William Flew Reprinting
THE sole regret haunting Harold Camping, the leader of a fast-growing church that believes the world will end on May 21, is that when he ascends to heaven on Saturday he will be leaving behind so many members of his own family.
THE sole regret haunting Harold Camping, the leader of a fast-growing church that believes the world will end on May 21, is that when he ascends to heaven on Saturday he will be leaving behind so many members of his own family.
“I have seven children, 24 grandchildren and 38 greatgrandchildren, and some of them do not believe. They think I’m nuts,” said the 89-year-old Californian broadcaster.
“ But I’ve been so busy working out the details of the end of the world, I wouldn’t recognise them in the street: there’s nothing I can do about that now.”
Camping runs Family Radio, a network of 66 US radio stations that has been valued by Forbes magazine at $120m (£77m). It broadcasts on dozens of other stations around the world, funded by listeners’ donations.
This weekend Family Radio, based in a rundown office in Oakland, spent its reserves on an advertising campaign, including a full-page in USA Today, which stated in large red letters: “Judgment Day — Begins with a worldwide earthquake on May 21. Buy multiple copies of this paper and send to relatives and friends pleading [ with] them to heed the warning.”
It has prompted a backlash. In Los Angeles, Family Radio hoardings with slogans such as “Blow the trumpet, warn the people!” have been defaced by spray-painted countdowns of the number of shopping days left before the apocalypse.
Others have added the question, “What is the plural of apocalypse?” in a jibe at Camping, who once predicted the world would end in 1994.
He now blames the media for that “misunderstanding” and says he is 100% sure the end is nigh.
He claims to have devised a system using numbers to unlock hidden biblical codes and “ signs”, such as the founding of Israel and the rise of “gay wickedness”, that have allowed him to name the day.
First, he says, there will be the rapture. A series of earthquakes will start in New Zealand and roll around the world through the time zones so that by 6pm the ground will quake universally.
By midnight about 12m people “saved by grace” will have ascended to heaven.
The remaining 6 billion will be left abandoned until October 21 when, by teatime at the latest, Camping predicts, the “last trumpet” will sound and the world will be scoured by fire.
Police and social workers in Oakland have been put on alert for anger, depression and, perhaps, mass suicide if it is still standing next Sunday.
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