Will the rapture be on May 21?

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--Maybe you've seen them while watching and waiting in traffic.

A billboard in Oklahoma proclaims, "Noah knew. We can know." Another in Nashville says, "The wise men knew, we can know." A billboard in another country, Tanzania, reveals a little more information, "The rapture -- May 21, 2011. The end of the world Oct 21, 2011."

Not limited to billboards and bus benches, the message has gone mobile. "Noah knew" panel trucks are navigating the highways and byways of Minneapolis and New York. There's even a mobile messenger in Ohio driving around with the vanity license plate 5212011.

The billboard blitz is courtesy of Harold Camping's Family Radio ministry based in Oakland, Calif. According to Camping and his "ambassadors," the rapture will occur on May 21, 2011 and God will destroy the world 153 days later on October 21.


The fact that Camping, according to a CNN investigation, previously predicted the end to occur on Sept. 6, 1994 hasn't seemed to deter the prophetic fervor surrounding his latest end time recalibration.

Should we join the movement? Probably not. Biblical teaching can be an inconvenient truth to those who would set a month, day and year to Christ's return.

Jesus left no doubt about the futility of playing the dating game when he told his disciples three times in Matthew 24 not to go there:

-- "But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father (Matthew 24:36).

-- "Therefore keep watch because you do not know on what day your Lord will come" (Matthew 24:42).

-- "The Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect Him" (Matthew 24:44b).

Moses knew a thing or two about how God went about revealing things to men. After a lifetime of walking with the Father he told Israel, "the hidden things belong to the Lord our God, but the revealed things belong to us and our children forever" (Deuteronomy 29:29a).

There are some things that are hidden to all but God. The date of Christ's return is one of them. But rest assured, when He does decide to send the Lord of Lords and King of Kings, His timing will be perfect. God is never late. As Samuel Logan Brengle once said, "sometimes after supper He may allow you to go to bed not knowing where the breakfast is to come from, but it will come at breakfast time."

Somewhat lost in the hoopla over doomsday dates is Family Radio's more sinister teaching that Christians should not be part of a local church. Yes, you read right. Family Radio is not local church friendly.

A Family Radio tract titled No Man Knows the Day or Hour states that on May 21, 1988 the "church age" ended and the 23 year Great Tribulation began. Since that day "Satan has been employed by God to officially rule all of the churches." As a result local congregations are no longer a legitimate vehicle of end time evangelization, the ministry believes. That task has been bestowed upon individuals -- presumably those who are privy to Camping's special revelations.