True Crime-Paranormal-Conspiracy Theories Stories Part V #Wattys2023

Family Radio: Harold Camping

Harold Egbert Camping (July 19,1921– December 15, 2013) was an American Christian radiobroadcaster and evangelist. Beginning in 1958, he served as presidentof Family Radio, a California-based radio station group that, at itspeak, broadcast to more than 150 markets in the United States. InOctober 2011, he retired from active broadcasting following a stroke,but still maintained a role at Family Radio until his death. Campingis notorious for issuing a succession of failed predictions of datesfor the End Times, which temporarily gained him a global followingand millions of dollars of donations.

Camping first predicted that Judgment Day would occur on or about September 6, 1994. When itfailed to occur, he revised the date to September 29 and then toOctober 2. In 2005, Camping predicted the Second Coming of Christ toMay 21, 2011, after which the saved would be taken up to heaven in therapture, and that "there would follow five months of fire,brimstone, and plagues on Earth, with millions of people dying eachday, culminating on October 21, 2011, with the final destruction ofthe world."

His prediction for May 21, 2011, waswidely reported, in part because of a large-scale publicity campaignby Family Radio, and it prompted ridicule from atheist organizationsand rebuttals from Christian organizations. After May 21 passedwithout the predicted events, Camping said he believed that a"spiritual" judgment had occurred on that date andthat the physical Rapture would occur on October 21, 2011,simultaneously with the final destruction of the universe by God.Except for one press appearance on May 23, 2011, Camping largelyavoided press interviews after May 21, particularly after he suffereda stroke in June 2011. After October 21, 2011, passed without thepredicted apocalypse, the mainstream media labeled Camping a falseprophet and commented that his ministry would collapse after the"failed 'Doomsday' prediction".

Camping was reported to have retiredfrom his position at Family Radio on October 16, 2011, only daysbefore his final prediction for the end of the world. However, hisdaughter later clarified that he had not retired outright, but wasmaintaining a role at Family Radio while remote working. Campingadmitted in a private interview that he no longer believed thatanybody could know the time of the Rapture or the end of the world,in stark contrast to his previously staunch position on the subject.In March 2012, he stated that his attempt to predict a date was"sinful", and that his critics had been right inemphasizing the words of Matthew 24:36: "of that day and hourknoweth no man". He added that he was now searching theBible "even more fervently...not to find dates, but to bemore faithful in [his] understanding." After the failure ofCamping's prophecies, Family Radio suffered a significant loss ofassets, staff, and revenue.

Biography

Harold Egbert Camping was born on July19, 1921, in Boulder, Colorado, and moved to at an early age toCalifornia. Both his parents were Dutch immigrants to the UnitedStates, his mother from Friesland, and his father from Groningen. Theyfirst met each other in the United States. In 1942, Camping earned aB.S. degree in civil engineering from the University of California,Berkeley. In 1943, he married his wife, Shirley. During World War IIhe worked as an engineer for a government contractor. Shortly afterthe end of the war, he started a construction business. He and hisfamily were members of the Christian Reformed Church until 1988.

Family Radio

In 1958, Camping joined otherindividuals of Christian Reformed, Bible Baptist, and conservativePresbyterian backgrounds to purchase an FM radio station in SanFrancisco, California. The radio station – KEAR, then at 97.3 MHz –was used to broadcast traditional Christian Gospel to theconservative Protestant community and minister to the general public.Through the 1960s, Family Radio acquired six additional FM stationsand seven AM stations under guidelines established by the FederalCommunications Commission (FCC).