OOPS! APOCALYPSE ‘Not’ NOW!

Harold Camping was so convinced that the world would end on May 21st, that he put up millions of dollars to promote the theory and prepare the world.  Except, we’re all still alive and well.  So with egg all over his face (for the second time), what does Camping have to say to all his critics, now that he’s become the laughing stock of the world?

“I can tell you personally, that when May 21st came and went it was a very difficult time for me,” Camping told his listeners, and a collection of journalists live in his studio. Camping says he spent Saturday night in a hotel, avoiding the press and praying.  But when the end of days did not come as he expected, Camping realized that he had been “looking at the Bible too earthly, when the Bible is a very spiritual book.” So according to Camping: “We were convinced that on May 21st, God would return in a very physical way by bringing in an earthquake and ushering the final five months of judgement. When we look at it spiritually, we find that he did come.”  HUH???

See, the rapture did happen, it just didn’t happen in a “visible” way (HIS words, not mine).

But late Monday night, while still pulling at straws and stammering for a logical explanation, Camping went back on the radio to announce that the end is still near, except it will now happen around Oct. 21st.  Oops!

“Were not changing a date at all; we’re just learning that we have to be a little more spiritual about this,” he said during a rambling 90-minute radio broadcast that was half sermon and half press conference. “But on Oct. 21st, the world will be destroyed. It won’t be five months of destruction. It will come at once.” (Hey Camping: throw everything against the wall and just see what sticks).

Several of Camping’s diehard followers were bewildered when the world didn’t end as they had devoted their lives and money into believing.  One such case is that of 25-year-old John Ramsey of Harrison, NJ, who rearranged his entire life in recent months in order to spread Camping’s word of world destruction.  Ramsey quit his job, donated “a couple thousand” to Camping’s Family Radio network and even convinced family members to join him in spreading news of the Rapture throughout the streets of New York City.

So when May 21st rolled around, his family nervously huddled in their apartment living room, holding their Bibles open and switching between CNN, Facebook and Google for the impending news of quakes in the Pacific. They cried. They hugged. They argued. They waited.  But nothing happened.

Finally realizing by Sunday that they had been dooped, a dejected Ramsey said he faces a “mixed bag.” He now has to find a new job, as does his mother, since they both quit.  His 19-year-old brother, who had quit high school the year prior, saying “It’s pointless to graduate,” is now thinking of re-enrolling or finding employment.  And they’ll all wait and contemplate what to do next — at least until October 21st — when Camping will take a 3rd stab at predicting the end of the world!