Meet the family who truly believe it is their last moment on Earth... but, so far, nothing's happened on the 'day of rapture'



Saturday 6PM local time wherever you live is the last day on earth, claims evangelical Christian



Auckland, New Zealand, the first major city expected to suffer earthquakes , reports business as usual and there are no problems in Beijing, China



Harold Camping, 89, wrongly predicted 'the rapture' date once before in 1994



Atheists to hold parties to celebrate 'inevitable embarrassment'

Christian author calls Camping's prediction 'flat-out wrong'

Mayor Bloomberg says he'll suspend 'alternate side parking'



Joseph, Faith and Grace Haddad appear like any other American teenagers - except for the fact their parents Robert and Abby believe the world is about to end.

Two years ago their father Robert and mother Abby gave up their regular jobs to preach for the Family Radio church at the centre of the May 21 Judgment Day campaign.

In a last ditch effort to spread the word before the Armageddon that they believe will happen today at 6pm local time wherever you live, Robert and Abby took their children to a New York street fair.

Watch the videos below...

Doomed: The Haddad family (L-R Abby Haddad Carson, Joseph Carson-Haddad, Robert Carson, Faith and Grace Haddad and dog Hunter) are expecting the world to end on Saturday, but say their children won't go to heaven Speaking to the New York Times, 16-year-old Grace Haddad said: 'My mom has told me directly that I’m not going to get into heaven. At first it was really upsetting, but it’s what she honestly believes.' RELATED ARTICLES Previous

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Next Discover religion with maillife.co.uk Share this article Share But while the followers of radical evangelist Harold Camping prepare to meet their maker , no rapture reports were heard from Christmas Island in Kiribati - where the earthquake was set to hit first at 6pm local time.

The source: Harold Camping, 89, from Oakland, California, is certain that Saturday is Judgment Day

'THEY THINK IT'S ALL OVER...': SOME FAILED DOOMSDAY PREDICTIONS

While it is an accepted fact that our planet will one day be consumed by the Sun, modern science has calculated that that will not happened for several billion years.



But that hasn't stopped mankind repeatedly predicting that the world is about to end. In fact, doomsday prophecies have been made ever since we started using calendars, with flood, famine, incoming asteroids and nuclear wars among the favoured causes of annihilation.



Biblical scholars point out that in the Book of Matthew, Jesus himself implies that the world will end within the lifetime of his contemporaries, while a host of scholars made similar predictions in the first millennium.



The craze appears to have reached a peak in Europe in the Middle Ages. In 1500, Protestant reformer Martin Luther proclaimed that 'the kingdom of abominations shall be overthrown' within 300 years.



Others to get in on the act included Christopher Columbus (1656), mathematician John Napier (1688) and astrologer Sir Isaac Newton (1948).



More recently, the fad for making Doomsday predictions has become popular amongst Christian groups in the U.S. According to website Armageddononline, prophecy teacher Doug Clark announced in 1976 that President Jimmy Carter would be 'the president who will meet Mr. 666 - soon',



And about 50 members of a group called the Assembly of Yahweh gathered at Coney Island, New York, in white robes, awaiting their 'rapture' from a world about to be destroyed on May 25, 1981.

'A small crowd of onlookers watched and waited for something to happen. The members chanted prayers to the beat of bongo drums until sunset. The end did not come,' the website notes.



The year 2000 was also expected to usher in an apocalypse of sorts, with aeroplanes falling from the sky and computer systems crashing. The planet survived.



In the days leading up to September 9, 2009, fans of Armageddon insisted that the world would end - 9/9/9 being the emergency services phone number in the UK and also the number of the Devil - albeit upside down. Surprisingly there wasn't the same hyperbole on June 6, 2006.



But if the world does manage to get through today unscathed, believers won't have to wait too long before another popular Doomsday prediction date looms.

The Maya civilisation of South America was for several centuries one of the most advanced in the world. Along with their architectural achievements, the Mayans left us with calendars that, some argue, predict the end of the world on December 21, 2012.

