U.S. Judgment Day forecaster sets new doomsday date
Related News
- As hours tick by, "Judgment Day" looks a dud
Sun, May 22 2011- Broadcaster silent as "Judgment Day" hours tick by
Sat, May 21 2011- Predictor of May 21 doomsday to watch it on TV
Fri, May 20 2011- Predictor of May 21 Judgment Day to monitor news broadcasts
Thu, May 19 2011- Manila shrugging off foreign prophets of May 21 doomsday
Thu, May 12 2011Related Topics
By Steve Gorman
LOS ANGELES | Tue May 24, 2011 5:14am BST
(Reuters) - The evangelical Christian broadcaster whose much-ballyhooed Judgement Day prophecy went conspicuously unfulfilled on Saturday has a simple explanation for what went wrong -- he miscalculated.LOS ANGELES
Instead of the world physically coming to an end on May 21 with a great, cataclysmic earthquake, as he had predicted, Harold Camping, 89, said he now believes his forecast is playing out "spiritually," with the actual apocalypse set to occur five months later, on October 21.
Camping, who launched a doomsday countdown in which some followers spent their life's savings in anticipation of being swept into heaven, issued his correction during an appearance on his "Open Forum" radio show from Oakland, California.
The headquarters of Camping's Family Radio network of 66 U.S. stations had been shuttered over the weekend with a sign on the door that read, "This Office is Closed. Sorry we missed you!"
During a sometimes rambling, 90-minute discourse that included a question-and-answer session with reporters, Camping said he felt bad that Saturday had come and gone without the Rapture he had felt so certain would take place.
Reflecting on scripture afterward, Camping said it "dawned" on him that a "merciful and compassionate God" would spare humanity from "hell on Earth for five months" by compressing the physical apocalypse into a shorter time frame.
But he insisted that October 21 has always been the end-point of his own End Times chronology, or at least, his latest chronology.
The tall, gaunt former civil engineer with a deep voice and prominent ears has been wrong before. More than two decades ago, he publicly acknowledged a failed 1994 prophecy of Christ's return to Earth.
To publicize his latest pronouncement, the Family Radio network posted over 2,000 billboards around the country declaring that Judgement Day was at hand, and believers carried the message on placards in shopping malls and street corners.
Asked what advice he would give to followers who gave up much or all of their worldly possessions in the belief that his Judgement Day forecast would come true, Camping drew a comparison to the nation's recent economic slump.
"We just had a great recession. There's lots of people who lost their jobs, lots of people who lost their houses ... and somehow they all survived," he said.
"People cope, he added. "We're not in the business of giving any financial advice. We're in the business of telling people maybe there is someone you can talk to, and that's God."
(Editing by Greg McCune)
- Tweet this
- Link this
- Share this
- Digg this
- Reprints
We welcome comments that advance the story directly or with relevant tangential information. We try to block comments that use offensive language, all capital letters or appear to be spam, and we review comments frequently to ensure they meet our standards. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters.Comments (0)Be the first to comment on reuters.com.Add yours using the box above.
Social Stream (What's this?)This has been served from cache Request served from apache server: produk-web-04 Cached on Tue, 24 May 2011 11:36:15 GMT and will expire on Tue, 24 May 2011 11:41:15 GMT token: 9b2cce53-09cd-43d5-bae6-5a50359955db CSTAT-UUID: c769df0b-0e07-4979-9b98-0aa524a5812eJoin the real-time conversation.Comment using one of the social networks listed below.
Aah--that's it then!
No comments:
Post a Comment