After the world didn't come to an end on May 21 as per his prophecy, preacher says he miscalculated, doomsday is actually on October 21
After the world didn't come to an end on May 21 as per his prophecy, preacher says he miscalculated, doomsday is actually on October 21California preacher Harold Camping said yesterday his prophecy that the world would end on May 21, 2011 was off by five months because Judgment Day will actually come on October 21. Camping, who predicted that 200 million Christians would be taken to heaven on Saturday before the earth was destroyed -- the Rapture -- said he felt so terrible when his original doomsday prediction did not come true that he left home and took refuge in a motel with his wife.
Apocalypse when? Pedestrians walk past a 'Judgment Day' banner
at a street in Manila on May 21, the original date predicted byu00a0Camping.
Pic/AFP "We've always said May 21 was the day, but we didn't understand altogether the spiritual meaning," the one-time civil engineer said at the Oakland headquarters of his Family Radio network. His independent ministry, Family Radio International, spent millions -- some from donations by followers -- on more than 5,000 billboards and 20 RVs plastered with the doomsday message.
The globe will be completely destroyed in five months, he said, when the apocalypse comes. But because God's judgment and salvation were completed on Saturday, there's no point in continuing to warn people about it, so his network will now just play Christian music and programs until the final end on October 21.
It's not the first time the independent Christian radio host has been forced to explain when his prediction did not come to pass. He also predicted the apocalypse would come in 1994, but said it did not happen then because of a mathematical error.
Rather than give his normal daily broadcast on Monday, Camping made a special statement before the press at the Oakland headquarters of the media empire that has broadcast his message.
But no money back "If people want me to apologise, I can apologise yes," he told reporters after his speech. "I'm not a genius."
The preacher also added that while so many of his followers donated money, in some cases everything they owned, to his ministry in belief that the world would end last Saturday, they won't get it back.
"Why would we return it?" Camping said, arguing that the world is still going to end in October. When the Rapture did not arrive on Saturday, crestfallen followers began turning their attention to more earthly concerns.
