Static on the airwaves ("the rapture"?)

Static on the airwaves ("the rapture"?)
World Magazine ^ | Chu/Glader

Posted on Saturday, May 14, 2011 10:03:25 AM by flowerplough

Christian radio tycoon says the world will end May 21—and surprising numbers believe him.

Ralph Workman believes what he hears on Christian radio. He believes preacher and Family Radio chief Harold Camping is right about Judgment Day. He believes the world is coming to an end May 21, 2011. 

An engineer at Boeing's avionics lab, Workman helps manage an RV caravan winding its way around the United States—from Indianapolis to Pittsburgh to Virginia—sharing the belief that biblical numbers point to the specific expiration date for the world. He also runs a website called eBible Fellowship, which distributes Camping's teachings.

"I hope many people will get saved and God will have mercy like Nineveh, but most are just scoffers," Workman said. Even his wife does not agree with him on Camping's teaching.

The timing coincides with earthquakes, tsunamis, and Middle East turmoil, feeding greater than usual response to end-times predictions. It precedes the Mayan 2012 prediction, which broke into popular culture through the 2009 big budget movie 2012 .
Theologians, former listeners, and skeptics warn that Camping's teaching is unbiblical, prediction off-base, and message harmful to followers.

But many seem to be listening to Camping rather than his critics—funding ads, signs, and postings from Iceland to India, along with YouTube videos, some with more than 300,000 views and titles like "Rapture Soon," "Jesus Coming," and of course "May 21, 2011."

Family Radio is sponsoring the caravan of four RVs, plastered with Camping's message, and has bought space on 1,000 billboards nationwide.

This is Camping's latest prediction after followers were disappointed in 1994, when he gave a range of dates.

(Excerpt) Read more at worldmag.com ...