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A Review Of Some Doctrinal Problems Of
Family Radio's President & Founder
By Ray Kane
Preliminaries
Before I get into what I believe are Mr. Camping's
doctrinal problems, I wish to point out some things that I think a lot of
people who are upset with Mr. Camping need to hear:
1. Mr. Camping is the general manager and chairman of the board
of Family Radio so he is entitled to say what he wants and do things his
way and as a believer, he has an obligation to God to speak his
conscience as he see things, which may be different than you see things
at times. Would you have the courage to take some of the unpopular
stands that he has taken, knowing that you would lose a lot of support
and knowing that people would lash out at you?
2. Mr. Camping and Open Forum is not all there is to Family
Radio. There are many fine programs and dear Christians within Family
Radio. We must remember that perhaps many Family Radio employees disagree
with Harold on various issues, yet he does not go around ferreting them
out and firing them.
3. You as a Christian should be scrutinizing everything you
read and listen to, holding onto that which is good (helpful) and weeding
out that which is bad (erroneous). It is not just Family Radio's job to
do this. It is your job. You need to be thankful to God for the
areas of ministry that Family Radio is faithfully engaged in.
4. It is not your job to bad-mouth or crusade against other
believers. You are commanded to pray for those whom you have a problem
with and bring correction where appropriate. If you have a problem with
Harold Camping and if Open Forum does not prove to be an appropriate
arena in which to biblically address your concerns, then write a letter
(Family Radio, PO Box 2140, Oakland, CA 94621-9985) or make a phone call
(1-800-543-1495) to Mr. Camping or even post an accurate, bible-based,
and graciously worded article on the Internet.
Are YOU checking out his teachings, like he tells
you to?
Mr. Camping has done an excellent job on the Open
Forum program that he hosts, of teaching on the doctrines of grace,
divorce, remarriage, and other important Bible doctrines. However, he
teaches on several other topics as if he has the same depth of knowledge,
when scripture bears out that he does not. To whom much is given much
is required, and many people take great credence in what Mr. Camping
teaches and they buy into his positions on scriptures without carefully
considering all the Bible has to say about those positions. Also, Mr.
Camping does not usually allow dissenters a fair hearing on his program
to present opposing views. So, for the benefit of the folks who have been
indoctrinated by Harold Camping, this paper is being presented. Links to
other web pages are provided which further develop the topics from a
Biblical perspective.
Please keep in mind that several of the doctrinal
errors of Mr. Camping apply to most bible teachers and pastors of our day
and age. Christ's flock really needs to understand this. Just
because many well-known and well-respected teachers adhere to a
particular doctrine and just because they can present some fairly
convincing arguments for their views, does not mean they are
correct. And YOU must not presume you are not being misled and YOU
must not presume you have properly sorted everything out. YOU probably
adhere to one or more of the erroneous doctrines of Mr. Camping. Read
ahead and you will see what I mean.
Is the Church age really over?
Mr. Camping has declared that God has revealed to him
that the church age is over. Therefore, churches should disband and form
something he calls fellowships, which is basically a New Testament
paradigm local church, but without authority. This would mean no
elders, no deacons, no discipline, no communion, and no baptisms.
The questions that arise from this new teaching
include:
1. Why doesn't he tell us exactly when the church age ended?
2. Has he received a "special revelation" from
the Lord concerning this or any other aspect of this new teaching?
3. How does he deal with Scriptures that say we are to celebrate
the Lord's Supper till He comes (1Cor 11:26)?
4. Does he understand what the "church" is supposed
to be, Biblically, in the first place? (See the next item)
5. Is it necessary to leave a church (the "corporate
church" as Mr. Camping says) in order to be saved?
We will examine some of Mr. Camping's doctrines below.
Where is the Holy Spirit?
Mr. Camping says that the Holy Spirit is no longer
operating in local churches to save people...
