Daily Devotional, Year 4 – September 12 (Noble Bereans, Part 12: “Re-thinking Harold Camping Regarding His Carefulness in Bible Study”)

By admin On July 11th, 2023

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Daily Devotional, Year 4 – September 12

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Noble Bereans,

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Part 12:

“Re-thinking Harold Camping Regarding His Carefulness in Bible Study”

To read part 1, click here…”September 2nd (Noble Bereans?)”

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So, in this little series, the subject of those noble Bereans has been introduced.

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And today, it is still worthy of a little more exploration about another area of concern.

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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

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St Paul Preaching in Athens (Raphael, 1515) – Wikipedia – US public domain

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AN OPEN-MINDED SPIRIT IN BEREA

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Okay, so these in Berea were more noble, because they:

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1. “Received the Word with all readiness of mind.”

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2. “And searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.”

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And with this godly, open-minded spirit, these Bereans were ready to receive new teachings, which no doubt, conflicted with the supposed, “orthodox” teachings of that day.

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Yes, 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!

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Holy Bible – cropped image – Wikimedia – Creative Commons Lic.

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A FAILED PREDICTION?

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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.

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And of course, when that day came and went, the world began throwing verbal stones at Harold Camping.

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But in reality, nothing failed!

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**No, nothing in Camping’s prediction failed! But God purposely allowed this tarrying-time to awaken His sleeping saints, to prepare them to stand in the Day of the Lord! (see Habakkuk 2:1, 2)**

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Harold Camping – Wikipedia

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MANY FALSE ACCUSATIONS

see Matthew 5:11

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Yes, Harold Camping was accused of being a false teacher, all for the sake of getting rich.

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But those who knew him, fully understood that this dedicated Bible teacher was a very spiritual servant of God: a man who cared nothing for the riches of this world!

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But rather, Camping loved the heavenly riches found only in the study of God’s Word, the Bible!

Judgment Bus New Orleans 2011 – cropped image – Wikipedia – Share-alike License

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ONLY A FLASH IN THE PAN

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Unfortunately, much of this world only got a brief glimpse of this faithful Bible teacher whose short brush with world-wide notoriety was nothing more than, “A flash in the pan”, as the saying goes.

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And yet, Harold Camping studied the Bible for hours each day, prior to a daily Bible study and a 90-minute nightly call-in radio talk show. And armed with nothing more than a King James Bible, and a memory of so much of the Bible, Camping answered the many questions about the Bible, night after night for 5 long decades.

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But of course, with only a very brief encounter with Harold Camping, the public and world knew very little about this wisp of a man, with a deep and booming voice, proclaiming the end of the world!

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La Bible, Notre-Dame – cropped image – Wikimedia – Share-Alike License

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5 OR 6 HOUR STUDIES PER DAY

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But God had raised up Camping, and He gave this former construction-engineer-turned-Bible-teacher, a vast knowledge of the Bible, made possible by his 5 or 6 hours per day comparing Scripture with Scripture, to try to understand more and more of what the Bible is saying to Mankind.

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Holy Bible – cropped image – Wikimedia – Creative Commons Lic.

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HAROLD CAMPING BIBLE STUDIES

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One aspect which makes Camping’s audio Bible programs superior to other radio teachers is the manner in which he highlighted each Bible reference. Unlike many teachers, Camping usually made an effort to emphasize each verse given, repeating the chapter and verse, and allowing the listener time to look each verse up for themselves.

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But most other teachers do not do so well in this regard, but rather make their emphasis, instead, upon their own perspective, and not giving listeners time to look up each given verse for their own selves.

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The bottom line is, Camping was more interested in making the Bible the focal-point of his ministry rather than his own interpretations. Thus, Camping’s presentations allow listeners the time to cement those verses into their hearts, more than most other teachers normally do!

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Harold Camping – Wikipedia – copyrighted – not-for-free-use

Holy bible – cropped image – Wikimedia – Creative Commons lic.

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VERSE-BY-VERSE STUDY

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And in his 25-minute daily Bible study, the listener was taken very slowly through the Bible, verse-by-verse, sometimes spending several studies on just one verse.

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But in those studies, individual words were examined, often referring to the original language of Hebrew or Greek to find out just what that verse was truly saying.

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Book of Isaiah – cropped image – Wikimedia – C.C. Share-alike License

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“WE KNOW IN PART & PROPHESY IN PART”

1st Corinthians 13:9

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Now of course, no Bible teacher is infallible, and Camping did have some errors in his teachings, such as his long-held belief in Eternal Torment.

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But even here, Camping finally saw the error in that doctrine, and immediately corrected his teachings on the true nature of Hell (which he finally realized, is the grave)… “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:23

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ABOVE PICTURE – Adding to or taking from God’s Word, the Bible

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AM I A TRUE NOBLE BEREAN?

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The point is that the ministry of Harold Camping was a very God-blessed ministry which lasted for 50 years.

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And those who consider themselves to be Noble Bereans should check his ministry out for their own self, instead of merely following the crowd.

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USMC – Prayer before Bible study – Wikimedia – Public Domain

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And all a truth-seeking Berean has to do is to begin the painless process of listening daily to a 25-minute Bible study each morning, and test and see for one’s own self!

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above picture: Prophet Jeremiah – www.christianimagesource.org – Public Domain

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This above link is to the first installment of Camping’s Jeremiah study.

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But the reader can also listen to one 20-25 minute audio of this entire series of Jeremiah Bible studies at the bottom of each day’s devotional.

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TO READ PART 13, GO HERE…

April 21 (Noble Bereans, Part 13: Re-thinking Harold Camping Regarding Jeremiah (continued))

cry-of-prophet-jeremiah-on-the-ruins-of-jerusalem-on-a-bible-subject-1870.jpg!Large

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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…

Marines at Prayer by Alex Raymond – Wikimedia – Public Domain

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THE END

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TODAY’S FEATURED HEAVENLY SIGN

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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.

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THIS HOLY-GHOST-RIDER

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Now one thing that is noticeable and makes this constellation even more dramatic, is the fact that the Milky Way runs right through it.

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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.

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WHY IS THIS CONSTELLATION SO INCOMPLETE IN APPEARANCE

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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.

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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!

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TOMORROW:

September 13 (Here Come the Thought Police! Part 3: “Christians Meet Totalitarians”)

1984 Big-Brother is watching you – Wikimedia – Copy-Left license

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20 MINUTE+ AUDIO BIBLE STUDY IN JEREMIAH

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ALL ‘NOBLE BEREANS’ (open-minded truth-seekers) ARE ENCOURAGED TO BEGIN FOLLOWING THIS 650+ AUDIO BIBLE STUDY THROUGH THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH EACH DAY ON THIS DAILY DEVOTIONAL.

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THIS IS STUDY #12 IS PRESENTED BY THE LATE HAROLD CAMPING, FORMER CEO OF FAMILY RADIO…

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above picture: Prophet Jeremiah – www.christianimagesource.org – Public Domain

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