Recently, some billboards have been seen in Nashville, TN, that proclaim the message that Jesus Christ will return on May 21, 2011. Similar billboards also appear in eight other US cities. http://bit.ly/haPJKV
Reports say that supporters of Family Radio, a national Christian network, paid for the billboards, and that Harold Camping, the network's founder, predicted May 21, 2011, as the date for the rapture.
These billboards remind me of a similar claim made in the 1980s by Edgar C. Whisenant in his booklet: "88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988." Then, when the predicted rapture failed to occur, he indicated that he had miscalculated and it was really 1989, then 1993, then 1994. Wrong again and again. Now, of course he has no credibility whatsoever.
I am glad that Camping acknowledges that Jesus is coming again, for indeed the Bible teaches that is true. But, if Camping is wrong about the date he predicts, he will, of course, likewise lose any credibility he may have had. (BTW, purported prophets in the OT whose predictions didn't come true were killed!)
The truth of the matter is no one knows when Christ will come, but only the Father (Matt 24:36-44). But, we should be ready and live as though Christ might return at any moment.
What are your thoughts?
About Me
- Terry Wilder
- Nashville/Spring Hill, Tennessee
- I am happily married and the proud father of two sons. I serve as professor of New Testament at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. I served for three years as academic acquisitions editor for B&H Academic in Nashville, Tennessee, and 13 years as a professor of New Testament and Greek at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Missouri.
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