Harold Egbert Camping (July 19,1921– December 15, 2013) was an American Christian radiobroadcaster and evangelist. Beginning in 1958, he served as presidentof Family Radio, a California-based radio station group that, at itspeak, broadcast to more than 150 markets in the United States. InOctober 2011, he retired from active broadcasting following a stroke,but still maintained a role at Family Radio until his death. Campingis notorious for issuing a succession of failed predictions of datesfor the End Times, which temporarily gained him a global followingand millions of dollars of donations.

Camping first predicted that Judgment Day would occur on or about September 6, 1994. When itfailed to occur, he revised the date to September 29 and then toOctober 2. In 2005, Camping predicted the Second Coming of Christ toMay 21, 2011, after which the saved would be taken up to heaven in therapture, and that "there would follow five months of fire,brimstone, and plagues on Earth, with millions of people dying eachday, culminating on October 21, 2011, with the final destruction ofthe world."

His prediction for May 21, 2011, waswidely reported, in part because of a large-scale publicity campaignby Family Radio, and it prompted ridicule from atheist organizationsand rebuttals from Christian organizations. After May 21 passedwithout the predicted events, Camping said he believed that a"spiritual" judgment had occurred on that date andthat the physical Rapture would occur on October 21, 2011,simultaneously with the final destruction of the universe by God.Except for one press appearance on May 23, 2011, Camping largelyavoided press interviews after May 21, particularly after he suffereda stroke in June 2011. After October 21, 2011, passed without thepredicted apocalypse, the mainstream media labeled Camping a falseprophet and commented that his ministry would collapse after the"failed 'Doomsday' prediction".

Camping was reported to have retiredfrom his position at Family Radio on October 16, 2011, only daysbefore his final prediction for the end of the world. However, hisdaughter later clarified that he had not retired outright, but wasmaintaining a role at Family Radio while remote working. Campingadmitted in a private interview that he no longer believed thatanybody could know the time of the Rapture or the end of the world,in stark contrast to his previously staunch position on the subject.In March 2012, he stated that his attempt to predict a date was"sinful", and that his critics had been right inemphasizing the words of Matthew 24:36: "of that day and hourknoweth no man". He added that he was now searching theBible "even more fervently...not to find dates, but to bemore faithful in [his] understanding." After the failure ofCamping's prophecies, Family Radio suffered a significant loss ofassets, staff, and revenue.

Biography

Harold Egbert Camping was born on July19, 1921, in Boulder, Colorado, and moved to at an early age toCalifornia. Both his parents were Dutch immigrants to the UnitedStates, his mother from Friesland, and his father from Groningen. Theyfirst met each other in the United States. In 1942, Camping earned aB.S. degree in civil engineering from the University of California,Berkeley. In 1943, he married his wife, Shirley. During World War IIhe worked as an engineer for a government contractor. Shortly afterthe end of the war, he started a construction business. He and hisfamily were members of the Christian Reformed Church until 1988.

Family Radio

In 1958, Camping joined otherindividuals of Christian Reformed, Bible Baptist, and conservativePresbyterian backgrounds to purchase an FM radio station in SanFrancisco, California. The radio station – KEAR, then at 97.3 MHz –was used to broadcast traditional Christian Gospel to theconservative Protestant community and minister to the general public.Through the 1960s, Family Radio acquired six additional FM stationsand seven AM stations under guidelines established by the FederalCommunications Commission (FCC).

In 1961, Family Radio began running theOpen Forum, a live, weeknight call-in program that Camping hosteduntil 2011. Listeners were invited to call in, primarily withquestions about the meaning of certain passages from the Bible, andCamping answered them by means of interpretations, often withreference to other Biblical passages. Occasionally, questions wereposed relating to general Christian doctrine, ranging from the natureof sin and salvation to matters involving everyday life, such asmarriage, sexual morality, and education. The Open Forum continuedrunning until Camping's partial retirement in July 2011 and wasbroadcast on the more than 150 stations owned by Family Radio in theUnited States. The Open Forum was also translated into many foreignlanguages and (together with other Family Radio programming) wasbroadcast worldwide via shortwave station WYFR, a network of AM andFM radio stations, a cable television station, and the Internet. InOctober 2012, over a year after the failure of Camping's prophecies,Family Radio began airing repeats of his broadcasts.

