God Has Spoken – Camping Suffers Stroke

On May 24^th on Family Radio a caller called in and asked Harold Camping “why don’t you retire?”  Harold quickly responded that if God wanted him to retire there are a lot of ways he could show it, by taking his voice away, striking him dead or giving him a stroke that would impair his talking.

Well God has spoken, on June 9^th 2011 only 17 days after Camping’s failed prediction of the Rapture happening, Harold Camping suffered a stroke that has left his speech slurred. 

Family Radio is expected to give an update on Camping’s condition on Monday.

The Bent Spoon – We’re Still Here – ISSUE 2!

ISSUE 2 OF THE BENT SPOON IS HERE….AGAIN IT’S THE PERFECT PRICE…FREE!!!

BS002

Judgment Day DID Happen – According to Harold Camping

According to host of Family Radio’s Open Forum, Harold Camping, made a live statement last night saying that Judgment Day did in fact happen on May 21^st, 2011 at 6pm.  However it happened in a way he wasn’t expecting it to.  You see for months Camping has been saying there would be rolling earthquakes and the dead would be flung out of their graves and all the chosen people would be taken to heaven in the blink of an eye.  I think it is safe to say, we know nothing of that sort happened.  Still Harold claims it did in fact happen, it just wasn’t physical it was spiritual.

Jesus came back in spirit form, the Day of Judgment has come and God has condensed all the great physical tragedies to happen on October 21^st, 2011.  This is the date Camping has been saying is the end of the world.

Now if you are a reader of Pork Rhine, I made a post a few days back called “What Will Harold Camping Say on May 22^nd”.  I made a few predictions if anyone remembers, I said this:

“Camping may go the route of the Jehovah witness and say Jesus is here except he is invisible.

Camping may say “Oh God has spared us Judgement day.  Most merciful God has left the day of salvation open for us, be thankful for this everyone.  I was not wrong about May 21^st, the Bible guaranteed it, not me, I am just a humble servant.  But our little peanut brains can’t understand the mind of God, just be glad salvation is still available to us because the world is still going to end October 21^st, 2011.

What we are not going to hear on May 22^nd is Harold admitting that he was wrong.  For Harold to admit he is wrong would make him a false prophet by his own belief system and that won’t happen…I GUARANTEE IT!” 

If we take the two predictions I made and create a hybrid of the two, it is exactly what Camping said last night. 

This is actually what Camping did say:

“On May 21, this last weekend, this is where the spiritual aspect of it really comes through. God again brought judgment on the world. We didn’t see any difference but God brought Judgment Day to bear upon the whole world. The whole world is under Judgment Day and it will continue right up until Oct. 21, 2011 and by that time the whole world will be destroyed.”

Also we didn’t hear Camping admit he made a mistake or that he was wrong and no apology was made.  As a matter of fact he made the most incredibly insensitive comment I have ever heard.  One of the news reporters asked a question about how Camping felt about the people who used their own personal money for the billboards, people who spent their life savings and sold their homes because of what Harold predicted.  Camping gave the coldest response in only 2 words “people cope”. 

  Anyway I am not interested in listening to October 21^st warnings, so this will be the last time I write about Harold Camping.  His track record speaks for itself

1988 – WRONG!

1994 – WRONG!

Before the year 2000 – WRONG!

May 21^st, 2011 – WRONG!

Following the pattern?  I will make one last prediction…THE WORLD IS NOT GOING TO END ON OCTOBER 21^st, 2011.

Did Harold Camping Retire?

So last night Harold Camping announced that the Open Forum that aired 5/19/11 was his last time he would be on air.  Something tells me this is Camping’s way of retiring or that he was told that come Monday if we are still here Open Forum will not have a time slot.  Of course this is just speculation, the reason Camping may have said that was because he truly believes the world will end tomorrow 5/21/11 at approximately 6pm.

I have speculated a lot when talking about Camping, for example what he is going to say to weasel out of his failed prediction and right now, when talking about the reason he announced that Open Forum was done.  You see, all of Harold Campings teachings revolve around this prediction and he has sort of backed himself into a corner that he will not be able to get himself out of.  This is going to make Camping a false prophet by his own teaching.  When May 22^nd comes and no one is raptured, Family Radio will lose a lot of listeners, not to mention the mockery this is going to make out of the organization. 

