10 Years Ago Today, Evangelist Harold Camping Wrongly Predicted the Rapture

Happy 10-year anniversary of the Worst Christian Prediction of All Time.

May 21, 2011 was supposed to be the day the Rapture occurred, according to radio evangelist Harold Camping. He staked his entire reputation on it. His company, Family Radio, spent more than $5,000,000 on 5,000 billboards announcing the date, and a media frenzy soon followed.

You’ll never believe this: We’re all still around.

And we can say with certainty that nothing even remotely close to that prediction happened that day. Camping and his ministry became laughingstocks, forever reminding us why other so-called “prophets” don’t attach specific dates to their predictions. (Prophecies are always supposed to occur “soon,” never “tomorrow.”)

Within months of his epic failure, Camping announced his retirement. Months after that, he formally admitted he was wrong. In 2013, Camping died. And in 2018, Family Radio stopped airing his old sermons.

If you weren’t paying attention when all that happened, you’ll enjoy this summary of Camping’s big prediction (and its aftermath) via Internet Historian:

(Thanks to Kristine for the link. Large portions of this article were published earlier)