Daily Devotional, Year 4 – October 29 (Noble Bereans, Part 8: Re-thinking Harold Camping Regarding His Doctrinal Errors)
By admin On December 5th, 2023.
.
Daily Devotional, Year 4 – October 29
.
.
.
.
Noble Bereans,
.
Part 8:
“Re-thinking Harold Camping Regarding His Doctrinal Errors”
To read part 1, click here…”September 2nd (Noble Bereans?)”
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
“Charity never faileth:
but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail;
whether there be tongues, they shall cease;
whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.”
1st Corinthians 13:8, 9
.
Holy Bible – cropped image – Wikimedia – Creative Commons Lic.
.
.
.
.
.
So, in this little series, the subject of those noble Bereans has been introduced.
.
And today, it is still worthy of a little more exploration, regarding another area of concern.
.
Let’s look at the key Bible passage…
“And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea:
who coming there, went into the synagogue of the Jews.
These were more noble than those in Thessalonica,
in that they received the word with all readiness of mind,
and searched the scriptures daily,
whether those things were so.”
Acts 17:10, 11
.
St Paul Preaching in Athens (Raphael, 1515) – Wikipedia – US public domain
.
.
.
.
.
AN OPEN-MINDED SPIRIT IN BEREA
.
Okay, so these in Berea were more noble, because they:
.
1. “Received the Word with all readiness of mind.”
.
2. “And searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.”
.
And so, these Bereans were ready to receive new teachings, which no doubt, conflicted with the supposed, “orthodox” teachings of that day.
.
Thus, there was an open-mindedness which permeated their hearts, and a willingness to search the Scriptures daily, in hopes that these seemingly new teachings were indeed true!
.
Holy Bible – CROPPED IMAGE – Wikimedia – Creative Commons Lic.
.
.
.
.
.
A FAILED PREDICTION?
.
A few years ago, a certain radio Bible teacher made the seemingly failed prediction that May 21st, 2011 would be the last day of earth’s existence, because of the long-afore-promised return of Christ in the clouds of glory.
.
And of course, when that day came and went, the world began throwing verbal stones at Harold Camping.
.
But in reality, nothing failed!
.
No, nothing in Camping’s prediction failed! But God purposely allowed this tarrying-time to awaken His sleeping saints, to prepare them to shine forth in the soon-coming, Day of the Lord!
.
Harold Camping – cropped image – Wikipedia – copyrighted, not for free use
.
.
.
.
.
.
OUR SECOND WAKE-UP CALL
.
Well Okay, maybe you could say that Camping’s May 21st, 2011 prediction was an error, since he didn’t realize that there was to be a tarrying time, so that God can complete His victory over Satan’s kingdom of this present, selfish world.
.
But the Lord intentionally allowed this error, so as to give the world its second, “wake-up call”.
.
And God’s sleeping saints really needed more time to prepare to meet their God.
.
Yes, God purposely wanted this call to be made that, “the end has come!”
.
Judgment Bus New Orleans 2011 – cropped image – Wikipedia – Share-alike License
.
.
.
.
.
CAMPING A VERY FALLIBLE HUMAN
.
But Harold Camping, when alive, was the first one to admit that he was very capable of error.
.
After all, on each one of his nightly telephone call-in programs, he probably cautioned his listeners 6 to 10 times per night, “Don’t trust me! I have feet of clay! Trust only the Bible! The Bible, the Bible, the Bible! The Bible is the only infallible Word of truth!”
.
Every nightly call-in program was replete with this same warning, “Read the Bible! Study your Bible!”, instead of trusting Harold Camping, or any other Bible teacher!
.
Harold Camping – cropped image – Wikipedia – copyrighted, not for free use
.
.
.
.
.
RE-THINKING “ETERNAL TORMENT”
.
And indeed, Harold Camping’s ministry was not free from error.
.
Perhaps one of the most glaring errors in Camping’s 50-year ministry, was corrected during his 30-month-long study in Jeremiah, a few years before his death.
.
Yes, while Camping began that study believing in the false doctrine of “Eternal Torment”, he later renounced that doctrine, and began teaching that, “The wages of sin is death”.
.
Now this was a remarkable change-of-mind, since he previously had been teaching the so-called, “orthodox”, church doctrine of, “Eternal Torment”, for nearly 50 years!
.
Hell’s Torment and Tormentor – Wikipedia – Public Domain (2)
.
.
.
.
.
WE ARE TO BE OPEN-MINDED
.
But this change-of-mind was in harmony with his long-held belief that a Bible student, and especially a Bible teacher must be willing to prayerfully re-examine his doctrinal beliefs, and change them if necessary.
.
And so, Harold Camping’s wonderful Jeremiah study reveals this change (towards the last few chapters of that 30-month daily study).
.
USMC – Prayer before Bible study – Wikimedia – Public Domain
.
.
.
.
.
UNWILLING TO RE-EXAMINE
.
Unfortunately, unlike Harold Camping, almost all of today’s popular churches still cling to that old Catholic church-doctrine of eternal torment in Hell (but originally was an ancient Babylonian belief).
.
