Ex subway worker sinks $140,000 life savings into campaign advertising the end of the world...but don't worry you have until next Saturday





A retired MTA employee has pumped his $140,000 life savings into an ad campaign warning that the world will end on May 21.



Robert Fitzpatrick, a follower of the notorious California Evangalist Harold Camping, has posted his Doomsday message on 1,000 subway car placards and at bus shelters throughout New York city.

Convinced: Mr Fitzpatrick has spent his life savings on predicting and advertising the end of the world

The foreboding advert reads: 'Global Earthquake! The Greatest Ever - Judgement Day: May 21,' above a night time Jerusalem skyline and a clock ticking towards midnight.

Speaking to the New York Daily News, 60-year-old Mr Fitzpatrick said: 'I'm trying to warn people about what's coming.

'People who have an understanding [of end times] have an obligation to warn everyone.'

The Doomsday merchant began his campaign in 2006 after hearing the 'End of days' message from well known Armageddon promoter Harold Camping.

He also outlines the wacky theories in a book, appropriately titled, 'The Doomsday Code'.



Mr Camping, along with his Family Radio road show, travel the country spreading the end of the world message.



According to the predictions of the Family Radio ministry, on May 21 a massive earthquake will shake the world apart, littering the ground with 'many dead bodies'.

Despite his conviction, Camping has predicted the world would end before - on September 4 1994.

That, he says, was a mistake, a misreading of the biblical codes used to decipher the exact date of the 'rapture'.

In order to get the warning out in time he fudged his calculations, a mistake he maintains he did not make this time.

Despite this, Mr Fitzpatrick is adamant the beginning of the end is starts next week.



He said: 'It'll start just before midnight, Jerusalem time: It'll be instantaneous and global.

'There are too many scriptures talking about 'sudden destruction.'

The end: members of the Family radio group are sure the end of the world is coming on May 21. They point to complex numerical codes to demonstrate the accuracy of their predictions

Message: Ambassador Sheila Jonas (right) stands in front of her caravan emblazoned with the end of the world message

The message is based on a series of bizarre biblical calculations.

According to them, Noah's great flood occurred in the year 4990 B.C., 'exactly' 7000 years ago.



At the time, God said to Noah he had seven days before the flood would begin.



Taking a passage from 2 Peter 3:8, in which it is said a day for God is like a thousand human years, the church reasoned that seven 'days' equals 7000 human years from the time of the flood,making 2011 the year of the apocalypse.



In its second 'proof' the exact date is revealed by working forward from the exact date of the of the crucifixion - April 1, 33 AD.



According to their reasoning, there are exactly 722,500 days from April 1, 33 A.D. until May 21, 2011 - the alleged day of judgement.



This number can be represented as follows: 5 x 10 x 17 x 5 x 10 x 17 = 722,500.



The church then argues that numbers in the bible have special meanings, with the number 5 signifying atonement or redemption, the number 10 signifying 'completeness' and the number 17 equalling heaven.

THINGS YOU WILL MISS IF THE WORLD ENDS NEXT SATURDAY May 21 – Rapture Day: You could have headed down to the Wichita State University theatre for Rapture Day hosted by Atheist group Air Capital Skeptics. They’re planning to ‘have fun’ according to a Facebook page.



You could have headed down to the Wichita State University theatre for Rapture Day hosted by Atheist group Air Capital Skeptics. They’re planning to ‘have fun’ according to a Facebook page. May 21 – Ready, Set, Inflate!: The National Safe Boating Council is trying to break its first world record attempt to see how many people around the world can inflate a life jacket at once…They might get more than they bargained for if Camping’s predictions play out.



May 21 - Largest raft of canoes: Speaking of world record attempts, over in Cleveland, Ohio, they’re trying to make the largest raft out of canoes and kayaks…again a large raft may come in handy later on in the day.

May 23 – Lucky penny day: Find a penny, pick it up; all day long you'll have good luck…If only this had been before May 21.



May 23 – Lucky penny day: May 25 – Towel Day: Every year fans of Douglas Adams’ the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy carry a towel around with them on this day…it was referenced in the book, they’re not just mad.

May 25 – Zoopolis 500: It’s like the Indianapolis 500…just with tortoises. Every year the Indianapolis zoo gets a group of tortoises down a track in order to win a ‘fresh fruit tray.’

May 27, 28, 29, 30 - Indianapolis 500 Race: The ‘greatest spectacle in racing’ may have to give way to the last spectacle on earth…But if it does go ahead the 95th Indianapolis 500 Race should be a cracker.

May – Endeavour in space: The shuttle is due to blast off on May 16 for a 16-day mission so you’ll miss regular updates from Mark Kelly and his crew... they’ll have an excellent view of the world ending however.



May 30 – Memorial Day: Federal holiday commemorating U.S. soldiers who have died in military service.

May 28, 29, 30 – Blockbuster weekend: …And you won’t be able to go to the opening of what Hollywood thinks will be the must-see films of the year. Shame.



Collection: The family radio faithful pose in front of their convoy of caravans.

Those who believe in Jesus will be carried into heaven, while the rest of humanity will endure 153 days of 'death and horror' before the world ends on October 21.

'Project Caravan', as it has become known, is made up of members of the Family Radio network all of who have given up jobs, families and all their possessions to join this final mission.

Calling themselves 'ambassadors', the church members point to their baffling biblical codes to demonstrate their reasoning.



Leafleting around the country, the group have drawn quite a following.



But in his devotion, Mr Fitzgerald has financed the entire New York ad campaign with his own money, adding that he wants to take as many people with him as he can.

Others, however are not so sympathetic.

Speaking to the paper, David Silverman, of the American Atheists group, said: Doomsday cults are money-making enterprises.