In Auckland, New Zealand, one of the first major cities to reach 6pm, no major incidents were reported.

Beijing in China also appeared to have escaped unscathed.



Two earthquakes of magnitudes over 2.5 were reported shortly after 6pm local time (midnight Eastern Time) hit Christmas Island.

The U.S. Geological Survey says a 4.8 magnitude earthquake hit the Solomon Islands region and a 3.1 in the Hawaii area between 00:30am and 00:45am Eastern Time.



But before you start preparing for the Armageddon, there are usually 30 to 40 earthquakes measuring more than 2.5 every day worldwide.

A fake Twitter account purporting to be run by the BBC World Service was making statements about what was happening.



One post jokingly said: 'President of Kiribati, Mr Anote Tong, shall address media shortly regarding "unprecedented" events on Christmas Island.'

Auckland, New Zealand, the first major city to experience the rapture and earthquake at 6pm local time (2am Eastern Time) - reported business as usual today.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg took a more relaxed attitude on Friday to impending Armageddon - joking that Doomsday will result in him suspending alternate side parking indefinitely.

According to Camping's followers - who claim he calculated the date and time of 'The Rapture' by adding up numbers in the Bible - tomorrow will see the start of a six month process where the chosen will ascend into heaven.

Camping, 89, is the leader of Family Radio, an independent ministry which spreads its word via a network on 66 radio stations and online broadcasts.



He has previously written a book called '1994?', in which he wrongly predicted the end of the world in that year, and was later forced to apologise for a mathematical error.

Despite the dire warnings, Mayor Bloomberg listed a number of reasons why tomorrow can't be the end of the world.

Speaking on his weekly radio show he said: 'The world cannot end tomorrow. You know why.

'It can't end at least until the Knicks win a championship again. We've got a long time to go.'

He continued: 'If the world ends tomorrow I don't think you have to worry about returning library books, parking tickets.'

But despite the doom and gloom, the Mayor found a possible upside to the Earth's destruction.



He added:'Think about it. If the world were to end tomorrow it would fix our traffic problems.'

The Rapture is supposedly the time when God's chosen people ascend to heaven and the rest are left behind to face apocalyptic scenes of earthquakes and fire.

A period of 'trial' on earth for non-believers is forecast to follow and could last six months, but by October 21 all those who have not been saved will be dead, goes the prophecy.

The concept of Judgment Day is a long-standing one, but the idea of the Rapture is more modern, having first appeared in Christian teaching in the 19th century.

However, this predicted date is entirely the work of Camping and his followers, who have spent decades studying the bible for coded messages.

Abroad church: Filipino-American Joel Abalos, 48, spreads the word of Family Radio on the streets of Manila

WHY NOW? THE WORKINGS OUT BEHIND THE END OF THE WORLD

Harold Camping's homemade mathematical formula for the apocalypse works, in part, like this.

He bases it on a verse in Chapter 2 of Peter verse 3:8, which says that one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like one day to God.

Elsewhere it is said that there will be seven thousand years between Noah's flood and the end of the world.

Camping believes that the Noah’s Ark flood happened in the year 4990 BC.

So to Camping, the seven days translates to 7,000 years.

And 4990 plus 2011, minus one because there was no year '0', equals 7,000 years.

The date of May 21 has been derived from complex mathematical formula made up from numbers that appear repeatedly in the Bible.



So certain is he of his revised date, following on from his 1994 embarrassment, that he and his followers have spent millions of dollars on billboards across America that have been warning for weeks: 'Judgment Day is coming May 21st, 2011 – The Bible guarantees it!'

Most Christians barely pay the 'prophecy' a second thought but Camping, from Oakland, California, stands by his latest Doomsday warning.

'We know without any shadow of a doubt it is going to happen,' said Camping.



'There’s going to be a huge earthquake that’s going to make the big earthquake in Japan seem like a Sunday School picnic.'

Camping, a civil engineer who once ran his own construction business, plans to spend the day with his wife in Alameda, in northern California, and watch doomsday unfold on television.



'I'll probably try to be very near a TV or a radio or something,' he said.



