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Saturday, May 21, 2011

Christian movement preparing for End of Days

Joseph, Faith and Grace Haddad appear like any other American teenagers - except for the fact their parents Robert and Abby believe the world is about to end.
Two years ago their father Robert and mother Abby gave up their regular jobs to preach for the Family Radio church at the centre of the May 21 Judgment Day campaign.
In a last ditch effort to spread the word before the Armageddon that they believe will happen today at 6pm local time wherever you live, Robert and Abby took their children to a New York street fair.

Jerry Jenkins, co-author with Tim LaHaye of the 'Left Behind' series of apocalyptic novels that have sold millions of copies worldwide, is among those who has a problem with the prediction.
'As a believer, I'm already a kook compared to most people, so for someone to choose a date and get everyone excited about a certain time, my problem is it makes us look worse,' said Jenkins, 61.
But the very industry in which Jenkins' books are aimed and sold are part of the problem according to Barbara Rossing, professor of the New Testament at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago.
She describes a huge apocalyptic 'prophecy industry' that includes video games, board games and books, and says: 'It is very appealing to people.'

Indeed, according to its tax returns Family Radio, a non-profit organisation, has raised more than $100m over the last seven years. It owns 66 radio stations worldwide and a recent spike in activity has seen it lavish millions on its international billboard advertising campaign.
When asked what the church was going to do with the money when the world ended, Camping told Contra Costa Times; 'When Judgment Day comes, if someone is a billionaire, how will they take their money with them?
'If we have any money left, and we will because we have to pay bills up to the very end... it will all be destroyed because the world will be in a day of judgment.
'The money is not important at all. It's a vehicle to spread the judgment and a vehicle of the Lord.'
But as the true believers prepare for what they hope will be their last day on earth, many atheists are having fun with the anticlimax they anticipate.
In Tacoma, Washington, atheists have organized a party for Saturday night under the banner 'countdown to backpedaling', on the assumption that Camping and Family Radio will change their story if Judgment Day does not come.
At least 100 people are expected at the party, said Sam Mulvey, 33, an organizer of the event and the producer of a weekly atheist radio show in Tacoma.
'If the world still exists the next day, Family Radio is going to have to say something and most of the time they backpedal, and that's what we're counting down to,' he said.
Other atheists have taken a more practical approach to the 'rapture' by turning the 'prophecy industry' on itself to make money.
In New Hampshire, Bart Centre started his company Eternal Earth-bound Pets in 2009.
He offers rapture believers an insurance plan for those pets that won't join them in heaven: 10-year pet care contracts, with Centre and his network of fellow non-believers taking responsibility for the animals after the Rapture.
The fee - payable in advance, of course - was originally $110, but has risen to $135 since Camping's prediction. He has 258 clients.
But for some people the rapture is no laughing matter. In Harrison, New Jersey, reformed raver John Ramsey, 25, has given up his job to spread the word with his wife, Marcia Paladines.
Marcia, featured in the video below, is pregnant. Her due date is May 27.
'God is in control. I have prayed for mercy on my baby,' a crying Paladines told The Huffington Post.
'But I don't know what's going to happen. If I'm here May 21, then I will suffer the consequences of the wrath of God. I know like anybody else I'll deserve it because none of us are perfect.'

An independent California preacher who predicts Judgment Day will arrive Saturday has amassed a global following. He believes it will likely start as it become 6 p.m. in the world's various time zones.
Eighty-nine-year-old Harold Camping has built a nonprofit ministry based around his apocalyptic prophesy.
The retired engineer will be awaiting Jesus Christ's return for the second time. Camping says his earlier apocalyptic prediction in 1994 didn't come true because of a mathematical error.
Skeptics are throwing Rapture-themed parties to celebrate what hosts expect will be the failure of Camping's prophesy.

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