SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) - A U.S. preacher who
spent millions last year to publicize his message of
impending global destruction has for the first time
acknowledged his apocalyptic prophecy was wrong.
In a letter posted on his independent ministry's site on
Thursday, 90-year-old Harold Camping told his followers
he has no evidence the world will end anytime soon, and
he isn't interested in considering future dates.
"We realize that many people are hoping they will know the date of Christ's
return," Camping wrote. "We humbly acknowledge we were wrong about the
timing."
Camping's Family Radio International continues its broadcasts from the
nonprofit's headquarters in a squat building near the Oakland airport. In recent
years, the organization spent millions of dollars - some of it from donations
made by followers - putting up thousands of billboards plastered with the
Judgment Day message.
After global cataclysm didn't occur on May 21 as he had originally forecast,
Camping revised his prophecy, saying he had been off by five months.
Followers were crestfallen in May when the Rapture did not occur, particularly
those who had quit their jobs or donated some of their retirement savings or
college funds for the more than 5,000 billboards and 20 recreational vehicles
plastered with the Judgment Day message.
Camping was later hospitalized after suffering a mild stroke, but continued
spreading the word that natural disasters would destroy the globe through his
website and his weekly "Open Forum" radio show.
Thursday, Camping alerted his flock that he had stopped looking for new dates,
and would concentrate on deepening his faith through rereading the Scriptures.
"God has humbled us through the events of May 21," he wrote. "We must also
openly acknowledge that we have no new evidence pointing to another date for
the end of the world. Though many dates are circulating, Family Radio has no
interest in even considering another date."

May 20th 2011, I lived by the motto: "if I believed Jesus christ @matt 24:36, then 'prophet' Harold must be matt24:11"
I believed curiosity to know 'the day' is like eve wanting to 'be like God' besides (and again) it's like saying Jesus is sometimes__while matt24:11 is clear, what a blasphemy!