Thread: New billboards claim Christ will return May 21, 2011

New billboards claim Christ will return in May

Posted: 5:50 PM
Last Updated: 1 hour and 12 minutes ago
By: Mike Pelton

PHOENIX - Several new billboards have popped up around the Valley and are causing quite a stir.

“When I first saw it I said, ‘OK, another publicity stunt,'â€

[quote="JohnDoe2"]New billboards claim Christ will return in May

Posted: 5:50 PM
Last Updated: 1 hour and 12 minutes ago
By: Mike Pelton

PHOENIX - Several new billboards have popped up around the Valley and are causing quite a stir.

“It makes us look stupid,â€

That's my birthday... suppose it's a "coming" birthday present?

I had heard that there were going to be sign of the coming of Christ

but I didn't know they meant billboard SIGNS.

Mar 13:30 Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done.
Mar 13:31 Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.
Mar 13:32 ¶But of that day and [that] hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.

There ya' go, another kook group thinking they have some special in with God about the return date of Jesus Christ, who Himself, admitted that He would not even know till His Father sent Him.

So I suppose we can all plant our spring gardens and assume we still have the summer, if not, then I doubt that it will be May 21st.....I have to think these people will be sitting in the Arizona desert May 22nd, still waiting.

People get ready . . .

Th.e good book also said beware of false profits.Man will never know until the sound of the trumpet,all i can say is be ready everyday because you never know the time and date.

Entrepreneurs offer post-'rapture' services

Ventures include offering rapture believers pet care and a chance to send letters to nonbelieving loved ones in the event the faithful are swept away.

By Abby Sewell, Los Angeles Times
May 19, 2011

Natalie Jones said the idea of paying someone to send emails to her loved ones after the "rapture" would have seemed preposterous to her a few years ago.

That was before the occupational health therapist and mother of two in Surrey, Britain, became a born-again Christian. She now believes the faithful will be swept up in the skies to unite with Jesus in the rapture, while nonbelievers will be left behind to wait for Armageddon and the second coming of Christ.

Related
C.S. Lewis Bible provokes debate
Study links willingness to cheat, viewpoint on God
Last Supper was not Jesus' last supper, researcher says
Eight months ago, Jones paid $14.95 to a website called You've Been Left Behind to send letters to nonbelieving loved ones in the event she is taken away in the rapture.

"I'm the only Christian in my family, so what I really have to achieve is to warn them about everything, but they just think I'm crazy," said Jones, 43.

You've Been Left Behind is one of several enterprises advertising post-rapture services. You've Been Left Behind lost its incorporation status with the state of Massachusetts last month for failing to file its required annual report, although it continues to advertise on the Web.

Founder Mark Heard, a professed rapture believer and handyman in Cape Cod, Mass., said he plans to reconfigure the venture as a nonprofit.

Experts said potential buyers should be wary when approaching business ventures based around deeply held religious beliefs.

"Usually most of these things sound too good to be true, and people, instead of trusting their own instincts, will fall back on 'There can't be anything wrong with it because it's my group, it's my religion,'" said Lisa Fairfax, a George Washington University law professor who has studied religious-based investment fraud schemes. Some of the ventures hawking post-rapture services don't pretend to be operated by believers. Eternal Earth-Bound Pets, which promises to care for pets left behind, is run by avowed atheists.

"Is this a joke?" That's question No. 1 on the site's list of frequently asked questions.

"No" is the answer. "This is a serious offer to our Christian friends who believe in the Second Coming and honestly care about the future of their pets after the Rapture occurs."

Bart Centre, the New Hampshire retiree who runs Eternal Earth-Bound Pets, said he simply wants to make a buck.

"I saw dollar signs, because no one has more pets per capita and more rapture-believing Christians than the good old U.S.A.," he said.

His business is not incorporated in any state. Centre said he simply reports the income on his personal tax return.

While Centre doesn't believe in the rapture, he insisted he's prepared to honor his contract. If prospective customers are wary, Centre said, he will suggest they appoint a trusted nonbeliever with "post-rapture power of attorney" to enforce the agreement.

