Harold Camping's hubristic claim that the Second Coming of Jesus will transpire on May 21st has bombed but the octogenarian is far from being fazed as revised with aplomb the apocalyptic date, resetting it for Oct. 21, 2011.

In spite of the media denunciations Camping proclaimed with chutzpah at a public appearance: 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.

Camping's explanation states that the rapture took place in a clandestine way. He stated: 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.

Camping's explanation is similar to the alibi given by founder of the Seventh-day Adventist movement William Miller. William Miller had prophesied that Jesus would return sometime between March 21, 1843 and March 21, 1844, an event which failed to occur. However, Samuel Snow covered up the failure by interpreting the delay as tarrying time based on the book of Habakkuk 2:3. He postponed the date by 7 months and 10 day to Oct. 22, 1844. This date also passed uneventfully which led to an exodus of followers and the day was termed as The Great Disappointment.

But the remaining followers conjured a new explanation for the non-occurrence of the event. They propounded a new theory called investigative judgment of the world. According to this theory Jesus had entered into the Most Holy Place on the date given by Miller and had started a process through which there is an examination of the heavenly records to determine who, through repentance of sin and faith in Christ, are entitled to the benefits of His atonement after which time Jesus will return to earth.

And while camping has recalibrated his numerical formula to quote a new end of the world day he has also left his followers like Robert Fitzpatrick who spent $140,000 of his life savings to promote Camping's promotion blitzkrieg, in quandary. He said he was not responsible for the bad judgment his followers made about the Judgment Day. They should have relied on God and not me ... Family Radio is not in the business of financial advice, he said.

However Camping's flagrant denial of the failed prediction is a learnt trait as he has been through the same predicament in 1994. Camping had made a similar assertion that world would end in September 1994. However, when the event failed to occur Camping was as unrepentant and brazen as he is today. Camping explained the failure of prediction to ChristianityToday in 1994 as: Apparently it was incorrect, he further explained: Obviously this has not happened, so that was inaccurate. He said that he had somehow misunderstood the importance of the Jewish Feats of Tabernacles. However he brazenly stated that that Christ would still return before the end of 1994, and that the tarrying period could be a blessing, as it would reveal who genuinely turned to Christ.

Speaking with ChristianityToday B.J. Oropeza, research assistant at the Christian Research Institute (CRI), said that he had challenged Camping on radio's Dick Staub Show September 21, 1994, to repent of his errors in teaching. Camping responded that he would admit mistakes in calculations but further added: I don't know what you mean by the word repent.

Harold Camping was back in the game again in 2001 when he issued a controversial tract titled Has the Era of the Church Age Come to an End? in which encouraged believers to shun spiritual leadership of the church basing his theory on the Jesus' admonition to believers to flee Jerusalem. This teaching pitched him against the mainline churches that started losing members.

Camping has given a new date, Oct. 21, 2011. But if the same logic by which he reached the May 21st date which is a day is like a thousand years (2 Peter 3:8) is applied to Camping's theory, then its 153 days from May 21st to Oct. 21, 2011. Thus multiplying a day with 1000 years it will require 153,000 years for Camping's theory to come true.

The Rapture Religion