How To Interpret the Bible - Literally Or Allegorically

Should the Bible Be Interpreted Allegorically or Literally?

There is a schism in Christendom over how the Bible should be interpreted. The liturgical, modern, liberal, and fringe churches tend to interpret the Bible in a very loose and allegorical way. The fundamentalist, evangelical, and Bible churches tend to take it more literally, although even they allegorize some passages beyond the passages that are obviously allegorical such as parables and visions. So who is right? Is there any way to determine how God intended us to interpret the Bible?

First of all, this argument is really only for those who say they believe in God. Atheists, no matter what, have decided to reject God, so it is a matter of complete indifference to them how we choose to interpret it. As a believer in God though, it becomes a matter of extreme importance, although many do not realize that it is, nor do they understand why it is. It makes all the difference in how you understand who God is, and what kind of relationship you have with Him.

To begin with it is necessary to understand exactly how the two views differ. The allegorical interpretation says that the Scriptures were not meant to be taken literally, but symbolically represent some spiritual application. One of the most infamous preachers of this type of interpretation is the presently attention getting Harold Camping. This view is hard to pin down, as the meaning of any passage is at the mercy of the person interpreting it. There is no absolute meaning to anything in the Scriptures with this method. As a result, it means whatever anybody wants it to mean, and any meaning that God may have intended is completely lost in the multitude of interpretations. The history is treated as anything from myth to a partially factual representation of some historical events. People and places may represent ideas or concepts, or even other people. The important thing though is that nothing is taken at a virtual literal level. For instance, the reference to a temple is viewed as being a symbolic way of referring to a person who believes in God. So any passages using the word temple are then reinterpreted to be speaking about a person who believes in God, not a physical building.

The literal interpretation, while sounding easy, is the more difficult to comprehend in its totality. First everything in the Bible from Genesis to Jude is taken as being actual historical events. Revelation is generally viewed within these churches as being part historical and mostly futuristic. In addition, within almost every one of these books are also prophecies. Most have seen their historical fulfillment, some are seen as having dual fulfillments (past and future) and some have yet to be fulfilled. There are also parables, which are explained, visions, which are also explained, and parts of speech such as metaphors, anthropomorphisms, and the like. Then on top of all that, there is the secondary level of understanding which is where the allegorical interpretation comes in. This is where things get a little more difficult to understand. For instance, the feasts of God were not only given to be observed as holidays, but they had a symbolic meaning for which they stood. The spring feasts all had to do with the first coming of Christ. The fall feasts all have to do with the second coming of Christ. Joseph was not only a real person, but symbolically was a representation of Christ, as was King David. In fact, a great deal of the people, events, ceremonies, etc. have a symbolic connection somehow to Christ, as the entire Bible is supposed to be a picture of Christ. The main difference in this allegorical interpretation from just plain allegorical interpretation is that it overlays a literal interpretation and does not stand on its own. This means that it cannot be made to mean anything someone wants it to, which is what tends to be the problem when someone approaches the Scriptures from simply an allegorical standpoint. It cannot negate a literal interpretation in any way, which restricts the ability to twist it around to mean whatever one chooses.

So which way is right? Well there is a simple answer for that. Let us take a look at an allegorical approach that says that Genesis is simply an allegorical tale of mankind realizing he has a spiritual nature and is capable of bad and good acts. So what is the problem with this? Well, first of all if Adam and Eve were not real people, there was no real fall from grace and sin entering the world. If there is no such thing as a break with God through sin, there is no need for a redeemer, which negates the whole idea of that for which Christ stood – our redemption from sin through His shed blood. For those who take this approach, that too does not become a problem, as they do not truly believe Christ was God incarnate and that His death was necessary for our salvation. Instead they see Him as a good man who gave us an example of righteous living that we should emulate. The whole idea of sin is rejected in favor of living a good life, which then gets you into heaven. So again, what is the problem with that? The problem lies in Christ. There are three things Christ could be. He was 1) either what He said He was, the Son of God, the living incarnation of God Himself, who came to take our sins upon Himself, so that we through accepting His sacrifice may then be forgiven and come back into a relationship with God, or 2) a liar, as all the things just mentioned were what He claimed, and if they are not true, then He is a liar, or 3) He was insane, a madman. There is no choice that He was a good man, a good teacher. Why not? Because if He was only a man, He was either insane for what He claimed, or He was a great con artist and liar. There is no other choice. So if He is not the Son of God and not telling the truth, He is a con artist and liar. If that is true, and Scriptures are also allegorical, then atheists are right and why on earth is anyone bothering with religion? Without sin, and without the Son of God actually shedding His blood to redeem us, there is no point to the Bible and religion. Now, if you cannot accept that Christ was a liar or madman, then the only other option is that He was telling the truth. So now the problem becomes, if He was truthful, then all the things He said are true. And what are some things He said? Well, first of all He made it quite clear that the story of Adam and Eve is true and historical, not allegorical. How is that? He stated that Abel, their son, was a real person. Matthew 23:35 “That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.” Luke 11:51 “From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation.”

Not only Jesus said that Abel was a real person, but so does the writer of Hebrews - 11:4,12:24 “By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.... “And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.”

And Paul tells us that Adam was a very real man. It is because of Adam's sin that Yeshua had to come and die for us. Without that sin, we render the cross null and void. Romans 5:14 “Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.” 1 Corinthians 15:22, 45 “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive....And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.” 1 Timothy 2:13-14 “For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.” And Jude also tells us Adam was a real person. Jude 14 “And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints.”

Then Jesus' genealogy is traced back to Adam. Luke 3:23-38 “And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli, Which was the son of Matthat, which was the son of Levi, which was the son of Melchi, which was the son of Janna, which was the son of Joseph, Which was the son of Mattathias, which was the son of Amos, which was the son of Naum, which was the son of Esli, which was the son of Nagge, Which was the son of Maath, which was the son of Mattathias, which was the son of Semei, which was the son of Joseph, which was the son of Juda, Which was the son of Joanna, which was the son of Rhesa, which was the son of Zorobabel, which was the son of Salathiel, which was the son of Neri, Which was the son of Melchi, which was the son of Addi, which was the son of Cosam, which was the son of Elmodam, which was the son of Er, Which was the son of Jose, which was the son of Eliezer, which was the son of Jorim, which was the son of Matthat, which was the son of Levi, Which was the son of Simeon, which was the son of Juda, which was the son of Joseph, which was the son of Jonan, which was the son of Eliakim, Which was the son of Melea, which was the son of Menan, which was the son of Mattatha, which was the son of Nathan, which was the son of David, Which was the son of Jesse, which was the son of Obed, which was the son of Booz, which was the son of Salmon, which was the son of Naasson, Which was the son of Aminadab, which was the son of Aram, which was the son of Esrom, which was the son of Phares, which was the son of Juda, Which was the son of Jacob, which was the son of Isaac, which was the son of Abraham, which was the son of Thara, which was the son of Nachor, Which was the son of Saruch, which was the son of Ragau, which was the son of Phalec, which was the son of Heber, which was the son of Sala, Which was the son of Cainan, which was the son of Arphaxad, which was the son of Sem, which was the son of Noe, which was the son of Lamech, Which was the son of Mathusala, which was the son of Enoch, which was the son of Jared, which was the son of Maleleel, which was the son of Cainan, Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God.” This is not an allegory, this is a genealogy which was very important for all Jewish people to preserve.

So now we have the dilemma that Christ not only stated that Abel was a real person, but His genealogy is traced back to Seth, Abel's brother and Adam and Eve's son. Thus this verifies from Christ's and God's (through Luke, Paul, and Jude) mouth that Adam and Eve were not an allegory, but real people. Their fall was real. Sin is real. So now either we accept that He is being truthful about this, and everything else He says, and the Bible must be taken literally on its historical narration, or we must conclude that Jesus is a liar or crazy and the apostles were liars too. Again, if we choose anything but Christ telling us the truth, (as well as the others) we negate everything in the Bible, and render it a completely useless book for anything except literature studies. Christianity is a farce under this interpretation.

But what if you do believe Jesus and the apostles are truthful? Well, then you are stuck with the concept that the Bible must be taken literally, which then throws allegorical interpretation out the window, except for the aforementioned allegorical understandings that overlay the literal and do not negate the literal. Well, how can a person accept the Bible as literal you ask, when science shows us that the world is infinitely older than the Bible says it is? And therein lies the problem that is the obstacle for most people. They can't reconcile the Bible with what science claims. What most people do not realize is that evolutionary science and creation science work off the same exact evidence, but that it is a matter of interpretation of that evidence that leads to two completely different conclusions. As the debate between evolution and creationism is a very lengthy one, I will have to do a separate article on that issue. To do your own research please go to answersingenesis.org or icr.org or creationevidence.org. As a spoiler, there is more than ample scientific evidence to prove a six-day creation. The evidence is found in realizing that Noah's Flood was a real, global catastrophe. This Flood gave us all the fossil evidence, etc. that evolutionists use to claim vast ages. Peter confirmed this. 2 Peter 3:3-6 “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished.” This verse says that in the last days (which are now) there will be scoffers of the Second Coming, who say that from the beginning of time there has been uniformitarianism (an evolutionary theory). For they will willingly and willfully be ignorant of the Word of God which tells us how the world was created and how the Flood left a catastrophic burial ground behind, which is now our fossil record.

For now, you the reader have to decide whether you will choose to accept that Jesus was truthful, a liar, or a madman. If you accept the first, then a literal interpretation is the only logical and viable interpretation that you can accept. Remember the first lie that Satan told Eve? Basically he said, “Has God really said? His whole agenda was to get Eve to doubt that God literally meant what He said. As a consequence of not believing that He did, she brought sin upon all of mankind. Satan still uses the same lie. “Does God literally mean what He says?” A huge element of Christianity says that He does not. That it is all allegorical and really only understood by scholars. That we need these overseers (the ones telling us it is too difficult to understand) to tell us what it means. What did Christ say about the Nicolaitanes in the letters in Revelation? (“Nikko” meaning “over” and “laity” meaning the “people.”) He said that He hates them. Revelation 2:6,15 “But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate....So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, which thing I hate.” One of these doctrines is that the regular person cannot comprehend the great mysteries of the Bible. Ridiculous! The Bible was meant to be taken at face value and understood. How else is God supposed to communicate with people of such lesser intelligence than Himself? It was never His intention that people have to go through scholars. He uses the foolish of the world, not the wise. 1 Corinthians 1:27 “But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;” God does not like those who think they are better than others. We are also told that Scripture cannot be discerned or understood by those who do not have a personal relationship with Him, as understanding comes from the Holy Spirit. The vast majority of Bible scholars are not Christians, and their interpretations are not spiritually discerned. Discerning things spiritually does not mean putting an allegorical or “spiritual” spin on them. It means that the literal meaning will be veiled from their understanding as they are not spiritually born again. And looking at the teachings of people like Harold Camping, Joseph Smith, Ellen White, Charles Taze Russell, etc., it is easy to see how people can read a simple verse that is easily understandable and not see at all what it says. 1 Corinthians 2:14 “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” 1 Corinthians 2:9-14 “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” So we see that the Bible should be taken literally, or it is pointless to take it at all. Lastly, Revelation is also a literal book, which then should concern any Christian, as not only are the contents pretty awful, but there are several blessings attached to that book for reading, heeding, and keeping the prophecies contained therein. It is the only book in the Bible with such blessings, which shows just how important God considered it for our survival, both spiritual and physical. Remember, forewarned is forearmed.

*It may take a while to do a thorough article on creationism vs. evolution, but it will be forthcoming.

The Shroud of Turin, Hoax or Real?

The Shroud of Turin

The Shroud of Turin is a linen cloth that supposedly bears the image of Christ. It bears the image of what appears to be a crucified man, but that is all one can say for sure. Modern science has for years been examining it to see if it is a medieval hoax or something older. Carbon dating places it between the years 1260 and 1390. What seems to be the puzzle is how this image was imprinted upon the cloth. To date nobody seems to know.

First let us take a look at the shroud and see what it tells us. Then we will look at the Bible and see what it tells us.

The following is information gained from Wickipedia on the physical cloth.

The shroud is rectangular, measuring approximately 4.4 × 1.1 m (14.3 × 3.7 ft). The cloth is composed of flax fibrils. It has a faint, yellowish image of a front and back view of a naked man with his hands folded across his groin. The two views are aligned along the midplane of the body and point in opposite directions. The front and back views of the head nearly meet at the middle of the cloth.

Reddish brown stains that have been said to include whole blood are found on the cloth, showing various wounds. Markings on the lines include:

• one wrist bears a large, round wound, claimed to be from piercing (the second wrist is hidden by the folding of the hands)
• upward gouge in the side penetrating into the thoracic cavity.
• small punctures around the forehead and scalp
• scores of linear wounds on the torso and legs.
• swelling of the face from severe beatings
• streams of blood down both arms. Proponents claim that the blood drippings from the main flow occurred in response to gravity at an angle that would occur during crucifixion
• no evidence of either leg being fractured
• large puncture wounds in the feet as if pierced by a single spike
  

The image of the "Man of the Shroud" has a beard, mustache, and shoulder-length hair parted in the middle. He is muscular and tall (various experts have measured him as from 1.70 m, or roughly 5ft 7 in. to 1.88 m. or 6 ft 2 in.)

