May 22, 2011

I think we all knew in our heart of hearts that It would not happen. May 21, 2011 came and went with no rapture, no earthquake, and nothing else really, but a lot of curious anticipation, and a generous amount of dialogue that had been and continues to be generated, as to whether the rapture would in fact happen.

Actually, I was rooting for those folks deep down within, hoping against hope that indeed Mr. Camping had figured out something that the rest of us had missed. After all, I have been looking forward to the return of Jesus for a very long time.

Perhaps the dialogue that was generated by all this, the opportunities that it presented to the rest of us to express our faith and the fact that a lot of attention was given by the Secular Humanist media to the fact that we Christians do in fact look forward to the rapture, and the return of our Lord, was the best thing to come out of all of this.

I just went to the Family Radio website. Although just two weeks ago it was covered with the predictions of “Doomsday, May 21, 2011” today it looks as though that prediction had never been made.

In retrospect, there were several red flags that went up for me that I am sure that many of the rest of you noticed as well. While the first thing I notice was what appeared to faulty dates affixed to both the creation and the flood, the first real red flag for me was the expression of Mr. Camping’s belief that the Holy Spirit had been removed from the world on May 21, 1988. I don’t know about you, but I have seen Him at work quite a bit since that date! In fact, the greatest movement of the Spirit that I have witnessed in my lifetime has been occurring right here at Adventureland from 2000 to the present.

Last, but not least, there was one more very important red flag that I noticed. I first heard about the May 21, 2011 prediction from a flyer that I found at a highway rest stop. From that point on and in all the literature and all the news interviews with the folks that were involved in this, I heard a lot about Doomsday, Judgment day, the end of the world, and even the rapture, yet in all of this there was almost no mention of the name of Jesus Christ! I don’t know about you but that is what I am in hopeful anticipation of; not judgment, not “the-end-of-the-world”, but the coming of my Lord Jesus, and my being caught up to meet Him! As Paul told us:

“We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the Christians who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. So encourage each other with these words.” (1 Thessalonians 4:15-18, NLT)

This is the day I am anticipating, regardless of the date on which it falls.

Thanks for sharing this moment with me today.