Centre said inquiries picked up in recent months based on predictions by evangelical radio broadcaster Harold Camping that the rapture will take place Saturday, leading him to boost his basic rate from $110 to $135. For that fee, his crews will retrieve and care for one household pet post-rapture, if it occurs within 10 years of payment.

Jones is not holding her breath. She believes the rapture is coming soon but doesn't think anyone can predict the date. Nor was she concerned about You've Been Left Behind's standing with the state of Massachusetts.

"So long as the service is still operating and delivers my messages to those left behind then that's fine with me," she wrote in an email. "Do [you] know if it's still working?"

abby.sewell@latimes.com

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-r ... 9624.story

May 19, 2011

If May 21 Doomsday prediction fizzles, atheists are ready to party

09:51 AM

If the end of the world doesn't occur on Saturday as predicted, a group of atheists plan to party on Sunday like there's, uh, no tomorrow, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Oakland-area minister Harold Camping, 89-year-old founder of the Family Radio network, says the Bible "guarantees" the world will end on May 21, beginning with a series of massive earthquakes at 6 p.m. PT (9 p.m.ET).

Although Camping's 1994 Doomsday prediction fizzled, for what he says was a math error, the latest prediction has drawn big media attention.

Camping's group has spread the word on thousands of billboards wordwide, by caravan around the USA and, on the Family Radio website.

"God is utilizing the media," Camping said last week, after concluding a Skype interview with a popular website, the Chronicle reports . "And my, my, has the media been busy with me."

But if the Apocalypse doesn't occur, the California director of the American Atheists says 200 members of his group will meet on Sunday in Oakland.

"We're confident we'll still be here," Hicok tells the newspaper. "But if it does happen, we wanted a front-row seat."

Hickok tells the Oakland Tribune that he is concerned about people who have giving up their life savings to Family Radio and on Sunday will find he is left with only a Winnebago.

"This could be a Kool-Aid moment," he tells the Tribune. It takes an incredible denial of reality to not have a Kool-Aid moment."

A sharper-tongued rejection of the Domsday prediction can be found on the "Post Rapture Looting" Facebook page.

Its message: "When everyone is gone and god's not looking, we need to pick up some sweet stereo equipment and maybe some new furniture for the mansion we're going to squat in."

http://content.usatoday.com/communities ... re-ready/1

D.C. Department of Transportation Warns No Work After 'Rapture'

Published May 19, 2011
FoxNews.com

The original message, seen above, was reposted by at least 19 other Twitter users as of Thursday afternoon. One user playfully responded by asking the department to make a swift repair before Jesus returns.

A loosely-organized Christian movement that believes Jesus Christ will return to Earth this weekend has attracted some unusual followers, including the official Twitter account of the District of Columbia's Department of Transportation.

"Sorry, we will no longer be able to fill your potholes after Saturday," read one Tweet posted on the agency's account at about 1 p.m. Thursday.

Minutes later, someone with access to the agency's account posted: "I guess I should have been a little less subtle. I was kidding. Or was I?"

The original message was reposted by at least 19 other Twitter users as of Thursday afternoon. One user playfully responded by asking the department to make a swift repair before Jesus returns.

LauriecDC wrote: "Can you fill that one I asked for on 2700 block of Devonshire Pl before Saturday?"

District Department of Transportation spokesman John Lisle, who said in a local 2010 interview that he set up the Twitter account in an effort to more quickly address the city's numerous pothole complaints, told FoxNews.com that the messages were an "attempt at humor" and were not intended to offend anyone.

"Occasionally, we post humor, or our attempt at humor, for the folks who follow us on a regular basis," Lisle said. "No offense was intended; it was intended to try to be funny. Whether it was successful or not, I don't know."

Shortly after speaking to FoxNews.com, another tweet followed: "Got a call from Fox News Online about my tweet. Better stop trying to be funny."

The apocalyptic prediction originates with Harold Camping, an 89-year-old retired civil engineer from Oakland, Calif., who founded Family Radio Worldwide, an independent ministry that has broadcast his prediction around the world, the Associated Press reports.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/05 ... z1MpUnPMRO