Time of the end

It has been said that responding to people who pick dates for time’s end is a fruitless endeavor. Perhaps this is correct, but I can’t let a community in which I live have such things promoted without some kind of response. I recently wrote a letter to the editor on this; below is that letter.

False teaching in religion is, and has been, with us since as far back as the first century. To combat this, the individual is to know the Lord’s word and make specific application of that word to his (her) life. Thus, false teaching is easily overcome.

In principle, this is true, but in application it seems more difficult than that for many want to exchange God’s ideology with their own. This matters not whether the issue is women preachers, retired bishops promoting (to a lesser or great degree) homosexuality, or those who try to predict when the world will end – or something along that line.

A number of months back I wrote a letter to the editor that asked the question: “Can preachers preach lies in the Lord’s name?” An affirmative answer was given to this, and we took note of one particular lie that was promoted at that time. “Here is a present day illustration of a preacher preaching a lie in the Lord’s name. An Oakland California based radio program, Family Radio Worldwide, with its leader 89 year old Harold Camping is predicting that the ‘rapture’ (a word not found in the Bible) will occur May 11 of this year. More than that, he predicts that the end of the world will be in October (source: http://www.aolnews.com, January 3, 2011).”

Since that time, the date of the Lord’s “rapture” has been altered to the date of May 21st. Their website forthrightly declares it this way: “This web site serves as an introduction and portal to four faithful ministries which are teaching that WE CAN KNOW from the Bible alone that the date of the rapture of believers will take place on May 21, 2011 and that God will destroy this world on October 21, 2011” (wecanknow.com). Now, add to this the full page advertisement in the USA Today where we are told that “Judgment day begins with a worldwide earthquake on May 21.” From this we can see that if any part of this message is wrong, then Harold Camping is a false teacher (in biblical prophecy, there is no allowance from the Lord for getting 70% of the message right).

This is not an insignificant matter. The Lord said that the blind that lead the blind both will fall into the ditch. What do you think the ditch represents? By the time you read this you will know whether Harold Camping is a false teacher or not. If so, those who follow him are blind, and are being led by a blind leader.

In writing this letter, I am quite aware that some people will dismiss me and that for which I stand. However, there are some who will read and thoughtfully consider. I hope I can make an impact with them.