Calvinism and Harold Camping

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Harold Camping, the fellow who’s teaching that the world will end on May 21, 2011, comes from a staunchly Calvinist background. This, of course, doesn’t prove that Calvinism is wrong, only that one of its adherents is loopy. I’m just glad he’s not a loopy Arminian.

In the pamphlet, “God’s Magnificent Salvation Plan” (1), Camping lays out a detailed systematic argument for the TULIP. Some quotes:

“…It is totally God’s sovereign grace that He saves one and leaves another under His just wrath.”

“As a matter of fact, He [Jesus] did die only for those who were elected of God.”

“Who then can be saved? All of God’s elect will, without fail, be saved.”

“We are incapable of ever deciding to come to Christ…We are as spiritually dead as Lazarus was physically dead in the tomb before he was raised.”

“If we hold the position that we can resist the will of God absolutely nobody would be saved.”

“Nobody can resist the will of God when it is His desire to save someone.”

“If we believe that man can resist God’s will to save those whom He plans to save, effectively we have arrived at a gospel of grace plus works.”

“There are those who teach that Christ actually paid for the sins of each and every person in the whole world, and it is only our rejection of Christ that sends us into Hell…This supports the erroneous idea that God has done all that He could, and now it’s up to us.”

“Christ’s fully paying for all the sins of the elect means there is no imaginable sin that could be committed that would undo the miracle of salvation. Any sin the elect would commit was already paid for by Christ during the atonement.”

In addition, Camping’s site familyradio.com has the following quote, which indicates that he currently still holds to Calvinism.

On Family Radio we clearly teach the Biblical truth that all mankind are sinners and, therefore, are subject to God’s righteous wrath. We further teach the sad truth that because man by nature is spiritually dead, he will not and cannot come to God on God’s terms. However, God in His wonderful love has chosen a people for Himself for whom the Lord Jesus Christ did all the work necessary to save them. In God’s own timetable He applies the Word of God to their hearts and saves them. This is the Bible’s grand message of salvation that Family Radio wishes to send to every nation of the world. (2)

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(1) God’s Magnificent Salvation Plan, Harold Camping, 1981 – Web version. See also “God Magnificant Salvation Plan” July 2002, PDF from Family Radio.

(2) Harold Camping Bio, FamilyRadio.com

 

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