Harold Camping’s predictions were rejected by most Christian groups. Some churches cited the verse in ‘Matthew 24:36’ where Christ says that “about that day or hour no one knows.” Church officials continued their business and scheduled their church services as usual for Sunday, May 22. To support his arguments for the May 21 doomsday, Camping stated that he had mathematically calculated the prophecies in the Bible for decades. As a result of his predictions, many of his followers gave up their jobs, stopped investing in their children’s education, sold their properties, and even spent huge amounts promoting his apocalyptic claims. In 2011, around 7000 ethnic Hmong Christians gathered in a desolate town in Vietnam’s Điện Biên province in early May. They had planned to wait for Christ to arrive. The Vietnamese government dispersed the gathering. Many were arrested for extremism, while hundreds were shot dead by the Vietnamese forces. The massacre was linked to false predictions by Camping. On May 23, Camping refused to apologize for his earlier interpretations. He stated that his predictions had already been fulfilled: on May 21, 1988, the churches were judged; on September 7, 1994, judgment continued on the churches; and on May 21, 2011, the entire world was judged. After the prediction failed, media attention shifted to Camping and his followers for their responses. On May 23, Camping said that May 21 had been the Day of Judgment, and following the physical rapture on October 21, 2011, the whole universe would be destroyed by God. On October 16, however, Camping admitted to an interviewer that he was not sure when the end would come. He declined to comment publicly after October 21, when his predicted apocalypse did not occur.
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