28 Facts About Harold Camping

Harold Egbert Camping was an American Christian radio broadcaster and evangelist.

Harold Camping first predicted that the Judgment Day would occur on or about September 6,1994.

Except for one press appearance on May 23,2011, Harold Camping largely avoided press interviews after May 21, particularly after he suffered a stroke in June 2011.

Harold Camping was reported to have retired from his position at Family Radio on October 16,2011, only days before his final prediction for the end of the world.

Harold Camping admitted in a private interview that he no longer believed that anybody could know the time of the Rapture or the end of the world, in stark contrast to his previously staunch position on the subject.

Harold Egbert Camping was born on July 19,1921, in Boulder, Colorado and moved at an early age to California.

In 1958, Harold Camping joined with other individuals of Christian Reformed, Bible Baptist, and conservative Presbyterian backgrounds to purchase an FM radio station in San Francisco, California.

In 1961, Family Radio began running the Open Forum, a live, weeknight call-in program that Harold Camping hosted until 2011.

Listeners were invited to call in, primarily with questions about the meaning of certain passages from the Bible, and Harold Camping answered them by means of interpretations, often with reference to other Biblical passages.

In 1970, Harold Camping published The Biblical Calendar of History, in which he dated the Creation of the world to the year 11,013 BC and the Flood to 4990 BC.

Harold Camping argued that Ussher's dates "agree neither with the Biblical nor the secular evidence", asserting that Ussher's methodology was flawed.

Harold Camping surmised that the word begat in the Old Testament scriptures did not necessarily imply an immediate father-son relationship, as had been assumed by Ussher and others who had not correctly interpreted the biblical timeline.

Harold Camping noted the use of the phrase "called his name", which he characterized as a "clue phrase" to indicate an immediate father-son relationship.

Harold Camping did not consider Family Radio a church and did not claim ordained or hierarchical authority within a church or institution.

Harold Camping claimed that the church institutions do not employ the Bible alone as the sole authority.

Harold Camping responded to those who labelled him a "date-setter", following his own method of Biblical interpretation, by asserting that he followed the Bible's method of interpretation.

Central to Harold Camping's teaching was his belief that the Bible alone is the word of God in its entirety, and thus is absolutely trustworthy.

For example, in Harold Camping's view, Joshua in the Book of Joshua is a picture of Christ, who safely led the Israelites across the Jordan River into the land of Canaan.

Harold Camping's teachings regarding the timing of Christ's second coming were based on the cycles of:.

Harold Camping projected these cycles into modern times and combined the results with other information in the Bible.

However, the dates differ because Harold Camping used the Gregorian calendar, while most commentators use the older Julian calendar, which had a two-day difference during the 1st century AD.

Harold Camping gained notoriety owing to his incorrect prediction that the Rapture would take place on May 21,2011, and that the end of the world would subsequently take place five months later on October 21,2011.

Followers of Harold Camping claimed that around 200 million people would be raptured, and publicized the prediction in numerous countries.

On May 23,2011, in an appearance before the press, Harold Camping stated he had reinterpreted his prophecy.

In October 2011, News24 reported that the size of Harold Camping's congregation had dwindled to "about 25 adults on a typical Sunday".

On June 9,2011, Harold Camping suffered a stroke and was hospitalized.

Harold Camping died on December 15,2013 in Alameda, California, as a result of complications from a fall at his home two weeks earlier.

Harold Camping's death was confirmed by an employee of the Family Radio Network.