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Harold Camping is the Oakland-based cult leader who is responsible for the May 21 rapture prediction. Camping is now claiming that the end of the world will happen on October 21, and his loyal followers are sticking by him.

His prediction is responsible for several deaths, and unfortunately, it's probably not over yet. I'll be keeping this thread updated in an effort to raise awareness of this wolf. He is extra dangerous because he's seen daily on his several TV and radio stations he owns around the world. Mr. Camping preys on the weak and vulnerable, and must be stopped.

The Harold Camping Body Count (as of 05/27/2011)
The following people are dead because of Harold Camping:

Nastya Zachinova (http://rt.com/news/teen-kills-rapture-predicted/), a 14-year-old girl in Russia.

Victor Frasno (http://www.christianpost.com/news/investigators-believe-harold-campings-doomsday-to-blame-for-fla-mans-death-50558/), 25, of Florida.

An unnamed man in Kenya (http://www.nation.co.ke/News/Man+found+dead+in+church+on+doomsday+/-/1056/1166930/-/hvpqpfz/-/)

Several unnamed (http://www.persecution.org/crossingthebridge/2011/05/27/harold-camping-and-the-christian-hmong-of-vietnam/) Vietnamese Hmong

And then there's this attempted suicide/attempted double murder (http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-palmdale-woman-attempted-murder,0,3939586.story).

Harold Camping Bashed as False Prophet on Family Radio Airwaves (http://www.christianpost.com/news/harold-camping-bashed-as-false-prophet-on-family-radio-airwaves-50713/)

By Ethan Cole | Christian Post Reporter

Harold Camping, who's been allowed to keep his Open Forum slot on Family Radio despite his false prediction, was confronted Tuesday by a former follower who pressed the radio preacher to admit that he was a false prophet.

An unidentified caller rang into Oakland, Calif.-based Family Radio’s “Open Forum” program and shared that he had spent thousands of dollars on billboards, mail-outs, and tracts to warn about the May 21 Rapture, as predicted by Camping.

“I’m not mad at you, or I don’t blame you. I did it of my own free will and it’s not your fault. I’m not calling to complain about that,” clarified the self-described “May 21ster.”

“But I will say that me, you, all May 21sters are false prophets because we said that the Rapture would occur on that day and it didn’t. So I can’t understand why you are still on the radio talking about all this stuff because at this point nobody can believe anything you or I say,” said the caller, who was interrupted by Camping at that point.

Camping is president and co-founder of Family Radio, a Christian radio network with some 66 stations in the United States. He had wrongly predicted that the Rapture and worldwide earthquakes would take place on May 21 at 6 p.m. local time. When his prediction failed to take place, he came out and claimed that Judgment Day did come on May 21 – it just came spiritually instead of physically. Then he set a new date for the Rapture and the End of the World, Oct. 21, 2011.

Previously, the radio broadcaster and self-taught Bible teacher said the Rapture would occur on May 21 and the world would be completely destroyed on Oct. 21.

People who believed in Camping have lost their entire life’s savings, some quit their jobs, and in a few extreme cases – there were several people who attempted suicide before or after the May 21 date because of his prediction.

Just like in his first post-May 21 press conference on May 23, Camping refuted Tuesday accusations that he was teaching false Bible messages.

Camping, after cutting the caller off, pointed listeners to Deuteronomy 18:20 for the definition of what a false prophet is, saying that a false prophet is someone who presumes what he has been teaching came from God when it did not.

He also asserted that it was God’s good plan that Judgment Day came spiritually on May 21 rather than physically. Had followers put on billboards that Judgment Day would come spiritually, no one would listen to their warning. But because they said Judgment Day would come physically, people all over the world took notice of the message.

“The net result is the whole world has become frightened and heard the word of God … and Judgment Day is right from the word of God,” said Camping. “And many people, we don’t know who they are or where they are, are now praying and crying out for mercy as they listen carefully to that warning. And many of them have become saved.”

It’s notable that in the “Open Forum” program last Thursday, Camping suggested that since the spiritual Judgment Day already came on May 21, it may be too late for people to be saved after that date. He told followers that their focus should be “to feed the sheep” rather than handing out tracts and evangelizing at this point.

After quietly listening to Camping’s explanation, the caller again pushed the point of them being false prophets.

“I told people the Rapture was going to happen. The Rapture did not happen. To me, that is a major, major, major false prophet,” insisted the caller.

Camping shot back, “That is by your definition. That is by your definition. That is our problem, a lot of times we come along with definitions and ideas that are out of our own minds but God has given us the Bible as the truth. If your definition of a false prophet is correct, there would not be a pastor in the world, not one in the whole world, or a Bible teacher, who we could say is not a false prophet because nobody understands everything that God has put in the Bible.”

The persistent caller, however, kept arguing with Camping over the definition of a false prophet.

Camping ended that call by saying, “Alright. OK. Well then if you want to be happy with that you are a false prophet and that everybody else in the whole world is a false prophet, well then be that. But that is not based on what the Bible is teaching.”

Camping, 89, has made two previously wrong end of the world predictions besides the one on May 21, 2011, one in 1988 and the other in 1994.

Ex-Followers of Harold Camping Vent Anger on Family Radio (http://www.christianpost.com/news/ex-followers-of-harold-camping-vent-anger-on-family-radio-50691/)

By Elena Garcia | Christian Post Reporter

Harold Camping may have found some way to rationalize to himself why his May 21 rapture prediction did not occur but his followers, presumably now ex-followers, are still finding a way to cope with the failed forecast.

