At a press conference Monday night, Harold Camping, the false prophet from Alameda California and President of Family Radio, reluctantly admits he didn't get it "completely" right.
Maintaining his almost flippant disregard for the consequences of his false predictions, Camping speaks out of both sides of his mouth. While confessing he is "no genius" and "...if people want me to apologize- I can apologize, Yes, I did not have it..., all of that worked out as accurately as I should have or I wish I could have..." yet he unabashedly goes on to insist that Christ did in fact come in judgment on May 21st but now he maintains it was an "invisible" judgment day and although we cannot see it with our eyes we can know it so from the Bible.
The problem for Camping is that he has shown and has sheepishly conceded on multiple occasions, as far back as 1994, that his own personal interpretations of what the Bible says have been WRONG! This does not daunt Camping however and like anyone lacking real integrity and true Christian virtue, Camping demonstrated that despite "a rough weekend" in which he supposedly sought counsel from close advisers, that he hasn't in fact taken even a minute to seriously reconsider his flawed method of Bible interpretation or to introspect regarding whether seeking to proclaim the date of Christ's return is sanctioned in Scripture to begin with.
Camping instead used the occasion of the press conference not to emote true brokenheartedness and a spirit of repentance, regret and remorse but to launch right into his next prediction-- albeit this time it's just a pathetic tweak of his last colossal fail.
The best Camping could muster in his own defense was that all those earthquakes he predicted starting at 6pm in the latest time zone and then rolling around the globe for 24 hours-- killing millions and unearthing every grave ever dug, well, those were... um, "spiritual". And the rapture of millions of the faithful, being caught up in the air, (leaving everything behind,-- dentures, glasses, clothes, etc.),-- well that also happened,-- we just couldn't see it with our physical eyes.
At what point do we finally consider an 89 year old man with such a dismal record of failed predictions, (as many as 10 according to a Family Radio insider, not all were made known to the general public), to be certifiably mentally incompetent. I'm not a psychiatrist but I'm sure there's a diagnosis for these kind of delusions.
As a Christian myself, I do not doubt that the Bible has definite prophecies concerning the end days and specifically the very last day (and God WILL fulfill them) but I'm also aware that even among the most gifted scholars there is a latitude of opinion with regard to what is called eschatology (the doctrines of the end times) and that such dogmatism as Camping demonstrates (especially in light of his countless errors) is not only unfounded and unwise but un-Christian and uncharitable, and now we know-- downright dangerous.
Camping actually demonstrates, for those who can discern true Bible teaching from false, a very strange disconnectedness from Scripture and certainly an undisciplined, unbridled, self-taught "method" (to use the word method is generous) of interpreting what the Bible says. Like any historical document, the Bible needs to be interpreted in light of widely accepted, even scientific (hermeneutics is the name for the science and art of biblical interpretation) principles that must be employed to properly interpret or understand what the author(s) had in mind when communicating what they wrote. For Camping he has no need of any of that for he has established his own method-- well, Mr. Camping-- how's that working for you so far?
Lest I neglect to bring to light another problem with these serial predictions, I must say that the problem does not lie with Camping alone. The Board of Directors at Family Radio is equally to blame. The structure at that ministry is such that without a bunch of, depending upon your suspicions, either "Yes"-men, sycophants, or Kool-Aid drinkers, on the board-- Camping would be hamstrung. And if not hamstrung outright then he'd have to show his true dictatorial colors if opposed unilaterally by his board, and continue to act in what could then be considered a rogue manner and with a discordant agenda. At least then everyone would be clear as to what (more to the point- "who") the problem is.
The question now is whether the board members at Family Radio will do their own repenting and grow a collective spine. If, as Camping would have us all believe, he simply serves as a volunteer at the pleasure of a board to whom he is accountable then guess what Board?-- it's time to do some firing around Family Radio. Sure, it would be difficult to tell the man who by all accounts built Family Radio into the system of radio stations that today enjoys, by God's patient grace, a worldwide reach,-- that it's time for him to retire, but to fail to get him off the airwaves will only redound to your ministry's discredit and to the disrepute of each of you individually. It is not beyond the Lord to hold each board member accountable for their contribution to this debacle.
May God lead you to make the right decisions,
Michael Rotolo
Publisher, www.greatchristianbooks.com
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