I feel that Camping will owe the listeners of Family Radio an explanation of what happened on May 22nd.  However I am very skeptical that a statement by Camping will be made.  I think he will just fade out of the picture.  The only way Family Radio will be able to be taken seriously among believers again is to make sure Harold stays gone.  

At one point in time Family Radio was considered a very highly recommended Bible ministry, now if you google the name all you see are terms like false prophet, charlatan and heretic.  These are pretty serious terms to be used in the Christian community.  Though I don’t believe in the authenticity of the Bible, I have no qualms with people labeling Camping with every one of these terms. 

Camping claims that the Bible has given him proofs that the world will be ending on May 21^st 2011 at 6pm.  The major problem I see with this claim is that, it can’t be a proof until after it happens.  But how do the other employees at Family Radio feel about this prediction?  I was actually blown away to find out that about 80% of the employees do not believe the world is going to end on Saturday at 6PM. 

A receptionist at Family Radio had an interview with CNNMoney and said:

But not even all of his own employees are convinced that the world is ending on Saturday. In fact, many still plan on showing up at work on Monday.

“I don’t believe in any of this stuff that’s going on, and I plan on being here next week,” a receptionist at their Oakland headquarters told CNNMoney.

A program producer in Illinois told us, “We’re going to continue doing what we’re doing.”

However one thing I have to say is that this isn’t a scam for money.  It is no secret that Family Radio is worth hundreds of millions of dollars, but Harold Camping doesn’t even take his own salary; he does Open Forum as a volunteer.  He doesn’t charge one penny for anything, not even shipping for his books, he gives them all away for free.  And according to CNNMoney “The nonprofit employed about 350 people and paid $8.3 million in salaries (about $23,000 per person) in 2009. The IRS filings don’t show more recent donations and expenses leading up to the May 21 Judgment Day prediction.” 

If Camping isn’t making a profit off this May 21^st, 2011 campaign.  I think it is safe to say he is just crazy.

What Will Camping Say May 22nd?

So with the rapture right around the corner (according to Harold Camping) I thought it would be fun to play a little game.  When people call in to Camping’s radio program “Open Forum” he has a lot of people that ask “what are you going to do on May 22^nd?”  I think this is a fair question, however Camping always says the same dull boring answer “I am not going to even entertain the thought, the rapture will happen on May 21^st.”

So what is Camping going to say?  Well I have a few predictions.

Camping preaches 2 things frequently on his program.  “Cry mightily unto God” and he talks about how God was going to destroy the Ninevites in the book of Jonah.  However in the book of Jonah God spared Nineveh after the Ninevites cried mightily unto God.

This is going to be what Harold is going to say about us in the present times.  It will probably be something similar to this: “Oh most wonderful God has spared us from destruction after hearing our pleas.  Just like he did to the Ninevites, praise God for his excellence and mercy.”

Camping may go the route of the Jehovah witness and say Jesus is here except he is invisible.

We may hear something to the effect of “the Bible is a very complex thing and we must have overlooked something.”

 And my last prediction sounds a little like number one, Camping may say “Oh God has spared us Judgement day.  Most merciful God has left the day of salvation open for us, be thankful for this everyone.  I was not wrong about May 21^st, the Bible guaranteed it, not me, I am just a humble servant.  But our little peanut brains can’t understand the mind of God, just be glad salvation is still available to us because the world is still going to end October 21^st, 2011.

What we are not going to hear on May 22^nd is Harold admitting that he was wrong.  For Harold to admit he is wrong would make him a false prophet by his own belief system and that won’t happen…I GUARANTEE IT!  Camping honestly believes his is some sort of prophet from God, like a modern day Noah or Jonah.  I don’t think he has any malicious intent for making this May 21st claim, I honestly believe he really thinks it is going to happen in 2 days.  Personally, I just want to see how he is going to weasel out of it.  He is also working with something more valuable to him than any amount of money and probably the biggest reason he will not admit he was wrong.  It is Harold Camping’s very own pride…one of the seven deadly sins…GASP!

Something Funny I Notice on Family Radio’s Website

Sorry I haven’t been updating Pork Rhine as often as I should, I have been crazy busy working on The Bent Spoon.  However I noticed something very funny on Harold Camping’s website at Family Radio.

