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In the Name of God, Amen
The purpose of this Department is to the Glory of God through means of accountability. Arguments used by fellow Workers of Righteousness that are nevertheless in error shall be documented. The corrections shall be sections based on subject and within each subject they shall be listed in chronological order.
A Critical Analysis of “The Pathology of Liberalism” by Joan Swirsky
Environmental Issues
Ethical Issues
Evolutionism/Creationism
Interfaith Issues
Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
Myths
Our “Great Disappointment”
By Michael Gryboski
There is something in the human condition that engenders the belief that our generation is the greatest generation or the peak generation or, oftentimes, the last generation. Ever since the First Century, when Jesus said He was coming again and that no man would ever know the day or hour, people have periodically shown up claiming to know the exact day and hour, which was the very thing Jesus said they would never know.
The latest high profile example came courtesy Harold Camping, president and founder of Family Stations, Inc. Initially a Fundamentalist Protestant group, over time Camping cut ties with the churches connected to his widely syndicated radio broadcast due to his belief that all churches had gone apostate, in tune with his interpretation of the Book of Revelation. Camping had made an end times prophecy before, stating with great certainty that 1994 would be the last year. Undaunted, he adjusted his findings and concluded that the real date of the end would be May 21st, AD 2011.
As the date neared, he even put an hour to it: 6:00 PM. One skeptical caller into his primetime “Open Forum” program asked how the end would come given that in some parts of the world it would still be May 20th, to which Camping answered that the Rapture would come to each time zone when it hit the 6:00 PM mark. This meant that far from being a twinkling of an eye, Camping believed the mass disappearance of believers would take place over the span of a day.
We all know the result of Camping’s well publicized predication. Yet what might not be all that well known is that in many respects Camping being wrong is a victory for Biblical Fundamentalism. As many Christians pointed out, Matthew 24:36 says, “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” This verse, constantly ignored by those who claim to know when the Second Coming will happen, was always a stumbling block for Camping. When callers to his program would bring this up, he engaged in a clever circular reasoning. Granted, he would argue, Jesus said no one not even Himself would know the day or hour…in their time. Camping believed that as the end drew near signs would be revealed that would show the exact time of Rapture.
In other words, Camping believed he could foretell the exact day and hour because we were near the day and hour. Yet, as with too many armchair seers before him, Camping was wrong. His efforts draw a parallel to the nineteenth century with a group known as the Millerists, led by William Miller. Like Camping, whose educational background was in engineering, Miller was a farmer by trade and only an amateur studier of theology. Nevertheless, Miller claimed with great certainty that the Rapture of the righteous would occur around 1843, using a complex numerical logic similar to the numerical claims of Camping.
Eventually the Millerist Movement as a whole concluded that the date of the end would be October 22nd, AD 1844. As with Camping’s followers, they advertised and expended great amounts of wealth propagating their message. And as with Camping, the fruits of their labors was revealed as time continued to roll on. Camping is our century’s Miller, Family Radio our Millerist Movement. When the Millerists’ prophecy failed, it was dubbed “the Great Disappointment of 1844.” Consider last Saturday May 21st to be “The Great Disappointment of 2011.”
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