So this is the description of the man. As for the imprint on the cloth, it appears that the cloth was not wrapped in mummy fashion, or the imprint would not have come out quite as it appears from pictures of the shroud. There is only one cloth that covered the entire body, and from the pictures and description it looks as though it was laid down, the body was laid upon it, and it was pulled over the body from the head down. In other words, a long cloth that went lengthwise vertically on the body rather than wrapping around horizontally. And in fact it does not really look as though it was wrapped as much as just laid under and over the body, if pictures are accurate.

Now let's take a look at the Scriptures and see what they tell us about Yeshua. First, is there any physical description? Yes, there are a few things we can know. Isaiah 53:2 “he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.” So first of all, he was not good looking. 1 Corinthians 11:14 “Doeth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?” According to the Scriptures, it is a shame for a man to have long hair. The only ones allowed to have long hair for a limited period of time were the ones who took a Nazarite vow. Jesus was not a Nazarite, even though He was called a Nazarene. He was called a Nazarene because He was from Nazareth. Had He been a Nazarite, He would not have been allowed to drink wine, and clearly He drank wine. So, the only thing we can conclude is that Yeshua had short hair, as He was not disobedient. So now we have two physical descriptions of Him. He was not good looking in body or face, and He had short hair.

Next we need to look at what the Scriptures about the crucifixion tell us. Matthew 27:26, 29-30 “Then released he Barabbas unto them: and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.....And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head.” So from Matthew we know that he was scourged, spat upon, and that they put a crown of thorns on His head which would have left a bunch of marks, and they beat him on his head, which would have left bruises, swelling, and probably open wounds. Mark tells us virtually the same exact thing. Luke only tells us that He was crucified. John also just tells us that He was scourged, a crown of thorns put on his head, and they beat him.

So in the gospels we have very little description of what happened except that He was scourged, spat upon, had thorns put on his head, and had his face/head beaten.

The other Scriptures that tell us something are the Old Testament prophecies. Isaiah 1:6 “From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.” Isaiah 50:6 “I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.” Isaiah 53:5 “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” Also in 1 Kings 12:11 there might be an obscure reference to the scourging “And now whereas my father did laden you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke: my father hath chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.”

To understand a little more about the scourging, we have to go to historical sources outside the Bible. According to historians, the Roman scourge had three leather ropes attached to a wooden handle. Each length of rope would measure about three feet and on each length there would be a number of bone pieces attached at intervals of every three inches. The bone was reputedly cut from lamb pelvis. Shaped as cubes, they had a hole drilled through it for the leather lash to run through. The pieces of bone were secured in position with knots and they would chip and crack as someone was whipped. This gave them sharp edges and they would cut deeply. In place of bone, metal could also be used, sometimes small iron balls. Occasionally though more rarely, staves (sharp pieces of wood) were also used. This would cut into the skin and subcutaneous tissue. Then as flogging continued, the lacerations would tear into the underlying skeletal muscles and ribbons of bleeding flesh would be torn out of the body.

It is also recorded that metal hooks were sometimes added to the ends of each leather lash. These hooks were designed to dig into and gouge-out flesh. This kind of scourge was called the "scorpion". While we have no specific reference regarding the type of scourge used on Jesus, we may be able to ascertain that they did use the scorpion based upon the reference in 1 Kings. Given the hatred for Yeshua, and the fact that God was punishing Him for the entire sins of mankind, one can reasonably conclude that this was what happened. While Jewish law forbade more than forty lashes, (the Pharisees, to stay within the law, made it 39, see 2 Corinthians 11:24), the Romans had no such restraint.

Jesus would have been horribly disfigured after He received His scourging. (ref. Is. 1:6 above) His face would have been unrecognizable, and not even look human anymore. Apparently even His beard was torn out. By the time He carried the cross, His body would have been so badly cut that even bone would have been exposed through His lacerated flesh.

As for burial, how did they wrap the bodies? We need to go to the first description on that. When Lazarus died, Yeshua called for him to come out of the tomb. John 11:44 "And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jusus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go." First we must note, that he walked out, but that he was bound hand and foot and people had to unbind him. This indicates some sort of wrapping around multiple times that has to be unwound, not just a cloth laid over the body. The fact that he could walk probably meant that they wrapped individual limbs rather than binding the body in one mass. Egyptians bound even the fingers separately, so the practice was probably quite similar, as the Israelites did come out of Egypt. Wrapped in one large mummy, he would not have been able to walk, so the implication is that they did wrap bodies in the manner of the Egyptians. And it is mentioned that his hands are bound, apparently apart from his body, so again that would confirm this speculation. Also of very important note is the fact that his face was wrapped with a separate cloth called a napkin. This was again the practice used in mummy wrapping by the Egyptians. Now, do we have any indication that this was how Yeshua was wrapped?

In Matthew 27:59 it says that "And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth." We read in Mark 15:46 "And he bought fine linen, and took him down, and wrapped him in the linen, and laid him in a sepulchre..." In Luke 23:53 it says "And he took it down, and wrapped it in linen..." If we were to stop with these verses, and knowing that in the Scriptures we are told that the women went home to prepare the spices for burial after he was laid in the grave, and that is why Mary went to the tomb early on Sunday morning, we might suppose that He had only had the linen sheet laid over him, and thus the Shroud of Turin would be a viable relic in that it would seem that the markings might possibly be correct. But we should examine all the Scriptures, and in John we get a more detailed account. Verse 39-40 "And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight. Then took the the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury." Apparently the women had left before Nicodemus arrived and were not aware that Joseph and Nicodemus had already buried the body appropriately by using spices and wrapping it correctly, as was the burial custom. This verse tells us that He had been wrapped the same way Lazarus was, and the indication is that every limb was wrapped separately. At the very least, His face would have had a separate cloth about it. Is there any Scriptural verification of this one fact alone, which by itself is enough to disprove the claim that the shroud is of Yeshua? John 20:4-7 "So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre. And he stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in. Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie, and the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes,  (notice that even the wrappings that are separate from the face cloth are listed as being plural - clothes - not cloth. It would seem to indicate that wrapping the body limb by limb with multiple strips of cloth was how this was done.) but wrapped together in a place by itself." Bam! This one verse, which is completely ignored by the Shroud of Turin believers proves that the shroud is not the shroud of Yeshua the Lord.

Now let's consider some other things. This video takes the shroud and using the new forensic computer generation imaging, depicts what the man in the shroud looked like. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qC1GyB6Id4Y&feature=related. What do we see wrong here? Well, first, he has long hair, and Yeshua did not have long hair as that would have been against the Scriptures. Next, while it appears there are lacerations over the body, they look like simple cuts, not the type of flesh torn away, bone showing type of wound that Yeshua endured. Third, the face is not beaten beyond recognition, which it probably was, as He was beaten from head to foot according to Scripture. It would have been a bloody distorted mess. His beard had been plucked out, so there should have been gaps in the beard where hair was missing. Then there is the shroud itself. There is the already mentioned flaw of the linen being one piece, when Scripture clearly teaches that there was a separate linen for the head and face. That the body was most likely wrapped by limbs is another problem, although that one cannot be proven. Then I find it odd that the hands are placed to cover the groin. One would not wrap a mummy with the hands in that position. Either they would put the arms alongside the body or do as we do with bodies in coffins and cross the hands at abdomen level. As this shroud is carbon-dated to the medieval days when relics were a huge thing for the Catholic church, and fake relics abounded, if one wanted to have a relic that was "modest" for people to view, the artist would have the model cover their private parts. While it took special photography to bring out the imprint in modern day, that does not mean it did not show up back in the day it was created. It may have faded over time. But all of this is irrelevant in the face of the one verse in the Bible that completely verifies it is a fraud. I know I could have presented that first, and actually it should have ended the debate right there, but it wouldn't have been much of an article then would it?

Replacement Theology

Replacement Theology - Right or Wrong?

For those who do not know what replacement theology is, it is the belief that the Church has replaced Israel in God's plan, that God rejects Israel and she no longer exists as a chosen people, that the Church is now the chosen people, and that Jews have no spiritual future apart from becoming Christians in the Gentile Christian church. It teaches that the promises, blessings, and covenants made to Israel now apply to the church, but the curses conveniently remain the property of Israel. Any mention of Israel in the Bible (including the Old Testament) now refers to the Church, so the prophecies about Israel (its restoration as a nation and a millennial kingdom) are spiritualized away as promises or blessings for the Church. This view requires allegorizing all of the end times prophecies about Yeshua's return. It also requires going back and allegorizing all of the promises, covenants, and blessings that God gave Israel and reinterpreting them to apply to the church. In fact it requires basically interpreting all of God's Word allegorically rather than literally, which then means that it can mean anything, which then means that it means nothing. What is amazing in all of this is that while they are more than happy to apply the blessings allegorically to themselves, they are quite clear on not accepting the curses as also applying to the church, when it wanders off in disobedience as Israel did. Do they not think that God will punish the church for its disobedience? That God only intends blessings for them? Such arrogance and pride!

God did not choose the Gentiles to be the chosen people over Israel. When Yeshua came, He came for Israel. Matthew 15:24 “But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Matthew 10: 5-6 “These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” When Yeshua came, it was not to establish a new church and a new people, but rather to bring fulfillment to Judaism, to be their Messiah, to set up His kingdom, and have Israel bring the gospel to the world. Matthew 5:17-18 “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” It was only due to their rejection of Him that God went to plan B. God knew in advance that He would have to, but still it was not His desire that He have to do that. Israel was the chosen people who were supposed to bring the gospel to the world. They will finally fulfill their purpose during the millennium. Zechariah 8:22-23 “Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you.” Since this has not happened, and it must or God is a liar, it will happen in the millennium.

First we'll cover the history of the theology. What was the cause for Replacement Theology to come into existence to begin with? We know historically that when the Church first started, the Christians were, for the most part, Jews. There were a few Gentile believers (for instance, the centurian of whom Yeshua said that He had not seen such faith in all of Israel as He saw in this man – Matthew Chapter 8), but they were, as the Canaanite woman said, when Yeshua told her that “it is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs,” the recipients of the crumbs which fell from the master's table, and as such were not as many as were the Jewish believers. Thus, the first Church was made up of Jewish believers who attended synagogue on the Sabbath. The few Gentiles that had accepted Yeshua, went to synagogue on the Sabbath also, as they understood that this new belief was an extension of Judaism, not a replacement of it, nor a new religion. Yeshua was the Jewish Messiah, after all. Sunday worship did not come about for a long time yet. (See my article on the Sabbath vs. Sunday worship). Before the destruction of the temple, Christianity was seen as a sect of Judaism, as their Messiah was a Jewish rabbi, who said that He came to fulfill the law, not abolish it. Separation began because of religious and social differences, and rivalry between Jew and Gentile. From the New Testament we know that first of all, Jews were having a hard time accepting that God was accepting Gentiles. Acts 11:1-2 “And the apostles and brethren that were in Judaea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God. And when Peter was come up to Jerusalem, they that were of the circumcision contended with him.” Then they were upset that the Gentiles were not being required to be Judaized. They felt that the Gentiles should have to follow all the rules and regulations that they as Jews were expected to observe. Acts 15:1-2 “And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved. When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question.” They resented that very little was required of the Gentiles in the way of regulations. Acts 15: 10, 19-20 “Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God: But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.” As a result instead of enjoying the freedoms from the legalism of the law that Yeshua had brought, the Jews became more adamant about the legalisms of the law, such as observing the rules of circumcision and kosher, insisting that the Gentiles could not be “real” Christians unless they observed all of the laws. This attitude (which has resurfaced today) caused a rift between Jews and Gentiles. Then the social aspect also played a part. Jews had national/religious traditions and festivals which were foreign to, and again not required of, the Gentiles. The widespread acceptance of Christianity by the Gentiles, while Israel rejected it, made Jewish Christianity a smaller and smaller group. Then the temple was destroyed and Israel scattered. As Christianity moved away from its headquarters of Jerusalem, the Gentiles became the church leaders, rather than the Jews who were very versed in the Torah and Tanakh. This led to more conflict between the two groups. Eventually this disconnected Christianity from its Jewish roots. 

The destruction of the temple also brought with it the idea among the Gentiles that God had abandoned the Jews, and that He was giving them permission to develop their own style of Christianity apart from Jewish traditions and theology. The idea that the temple was no longer a physical place, but the Christian himself, who was now indwelt by the Holy Spirit came to be the accepted theology. This spiritualization (which is also true, but it does not negate a literal interpretation of a future temple) was the second step toward Replacement Theology, the first being that God was choosing the Gentile over the Jew, as they had, for the most part, rejected Yeshua. With the headquarters in Jerusalem gone, the centers of Christian leadership were relocated to Alexandria, Rome, Antioch and other cities. Both Alexandria and Rome ended up being places in which heretical theologies came to be accepted. Moving away from Jerusalem and their Jewish roots proved to be not such a good idea. With the new leadership and the attitude growing that Jews were no longer the chosen people, the early Church Fathers began to make antisemitic remarks. Jealousy, power, arrogance – all of these things can make rivals of even godly people, if they allow these sins entrance into their lives, and they did allow them entrance. So within a few hundred years of the birth of Christianity, the Gentiles started to see themselves as replacing the Jews in God's plan. This also came about from a lack of studying their Scriptures, or more importantly studying them correctly. By that I mean studying them for the literal interpretation, not spiritualizing or allegorizing everything. It was a problem then, and it is still a problem today.

