Biblical Scholar Harold Egbert Camping Predicts Date of the Rapture will be May 21, 2011

Harold Camping predicts the Rapture will occur May 21, 2011 and the end of the world will occur October 21, 2011. This isn't the first bold prediction he has made about end times and nothing happened.

Move over Mayan calendar and the doomsday prophecy being pushed by some that we will face a global cataclysm or Judgment Day on December 21, 2012.  Biblical scholar Harold Egbert Camping has another theory. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, he says that 2012 date "has not one stitch of biblical authority." He theorizes that the Rapture will be May 21, 2011, with the end of the world occurring on October 21, 2011. He claims, after scrutinizing the Bible for almost 70 years, to have developed a mathematical system to interpret prophecies hidden within the Bible. His Eureka moment came one night when he crunched the numbers and discovered the end date will be in 2011.

Er, this isn't the first time Camping, a civil engineer,  has made such bold predictions about Judgment Day, so I would take this with a grain of salt. You see, on Sept. 6, 1994, dozens of his believers gathered inside the Veterans Memorial Building in Alameda, Ca., to await the return of Christ. Guess what? Nothing happened. The reality is that no-one knows if there will even be a Judgment day.

Meaning in numbers

By Camping's understanding, the Bible was dictated by God and every word and number carries a spiritual significance. He noticed that particular numbers appeared in the Bible at the same time particular themes are discussed.

The number 5, Camping concluded, equals "atonement." Ten is "completeness." Seventeen means "heaven." Camping patiently explained how he reached his conclusion for May 21, 2011.

"Christ hung on the cross April 1, 33 A.D.," he began. "Now go to April 1 of 2011 A.D., and that's 1,978 years." Camping then multiplied 1,978 by 365.2422 days - the number of days in each solar year, not to be confused with a calendar year.

Next, Camping noted that April 1 to May 21 encompasses 51 days. Add 51 to the sum of previous multiplication total, and it equals 722,500. Camping realized that (5 x 10 x 17) x (5 x 10 x 17) = 722,500. Or put into words: (Atonement x Completeness x Heaven), squared. "Five times 10 times 17 is telling you a story," Camping said. "It's the story from the time Christ made payment for your sins until you're completely saved. Source: San Francisco Chronicle

Doesn't the Bible clearly state in Matthew 24:36 that "no one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father." I rest my case. This is another doomsday predictor trying to make hay out of nothing. Well, we won't have to entertain the possibility that Sarah Palin will run for the presidency or that Dick Cheney could possibly entertain such a lofty ambition.

Harold Camping was born July 19, 1921 and is the president of Family Stations, Inc., which is a California-based ministry with broadcast facilities worldwide, including more than 150 outlets in the United States.

Photo credit:  Harold Camping, Family Stations Inc.