Will Jesus Christ return tomorrow?

If He does, we have a new Messiah! His name is Harold Camping, and he claims that Jesus will return tomorrow, on May 21.

The 89 year old Camping is a fundamentalist radio preacher and co-founder of the Family Radio network which broadcasts on several radio stations across the United States. His followers have sponsored billboards across the country and distributed pamphlets from caravans where they proclaim the coming apocalypse.

If Harold Camping is right, it means that he knows more than Jesus Christ! Jesus said that He does not know the day or the hour when the events will be fulfilled that lead to His return. "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only" (Matthew 24:36).

When will Christ return? When the "loud command" is given (1 Thessalonians 4:16, NIV). In other words, when God the Father tells Jesus it is time for Him to intervene!

Either Harold Camping has a better connection to God than Jesus, or he is one of those individuals Jesus warned us about when He talked about the signs preceding His return: "Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, I am the Christ, and will deceive many" (Matthew 24:4-5).

This is not Camping’s first time to predict the end. In 1992 he published a book saying 1994 would see the fulfillment of Bible prophecies regarding the tribulation and coming of Christ. Tomorrow we will know what Harold Camping really is.

In His Olivet prophecy, Jesus does exhort us to watch our own spiritual condition and developments involving the Holy Land, so the day of His return does not "come on you unexpectedly" (Luke 21:34). Let’s continue to be alert – even after May 21.

With these thoughts I wish us all a rewarding Sabbath!