Harold Camping Oct. 21 Rapture Prediction More Embarrassment for Christians?

By CP News Briefs, Sunday, October 16, 2011

Harold Camping's incorrect prediction about when rapture and the end times would occur became an embarrassment for Christians in May when a highly publicized prediction invited widespread mockery from non-believers and other fringe believers.

Rocky Mountain, N.C.'s Glenn Lee Hill, a retired pastor of Meadowbrook Christian Church, has told The Christian Post, "The late night comics tend to make fun of Christians anyway and when this happens it gives them an opportunity to mock us."

Hill fervently refutes Camping's latest rapture claim that "the end is going to come very, very quietly, probably within the next month. It will happen by October 21."

According to the retired minister, "That is an erroneous prophecy, I don't believe the world is about to end. Jesus has provided the choice for people to live forever."

Dr. John Noe, author and theologian, has previously appeared on CNN's Larry King alongside Harold Camping. He stated in an introduction to his book, The Perfect Ending for the World, spoke of the Gloria Patri. The church doxology, or short hymn, which reads: "Glory be to the Father and to the Son, and the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be; world without end."

In his book, Noe recites the Gloria Patri to illustrate the understanding held by some Christians that the world has no end.

He also added: "The God of divine perfection in the creation of the physical earth and cosmos is also the same God of divine perfection in the creation and fulfillment of his plan of redemption. That means the world He created is without end and “the end” the Bible consistently proclaims for the world came right on time; it’s behind us not ahead of us; it’s 'last days' are past not present or future."

According to Hill, "There is death for those who do not believe in Christ. Faith in Jesus is what gives us life after this life."

Although skeptics view Christian beliefs as comic fare, a 2010 survey from the Pew Research Center indicates that most white evangelicals believe Jesus Christ will return in the next 40 years.

Fifty-eight percent of white evangelical Christians say Christ will return to earth by the year 2050, by far the highest percentage in any religious group, according to the survey.

By the year 2050, 23 percent of Americans believe that Christ will definitely return, and 18 percent more believe he will probably have returned to earth by that date.