No Raptures Happening Here

American Evangelist, Harold Camping, made headline news in New Zealand for several days before May 21, 2011, the day he predicted was to be Judgment Day.  Earthquakes were to begin at 6 p.m. local time with New Zealand being one of the first places hit.  I heard him interviewed on the early morning news.  He told the interviewer that his calculations were made after years of studying the Bible, and he was 100% positive it was going to happen.  We heard that some of his followers actually quit their jobs.  Millions of dollars were spent warning people on billboards and other forms of advertisement. 

Scepticism was rampant with people planning to fake raptures—clothes and shoes left lying in the streets.  As 6 p.m. Saturday came and went, the internet buzzed with peoples’ humorous responses. 

We believe that “no man knoweth’ the day or the hour of the Savior’s second coming, and we know there are prophecies that yet need to be fulfilled before he comes, but this whole thing has been rather sobering to me.  I have heard the atheists of the world make fun of every apocalyptic prediction.  They ridicule anyone who suggests that God has given commandments and has expectations for us.  Judgment is simply not an acceptable word.  I can hear Noah’s critics in their phrases, I can hear in their mocking voices the same tone that Nephi heard from the people just prior to Christ’s birth;  “And they began to rejoice over their brethren, saying: Behold the time is past, and the words of Samuel are not fulfilled; therefore, your joy and your faith concerning this thing has been vain.  And it came to pass that they did make a great uproar throughout the land”.

I was not worried about May 21, but I do know that Jesus Christ will come again.  I can see in the conditions of the world many of the signs given, and a great need for His coming.  I long for a world where He reigns in righteousness, where there is love and harmony, and where Satan is bound by the good lives of the people.  I know it is coming and I know that preparation is essential.  I do not take these things lightly.  I hope that in our work here, we will become more ready for that day. 

I have no pictures, no stories, no humorous anecdotes, just a somberness this week born of people’s lives filled with sorrow and worry.  Doesn’t the millennium sound wonderful?