American Christian radio host Harold Camping stated in his 2005 book Time Has an End that the rapture and Judgment Day would take place on May 21, 2011, and that the end of the world would take place five months later on October 21, 2011.

Camping, who was then president of the Family Radio Christian network, claimed the Bible as his source and said May 21 would be the date of the rapture and the day of judgment "beyond the shadow of a doubt". Camping suggested that it would occur at 6 p.m. local time, with the rapture sweeping the globe time zone by time zone, while some of his supporters claimed that around 200 million people (approximately 3% of the world's population) would be 'raptured'. Camping had, in the early 1990s, posited that the rapture might occur in September 1994.

The vast majority of Christian groups, including most Protestant and Catholic believers, did not accept Camping's predictions; some explicitly rejected them, citing Bible passages including the words of Jesus stating "about that day or hour no one knows" (Matthew 24:36). An interview with a group of church leaders noted that all of them had scheduled church services as usual for Sunday, May 22.Church Leaders Across Denominations Reflect on Camping's Prediction NBC29, May 17, 2011. Retrieved May 18, 2011.

Following the failure of the prediction, media attention shifted to the response from Camping and his followers. On May 23, Camping stated that May 21 had been a "spiritual" day of judgment, and that the physical rapture would occur on October 21, 2011, simultaneously with the destruction of the universe by God.Radio host says Rapture actually coming in October – Globe and Mail. May 23, 2011. Retrieved May 23, 2011. However, on October 16, Camping admitted to an interviewer that he did not know when the end would come, and made no public comment after October 21 passed without his predicted apocalypse.

In March 2012, Camping "humbly acknowledged" in a letter to Family Radio listeners that he had been mistaken, that the attempt to predict a date was "sinful", and that critics had been right in pointing to the scriptural text "of that day and hour knoweth no man". He added that he was searching the Bible "even more fervently [...] not to find dates, but to be more faithful in our understanding".Letter from Harold Camping to the "Family Radio Family" , reproduced at Charisma News, March 7, 2012

Predictions

Camping's predictions The rapture would occur on May 21, 2011. Massive earthquakes (greater in magnitude than the 2011 Japanese earthquake) would happen across the world at 6 pm local time. The end of the world would take place five months later on October 21, 2011.

Related predictions by others Approximately 3% of the world's population would be called to heaven. Earthquakes would begin on May 21 on Kiritimati (Christmas Island), Kiribati, at 6 p.m. LINT (0400 UTC). Citing Jeremiah 25:32, earthquakes would continue "as the sun advances" with New York, United States, to be affected at approximately 6 p.m. EDT (2200 UTC). Some earthquakes will trigger giant tsunamis 100 times taller than the average megatsunami which they claim is 100 meters (330 feet) tall. The waves will go as far inland as Colorado.

Camping's revised prediction On May 23, 2011, Harold Camping stated that May 21 had been a "spiritual" Judgment Day and that the rapture would occur on October 21, 2011, together with the destruction of the world.Garance Burke, "Radio host says Rapture actually coming in October," Associated Press, May 23, 2011, at . In a web posting titled "What happened on May 21?", Family Radio explained "Thus we can be sure that the whole world, with the exception of those who are presently saved (the elect), are under the judgment of God, and will be annihilated together with the whole physical world on October 21, 2011, on the last day of the present five months period."

Rationale

Camping presented several arguments labeled "numerological" by the mainstream media,End of the world? How about a party instead?, Associated Press, quoted at NBC News, May 18, 2011. Retrieved May 19, 2011 which he considered biblical proofs, in favor of the May 21 end time. A civil engineer by training, Camping stated he had attempted to work out mathematically based prophecies in the Bible for decades. In an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle he explained "... I was an engineer, I was very interested in the numbers. I'd wonder, 'Why did God put this number in, or that number in?' It was not a question of unbelief, it was a question of, 'There must be a reason for it.

In 1970, Camping dated the Great Flood to 4990 BC. Using this date, taking the statement in Genesis 7:4 ("Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth") to be a prediction of the end of the world, and combining it with 2 Peter 3:8 ("With the Lord a day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years are as a day"), Camping concluded that the end of the world would occur in 2011, 7000 years from 4990 BC. Camping takes the 17th day of the second month mentioned in Genesis 7:11 to be May 21, and hence predicts the rapture to occur on this date.

Another argument that Camping used in favor of the May 21 date is as follows:

The number five equals "atonement", the number ten equals "completeness", and the number seventeen equals "heaven". The number of days (as calculated below) between April 1, 33 AD, and May 21, 2011, AD, is 722,500. Christ is believed by Camping to have hung on the cross on April 1, 33 AD. The time between April 1, 33 AD, and April 1, 2011, is 1,978 years. If 1,978 is multiplied by 365.2422 days (the number of days in a solar, as distinct from lunar, year), the result is 722,449. The time between April 1 and May 21 is 51 days. 51 added to 722,449 is 722,500. (5 × 10 × 17)2 or (atonement × completeness × heaven)2 also equals 722,500.

