Way “Over the Edge”!
In an Associated Press article entitled, "Over the Edge," appearing in a local paper last week, the writer tells of a controversial radio host who is advising his listeners to leave churches. I do not think I have ever heard of anyone who displays as much ignorance of Bible teaching as does this man.
In a free country like ours, a man has the right to believe whatever he wishes, and with this freedom we expect some wild ideas, but rarely do people fly in the face of God as often and as directly as does Harold Camping. Let us be thankful he is not in our market – at least, I have never heard of him. Listen to some of his errors:
1. He says, "the church age" has ended. God does not say that. Rather, the Bible teaches that there will be faithful people in the church when the Lord comes again. (I Thess. 4:16ff; I Cor. 15:51f)
2. He says Satan has taken over all churches. If he had said, "Satan has taken over some churches," he would have been correct.
3. He says God wants people to worship privately in their homes with no leaders, no baptism, and no communion. In other words, Camping does away with the need to assemble (Heb. 10:25), the need to worship (John 4:24), and the need to do what the Bible says must be done to be saved (Mark. 16:15,16). None of these things has been rescinded by the Lord. It sounds to me like he has taken the scissors to his Bible, if he has one.
4. This man states, "the Bible says God is not saving people any longer in the church." "They’re being saved outside the church." Where does God say that? Why would God tell Mr. Camping that, and not tell the rest of us? Camping does not even seem to know that the body of saved is the church. The same thing that saves one and makes him a child of God is the same process that makes him a member of the church (Acts 2:47; Eph. 2:16). To say that a man is saved outside of the church is to say he is saved outside of Christ. (Eph. 1:22,23)
The AP writer of the article in review said, "Critics call the idea heretical, and say the self-described Bible expert doesn’t know what he is talking about." To this I agree. In fact, I wonder how a person who has never read and understood the Bible (which is obvious) could be called an expert?!? No wonder he is a "self-described" expert! Nobody who knows anything about the Bible would call such a misguided and ignorant person an expert.
The AP writer says "he has gone over the edge." I would agree, (way over the edge), and I am advising all who read this that we must learn "not to think of men above that which is written." (I Cor. 4:6) What Jesus really said was, "The word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day." (John 12:48).
– Max Patterson, 4438 South 89th Road, Bolivar, MO 65613-8012
