Counting Down the Days

Good morning Trinity Tribe!

I hope you are all well this morning! I went to the fitness center, so I am tired already! ;-)

I used to be a huge news junkie. Now there is so much bad news, I don't pay as much attention to the news as I used to. However, I do flip through the paper and read some news online. In yesterday's Fayetteville Observer, there was an article that caught my attention.

http://www.fayobserver.com/articles/2011/01/03/1059995?sac=

There is a gentleman in California, Harold Camping, who has studied the Bible and predicted that the end of the world will occur on May 21, 2011. He says the 2012 movie and the end of the Mayan calendar have nothing to do with it. Instead, he has studied the scriptures and determined through a mathematical equations, that May 21 will be when the rapture will begin. The young woman interviewed for the article in the Fayetteville Observer has this date and a website posted on her car. She will not get married since the rapture is so close. People in Campings organization pass out flyers and are spreading the word via media, billboards, missionaries and plain old door-to-door means.

Here is how Camping explains the date the Rapture will occur as found in an article in the San Francisco Chronicle:

By Camping's understanding, the Bible was dictated by God and every word and number carries a spiritual significance. He noticed that particular numbers appeared in the Bible at the same time particular themes are discussed.

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The number 5, Camping concluded, equals "atonement." Ten is "completeness." Seventeen means "heaven." Camping patiently explained how he reached his conclusion for May 21, 2011.

"Christ hung on the cross April 1, 33 A.D.," he began. "Now go to April 1 of 2011 A.D., and that's 1,978 years."

Camping then multiplied 1,978 by 365.2422 days - the number of days in each solar year, not to be confused with a calendar year.

Next, Camping noted that April 1 to May 21 encompasses 51 days. Add 51 to the sum of previous multiplication total, and it equals 722,500.

Camping realized that (5 x 10 x 17) x (5 x 10 x 17) = 722,500.

Or put into words: (Atonement x Completeness x Heaven), squared.

"Five times 10 times 17 is telling you a story," Camping said. "It's the story from the time Christ made payment for your sins until you're completely saved.

"I tell ya, I just about fell off my chair when I realized that," Camping said.



Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/12/31/BA8V1AV589.DTL&ao=2#ixzz1A4snc0GW

Here is what I read in my Bible about the end of time:

First from Matthew 24:
36 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,[f] but only the Father. 37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.

And Mark chapter 13:
32 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Be on guard! Be alert[e]! You do not know when that time will come. 34 It’s like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with their assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch.
35 “Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. 36 If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. 37 What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’”

It upsets me that people get press coverage because they believe something that someone thought up when wonderful things that the church does like say Feeding Jesus or the Walk to Emmaus or feeding all the hungry people in Red Springs Thanksgiving dinner gets little or no coverage. However, you must admire this groups gumption. They are buying billboard space…advertising on park benches…putting advertisement on their personal vehicles….telling everyone they know and people they don't know about how the world will end and that they better be saved and ready for May 21st.

So, are we willing to spend money on billboards to tell people about hope in Christ? Are we willing to wrap our cars with a message about how Jesus came to save the lost and if you feel lost this is what you do? Are we willing to head to concerts and pass out information about how much Jesus loves people? Are we willing to tell everyone we know and people we don't about how we have found family at Trinity?

If we are not willing to radically reach out to others who don't know about the mysterious powerful love of Jesus, how can we find the willingness to that? Who are we praying for to meet Christ? Who are we reaching out to? Let's not leave all the information sharing about Jesus to the radical fringe groups. Let's share the gospel of our lives with others today and everyday.