Jesus did not return
on the 21st of May 2011
Matteüs 24:36 "But of that
hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, not the Son, but the
Father
only."
Saturday,
the 21st of May, is passed and Jesus Christ did not return to rapture
His Church and the judgment of God did not begin with a great
earthquake. That
all this would surely take place on that date was predicted – I say
with
emphasis not ‘prophesied’ by the 89 years old American preacher of the
‘Family
Radio Church’ in Oakland, California. This was in fact not the first
date that
he predicted for his first date for the rapture of the Church was 6
September
1994. He admitted that both these dates were wrong. He said that
perhaps it
should be understood in a spiritual way. But a few days after the 21st
of May he already announced a new date, the 21st of
September 2011.
And then ‘it will all surely happen.’ His followers have already
changed the
date on big advertisements boards in the cities. They believe that his
predictions are ‘based on the Bible.’ but this must be questioned, for
the
Bible does not mention these dates. They are purely his own theories,
interpretations and constructions of data and numbers in Biblical texts.
Camping his
not the first preacher to make such mistakes. The American Baptist
farmer William Miller set dates on which he predicted that Jesus would
return.
The first date he predicted was the 21st of March 1843, the
second
one was the 21st of March 1844 and
the third one 22 October 1844.
After the three wrong predictions with many dramatic results in the
lives of
people in the U.S.A. that had believed them, he admitted that a date
for the
return of Christ and the beginning of Gods judgement on the world
cannot be
predicted. William Miller wrote: “I
confess my errors and admit my disappointments, but nevertheless I
believe that
the day of the Lord is very close, and I admonish, you, my brothers and
sisters
to be watchful, be alert so that that day will not take you by
surprise.”
Miller’s predictions about the date for the return of Jesus became the
beginning of the emphasis on the return of Christ by the Seventh Day
Adventists, though he did not join this movement. But a first leader of
this
movement, Hiram Edson, discussed a day after the wrong date with a
friend, the
predictions and gave them the meaning that Jesus went to a sanctuary in
heaven
to begin there a new heavenly endtime-ministry.
The
Jehovah Witnesses have also
predicted dates about the return of Christ.
For instance, they predicted that He would return in 1914. But it
became the
year in which the First World War started in Europe. Later they said
about
their prediction that He had returned as an ‘invisible spiritual
person.’
In Holland we have had the ‘prophet’
van Geene, who had predicted that the
return of Christ and the judgement of the world would happen in the
year 2000.
Also in our country, people that had believed in him and his prediction
had
sold their homes and firms, marriages were ruined by it and the money
from
sales was donated to him.
It
saddens me that this has happened again. We observe that a convincing,
charismatic preacher and teacher with his hand on the Bible can so
easily win
believers for his insights and believes, while the Bible tells plainly
that
nobody knows the date of the return except the Father in heaven. But
many seem
to take a personal so called revelation or interpretation above a plain
statement. I close with Matthew 24:42, that still has in these days,
its divine
authority: “Watch therefore, for you do
not know on what day your Lord is coming.”
Postscript
On the 5th of March 2012 was
published that Harold Camping has sincerely repented of his sin - as he
called it himself - of predicting the return of Christ and the end of
the world. In 2011 he had predicted this for two dates (first in May
and later in October). He also deeply regrets all the trouble he as
caused in the lives op people. He will never again make such
predictions. I notice the remarkable similarity with what happened in
the 19th century when WIlliam Miller, a farmer, had predicted the
return of Jesus. After three predictions had also confessed to having
been wrong and having sinned in doing that.
Pastor
T. J. de Ruiter, 26th of May 2011, Holland, revised 9th of March
2012
Contact? E-mail... Pastor
T. J. de Ruiter
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Pastor T. J. de Ruiter / The Netherlands