February 27, 2006

• Harold Camping and The End of the Church Age

  There is a lot to be said for Harold Camping. As founder of
  Family Radio he has helped spread the gospel throughout the world. And not any
  watered down “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life,” gospel,
  but a true to the Bible, judgment and sin preaching gospel. He has also
  correctly criticized the church for its failure to proclaim the full counsel of
  God and for its worldly and emotional focus. On the radio he has not only
  preached, but publicly taken questions from listeners, which is more than any
  pastor I ever saw. He has taken a strong stance against divorce and birth
  control, both of which the modern church tends to be soft on. But everyone has
  his faults, and Harold Camping’s warrant public discussion.

  Back in the late 80’s or early 90’s Harold Camping predicted
  that the Lord would return in 1994. He, and his followers, believed very
  strongly that the calendar he had derived from the Bible indicated that the
  year 1994 was exactly 2000 years from Christ’s birth and a hugely significant date.
  When his prediction proved false, Mr. Camping did not relinquish his
  convictions about the importance of the year. Sure that it must have signaled
  some momentous event in church history, he eventually announced that 1994 had
  been the date of the beginning of the “latter rain.”

  In his book “The End of the Church Age, and After” Mr.
  Camping sets forth his argument that the church age is over, the church as an
  institution is now defunct and that all Christians are obliged to abandon their
  local congregations. Satan, he says, now controls them all, despite the fact
  that they may seem faithful externally. Though outside the churches innumerable
  people will be saved, none will be saved within them.

  As in his previous writings, Mr. Camping sets forth a great deal
  of truth and sound Bible teaching with his dramatic prophecies. However,
  looking closely at them I find that he makes a lot of assumptions and
  presumptions in order to make things fit his theories. A good example of this
  is his development of Joel 2:23, which is a bedrock verse for his theology.

  “Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord
  your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause
  to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the
  first month.”

   

  From this verse Mr. Camping builds his case for the church
  age ending and for our being in the time of the “latter rain.” The rains
  pictured in this verse symbolize three times in history. The first rain
  symbolizes the Old Testament period, the “former rain” symbolizes the New
  Testament age and the “latter rain” is the time in which we now live, when the
  church age has ended. These are also times of a great harvest of souls, which
  Mr. Camping ties to three feasts of ingathering. Interspersed between these
  seasons of rain/harvest are three seasons of “famine of hearing the Word of
  God” in which few people are saved.

  One verse is a rather shaky foundation for an entire
  theology, but though the former and latter rains are elsewhere mentioned in the
  Bible, I did not find any other place where three rains are mentioned.
  Similarly, in order to make three harvest feasts where the Hebrew calendar has
  only two, Mr. Camping has to use a one-time first fruits offering, which was
  made when the Israelites first entered the land. In a Bible that is filled with
  symbolism, surely there ought to be more instances that would illustrate such
  an important point, but Mr. Camping produces none.

  Since this picture of three rains is not repeated elsewhere
  in the Bible, we might want to examine whether or not Mr. Camping’s
  interpretation of three rains in Joel 2:23 is really accurate. Perhaps instead
  of reading: “the (first) rain, the (second) former rain, and the (third) latter
  rain…” we should read: “the rain (which comes in two seasons,) the former rain,
  and the latter rain…” At least, that is how the translators must have read it,
  since the adjectives “former” and “latter” inherently imply duality in the
  English language. The Hebrew words for “former rain” and “latter rain” do not
  include the adjectives “former” and “latter,” but seem to refer to two separate
  seasons of rain. Furthermore, from what I can find on the Internet, there are
  indeed two rainy seasons in Israel, not three. These evidences make it most apparent
  that Mr. Camping is reading three rains where the Holy Spirit only spoke of
  two.

  Finally, Mr. Camping creates a very mixed metaphor with this
  interpretation of the verse. Seasons of rain do not coincide with seasons of
  harvest, followed by seasons of famine. Seasons of rain are followed by seasons
  of harvest. Famines are caused, not by the mere absence of rain, but the
  absence of rain in its season. The Bible is a very correct book when it comes
  to scientific principles and it seems highly unlikely that the Lord would
  create such an inaccurate picture in order to illustrate an important point.

  This is just a brief critique of one of the most important
  points Mr. Camping lays out in his book, but I think it serves as an example of
  why his conclusions about the end of the church age cannot be valid and why his
  call to abandon the church or perish need not be heeded. He has always,
  throughout this book as well as his previous works, shown a tendency to make
  Scripture fit with his own preconceived ideas. Whether or not the church age
  will end, whether or not we are very near the end of time, it is evident that
  the Lord is not granting Harold Camping any special understanding of
  eschatology.

  Finally, I think this verse, Deuteronomy 18:22, applies to
  him: “When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not,
  nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the
  prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.”

  There is no need to be afraid of Harold Camping or his
  predictions.

  • 9:40 am
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