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False Prophecies About The Day of Judgment Introduction: Many have predicted the end of the world in earlier times. Obviously they were wrong and so was Harold Camping. I) Facts About Harold Camping A) Earlier predictions 1. Predicted the world would end: May 21, 1988; September 7. 1994; may 21, 2011. 2. Based on mathematical calculations: the last was supposedly based on 5 X 7 X 10 and the answer squared. Why? Because those numbers supposedly represented certain aspects of God. 3. May 21, 2011 there was supposed to be the rapture of the righteous, and then a period of tribulation. Earthquakes, famines, would occur and people would suffer until God destroyed the word on October 21. B) Numerous people bought into this prophesy. 1. One man spent $140,000 to advertize the end of the age and spent Saturday in New York Times reading the Bible until 6 pm. When the end did not come he said, "I don't understand why it didn't happen." 2. One man took his family on a trip to the Grand Canyon. He maxed out his credit cards and waited. Afterward he said it was a good trip and he wished the end had come because he now has to pay off the cards. 3. Some tragedies occurred. One woman took her two daughters and sliced their throats because she did not want them to suffer if they were not raptured. C) Some reactions to the end not coming 1. Of course the atheist pointed to this as showing the ignorance of religious people. How gullible some religious people are. a. There is a difference between superstition and Christianity. b. The Bible was not wrong, Harold Camping was wrong. 2. Harold Camping said he did not understand what happened. He did not know why the end did not come on May 21, 2011. 3. Camping's PR aide, Tom Evans, told the L. A. Times that the group is "disappointed" that 200 million true believes weren't lived up to heaven on Saturday while everyone else suffered and eventually died as a series of earthquakes and famine destroyed the Earth. "you can Imagine we're pretty disappointed, but the word of God is still true," Evans said. "We obviously went too far, and that's something we need to learn from." 2 John 9 D) The second reactions was "oops!" We were wrong but were we? 1. Camping said he was off by 5 months. The end will come October 21st. 2. May 21 was the "spiritual" Judgment Day, which places the entire world under Christ's judgment. a. Really, he went too far! He spoke where the Bible does not speak, 1 Peter 4.11 b. The whole earth is already under Christ's judgment, Matthew 28.18ff. 3. God's judgment and salvation were completed on Saturday?! a. It true then it is useless to preach the Gospel of Christ. b. How do we know this happened? c. Harold Camping is now in damage control. he is redefining what he meant by the "Day of Judgment." It is now a spiritual judgment. d. He missed calculated by 5 months. Not May 21 but October 21. III) My Reaction to This A) True prophets of God do not need mulligan's 1. Deut. 13.1-3; 18.15ff those who claim to be speaking for God and get it wrong are not speaking for God. 2. We are warned in the New Testament about false teachers and prophets, 1 John 4.1ff; 2 Peter 2. B) We have to "rightly divide the word of God" 2 Timothy 2.15 (handle accurately) 1. God did not give us secret codes and mathematical equations to figure out His message. 2. God has not revealed to us when the end will come, Mark 13.32-33; Matthew 24.36 a. this means we cannot figure out or discover when the end will come. b. If God had wanted us to know He would have told us. C) The end will be the end and not the beginning of the end 1. Jesus' church has already been established, Acts 2.47 2. Jesus' kingdom has been established, Col. 1.13 3. When Jesus returns all will be raised from the grave, 1 Corinthians 15.24-27 4. When Jesus returns everyone will know it, 1 Thess. 4.16-17 5. When Jesus returns everyone will be judged, John 5.28-29 6. When Jesus returns the earth will be destroyed, 2 Peter 3.10 Conclusion: the end of the world did not come on May 21, 2011. However, some people the end did come on that day. Over 140 people were killed in a tornado in Joplin, Missouri. Others died in accidents, some died from heart attached, some from cancer, others from some other illness. They are now waiting for the Day of Judgment. My point is the end may not come in our life time but we will die and face God in judgment, 2 Cor. 5.10. We do not know when we will die but we will die. We do not know when Jesus will return but He will return. We do not know when but we know we will be judged. We need to be ready.
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