As Christianity spread throughout the world, its people grew more and more non-Jewish. This changed the lens through which the Scriptures were viewed. Without the Jewish mindset and understanding of God's Word and intentions, a Greek/Roman worldview began to re-interpret the Scriptures in their own image. This was the cause of some of the worst heresies which again, as mentioned before, came about in Alexandria and Rome. As a result of the difference in perspectives on the Scriptures, it further widened the chasm between Jewish and Gentile Christians. Judaism was a legal religion under Roman law, but Christianity was not. The Romans tried to suppress its growth. The fact that Jews could meet and worship (Christian Jews still met on the Sabbath at synagogue) and be left alone while Gentile Christians were persecuted led to more antagonism. Later this antagonism would find its retribution when Christianity became the state religion and laws were passed against the Jews. Following are some quotes to show the attitude of the early Church Fathers: Justin Martyr (c. AD 160) in speaking to a Jew said: "The Scriptures are not yours, but ours." Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyon (c. AD 177) declared: "Jews are disinherited from the grace of God." Tertullian (AD 160-230), in his treatise, "Against the Jews," announced that God had rejected the Jews in favor of the Christians. With church leaders saying these things, it was not surprising that people began to adopt the Replacement Theology position. People have a tendency to listen to the “scholar” or leader, thinking that they must know better than themselves. I have found that not to necessarily be true. In fact I find it the opposite these days. I follow the example of the Bereans and study to see if what someone teaches is Scriptural or not.

By the 4^th century Eusebius was writing that the promises of the Old Testament were meant for Christians, not Jews, but he was more than happy to leave the curses with the Jews. His argument for this reasoning was that the Church was the continuation of God's plan and therefore superseded Judaism. Then the Church declared that it was spiritual “Israel,” and therefore the heir to the promises (but not the curses). To better impress this theology upon the minds of people, it was necessary to abolish Israel's validity as an heir due to the fleshly heritage. This was helped in large part by Constantine in A.D. 321. He made Christianity the official religion of the Empire to the exclusion of all other religions. This ended persecution for Christians, but it was just the beginning of it for the Jews. Already in other parts of the world laws were being made to separate the Jews from Christians. In Spain at the Church Council of Elvira (A.D. 305) Christians were ordered not to marry Jews, have Jews bless their fields, eat meals with Jews, or (this is important) observe the Jewish Sabbath.(See my article on Sunday vs. the Sabbath)

 

The Edict of Milan was issued in A.D. 313. This outlawed synagogues. Then in A.D. 315 another edict allowed for the burning of Jews if they broke any laws. Then more laws were passed against them, such as the revoking of ancient privileges, rabbinical jurisdiction was abolished, proselytism to Judaism was punishable by death, and Jews were excluded from holding high office or having military careers. In A.D.321 Constantine not only decided to make Christianity the state religion, but added requirements to it. He outlawed all business on the “honored day of the sun” (the pagan sabbath or Sunday). This made Sunday the day of rest or day of worship, causing further split among the Messianic Jews and Gentile Christians. This controversy of Sabbath vs Sunday came up at the Council of Nicea in A.D. 325. It concluded that Sunday would be the Christian day of rest. So in a matter of no time at all, Christianity went from persecution to being the state religion and having the power of the state behind it. The problem was, the state took over the religion and started dictating who would be its leaders (bishops and eventually the pontifex maximus,(pope) which was a Babylonian Mysteries priest's title). The relationship that these Church leaders had with God and Yeshua was irrelevant (and usually non-existent) in light of their appointment for political reasons. As a result, these leaders began to interpret Scripture in their own image, further leading it away from its Judaic roots to pagan compromise. And it became even more anti-Israel. After this time, the writings of the Church Fathers changed. They became much more venomous toward Judaism. The following are some of the comments written by some of these Church Fathers.

“Jews are a perverse people accursed by God forever. “Hilary of Poitiers (A.D.291-371)

“The Jews are a brood of vipers, haters of goodness...” Gregory of Nyssa (d. A.C.394) 

 

Jews are described as “....serpents, wearing the image of Judas, their psalms and prayers are the braying of donkeys.” St. Jerome (A.D. 347-407)

“The synagogue is not only a brothel and a theater, it is also a den of robbers and a lodging for wild beasts. No Jew adores God... Jews are inveterate murderers, possessed by the devil, their debauchery and drunkenness gives them the manners of the pig. They kill and maim one another...I have said enough against those who say they are on our side, but are eager to follow Jewish rites...it is against the Jews that I wish to draw up my battle...Jews are abandoned by God and for the crime of deicide, there is no expiation possible.” John Chrysostom, Bishop of Antioch (4^th century). Chrysostom also was vocal in holding the Jewish people responsible for killing Yeshua. (We are all guilty of putting Him on the cross. He died for everyone's sins.)

By the time the fifth century rolled around, the big question was: if Jews (and Judaism) were cursed by God, then how was it that they continued to exist? Augustine came up with an answer to that problem. He theorized that although for killing Yeshua they were deserving of the worst possible punishment, that God had allowed them to continue as an example and witness to the truth of Christianity (by virtue of the persecution they would continue to undergo for the rest of history). It was a display of the triumph of the Church over the Synagogue. The Jews would be the slaves/servants of the new “chosen people.” 

This attitude of antisemitism continued throughout Church history, manifesting itself in things such as the Crusades, the Inquisition, the forcing of wearing identifying marks to ostracize them, the displacement of whole communities, ghettos, pogroms, the destruction of synagogues and Jewish books, and physical persecution and execution. The culmination of this was the Holocaust by “Christian” Europe.

All of this hatred. And all of it could have been avoided had people been able to read their Bibles, or had they had leaders who were true men of God, who did not try to allegorize the Scriptures, but understood them literally and therefore understood what God's plan for Israel was. They would have understood that Gentiles are grafted into the tree or vine, and that while the natural vines or branches may have been cut off for a while, God is going to graft them in again, and they, being natural branches will graft in far more easily than we who are not of the same rootstock.

Now that the history has been covered, let us look at the theology and “proofs” behind it and what Scripture really says. The following are the arguments used to “prove” Replacement Theology.

1. Galatians 3:29 “And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.” They say that to be a son of Abraham, you have to have faith in Christ. That son-ship is a spiritual thing, not a national or fleshly thing. The problem with their take on this Scripture is that they are making it exclusive when it is inclusive. This says that if you accept Christ, you too become a seed of Abraham and can be an heir according to the promise. Nowhere in this verse does it exclude those that are already the heirs to Abraham due to an irrevocable covenant. It is merely adding in heirs to the promise, not subtracting them. God does not break His covenants, so they are on false ground here.

2. Romans 4:13 “For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.” Replacement theologians say that Canaan or the Promised Land was only the first small step toward the real promise or Promised Land, which was to give the world to the Church. The problem here is that they did not read the next few verses. Romans 4:14-16 “For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect: Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression. Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all.” The law was never given to save people, it was given to show people their sins. Salvation has always been by faith through grace, even to the antediluvian patriarchs. And it is by faith through grace that the promise will be given to all the seed, both that which is of the law (the Jews) and also to those which are of the faith of Abraham (Christians). Abraham is the Father of both, and the promise is to both. This verse does not exclude the Jews, but in fact not only includes them, it says that it is to them first and we are also heirs to the promise. 
    
3. Malachi 1:11 is quoted to show that Israel was only a seed for the future Church. “For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the LORD of hosts.” This verse merely shows that God's name would proceed out of Israel (it has to mean that as Yeshua came out of Israel) and become great among the Gentiles. It says nothing about Israel becoming a non-entity. Nothing is said about Israel at all. To imply anything further is mere wish fulfillment on the part of the person implying it
   
   
4. Matthew 21:43 “Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.” This verse is used to say that Israel would have the kingdom taken from them and it would be given to the Gentiles. The problem with this “proof” is that Yeshua was not speaking to Israel the nation. He was speaking specifically to the Pharisees, who were the corrupt religious leaders of their day, not to the nation as a whole. Matthew 21:45 “And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them.” They would lose their leadership over God's people. It does not mean however that God was abandoning the entire nation. The kingdom is for believers, and that will also include Israel as shown in the passages in Romans later on in #6.
    
5. The argument is used that true Jew is one who is a spiritual Jew, no matter what his race or ethnicity. Romans 2:28-29 “For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.” This does not say that the Church is replacing Israel as “spiritual Israel”. It says that individually, whether Jew or Gentile, one must have a personal relationship with Yeshua to be saved. God looks upon the heart, not upon the outward appearance for salvation. A true believer does not have to be born a Jew to qualify. It has nothing to do with the covenants that God gave Israel as a nation.
   
   
6. Replacement Theology says that the Church is now the “olive tree” and that Jews will have to be grafted into the Church. They quote Romans 11:17-23 as their “proof.” “And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree; Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in. Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again.” How anyone can read this and get that interpretation is beyond me. It takes some imagination. Clearly this passage says that if the original branches (the Jews) were broken off, and if “thou,” (here Paul is speaking to Romans) being the wild olive tree were grafted in with the original branches, and got sustenance from the root, that we should not be arrogant and boastful against the natural branches (the Jews). That we do not support the root (Christ), He supports us. We should not be saying that God broke off the natural branches (the Jews) so that He could replace them with us. They were only broken off, because they did not choose to believe at that time, but we have. However, if we get too proud and arrogant, we should be afraid, for if God did not tolerate their sin when they were the natural branches, how much less might He be inclined to spare us, the wild branches, and keep us grafted in. It is only through God's mercy that we have been grafted in at all, and if we don't continue in humbleness and obedience in gratitude for this mercy, we will find ourselves in the same situation as Israel. If they turn around and believe, God will graft them back in again. And we are clearly told in Scripture that they will believe and He will graft them back in,, because He made a covenant with them, and God's covenants stand. Romans 11:24-32 “For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree? For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sakes. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief: Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy. For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.” 
    
7. Replacement Theology teaches that unless a promise was already fulfilled historically before the Church came on the scene, they now belong to the Church. The promises are not to be interpreted literally and of the flesh, but symbolically and spiritually. Therefore all references to Israel, Jerusalem, Zion, and the Temple when spoken of prophetically, really refer to the Church. The verse they use to substantiate this claim is 2 Corinthians 1:20 “For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.” This does not say that the promises have been re-assigned to the Church. It says that the promises can also be ours. The covenants and promises are inviolate. God does not renege on promises, and He does not break covenants. To teach that He does is blasphemous. It makes Him a liar.

One of the embarrassing problems for this theology is the fact that the Jews have continued to exist as a people for the past 2,000 years. And now in the last sixty-three years, they have existed as the reborn nation of Israel. Never in all of history has a people survived so many attempts to destroy them, and never has a destroyed nation every come back as a nation, especially after 2,000 years of being dispersed from their land. There is simply no explanation except that God has brought them back. Their survival was supernatural. How do we know this? Jeremiah 31:35-37 “Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is his name: If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the LORD, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever. Thus saith the LORD; If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the LORD.” God has clearly told us that as long as the sun shines and the moon and the stars appear at night, Israel will never cease to be. Until heaven can be measured and all the foundations of the earth searched out, Israel will never cease to be. God could not be more clear. He is not speaking of the Church. He is speaking of Israel. This is the continual problem. People allegorize the Scriptures and miss the truth in the process. It is the same old lie Satan used right at the beginning. “Has God really said?” He continues to make people doubt that God means what He says. As long as people question that God actually means what He says, they will always be deceived and believe the lies Satan is spewing forth. Did not Eve's example teach us anything?

What has come of taking this theology to its natural conclusion? Let us take a look at the results. First, the Church does not take God's Word literally. What is the danger in this? The danger lies in not understanding the Word of God in its overall concept, not understanding the importance of the laws and festivals in the Torah in regard to the endtimes prophecies,not understanding the endtimes prophecies in the rest of the Bible, and not understanding Israel is a sign to watch for the return of Yeshua, and what lies ahead. Without this knowledge, people will be totally unprepared both spiritually and physically/materially for what is coming. It leaves people open for deception from people such as Harold Camping, who is a Replacement Theology proponent and a date setter for the rapture. At best people may lose their lives believing lies, but at worst they may lose their very salvation in that when they do not understand what is happening, they may believe God really does not exist and abandon their faith. This is probably the most eternal consequences of this lie. Then we have the effects on people's behaviors and attitudes. People have become antisemitic and arrogant against the Jews. One person who is extremely guilty of this sin is an “endtimes” preacher/writer named Texe Marrs. While I will not dispute that the Illuminati may come from Jewish bloodlines, his complete hatred of the Jews as a people, and Israel as a nation is so virulent that it is Nazi-istic. This theology also makes Israel's existence of no importance, which is the exact opposite of what is true. Israel is crucial to the endtimes and the millennium. The Bible simply does not make sense when you try to replace Israel with the Church. 

 

Without Israel and a millennium, you have to throw out multiple chapters of books of the Bible. They simply have no relevance or meaning without this understanding, for instance the Book of Ezekiel from Chapter 37 through Chapter 48. These chapters are all about Israel coming back as a nation after the 2,000 years of not being a nation, and the wars that will be fought at Armageddon and then at the end of the millennium, and then the dimensions and instructions for the Third (actually Fourth if you count the tribulation temple) Temple that God says Yeshua will build. It also lays out the boundaries of the land for the tribes of Israel. All of this is completely nonsensical without a literal interpretation of a reborn nation of Israel and a millennium. 

 

So it can be seen that Replacement Theology has its roots in jealousy, hatred, arrogance, and the machinations of a pagan emperor who masqueraded as a Christian. It does not have its roots in the Bible.

