Harold Camping

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Harold Camping (born 1922?) (year of birth in dispute; some have him born in 1917; school records say 1919; other sources indeed say 1922))is the president of Family Stations, Inc., a California-based ministry with worldwide broadcast facilities, including more than 150 outlets in the United States^[1]. Camping came from a Dutch Reformed Church background and owned a construction company before founding Family Radio, in 1958. FR began obtaining FM licenses on commercial frequencies before many Americans even owned FM radios. Camping's affiliates in New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore/Washington, and San Francisco are on prime commercial frequencies and the licenses of these stations alone may be worth hundreds of millions of dollars if sold today.

1 Biography
2 Family Radio
3 Controversy
4 Literature
5 References
6 Further Reading

[edit] Biography

Harold Egbert Camping claims that he was born July 19, in 1922. Harold Camping was born in Colorado and moved at an early age to California. He earned a B.S. degree in Civil Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley (1942)^[2]. He and his family were members of the Christian Reformed Church until the year 1988. During this time he served as an Elder and Sunday school teacher at the Alameda Bible Fellowship. Harold Camping earned his living from his own construction business, Camping Construction, which he began shortly after the end of World War II. In 1958 he, together with two others, formed the non-profit ministry of Family Stations, Inc. (Family Radio - a Christian educational network) in which he has served as President. Eventually Harold Camping sold his business and became a full-time volunteer executive of Family Radio, serving without pay as President and General Manager.

[edit] Family Radio

Main article: Family Radio

Some of Camping's trademarks include his deep, sonorous voice^[1] and his slow and articulate cadence. Camping runs many religious programs on his radio station. These programs can be heard by radio, satellite, television, or Internet broadcast.

In 1961 Family Radio began the Open Forum program, a live weeknight call-in program hosted by Harold Camping. This program has continued to the present time and is broadcasted on the more than 140 stations owned by Family Radio in the U.S. The Open Forum is also translated into many foreign languages and together with other Family Radio programing is broadcast worldwide via shortwave station WYFR, a network of AM and FM radio stations, and the Internet.

[edit] Controversy

Many associated with conventional churches have vehemently rejected Camping's recent teachings^[3]^[4], as Camping, according to him, advocates that God's wrath is upon the visible church and He has withdrawn His Spirit from operating among them; this is why Camping states churches are no longer effective in delivering the true word of God, because he says God no longer blesses their work. Camping's opposition refers to quotes of his like these: "It is no wonder that it is almost impossible to find a church today that will modify its Confessions to make them more faithful to the Bible. Remember the Bible says that it is God who works in us to will and to do of His good pleasure. Therefore, if a church no longer has a candlestick it means God is no longer working in that church. The elders and deacons are being guided by their own minds rather than by the Holy Spirit."^{[citation needed]} Furthermore, Camping identifies many references to “Jerusalem” in the Bible with today's church. Camping states God's destruction of Israel and Jerusalem (and God's command for believers to flee from Jerusalem in that day) prefigures the fact that in our own day, just prior to acceleration of the great tribulation, as Camping says, “We must remove ourselves from the church.”^{[citation needed]} Christians are to flee from the "Jerusalem" of our day (the churches), because God commands all His own to come out of them. God's wrath is upon the churches just as it was on ancient Jerusalem for its rebellion against God. Camping points to 1 Peter 4:17 which states, "judgment must begin at the house of God." His opposition^{[attribution needed]} states that he has too much power, and no accountability, but Camping insists that Family Radio is preaching the true gospel.

[edit] Literature

Camping has written around 30 books and booklets. Two of his books are about the possible timing of the return of Christ. The first, 1994? and more recently, Time Has An End: A Biblical History of the World- 11,013 BC to 2011 AD. In the book he presents Biblical evidence for the return of Jesus Christ as highly likely in 2011 A.D. The main reason Camping cites the end of the world in 2011 AD is that it is 7,000 years from the Noachian Flood which he claims was in 4990 BC. It is also 23 years from the beginning of the Great Tribulation; 23 being a number used in connection with judgment in the Bible (page 425). Christians are now to leave their (spiritual) homeland (the churches) just like Jacob and his children did (page 426). The most likely time of Christ's coming is at the Feast of Ingathering (the 15-22 of the seventh month of the Jewish calendar) which would be in the fall of 2011 (September-October, page 433) but Camping explicitly does not talk about a specific day. More recently he announced that the world is most likely to end around October 20 2011.

It is likewise interesting to note that while Camping's anti-church theology places great emphasis on eschatological dates, he ignores the history of the calendar and its initial development from pagan sources and its evolution into its current state as defined by the Roman Church in 1582 by Pope Gregory in an attempt to solidify the date of Easter. Furthermore, Camping's critics state that his claim for the end of the world ignores the injunction - (Mar 13:32) 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 however, teaches that a literal interpretation of that verse is not Biblical.

Camping's biblical literary knowledge also ignores all scholarship which identifies multiple authorship, particularly in the Torah (see documentary hypothesis), and consequently neglects any historical or literary refinement.

[edit] References

^ ^a ^b White,James R. "Dangerous Airwaves: Harold Camping's Call to Flee the Church." Christian Research Journal 25.1 (2002)
^ "About the Author." www.atlasbooks.com/marktplc/01508.htm#summary
^ Dr. Mark Allison, Malvern Free Presbyterian Church. Refutation of Harold Camping's Errors. sermonaudio.com.
^ Rev. Stephen Hamilton, Lehigh Valley Free Presbyterian Church. Our Letter to Family Radio and Is Harold Camping's Family Radio a Cult?. sermonaudio.com.

Camping, Harold (2005). Time Has an End: A Biblical History of the World 11,013 B.C.- 2011 A.D. Vantage Press.
White, James R. (2002). "Dangerous Airwaves: Harold Camping's Call to Flee the Church". Christian Research Journal (25.1).