Religious group predicts end of days in May

May 21, 2011 is the day Jesus Christ will return for the Church.

So says Harold Camping, leader of the Oakland, CA-based Family Radio Worldwide.  According to an article at The Blaze, Camping has determined the date through his reading of the Bible.

Camping, a retired civil engineer, also said the end of time will take place in October.

“Beyond the shadow of a doubt, May 21 will be the date of the Rapture and the day of judgment,” he said.

The Christian doctrine known as the Rapture says believers - those who have accepted Jesus Christ as Savior - will be taken up to heaven, while everyone else will remain on earth for a period of torment, a time refered to as the Tribulation.  Predictions of the event have been made throughout history.

Some, like Army veteran Marie Exley, are taking Camping's word as gospel, despite the Biblical teaching that no man will know the day or the hour of the event.

The Blaze reports that Exley left her Colorado Springs home in August and will be spending the next few months warning others of Camping's prediction, and she isn't alone:

Exley is part of a movement of Christians loosely organized by radio broadcasts and websites, independent of churches and convinced by their reading of the Bible that the end of the world will begin on May 21, 2011.

The group is using a variety of methods to get their message out - billboards, advertising on bus stop benches, and caravans with volunteers spreading thier message.

They even have missionaries traveling to Latin America and Africa.

“A lot of people might think, ‘The end’s coming, let’s go party,’” said Exley, a veteran of two deployments in Iraq. “But we’re commanded by God to warn people. I wish I could just be like everybody else, but it’s so much better to know that when the end comes, you’ll be safe.”

But this isn't the first time Camping has made such a prediction.

According to the Christian Research Institute, Camping made such a prediction in 1994.  According to the CRI website, Camping:

is the president of Family Radio. He teaches that God has done away with the church, and thus there should be no more local congregations, elders, deacons, and ordinances such as baptism or the Lord’s Supper. He maintains that the Holy Spirit has left the church as an empty shell with no power to proclaim the gospel. Because Camping calls his followers to flee the churches and form fellowships around his teachings, Christians must understand what the Bible teaches about the church and what the proper means of biblical interpretation are in order to counter Camping’s false teachings.

According to CRI, Camping knows the Bible and has rightly identified some problems in the modern church, but is first and foremost an entertainer who uses the power of his voice to persuade the gullible, or as CRI describes them, those who are "vulnerable to spiritual error":

Calm consistency, however, can mask deadly error, and this is the case with Harold Camping. He refused to repent of his 1994 prediction, which was based on the erroneous allegorical interpretation and numerological speculation that marks his teaching. Although many decried his prediction, once it was past, it was “old news,” and few cared whether he continued on, undaunted, teaching his false methods of interpretation.

But some who are buying into Camping's prediction are not going as far as Exley.

Allison Warden, a 29-year-old payroll clerk from Raleigh, NC is helping spread their message using postcards, billboards and a website, We Can Know.

Warden, who has covered her car with Camping's message, urges people to read the Bible for themselves and make their own decisions.