http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Camping

Harold Camping
Biography

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).[1] 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. Camping earned his living from his own construction business, Camping Construction, which he began shortly after the end of World War II. In 1958, together with two others, he formed the non-profit ministry of Family Stations, Inc. (Family Radio - a Christian educational network) in which he has served as President.[1] Eventually he sold his business and became a full-time volunteer executive of Family Radio, serving without pay as President and General Manager.[1]

[edit] Family Radio

Main article: Family Radio

Camping's trademarks include his deep, slurred speech coupled with a slow cadence. He 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 that he hosts.[1] Listeners call in primarily with questions about the meaning of certain passages from the Bible, and Camping answers them by means of interpretations, often with reference to other Biblical passages. Occasionally the questions pertain to general Christian doctrine, such as the nature of sin and salvation, and to matters of everyday life conduct, such as marriage, sexual morality, and education.[1] This program has continued to the present time and is broadcast on the more than 150 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, a cable television station, and the Internet.

[edit] Teachings & Beliefs

Central to Camping's teaching is the belief that the Bible is the Word of God and completely true. However, he emphasizes, this does not mean that each sentence in the Bible is to be understood only literally, as stated. Rather, the meaning of individual Biblical passages also needs to be interpreted in the light of two factors. The first is the context of the Bible as a whole. The second is its spiritual meaning: in Camping's words, "the Bible is an earthly story with a Heavenly meaning." In Camping's latest publication,"We are Almost There!"[5], he states that certain Biblical passages point unquestionably to May 21, 2011 as the date of "Rapture", and October 21, 2011 as the end of the world.

Since leaving the Reformed Church in 1988, Camping has taught doctrines that may conflict with doctrines of the Reformed Church and other church denominations. The principles of Biblical hermeneutics upon which Camping frames his present teachings are:

1. The Bible alone is the Word of God.
2. Every Biblical passage must be interpreted in the light of the Bible as a whole.
3. The Bible normally conveys multiple levels of meaning or significance.[6]

Examples of how Camping's teachings vary from past conventional doctrines are:

* Departing from Calvinist doctrine, Camping teaches relative free will of humanity, and that humans are not totally depraved. However, he subscribes to the idea that salvation is unmerited, cannot be achieved by good works or prayer, and is a pure act of God's grace.

* Departing from the doctrine of eternal punishment for the unsaved in a place called Hell, Camping teaches that life will end and existence will cease for the unsaved soul.

* Departing from doctrines stating no one can know the time of Christ's second coming, he teaches that the exact times of the Rapture and the End of the World are to be revealed sometime towards the end of time: (Daniel 12:9-13) prophecy.

[edit] Calendar of History

In 1970, Camping published The Biblical Calendar of History in which, by some unconventional calculations, he dated the Creation of the world to the year 11,013 BC and the Flood to 4990 BC. This was in stark contrast to Bishop James Ussher's popular chronology, which placed creation at 4004 BC and the Flood at 2348 BC. Camping argued that Ussher's dates "agree neither with the Biblical nor the secular evidence" and thus Ussher's methodology was flawed.[7]

Camping reasoned that "begat" did not necessarily imply an immediate father-son relationship, as was assumed by Ussher. Camping noted the use of the phrase "called his name" (Hebrew qara'), found three times in Genesis 4-5, which he characterized as a "clue phrase" to indicate an immediate father-son relationship.[7]

[edit] Controversy

Camping's Biblical study regarding time and Christ's second coming is based on the cycles of:

* Jewish feast days in the Hebrew calendar, as described in the Old Testament,
* the lunar month calendar (1 month = 29.53059 days), and
* the Gregorian calendar (1 year = 365.2422 days).

He projects these into modern times and combines the results with other information in the Bible[8][9][10][11]

Camping stated that he had, and that his calculations showed the crucifixion of Christ taking place on April 1, 33 AD[5].

However, when comparing the events of Christ's childhood with the known times for the reign of Herod the Great, some individuals might speculate that the crucifixion may have taken place in either 29 or 30 AD. According to the Biblical evidence presented in Camping's publications [12], 33 AD is the year of Christ's crucifixion.

In 1992, Camping published a book titled "1994?" in which he proclaimed that Christ's return might be on September 6, 1994. In that publication, he also mentioned 2011 could be the end. As a result, some individuals suggested his publication was "date-setting."[13] Camping's latest 2008 publication, "We are Almost There!," provides his, and other individuals', understanding of additional Biblical evidence establishing 2011 as the year in which both the Rapture and the end of the world will occur.

Camping's publication, "The End of the Church Age and After," has also generated controversy[14][15]