JESUS did return on 21 May, the American radio evangelist Harold Camping insists, but not in the physical sense that he had expected. Mr Camping told a press conference on Tuesday that Jesus had returned in a spiritual sense, “and the world is now under judgement”.
He admitted, however, that he had been wrong to forecast that the Rapture would take place on 21 May, to be followed by five months of suffering. Nevertheless, he maintained, the physical destruction of the earth would still happen on 21 October, as he had previously said.
But, after there was no sign of Judgement Day on Saturday, many of Mr Camping’s followers have been left wondering what went wrong.
Initially, as the 6 p.m. deadline expired uneventfully in New Zealand and Australia, believers in the United States started an online debate about the exact timetable. Did six o’clock perhaps mean Jerusalem time?
As 21 May faded into history at midnight in the mid-Pacific, one of Mr Camping’s most dedicated ambassadors, Marie Exley-Sheahan, posted a final message on Facebook: “My prayer for family and friends: ‘Father forgive them; for they know not what they do.’ My hope: ‘Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.’ Love to all. . .”
After Mr Camping’s failed prediction in 1994, when at least one suicide was reported, families and friends of some of Mr Camping’s end-time ambassadors had become increasingly anxious. Not having heard from Ms Exley-Sheahan for nine hours after her last message, her family made a plea through Facebook for her to contact them: “Marie your Dad and I love u and will always.
“We only ask u to think about this: Matthew 24:36. . . No one except God knows the day and hour of Jesus return to earth. If Jesus didn’t know isn’t it crazy to think someone on earth knows? Please call.”
On Tuesday, Ms Exley-Sheahan posted a message on Facebook to say that she was alive, and “it is well with my soul.”
Dave Kellar, who with his wife, Anne, had produced warning leaflets to distribute in their home city of Manchester, said on Monday: “We’re still here. We’ve had some hassle, and we are going to have a rethink of direction. One day, what the Bible says will happen. Fortunately, we didn’t give any money to Family Radio [Mr Camping’s radio station].”
When Mr Camping was asked about those supporters who had given him money, he said that he could not give financial advice to those who spent their life savings in the belief the end was nigh.
End-time predictions are not a new phenomenon, but Mr Camping’s prophecy will probably be judged to be one of the most widely reported in history, thanks to modern travel and the internet.
Followers of the American Baptist preacher William Miller, who predicted that the second coming of Christ would take place in 1844, were variously estimated to number between 50,000 and 500,000. One YouTube site, which explained Mr Camping’s Bible calculations, attracted almost two million viewers.