'I'll be interested in what's happening on the other side of the world as this begins.'

His prediction has been dismissed as 'flat-out wrong' by one leading Christian author, who has accused Camping of abusing the current climate of fear rendered by natural disasters to make money.



'Nobody knows the exact day when these things are going to happen,' Steve Wohlberg, who has written more than two dozen books about the End of Days, told the New York Daily News.



Joke: Michael Bloomberg appears not to be taking the prediction of Armageddon seriously with a series of jokes about the end of the world



Save the date: Camping and his various radio stations have spent millions of dollars on advertising the apocalypse on billboards such as this one in Los Angeles



'They're looking at all of these disasters and everything that's going on in the planet, and this is creating a climate of deep interest in Biblical prophecy.

'In my mind, Harold Camping has quite an account to render with God when judgment day comes.' However, just in case the prediction is right, some Americans are making the most of their time left with 'Rapture Parties' across the country, some serious, some not. RELATED ARTICLES Previous

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Next Discover religion with maillife.co.uk Share this article Share In Fayetteville, North Carolina, the American Humanist Association is organizing a two-day anti-Rapture extravaganza. There will be a party on Saturday and a concert on Sunday - with the tongue in cheek proviso that Sunday's fun could be cancelled due to a natural catastrophe of some sort. The End: Christian followers of Camping have taken to the streets to spread God's word about the impending end of days Workings: Camping is basing his prediction on decades of studying the Bible and his belief that the Noah's Ark flood happened in the year 4990 BC Not keeping it under his hat: This New Yorker hands out leaflets warning of the coming apocalypse while, right, Julie Baker advertises her beliefs on a T-shirt in the same city



Camping's prediction has been publicised in almost every country, said Chris McCann, who works with one of the groups spreading the message, eBible Fellowship.

McCann plans to spend Saturday with his family, reading the Bible and praying. His fellowship met for the last time on Monday.

THROW OPEN ALL GRAVES: THE SCHEDULE FOR TOMORROW? 'On May 21, 2011 two events will occur. These events could not be more opposite in nature, the one more wonderful than can be imagined; the other more horrific than can be imagined.

'A great earthquake will occur the Bible describes it as "such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great." This earthquake will be so powerful it will throw open all graves. The remains of the all the believers who have ever lived will be instantly transformed into glorified spiritual bodies to be forever with God.

'On the other hand the bodies of all unsaved people will be thrown out upon the ground to be shamed.

'The inhabitants who survive this terrible earthquake will exist in a world of horror and chaos beyond description. Each day people will die until October 21, 2011 when God will completely destroy this earth and its surviving inhabitants.'

Source: Family Radio website

'We had a final lunch and everyone said goodbye,' he said.



'We don't actually know who's saved and who isn't, but we won't gather as a fellowship again.'

The publicity has had some effect outside North America. In Vietnam, a crowd of around 5,000 members of the Hmong ethnic minority gathered near the border with Laos to await the biblical event, but they were soon dispersed by the government.



However, the Rapture - the belief that Christ will bring the faithful into paradise prior to a period of tribulation on earth that precedes the end of time - is a divisive belief even among Christians.



Most don't believe in it, and some are actively against it because they feel it makes them look foolish.



'People like this man are over-literalising certain passages that are not meant to be taken in such a strictly literal sense and they're trying to build strict chronologies by piecing together different Bible verses that were never intended to be interpreted in such a fashion,' said Dr. Don Howell, professor of New Testament at Columbia International University.



In an attempt to talk to Camping on his own literal terms, Dr Howell also points to Matthew 24, which says no one but the Father knows when the end will come, not even Jesus or the angels.

The Rapture is often mocked by non-believers in popular culture - the comic strip 'Doonesbury' has tackled the subject - while a Facebook page called 'Post Rapture Looting' has won huge support.

More than 175,000 people have joined the group, leaving comments such as: '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 mansions we’re going to squat in.'

