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