Harold Camping's May 21, 2011 Rapture

Harold Camping and His Theology

*** [It's all over. This article is still worth reading so as not to be deceived by anyone else, but as far as Camping goes, he is done. It is already the 22nd is some parts of the world, as I add this postscript to the top of my article, even though my time zone has yet to reach that mark. This is a good lesson for everyone. Christ did forewarn us about this very problem. Part two - The failure and October 21 date is found at - Harold Camping Failed and Tries Again with October 21, 2011 ]

When I began to undertake this study, I, like everyone was focused in on his May 21, 2011 end of the world scenario. In browsing the web to see what others were saying about him, I noticed that everyone was focusing in on his mathematical calculations as being wrong, and that his date setting was the main problem in his ministry. I, too, initially saw the date setting as the major problem until I started reading lots and lots of Camping's materials. Then I had a discussion with my dearest friend, who is a Camping follower and who believes the May 21 date. She knows that I have spent literally decades in diligent and deep study of God's Word, and she says she respects my opinion on matters of the Bible, because she has realized that everything I say I back up with Scriptures, (not opinion). And not just one or two verses, but I make sure I can reconcile all of Scripture on any topic, so that I know I have come to a truth instead of a pretext. Yet still, she ignores the Scriptures I show her. As we were talking, she asked me a question that at first did not really register, as she was asking it jokingly. She was wondering, given how deeply I study the Bible, how we could be at such opposite ends of the spectrum when it came to the end times. She then asked me, “Am I worshiping a different God than you?” At the time, I didn't think much of it, as I knew that years ago, she most certainly did worship the same God, and I felt she had just gotten off track from spending hours upon hours, day in and day out listening to Camping and taking in his theories. I saw her as brainwashed and unable to think for herself anymore. As I lay in bed that night, it was as if the Lord was pounding that question into my brain. Suddenly the answer came to me. The reason we were now on different pages was exactly that. She does worship a different God.

Camping is the equivalent of a David Copperfield of theology. A good magician distracts you from what he is really doing, and leads you to believe what is basically a lie, while making it look like the truth. I have discovered that this is exactly what Camping is doing. While everyone is focused in on his math, which takes up 80% of his writings, they are missing the 20% which is changing the doctrines of God for lies. It is these lies that are leading people away from worshiping the true God to worshiping a false God. He also has a false Jesus. And his gospel is a different gospel. Because he uses the same words, the same names, the same basic ideas, people are not picking up on the subtle little differences that make all the difference. They forget that Satan can quote Scripture too. It is exactly these little differences that make his God a different God, his Jesus a different Jesus, and his gospel a different gospel. And because they are a different God, Jesus, and gospel, it is this which then shows us that we need to dismiss everything else he is teaching. There is no need to go into his math and show why it is wrong. It is wrong, because it comes from the mouth of a different god. A god whose name is one that should make any Christian cringe.

Camping uses the same lie that Satan used to trip up Eve. “Has God really said....” This was his first step toward establishing his new god. The problem seems to be his refusal to accept God's Word as written. Camping insists upon spiritualizing practically every word in the Bible. He claims that Jesus only spoke in parables, based upon the verse Matthew 13:34, “All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them.” Camping, while spiritualizing everything else, takes this verse literally. He says that since this verse says Jesus only spoke in parables, everything that he says, and even does, must mean something other than what it actually says. Now, let us just ponder that statement for a minute. Everything that Jesus spoke and did was in parables? Can you imagine how hard it would be, to be with a person day in and day out who never talked to you except to communicate through a metaphor? And you were supposed to figure out what it meant? Oh, wait, that can't be right. Jesus explained the parables. But how do you explain a parable by a parable? You don't. So obviously Jesus did not talk in parables all the time. Only the things that were designated by Jesus as parables were parables. And guess what. He explained them. So the only things that were parables were.......the parables. And we don't have to figure out what they meant, He told us. Camping says that even the things that Jesus did were parables, or had spiritual meanings other than just what He was literally doing, for instance, miracles. “When Jesus actually performed the miracles, they were in themselves historical events that appeared to be unrelated to the salvation program....these miracles were historical parables.” [Are You Ready?] On the contrary, these miracles were very related to the salvation program. That is what Jesus was here to do, heal us. He was healing people physically to show that he also had the power to heal us spiritually. Camping takes this idea even further and says that since Jesus only spoke in parables, we need to apply this way of interpreting the Bible to the entire Bible. “The declaration of Mark 4:34, 'without a parable spake he not unto them' applies to the whole Bible.”[ibid.]. If we take God's Word and make everything in it mean something other than what it says, it can mean anything and therefore it means nothing. God's Word should be taken literally except for the following times: 1) when an obvious part of speech such as a metaphor, anthropomorphism, or such is used. These should be obvious to anyone with a reasonable grasp of language, 2) when God uses symbolism in visions. This symbolism is inevitably explained after the vision. This symbolism carries through the rest of the Bible in this sort of situation, so God does not always explain the same symbol each time He presents it. 3) when Jesus spoke in parables. This has already been mentioned, and as stated, He always explained these parables afterward to His disciples.

Other than these cases, the Bible should be taken literally. Its history is literal. The prophecies should be taken literally, and Peter is very clear about this. 2 Peter 1:20 “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.” I believe Harold Camping must have missed this verse, or he simply spiritualized it away. It is very clear that if no prophecy is of personal interpretation, the only interpretation left is a literal one. So, Camping deliberately disobeys the Bible on this very clear mandate. This is interesting in light of something that he once wrote. He was writing on Noah's Flood, and was relating the story of how he was discussing with a pastor the passage in 2 Peter where it says that the heavens and earth will be burned with fire. The pastor said to him, “Don't you think this language could be symbolical, and must it necessarily be understood literally?” Camping writes in response, “Upon reflecting on his answer to me, the rationale for it is easily seen: If the literal universal flood of Noah did not really happen, then the language of Genesis 6-9 must be symbolical or figurative in some sense, and possibly the language of II Peter 3 also. Then, too, all statements in the Bible that relate to Christ's coming might be symbolical. The ultimate development of such thinking could lead to a complete denial of the truth....” [Adam When?] Once upon a time, Camping thought that taking the Bible symbolically could lead to a denial of truth. Now that is the only way he does take it. That is how he came up with his date for the end of the world, through symbolism and numerology. Now on to the issue at hand.

In the article “Judgment Day”, Camping says something that should make people sit up and take notice. “Because God is so great and glorious He calls Himself by many different names. Each name tells us something about the glorious character and nature of God. Thus in the Bible we find such names as God, Jehovah, Christ, Jesus, Lord, Allah, Holy Spirit, Savior, etc.” He also said on an Open Forum program of Aug 9, '07 when asked the question “Are Christians and Muslims serving the same God?” replied, “There is one God and yet he reveals himself as three . . . the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. [presumably different beings at different times as we will shortly see in this study] . THAT IS THE GOD THAT WE SERVE AND THAT IS ALSO THE GOD THAT THE MUSLIMS SERVE.” Camping is stating that he serves the same god that the Muslims serve. It is there verbatim. The Muslims serve Allah, so Camping is saying that he serves Allah. This will be shown to be true.

In my Bible I have all those names except one, Allah. Allah is not the God of the Bible's name, nor is it in the Bible, that I can find. It is the proper name of the Islamic God. The God of the Bible is named Yahweh, or Jehovah. The God of Islam, Allah, is one that was chosen by Mohammed from a list of pagan gods that the people were worshiping when he began to create his own religion. Allah happened to be the chief god, as well as the god of the moon and was the one chosen by Mohammed to be the monotheistic god of Islam. Because Muslims are monotheistic, many people make the mistake of thinking their god is the same as the Christian and Jewish God. He is not. He was a polytheistic pagan deity that was transformed into single god status by Mohammed. There is nothing about him that is the same as our God, Yahweh. I have never heard that anywhere in the Bible you will find the word Allah in Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek. Nor is it in English. I see articles written by Muslims claiming this, but it isn't in my Bible that I can find, not as a proper name. I know there are some foreign languages that have, in their Bible translations called God Allah, as it is supposed to mean supreme god, but here is the problem. Allah is the proper name for the Muslim god, just as we call our God, Yahweh or Jehovah. The Muslim god is not the Christian/Jewish God. They have totally different beliefs and agendas. When a Muslim (we'll say terrorist as opposed to the moderates) confronts an “infidel”, the way to save one's life is to say “There is one god, and his name is Allah” or “There is no god but Allah, or something to that effect. They will also be required to say, “Mohammed is his prophet.” Many people will probably be willing to say this, if they believe that Allah and Yahweh are the same God. They won't feel qualms about saying Mohammed is his prophet, as that is not blaspheming the name of God. In saying this though, they will be denying Christ. We are told if we deny Him, He will deny us. Why would Satan be so keen on people saying that Allah is god if it were just another name for Yahweh? It is because it is not. This forcing of one to say this is literally a matter of life and death (yours) to a Muslim jihadist. It would not be so important, if it were not a blasphemy of the true God. To us it is more than a literal case of physical life and death. It is the difference between spiritual life and death. We will in the course of this study, show how Camping's god does appear to be Allah, not Yahweh.

Before going on, there are some quotes from Camping's earlier writings that need to be examined so that we can see how far he has come from where he began. “The fact is that when the Scriptures speak in the areas of science or history, or, for that matter, in any other field of learning, they do so with exceeding great care, accuracy, and authority. There are three reasons for this: (1) these subjects are often an integral part of the plan of salvation; (2) the words and the subjects are part of God's message to man; and (3) by reason of His very nature, God is accurate when He speaks. Whenever we have to force a verse or struggle with a verse to make it fit into our idea of what the Word says or will allow, we are on very dangerous ground. One of the most fundamental concepts of Bible exegesis is to let the Bible be its own interpreter. We may not take liberties to try to understand a verse. What we do not understand, we must simply accept by faith.” [Adam When?] We must keep this excellent advice in mind when looking to see what he does with the Scriptures.

One of the things I found disturbing when reading Camping's material was his confusing rhetoric concerning the identity of Yeshua. According to Camping, “Christ is from everlasting. Therefore, He had no beginning.” Well, that statement alone I would agree with, but it is what he further adds that worries me. “Christ always is identified as the Father. Remember in Isaiah he's spoken of as everlasting Father.” Now he is saying that Christ, before his incarnation was not the Son, but the Father, which is why He is from everlasting. Christ is God, however the Son is not the Father. He and the Father are one God, and this is what Isaiah meant, however this is not how Camping means it. We know that Yahweh tells us the Son existed along with the Father from eternity. Micah 5:2 “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting,” and John 1:1-2 “In the beginning was the Word, (the Son) and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.” We see that the ruler from everlasting spoken of in Micah is the Son, and in John it says that the Son (Word) was with God from everlasting. In other words, the Son who is God, but yet separate from God the Father, was with God from eternity.

Camping further elaborates his view with the following statements. “Now we can understand the verses that speak of Him as the 'only begotten Son.' To be begotten requires a beginning. Christ could not be called the Son until He arose from death. But in order to be called a Son he had to have a beginning, and that beginning is when he rose from the grave after he made payment for our sins. He was not in eternity past the Son of God. He became the Son of God after He made payment for our sins.” So if, according to Camping, Christ was the Father before the resurrection, then the Father must become the Son after the resurrection, and therefore the Father no longer exists. But we know from Scripture that the Father did not become the Son after the resurrection. We see in the New Testament that Yeshua sits on the right hand of the Father. Romans 8:34 “Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God [the Father], who also maketh intercession for us.” Colossians 3:1 “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God [the Father].” Hebrews 12:2 “ Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. [the Father]” So if Yeshua is sitting at the right hand of the Father, then the Father could not have been Christ before the incarnation.