Underground movement: A commuter on the New York subway stop at Times Square read an advertisement for the camping's apocalypse predictions in 2011

Jerry Jenkins, co-author with Tim LaHaye of the 'Left Behind' series of apocalyptic novels that have sold millions of copies worldwide, is among those who has a problem with the prediction.

'As a believer, I'm already a kook compared to most people, so for someone to choose a date and get everyone excited about a certain time, my problem is it makes us look worse,' said Jenkins, 61.

But the very industry in which Jenkins' books are aimed and sold are part of the problem according to Barbara Rossing, professor of the New Testament at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago.



She describes a huge apocalyptic 'prophecy industry' that includes video games, board games and books, and says: 'It is very appealing to people.'



WHO'S SORRY NOW? EVENTS WE'LL MISS IF THE WORLD DOES END





• May 21-2 - The Rapture After Party: The American Humanist Association has planned an event kicking off at 6pm - the time of the rapture - in Fayetteville, North Carolina. I hope they didn't book catering or those sandwiches will curl badly in the hellfire.

• May 27-30 - Indianapolis 500 Race: The 95th 'greatest spectacle in racing' will have to give way to the last spectacle on earth. • May 28 - Champions League Final: Will Sir Alex Ferguson's bid for a third Champion's League trophy with Manchester United be ended not by Barcelona, but by biblical apocalypse? Sir Alex, the scourge of referees, is yet to complain he fears a bad decision from God.

• June 16-19 - The U.S. Open Golf Championship is scheduled to take place in Maryland, but the end of days would signal an early end of play for golf as we know it.

• June 22-26 Glastonbury Festival: The world's greatest music festival usually leaves Worthy Farm looking like an apocalyptic wasteland but only after three days of amazing partying. • September 9-October 23 - Rugby World Cup: It's sad to think that all the rugby playing nations on the planet wasted their time booking hotels in New Zealand for a tournament that will never take place. • September 11-29 - The U.S. Open in New York keeps players on court until some ungodly hours - but the Devils work in tennis has ended.



Indeed, according to its tax returns Family Radio, a non-profit organisation, has raised more than $100m over the last seven years. It owns 66 radio stations worldwide and a recent spike in activity has seen it lavish millions on its international billboard advertising campaign.

When asked what the church was going to do with the money when the world ended, Camping told Contra Costa Times; 'When Judgment Day comes, if someone is a billionaire, how will they take their money with them?



'If we have any money left, and we will because we have to pay bills up to the very end... it will all be destroyed because the world will be in a day of judgment.

'The money is not important at all. It's a vehicle to spread the judgment and a vehicle of the Lord.'

But as the true believers prepare for what they hope will be their last day on earth, many atheists are having fun with the anticlimax they anticipate.



In Tacoma, Washington, atheists have organized a party for Saturday night under the banner 'countdown to backpedaling', on the assumption that Camping and Family Radio will change their story if Judgment Day does not come.

At least 100 people are expected at the party, said Sam Mulvey, 33, an organizer of the event and the producer of a weekly atheist radio show in Tacoma.

'If the world still exists the next day, Family Radio is going to have to say something and most of the time they backpedal, and that's what we're counting down to,' he said.

Other atheists have taken a more practical approach to the 'rapture' by turning the 'prophecy industry' on itself to make money.

In New Hampshire, Bart Centre started his company Eternal Earth-bound Pets in 2009.

He offers rapture believers an insurance plan for those pets that won't join them in heaven: 10-year pet care contracts, with Centre and his network of fellow non-believers taking responsibility for the animals after the Rapture.

The fee - payable in advance, of course - was originally $110, but has risen to $135 since Camping's prediction. He has 258 clients.

But for some people the rapture is no laughing matter. In Harrison, New Jersey, reformed raver John Ramsey, 25, has given up his job to spread the word with his wife, Marcia Paladines.



Marcia, featured in the video below, is pregnant. Her due date is May 27.



'God is in control. I have prayed for mercy on my baby,' a crying Paladines told The Huffington Post.



'But I don't know what's going to happen. If I'm here May 21, then I will suffer the consequences of the wrath of God. I know like anybody else I'll deserve it because none of us are perfect.'

