Wheaton Clergy Dismiss Judgment Day Prediction

Despite an evangelist’s prediction of the second coming of Jesus Christ on May 21, 2011, Wheaton-area churches are not rushing around to dispose of worldly assets.

In fact, church leaders in the area are discounting the predictions of Harold Camping, an 89-year-old Christian fundamentalist radio host and co-founder of the Family Radio network.

“Scripture says we don’t know the hour or time when it (Second Coming) will happen,” said Matt Hopkins, an associate pastor at .

Jeff Payne, a Wheaton pastor launching a non-profit youth ministry, agreed. He said the Bible is clear that no one other than God knows the “time or hour that Christ is going to return.”

Both Payne and Hopkins said there is a clear Biblical reason to not give credence to Camping’s prediction.

“It’s going to be clear Sunday that this guy is a fraud and a false prophet,” Payne said.

Payne added that those who accept Camping’s prediction as valid would be wise not to get rid of their possessions. He quipped that Camping’s followers will still need homes, cars and bank accounts next week.

Camping predicts Judgment Day will come in the form of massive earthquakes beginning at 6 p.m. on Saturday and continuing until October. Believers in Christ will be taken to heaven while the unrepentant will remain in a Hell on earth until it ends. Over the past few months Camping has spent tens of thousands of dollars advertising the end is nigh on billboards across the nation. Family Radio also purchased RVs to drive around the country spreading the word, according to CNN.

This is not the first time Camping has made such a prediction about the second coming. He predicted the rapture would take place in 1994, but said he made a miscalculation.

“It’s just like anyone who invents something or comes to a truth or any technician — they don’t immediately make a finished product,” he told the Washington Post. “I did not come to the finished product until three years ago. It was at that time that God showed some exquisite proof.”

Predicting the second coming of Jesus Christ is not a new trend. People have been trying to predict Christ’s return since the earliest days, said Timothy Larsen, a historical theologian at Wheaton College. He said some independent churches in America include instructions for distribution of property in case of the rapture.

“There are plenty of people in the past who sold their houses and farms and gave away all their possessions,” Larsen said.

Larsen said one explanation for Camping’s prediction gaining some popularity is because some people are drawn to the idea they possess a secret knowledge.

“The American and evangelical mind has a certain kind of attraction to conspiracy theories and secret knowledge. It’s the idea that people flatter themselves with having information that other people don’t know. It’s self-flattering with a religious twist,” Larsen said.

Payne said he understands many pastors across American are planning sermons for Sunday on why Camping’s prediction is wrong. He said ministers are taking advantage of the situation to use it as a teaching moment about the scriptures.

“The coming of Christ is an important matter in scripture, but what is also important is about how it causes us to live,” Payne said.

Rather than bank on one particular calendar day for the second coming, all three men said believers should live their lives as if Christ could return at any moment.

“The Bible calls us to live our lives in light of the end,” Larsen said.  “Every generation is meant to live their lives in terms of eternal values rather than temporal values.”