Rapture Revision Release

Our California preacher has admitted that he screwed up his calculations.  Imagine!

Now that he has some more time on his hands, he has revised and extended.

21 October 2011.

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
This entry was posted in Lighter fare and tagged . Bookmark the permalink.

28 Comments

  1. AnAmericanMother says:

    We have all been here before.

    Mr. Henry Miller, a Baptist layman, got a whole bunch of people excited back in 1843 with a prediction that the world would end. As the wonderful old American Heritage magazine said, he applied good Yankee arithmetic to the Book of Daniel:

    http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/Millerite_1843_chart_2.jpg

    (I notice that “Papal Rome” figures prominently. Silly man.)

    He came up with a prediction of March 1843. March came and went, he revised and extended his remarks and declared that October 22 1844 would be the Big Day. It likewise came and went.

    You’d think people would give up, but they didn’t. About a third of Miller’s followers became the Seventh Day Adventists, another third founded the Advent Christians, and I guess the rest just wandered off into the wilderness.

  2. muckemdanno says:

    Why are we participating in the mass media’s mockery of religion?

  3. CathKnight says:

    muckemdanno,

    I’d say that, rather than taking this post to be a participation in the “mockery of religion”, it should serve as a reminder of what our Lord had said before he ascended the Mount of Olives: “heaven and earth will pass away…but of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven , nor the Son, but the Father only” (Mt 24:35-36, RSV). In a refreshingly funny way, the cartoon told us that we should not lay our trust in false prophets — even those we have not heard of who might seem to be earnest. Instead, we are to prepare ourselves for the Parousia and for our homecoming, and remain prepared at all times. That’s why we are called to watch, “for you know neither the day nor the hour” (Mt 25:13).

  4. EWTN Rocks says:

    Very funny Fr. Z! I’m glad the end is not near. I seem to recall a song from the Carpenters (ugh, that’s dating myself) that sums it up, “We’ve only just begun to live…”

  5. digdigby says:

    AnAmericanMother –

    Another thing about Miller. His main temple building bought just before the rapture date carried a five year paid up insurance policy – he was quite a figure of fun. You got to feel sorry for all those who put on new nightshirts, sold all their earthly goods and stood on hilltops waiting to be ‘taken up’. It must have been quite a humiliating walk back down.

  6. Maxiemom says:

    I’m guessing that he wasn’t a math major.

  7. Ha, yes. Henry Miller. “The Year of the Great Disappointment.”

  8. Fr. Basil says:

    \\Henry Miller. “The Year of the Great Disappointment.”\\

    Three things:

    His name was WILLIAM Miller, not Henry.

    And it was not he, but his followers, that came up with the October date.

    However, unlike Harold Camping, William Miller had the grace and courage to apologize and admit he was wrong.

  9. ContraMundum says:

    @muckemdanno

    I’ll bite.

    It’s because religion, in the abstract, is not worth defending. Really. We should not allow ourselves to be put into the position of defending false religions, even when those false religions have some degree of truth in them.

    Either the Catholic Church is the Bride of Christ, and therefore absolutely unique and NOT just another “Christian denomination” or “monotheistic religion” or whatever, or the Catholic Church is a lie that should be tossed out as soon as possible.

  10. Jason Keener says:

    Instead of trying to turn the Bible into a book of mathematics, I think the good preacher ought to spend a little more time reflecting on these two biblical passages:

    Matt 6: 34: “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

    Matt 25:13: “Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.”

  11. Charivari Rob says:

    “Now that he has some more time on his hands, he has revised and extended.

    21 October 2011. “

    Do you think we should ask him if he accounted for missing dates in history (ummm, 11, isn’t it?) caused by the change from the Julian to Gregorian calendars?

  12. brent says:

    Have you ever heard what an alarm clock sounds like in the morning?

    Okay, now imagine a 11 year old boy raised on this rapture non-sense. Then imagine that 11 year old waking up at his friend’s house to the noise of what sounds like a TRUMPET. Could it be the trump of the archangel?

    Then…I notice my friend is not in the room…I walk over in a stupor to the the window and look out the blinds, and NOBODY IS IN THE STREETS! I let out a wimper, a faint call, but no one responds.

    I’ve been left behind!

    I groped my way through the house, imagining that I would find folded clothes in neat stacks somewhere. To my chagrin, my friend’s mom came around the corner and I let out a sigh of relief. It’s Saturday, I had slept in, and my friend had an annoying alarm clock–seraphim like. More importantly, I would get married, and you know, er, enjoy marital relations before the rapture. What can I say, I was an 11 year old boy! Even fundie 11 year olds have shallow goals–the rapture will do it to you.

    Let’s just say it’s good to be Catholic now.

  13. pseudomodo says:

    Then there was that poor little dog who experienced the Raptor and was taken up into the air… But then the raptor could not hold the pooch in it’s talons and the poor dear was unceremoniously dropped relatively unharmed (albeit with several punctures) onto the roof of a seniors home where it was finally rescued.

  14. AnAmericanMother says:

    Fr Basil,
    My bad. Henry was the overrated author.
    ;-)

  15. wlinden says:

    Your post is wrong in every respect. Camping has not “revised his calculations”, and he said all along that “the end of the world” would be October 21st.
    If you do not believe me, see Stephen Greydanus at NCR (http://www.ncregister.com/blog/judgment-day-for-camping?utm_source=NCRegister.com&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ed7db3c78a-RSS_DAILY_EMAIL#When:2011-05-25)
    Or go to what was actually posted (gasp!) at http://www.familyradio.com/facts/, on a page they have not bothered to take down, although all links from the front page are removed.

