So much for watching the Huskers kick off their Big Ten rivalry with Iowa next year.
Eight billboards going up around Omaha say Jesus will return on May 21, 2011.
The billboards depict three wise men riding on camels, led by the Star of Bethlehem, and include the words, “He is coming again” and the May 21 date.
The “He” is Jesus Christ, whom Christians proclaim is the Son of God and Savior of the world.
The Rapture is near, billboards say
So much for watching the Huskers kick off their Big Ten rivalry with Iowa next year.
Eight billboards going up around Omaha say Jesus will return on May 21, 2011.
The billboards depict three wise men riding on camels, led by the Star of Bethlehem, and include the words, “He is coming again” and the May 21 date.
The “He” is Jesus Christ, whom Christians proclaim is the Son of God and Savior of the world.
And although the signs don’t explicitly say that believers will gather in the air to meet Christ in five-plus months, the groups spreading the May 21 message — Family Radio (www.familyradio.com) and We Can Know (www.WeCanKnow.com) — say so on their websites.
We Can Know, a group supporting the work of Family Radio, paid for the Omaha billboards, which include four large signs and four smaller ones .
The main idea is that the Rapture and the Day of Judgment will occur on May 21.
“This is not a joke. We take it very seriously,” said Tom Evans, a spokesman for Family Radio.
Harold Camping, Family Radio’s founder, came up with the date based on calculations he made using information he gleaned from the Bible, Evans said.
“I’ve never met anyone more diligent in studying the Bible” than Camping, Evans said.
In 1992, Evans said, Camping published a book called “1994?” in which he laid out his belief that Jesus would return in September 1994.
“That obviously was wrong,” Evans said.
“The real lesson of ’94 was not so much that he was wrong, but ‘What is truth? Where do you find truth?’” he said. “Study the Scriptures and the Spirit of God will guide you into the truth.”
After Jesus’ return in May, Evans said, the people remaining on Earth will have only until Oct. 21, “when the entire universe will be rolled up like a scroll and completely destroyed.”
The Rev. Russ McDowell, associate pastor at Rejoice Lutheran Church in Omaha, said trying to determine a specific time for Jesus’ return is “a real misreading of Scripture.”
“Scripture really communicates that God is in control,” McDowell said. “It becomes irrelevant to be focused on the time and the place. Be ready all the time.”
The billboards are going up in cities that have no Family Radio station, Evans said. “It wasn’t like we were targeting Omaha for any particular reason,” he said.
All the Omaha signs should be up by Friday, said Sheila Kuehn, an account executive for Lamar Outdoor Advertising in Omaha. They are scheduled for a four-week run.
“We had legal look at it and make sure it’s OK,” Kuehn said of the signs’ message, noting that the advertisers have freedom of speech.
Evans said he knows many people won’t take the billboards’ message seriously.
“I would hope,” he said, “that people would look at that and say, ‘I’m going to get my Bible out. I’m going to start reading my Bible.’”
Kuehn said she wouldn’t comment on the End of Days message but did offer this telling statement: “We have taken long-term contracts past May 2011.”
Contact the writer:
402-444-1109, bob.glissmann@owh.com
I can tell they are lying for 2 reasons.
A. May 21, 2011 is a Saturday. Jesus, is going to be tired from celebrating the FNP. He won’t be going anywhere.
B. My wedding date isn’t until A May 29th, & there’s NO way I could be married before than.