May 21, 2011: God's Timing and Testing the Spirits

A manager of mine came up to me on Saturday and said, "please tell me that the world is not going to end at 6 pm today!" I told her that it was not. I told her a few things, and I will explain it as I go. But mainly I wanted to address this issues because now not only did this man make Christians look fake, but his comments made us look crazy, uneducated and filled with doom and gloom.

So now that May 21st 6pm has passed us by, I have thought a little bit about the subject. For those who live in a cave (and probably would not be reading my blog), a man by the name of Harold Camping claimed the Rapture was going to occur at 6 pm on Saturday May 21st. To that, I responded to my manager, "Which time zone? Greenwich meantime is past 6pm already, so if he wanted an internationally recognized time zone to work with it would be that one. Otherwise, it looks pretentious to go with Pacific time (his time) or Eastern Standard time (showing American arrogance)." So right away, there is a time issue.

Lets think about the history or Mr. Camping. According to his latest prediction, we are currently in a six month period of judgment and that Jesus has descended to preside over the judgment. He also predicted that the end was to come in 1994, and that did not happen either. When reading information on him, some of it is really strange to me... such as saying that churches are apostate and that they should be abandoned and that one should be devoted to Bible Study and listening to Family Radio (ironically, his company). Another significant detail is that his education is in Civil Engineering, not Bible. The validity of the Biblical Calendar that he created is believed by some to be false, but I do not know enough about it to make a judgment.

What I do know is that there are Bible verses that support the idea that Jesus did not even know when the end would come. In Matthew 24:36, Jesus claims that neither the Angels or HImself know when the hour or the day. Only the Father. In verse 24:42-44 Jesus states that it will happen at an hour when someone does not expect it. He likens it to a thief, in that if the owner of the house knew when the thief was coming, he would keep watch. So that explains that God wants faithful servants, not those that will only be diligent when the boss is watching (so to speak).

Luke 24:5-11 shows Jesus explaining to his disciples that the End of the Age will come at an unknown time, so continue to live without fear of the end. This story in Luke also illustrates that there will be those that come claiming that they know the information and they come in the Name of Jesus, but they are misled. It is obvious that demonic people can do good and mislead people, which is why it is important to test the spirit of someone.

So you might wonder how we test the spirit of someone. John explains in 1 John 4:1 that it is important to test the spirits of the people who come to them. In his time, some teachers would not acknowledge Jesus as coming from God, and it was obvious that their view was skewed since they deny Jesus' divinity. But even now, a Christian can act under oppression of a demon. I have seen it many times. Whether it is pride, jealousy, wrath, or greed, I have seen teachers teach unsound doctrine or speak unsound words. The question you have to ask yourself is, "is what they are saying matching up with the Bible, and is it matching up with Christ's mission?" If you have doubts, than take the time to understand what is happening and if what they are saying is harmful to you and to others. As always, pray about it and ask for wisdom in what is being spoken.

With me, I never like accusing anyone of being misled or lying. But I tend to get the feeling that what we were told about May 21st was a misguided message. It seems that his track record and his research is not substantial enough to warrant serious consideration. Needless to say, scripture mentions that we will not know the time, it defeats the purpose of living a life for Christ and living a life of love. So until further notice, continue to live life as if there is no tomorrow.