Harold Camping: The May 21 Rapture Prediction and the Money Behind It

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Updated 8 November 2026. Every fact below is dated and attributed to its source.

Who was Harold Camping?

Most people who look up Harold Camping remember the billboards, and you want to know what actually happened to the man and the money behind them. Harold Camping was an American Christian radio broadcaster, the president of Family Radio, who predicted that the Rapture would come on 21 May 2011 and the end of the world on 21 October 2011. His ministry spent millions of dollars, some of it given by listeners who quit their jobs and sold their possessions, to announce the date on more than 5,000 billboards, the Associated Press reported. Nothing happened. In March 2012 he wrote, "We humbly acknowledge we were wrong about the timing." He died in December 2013, aged 92.

Camping was not convicted of anything, and the record does not show that he got rich. That is what makes his story worth reading carefully. It shows how much harm a sincere man can do with a calculator, a microphone and a date.

Why does Harold Camping still matter?

Picture a man in New York in the spring of 2011. He has listened to Family Radio for years. The teacher on the radio sounds careful, almost dull, reading the Bible verse by verse and doing sums. The sums say 21 May. The man believes it. If the world is ending in a few weeks, what is his savings account for? He spends it warning others.

That man was real. A retired New York transit worker told reporters he had spent about $140,000, nearly all his savings, on bus shelter and subway ads warning of the end, The Christian Post reported on 25 May 2011. When 21 May passed, he accepted Camping's new explanation that a spiritual judgment had come that day, and waited for 21 October.

The same pattern keeps coming back. In September 2025 a South African pastor, Joshua Mhlakela, said Jesus had shown him the Rapture would come on 23 or 24 September. His claim spread on TikTok, believers sold belongings, and the days passed like every date before them (Straight Arrow News, 24 September 2025). The names change. The arithmetic of fear stays the same.

What exactly did Harold Camping predict?

Camping started with Scripture and ended with a date. Each weeknight on Open Forum, broadcast in some 30 languages on more than 140 stations, he took callers' questions with a worn Bible in his hand, the Associated Press wrote. He believed the Bible contained a hidden timetable that could be calculated.

His first public date was 6 September 1994. When it passed, he said the calculation had contained a mathematical error. Followers later said he had been referring to the end of "the church age" (AP via CBS News).

That idea led somewhere damaging. Camping had been an elder and Bible teacher in the Christian Reformed Church, and he left it in 1988 (AP). From 2002, Christianity Today reported, he began urging Christians to leave their churches altogether, teaching that the church age had ended. Some congregations lost many members who believed him.

Then came the big date. Camping announced that the Rapture would take place on 21 May 2011, with destruction to follow and the end of the world on 21 October 2011. When 21 May passed, he said a spiritual judgment had taken place that day, invisibly, and that the physical end was still coming in October (The Christian Post, 25 May 2011). October passed too.

How was the May 21 campaign paid for?

Christianity Today described it as a $100 million campaign, centred on ads that read "Judgment Day, May 21: the Bible guarantees it." It was funded in part by contributions from hundreds of donors, though a Family Radio spokesman said most of the money came from the sale of a television station and a radio station. The Associated Press counted more than 5,000 billboards and 20 RVs painted with the Judgment Day message.

The ministry was large. Radio and Television Business Report reviewed Family Radio's 2009 tax return, published 1 June 2011. That year the ministry took in $18.4 million in contributions from listeners, spent $36.7 million, owned 66 stations, employed 348 people and held total assets of $104.8 million, with net assets of $72.4 million after debts.

The cost fell hardest on the listeners. "Some donors sacrificed their life's fortunes, even jobs, in anticipation for the 'guaranteed' end and are now in dire financial straits," Christianity Today wrote. After the prophecy failed, the ministry's finances suffered too: in 2013, Christianity Today reported, Family Radio sold three of its largest stations to shore up its finances.

What did Harold Camping say afterwards?

Camping's responses, in his own words, are part of the record. Shortly after 21 May 2011, asked about listeners who had given away their savings, he said: "We're not in the business of financial advice. We're in the business of telling people there's someone who you can maybe talk to, maybe pray to, and that's God." He added, "If people want me to apologize, I can apologize. I pray all the time for wisdom" (AP via CBS News). He said he felt so terrible that he left home and stayed in a motel with his wife.

His fuller apology came in March 2012, in a letter posted on Family Radio's website. "We realize that many people are hoping they will know the date of Christ's return," he wrote. "We humbly acknowledge we were wrong about the timing." He said he had no evidence the world would end soon and was not interested in considering future dates. Christianity Today summarised it as an apology for "incorrect and sinful" predictions.

It is fair to record that Camping drew no salary from Family Radio and had lent the ministry $175,516, according to its 2009 tax return (RBR-TVBR). The evidence points to a man who believed his own sums. That does not undo the harm, and it does show what kind of error this was.

What is proven, what he said, and what is unknown?

• Proven by the calendar: the dates of 6 September 1994, 21 May 2011 and 21 October 2011 passed without the events he predicted.
• On the record: the billboard campaign, the ministry's 2009 finances, and his March 2012 admission that he was wrong.
• Not shown: any personal enrichment. No court found that Camping committed fraud.
• Unknown: how many listeners gave away savings, homes or jobs, and what became of them.