Family Radio runs various programs onits radio stations. Before Camping started teaching that the "ChurchAge" had ended, programs produced outside of Family Radiowere welcome provided they did not accept any "extra-Biblicalrevelation", and were associated with teachings accepted bythe historic Christian faith. Family Radio also utilized at leastthree television stations: WFME-TV in the New York City area; KFTL-CDin San Francisco, California; and KHFR-LD in Boise, Idaho. Followingthe digital transition of 2009, Family Radio used its sub-channels ofWFME and KFTL for various purposes – in WFME's case, the digitalsignal of that station broadcasts ten separate sub-channels, thefirst being the main channel, and the others carrying audio feeds ofother Family Radio services, as well as one broadcasting NOAA WeatherRadio.

Family Radio spent over US$100 millionon the information campaign for Camping's 2011 end times prediction,financed by sales and swaps of broadcast outlets.

The Biblical Calendar of History

In 1970, Camping published The BiblicalCalendar of History (later greatly expanded in his 1974 book Adam),in which he dated the Creation of the world to the year 11,013 BC andthe Flood to 4990 BC. This was in contradiction to Bishop JamesUssher's famous 17th-century chronology, which placed the Creation at4004 BC and the Flood at 2349 BC. Camping argued that Ussher's dates"agree neither with the Biblical nor the secular evidence",asserting that Ussher's methodology was flawed.

Camping surmised that the word begat inthe Old Testament scriptures did not necessarily imply an immediatefather-son relationship, as had been assumed by Ussher and others who(Camping felt) had not correctly interpreted the biblical timeline.Camping noted the use of the phrase "called his name"("qara shem" in Hebrew, found three times in Genesis4–5), which he characterized as a "clue phrase" toindicate an immediate father-son relationship. Despite the fact thatthis "clue phrase" does not occur regarding Noahnaming Shem, Camping maintained that there is enough evidence tootherwise conclude that they did, in fact, have an immediatefather-son relationship. He also points out the use of qara shem inIsaiah 7:14, which he interpreted as meaning, "Behold, avirgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his nameImmanuel."

Camping assumed that, since qara shemimplies an immediate father-son relationship (e.g., Adam–Seth,Seth–Enos, and Lamech–Noah), all other relationships between theAntediluvian patriarchs (except Noah–Shem) are of ancestors andtheir distant descendants. That is, when one patriarch died, the nextone who is mentioned was not his son but was actually a distantmulti-generational grandson who was born in that same year. Campingthus formulated the concept of the "reference patriarch,"i.e., various events are referenced to a specific year of aparticular patriarch's life as a means of keeping an accuratechronological record. Although there is no evidence that any ancientcivilization kept track of time in this way, Camping used thisconcept as the basis for his view of Biblical chronology.

Teachings

Camping taught that a Biblical calendarhad been hidden according to Daniel 12:9 and Revelation 22:10,detailing the imminent end of the world (with alleged Biblicalevidence pointing to the date for the Rapture as May 21, 2011); ofthe "end of the church age" (which asserts thatchurches are no longer the vehicle used by God for salvation, 1 Peter4:17); and of predestination (Ephesians 1:4–5), according to whichGod determined before the beginning of the world which individualsare to be saved. In Camping's later publications, he stated that May21, 2011, would be "the first day of the Day of Judgment"and October 21, 2011, would be the end of the world.

