Doomsday.

“We are living in a day when one problem follows another. And when it comes to trying to recognize the truth of prophesy, we’re finding that it is very, very difficult. Why didn’t Christ return on October 21? It seems embarrassing for Family Radio. But God was in charge of everything. We came to that conclusion after quite careful study of the Bible. He allowed everything to happen the way it did without correction. He could have stopped everything if He had wanted to. I am very encouraged by letters that I have received, and am receiving at this time concerning this matter. Amongst other things, I have been checking my own notes more carefully than ever, and I do find that there is other language in the Bible, that we still have to look at very carefully, and will impinge upon this question very definitely, and we should be very patient about this matter; at least in a minimum way, we are learning to walk more and more humbly before God. We’re ready to cry out and weep before God, ‘Oh Lord! you have the truth, we don’t have it! You have the truth!’ And… this is another place, where we have to cry out for this.

There’s one thing that we must remember: God is in charge of this whole business and we are not. What God wants to tell us is His business. When he wants to tell us is His business. In the meanwhile, God is allowing us to continue to cry to him for mercy – Oh, my! how we need his mercy! – and to continue to wait on Him. God has not left us. God is still God. But we have to be very careful that we don’t dictate to God what he should do. In our search in the Bible we must continue to look to the Bible, look to the Bible, because that is where Truth comes from, and God, in his own time table, and in his own purposes, will reveal truth to us when it’s His time to do it.

In any case, we do not have to have a feeling of calamity, or a feeling that God has abandoned us; we are simply learning – and sometimes it’s painful to learn. We are learning how God brings his messages to mankind, and my, my, we have claimed to be children of God, and therefore we, as we search the Bible, are bound to feel the darts of the Lord, as sometimes he gives us the truth, and sometimes he gives us something that causes us to wait further upon him.

Whatever we do, we must not feel for a moment that we have been abandoned by God, that He is no longer helping us or interested in us. Oh, my! what an encouragement it is to be able to go to the Lord again and again: ‘Oh Lord, I don’t know anything! Lord, You teach me!’ And that’s the attitude that has to be part of each one of us. And God will not abandon us. He will provide. But, we have to be just very careful that we don’t dictate to him when that has to happen.

Incidentally, I have been told that I had said back in May that people who did not believe that May 21 should be the Rapture date probably had not become saved. I should not have said that, and I apologize for that. One thing we know for certain, that God is merciful – merciful beyond anything that we would ever expect – and so we can pray constantly, and should be praying constantly, ‘Oh Lord, we look to thee for thy mercy, and we’re so thankful that we know that thou art so merciful!’ How wonderful to know that God is still on the throne, that He is king of kings and lord of lords, and that He hears every one of our prayers. And let’s not hesitate. Let’s be, if anything, let’s be praying more than ever for God’s mercy and keep praying and God will provide. But, God is in charge and we must always keep that in mind."

– Harold Camping

October 28, 2011