Camping said that 5 × 10 × 17 is telling us a "story from the time Christ made payment for our sins until we're completely saved."

Camping was not precise about the timing of the event, saying that "maybe" we can know the hour.Countdown to Armageddon: Maybe the World Will End Friday Night (or Sunday Morning), Slate, May 7, 2011. Retrieved May 17, 2011 He has suggested that "days" in the Bible refer to daylight hours particularly. Another account said the "great earthquake" which signals the start of the rapture would "start in the Pacific Rim at around the 6 p.m. local time hour, in each time zone."Is The End Nigh? We'll Know Soon Enough, NPR, May 7, 2011. Retrieved May 17, 2011

In Camping's book 1994?, self-published in 1992, he predicted that the end times would come on September 6, 1994. When the rapture failed to occur on the appointed day, Camping said he had made a mathematical error.

Criticism

Camping's rapture prediction, along with some of his other teachings and beliefs, sparked controversy in the Christian and secular Western worlds. His critics often quoted Bible verses (such as ) they interpret as saying that the date of the end will never be known by anyone but God until it actually happens. However, Camping and his followers responded that this principle applied only during the "church age" or pre-Tribulation period and did not apply to the present day, citing other verses (such as ) in their rebuttal.

In a 2001 pamphlet, Camping asserted that believers should "flee the church", resigning from any church they belong to, because the "Church Age" is over and the "Great Tribulation" has begun. This assertion was controversial and drew "a flurry of attacks".

Edwin M. Yamauchi critiqued Camping's dating of the Flood when Camping first published his ideas in 1970.

Criticism of the May 21 prediction ranged from serious critique to ridicule. Theology professor Matthew L. Skinner, writing at the Huffington Post, noted the "long history of failed speculation" about the end times and cautioned that end-of-the-world talk can lead Christians to social passivity instead of "working for the world's redemption". Some columnists mocked the prediction with humorous essays.10 unhealthy things to do before Armageddon Orange County Register, May 17, 2011. Retrieved May 18, 2011. A group of Christians set up a website called RaptureFail with the stated intention of undermining "this embarrassment to the Body of Christ."

Evolutionary biologist and atheist Richard Dawkins dismissed Camping's prediction, writing that "he will inevitably explain, on May 22, that there must have been some error in the calculation, the rapture is postponed to ... and please send more money to pay for updated billboards.""Science explains the end of the world". On Faith, The Washington Post. May 10, 2011. Retrieved May 11, 2011. California Director of American Atheists Larry Hicock said that "Camping's well-intentioned rapture campaign is indicative of the problems with religion".

Prediction for May 21, 2011

Information campaign

In 2010, Marie Exley of Colorado Springs made news by purchasing advertising space in her locality, promoting the alleged rapture date on a number of park benches. After that, more than 5000 "Judgment Day" billboards were erected in locations across the world, including the Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, Ghana, Indonesia, Israel, Jamaica, Jordan, Lebanon, Lesotho, the Philippines, Tanzania and the United States. Some people adorned their vehicles with the information. Many who believed in the prediction took time off work to prepare for the Rapture. Others spent their life savings on advertising material to publicize the prophecy. One retired transportation agency worker from New York spent $140,000 on advertising.

Family Radio spent over US$100 million on the information campaign, financed by sales and swap of broadcast outlets. According to former Family Radio employee Matt Tuter, "We had a pool of about $100 million dollars, and [Camping] spent it like no tomorrow." On October 27, 2010, they launched "Project Caravan". Five recreational vehicles announcing on their sides that Judgment Day was to begin on May 21, 2011, were sent out from their headquarters in Oakland, California, to Seattle, Washington. Upon arrival, teams were sent out to distribute tracts. The caravan subsequently made stops in many states in the U.S. and Canada.

Impact Camping's prediction and his promotion of it via his radio network and other promotional means spread the prediction globally. Some followers of Camping gave up their jobs, sold their homes, stopped investing in their children's college funds and spent large sums promoting Camping's claims.

About 5,000 ethnic Hmong gathered at a remote town in Vietnam's Mường Nhé District in Điện Biên Province in early May, where they planned to await the arrival of Christ. The Vietnamese government broke up the gathering and arrested some people, describing them as "extremists". Pastor Doan Trung Tin indicated that a translated version of Camping's prediction had influenced about 300 of his parishioners to go to the assembly point, selling their belongings to be able to afford the journey via bus. Many of the Hmong Christians who escaped arrest were reportedly forced into hiding after the gathering.

On May 19, 2011, the search term "end of the world may 21st" reached second position on Google Trends, based on the popularity of the search term in the United States. The related searches "Harold Camping", "May 21 doomsday", and "May 21 rapture" were also represented among the top 10 positions. The New York Police Department stated: "We don't plan any additional coverage for the end of the world. Indeed, if it happens, fewer officers will be required for streets that presumably will be empty." – quote is on second video under the main one, approximately two-and-a-half minutes in.

Reaction

Reaction from Family Radio and Harold Camping