Daily Devotional, Year 4: September 7 (Noble Bereans, Part 22: “Re-thinking Harold Camping Regarding The Spirituality of the Bible”)
By admin On July 11th, 2023.
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Daily Devotional, Year 4: October 23
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Noble Bereans,
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Part 22:
“Re-thinking Harold Camping Regarding The Spirituality of the Bible”
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. And today, it is still worthy of a little more exploration into 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 those 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 so, the Bereans were ready to receive new teachings, which no doubt, conflicted with the supposed, “orthodox” teachings of that day.
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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!
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La Bible, Notre-Dame – cropped image – Wikimedia – Share-Alike License
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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-promised return of Christ in the clouds of glory.
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And of course, when that 24-hour 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!
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Judgment Bus New Orleans 2011 – Wikipedia – Share-alike License
Harold Camping – Wikipedia – copyrighted, not for free use
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CAMPING OPPOSED HISTORICAL-GRAMMATICAL HERMENEUTIC
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One very great doctrinal difference between Camping’s teachings as opposed to the standard teachings of the evangelical community is the disagreement over the supposed hermeneutic (rule of interpretation) which demands that scripture be interpreted as literal as possible unless context DEMANDS a spiritual interpretation.
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This hermeneutic is sometimes referred to as the “Historical-Grammatical Method of Interpretation”.
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Holy Bible – cropped image – Wikimedia – Creative Commons Lic.
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NO BIBLICAL SUPPORT
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Now, Harold Camping often pointed out that nowhere in the Bible is there found any scriptural justification for such a hermeneutic.
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Rather, this hermeneutic is totally a man-made doctrine, which was originally fabricated many long centuries ago to guard against some really bad spiritualizing going on in that day.
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Holy Bible – cropped image – Wikimedia – Creative Commons Lic.
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LOCKED OUT OF MUCH OF THE BIBLE
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But Camping also pointed out that by following that non-biblical, human-contrived hermeneutic, Bible students lock themselves out of so much of the Bible.
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For instance, adherents of this hermeneutic of literal interpretation do not believe that much of the Book of Revelation concerns the Church, but is mainly for literal Jews. Nor can they see the many spiritual truths found in the Laws of Moses. Nor can they see that the Old Testament prophets have a spiritual application for today’s Church.
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Holy Bible – cropped image – Wikimedia – Creative Commons Lic.
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OLD TESTAMENT FILLED WITH TYPES, SHADOWS, ALLEGORIES AND PARABLES
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Now, Camping, on the other hand, believed just the opposite. He saw the Old Testament as a spiritual book, filled with allegories, types and shadows which have a spiritual application for today’s Church.
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And so, Camping constantly pointed out the many spiritual metaphors which were actually more for today’s Church, than they were for the Old Testament children of Israel.
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And thus, Camping taught his listeners, that by comparing scripture with scripture and spiritual things with spiritual, the true allegorical meaning of all those Old Testament precepts and testimonies can be properly unlocked to reveal their true application to today’s Church.
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And for this reason, this website features daily audio Bible studies at the bottom of each day’s devotionals. And by following those daily Bible studies, the truth-seeking Bible student can gradually learn the true hermeneutics of proper Bible study.
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Holy Bible – cropped image – Wikimedia – Creative Commons Lic.
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ANY “NOBLE BEREANS” OUT THERE?
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And prayerfully, for any “Noble Bereans” out there, the invitation goes out to follow along with these daily devotionals and the accompanying audio Bible studies on each day’s devotional. And with an open mind and a prayerful heart, the Bible student can study day-by-day, and even month-by-month to eventually gain confidence that he or she is on the right track that Harold Camping was truly a man of God, and a faithful expositor of Bible truth.
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Holy Bible – cropped image – Wikimedia – Creative Commons Lic.
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TO READ PART 23, CLICK HERE…
October 27 (Noble Bereans, Part 23: “The Messages of the Three Angels of Revelation 14″)
3 Angels Messages – Wikipedia via www.pri.org – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license.
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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…
Holy Bible – cropped image – Wikimedia – Creative Commons Lic.
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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
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THE END
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TODAY’S FEATURED HEAVENLY SIGN
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FINALLY WALKING UPWARD INTO THE HIGHWAYS OF ETERNITY
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Day by day, you will find yourself walking, like the Disciples, spreading the precious Gospel seed wherever the Spirit leads.
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Taking the lovely name of Jesus, with every word spoken. Walking through this sin-darkened world, witnessing to those who take notice that of a truth, Jesus is present within you. Even like faithful Enoch, walking through the highways and byways of life in this world, spreading the Gospel-seed of unpretentious love.
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Day by day, you will become more and more closed in with God. Moment by moment, your heart will become intertwined with God’s heart, eventually two hearts beating as one heart.
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And just like Enoch, when the appointed time of sojourning on earth is finally done…you will walk onward…and upward…and into the highways and byways of eternity. (“And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.” Genesis 5:24).
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ThomasCole – Pilgrim of the Cross at the End of His Journey – wikimedia – US public domain
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READ MORE…
To explore deeper into this subject, please read… “Castor and Pollux & The Mystery Ship of Scripture”
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TOMORROW…
September 8 (Noble Bereans, Part 31: “Re-Thinking Harold Camping Concerning ‘Cults’”)
Judgment Bus New Orleans 2011 – Wikipedia – Share-alike License
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20+ MINUTE AUDIO JEREMIAH STUDY
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ALL ‘NOBLE BEREANS’ (open-minded seekers of Bible truth) 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 #294 PRESENTED BY THE LATE HAROLD CAMPING…
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Prophet Jeremiah – www.christianimagesource.com – Public Domain
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Those who are interested in using photos on this page may click on the provided image credit link below each photo, to get to Wikimedia Commons for various licensing names, details, and tags, and all other necessary info on any particular photo.