So according to Camping, Yeshua was not the Son in the Trinity before He rose from the grave. In fact it would appear Camping does not believe in the Trinity as most people understand the Trinity. Camping asks, “How can we understand that he is Father, Son and Holy Spirit when there is only one God?” So if He was not the Son, who was He? Well initially it would seem that He was the Father. (which we have already shown is wrong). In that case, Camping is teaching modality. That means that God switches modes or persona depending on the part He is playing. That would mean that God is one God, not a Trinity in the sense the Trinity is normally understood. If these statements of his were the only statements he has made, we would assume that we were correct in understanding that he teaches modality (which is obviously wrong according the Scripture), but he throws a “monkey wrench” into the works and makes it totally confusing. Now he asserts that “Michael is the Lord Jesus Christ. He defeated Satan by shedding His blood.” Okay, so now Yeshua was not the Son before the resurrection, not because He was the Father, but apparently He was Michael? That is a Jehovah's Witness teaching. If Michael is Jesus, or Yeshua, then Yeshua is Michael. But Michael is the archangel and is a created being, not the everlasting Son that is from eternity. The next logical step is to say that Yeshua is a created being, because he was Michael the archangel, if Michael was the one who shed his blood. One cannot get away from that fact, if Yeshua and Michael are the same person. This would fit his theories better though, as it is shown that the Father and the Son cannot be the same person based on the above Scriptures. However if Camping is teaching that God is one God and that He created an angel called Michael, who then became Jesus, and upon the resurrection, Jesus was deified and became the Son, it makes more sense of his statements. This would go along with Camping saying that Allah is his god. Allah is one god, he had a prophet who was “deified” in the sense in that Allah's Jesus is supposed to be coming back to support the Mahdi (the Muslim Messiah) in his destroying the infidels and judging the world. So Camping's beliefs seem to be in line with Allah, however they are not in line with Yahweh. That Camping's Jesus is not Yahweh's Jesus is further proved by his dating of Yeshua's life. According to Camping, Yeshua was born in 7 B.C. “In 7 B.C., God in the person of the Lord, Jesus took on a human nature, by being born of Mary, so that He could be the Savior.” [Are You Ready] So here again, he contradicts himself by saying that God the Father becomes the person of Jesus, but he has already said that Michael was Jesus. How he can be both is truly a mystery. The main statement in this that I want to focus on though, is the year of Yeshua's birth. He says it is 7 B.C. Now he tells us that Yeshua was crucified in A.D. 33. “The crucifixion of Jesus was on the 14th day of the first month of A.D. 33. This was Nisan 14, A.D. 33, of the Biblical calendar, and was April 1, A.D. 33, of our modern calendar.” [ We Are Almost There] Those two statements indicate that he is saying Jesus is 40 years old. And in fact that is exactly what he is saying. “Years to the cross, A.D. 33: 7 + 33 = 40” [Are You Ready]. Although actually the number of years is 39, as there is no year 0. Camping has told us that Yeshua's minstry was 3 ½ years. “This sorry time of Jesus' ministry, during which there was a spiritual famine of hearing the Word of God, can be shown to be a period of three and a half years.” [The End of the Church Age and After]. That means that according to Camping's math, Yeshua was 35 or 36 when he began his ministry. Yet Scripture says differently. “And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being as was supposed the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli.” Luke 3:23. Now a clear simple reading of this verse tells us that Yeshua was probably 29, approaching his 30^th birthday when he began his ministry. In all of the history of Christendom, nobody has ever thought anything other than Yeshua was approaching 30 years of age. The only person to ever say Yeshua was older than this is Camping, who says, in spite of this very clear verse, that God meant Yeshua was around 35. Really? He is the only person in history to get this “truth?” I don't think so. It is only that he needed these dates for his mathematic circus to work. So he conveniently reinvented Yeshua's life and changed the clear meaning of Scripture. All of this tells us that the Jesus that Camping worships is not the Jesus of the Bible. He is a completely different Jesus.

Further, Yahweh teaches that His Son came and died for the remission of people's sins, and that without accepting Yeshua, people cannot be saved. John 3:16-18 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” We are told in these verses that belief in Yeshua is essential for everlasting life. Whoever does not believe in him is condemned.”

As said before, I am going to show how Camping's god is really Allah as we go along. We see how Yahweh gives salvation. Whoever (that means anyone) believes in Jesus as the Son of God, who gave His life for us, can be saved. Now the next step is to show how Allah gives salvation. Then we will look to see how Camping says we get salvation.

Allah's salvation means entrance into heaven. That would appear to be the goal for both Yahweh and Allah's followers. The difference being that Yahweh requires accepting Jesus as your Savior. In Allah's path, the only thing that guarantees that you cannot have salvation is a disbelief in the “one god” and associating with other gods. Allah will not forgive having any other god before or with him, and not believing in him as the “one god.” Those who believe in him as the “one god” but disbelieve in the message he sends through his prophets are left to Allah's choice as to whether he will forgive them or not. Those who die believing in the “one god” and in his message given through his prophets, receive salvation. To enter heaven, and avoid hellfire, one must believe in the “one god” and obey his message. There is no other way. When the Mahdi and Jesus, Allah's prophet return, those who follow Allah will be under the rule of Jesus (and the Mahdi). They are given to Jesus (and the Mahdi) to be warriors for Allah.

Now we will look at what Camping teaches and see whose message he is following. According to Camping there are three steps to becoming saved. First one must be chosen by God. “..before the creation of the world, God chose every person that He would save.” (Time Has An End) Next they are given to Jesus. “So now, there are many individuals in this world who, from before creation, were chosen to salvation and who have been given to Christ as His eternal possession.” (ibid.) Finally a person must hear God's words. “..it is impossible for anyone in the world to become saved unless they hear words from God....the only requirement is that the individual be under the hearing of the Bible.” (ibid.) Also Camping says “a baby can be saved as readily as a mature adult.” (ibid.) So it is apparently not necessary to understand what one is hearing. In fact, it is not necessary to know Jesus at all according to Camping. He was asked a question on his call-in show, “The Forum.” The question was, “Do you have a view that people can be saved by Christ without specifically knowing Him?” The answer that Camping gave was the following: “Yes they can be saved without specifically knowing Him.” The reason they can be saved, according to him, is that God chose them, so since they were chosen, their sins were taken care of, and they don't need to actually know Jesus to get into heaven. “..the true Gospel..rejects...accepting Christ or believing in Christ ...in providing for our salvation.” [Time Has An End] (full quote is found later in this article). According to Camping, the true gospel rejects accepting or believing in Christ for our salvation.

So, unlike the usual gospel (which is the one the Bible and Yahweh teaches) which says that you must be born again, that you must accept Christ as your Savior, or you are condemned, Camping says you do not need to acknowledge Christ in that capacity. You need not do anything, because it has all been done for you, as you were chosen. Even a baby can be saved. It simply requires being chosen and hearing the Word of God. Camping does expect that you will believe and worship the one God, he just does not believe that you do it of your own volition. [Ed. note: After writing this last sentence I had an opportunity a few days later to listen to a Forum question and answer session with Camping. Someone asked him about the thief on the cross asking Christ to remember him, thus showing his confession and belief in Yeshua. Camping said that no, he was not confessing or believing, because Christ had done it all for him from before the beginning of time. That it was merely a demonstration that the man had been elected, and Christ was letting him know that. This means according to Camping that you do not even have to believe or worship God during your life whether or not it is of your own volition. You can be in complete rebellion against God all your life, and if you are chosen you still go to heaven. This is most certainly not Scriptural.] Camping also says it is necessary to listen to the true Word of God. The true Word of God in his mind is the teachings of Harold Camping. According to him, he is the only one who has the true Word. It cannot be found in any church on the face of the earth. It can only be found through his ministry on the radio, or online via his website, or his books. Through ministries like Family Radio, the true Gospel is going into all the world. [Time Has An End] He is the only teacher of truth, according to him. In a moment we will go step by step through his teachings to see why he considers himself the only teacher of truth, but first we need to finish up this subject, which is, which God is Camping following when it comes to his doctrine of salvation?

A quick comparison shows that again Camping appears to be in line with Allah. Allah chooses who will be saved. That person's salvation is based upon acknowledging him as the one and only god, and obeying his message given through his prophets. This is what guarantees entrance into heaven. There is no need to acknowledge Jesus as the Son of God and Savior, although Jesus will return to help judge the world. Camping's god chooses who will be saved, and salvation will only come to those who hear and obey his (Camping's) true interpretation of the Word of God, which he has gotten from his god. It is that message which the ones chosen by his god must obey. Their obedience is the sign of their having been chosen. Christ does not have to be known for a person to be saved, as being chosen by God is the criteria which guarantees entrance into heaven. Yahweh says that without accepting Christ as your Savior you are condemned. Definitely Allah wins this round.

We have shown that Camping's god is Allah, and that his Jesus is not the Yeshua of the Bible. What about the gospel that he says is to be preached?

Other than being chosen, what appears to be important, to gain salvation, is hearing the words of God, but who is to say what those words are? Camping tells us the history of the Word of God and its effects on the world. According to Camping, the world has had a famine of the Word of God. Very few were “saved” before Christ. “The Bible gives the names of some who were saved during Israel's history [Camping lists about fifteen or so people]. However, there is no evidence of many becoming saved.” [The End of the Church Age and After] Even during Christ's ministry there were virtually none saved according to him. “This..season that produced Christ ….was followed by a time of great spiritual famine. That time was the three and a half years during which Jesus ministered in the land of Israel....... Everywhere in the Gospels that record the activities of Jesus before He returned to heaven, we read of spiritual famine.......And since virtually no one is being saved at this time, it means that the Holy Spirit is not present.[ of course the Holy Spirit was not present during Christ's ministry. That does not mean people did not believe in him and were not saved. His disciples believed and were saved, but were not indwelt until Pentecost, as were many others] Therefore, the spiritual condition...at the time Jesus was ministering is virtually identical...to the situation in the churches during the Great Tribulation...The problem was that there was a famine of hearing the Word of God...Thus, we see that the three and a half year time..(of Jesus ministry) was a time of spiritual famine of hearing the Word of God. And it was a time when God brought judgment both on Christ and Satan. This sorry time of Jesus' ministry, during which there was a spiritual famine of hearing the Word of God, can be shown to be a period of three and a half years.” [ibid.]. So Camping is saying that there has been a famine of the Word of God, even during Christ's ministry. Since Christ was telling people about the kingdom of God and that He was the Lamb that was being sent for their sins, I find it odd that Camping feels there was a famine of hearing the Word of God. And to call Christ's ministry a “sorry” time? How insulting to our Lord. He does concede that there have been people saved since Pentecost (that is generous of him),but only under certain conditions and for a certain length of time. “People becoming saved would be in evidence wherever there was any reasonably faithful preaching of the Word. This situation of people being saved would continue for....[about] 1950 years.” [ibid.] So we are told that only if a certain reasonable truth was preached, would anyone be saved. What exactly is that truth? Was it not preached from the beginning, and who preached it? And it has already come to an end? When? Why? Camping further elaborates on what happened during the Church Age from Pentecost until that 1950 something years were over.

“There was a major problem that continued throughout the church age. That problem was a lack of faithfulness to the teachings of the Bible. Any church doctrine that is obeyed by the members of the church is an act of worship of the one who commanded that this doctrine be obeyed. When we obey God's commandments, it is an indication that we are surrendering our will to the one who asked for obedience to that command. Thus, if the congregation obeys doctrines that were designed in the minds of church theologians, and those doctrines do not come from the Bible, then in a real sense, the minds of those theologians are being worshipped. Obedience to that false doctrine becomes the equivalent of a high place of the Old Testament.” [ibid.]“God structured the church age in such a way that illiterate people could be served with the Gospel. Qualified men who could teach (that is, they had access to the Scriptures and could read and study them), were appointed as elders, deacons, evangelists, and pastors. They were to be the means by which the written Word of God could be taught to the people of the congregation. It was God's good pleasure to continue this method of reaching the world with Christ until God had securely put in place the ability of believers to reach whole continents for hours each day with the true Gospel. That is, God guided men to establish worldwide communication by radio, by Internet, by satellite broadcasting, etc.” [ibid.] So we see that Camping says there was a problem during the church age, and that problem was the lack of “reasonable faithful preaching” of the Word of God. This was due to doctrines of men being incorporated into the church. I do not disagree with that statement entirely. He is right in that a lot of corruption came into the organized church via man's traditions and doctrines. However it seemed that righteous people within the church kept splitting away from doctrinally unsound churches, so that God's Word could be kept faithful. The corruption was Satan's way of leading people away from God. Every time a new church has started up, Satan has found a way to corrupt it. He never stops. He never will. He also used people who had new revelations and interpretations to lead people away from God. People such as Russell (Jehovah's Witnesses), Joseph Smith (Mormons), Rev. Moon (Moonies), Ellen White (7^th Day Adventists) and Harold Camping (yes his math is a new revelation and interpretation folks). All of these people have doctrines that are Biblically unsound, and all require that you follow the beliefs. Camping condemns himself with his own words. His doctrines have been designed by his own (or his god's) mind, not by the Bible. And those who follow them worship the “theologian” (a person does not have to have a seminary degree to come up with a new doctrine. Camping qualifies as a “theologian” in his definition). Obeying these doctrines is worshiping at the high places, (basically the places of Satan worship) according to Camping. Thus his followers are worshiping another god.

We have already seen that Camping has a different name for that god. Now he tells us that while God set up a structure to teach people, He only continued this until the year 1988. “The church age ended and the 8,400-day great tribulation began the day before Pentecost in 1988, which was May 21, 1988.” [We Are Almost There] At that time, according to Camping “The church age season ended... with an intense spiritual famine together with God's judgment. The end of the time of the work of the church to bring the Gospel to the world coincides with the beginning of the Great Tribulation.” [ibid.]