Camping did not consider Family Radio achurch and did not claim ordained or hierarchical authority within achurch or institution. Camping claimed that the church institutionsdo not employ the Bible alone as the sole authority. According toCamping, each church or denomination has its own unique set ofdoctrines and hermeneutics, which dictate how they understand theBible. Family Radio's sole focus on the Bible is what he believeddistinguishes it from mainstream churches. In his book 1994?, heclaimed there was a very high likelihood that the world would end inSeptember 1994, although he did acknowledge in the book "thepossibility does exist that I could be wrong"; Family Radioremained popular despite this failed prediction. Both before andafter the failure of his 2011 prophecies, Camping received criticismfrom a number of leaders, scholars, and laymen within the Christiancommunity, who argued that Jesus Christ taught that no man knows theday or the hour of the Lord's return. Camping responded to those wholabeled him a "date-setter", following his ownmethod of Biblical interpretation, by asserting that he followed theBible's method of interpretation.

Central to Camping's teaching was hisbelief that the Bible alone is the word of God in its entirety, andthus is absolutely trustworthy. However, he emphasized, this does notmean that each sentence in the Bible is to be understood onlyliterally. Rather, the meaning of individual Biblical passages alsoneeds to be interpreted in the light of two factors. The first is thecontext of the Bible as a whole. The second is its spiritual meaning.In Camping's words, "the Bible is an earthly story with aHeavenly meaning." This stems from Mark 4:34, which statesthat Jesus did not speak to the disciples without using parables.Because Christ is said to be the living Word of God, therefore, thehistorical accounts of the Old Testament can also be seen asparables. For example, in Camping's view, Joshua in the Book ofJoshua (whose name in Hebrew is identical to the name "Jesus"in Greek) is a picture of Christ, who safely led the Israelites (whosupposedly represented those who became saved) across the JordanRiver (a representation of the wrath of God) into the land of Canaan(which represents the kingdom of God).

Theology

After leaving the Christian ReformedChurch in 1988, Camping taught doctrines that explicitly conflictedwith the doctrines and confessions of the Christian Reformed Churchand churches of the Reformed and Presbyterian traditions. Examples ofCamping's teachings which varied from conventional Reformed doctrinesinclude:

Departing from Calvinistdoctrine, Camping taught a relatively free will for humanity and thathumans are not totally depraved. However, he subscribed to the ideathat salvation is unmerited, cannot be achieved by good works orprayer, and is a pure act of God's grace.

Departing from the doctrine ofeternal torment for the unsaved in a place called Hell, Campingtaught annihilationism: that life will end and existence will ceasefor the unsaved soul.

Departing from scripturaldoctrines stating that no one can know the time of Christ's secondcoming, Camping taught (until 2011) that the exact time of theRapture would be revealed sometime near the end of the world (as perthe Daniel 12:9–13 prophecy).

Camping taught that all churcheshave become apostates and thus must be abandoned. He encouragedpersonal Bible study and listening to his Family Radio broadcasts.

End times calculations

Camping's teachings regarding thetiming of Christ's second coming were based on the cycles of:

Jewish feast days in the Hebrewcalendar, as described in the Old Testament,

the lunar month calendar (1synodic month = 29.53059 days), and

a close approximation of theGregorian calendar tropical year (365.24219 days, rounded to365.2422).

He projected these cycles into moderntimes and combined the results with other information in the Bible.

Camping's date for the crucifixion ofChrist – Friday, April 1, AD 33 (Gregorian) – is nominally thesame day as one of those supported by other 20th-centurycommentators: Friday, April 3, AD 33 (Julian). However, the datesdiffer because Camping used the Gregorian calendar, while mostcommentators use the older Julian calendar, which had a two-daydifference during the 1st century AD (they now differ by thirteendays).

In 1992, Camping published a booktitled 1994?, in which he proclaimed that Christ's return might be onSeptember 6, 1994. In that publication, he also mentioned that 2011could be the end of the world. Camping's predictions use 1988 as asignificant year in the events preceding the apocalypse; this wasalso the year he left Alameda Bible Fellowship. As a result, someindividuals criticized him for "date-setting."Camping's later publications, We are Almost There! and To God Be TheGlory, referred to additional Bible passages which, in his opinion,pointed to May 21, 2011, as the date for the Rapture and October 21,2011, as the date for the end of the world.

