Harold Camping may not have convinced evangelical Christians that Jesus is coming back on May 21st, but he has gotten the attention of the media elite. Garry Trudeau is skewering the rapture crowd in the Doonesbury comic strip this week, National Public Radio has covered Camping, and the Washington Post lined up a whole page of bloggers to weigh in on eschatology, including Jewish, Hindu and atheist perspectives.
Harold Camping is the president of Family Radio, a national network of 66 Christian radio stations, the nearest of which is WMWK in Milwaukee. Camping has a history of end-of-the-world predictions. Remember September 6, 1994?
Camping doesn’t have much of a following among evangelicals, according to Darrel Bock, research professor of New Testament studies at Dallas Theological Seminary. Most evangelicals accept the words of Jesus Christ himself on this matter, “But about that date or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” (Mark 13:32 TNIV) Elsewhere Jesus said, “Watch out that you are not deceived.” (Luke 21:8 TNIV)
How is Camping calculating his predictions? It’s complicated but Ann Rodgers investigates his reasoning in her Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article.
The Words of Jesus
Snarky comic strips aside, the Second Coming of Jesus Christ remains a major tenet of the Christian faith. Jesus instructed his followers to watch and be ready. “At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.” (Luke 21:27 TNIV)
That was 2,000 years ago. Is there any indication that Jesus’ return is closer today than the nebulous future? I am not a student of eschatology, and there are certainly a variety of teachings based on different scripture passages.
The recent popularity of the Left Behind novels generated a lot of popular interest in the Second Coming, although of a superficial nature. A few decades earlier, back around 1970, The Late Great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsey rode (or generated) an earlier wave of interest.
Two Milestones
There do seem to be two important end times markers. One is the return of the Jews to Israel, unthinkable and illogical for 19 centuries, until it happened in 1948. The other is the proclamation of the gospel to the ends of the earth, to every people group. That has not happened yet but missions organizations are closing in on the target.
The Joshua Project of the U.S. Center for World Mission monitors unreached people groups. Their website reports that out of 16,689 identified people groups, there are 6,898 or 41.3 percent which are still unreached.
It seems like a big number, and a huge task. But the fact that the number has been calculated indicates that the end is not all that far off. That is, the end of reaching all of the identified groups.
Maybe there will be a few snickers in church Sunday about the folly of setting a date for the apocalypse. Assuredly a lot of foolish teaching has been proclaimed in relation to the Last Days, by those who would get ahead of God. Jesus said, “Don’t be fooled.” He also said, “When you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near.”