According to Camping the Great Tribulation which began in 1988 was when “Christ loosed Satan to frustrate the preached Word so that it could not save. This time was coincidental with the withdrawal of the Holy Spirit from the churches.” [ibid.] So we are told that unknown to the rest of Christendom, the Word has been unable to save people beginning in 1988, and we have all lost the Holy Spirit. “We will learn that the duration of time encompassed by the entire Great Tribulation appears to be 23 years. The first part of that period is 2300 days which is a few months longer than six years. If we begin with the Jubilee year of 1994...then 2300 days earlier would be sometime in the year 1988. Thus 1988 would have been the year in which the church age came to an end and the Great Tribulation of Matthew 24:21 began. Then the period from 1994 to 2011, a period of seventeen years, would have been the second part of the Great Tribulation. The Great Tribulation began at the moment this first great Jubilee period came to an end probably on May 21, 1988. In that year the judgment preparations for the end of the world began. Christ who had ruled as king in the local churches abandoned them to the full control of Satan. During the Great Tribulation, except for the true believers who no longer are a part of the churches (to him this reference constitutes mostly, but not entirely Camping's followers) and congregation, Satan will rule over all, both in the churches and outside of the churches. Significantly, in virtually every church that exists anywhere in the world, the image of the beast is worshipped. During this first part of 2300 days no one anywhere in the world could have become saved. The first part is exactly 2300 days in length ending in all likelihood on September 6, in the year 1994. The second part began on September 6, 1994 and continues for seventeen years to the fall of A.D. 2011. During the seventeen years of the second part of the Great Tribulation...in the world outside of the local churches a great change occurred at the beginning of the second part. That is, salvation is again taking place all over the world. It is a time when a great multitude which no man can number are being saved.” [Time Has An End] For the period from 1988 to 1994, the Holy Spirit has been withdrawn and nobody has been saved. So if you (or a loved one) were saved during this time, according to Camping you have been deceiving yourself and you are not saved. However, beginning on September 6, 1994, a huge multitude that no man can number, who can never be a part of any local church, however they can listen to Camping on the radio, is being saved. I am not sure what world this is happening on, as it most assuredly is not happening in this world. I do not see or hear of multitudes that are so vast they cannot be numbered, coming to the Lord. Oh wait. I take that back. I forgot that Camping's god is named Allah. Yes, there are multitudes that are coming to Allah. The numbers are growing exponentially. So he is right. The followers of Allah are growing every day. I do not think they are following Camping though. He has a problem with that part of his teachings. Getting back to the timeline, Camping says that after this 23 years Tribulation, the world will come to an abrupt end. “Immediately following this twenty-three period of the Great Tribulation will come the end of time and the history of planet earth.” [ibid.]. In Camping's theology, his god (Allah) has not promised Israel a kingdom with Himself as the reigning King. In fact Camping thinks Israel has nothing to do with the end of time, and sees the State of Israel as irrelevant. Allah agrees that Israel is irrelevant and would prefer it be annihilated. Yaweh on the other hand promised Israel that they would have a time and a kingdom when He would reign as their King over them. He even went so far as to give them the exact dimensions and layout for a third temple, which He asks them to build. Plus he lays out the land grants for the different tribes of Israel. This can all be read in the last ten chapters of so of Ezekiel.

So we have been told that during Christ's ministry, nobody was saved. And during the church age, there was a lack of faithful teachings of the Bible, thus there was still a “famine of the Word of God.” And that as the time of the church age ended (according to Camping's time clock, there was an intense spiritual famine. Now the Word (Yeshua God) itself has been unable to save anybody since 1988. This makes Yeshua powerless to Satan. But this only continued until God put in place someone who could reach whole continents hours every day with the true gospel by the radio and the internet. I wonder of whom he speaks? Well, he tells us, “Through ministries like Family Radio, the true Gospel is going into all the world.” [ibid.] He further quotes some verses in Revelation to “prove” this. “And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people...Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” He then explains these verses for us. “This verse declares that the preaching is to be with a loud voice. We can understand this to mean that it is to be sent forth in such a way that it can be clearly heard. Surely, as we are able to send the Gospel by radio and Internet and satellite broadcasting so that it can be heard clearly in the homes of people all over the world, it is going forth with a loud voice.” [ibid.] So Camping is the angel flying in the midst of heaven having the everlasting gospel. Which brings us to the next issue. What is Camping's true gospel, and how did he come to be the only one to have it when the truth has barely ever been preached?

The gospel that we are supposed to preach is Christ crucified and risen. 2 Corinthians 11:3-4 “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.” We have already shown that Camping preaches another Jesus. One who was Michael before the incarnation and who was not from eternity. The gospel of my God is that Christ Jesus died and rose for my sins. The gospel of Camping is the following: “The emphasis of the Gospel message is a warning to fear God. This world is at that moment when God is about to terrorize the world like it has never been terrorized before, as He comes in judgment to destroy. God tells us all about this ultimate act of terror. He commands His true people to send out that Word, publish it on the housetops and proclaim that Word to the world. This is the time that the world which has exploded to more than six billion people is being blanketed with the true Gospel. It is a Gospel that attempts to be as faithful as possible to the Bible. It is a Gospel that entirely rejects any doctrine that suggest that a man's work of being baptized in water, OR ACCEPTING CHRIST OR BELIEVING IN CHRIST or any thing else has a part..providing for our salvation. There is a world out there, six billion people and more, who are going to be incinerated. Not just suddenly annihilated, but they are going to be eternally, continually incinerated in hell. They are going to be in the lake of fire forevermore. They are going to be under the wrath of God forevermore. We who are true believers in Christ as our Savior are the only ones with the message that the whole world must hear. That message is that Judgment Day is almost here. We...have an enormous compulsion to tell anyone and everyone that this holocaust is coming.” [Time Has An End] So this is the gospel of Harold Camping. Tell people judgment is coming, and that accepting or believing in Christ will not provide for their salvation. Why Camping felt that the true believers should preach this gospel, when he says that nobody could be saved during all those years is a puzzle. Of course, now he says that restriction has been lifted. Also, he says in the above quote that God will not annihilate people, but eternally continually incinerate them in hell. But wait a minute. Camping doesn't believe in hell anymore. He now believes in annihilation. What is up with the contradiction? “These phrases indicate that it is absolutely guaranteed that there never again shall be life for the unsaved people. The fact is that they are completely burned up, so that in no sense do they exist any longer. The concept of the cessation of existence of the unsaved is emphasized in many verses of the Bible. The lake of fire emphasizes a total end. The burning with fire, which is the second death, links the second death with the lake of fire. It is the final end that guarantees that never, never again will there be any possibility of life. When a person is consumed by the fire of God, that person can never exist again. The fire, the damnation, the smoke, and the worm are eternal, in that never, never again will there be life. ” [To God Be the Glory] Camping is changing his beliefs. But according to him, if you do that you are in rebellion against God.

“Any time they teach a doctrine that is not faithful to the Bible, effectively, they are in rebellion against God. Effectively they are saying that they know better the Almighty God. They are insisting that their wisdom is greater than the wisdom of God. Any time a church follows any doctrine that is not firmly based on the Word of God, it is man who is glorified rather than God. ” [The End of the Church Age and After]. Camping has taught that there is there is a judgment of continual eternal incineration. Now he teaches annihilation. Both of those things cannot be right. He has changed a doctrine of the Bible, and by his own definition, he is in rebellion against God. He is saying his wisdom is greater than God's, and anyone who follows him is glorifying Camping instead of God. But should we be surprised that he has been changing his beliefs? He has exchanged his God for another god, his Yeshua for another Jesus, and his gospel for another gospel. Of course that will require changing doctrines.

In reading through Camping's works, I found an entire section that he devoted to actually telling people he was deceiving them and that he was a false prophet leading them to worship another god. His arrogance in his own ability to deceive (remind you of anyone?) is so great that he reveals his agenda, believing nobody will understand what he is saying, as he says it in his typical cryptic manner. The following is a long quote, but it is well worth it. To set this up, he is telling the reader that the end-time church is facing a testing program during this time of “tribulation” and he says that it will fail its test (be deceived) and come under God's wrath.

“The testing program that identifies with the end-time church will be focused on a nation whose language the congregation does not understand. God gives at least two prominent clues in the Old Testament as to the nature of this end-time testing program. The first clue is in Deuteronomy 13:1-3:

If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

God clearly says that He is proving, that is, testing the congregation through the activity of a false prophet within their midst. We should know about the character of this prophet and the nature of his teaching. The introduction to Chapter 13 of Deuteronomy is the last verse of Deuteronomy 12, where God admonishes the congregation: “What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.” God says that man shall not add to nor take away from the Word of God. To recognize the Word of God as His Word and have an intense desire to be obedient to it, is, in fact, worshipping God. On the other hand, to believe that there is an additional source of divine information (to believe that a dream, vision, or tongue is from God when, indeed, it is not), that effectively is worshipping a god other than the God of the Bible.

God gives the same warning in the New Testament, in Revelation 22:18-19:

For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from things which are written in this book.

“This book” can be only the Bible. The Bible alone and in its entirety is the Word of God. Any additional articulated, verbalized message supposedly from God which is delivered through a dream, vision, or by any other means, is an addition to the Bible. Because God is not adding anything to the divine revelation which is the Bible, if anyone listens to these messages and believes they are of God, he effectively is worshipping a god other than the God of the Bible. God warns in verse 18 that anyone who commits this sin is subject to the plagues written in the Bible; that is, he is subject to eternal damnation.

Deuteronomy 13 says that false prophet is a dreamer of dreams, that is, he is convinced that what he hears in his dreams is of God. If the sign or the wonder, the prophetic statement of his dream or vision, comes to pass, he believes he has received a supernatural visitation, but because the message he received was not from God, it had to be from Satan. When he teaches that the message he received in a dream or vision was from God and, therefore, is the Word of God, he is encouraging people to go after a god other than the god of the Bible. This is a deadly serious sin within the congregation. Deuteronomy 13 says that this prophet is to be put to death even if he is a loved one of someone in the congregation.

The key phrases in these verses in Deuteronomy 13 are, “for the Lord you God proveth you” (or tests you) and “to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.” These phrases teach something about God's final testing program for the church. God clearly says that He will test the congregation by allowing those who say they declare the Word of God but who are false prophets (because their source is other than the Bible), to be within the congregation.”

Camping then goes on to say that the second clue is found in 1 Corinthians 14:21 “In the law it is written, With men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people; and yet for all that will they not hear me, saith the Lord.” He then explains that the phenomena of tongues was present in the church as a gift of the Holy Spirit. “Certain individuals there received from God, as a gift of the Holy Spirit, messages in a language,(a tongue), which neither they nor anyone else in the congregation could understand...God speaks of these as 'in the spirit he speaketh mysteries.' Additionally..God gave certain individuals the gift of interpretation. By means of this God-given gift, the message received in the tongue was made understandable to the congregation.

God sets up testing programs for mankind. In Deuteronomy 13 it is seen that within the church a testing program will involve false prophets who receive supernatural messages.”

Now we see that Camping has revealed his agenda. He is a false prophet that has been sent to the churches (he tells people to come out of them and follow him) to prove the people whether or not they will follow God and His Word, or run after other gods. Camping is right about one thing, he has a prophecy that is true. The churches are getting apostate. It is not true that nobody can get saved in them, nor would I say that there are no churches where the truth is preached, however Scripture is clear that before the end, there will be great apostasy in the church. Considering the false doctrines, the Satanic music, the turning from worship to entertainment, etc., it is clear that the church has become apostate overall. That does not mean every person in every church though. This is the “truth” that comes to pass from the false prophet Camping. He comes with other messages though. He has been given a dream or vision (dreams do not have to come when you are asleep, and a vision does not have to be an out of body experience) about how a language that people in the congregation do not understand (numerology) gives him a new message. He tells us that he has been given this new message by quoting a verse that he feels validates his new message. In his article “Judgment Day” he quotes Amos 3:7 “Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.” This is a new message. A mystery message. A secret message. He interprets this message (his numerology and math calculations) for the congregation (those who have come out of the established churches to worship in the Church of Family Radio. He quotes these verses (about false prophets and tongues), which really do not go together at all. One is about false prophets, the other is about God giving the New Testament church messages via speaking in tongues, interpretations, prophecies, etc. Yet he runs these two verses together. Why? Because he is telling us what he is and what he is doing. He is a false prophet sent to test the congregation. He has been given a new message via a “tongue” or language that others do not know (his math and his numerology). He actually tells us that those who follow his message are following a false god. They are following Satan.

How did Camping accomplish this work of getting true believers to follow him? I would like to take a moment to show how brainwashing works. If one repeats something often enough to a person, and it is set up to operate subconsciously on their mind, one can then make someone believe a lie. Let us take the phrase that Camping repeats over and over. He says that in almost all of history there was a “famine of hearing the Word of God.” When he first introduces this phrase, he sets up the idea that the world has, with a few exceptions, rejected God in the entirety of history. He starts by showing that only a few patriarchs are mentioned before the Flood as believers, and then during the history of Israel he points out that only the few faithful and their stories are told, while it appears that the entire nation of Israel rejects God, as God finally rejects them. Then he states that nobody was saved during Jesus' ministry. He attributes this all to “a famine of hearing the Word of God.” He then explains what he means by the phrase. He says that it was not that people did not literally hear the Words of God, but that they did not take in and accept them. Now if this is what he really meant, why does he not say that there was a famine of accepting the Word of God, although that still is an imprecise phrase. A better way of putting it would be to say that there was a rejection of the Word of God. That is much more clear in its meaning, as when one hears the phrase “famine of hearing the Word of God,” the initial concept that comes to the brain is that there was a hunger due to lack of (famine) hearing the truth (Word of God). In other words, something other than the truth was being preached. That is the real meaning of the words in the phrase as given. By changing the inherent meaning of the text by making the words mean something else, he gets people to accept the phrase as is, without questioning it. Now let us see how the brain works subconsciously to change the mindset. First let us examine the word “famine.” With what subconsciously do we associate that word? With a lack of food and hunger, not a lack of understanding. Then we have been taught that the Word of God is a spiritual food. “I am the bread of life.” Yeshua tells us that if we eat this bread and drink this cup, we will never be hungry or thirst again. We are pre-programmed to think of the Word of God as food, and Camping knows this. He has very carefully crafted this phrase for that specific reason. When he says the words “famine” and “Word of God” in the same sentence, he knows that our brain will subconsciously associate the two together, so that we hear “famine of hearing the Word of God” as “hunger from lack of true food,” not that there was a lack of understanding the true food. Now that you have been subconsciously programmed to accept, through the constant repetition of that phrase, that people have not been hearing the truth, Camping hits you with the next concept in the process of brainwashing. He comes out and states that “There was a major problem that continued throughout the church age. That problem was a lack of faithfulness to the teachings of the Bible.”