2011 end times prediction

Camping gained notoriety owing to hisincorrect prediction that the Rapture would take place on May 21,2011, and that the end of the world would subsequently take placefive months later on October 21, 2011. Followers of Camping claimedthat around 200 million people (approximately 2.8% of the world's2011 population) would be raptured, and publicized the prediction innumerous countries. It has also been reported that a 14-year-oldRussian girl named Nastya Zachinova committed suicide over hisprediction.

Reuters reported on May 21 that thecurtains were drawn in Camping's house in Alameda, California andthat no one was answering the door. Camping emerged from his home onMay 22, saying he was "flabbergasted" that theRapture had not occurred. He stated that he was "looking foranswers," and would say more when he returned to work on May23.

On May 23, 2011, in an appearancebefore the press, Camping stated he had reinterpreted his prophecy.In his revised claim, May 21 was a "spiritual"judgment day, and the physical Rapture would occur on October 21,2011, simultaneously with the destruction of the world. Camping saidhis company would not return money donated by followers to publicizethe failed May 21 prediction, stating: "We're not at the end.Why would we return it?"

Atheist and skeptic groups such asAmerican Atheists and IIG gathered across the country with signsattracting attention away from Camping's followers who were inseclusion. Meanwhile, mainstream Christian groups distancedthemselves from Camping's predictions.

In September 2011, Camping and severalother prognosticators[citation needed] who incorrectly predictedvarious dates for the end of the world were jointly awarded an Ig NobelPrize for "teaching the world to be careful when makingmathematical assumptions and calculations". In October 2011,News24 reported that the size of Camping's congregation had dwindledto "about 25 adults on a typical Sunday". Campingand his followers largely avoided the media in the months followingMay 2011, and he remained in seclusion after October 21, 2011, hadpassed without his predictions coming true. On October 21, Timemagazine's website listed Camping's end times prediction as one ofTime's "Top 10 Failed Predictions".

Aftermath

In March 2012, Camping admitted thathis predictions were in error, stating: "We humblyacknowledge we were wrong about the timing." He alsoannounced the "End to Doomsday Predictions". In May2012, a year after the failure of Camping's prophecy, ReligionDispatches published a report on Camping's disillusioned formerfollowers, some of whom had reportedly come to view him as a cultleader.

In October 2012, the Christian Postreported that Family Radio was re-broadcasting recordings ofCamping's teachings. In March 2013, it was calculated that FamilyStations Inc. spent more than $5 million on billboard advertising in2011, the year the apocalypse was predicted to occur, and the networkwas reported to be suffering from a major loss of revenue, forcing itto sell its main radio stations and lay off staff.

In January 2014, a month afterCamping's death, Family Radio stated that it would maintain itsmission and theology, including the belief that all establishedChristian churches are apostate. For the next few years, Family Radiocontinued to air Camping's past broadcasts and distribute hisliterature. But in October 2018, Family Radio discontinued using anyof his commentary and content because "so much of it stillcontains elements that are very difficult." Tom Evans, whosucceeded Camping as president and general manager of Family Radio,said "Family Radio has come out of self-imposed isolation andwe've repented from many of our former positions, date-setting theend of the world and all that, as well as the condemnation of thechurch." They are now using content from multipleevangelical sources, such as the young-earth creationist organizationAnswers in Genesis and Alistair Begg's Truth for Life program.

Health and death

On June 9, 2011, Camping suffered astroke and was hospitalized. In June, a neighbor stated his speechhad become slurred as a result of the stroke, but on July 15, FamilyRadio stated Camping's speech was unaffected. After leaving thehospital, he moved to a nursing home for rehabilitation, beforereturning home to continue his recovery. Previously, on June 23,Family Radio had announced that it would replace Camping's Open Forumprogram with new programming.

Camping died on December 15, 2013, as aresult of complications from a fall at his home two weeks earlier.His death was confirmed by an employee of the Family Radio Network.