Monday, May 23, 2011

A Serious Note on the Failure of The Rapture

Today we emerged from this weekend with a little bit of a "Rapture Hangover".

Many, if not most of us, of us have spent a good portion of this weekend reading emails and facebook posts, as well as viewing media clips and comedy routines with regard
to the prediction of the Rapture this past Saturday evening and its subsequent failure.

All around New York, and other cities across the globe, there were "Rapture Parties" mocking the preaching of Harold Camping.

In Times Square, believers and skeptics gathered in the afternoon to await the End of Days at 6:00 pm. The believers read their Bibles and the skeptics dressed in funny outfits
and taunted the believers at the end of a New Year's Eve-like countdown when they discovered they were misled by a false prophet.

What to Do Next

Today there are thousands of people around the world who woke up for a second time feeling confused and let-down.

Harold Camping promised them the end of the world, but all that was actually finished on Saturday was the last shred of credibility for Mr. Camping as a serious Bible teacher.
Now his followers, many of whom trust Jesus but have been misled by the End Times teaching of Family Radio, will be feeling hurt and bewildered. Lots of them will be
struggling with emotions of shame and embarrassment and many may even believe they have been abandoned by a God who would let this situation happen to them.

Far too many of them have quit their jobs, removed their children from school, donated their life savings to Family Radio, and lost their homes.

These people will all need jobs, homes, money, and a sense of self respect as well as acceptance back into community.

What all these people need is grace and mercy.

They need to know that God is much bigger than Harold Camping and that he is also much bigger then any of their own individual or corporate failures. He is waiting to heal
and restore those who have been wounded and broken by these events, and we need to be the agents of that healing and restoration.

The first thing we can do is pray.

A website called RaptureFail is calling all people to stop for a minute at 6pm, wherever you are in the world, and lift all these people to God.

Ask for God’s mercy, grace and love to be given to those who believed in this false teaching and ask for His Holy Spirit to come into their lives and show them the truth about
a God who has dealt with our mistakes by laying the punishment for us on His Son Jesus.

Let’s pray for the real supernatural activity of God. Not a false prophecy of Rapture and Armageddon, but a true proclamation of forgiveness and restoration.

In particular, let's pray for God’s mercy on Harold Camping. Mr. Camping has misrepresented God and His purposes and has led many astray.

God, however, is in the business of taking the worst of sinners and using them for his glory.

Though Mr. Camping is an aged man, there is still time for him to realize the error of his ways and repent of his false teaching. Even tonight he will be hosting a new episode of
“Open Forum” on Family Radio where this all began.

Let’s all pray that he uses this opportunity to repent and express his regret.

Please take a minute out of your day at 6pm tonight and every evening this week, wherever you are in the world, and ask for God to move in the lives of those affected by these events.

With love & light for all,
Rob

(with appreciation to RaptureFail for their sincere efforts in this)