Shall we give it another try? Harold Camping (and thousands of his followers) believe it will be this Saturday at 6:00 p.m. Pacific Time.

It's right in here! It's basic arithmetic ... this is for my grandson, Johnny, to teach his dad, Jack, a thing or two about mathematics. Harold Camping (above) looks as though he preceded Isaac Newton, so who knows?
1. According to Camping, the number five equals "atonement", the number ten equals "completeness", and the number seventeen equals "heaven".

2. Christ is said to have hung on the cross on April 1, 33 AD. The time between April 1, 33 AD and April 1, 2011 is 1,978 years.

3. If 1,978 is multiplied by 365.2422 days (the number of days in a solar year, not to be confused with the lunar year), the result is 722,449.

4. The time between April 1, 2011 and May 21, 2011 is 51 days.

5. 51 added to 722,449 is 722,500.

6. (5 x 10 x 17)^2 or (atonement x completeness x heaven)^2 also equals 722,500.

This is just basic arithmetic.

But more seriously--Jesus and others taught us to be ready on each and every day because the "Rapture" (described in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18) could be ... TOMORROW ... or better yet ... TODAY!!

In Camping's defense, the pundits who make fun of him continue to say that he's predicting the end of the world on May 21, 2011. The "Rapture" that Camping is predicting will not be the end of the world according to my reading of the Bible--there will be some seven years of Tribulation after the rapture and I don't think I'd want to be around all the way through that!

Personally, I think I'm actually ready for something like the Rapture ... or an unexpected heart attack or a brain aneurysm or ...

And God knows, I haven't always prepared for any of the above. My own life in Christ doesn't even add up to a third of my lifetime ... as any of the persons in my life would certainly attest!