Those who follow the doomsday preaching on Family Radio truly believed that on May 21 they were going to ascend to heaven that day while the unsaved remained on earth until the final destruction of the earth on Oct. 21.

But on May 23, Camping took to the airwaves of Family Radio, where he serves as president, to adjust his prediction. He said he was mistaken that the judgment on May 21 would come in a physical way when it actually came in a spiritual sense.

However, the 89-year-old broadcaster maintained that the end of the world would still occur Oct. 21 and that the five months of predicted suffering would actually be condensed on that eventful doomsday.

But for many of his followers, too little came too late.

In the days leading up to the predicted "Judgment Day," Camping followers took drastic measures to prepare for their rapture. Some quit their jobs. Other sold their possessions to finance billboard campaigns announcing the May 21 date.

And still others, like the caller to Family Radio Monday, have lost something of even greater value: faith.

The unnamed caller told Camping that over the 35 years he has been listening to Camping, he has followed him through two rapture predictions: one in 1994 and the second on May 21, 2011.

But now that Camping has been wrong twice, the Open Forum caller has struggled to keep faith in God.

"I've been studying the Bible with you all those years," said the caller Monday.

"I thought nothing would shake my faith that I would go through all the tribulations and all that. But now that I see that it didn't happen once again, all I look at is disappointment from our Father."

The caller commended Camping for "staying faithful" but expressed his own lack thereof.

"In my case, I don't know what it means to be faithful anymore because I am really disappointed," the caller said in a saddened voice.

"I was one of those 200 million, Mr. Camping, that was praying for that day to come, not only to finally go be with the Father but also to finally see judgment like you said in the Good Book."

Addressing the caller and those who voiced similar concerns, Camping said that while he made a mistake in interpreting May 21 as a physical judgment, God used the faulty prediction to "accomplish his purposes" and "get the Gospel to the whole world." The radio preacher pointed out all the media attention surrounding his prediction that helped inform the world of imminent judgment.

"We were mistaken in looking at it in a physical way when actually we should be looking at it in a spiritual way," Camping reiterated Monday. "[But] God uses that in order to get his work done."

The Open Forum program Monday included a mix of callers, some condemning Camping for his false teachings while others expressed their continued support.

One ex-follower was so upset over Camping's failed prediction that he threatened the doomsday speaker with violence and used profanity to address him.

"You're really pathetic, you know? I wasted all my money because of you. I was putting all my money and my hopes on you," an angry caller told Camping.

"Do you understand? I wish I could see you face to face, I would smack you."

Camping attempted to explain himself but the caller sounded like he had enough.

"Mr. Camping, you always say a lot of (expletive). I lost all my money because of you, you (expletive)," said the caller.

Despite the verbal attack against him, Camping proceeded on with his broadcast, the sound of his voice unaffected.

"I'm sorry, I didn't hear your question. We've lost the caller. Shall we take our next call?"

Repeated calls to Family Radio in Oakland, Calif., inquiring about the future of Camping's role at the non-profit have not been returned. Camping receives no salary for his work for the radio network.

I read on CNN.com that some woman had put in her will to give the Radio station lots of money because of the doomsday prediction.

Now that she died before May 21st, her family wished they could get that money their family member had given to that radio station. Think the estate wants to stop it but there really isn't anything they can do.

Can't they lock this loon up? I'm all for Freedom of Speech, but this seems much worse than yelling fire in a crowded theater.

It's sad, Janice. He's protected by freedom of religion, but he's victimized scores of thousands. Besides the deaths and the empty bank accounts, families have been torn apart by this.

What makes Harold Camping more dangerous than other cult leaders is the fact that he owns so many radio and television stations that allow him to pipe his garbage into our homes with zero accountability.

Some of our more impressionable, vulnerable citizens tune him in thinking they're watching or listening to a frail old pastor (at first glance, it's hard to differentiate between Family Radio and, say TBN). They begin to trust the man, who begins telling them that Jesus left the churches in 1988, and that they're all now being run by Satan; that if one attends a church, they're now under the wrath of God.

This teaching creates a distrust of pastors, priests, deacons; anyone who belongs to a church, and Camping becomes their sole teacher. They begin to go along with anything and everything he says. That's a cult.

When I listen to his terrible show and hear his poor, deceived followers fawning over him, it rips my heart in two. I've literally shed tears over lives being ruined by this wolf.

I hope the government can find some way to stop this guy, because he's poison. If he's still alive when October 22 rolls around, he'll still be poison.

Harold Camping's Twelve Rapture Date-Setting Failures

1. The Fall of 1978

2. The Fall of 1985

3. September 6, 1994

4. September 15, 1994

5. September 29, 1994

6. October 2, 1994

7. December 25, 1994 [Click to hear audio of Camping's December 25, 1994 prediction] (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pb-71pHbEVM)

8. March 16, 1995

9. September 24, 1995

10. April 3, 1996 [Clikck to hear audio of Camping's March 1995, September 1995 and April 1996 predictions] (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMpE3kp8JN8)

11. May 3, 1996

12. May 21, 2011

and, coming soon to a cult leader near you: October 21, 2011.

Harold Camping had a stroke today and is currently being hospitalized in an undisclosed condition (per a source from Family Radio). Please keep him in your prayers: as long as he has breath in his lungs, it's never too late for him to repent and accept Jesus and His true Gospel.