Was Harold Camping a false prophet?

Scripture gives a plain test for a prophet who names a date: "when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word which the Lord has not spoken" (Deuteronomy 18:22). By that test, the dates Camping announced were not from God. He said as much himself in 2012.

Judging the man's soul is another matter. The Church tells us we can judge whether an act is wrong and must leave the judgment of persons to God (Catechism 1861). Pray for him, as for all the dead. And take the lesson he learned too late: no one knows the day or the hour.

Red flags you can check yourself

• A date for the end. Jesus said, "of that day or that hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father" (Mark 13:32). Any teacher who names a date contradicts him.
• "The Bible guarantees it." Scripture never guarantees a calculation made by one man.
• The date moves after it fails. A "spiritual" fulfilment announced after the fact is a way of avoiding the plain test of Deuteronomy 18:22.
• You are told to leave your church. Scripture warns against neglecting to meet together (Hebrews 10:25). A teacher who cuts you off from every other Christian has made himself the only voice you hear.
• Your savings are suddenly pointless. When an end date makes your money look worthless, someone will offer you a use for it.

What does the Catholic Church teach about dates and the Rapture?

The Catechism says it plainly: "Only the Father knows the day and the hour; only he determines the moment of its coming" (1040). It also says Christ's coming "could be accomplished at any moment" (673). Those two truths belong together. Because it could be today, we live ready. Because no one knows, nobody can sell us the date.

The Church also does not teach a separate, secret Rapture before Christ's visible return. Paul's words about being "caught up" to meet the Lord in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 describe what happens at his coming, and the Catechism places the resurrection "at the last day" (1001). Our guides to the Rapture and the Second Coming set out each view fairly, and the end times beliefs quiz shows how your own picture of the end compares with the Catechism.

Date-setting is one thread in a larger pattern. See how end-times fear was sold on television in the Jim Bakker case, how the Church judged the dated messages of Maria Divine Mercy, and how a Kenyan preacher's end-times teaching ended in murder at Shakahola.

What does the Church offer instead?

Readiness without a date looks ordinary. Go to Mass on Sunday. Go to Confession. Pray each morning and examine your conscience each night. Keep your promises, pay your bills and care for your family. Give generously to your parish and to the poor, with your eyes open. That is how the wise virgins kept oil in their lamps (Matthew 25:1 to 13). None of it needs a billboard.

Sources

• Associated Press via CBS News, "Harold Camping, radio host who predicted world's end, dead at 92", 17 December 2013. cbsnews.com
• Christianity Today, "Died: Harold Camping, Christian Radio Host Who Predicted the World's End", 17 December 2013. christianitytoday.com
• Radio and Television Business Report (RBR-TVBR), "Family Radio not rolling in dough", on the 2009 IRS Form 990 of Family Stations Inc., 1 June 2011. rbr.com
• The Christian Post, "Harold Camping Devotee Loses Life Savings, Yet Still Believes New Prediction", by Jennifer Riley, 25 May 2011. christianpost.com
• Straight Arrow News, "Rapture prediction fails to materialize on September 23", by Kennedy Felton, 24 September 2025. san.com
• Catechism of the Catholic Church 673, 1001, 1040 and 1861, on vatican.va. vatican.va

Frequently Asked Questions

What did Harold Camping predict?

Harold Camping predicted that the Rapture would take place on 21 May 2011 and that the world would end on 21 October 2011. He had earlier predicted the end for 6 September 1994. None of these things happened. In March 2012 he wrote, "We humbly acknowledge we were wrong about the timing," according to the Associated Press.

Is Harold Camping still alive?

No. Harold Camping died at his home in California on Sunday, 15 December 2013, at the age of 92, after a fall on 30 November, according to Family Radio as reported by Christianity Today and the Associated Press.

How much money did Harold Camping spend on the May 21 campaign?

Christianity Today described it as a $100 million campaign built around ads that read "Judgment Day, May 21: the Bible guarantees it", funded partly by donors. A Family Radio spokesman said most of the money came from selling a television station and a radio station. The Associated Press reported more than 5,000 billboards and 20 RVs.

Did Harold Camping profit from his predictions?

The record does not show personal enrichment. Family Radio's 2009 tax return, reviewed by Radio and Television Business Report, showed Camping drew no salary as president and had lent the ministry $175,516. The money that was lost belonged to the ministry and to listeners who gave or spent their savings.

Did Harold Camping apologise?

Yes. In a March 2012 letter he wrote that he had been wrong about the timing and had no evidence the world would end soon, the Associated Press reported. Christianity Today reported that he apologised for "incorrect and sinful" predictions. In 2011 he had said, "If people want me to apologize, I can apologize."

What happened to Family Radio after the failed prediction?

The failed prophecy hurt the ministry's finances, through the cost of the advertising campaign and through lost donations. Christianity Today reported in December 2013 that Family Radio had sold three of its largest stations that year to shore up its finances.

What does the Catholic Church say about predicting the date of the Rapture?

The Church teaches that only the Father knows the day and the hour (Catechism 1040), following Jesus in Mark 13:32 and Acts 1:7. Christ's coming could happen at any moment (Catechism 673), so the Christian answer is readiness every day. The Church does not teach a separate secret Rapture before the Second Coming.