He has already set people up with the idea that there was nobody saved (except for the very few chosen) before the Flood, during the history of Israel, and during Yeshua's ministry. Now he has hit you with the idea that nobody has been telling people the truth through the entire church age. Only the few selected elect have been able to attain enough truth to be saved. So now, a person is starting to subconsciously get concerned that there is no truth to be had. This is where Camping becomes the white knight riding the horse to their rescue. He tells them that, “Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.” Amos 3:7. And he is the one to whom God has revealed His secrets. Camping says he has the truth that nobody else has ever had. He has the truth everyone wants, which is “when will the Lord return?” While he is crunching his numbers and jumping through mathematical hoops to show how he came to a date, he is acting the magician and keeping people's attention away from the other things he is doing. People are so consumed with either believing or disproving his math, that they are not catching his slow and subtle change of doctrines. I believe when Camping began his “ministry,” and I could be wrong on this, that he taught that Jesus was the Son of God from eternity, that hell existed and people were sent there for eternal punishment, and that God's Word should not be taken only symbolically or spiritually, as taking things in that direction could lead to complete disaster in understanding God's Word. Now he teaches Michael and Jesus are the same person, the Son did not exist until the resurrection, and there is no hell, only annihilation, and God's Word is only understood as a metaphor throughout the Bible. It is not to be understood literally. Yet his followers do not seem to be upset with this change of doctrine. Why? Because it has been a slow and careful program of brainwashing. Anyone who challenges his teachings is considered an apostate at best, or non-believer. They are “outside” the camp of Camping, which is the only camp going to heaven, according to him. There seems to be no talking to a Campingite, as they cannot reason or hear. They are brainwashed and programmed to reply certain ways, just as Jehovah's Witnesses are. In spite of the fact that their master teacher has been wrong before, and the Bible clearly tells us what to do with false prophets, they will defend him with their last breath. I expect the same to happen after May 21, when the rapture again does not happen. They will find excuses, just as the Jehovah's Witnesses do to excuse Russell and Rutherford, their false prophets. One can only hope that as they enter the real tribulation, the horrors that will be inflicted upon them will drive them back to the Lord. Only God can reach them. We are helpless to do anything, for believe me, I have tried. Some of my dearest friends are in his camp, and I have been helpless to convince them no matter how much Scripture I show them. They are blind to God's Word. They only hear the Word of Camping.

In the beginning, Satan basically asks Eve, “Has God really said.....?” Eve repeats God's command back to Satan, but adds to it showing her heart is already turning, as she is making God more restrictive than He really was. This is a common trait among those who want to justify not following God. Then Satan says that God didn't really literally mean what He said, that they won't die, but can be like God, knowing what only God knows. He insinuates that God is withholding secret knowledge that they can access, if they only follow his message of denying the Word God has spoken. The consequences were death.

God ( by Yeshua) has said that we can't know the day or hour, that only the Father knows, not even the Son. And that He has told us not to listen to people who give specifics of Christ's return that He Himself has not given. He repeatedly gives the warning to “be not deceived,” that it would not be Him returning until all the signs He gave were complete. He even says that the deception (of a false return) will be so great, that it is possible that even the elect can be deceived. People have added to God's Word on the timing of His return. They say that nobody can know the time at all, not the season, not anything, that it could happen without any signs. This is adding to God's Word, for He does tell us that if we watch the signs, we will know the season, but not the exact day or hour. Just as Eve has added, so have they. And because they have changed God's Word, they are open to deception. Just as Eve wanted to know God's secrets, so people want to know the secret that only God can know of the day and hour. Now we have Harold Camping asking people, “Has God really said you can't know the day or hour?” He says that God doesn't literally mean what He says when He says that we can't know the day or hour, and that the signs He gave are not real signs, just metaphors. He adds that God means that at the time Yeshua said that, they couldn't know when it was because He hadn't ascended yet, but now He knows and so can they. This is because God “reveals what he does to his servants the prophets.” It is Camping's assertion that God has been withholding this secret knowledge until His chosen prophet (Camping,) who has been given the secret hidden code that tells us the time of Christ's return, can reveal it. That the Bible could not be understood until the end and that he (Camping) as God's prophet has had this secret revealed to him. That now we, if we eat of his forbidden fruit of numerology, can be as God, knowing “the day” and that in gaining this knowledge and following Camping we will not die, as the rest of the world in judgment, but live. The lie never changes. Neither does people's ability to be deceived. “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” Hosea 4:6a. Only those who know their God, know His Word, and believe what He says, who reply to Satan, “Yes, God has really said,.” will be able to resist being deceived.

A couple more things have to be mentioned. First, in spite of the fact that Camping denies that his crunching numbers and assigning random numbers to ideas is numerology, it is. While God does use some numbers over in the Bible, such as 12 and 7, He never, ever expects them to be added, multiplied, divided, or subtracted to come up with theories of date setting or anything else. That is not what the numbers are for. The practice of doing this is called numerology and it is an occult practice. They do it all the time. Also, a great many of these numbers that Camping uses come out of his own imagination. He randomly assigns meaning to numbers that he finds useful for his math. Nobody else has ever assigned these meanings to numbers. And if he needs a number to which the meaning has already been assigned to another number, he merely assigns that meaning again. For instance, he has made 5, 23, and 37 all mean “judgment.” Why on earth would God use three different numbers for the same idea. He is God, He can make it work out so that the same number would always mean judgment. However Camping needs these numbers to mean that for his math to work, so he simply assigns the meanings to these numbers so that he can make his spiritualized interpretation seem valid.

The last thing I want to mention are the ordinances of water baptism and the Lord's Supper. According to Camping, these things have ceased, since God has brought judgment upon the local churches. “Likewise, the New Testament commands concerned with the ceremonial laws of water baptism and the Lord's Supper which should be obeyed within the churches and congregations until He comes can no longer be obeyed because God has brought judgment upon the institution of the church. Thus, God has effectively ended the possibility of the observance of the New Testament ceremonial laws of water baptism and the Lord's Supper.” [The End of the Church Age and After]. Camping explains why this is so. “As the believers assemble themselves together as a fellowship, the ceremonial laws of water baptism and the Lord's Supper cannot be observed because there is no one in the fellowship who has been given the spiritual oversight of those gathered together.” [ibid.] There is a flaw in Camping's theory. First, we are told to do celebrate the Lord's Supper until He comes. “For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come.” 1 Corinthians 11:26. First, Yeshua did not ever specify that these ordinances could only be carried out by clergy or elders. In fact, the whole idea of elders in the church came later, after this command was given. Second, He told us to do it until He comes. He has not yet returned as far as I can see. The first Lord's Supper occurred at a Passover Seder. At a Passover Seder you usually have family, and sometimes friends in attendance. Just because Yeshua happened to be their rabbi, it does not necessitate that there be a rabbi at a Passover Seder. There was not one at the first Seder, nor is there one at Seder's today except for at the rabbi's house with his family, or if a congregation elects to have a synagogue Seder. The person in the seat of authority at a Seder is the oldest male in attendance. So to have a Lord's Supper does not require an elder or pastor or anyone with “spiritual authority”. In fact the whole idea of Nicolaitanism (oversight of the laity by a clergy) is hated by God. That is how so much corruption came into the church, through the people not having the Word themselves to make the clergy accountable. The Lord's Supper can be observed in any home by any believers. And we are to do it in remembrance until the Lord returns. It is a mandate. To tell people to stop doing it is an act of disobedience. So Camping is teaching disobedience to the Word of God. As far as baptism goes, again a church leader or even church is not necessary for baptism. Philip baptized the eunuch in Chapter 8 of Acts without any church. And while Philip may have been called an apostle, what were apostles. Just simple men who went about preaching the Word of God. Some of them were strictly itinerant preachers, not church leaders. Much too much has been made, over the years, of a distinction between the laity and the clergy. The clergy and elders are nothing more than the men people allow to teach or oversee the business of the church. One does not even need a seminary degree to do that. One merely needs to study their Bible. To tell people to quit observing these very important ordinances given us by God is a directive of Satan, not God.

While there is a book's worth of information that could be written to disavow everything Camping teaches, I believe I have written enough to prove the point. I have no intention of even tackling his numerology, as I feel after showing he worships a different god, a different Jesus, has a different gospel, and is telling people to be disobedient to God, there is no need to go into his occult mathematics. It should be unnecessary to show the deception of this magician's sleight of hand. If you can read Camping's own words, and not come to the same conclusion that I did, then there is nothing more that can be said, so no more is necessary.

I think it is safe to say that Yeshua is not going to return and rapture anyone on May 21, 2011. Now does Satan have a false rapture planned to deceive, if possible, the elect? That remains to be seen. God did forewarn us that something will happen at some point to completely deceive the world, and I think it will be a deception of a false return of our Lord. If you don't want to be deceived, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” 2 Timothy 2:15.

*After posting this article, I heard Camping give his interpretation of Mark 13:32, and I felt I had to add what he said to this article. Mark 13:32 says, " But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father." Camping says that the Son, which everyone knows clearly refers to Himself, the Son of God, is Satan. I repeat. Camping says that the Son is Satan in this verse. Can it get any clearer than that?

**Since posting this article, it seems more and more that I am being led to believe that the possibility of a fake rapture is genuine. Here are some reasons why I believe so. First, we know that Satan has gone to a great deal of trouble over the years to set up the whole theology of a pre-trib rapture. That this is a false teaching can be understood if one goes to my other blog at http://endtimesstudies.blogspot.com/. So he obviously is planning one. Second the Illuminati has one planned. How do we know this? They have a rule that says to prove their superiority over the rest of us, they must reveal their plans (albeit it can be in a cryptic way) before they do things, and the proof they are superior is that even with the information out there, nobody will understand it. There are a number of venues through which they have been letting it be known that they intend to use holographic technology, along with demonic help to perpetrate this charade. We also know that Camping is most certainly not getting his information from God. People who have been distressed at the apostasy in the church have been leaving it. They are godly people who were looking to find fellowship that was not carnal, as is found in most churches today. Satan saw the opportunity to lead them astray and Harold Camping was his tool to do this. If one looks at his writings, they have gone from bad to worse over the years. He has taken his followers right along with him down this path of destruction. Now he is saying with absolute certainty, no hedging or saying he might be wrong, that this is the date. If one looks at his calculations carefully one sees that he adds in some numbers which he does not explain. This is merely speculation, but I think it may be possible that someone has given Camping this date as the day that a fake rapture to deceive everyone will occur, so that they can press forward on their plans for what we know as the 70th week of Daniel to start. He had to really work his numbers to choose this exact date. Then he says that the end of the world will come in October. Conveniently, that is the time that the 70th week will have to start, as it ends around the Jewish fall festivals, which means it must begin sometime in the fall also. Having had a "rapture" in the spring, and considering the upheaval in the Middle East, which the Illuminati is planning on using to precipitate their plans to bring a world ruler on the scene, it just seems too coincidental for all of this to be coming together. The Israeli PM is schedule to come to America with a peace plan, (at least that is what I have heard as of this date) on May 22. Is that not a coincidence too? The day after the rapture is supposed to happen? A fake rapture would certainly have some bearing on negotiations from that point on, it would seem. It is just all too fishy for my taste. [April13 - as we get closer to May I keep hearing more things that make me think there may truly be a fake rapture. From Israel I received news that they are being told to prepare for war, and the date tentatively given is right around the time of this prediction of Camping's. I have also had what appears to be a confirmation from the Lord that Project Blue Beam (the fake rapture's code name by the gov't) is a reality and will take place at some time. It would appear that possibly everything is lining up for a great deception. I would caution everyone to be careful on that day as anyone taken in the Blue Beam "rapture" will be taken and put to death.][April29 - I just spent an afternoon with two close friends who have become Campingites over the past few years. They have told me that God has definitely confirmed for them that they are going to be raptured on the 21st of May. In the course of considering their absolute conviction of this as having come from God, my fear that there may truly be a staged rapture and they will be taken is even more pronounced. Especially given that apart from each other my husband and I came up with the idea that these are the martyrs in the 5th seal. From the way they cry out for vengeance and the way the Lord addresses that they have to wait until those from the tribulation, like they, have been killed, makes me think that these people are the ones caught up in a fake rapture. I also was led to consider that the church in Smyrna is martyred. There is nothing to complain about in their walk, yet unlike the church in Philadelphia, they are martyred. The difference seems to be that Philadelphia holds to the truth of Gods Word and keeps (clings to) the word (or knowledge) that they must patiently endure to the end. They know there is no pre-trib "out" of this situation and that they must suffer. Campingites are not bad Christians, they tend to be very devout, holy Christians who pray and read the Scriptures and live lives that are a testimony to holy living. At least the ones I know are like that. They are however terribly deceived. This rolling rapture would fit a scenario of spacecraft picking people up. Unlike God who can rapture everyone at once, they will have to pick people up in batches and transport them to wherever they are taking them to kill them. Another point for this theory is that if Daniel's 70th week is about to begin, just as 9-11 was a Satanic human sacrifice for the New World Order, the initiation of a false Messiah would require a massive human sacrifice ritual for Satan. This would certainly serve the purpose. How they will designate who these people are is still a mystery to me. I am waiting to see if Camping gives instructions to his people to do something that will enable people in the aircrafts to know who they are to pick up. If, as I wonder, this is what will happen and they are the Smyrnans, they are told they will have tribulation for 10 days and then be killed. Well ten days after May 21 brings us to June 1. If one looks at the date 6/1/2011, and adds up the numbers one gets 6-3-11 or 9-11. Adding all the numbers together gives you 11. All of these numbers have occultic significance. This would make this a good day in occult terms for something to happen. The number 9-11 should not escape people's notice. ]

***I keep getting more information, so I will just keep adding it on. Today I found this post by someone who is in the know about his radio business. "If Mr.Camping really believed that the world is going to end in 2011, then he would not have applied for 10 new stations in the last FM NCE filing window. These stations if granted, have three years to be built and many in this category will go on the air after Mr. Camping's end of the world date." I guess Camping knows something that his followers do.