 

Check out the Special Promotions availability dates.  Camping says the end will happen May 21^st, but on his site he is saying his special promotions last till the 25^th, hmmmm.  It is nice to know that we will still be given the opportunity to read up on May 21^st even after it happens.

Why Do We Justify Foolish Beliefs? Interview with Social Psychologist Dr. Carol Tavris

Dr. Carol Tavris

Recently Jason Korbus and I had the privilege to speak to Dr. Carol Tavris. Dr. Tavris is a social psychologist and author whose work has tackled such topics as misconceptions about anger and feminism. Her latest book is called “Mistake Were Made, But Not By Me” and touches on how cognitive dissonance theory and other ideas from psychological research explain how, as the subtitle suggests, people justify foolish beliefs, bad decisions, and hurtful acts.  This is a very interesting interview; trust me you want to download this.

To download this interview, right click the link and save target as.

www.para-help.com/sfrbobby/sfr_show146_hour2.mp3

Interview with Gunther vonHarringa about Judgment Day on May 21, 2011

On Sunday May 1^st, 2011 (20 days left!) we discussed the end of the world. May 21, 2011. You’ve probably seen the billboards around your town, or maybe you’ve heard about it on television, radio, or read about it online. So, what exactly is all the fuss about, and how and why does Harold Camping and Family Radio believe and promote this idea? We’ll ask our guest, Gunther vonHarringa, who is described by Family Radio as a capable and experienced teacher who is familiar with the warning of May 21 and has given several interviews on the topic. For more information, please visit WWW.FAMILYRADIO.COM

Direct link www.para-help.com/sfrbobby/sfr_show145_hour3.mp3 (right click and save target as.)

Not Again Harold

I can remember when I was a little kid scared to death of a prediction made by a man my father used to listen to, host of Family Talk Radio, Harold Camping.

Harold Camping

The prediction was made in Camping’s book 1994 that Christ was going to come back sometime between September 15-17 of that year. Using some crazy numerology methods camping was able to convince himself Jesus was born October 4^th in the year 7 B.C. and took a passage found in the book of John where Christ tells his disciples who were 200 cubits into the sea of Galilee to throw the fishing nets off the boat. Camping stated that the 200 cubits represents the 2000 years from the first to the second coming of Christ. So Camping took the year of Christ’s birth, 7 B.C. and subtracted 1 for the year 0 and got 6, he then took the 2000 and subtracted 6 and got 1994.

After reading it now I realize how ridiculous this is, but when I was 10 it was seriously terrifying to me. Well as everyone reading this knows, 1994 came and went and Christ never returned…SURPRISE!!! When the world didn’t end in 1994 my father and lots of people stopped listening to Harold Camping. However throughout the years the listeners of Family Radio grew plentiful and Camping seems to be up to his old tricks. According to this wonderful mathematician (sarcasm) Harold has decided to play the numbers game again.

Somehow Camping came up with the year 4990 B.C. as the definitive year of the flood. The Bible also says God told Noah to warn the people they had 7 days to get to safety on the ark. The Bible also states that God closed the door to the ark on the 17^th day of the second month of that year (4990 B.C.). So by using some non clever picking and choosing Camping looked at a verse from 2 Peter 3:8 which reads “But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.”

According to Prophet Camping when God told Noah to warn the people they had 7 days to get to safety or they would all die in the flood, he was also telling us that he was going to destroy the world in 7000 years. And if we use Camping’s math which is 4990 (year of the flood) + 2011 (the year it is now) – 1 ( minus 1 for year 0) we get 7000, this is an astounding revelation, just kidding. Well on the Family Radio website, it states:

“Because the year 2011 A.D. is exactly 7,000 years after 4990 B.C. when the flood began, the Bible has given us absolute proof that the year 2011 is the end of the world during the Day of Judgment, which will come on the last day of the Day of Judgment. 

Amazingly, May 21, 2011 is the 17^th day of the 2^nd month of the Biblical calendar of our day. Remember, the flood waters also began on the 17^th day of the 2^nd month, in the year 4990 B.C.”

That’s right folks, Camping is predicting that the world will end on May 21^st of this year. It didn’t end in 1994 when this great mystic made his first prediction and I think it is a pretty safe bet it isn’t going to end on May 21, 2011, and when it doesn’t I hope Family Radio pulls the plug on his mic for good, which in my opinion that is something that should have happened 17 years ago.