People in the Raleigh area, Washington, and a number of other cities are putting up billboards and painting messages on their cars based on Harold Camping’s prediction that Jesus will return on May 21st, 2011. Reportedly, many of Camping's followers are even selling their homes and quitting their jobs, awaiting Christ's return. Billboards throughout a number of states, including Tennessee, have warned of the ill-fated world’s impending doom.
Camping, head of California based Family Radio, has declared that The Lord Jesus will rapture His Church on the 21st of May and that the world will end just five months later, in October. Numerous supporters and followers of Camping have resolved to warn everyone that they can about the world’s demise.
In an Associated Press article from Raleigh back in January, it was reported that many Family Radio listeners were taking the doomsday prediction very seriously -
“To get the word out, they're using billboards and bus stop benches, traveling caravans of RVs and volunteers passing out pamphlets on street corners. Cities from Bridgeport, Conn. to Little Rock, Ark., now have billboards with the ominous message, and mission groups are traveling in countries from Latin America to Africa to spread the news outside the U.S.
…Not everyone who's heard Camping's message is taking such a dramatic step. They're remaining in their day-to-day lives, but helping publicize the prophecy in other ways. Allison Warden, of Raleigh, has been helping organize a campaign using billboards, post cards and other media in cities across the U.S. through a website, We Can Know.
The 29-year-old payroll clerk laughs when asked about reactions to the message, which is plastered all over her car.
"It's definitely against the grain, I know that," she said. "We're hoping people won't take our word for it, or Harold Camping's word for it. We're hoping that people will search the scriptures for themselves."
Camping, 89, believes the Bible essentially functions as a cosmic calendar explaining exactly when various prophecies will be fulfilled.
The retired civil engineer said all his calculations come from close readings of the Bible, but that external events like the foundation of the state of Israel in 1948 are signs confirming the date.
