Harold Camping is Wrong.

We survived May 21^st, without the return of Jesus inflicting judgment upon the world's inhabitants. And unless you've been living under a rock, you have heard about Harold Camping a California Radio network (called "Family Radio") owner, who spent a great deal of money to make sure America knew of his prophecy. Harold Camping is not a trained Bible instructor. He also is NOT associated with any denomination, and was punished by the last church he was a part of. He is just a guy who loves the Bible, and thought he had a secret message from his reading of Scripture, that only he understood. That Jesus' return would take place in 1994 (his first failed prophecy), no, I mean May 21, 2011. And this May 21^st prediction was also wrong.

I am not going to jump on the bandwagon of those making fun of him, or make hurtful statements about him. I truly feel sorry for him, and hope that he and his failed prophecies are quickly forgotten. I know of the power of when you feel the Spirit telling to do something, and then learning that this was not from God. So please have mercy on him. Instead, what I want to do with this post, is to review WHY Camping was wrong, and suggest that his failed method of Bible interpretation (looking at Old Testament verses on par with the New Testament teachings) is a warning for those who follow the Pre-Trib / Dispensational method of interpreting the Bible. The Traditional Church method of interpreting the Bible is to focus on the New Testament Gospels for the foundations of all doctrine for Christians. The New Testament Epistles help explain and shed further light on the Gospel teachings. And here is the important part of what I am saying – the Old Testament is read in light of what is taught and said in the New Testament. The teaching of Jesus in the Gospels sheds light and help us better understand what is in the Old Testament, not the other way around.

This is where Harold Camping, and other Pre-Trib Dispensationalists (the poster boy for what I am talking about is Tim LaHaye's 'Left Behind' end-times book series) go wrong. They treat Old Testament teachings as equally instructive for Christian foundational issues. Here is an example. Here is my brief (and too simplistic) explanation of Camping's failed prophecy: The Old Testament story of Noah's Ark took place on May 21^st , 7,000 years ago. For God a day is like 1,000 years (Psalm 90:4; 2 Peter 3:8). There are 7 days in Creation, and on the 7^th day God rested. So after the 7^th day (here 7,000 years), God will start something new – and it will start with Jesus' return that initiates God's judgment upon our world.

Here are some similar examples of Dispensationalist / Pre-Trib use of Old Testament verses to support their view of what takes place during the " end-times": Redevelopment of the Roman / European Empire (Daniel 2:32-33); The appearance of a Red Heifer after 2,000 years (Numbers 19:2-7), and ; The Rise of Russia (Ezekiel 38:2,4,8). Now some of these can be read along with what the New Testament books say about the "end-times", like Daniel 12:4, which predicts that during the "end-times" there will be a great increase in knowledge and travel. But otherwise, if we keep our focus on what is taught in the New Testament, then the errors of Harold Camping are avoided.

As an example, Jesus taught that the Day of Jesus' Return will come unexpectantly (Luke 21:34); and "no one knows the day or hour" (Matthew 24:36) when this return will take place. This should end anyone's attempts of telling the world when Jesus will return. And so, my hope is that we learn two things from Harold Camping's mistake of prophesying Jesus' return taking place on May 21, 2011: first, that we read everything in the Old Testament in light of what is taught in the New Testament; and, second that if anyone else predicts a date for Jesus' return, then we will boldly tell others that their prediction is false, and not in line with what Jesus taught. In Christ, /s/Tom Wolff

Law News

Hey, I am a lawyer after all. So I thought I would provide a few news stories involving the LAW. Here are the stories I thought that were interesting:

1. Osama Bin Laden's Will. Just 3 months after 9/11, Osama Bin Laden had his Will drafted. And in his Will, there were a couple of interesting provisions: his wives – not allowed to marry again. And his children – they are not allowed to join Al Qaeda. So much for continuing in the family business…
   

   
    

2. For 1^st time, more women getting advanced degrees than men. Story here. For the first time, American women have passed men in gaining advanced college degrees as well as bachelor's degrees, part of a trend that is helping redefine who goes off to work and who stays home with the kids….Among adults 25 and older, 10.6 million U.S. women have master's degrees or higher, compared to 10.5 million men. Measured by shares, about 10.2 percent of women have advanced degrees compared to 10.9 percent of men — a gap steadily narrowing in recent years. Women still trail men in professional subcategories such as business, science and engineering.
   

