Rapture 2011 which religion

Historically, these kinds of end-of-the-world predictions seem to spike in times of financial hardship and global crisis. No argument that we are certainly meeting that criterion. However, more than intent on fulfilling predictions, those adhering to these theories seem to be attempting to avoid suffering or death. To be swept up in the Rapture means that you're released from this vale of tears. Swept up to heaven in the blink of an eye. So much for Jesus saying that we need to take up our crosses.

This is to say nothing of the fact that only , are supposedly going to be saved. That's one healthy block in Brooklyn! Thus leaving a lot of righteous-minded Christians wondering where they went wrong. For those true believers in the apocalypse , the expectation was that starting today more than million people would be swept up to heaven in the Rapture while the rest of humanity would suffer five months of unspeakable misery before the ultimate end of the world in October.

Camping pinpointed May 21, at about p. ET, as the exact time when those chosen by God would ascend to heaven while cataclysmic earthquakes would begin to rock earth, and he spent big bucks on 5, billboards, posters, fliers and digital bus displays across the country. Inevitably, many have mocked Camping's prognostications, but the recent series of devastating natural disasters -- the Japan earthquake, recent tornadoes and floods in America -- was evidence enough for some people to prepare for the worst.

And the timing of the exodus of the Jews from Egypt. Then there's a bit of maths that involves equating one day to 1, years. Do all that and it turns out that Armageddon will begin at 6pm on Saturday. That is, if Harold Camping has got his calculations and his reading of the Book of Ezekiel right.

The year-old doomsday prophet, a former engineer who perhaps inevitably comes from California, has prompted a tide of expectation, elation and derision after persuading listeners to his Family Radio Worldwide across the US and as far away as the Philippines to sell up everything and prepare for the beginning of the end of the world with the second coming of Jesus.

If all goes according to plan, those who have been "saved" by Jesus will rise into the air in the Rapture and look down as God smites billions of nonbelievers with a great earthquake rolling from city to city across the planet, and a bit of fire to boot. Judgment day will begin at 6pm wherever you are. The mayhem will move west over the planet, wiping out cities, towns and villages.

In the US, some believers have given up their jobs and donated money they think they will no longer need to pay for more than 2, billboards across the country proclaiming "Judgment Day: May 21, — Cry mightily unto God. Many Christian groups however dismissed Mr Camping's ideas, with some describing him as a "false prophet".

US atheists held parties to celebrate the failed prediction, while a group of non-believers gathered outside Mr Camping's Family Radio International headquarters in Oakland, California, as the deadline passed. Earlier, Mr Camping has said he knew "without any shadow of a doubt" that "judgement day" was arriving, and said there was no "Plan B". He has predicted an apocalypse once before, in , though followers now say that only referred to an intermediary stage.

US atheists plan 'Rapture' party. Long-range earthquake prediction - really? End of the world: Armageddon or asteroids. American Humanist Association.