Harold Camping Suffers Stroke; Receives Sympathy Tweets

By Elena Garcia, Christian Post Reporter Monday, June 13, 2011

While some people have turned news of Harold Camping’s stroke into the latest punch line on Twitter, others have responded to the doomsday preacher's condition with sympathy, tweeting prayers for his recovery.

“I have just seen a post that HAROLD CAMPING has suffered a stroke and is in the hospital. please (sic) pray for Mr. Camping,” wrote “Shabbir_Kumar” in Twitter post that re-tweeted several times Sunday.

In another tweet on the radio preacher’s condition, one Twitter user by the name “tweetsbyscott” acknowledged Camping’s errors in predicting the Rapture would take place May 21 but went on to say that “unbiblical predictions aside, Harold deserves prayer as all of God's children.”

Harold Camping, 89, was admitted to a hospital Thursday night after he suffered a stroke, the Oakland Tribune reported. The day after, the Family Radio broadcaster was reported to be doing “OK” with the only side effect of the stroke thus far being slurred speech.

On Sunday evening, The Christian Post was told by a woman answering the door at Camping’s residence who claimed to be his wife, Shirley, that the broadcaster was “doing very well” and did not suffer “a serious stroke at all.”

Mrs. Camping did not comment on the current condition of his speech and said she didn’t know when her husband is expected to be released from the hospital. CP was unable to verify her identity since she kept her face hidden during the entire conversation.

Harold Camping, president of Family Radio in Oakland, Calif., made headlines last month for predicting that the Rapture and Judgment Day would occur on May 21. He later adjusted his prediction, saying judgment came in a “spiritual” sense that day rather than in a physical one marked by earthquakes. He also moved the Rapture date to October 21, the date that he still believes will mark the End of the World.

“Poor Harold Camping has been hospitalized After Stroke (sic). After those mad predictions, now he's just old and ill. Prayers,” wrote Twitter user “Maggidawn.”

Another Twitter user “Undercover Nun” offered tweets for Camping’s healing, stating, “God loves Harold Camping just like God loves the rest of us.”

Although Camping's health condition prompted a wave of compassion on Twitter, it also catapulted the doomsday preacher back into the spotlight as an easy target for ridicule.

Some people just couldn’t resist making satirical comments on Camping’s stroke, with “StacyATL” writing, “[B]et he didn’t see that coming.”