   When it comes to finishing college, roughly 20.1 million women have bachelor's degrees, compared to nearly 18.7 million men — a gap of more than 1.4 million that has remained steady in recent years. Women first passed men in bachelor's degrees in 1996…
   

   
    

3. Betting has gone crazy in the US. But have you thought about betting on whether or not someone will be convicted? You can do it at Intrade – which had as its odds that Raj Rajaratnam to be found guilty of at least one count of insider trading is 94% probable). He ended up being convicted.
   

   
    

4. Elizabeth Taylor Requests that She Will be Late to Her Own Funeral. Story here. True to the sense of humor and flair that defined her life, Elizabeth Taylor knew exactly how she wanted her final starring role to play out… The service was scheduled to begin at 2 pm but at Miss Taylor's request started late. Miss Taylor had left instructions that it was to begin at least 15 minutes later than publicly scheduled, with the announcement, "She even wanted to be late for her own funeral."
   

   
    

5. Most Americans Do Not Have a Will. Story here. The March 2011 survey of 1,001 adults revealed that more than half of all adults (57 percent) do not have a Will, including a shocking 92 percent of adults under age 35 and 44 percent of baby boomers (ages 45-64). Hey, you have to have a Will, so if you do not have one, give me a call or drop me an email at tewolff@aol.com.
   

The Lord Bless You

The cub scouts were out collecting bags of food yesterday for the food shelves. Yes, it was early, cold, raining and windy. But Elijah was a trooper. He kept knocking on door after door to see if people were willing to help the needy. And they were! With two scouts, we were able to collect 86 pounds of food. So it lifted my heart to see the willingness of people and their desire to give.

Today, I wanted to post on the topic of God's blessing. Who doesn't want to be blessed? Yes, and the classic statement of blessing comes from Numbers 6:22-27, which is sometimes called the Priestly (or Aaron's) Blessing. It is a blessing upon the nation of Israel, but it definitely looks as though it can also be claimed by New Testament believers. I say this because of the repetition of the name "Lord" or "Jehovah" three times (and as Matthew Henry points out, each use of Jehovah places a different accent in the original), expresses the great mystery of the Godhead—three persons, and yet one God. The expressions in the separate clauses correspond to the respective offices of the Father, to "bless and keep us" (v.24); of the Son, to be "gracious to us" (v.25); and of the Holy Spirit, to "give us peace." (v.26). This promise of blessing for New Testament believers also bring to mind 2 Corinthians 1:20 (all the promises of God find their Yes in him.) So here is the "Priestly Blessing", which is for everyone, Jew and non-Jew alike:

 

Numbers 6:22-27 (ESV)
²² The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²³ "Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus ^zyou shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them,

     ²⁴     The Lord bless you and keep you;

     ²⁵     the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;

     ²⁶     the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

²⁷ "So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them."

 

This Priestly blessing is also the oldest recovered verse of the O.T. and is found engraved on a piece of thin metal foil. Let's do a little unpacking of the meaning of these blessings: Verse 24 asks for God to "bless" and "keep" us. This blessing is upon each person. To receive his blessing of us is doing well for us; those whom he blesses are blessed indeed. For God to "keep" us is God to protect us. Blessed protection is the promise of verse 24.

 

Verse 25 speaks of God making "his face to shine" upon us and that he be "gracious" to us. The analogy here of God's face shining upon us is made to the sun pouring out its light upon. When we are bathed in the warmth and light of the sunshine, it feels wonderful. When we feel God's love upon us, the blessing is even greater: we cannot but be happy if we have God's love; and we cannot but be easy if we know that we have it. God's gracious love is the focus here in verse 25.

In verse 26, the blessing is of God's "countenance" upon us, and His shalom peace. God giving us His "countenance" seems to allude to the smiles of a father upon his child, or of a man upon his friend whom he takes pleasure in. If God give us the assurances of his special favor and his acceptance of us, this will put gladness into the heart, Ps. 4:7, 8. The promise of peace here is the greater peace of completeness, wholeness, health, peace, welfare, safety soundness, tranquility, prosperity, perfectness, fullness, rest, harmony, and the absence of agitation or discord. What a wonderful blessing in verse 26 of God's kindness and full peace being given to us.

Finally, in verse 27, because the benediction, though pronounced by the lips of a fellow man, derived its virtue, not from the priest but from God, the encouraging assurance was added, "I the Lord will bless them." It is up to God, and not dependent on anything about us or what we have done.

So here is my blessing upon you, May the Lord bless you and keep you; may the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; may the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. This blessing is for everyone, so please go out there this week and live in God's blessing upon you.