Setting Dates for Christ's Return. Chuck Smith, Hal Lindsey, Harold Camping +++

Setting Dates for Christ's Return and the Warning of Matthew 24:36

Hello, in this video, I'd just like to spend a few minutes talking about those who have set dates for the rapture or the return of Christ. Jesus said in Matthew 24, verse 36, but of that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but my father only.

Why Date-Setting Leads to False Teaching

So what is it that causes people to set dates for the return of Christ? And does that make them, when it doesn't happen, of course it never does, does that make them false prophets or false teachers? So the reason why I'm doing this video, I've known about Harold Camping and some of these others for a while, but I just found out just like five minutes ago, all right, a little longer than that, but recently I found out that Chuck Smith, because Calvary Chapel is back in the news with the Jesus Revolution film, Chuck Smith actually set a date that Jesus would return in 1981.

So that obviously didn't take place. Most people are familiar with Harold Camping. He set, I think, two dates for the return of Christ back in around 2013. And going back to the beginning of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, today known as the Jehovah's Witnesses, they set, I think, five dates, but their most well-known date was 1914, that Jesus would return.

Of course, he didn't return. And then they went back and sort of revised it and said, well, something did happen. And that's exactly how the Seventh-day Adventist got started. A man named William Miller set a date for the return of Christ back in 1843.

It didn't happen. So he set another date, 1844. That didn't happen. And those people who were left over of that Adventist movement turned into the Seventh-day Adventist. And they said, well, something really did happen in 1844.

It was just invisible. So the Jehovah's Witnesses have done this. The Seventh-day Adventists have done this. And some other people have done it, too. Hal Lindsey. Now, I just want to put this caveat.

I have not been able to find the actual video or have the book in front of me where Hal Lindsey set a date. So I guess I can't say that personally for sure. But everything that I'm reading online, Hal Lindsey set a date for the return of Christ for 1988.

In a message that Hal Lindsey gave in 1979, he made the following predictions that there would be a nuclear war before 1984 and an all-out war before 1989. Lindsey announced in this sermon in 1979 that the Antichrist is alive and well in Europe and that he will soon make his appearance.

And again, Hal Lindsey said that back in 1979. He said the rapture will occur in their, the audience's, lifetime. So this is pretty common. I think this is what Chuck Smith did and what Hal Lindsey did.

They based their interpretation on a verse that Jesus made the statement from Matthew 24 about, you know, this generation shall not pass away till all these things be fulfilled. And, you know, that Israel became a state in 1948, 1949.

So, you know, 70 years of reason by strength, 80 years, they got these dates, however they came up with it. But Chuck Smith, I think did it that way. Hal Lindsey did it that way. Jack Van Impey, I used to watch him back in 2000.

I'm sort of, sort of ashamed to admit it, but I used to watch him back 2010, 2011. And I remember around 2012, Jack Van Impey, he didn't come out and say that Jesus would return. You know, the, remember the Mayan calendar, I want to be fair, Jack Van Impey did not set a date that Jesus would return in 2012, but I heard those programs and he basically said it without saying it.

Also, John Hagee, the four blood red moons. I don't think John Hagee actually said that Jesus was going to return in 2014, 2015, when all that stuff happened, but that was pretty clear implication, I think.

Are Date-Setters False Prophets or False Teachers?

So, you know, you want to be fair. And one of the questions is, does this make them a false prophet? Is Chuck Smith, or if Hal Lindsey did set a 1988 date, does that make Hal Lindsey or Chuck Smith a false prophet or Harold Camping, a false prophet?

I think you can say that they taught something that was clearly false, that they should have known better, but none of these men, and I'm not defending them, but none of these men, I'm just trying to give both sides.

None of these men that I'm aware of said that, Hey, God told me, God revealed it to me that Jesus would return on this and such a date. If they did that, if they claimed that God told them and then it didn't happen, open and closed case, false prophet, absolutely mark and avoid them.

But they didn't really do that. They made calculations based on an interpretation of the text. Now it's a very serious mistake. It could be, and I think probably does rise to the level of, Hey, if you set a date for the return of Christ, however you came about that and you taught that and it didn't happen, does that make you a false teacher?

I think it does. I think it does. Can somebody be forgiven? Yeah, this, this is not the unpardonable sin, but from everything that I can tell, um, this is certainly true with the Jehovah's witnesses and the seventh day Adventists, uh, they, they didn't really admit they were wrong so much as they said, no, no, we were right about the day.

Just something else happened. So they didn't really own up to it. And Chuck Smith, I saw a video where, uh, Mike winger, who used to be a Calvary chapel pastor, Mike winger said, yeah, Chuck Smith kind of tried to cover it up.

And uh, so Chuck Smith apparently, uh, didn't own up to it. Uh, Harold camping, I guess I'm not really sure if he ever owned up to it, but you know, if, if somebody makes that kind of a mistake or really any type of false teaching where, Hey, this clearly is not true and I taught it, it didn't come to pass.

I was wrong. You have to just come out and say, yes, I did that. Please forgive me. And you know, you might've ruined your credibility in the ministry, but, uh, you can be forgiven. I, this is just something I'm not seeing, uh, with at least many of these men.

They never really fully owned up to it. They either set another date or they tried to brush it all under the rug. Either way. Uh, as far as somebody next, next time this happens, cause it will happen again, it will happen again.

There will be another well-known, uh, teacher, pastor, televangelist, or a, a great move of the Holy spirit where somebody emerges and they're going to predict the end of the world or the return of Christ.

The Ongoing Warning Against Predicting Christ's Return

Just when somebody does that, just mark it down. Jesus said, no man knows the day or the hour. These are probably men that you should not follow. Can they be forgiven? I mean, the Jehovah's witnesses are a cult.

That's a different story, but can they be forgiven? Yes. But they, they really need to own up to it. My name's Michael Grant until next time. May the Lord be with you. Have a great day.