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Sunday, May 22. 2011
No End In Sight
So, yesterday on my Facebook page I posed the question, “How many people have This Video/Song on their FB walls?” Sadly, Youtube doesn’t allow me to embed it. Gotta figure it’s in the millions, or at least hundreds of thousands. R.E.M. is a worldwide phenomenon of a band and this is probably their most popular song. At least at the moment.Now, for all the Aged indie types who started following R.E.M. when Jimmy Carter was president, there are other songs by the Georgia band. “Losing My Religion” comes to mind, as does “Stand.”
To be honest, I was a bit slow to the R.E.M. bandwagon, but once “Stand” was released in 1989, I became a fan. Which is funny because “It’s the End of the World” was released two years earlier and most identifies the band for me. But now, watching a host of other R.E.M. videos on Youtube, the rest of their music comes back to memory.
But this isn’t about one of the great rock bands of all time. You want more on R.E.M., check out their Wikipedia page or their Official Website.
The reason the song is so popular is the much-publicized prediction that the world was going to end Saturday, May 21, 2011. At 6 p.m. Or was it 6 a.m.? Doesn’t matter. If you’re reading this then it didn’t happen. Well, actually, what was supposed to happen was the start of the Rapture, from 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 in the Bible.
Most people actually attribute the Rapture to the Book of Revelation — the Apocalypse. Now that’s a book! The Ten Kingdoms, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Conquest, Violence, Famine and Death), the Seven Seals, Seven Trumpets and finally the Seven Bowls — judgments all, you heathen sinners!”777” is considered the numeric sign for the Christian God, in case you don’t know and in the Apocalypse there are many groups of sevens, as God is going to carry out the end times in a seven-centric plan. The Fourth Horseman has been the inspiration for some memorable movies and cinematic moments. “And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.” Revelation 6:8.
The Devil, on the other hand, is known by his mark: “666,” also in Revelation and has been the basis of many a movie and book. Who can forget The Omen with Gregory Peck and Lee Remick as the parents of the Antichrist? Not to mention the Arnold Schwarzenegger film End of Days. Gabriel Byrne played the devil, a bit of an ironic casting considering Byrne spent five years in an Irish seminary studying to become a Catholic priest.
Ever notice that in the best movies about the fight between God and Satan the religion at the center of the story is Catholicism? Think about it: End of Days, The Omen and the granddaddy of all horror films, The Exorcist. Let’s face it, we Catholics are far more dramatic and colorful when it comes to rituals and symbolism. Really, could Dan Brown have written The Da Vinci Code about any other religion?Could anyone write an epic tale like The Da Vinci Code with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints at the center? Well, now that I think about that one, possibly, but the Catholic Church is the original Christian religion and has been around for nearly the entire time since the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
“And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”. Matthew 16:18.
What is Peter’s reward for being the foundation of Jesus’ church here on Earth? He gets to guard the Pearly Gates of Heaven! Ah! Once again an allusion to the Book of Revelation!
But this isn’t about St. Peter, the Pearly Gates, scary movies based on the Book of Revelation (or any other part of the Bible), the Catholic Church or great alternative rock bands from the indie era, although quite a bit could be written.This is about the guy who predicted the End Times were to start yesterday, kook preacher Harold Camping, of Oakland, CA. He also owns the Family Radio Network and according to the good reverend, a massive earthquake was going to hit, striking first in Fiji and New Zealand and working its way around the world — like a big stadium wave.
Well, here in Southern California, where we’ve had our share of earthquakes, not a shake has been felt. Nada. Anyway, all those righteous believers in Jesus Christ were to be be taken up to Heaven, along with all the dead who are (were) true believers, leaving the rest of us to endure the Tribulation and the entirety of the Apocalypse.
