Harold Camping Doomsday: Family Radio Claims Only 200 Million Will Be Raptured Friday?
In a Thursday statement, Family Radio International - the station owned by Harold Camping, the man who prophesied that the end of the world will take place today, Oct. 21 - has affirmed the crew still believes that the rapture will take place Friday, and that only 200 million humans will be saved by the Lord.
"We are living in a most unusual time. On May 21, of 2011, mankind entered into the Day of Judgment. This 'day' will last for 5 months (153 days) until October 21, 2011. The Bible is teaching us that this period of time is Judgment Day!" the statement reads.
Friday is, according to Camping's predictions, the date of the completion of God's salvation plan.
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Camping's followers were apparently not turned off the Bible teacher who thinks he managed to break a Bible code and mathematically determine the date of the end of the world, even though he has already falsely predicted two rapture dates. After doomsday did not occur on May 21, as originally predicted, the broadcaster said the May date was merely the "spiritual" judgment, but that the world would end physically on Oct. 21.
Despite being criticized by most church leaders, Camping continued to believe his own prophecy, and so do his followers at Family Radio.
"The Bible declares that it was God's plan to save 200 million people out of all those that would ever live upon the earth. Just prior to May 21 of this year God finished the work of applying the redemption Christ had purchased for His people before the foundation of the world," the statement on the radio network's website asserts. "Just prior to May 21, 2011, the Lord saved all of those whose names were written in the Lamb’s book of life. This act of God in finding all of His lost sheep, and then finally gathering them and leading them safely into the sheepfold of the Good Shepherd was accomplished right before May 21."
On May 21, God shut the door to heaven, the statement claims. And today, God's work is to be concluded.
Camping himself seems to be defending his calculations through this statement, which also claims that May 21 "also happened to be the 17th day of the 2nd Hebrew month, which was also the equivalent date to the beginning of the flood of Noah’s day 7000 years earlier."
This time, Camping did not provide an exact time of the rapture, as he did in May.
The previous prediction was accompanied by a multi-million dollar advertising campaign that was meant to inform the ignorant "sheep" of the forthcoming doomsday. At the time, many people reportedly spent all of their money on the campaign, thinking they would not need money once they are taken into Heaven on May 21. So far, no reports of similar cases in October have been made.
California-based media have reported that the world on Friday was undergoing its normal cycle, without any signs of the rapture. The only abnormal occurrences within the last 24 hours were two minor earthquakes that hit the San Francisco Bay area.
The public is curious about what Camping's reaction will be to the failure of another one of his prophecies.