**** I have heard from someone who said that they received a Camping tract, that there is a disclaimer on it that says that this may not happen if God has mercy on us like He did on Ninevah. I knew he had to have some way in place to wiggle out of this corner he has boxed himself into. He used the excuse of a math mistake after his 1994 debacle, but he is insistent this time around that his math cannot possible be wrong, so he needs another excuse. This time he will give God the credit for this prophecy not coming true. He is a slippery as an eel. The problem is, people will buy the excuse and continue to listen. Then he will add more heresies to his teachings, until he has people all ready to take the mark of the beast, for that is what he is doing, preparing people for destruction.

*****I have uncovered more information about Camping's background so have updated what I had written before. At first I had heard that he had not left the church until a number of years after he declared that Satan was ruling in the churches, which makes him a hypocrite as his heresies came to him while he was still attending church,which means that they would have come from Satan according to his own teachings, but that information has been further refined. Apparently back in 1988, Camping was already starting to teach damnable heresies to his Sunday School class. The church censured him in May of 1988 (does that date sound familiar? It is when he said the Holy Spirit left the church and Satan ascended the throne) and voted by the following autumn that he should no longer be allowed to teach anything at all at the church. As a result he left and began his own "fellowship" (Alameda Bible Fellowship, which is the only place on earth where people are still allowed to assemble to worship God, according to Camping's Bible) which he still attends. They call themselves a fellowship instead of a church as they do not have a hired pastor, elected elders, nor do they observe the ordinances of communion and baptism. They are very insistent that they are not a church, but I hear this is how the "fellowship" is run. Camping teaches Sunday School, preaches sermons and he and a few of his close fellow "non-elders" (I call them that because they do not believe in the elected church administration) decide things such as what the song service will consist of, where the tithes will go (Family Radio),who will substitute if someone has to sub for Camping, etc. But this is not a church, mind you. The rest of us in Christendom see a Church as a gathering of believers, no matter the building or whether they have money for a full-time pastor, etc., as the Church is simply the body of believers, but this is not the definition that Camping has for church. He says it cannot be a church because:
*They don't have a membership list (Where is that in Scripture as defining a church?)
*They never know who's going to show up at the service (Who does? Nobody is omniscient.)
*If someone is absent, they don't phone them (I didn't realize the Bible mentions phones. I didn't even think they existed until about 100 years ago. So Paul was phoning those who didn't show up to his services? Somehow I don't think that is a criteria.)
*There are no elders or deacons or a pastor (So what. I live in a very rural area. The tiny churches can't afford full-time pastors, some not even part-time ones, and many have no men attending to be elders or deacons, but they still consider themselves a church even with only 6 to 10 people).
*They don't practice any rituals such as communion or baptism (So disobedience is the definition of not being a church? I can buy that one.)
His definition for "church" also appears to be everyone who does not listen to and accept the preaching of Camping on the radio or attend his "fellowship" that is a non-church. Is it not extremely coincidental that the same day that Camping was basically disfellowshipped that Satan ascended the throne of all the churches? No rancor there, is there?

******(April 22) We know that Yeshua said that only the Father knows the day and the hour. A number of people (including me) have been bringing it to the attention of Campingites that not only is he predicting the day, but by virtue of the fact that the entire earth is only on that day for one hour due to time zones, that he has also predicted the hour. He has in essence proclaimed himself God by his prediction. It must be that this dilemma of the earth not all being on May 2, except for this one hour, was brought to his attention via some source (probably the forum), as I have heard that he has addressed this problem in the following manner. There will be a "rolling" rapture and judgment. Supposedly CNN will be covering this event "live" and everyone will be sitting weeping and gnashing their teeth as they watch and wait for judgment to roll around to their time zone. One has to wonder if God takes Daylight Saving Time into account. Of course the idea of a rolling rapture and judgment is simply absurd. When the rapture comes, it will come to all at the same time. When judgment falls, it will fall on all at the same time. God has said it will be a day unlike any other and I am sure it will be. One must wonder why God would be beholden to observe our date line and time zones.

*******In having to go back into Camping's books, for the sake of defense, I ran across some statements that show how completely ignorant he is of the Scriptures, as well as science. Here are some of the statements. “As further proof that this date May 21, 2011 is the date of the rapture we discovered a most significant fact. According to the Biblical ceremonial calendar (the religious calendar that starts in the month of Nissan around April/May), May 21, 2011 is the 17^th day of the 2^nd month. Precisely 7000 years earlier on the 17^th day of the 2^nd month according to the calendar used by Noah God shut the door of the ark.” The problem with this statement is that the calendar used by Noah was the civil calendar which began at creation. The first month of this calendar is Tishri, which is around September/October. Camping does not even understand the two different Hebrew calendars. Here are some statements that have no bearing in reality at all, yet he states them (and his followers believe them) as if they are truth. “..it was about 7000 years ago, and the world was not nearly as populated as it is today.........God put the earth on a path so it would pass through a great rain cloud in deep space because for 40 days and 40 nights it rained and rained and rained............It definitely appears that if it were normal for pre-flood people to average 3 feet in height, then the giants spoken of in Genesis 6:4 must refer to the post-flood human race as being giants. God must be implying that Noah and his sons were giants compared with most pre-flood people.” Camping has no idea, nor do we how many people were on the earth, but given that the Flood was more than 1600 years after creation, people had many children according to God's command so as to populate the earth, and people lived almost 1000 years, the population must have been enormous. His deduction is actually the opposite of what Scripture teaches. Then to say that an absolutely huge rain cloud existed in space? I don't think so. And where on earth did he get that people were no taller than 3 feet before the Flood, and that Noah and his sons were giants? That is not what the Bible says. It says that there were giants on the earth then and after the Flood, because the angels had procreated with human females and created these fallen hybrids called nephilim. Whether it was procreation in the usual fashion, or test-tube laboratory conceived babies, I do not know, but either way, the offspring were the giants. In fact, the fossil evidence is not that things were smaller, but that things were actually much larger back then. Cockroach fossils have been found a foot long. Plant fossils are three times bigger in some cases. As God had Noah build each deck of the ark 15 feet high, it is likely that the normal human was larger than now and the giants were 20-30+ feet tall (if the Book of Enoch is to be believed). Then we must look at his method of determining the time of the Flood. According to Camping, when it says someone begat someone, it means that the person was begat when the first person died, which is awfully convenient that these babies chose to be born at the same time their patriarch died. Then the baby upon his birth must have (by reason of Camping's dating method) become the new patriarch. Now somehow I find it hard to believe that when the patriarch of a clan died, whatever baby was born immediately thereafter was named the next patriarch. How does a baby lead a clan? I don't think so. Camping writes of Shem and his son Arphaxad - “When we study all that the Bible says concerning Arphaxad we find NO EVIDENCE that he was an immediate son of Shem. Therefore, we can BE CERTAIN that he was the next calendar patriarch who was born the year Shem DIED.” Let's see what the Bible says about that. Genesis 11:10-11 “These are the generations of Shem. Shem was an hundred years old and begat Arphaxad TWO YEARS after the flood. And Shem lived AFTER he begat Arphaxad five hundred years and begat sons and daughters. Clearly Arphaxad was born to Shem two years after the flood, and Shem lived another five hundred years after that. Can't Camping understand English? He treats all the genealogy this way. It is absurd.

********May 10. In keeping with updating this article as the day approaches, there are some new pieces of information. Now Camping has picked a time to start his rolling rapture and judgment. It seems he has chosen to start the event at 6 p.m. in New Zealand with an earthquake that is supposed to start there and continue around the globe as the rapture rolls around. Originally it was schedule for 6 a.m., but he apparently figured he needed to string people along as long as possible that day before disappointment set it. Either that, or the people who are planning a rapture hoax have told him that they will be starting it at that time. The second thing is that it has been leaked out by someone close to Family Radio that indeed, he is preparing his excuse for a failed rapture to appear. I found this in an article online. It is just as I had said earlier about what he would say to excuse his failed prophecy.

Time is progressing and news is leaking out from the staff of Family Radio that Harold Camping is aware that May 21, 2011 might not be judgment day after all. Consequently, he has already prepared a defense to explain to the radio listeners that he was not wrong, but that God has heard all the prayers and seen the repentance of people, and in His mercy has postponed the judgment.

This was submitted to me by a person close to Family Radio:

“I was speculating about this the other day. I believe comments Harold has made recently about Jonah and Nineveh indicate the approach he will take. Here is what I expect him to say.”

“You see what has happened? The Bible is correct. Judgment day came, and just as God’s mercy was granted to Nineveh, He has shed His abundant mercy upon us. We can only speculate about what has moved Holy God to forestall judgment. Perhaps it is the reverence of the Japanese in the face of the stress they have faced during the earthquake and tsunami. Or perhaps, in the secret hearts of many who have been listening to Family Radio, we can expect that countless thousands have turned to God and prayed, ‘Oh God have mercy on me.’ We really do not need to know why, but it is obvious that Holy God has shown His mercy. He has validated what He told us in the Bible, validated it fully. We should thank Him, thank Him so deeply. Now it is all the more important, with these extra days He has given us to proclaim His Gospel in all the corners of the earth. So we need to sacrifice financially in every way to spread Family Radio still further and to strengthen this ministry.”

**********May 14 Truth or Fiction? Who knows? Anything is possible.

Julian Assange, in his latest release of “Wikileaks” downloaded the credit card files of Camping’s next trip booked on "Expedia" to St Bart’s along with flight tickets, hotel, and restaurant reservations, for Saturday, May 28, 2011.

Camping’s spokesperson released a statement saying that Harold Camping still believes the world will be ending, but "letting the deal he was offered slip away would have been ridiculous.”
****************May 19
I discovered postings that someone has been doing of the last two weeks of Forums that Camping has been having on the radio. Here are some transcripts of the statements he has made.

May 8: Camping was asked about what will happen with the resurrection. His answer is :

What will happen is the earthquake will open up all the graves.( Matthew 27:52) “and the graves were open and many bodies of the saints which slept arose and came out of the graves.” The elect of God, they will be resurrected out of the tombs to eternal life and be caught up in the sight of everybody. There was an earthquake, the graves were literally open God has a final act of condemnation on the unsaved in that he will shame them by throwing their bodies out so that all these exposed bodies will be desecrated in the eyes of God as they're being eaten by worms and by wild animals and fowls and vultures and so on.

My comment is, that is there were a fake rapture, you will have evidence it is fake as the graves will not be open.

May 15: Questions: The people of Ninevah begged God that he might change his mind. So that's what I want to ask you today. Do you think there is a chance, if the people beg, that God could change His mind like the people of Ninevah.

Answer: I can answer that. The answer is absolutely not. God has given us the whole scenario and there's nothing in there that prophesies about the whole peoples of the world will be sitting humbly before God as the Ninevites were. And most of the world it's going to be like the days of Noah. I am saying this is going to happen May 21 judgment day will begin.

He has just taken away his "out" when this does not happen. I am sure the fact that he said this will be swept under the carpet if he needs to trot it out as his excuse.

May 16: I'm really getting weary with all of this. It's been a grind. Let's put it this way, I kind of feel like I've had it.

His con game has worn thin and he is ready for it to be over.

May 17: Without a question we know that it's going to happen in another few days.

May 18: It is going to happen. It is going to happen. There is no possibility that it will not happen. I'm glad it's almost over and I can finally retire.

Unlike the 1994 debacle, he can't walk away from this one and say that he didn't prophesy it as definitely happening. Of course, he apparently plans on walking away and retiring on these people's hard earned money that he has fleeced from them.

*******May 20 - The thought occurred to me that God views days as beginning around sunset or around 6 pm, not midnight like we mark it. So Camping is saying God has said he will start at 6 pm on the 21st in God's eyes it would actually be the 22nd. That is just another verification that this message is not from God.

I don't know if I have already said this above, there has been so much to relate, but Camping says it is 7000 years to the day from Noah's Flood because it is the 17th day of the second month in the Hebrew calendar, which is when Noah's Flood occurred. What Camping neglects to realize is that Noah went by the civil calendar which begins in the fall, not the religious calendar which was given much later to Moses. Therefore Noah's Flood began around Sep/Oct, not the spring.

If perchance the Illuminati did have Camping set this up so that they could have a fake rapture, you will know that it is fake by the following. The resurrection is supposed to occur when the rapture happens. Actually before the rapture happens. Camping says that all the bodies of the dead will be thrown out of their graves, the elect to be resurrected, and the unsaved to lie all over the place to be desecrated in God's eyes by being eaten by the beasts and fowl of the air. So if there aren't millions of dead bodies all over from having been ejected by the earth, you know it hasn't been real as Camping is right. There will be a resurrection of the dead when the rapture happens. Although he is wrong in that it will only be the saved. The unsaved are not resurrected until 1000 years later after the millennium. So tomorrow, no matter what happens, you should by now realize it will not be the real rapture. That is years away yet.