Although I haven’t followed the story closely about predictions that the end of the world will occur this Saturday, it does ring a distant bell for me as a historian. In Who Goes There? A Cultural History of Heaven and Hell, there is a story about another group who thought they knew the day and the hour of Christ’s return:
“On October 11, 1844, a misguided group of Christians dressed in white robes and climbed to the highest point of buildings, houses, and haystacks to await Christ’s second coming and their glorious ascent into heaven. They had quit their jobs and sold homes and businesses at the encouragement of their spiritual leader, a farmer-turned pastor named William Miller. He believed that according to certain “day-year” calculations of biblical prophecies, he could tell approximately when Christ would return to earth. Some of his zealous supporters thought they could determine the exact time and arrived at October 11, 1844. They were sorely disappointed, as well as discredited, when the sun also rose on October 12, but their premillenial proclivities remained a strong force in some Protestant circles for the rest of the century, and well into the new one.”
I don’t put much faith in those who say they know when Jesus will return because Scripture is clear that that isn’t for us to know, that His coming will take us by surprise. I do believe, though, that we are a lot closer to that hour than those people were back in 1844! Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus.
Tags: Harold Camping, Jesus' Second Coming
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