ALAMEDA, Calif. — The Christian radio host who predicted the world would end over the weekend said Monday he's ready to talk about why the apocalypse didn't arrive.
Harold Camping declined to provide any further details to The Associated Press at his modest brick home in an Oakland suburb on Monday morning, but he said he would make a full statement via broadcast through his independent ministry, Family Radio International.
By midday, the 89-year old preacher had gone to the media empire's headquarters near the Oakland airport to prepare for his show, "Open Forum," which for months has headlined his doomsday message via the group's radio stations, TV channels, satellite broadcasts and website.
"I will have more to say tonight," said Camping, a retired civil engineer who previously maintained there was no possibility the Rapture would not occur at 6 p.m. Saturday. "I will be putting out a message in our broadcast."
Camping had forecast that some 200 million people would be saved, and warned that those left behind would die in earthquakes, plagues and other scourges until Earth until the globe was consumed by a fireball on Oct. 21.
His earlier apocalyptic prediction in 1994 also was a bust, but he said it didn't happen because of a mathematical error.
Camping told the San Francisco Chronicle on Sunday he was "flabbergasted" his latest doomsday prophecy did not come true.
Gunther Von Harringa, who heads a religious organization that produces content for Camping's media enterprise, said he was "very surprised" the Rapture did not happen as predicted, but said he and other believers were in good spirits.
"We're still searching the Scriptures to understand why it did not happen," said Von Harringa, president of Bible Ministries International, which he operates from his home in Delaware, Ohio. "It's just a matter of OK, Lord, where do we go from here?"
Herbert Walker, 66, of Lake Hamilton, Fla., had been convinced by his daily readings of the Bible and Camping's prediction that May 21 would see God bring chosen souls into heaven before a cataclysmic worldwide tribulation.
He was disappointed when that didn't happen, he said, but planned to keep praying regularly in hopes that one day he'll be counted among the saved. While he said his faith remained unshaken by the faulty prediction, Walker added that for now, he's done with believing predictions.
"I'm still faithful to the Bible, because the Bible is the only word of God," he said. "We can trust what the Bible says, not what men say."
Signs of disappointment were also evident online, where groups that had confidently predicted the Rapture – and, in some cases, had spent money to help spread the word through advertisements – took tentative steps to re-establish Internet presences in the face of widespread mockery.
The Linwood, Penn.-based group eBible Fellowship still has a website with images of May 21 billboards all over the world, but its Twitter feed has changed over from the increasingly confident predictions before the date to circumspect Bible verses that seem to speak to the confusion and hurt many members likely feel.
"For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee," the group tweeted on Sunday, quoting the book of Isaiah.
Another site that trumpeted the end, The Latter Rain, replaced its old, Rapture-predicting site with a single page of unsigned responses to questions like "Don't you feel stupid?" and "So, how does it feel to be wrong?"
Family Radio's special projects coordinator, Michael Garcia said he believed the delay was God's way of separating true believers from those willing to doubt what he said were clear biblical warnings.
"Maybe this had to happen for there to be a separation between those who have faith and those who don't," he said. "It's highly possible that our Lord is delaying his coming."
Harold Camping declined to provide any further details to The Associated Press at his modest brick home in an Oakland suburb on Monday morning, but he said he would make a full statement via broadcast through his independent ministry, Family Radio International.
By midday, the 89-year old preacher had gone to the media empire's headquarters near the Oakland airport to prepare for his show, "Open Forum," which for months has headlined his doomsday message via the group's radio stations, TV channels, satellite broadcasts and website.
"I will have more to say tonight," said Camping, a retired civil engineer who previously maintained there was no possibility the Rapture would not occur at 6 p.m. Saturday. "I will be putting out a message in our broadcast."
Camping had forecast that some 200 million people would be saved, and warned that those left behind would die in earthquakes, plagues and other scourges until Earth until the globe was consumed by a fireball on Oct. 21.
His earlier apocalyptic prediction in 1994 also was a bust, but he said it didn't happen because of a mathematical error.
Camping told the San Francisco Chronicle on Sunday he was "flabbergasted" his latest doomsday prophecy did not come true.
Gunther Von Harringa, who heads a religious organization that produces content for Camping's media enterprise, said he was "very surprised" the Rapture did not happen as predicted, but said he and other believers were in good spirits.
"We're still searching the Scriptures to understand why it did not happen," said Von Harringa, president of Bible Ministries International, which he operates from his home in Delaware, Ohio. "It's just a matter of OK, Lord, where do we go from here?"
Herbert Walker, 66, of Lake Hamilton, Fla., had been convinced by his daily readings of the Bible and Camping's prediction that May 21 would see God bring chosen souls into heaven before a cataclysmic worldwide tribulation.
He was disappointed when that didn't happen, he said, but planned to keep praying regularly in hopes that one day he'll be counted among the saved. While he said his faith remained unshaken by the faulty prediction, Walker added that for now, he's done with believing predictions.
"I'm still faithful to the Bible, because the Bible is the only word of God," he said. "We can trust what the Bible says, not what men say."
Signs of disappointment were also evident online, where groups that had confidently predicted the Rapture – and, in some cases, had spent money to help spread the word through advertisements – took tentative steps to re-establish Internet presences in the face of widespread mockery.
The Linwood, Penn.-based group eBible Fellowship still has a website with images of May 21 billboards all over the world, but its Twitter feed has changed over from the increasingly confident predictions before the date to circumspect Bible verses that seem to speak to the confusion and hurt many members likely feel.
"For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee," the group tweeted on Sunday, quoting the book of Isaiah.
Another site that trumpeted the end, The Latter Rain, replaced its old, Rapture-predicting site with a single page of unsigned responses to questions like "Don't you feel stupid?" and "So, how does it feel to be wrong?"
Family Radio's special projects coordinator, Michael Garcia said he believed the delay was God's way of separating true believers from those willing to doubt what he said were clear biblical warnings.
"Maybe this had to happen for there to be a separation between those who have faith and those who don't," he said. "It's highly possible that our Lord is delaying his coming."
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