Oops. Wrong Again

Well, the time of the Lord's second coming has come and gone. The rapture has not occurred. But wait! Oct 21st 2011...Harold Camping says "The world will at that time expire in a catastrophic earthquake of unparallelled proportions and conflagration that consumes all the wicked as the Lord returns in flaming fire taking vengence on those who do not know God and obey the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.(2 Thess 1:) . I think you can rest assured that won't happen neither. Bad doctrine ....bad theology....bad results.
How many people have now had their faith and trust in Jesus Christ damaged or destroyed by this man and his ilk. Harold Camping...Family Radio. Great music on their numerous radio stations. The worst false doctrine and heretical teaching you can imagine. James said it best, "My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment."
Deut 18 addresses the problem of false prophets (:19 the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’ ²¹ And if you say in your heart, ‘How shall we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?’— ²² when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.)
Who is this false prophet who failed for the THIRD time to get it right on the second coming of Christ? He's the 89-year-old president of Family Radio, a California-based religious network which broadcasts to more than 150 stations across America. Many sold the farm, their homes, their stuff to await the rapture of the church. Why? Scripture tells us. "the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; ⁴ and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables." (2 Tim 2:2-4)
What is truth on the second coming of Jesus Christ and the gathering of His people to Himself? We simply do not know the year, the day or the hour. No one knows except God the Father. (matt. 24: “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but My Father only." )
Now the world, wants to condemn all Christians for the blunder of this pompeous, self appointed prophet of the Bible. Scripture tells us not to add to the words of Scripture. Or to presume on God. Something Harold Camping has done before in 1994. He had two dates sept and dec 24th. It didn't happen. So he's juggled the math and secret codes hidden in the Bible (??) and, well, I don't have to tell you what happened.
Listen, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure this out. In fact, it might be a good idea that you're not. Anyone remember Edgar C. Whisenant a former NASA engineer and Bible student who predicted the Rapture would occur in 1988, sometime between Sept. 11 and Sept. 13. He published two books about this: 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988 and On Borrowed Time.
As the great day approached, regular programming on the Trinity Broadcast Network (TBN) was interrupted to provide special instructions on preparing for the Rapture.When the predicted Rapture failed to occur, Whisenant followed up with later books with predictions for various dates in 1989, 1993, and 1994. These books did not sell in quantity. Whisenant continued to issue various Rapture predictions through 1997, but gathered little attention.( Wikipedia) Thank God.
DOCTRINE MATTERS. Good, sound, Biblical teachers abound. They follow the teachings in the Bible. They preach the TRUTH without compromise. Allistair Begg, RC Sproul, John Macarthur, three of my personal favorites. Listen, test all things said by every teacher. And know this.
" as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. ³⁸ For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, ³⁹ and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. ⁴² Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour^[f] your Lord is coming. "(matt 24)
This has been an occassion for the world to mock Christianity. To hold last days parties. To proclaim, "see, nothing happened. Listen, we don't know the day or the hour but Scripture says it is going to happen. Remember with the Lord "One day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day."
" ¹ Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder), ² that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us,the apostles of the Lord and Savior, ³ knowing this first: that scoffers (mockers) will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, ⁴ and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.” ⁵ For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, ⁶ by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. ⁷ But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. "¹⁰ But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. (2 Peter 3)
¹ Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, “Go and pour out the bowls of the wrath of God on the earth.” ¹⁵ “Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame.”
¹⁶ And they gathered them together to the place called in Hebrew, Armageddon.(Rev 16)
¹ But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. ² For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. ³ For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape.(1Thess 5)
But for those of us who have been brought from death to life. From darkness to light Scripture says..."the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷ Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. ¹⁸ Therefore comfort one another with these words."
And remember. we do not know the day or hour. But we know Jesus Christ will return for His people. When the fullness of the time comes. Set forth by God the Father, in eternity past.