OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Some believers are shutting themselves inside to pray as they wait for the world’s end. Others are meeting with their children for tearful last lunches, and preparing to leave behind pets and be swept up to heaven.
An independent California preacher who predicts Judgment Day will arrive Saturday has amassed a global following. He believes it will likely start as it become 6 p.m. in the world’s various time zones.
Eighty-nine-year-old Harold Camping has built a nonprofit ministry based around his apocalyptic prophesy.
The retired engineer will be awaiting Jesus Christ’s return for the second time. Camping says his earlier apocalyptic prediction in 1994 didn’t come true because of a mathematical error.
Skeptics are throwing Rapture-themed parties to celebrate what hosts expect will be the failure of Camping’s prophesy.
