.

[Gareth l Rare]

THE BIBBLE DOESNT NOT STATE A DATE THAT THE WORLD WILL END

NOR DOES IT INSTIGATE ANY IDEAS OF WHAT DAY/MONTH/YEAR OR SEASON OF FAMILY GUY EITHER

Anyone who states other wise i chatting shit... There you go

From someone who spent 16years going to church and read the fucking thing.......

[gfdgfd]

yeah guys the bibble didn't say anything

[Flex]

illuminati

:) what you know about Illuminati boy?

[Blitz]

He looks like an elf off Oblivion haha

[Adam|Note]

He looks like an elf off Oblivion haha

> Just finish downloading Oblivion

> You make a comment about it

> STOP LOOKING THROUGH MY WINDOW

[Sam|Stop Lying]

tl;dr

[I C0NN0R I]

i thought the world was going to ACTUALLY end in may? this retard is full of shit. Not that you guys needed to be told that, lol

[Bud Select]

think hes saying thats the date he his old ass will die and go to heaven.

[Sam|Stop Lying]

[Abbi pker]

This guy clearly is full of shit and everything he says from here on is irrelevant.

[G-Falo Son]

I'll believe it if I die in October

[FearMy Def]

omg guys we're dieing in ocotober@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

zogomgogmgomgogogmogmogmg

[antO]

LOL at the guy saying that we were going to die 21/05/2011