Harold Camping Billboard[s] in Louisville
The following billboard is on Mellwood Avenue going toward Brownsboro Road here in Louisville.
[UPDATE 4/11/11: Today while driving Christian home from pre-school at Shively Baptist Church, I saw two billboards in Louisville identical to the one on Mellwood Avenue; one was on I-264 West, where I-264 splits into I-64, the other was on I-64 East, Exit 3.]
[UPDATE 4/13/11: Today after dropping Christian off at pre-school, I saw yet another identical billboard on I-264 West, about a mile before the I-64 split; this means that, together with the other billboards mentioned in the last "update," there are 3 Family Radio billboards within a 5 mile stretch of road.]
[UPDATE 4/19/11: Yesterday I saw another identical billboard in Louisville; this one was on Dixie Hwy, traveling south, just before the Louisville Metro Southwest Government Center on the left.]
The billboard is from Family Radio, which is headed by Harold Camping. Camping teaches that May 21, 2011 is the date of the rapture and that the world will be destroyed on October 21, 2011. As Camping is spreading these teachings over the radio and on the Internet, I think that Christians should be aware of his teachings and give some thought on how to respond.
Camping is a false teacher who proclaims error in the following areas: end-times teaching, the Church, and the gospel.
End-times teaching. As obvious from the billboard above, Camping is guilty of date-setting. Setting specific dates for end-times events is an error, as seen in the New Testament whenever the apostles asked Jesus about such things (see, for example, Acts 1:7). Most Christians, having some awareness of past false teachers who have tried to set dates for the end times, would immediately avoid Camping on this basis alone (and rightly so!), but Camping's end-times timeline is (sadly) not the worst of his errors.
The Church. Camping has declared that the Church-age has ended and that Christians should leave their churches (which, he claims, are all apostate) and should depend on Family Radio for their spiritual nourishment. Now, as seen by Jesus' warnings in the early chapters of Revelation, any single congregation can become apostate, and even a whole denomination can reject the faith, as seen with the Roman Catholic Church at the Council of Trent. But to say that there is no church left would make Jesus' words in Matthew 16:18 out to be a lie. Given that the Church is declared to be 'the bride of Christ' in Ephesians 5:22-23, Camping's insults directed at the Church place him in a precarious position indeed.
The gospel. Gravest of all, Camping has directly perverted the gospel of Christ. In a debate with James White on the Iron Sharpens Iron radio program [linked from THIS PAGE], Camping asserted that acceptance of his date for the rapture is part of the gospel message. It is certain that "the rapture will occur on May 21, 2011" was no part of the gospel preached by the apostles, and therefore Camping has placed himself under the curse mentioned in Galatians 1:9.
[For more information on Camping, see James White's article for the Christian Research Institute HERE.]
[UPDATE 4/13/11: Today after dropping Christian off at pre-school, I saw yet another identical billboard on I-264 West, about a mile before the I-64 split; this means that, together with the other billboards mentioned in the last "update," there are 3 Family Radio billboards within a 5 mile stretch of road.]
[UPDATE 4/19/11: Yesterday I saw another identical billboard in Louisville; this one was on Dixie Hwy, traveling south, just before the Louisville Metro Southwest Government Center on the left.]
The billboard is from Family Radio, which is headed by Harold Camping. Camping teaches that May 21, 2011 is the date of the rapture and that the world will be destroyed on October 21, 2011. As Camping is spreading these teachings over the radio and on the Internet, I think that Christians should be aware of his teachings and give some thought on how to respond.
Camping is a false teacher who proclaims error in the following areas: end-times teaching, the Church, and the gospel.
End-times teaching. As obvious from the billboard above, Camping is guilty of date-setting. Setting specific dates for end-times events is an error, as seen in the New Testament whenever the apostles asked Jesus about such things (see, for example, Acts 1:7). Most Christians, having some awareness of past false teachers who have tried to set dates for the end times, would immediately avoid Camping on this basis alone (and rightly so!), but Camping's end-times timeline is (sadly) not the worst of his errors.
The Church. Camping has declared that the Church-age has ended and that Christians should leave their churches (which, he claims, are all apostate) and should depend on Family Radio for their spiritual nourishment. Now, as seen by Jesus' warnings in the early chapters of Revelation, any single congregation can become apostate, and even a whole denomination can reject the faith, as seen with the Roman Catholic Church at the Council of Trent. But to say that there is no church left would make Jesus' words in Matthew 16:18 out to be a lie. Given that the Church is declared to be 'the bride of Christ' in Ephesians 5:22-23, Camping's insults directed at the Church place him in a precarious position indeed.
The gospel. Gravest of all, Camping has directly perverted the gospel of Christ. In a debate with James White on the Iron Sharpens Iron radio program [linked from THIS PAGE], Camping asserted that acceptance of his date for the rapture is part of the gospel message. It is certain that "the rapture will occur on May 21, 2011" was no part of the gospel preached by the apostles, and therefore Camping has placed himself under the curse mentioned in Galatians 1:9.
[For more information on Camping, see James White's article for the Christian Research Institute HERE.]
Labels: apologetics
posted by Andrew Lindsey | 7:55 PM
2 Comments:
I don't get how this guy and anyone else who sets the date for the end feels like God would give them a heads up but leave Jesus in the dark.
I don't think this guy has any following in GA, but we've got our own fair share.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Post a Comment
<< Home