Not the end, amen.

I'm reminded by my friend Eddie Hunter's blog, Chicken Fat, that what was supposed to happen Saturday evening was the Rapture, not the end of the world, as has been erroneously reported in most media.

In the prophecy by Minister Harold Camping, on Saturday, May 21, 2011 at 6:00 p.m., local time, there would be major earthquakes, the righteous dead would rise out of their graves and be zipped into heaven. The unrighteous dead would be thrown out of their graves onto the ground, and those of us living sinners who are left would have to deal with it. The end of the earth would come on October 21, 2011, after a lot of suffering.

I read in my newspaper this morning that Mr. Camping has suddenly removed himself from sight. I haven't heard anything today, whether he's in hiding after his prophecy didn't pan out. After all, he had followers who quit their jobs, sold their possessions, and were waiting to be taken into the afterlife. They have to be disappointed, and perhaps he doesn't want to face them. Or maybe he was one of the righteous who got swept up in the Rapture. I know about three people who believe in that, and it hasn't occurred to me until now (48 hours after the event was supposed to happen) that I haven't spoken with any of them. So as far as I know maybe they're sitting on the right hand of Jesus right now, laughing at me.

UPDATE: It's a day later, and I have information from today's newspaper that Camping, upset about not having the Rapture, spent the weekend in a motel. He has re-figured his dates, and now claims his previous date for the end of the world, October 21, will be the Rapture. If I were you I wouldn't quit my day job, folks. This is twice he's been wrong in a public way (first time was in 1994), and nothing suggests he'll be right about October 21, either.

There are a lot of natural disasters happening now; and to those people who are looking for cataclysmic events preceding a supernatural event it would strengthen their beliefs. Every year many things happen that might point to some sort of biblical "prophecy" of the end.

We can't have the end right now, folks. The summer movies haven't come out yet, and I'm anxious to see a couple of them. We'll have to defer the end of the world for that, at least.



P.S. Green Lantern, as I recall it from reading the comic book 50 years ago, is a religious parable, with the Guardians of the Galaxy, who find ring wearers who are worthy (righteous), standing in for God.

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