How many of you recall the experience of living during the days leading up to the prediction by Harold Camping and his followers that May 21, 2011 would be a day of judgment, including the rapture and also such things as an earthquake?
Back then I saw a billboard advertising such. I was also approached by a sincere person presenting a pamphlet. I sensed that person had a good heart.
The date came and went.
I just watched a video documentary on Youtube on that event and the days leading up to it. The video seemed fair in how they were presenting interview moments with Mr Camping and with folks in his church.
I was struck with how genuine they were. They sincerely believed it was going to happen. Like us, they were watching for Jesus. They believed folks needed to know what was "about to take place". I sensed that a main motivation was love. They were open about their doubts leading up to finally going "all in".
I asked an AI (Grok-as simply a good research tool) to try to get details on the extreme of what these folks accomplished in terms of advertising and how much was spent. This is what the computer research tool presented:
-Family Stations, Inc (their ministry) spent over $5 million on billboard advertising alone, using 1200 billboards nationwide.-Advertising expenses in 2011 was nearly $700,000. In 2009 it was $137,000. In 2010 it was $732,000. It is not clear how much of these figures tied together with the billboard costs.-Total campaign estimates including billboard costs, caravans, pamphlets translated into 61 languages could have reached $100 million. This figure is cited in multiple sources but detail on this total lacks confirmation from things such as tax records, so is a very rough estimate.-The ministry used five RV's to spread the message, 5,000 billboards were erected globally, and 100 million pamphlets were printed. This all contributed to the cost.
In a word, "Wow". I had no idea.
I also asked Grok about the extent of their outreach. The reach globally was done using 150 radio-related markets in the US and they had affiliates in 30 other countries The network also used shortwave radios, four satellites, with translations in over 50 languages (radio wise), and 84 languages total in terms of the campaign's overall reach including all of the printed material. Add to this all of the media coverage of the group itself by the mainstream. It is estimated that 500 million to 1 billion may have been exposed to the message in one form or another if you also take into account global media and on-line platforms.
Again, "Wow".
I pulled up some detail on why Mr. Camping's concluded about why May 21, 2011 was "it". I was taken a back by how weak his argument was, and how faulty his premises. It would have been Biblically challenged by many of us watching for Jesus today. For example, he had a premise that the flood during Noah's time took place 4990 BC and this was used as a starting point to arrive at 2011 for a total of 7000 years completed. (He did, however, understand that there was no "0" year to include in such a count.)
I am not saying this to criticize Mr. Camping or his followers. I am just thinking, "Why was the message of judgment on May 21, 2011, and the announcement of the rapture, sanctioned by God to be spread so extremely broadly?" Especially since such an experience, at least in the Christian church culture, seemingly resulted in reinforcing the mentality that we who are watching for Jesus are not to look at specific dates.
Now, if I look at just the essence of the Camping proclamation, it was actually quite truth-based. There will come a day when God will start world wide judgment. There will come a day when a rapture event will take place. It matters if you embrace the Lord Jesus Christ and what He accomplished for you.
So, stepping back, I am wondering, what if, for those who had ears to hear what the Spirit of God was revealing to the world back then, that Mr Camping and his group were actually accomplishing a merciful warning from God to the world, even though they were very off on the details?
When I watched the documentary, I was also struck by how similar those sincere folks were to us in the watching for Jesus community? The ones focused upon in the documentary were not deluded nut-jobs. The world nowadays, in retrospect, does interpret Mr Camping and his followers as being an example of a cult. I am not negating that understanding entirely. Mr Camping should have been really challenged on what he was presenting. I would not have supported what they were doing if I was a member of their church.
But how much of us watching for Jesus struggle with "At what point do I share my thinking with others in light of a particular high watch day I see on the near horizon?" Over decades of watching for Jesus, I have done something similar to what folks in that group did. It has been a path where I lost credibility in the eyes of others during my early years of trying to figure all of this out. I have one sister and one brother who are still open to my thoughts on the timing of high watch days, which is a miracle of God. Wisdom in this regard has been learned in some hard ways.
I am wondering now, "What if the timing of the date of May 21st, in and of itself, was actually valid of a future earthquake?" That warning was 14 years ago. Meaningful count of years? And, "What if a major earthquake did take place on May 21st? How many folks at this time would then recall the Camping group's proclamation? How might the Spirit then use that moment for them to embrace Jesus? while seeing all that the Trump administration is promising and accomplishing become completely undone?"
I watched an interview of Jonathan Cahn last night discussing his book, The Harbinger. He talked about God warning a nation in stages. I could not help but think about what I was learning about Mr Camping. Mr Camping's initial ministry, before the whole May 21, 2011 episode, was focused a lot on using the radio to each many people for Jesus. That was a big part of his calling. Perhaps his message May 21st message was, in reality, prophetic in terms of a future May 21st, yet God included that "His prophet" also walk around with his butt cheeks showing, so to speak, like God required of Isaiah for a time, resulting in scoffers weeding themselves away, thereby judging themselves, and those who had/have ears to hear catch the essence of the message from the Spirit?
When Jesus, as a newborn baby, was "revealed" at the temple in the first part of Luke, Simeon was one to receive Him. Simeon's name means, "To hear".
God bless you.
Jesus is worthy of our continually watching for Him.