End of the World Controversy: Rebuking the 5/21/11 Apocalypse Prophecies

[David Newby]

End of the World Issue
Much has been in the news lately about the supposed ‘End of the World’, which by the way is supposed to happen today, 5/21/11 at 6PM EST. I have one word for it all: BOGUS. I am no prophet, priest, or any other renowned spiritual leader. Here is what I am: an everyday man who happens to know God and His Word.
I am taking a huge risk by posting this message. Either I will have convinced you that no man knows the time or the hour when the world will end and the current predictions are false, or I will be in a new world at 6:01 PM, asking the false prophets for forgiveness. I believe the former will occur. There are several reasons why I contest the argument of the world ending today at 6PM:

What Sayeth the Word of God?
God says in His Word, the Bible that even the elect will be fooled in the last days. I’m sure you can attest to the fact that many Christians, or so-called ‘believers’ are flocking to the false prophesies. Nonetheless, Jesus said Himself, that there would be many false prophesies and lies in the last days leading up to His return. Now, I normally don’t post entire scriptures on my blog, but this is important enough to do so. Please read Matthew 24 below, especially verse 11.

Mat 24:1 And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple.
Mat 24:2 And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.
Mat 24:3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?
Mat 24:4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
Mat 24:5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
Mat 24:6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
Mat 24:7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
Mat 24:8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
Mat 24:9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.
Mat 24:10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
Mat 24:11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
Mat 24:12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
Mat 24:13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
Mat 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
Mat 24:15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand
Mat 24:16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:
Mat 24:17 Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:
Mat 24:18 Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.
Mat 24:19 And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
Mat 24:20 But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:
Mat 24:21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
Mat 24:22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.
Mat 24:23 Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.
Mat 24:24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
Mat 24:25 Behold, I have told you before.
Mat 24:26 Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.
Mat 24:27 For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
Mat 24:28 For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.
Mat 24:29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
Mat 24:30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
Mat 24:31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Mat 24:32 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:
Mat 24:33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
Mat 24:34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
Mat 24:35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
Mat 24:36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
Mat 24:37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
Mat 24:38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
Mat 24:39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
Mat 24:40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
Mat 24:41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
Mat 24:42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
Mat 24:43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
Mat 24:44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
Mat 24:45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?
Mat 24:46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
Mat 24:47 Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.
Mat 24:48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;
Mat 24:49 And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;
Mat 24:50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,
Mat 24:51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be

Unfulfilled Prophecies
How can the world end today? Prophecy has not been fulfilled. What happened to the:

-Return of the AntiChrist [*Which cannot occur until the church is raptured*]
-7 years’ tribulation [Matthew 24:21]
-Two witnesses [Revelation 11:3]
-The ascension of the Beast [Revelation 11:7]
-Rapture of the Church [1Thessalonians 4:17]
-Abomination of desolation [Daniel 8:13]

And so on?

I’m no expert in biblical prophecy, but I know that many of these things and MORE must occur before the world ends.

Know Them By Their Fruit
You can recognize true servants of God by their fruit. Connect with people of God that bare God’s spirit and His fruit [See Galatians 5:22 and Ephesians 5:9]. I have two cases for you below that indicates bad fruit amongst the ‘end-of-the world’ group:

-A Hiding Prophet?
First, why is the group’s leader, Harold Camping, in hiding? Shouldn’t he be leading the group? Doesn’t God send prophets TO the people and not AWAY from the people????????? Maybe he is smart enough to know that he shouldn’t even believe himself. He knows that he will be ashamed once his false prophecies do not come to pass. So he hides himself to avoid the embarrassment he will face. His prediction will fall to earth like a deflated balloon. I would not hide my good fruit. Would you hide yours?

Instead of hiding, Camping should be being the ‘light of the world’ [Matthew 5:14]. Then again, I wouldn’t want that light and neither should you. He should be ashamed of himself for claiming to be a servant of God, yet leading God’s people astray.

-A Sacrificing Saint?
Secondly, a member of the same group making the ‘end of the world’ claims allegedly sacrificed her own son unto God. Yes, she killed her son as an offering, if I’m not mistaken. As far as I know, the only thing the servants of God should be sacrificing are their lives for the sake of the Kingdom. That is simply to say, you should sacrifice your mind, body (time, work, etc.), and spirit to fulfill the will of God.

I can’t remember where any one’s son was sacrificed unto God in the Bible. God called Abraham to offer his son, Isaac as a sacrifice. However, before Abraham continued with the sacrifice, God stopped him from offering Isaac and God provided Himself a ram to be sacrificed. God simply wanted to test Abraham to see if he would obey God in light of his love for Isaac, his son. In any event, Isaac was not sacrificed, or killed; and Abraham was blessed (as the father of all nations) for his obedience. However, there are countless stories in the Bible where people who worshipped idols offered their sons and daughters as sacrifices to their gods [See 2Kings 17:17, Jeremiah 32:35, Ezekiel 20:31, Ezekiel 23:37].

**Note: Satan, the devil, Lucifer, Beelzebub, Baal, or whatever you want to refer to him as, is the only one that takes pleasure in killing the sons and daughters of men. God has no pleasure in ‘killing’ us. Instead, He wants us to have life and have it abundantly according to His will [See John 10:10].**

God will not cause you to sacrifice your sons and daughters. That is of the devil. If that weren’t the case, why didn’t God allow Abraham to sacrifice Isaac? Note: God was testing Abraham’s obedience! The Bible is about learning lessons and applying them to our lives. That was the lesson in the case of Abraham:

**Obey God with all your heart [not necessarily ‘sacrifice your children’]**

Learn the Truth
For once and for all, learn the truth about God. Don’t become worried or afraid about the gossip that occurs all around you. Here’s how you need to do instead in order to have peace in the midst of chaos:

-Stop listening to false prophets.
-Stop listening to astrologers.
-Stop listening to the lies and deceit of the devil, who is so strategic and crafty in his assaults that he can turn the whole body [people of God] by controlling the tongue [false words and false prophecies].
-Connect with God…He will lead you to ‘still waters’ and green pastures [See Psalm 23]

**Note: Learn about God! He will direct you to who or what He wants you to believe.**

In Closing
If you really know God, you would not care when the world ended—you would be Raptured before the world ended, AND you would be living in the perfect peace, protection, and provision of God in the meantime.

**God is about peace and order; the devil is about chaos and confusion [See John 14]**

Joh 14:27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

Last But Not Least……

**REST IN THE PEACE OF GOD. ENJOY THE DAILY JOURNEY THAT WE CALL LIFE, AND LET GOD DIRECT YOU WHERE HE MAY. IF YOU DIE TODAY, SO BE IT—YOU CANNOT STOP IT. IF YOU DIE TOMORROW SO BE IT—YOU CANNOT STOP IT. THESE ARE THE THINGS YOU NEED TO DO, AND THESE THINGS ONLY:

-GET TO KNOW GOD
-OBEY HIM, AND
-DO HIS WILL…..

EVERYTHING ELSE WILL WORK OUT FOR YOUR GOOD.**

[4jacks]

I'm not an expert on this whole matter either. But I think you got there prediction a little off. Saturday was suppose to be the second coming of Christ (rapture) they predicted the end of the world for October of this year. Not the end of the world as Saturday.

Also, I think the MOST important thing to consider about this Camping and the Family Radio thing that he does is that he speaks about the Church age being over and tells his listeners not to go to church. Now that this prediction is proven bogus there are a large group of people who may be open to an invitation to attend a real church.