Lessons From the Harold Camping Saga
The last few weeks have seen an upsurge of reporting on Harold Camping and his attempts to
predict the end of the world. It is easy to mock, judge or berate Harold for his teachings, but is
there anything that we can learn?
In April and May 2011, we spent six weeks in and around the Family Radio (FR) headquarters in
Oakland, California, to film a documentary about the experience of truth. Recently, we returned for
two weeks to follow the events surrounding the October21 prediction. We spent most of our time
listening to Harold himself, Family Radio employees, and dozens of believers before, during and
after May 21 and October, 21. Without justifying or condemning Harold Camping and his fellow believers, their experience holds an important lesson. Behind his focus on dates and prophecies lie patterns of thinking that may sound familiar to many. We will outline some of these here.
The Search for Truth and the Rules of Biblical Interpretation
Get Our Latest News for FREE
One of the defining characteristics of Harold Camping's ministry was the desire and relentless
search for truth. The Bible is the source of God's truth and the true believer seeks truth through
careful and diligent Bible study, based on familiar rules of Biblical interpretation:
1. Every word of the Bible in the original language comes from the mouth of God.
2. Study verses in context – not in isolation. Look at the whole Bible. Compare Scripture with
Scripture. Teachings should harmonize with everything else in the Bible.
3. Pray to God to open your spiritual eyes. Without this, true understanding is impossible.
Did Harold really observe the principles he put forth? As far as we could see he sincerely believed
that he was faithful to them. We were not alone in that assessment. Time and time again we heard
from Harold's fellow believers that they had been attracted to FR's teachings because of what they
perceived as truthfulness. Many had become dedicated listeners in the years after 1995, when there
was little or no focus on end-time dates. Disenchanted with what they perceived as false teachings
and worldliness in their own churches, they felt that in FR’s teachings they had finally found truth.
Authenticity
Coupled to this was the perceived authenticity of Harold as a person and of FR as a ministry.
Harold never drew a salary from Family Radio and lives with his wife of over 60 years in a
modest house in Alameda. He drives an old car and wears simple suits long gone out of fashion.
Our first visit to the FR headquarters in Oakland proved quite a surprise: a rather old building
with the interior unchanged in decades, it’s like a walk through broadcasting history with the
equipment from the early days still present. A bucket in the hallway catches water from the leaking
roof. Employees told us that FR preferred to put its money into ministry. Printing Bibles in post-
Soviet Russia or building a station to broadcast into North Korea were deemed more important
than refurbishing the offices. This simplicity appealed to many FR supporters who expressed
disenchantment with multi-million dollar mega-churches, and commercial radio and TV ministries.
To Stay or Not to Stay
When several years ago the teachings of FR shifted in focus to the dates of May and October 21
2011, FR listeners and attendees of the Bible fellowship in Alameda had an important decision
to make: leave the ministry that they had trusted for so many years or look into the new teaching.
Undoubtedly some of them left, but for those who decided to study, acceptance did not come
easily. We heard frequently of how initial skepticism only slowly turned into gradual acceptance.
For many, though not all, it would eventually become a strong conviction.
“The more I studied, the more I became convinced” was a comment we often heard. This could, of course, not have happened without a certain level of internal consistency to the teaching. “It's a neatly-tied web where everything fits together” was another frequent comment. Many believers had a large sense of ownership: a general message of “why don't you look into it yourself” meant that Harold's numbers and time lines were checked over and over again. This in itself provided further confirmation to Harold and the leadership of FR. With growing certainty came a growing urgency to act. Ezekiel 33:3 became the rallying call: “blow the trumpet, warn the people.” They did not do this to attract attention (who would have enjoyed the frequent mocking they encountered on their missions?), but out of a genuine concern for their fellow human beings.
The Question of God's Sovereignty
Harold and his fellow believers felt that God had opened up tremendous opportunities for the
ministry throughout its history, but especially so in the run-up to May 21. Billboards with Judgment
Day warnings were erected all over the world, including Muslim countries such as Iraq and the
United Arab Emirates. Caravan missions reached every state and major city in the U.S., and many
countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Requests for tracts in different languages came in
from all corners of the world. These mission successes were seen as evidence of God’s favor and
confirmation that they were truly carrying out God's work. After the prophesied dates, the message
became that God had used FR for His purpose: the whole world had needed to hear God's warning.
Conclusion
“Don't these people read the Bible?” “Harold is a charlatan.” “These people are stupid/crazy.” “It's
all a money scam.” “They are misled by Satan.” These were some of the condemnations we
heard repeatedly, but we feel that these fall short as explanations. In our short and incomplete
description of Harold and his fellow believers, you may have recognized their desire for truth and
authenticity, ownership of their teachings, concern for others and prayers that God would give them
understanding. So what can we learn from this? First and foremost, it is not to see each other as
caricatures. If we start from the idea that most (if not all) people around us are driven by a desire
for truth, then that may be a first step to resolve the stalemate people of different convictions find
themselves in.
If you have followed this story closely, you may have formed your own explanations of where
Harold and his fellow believers went wrong: you may have spotted errors of biblical interpretation,
errors of logic, or disagree with the assumptions that underlie the teaching. If we focus on these,
however, we miss a more general and important point: that Harold and his fellow believers mistook
their desire for truth for the inner certainty that they knew the truth. And of that mistake, we are all
at risk – always.