Which side are you gonna be on? Doesn’t matter. The end of the world hasn’t arrived. As of 6 pm. Pacific Time as I write this and noon Pacific Time this Sunday Morning (or later) as you’re reading this, we can imperically state Pastor Camping is, once again, wrong.You might not recall (I sure didn’t) that 15 years ago Camping made a similar prediction, all based on Biblical numbers. And he made the prediction for September 1994 as well. And then when 1996 came and went he said we wouldn’t exist past 2008 — and here we are on May 22, 2011.
Kooks like Harold Camping have been around since The First Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. Maybe even before that. Nobody really knows for sure. Back then, if a preacher got a following and became too powerful or too far off the reservation, Church elders would just declare the guy a heretic, have him arrested, tortured to Kingdom Come and then put to death the old fashioned way — slow and painfully. That was penance back in the day! None of this “Say three Hail Marys and eight Our Fathers.”
Now the kooks can start a radio network, have a daily radio program and reach millions of listeners. Add the World Wide Internets and even more people can read his nonsense. If they are impressionable; hurt, lonely and vulnerable, they can believe what a kook like Camping says. Like Gay Pride and Same Sex Marriage are signs from God the end is near:
“But no sign is as dramatic and clear as the phenomenal world-wide success if (sic) the Gay Pride movement. In the Bible God describes His involvement with this dramatic movement. Remember, each and every word in the original languages of the Bible came from the lips of God.”
God is involved with the Gay Pride movement. Actually, there are religious people involved in gay rights and they no doubt believe God is with them, but I don’t think they view God’s involvement in the same way Camping sees it.
The impressionable and vulnerable, looking for answers they can’t find within themselves or from those around them, latch on to kooks like Camping and believe. To show their trust and faith in the kook, whom they think is speaking for God, these faithful send money, lots of it. And then follow the direction of the kook, as thousands did with Harold Camping.
As 913 did with Jim Jones on November 18, 1978 in the jungles of Guyana when they drank cyanide-laced fruit drink and killed themselves. That is the worst threat of kooks like Jones, David Koresh in Waco, Texas, Marshall Applewhite here in San Diego and Harold Camping. Okay, Applewhite’s “religion” was a science fiction-based cult that actually used terms and clothing styles Applewhite got from watching Star Trek, but it’s the same phenomenon. Cult leader says “Let’s all kill ourselves” and they all do.
Camping didn’t call for his followers to kill themselves, but after so many failed attempts at predicting the Apocalypse, what’s next with this guy?In preparation for yesterday, Camping had his followers collect donations and put up over 1,200 billboards across America. He preached over his radio network … and people believed him so off they went. When the appointed hour came and went, followers were left wondering, “what happened?”
There’s nothing on the various web sites associated with Camping and his merry band since Friday (no tweets either) so maybe Camping and his top lieutenants are hunkered down in their Apocalypse bunker trying to figure out what to do next. Figure out where they got the Biblical math wrong.
The ones I feel sorry for are my many friends and family members who believe in Jesus Christ and do so sincerely. When we laugh at Harold Camping we, indirectly, laugh at all who believe in the same book as the kooks. We often expect “moderate” Muslims explain away kooks like Usama bin Laden and our — my — first impulse is to blame all the other Christians for people like Camping and demand they explain him. But they can’t and shouldn’t need to; Camping has nothing to do with reality. Besides, I love my family and friends even if we do part ways when it comes to religious belief.
On the other hand, next time anyone wants to know why I reject religion, remember Harold Camping and May 21, 2011. Religion, especially the three that worship the God of Abraham, gives license to the crazies of those religions to act out. And that’s just one of my reasons. Then there’s science — and let’s not even get started on Intelligent Design.
The end hasn’t arrived, nor has the Rapture. In a month this will be mostly forgotten and we’ll be back to wondering about Newt Gingrich and his political implosion, or some such political story.But I must admit this: I had fun mocking Harold Camping and his prediction. It was almost as much fun as mocking Charlie Sheen! My lovely friend Claudia and I were just talking about Charlie and since I brought up Claudia, click her photo and vote to make her the Hooters Octagon Girl for UFC 132! Then watch the R.E.M. video and sing along, it’s a fun song!
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