The Rapture: What believers did on Harold Camping’s Judgment Day on May 21, 2011?
The earth has continued to revolve and we continue to have pancakes or bacon and eggs for breakfast. Nothing has changed. Nothing happened. But the price have been paid for some who have unwarranted belief on Judgment day predictions by the self-taught pr
There was no doubt that media indeed picked up on the doomsday predictions issued by 89-year-old self-proclaimed bible scholar, Harold Camping.
Why wouldn’t they monitor any developments on warnings with $100M price tag in it? But May 21 came and went quietly. And the world has remained unchanged and only the predictor himself disappeared.
The earth has continued to revolve and we continue to have pancakes or bacon and eggs for breakfast. Nothing has changed. Nothing happened. But the price have been paid for some who have unwarranted belief on Judgment day predictions by the self-taught prophet.
Rapture predictions have led to a Russian teen suicide and more deadly results. Early reports show that authorities attribute the crime incidents recorded closing in on the predicted Judgment day.
Here’s what happened to some believers and what they did on Judgment Day predicted last May 21, 2011 by Family Radio founder and host, Harold Camping:
Doomsday suicide
- A 14-year-old teen from Russia committed suicide for fear of sufferings following the rapture warned by Camping on May 21. Nastya Zachinova from the Republic of Mari El Central Russia left a note on her diary that she chose death over the challenges she may face as the world ends, according to a Russian tabloid, LifeNews noted by the Christian Post.
- A 25-year-old man from Florida, Victor Frasno jumped into a reservoir in Contra Loma Regional Park, Antioch. Christian Post said that authorities suspect his death resulted from the warnings issued by Camping, noting that Frasno, known by his family and friends as a religious person does not know how to swim.
- A woman from California had reportedly attempted to kill her two daughters, according to ImperfectParent.com. Citing a report from Live Science, Imperfect Parent.com noted the authorities’ claims that Lyn Benedetto chose to provide what she believed was a better option for her daughters 11 and 14. The report said that Benedetto “forced them to bed and cut their throats using a box cutter”. The three however, were saved by the responding police.
- A man from Taiwan had also reportedly killed himself on May 5 following the countless news on Rapture. ImperfectParent.com said that the elderly Taiwanese was strongly taken by the warnings after disasters had hit a number of countries including Japan, Australia, New Zealand, among others.
Philanthropy and more generosity
- A New York City transit worker spent his lifetime savings of approximately $140,000 for advertisements. 1000 posters that said “Global Earthquake: The Greatest Ever! Judgment Day May 21, 2011! were pasted on bus shelters and subway cars leaving the Staten Island resident, according to the Toronto Star almost “financially ruined” and is expected to rely on pension in the near future.
The believers and their families
- A tractor-trailer driver from Maryland took his family in his minivan and drove to California a week before the scheduled Rapture. Keith Bauer said, according to the Washington Post that despite having some reservations over the predicted world endings, he said that it was a better option as he left his job without qualms knowing he would not have been paid anyway.
- A 23-year-old Manhattan resident, Sasha Jackson was quoted by the New York Post that her cousins are selling their homes in Jamaica in reaction to doomsday predictions.
- 25-year-old John Ramsey from Harrison, New Jersey quit jobs to focus on helping Camping spread the doomsday warnings. Huffington Post noted that Ramsey even donated an estimated two thousand dollars to Camping’s Family Radio Network.He had also convinced his family to join him disseminating details of the judgment day
Lives taken, property losses, assets ruined, jobs lost, plans rearranged - - these not the world have ended for the Rapture believers. The question is, with the rescheduled doomsday on October 21, 2011, how many more lives will be taken and how many jobs will be lost and plans rearranged?
Also READ:
Harold Camping’s own people “did not believe The Rapture”
Harold Camping explains new date for The Rapture: October 21, 2011
Harold Camping: a prophet or profiteer?