    The real reason is why “reporters” and the bloggers who trust them keep choosing to report on what people say people say someone said, instead of what he said.

  16. EWTN Rocks says:

    brent,

    I’ve had moments like those described in your post. It’s easy to be in a fog when the alarm first goes off. BTW, you having a lovely writing style. I particularly like this part of your post, “I had slept in, and my friend had an annoying alarm clock–seraphim like. More importantly, I would get married, and you know, er, enjoy marital relations before the rapture.” Every little boy and girl dreams of getting married someday. I’m sure years later, you have found the women of your dreams and if so, I’m sure she is very much in love with you. And it likely happened without threat of rapture.

  17. ericrun says:

    His prediction was a two part prediction. Saturday was to be the Rapture, that is the saving of the elect. The second part was for the beginning of the tribulations. Link. Where she says factual, I assume she means physical.

    I that his advertising campaign cost about $100 million, using money donated by his followers who had sold all of their property and donated it to him, under the assumption that they wouldn’t need any of their material goods any more. Link. This makes me wonder if he really believes this stuff, or if he’s pulling a con, and keeping some of the money for himself.

  18. Philangelus says:

    I feel sorry for the guy. He’s 89. This was supposed to be the capstone of his ministry. I believe he genuinely felt he was serving God by doing this, and now he’s got to be wondering what he as to show for all his years of ministry.

    I think he still could have been useful to God if he’d used this opportunity to listen to the Holy Spirit and respond with a heart for those he deceived. God can use anything to get closer to people, right? But instead he’s clinging to this, and I sense a bit of desperation. Maybe in his mind he has to be right because the alternative is to wonder whether he’s done any good at all. :-(

  19. Sid says:

    muckemdanno

    Good question. The press not only reports news; it also judges something significant enough to report as news, especially if such news gathers an audience to sell to advertisers. The press also has its own non-commercial agenda, atheism a high item on that agenda.

  20. Sid says:

    brent
    Let’s just say it’s good to be Catholic now.

    You’re right, Bret, and you post indicates that it would also be timely to have a detailed report on the following (though not on this thread!):

    1. Just what is the Catholic teaching on
    i. the end of the world?
    ii. the Second Coming of Christ, and being “caught up” to meet Him?
    iii. the General Resurrection?
    iv. the Last Judgement?
    v. the Glorious Body?
    vi. the joy of the blessed?, and
    vii. the Kingdom of God on earth (the reign of Christ)?

    2. We may need from the Magisterium or our U.S./UK/Irish Conference of Bishops a thoroughgoing analysis of Dispensationalism and the Catholic reply to it. For starters, nothing in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 suggests a pre-tribulation coming of Christ, a mid-tribulation coming of Christ, or any relation to a time of tribulation whatsoever. And considering Paul’s views in 1 Corinthians 15, the passage in Thessalonians would mean that being “caught up” is simply the General Resurrection of all the dead at The End, those Christians alive participating in the fruits of that resurrection.

  21. Rich says:

    Camping has to keep the gravy train running somehow.

  22. Martial Artist says:

    Well, that’s a relief! At least I’ll get to enjoy my birthday presents for at least two weeks, as well as managing to collect at least my first Social Security check.

  23. Emilio III says:

    After reading more about this belief, I find it rather sad…

    The informed reader needs no reminding of how dark that period was from early in the fourth century up until the time of the Protestant Reformation. It should come as no surprise, then, that while the church (i.e., Christendom, excepting of course those small groups of scarcely recognized, persecuted true believers) abandoned premillennialism early-on and adopted instead amillennialism throughout the majority of its history (i.e., during the dark ages). This adds no legitimacy at all to the arguments raised against dispensationalism on these grounds.

    Trahan, K. (2007). A Complete Guide to Understanding the Dispensationalism Controversy (45). Port Neches, TX: Disciple of Jesus Ministries, Inc.

  24. JohnE says:

    I’m pretty sure he meant the “Rap Tour”. It’s all a big misunderstanding.

  25. trentondeak says:

    Quapropter bono christiano, sive mathematici, sive quilibet impie divinantium… cavendi sunt, ne consortio daemoniorum irretiant. (Therefore, a good Christian should beware that mathematicians, and any others who prophesy impiously… may be entangled in the companionship of demons.)

    I believe that Augustine refers to astrologers and numerologists when used mathematicians. As I understand it, Camping uses a rather complex numerological system–exactly 7000 years after the Flood, etc.–to make his predictions.

  26. brent says:

    ETWN Rocks!,

    I did find the woman of my dreams and she followed me into the Church and has given me 4 beautiful little children. All before the Rapture! I dreaded for so long that I would never make it to marriage, I would be raptured and have to go to heaven. So sad.

    Sid,

    You are right. I recommend reading if you haven’t already Pope BXVI’s Jesus of Nazareth Part 2 (I believe it is in the epilogue) where he talks about the 2nd Coming of Christ in the Eucharist. We are truly raptured every Mass! Also, Mary experienced a kind of rapture in the Assumption. We need to share these priceless truths to our separated brothers and sisters whose hearts long for our Lord but whose longings and pining can only be fulfilled in the Blessed Sacrament.

  27. Sid says:

    Brent: THANKS for reminding me about Mary and the Eucharist!

Comments are closed.