And today’s apostate churches refuse to see it for what it really is: an unbiblical heresy conjured up by early-century apostate church-leaders who, being void of the Holy Spirit, didn’t have the slightest idea of what constitutes proper Bible interpretation!
.
They simply took some verses out of context, while ignoring many others which speak of Hell as being the grave…eternal death.
.
Nicaea icon – Wikipedia – Public Domain
.
.
.
.
.
“THEY WHICH LEAD THEE CAUSE THEE TO ERR”
.
So the challenge goes out to any professing Christian to prove that he (or she) is truly a Noble Berean, and personally begin that 30-month study in Jeremiah.
.
Yes, all those who are hungry for truth will delight to hear these many cryptic passages of Jeremiah, finally opened up to our understanding!
.
And now that we are at the threshold of that great and awesome Day of God, this Jeremiah study will begin to make complete sense at such an hour as this, when it is truly needed!
.
And all a truth-seeker has to do is to begin the painless process of listening to a 25-minute Bible study each morning, and test and see for one’s own self!
.
Holy Bible – cropped image – Wikimedia – Creative Commons Lic.
.
.
This above link is to the first installment of Camping’s Jeremiah study. (Go to the Year 1, January 1st devotional (click here) to begin these daily studies)
.
.
.
.
.
TO READ PART 9, CLICK HERE…
DECEMBER 10 (Noble Bereans, Part 9: Re-thinking Harold Camping Regarding His Life)
Harold-Camping – courtesy Family Radio
.
.
.
.
.
.
TODAY’S PRAYER…
“Dear Lord, Help me to be an open-minded seeker of truth, even if it means giving up a very highly regarded Church opinion! Let me be willing to investigate any seemingly new teaching if it appears to have some biblical validity…
Marine Praying – Wikimedia – USMC Public Domain
.
.
.
.
.
.
READ MORE…
To explore deeper into this subject, please read… ” FEBRUARY 10 (The Deserted Island Theologian!)”, or you can also read…JUNE 13 (Why The World Didn’t End on May 21, 2011)
Question book magnify svg – Wikimedia – GNU license
.
.
.
.
THE END
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
TODAY’S FEATURED HEAVENLY SIGN
.
.
.
BIBLE VERSES PICTURED IN THE HEAVENS
.
“With the hoofs of his horses shall he tread down all thy streets: he shall slay thy people by the sword, and thy strong garrisons shall go down to the ground.” Ezekiel 26:12
.
THIS STAR-CHART: This is a Wikipedia star-chart, in which this site’s editor has sketched in these three constellation (without the Holy-Ghost-Rider Constellation). Notice how the right front hoof is trampling on the tail of the Dragon. Also notice his eye is a star.It’s best seen when in the western half of the sky. It is found in mid-sky traveling from east to west. In January, it is in the west after midnight. As winter progresses, it can be seen earlier and earlier in the evening. a dark sky with good star-visibility is best, but not absolutely necessary to see this constellation. It is found on the opposite side of the Dragon Constellation from Orion. And as already stated, this Goodly Horse Constellation can be seen best in mid-winter when it is in the western side of the sky, and you are looking at it while you are facing west. The nose and head of this horse is partly made from the Perseus Constellation. The tail and rear end is partly of the Cassiopeia Constellation. The hind-leg is made partly of stars from the Andromeda Constellation.
.
.
.
.
.
THIS HOLY-GHOST-RIDER
.
Now one thing that is noticeable and makes this constellation even more dramatic, is the fact that the Milky Way runs right through it. And the question that must be asked is, “What biblical implications does this constellation/Milky Way connection have?” Well, very simply put, if stars represent Believers, then this rider works in the world through His True-Worshippers, to a great extent.
.
WHY IS THIS CONSTELLATION SO INCOMPLETE IN APPEARANCE
.
So why is this constellation merely an outline? Well it does show his back, rear end and leg…and arm. But unlike, say, Orion, this constellation is very vague, even mysterious in appearance. Almost vacant in appearance. Yes this horseman represents Christ.
.
But even more than this, it represents the Holy Spirit of Christ. And as we all know, the Holy Spirit is very, very, un-intrusive, almost impossible to detect His presence. Hence, this constellation is perhaps the most faint of all the constellations of Signs Of Heaven!
.
.
.
.
.
READ MORE…
To explore deeper into this subject, please read… “The Holy-Ghost-Rider Constellation”
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
TOMORROW:
October 30 (Come Out of Her, My People, Part 63 “Jesus Revolution? or Devolution?”
Hippie Jesus – Wikimedia – Cropped image – the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
EXCERPTS FROM THE OPEN FORUM QUESTION/ANSWER RADIO TALK-SHOW…
.
ALL ‘NOBLE BEREANS’ (open-minded seekers of Bible truth) are invited to listen to this Open Forum #23, a small 30-minute sampling of the late Harold Camping’s nearly 50-year-long series of 90-minute nightly talk shows…
.
.
Holy Bible – cropped image – Wikimedia – Creative Commons Lic.
.
Click on image credit links below each photo, for licensing names, details, and tags, etc.. Most Images cropped & reduced in size.