"However,
2 Thess 2 indicated there would be a time when the Holy Spirit will be
taken out of the midst. We must understand then that the Holy Spirit will
be taken out of the temple. That is, He will remove Himself from the congregations
and denominations that had become a part of the temple of
God." [1]
Isn't the Holy Spirit dwelling within individual
believers, not entities like denominations?...
Acts 17:24 "God that made the world and all
things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not
in temples made with hands"
Luke 17:21 "Neither shall they say, Lo here! or,
lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you."
Is it necessary to leave a church in order to be
saved?
"The
presence of the Holy Spirit is to guide the work of the church. More
importantly He is to apply the Word of God as it is faithfully preached
to the hearts of those whom God has elected to salvation.
However, if the Holy
Spirit is no longer working in the church it means no one can become
saved as the result of the preaching in that church. This is so,
because God is no longer present to apply the Word to the hearts of the
unsaved. Effectively the candlestick has been removed. This is so even
though there still is plenty of spiritual bread and water. There is still
faithful preaching. That is why the believers are commanded to come out
of Judea and Jerusalem." [1]
That sounds like you must DO something to get
saved. You must LEAVE the local church otherwise God cannot save
you. If you don't cooperate with God - and get out of your local church -
now that God has stopped using the churches to evangelize the world, then
God isn't going to save you. Mr. Camping may not realize it but his
new theory on the Church has created a works gospel where salvation
depends upon the sinner cooperating with God and going somewhere where
the Holy Spirit is, or at least leaving somewhere where the Holy Spirit
is not operating. What if a lost soul is listening to Family
Radio's bible reading program while inside a conventional church?
Will God refuse to save that soul because the sinner is in the wrong
place?
Who defines a high place?
Mr. Camping contends that the reason why God is not
using any churches any more is because they have "high places"
by which he means that have false doctrines that they won't let go
of. But what about the false doctrines that Family Radio adheres
to? Is Family Radio 100% correct in all they teach and
preach? Or has Mr. Camping made a high place, and idol that is, out
of himself and his ministry where he views his ministry as far
"purer" than any local church? Also, is he correct in
saying that his ministry is not part of the "corporate"
church? Yes, there are most likely true believers there who are part
of the invisible church but at the same time; there are probably more unbelievers
in the Family Radio ministry (behind the scenes, that is) than in a small
close-knit local congregation that is faithful to the Word of God. That
is because Family Radio is not a true local church in that it does not
practice church discipline, which is a God-ordained means of
ridding local churches of error and sin.
Recently, due to his ideas about the death of the
church, Mr. Camping has dissolved his local church and turned it into
something he calls a "fellowship" that does not have elders,
church discipline, baptisms or communion. Maybe what Mr. Camping
needs to do is abandon his fellowship and instead, turn his ministry
into a biblical local church that practices church discipline and has
other checks and balances that keep one man from having so much control
over the thoughts and lives of others and it would provide an environment
that enhances the ability of other saints to use their gifts - in
particular, those whose gifts are the same as Mr. Camping's - i.e.
teaching.
The death of the Church and the death of communion
Most institutional churches are as dead as they can
get and have been dead for centuries. Those who are Christ's are to
celebrate His death until He comes. As long as there are two or more
believers on earth who are local to each other, there is a local
"body". As long as there is a local body, those believers
are to break bread together, as a meal and as a memorial ceremony
of the Lord's death and soon return. If we have a proper biblical
understanding of the Lord's Supper we would know that it is not to
end. Christians are nowhere told to not eat any longer, to
not eat together any longer, to not give thanks for their
physical food and their spiritual food (and thanks for their salvation
and their Saviour) any longer. And yet this is what needs to be done, if
one is to believe Mr. Camping's teaching on communion with respect to the
end of the church age.
"...
God Himself interrupted the temple service by totally destroying
Jerusalem and the temple in the year 587 B.C. God destroyed Jerusalem and
the temple as a judgment on Judah. This judgment occurred because they
had not removed the high places.
Likewise the New Testament commands which should be obeyed within the
churches and congregations until He comes can no longer be obeyed
because God has brought judgment upon the institution of the church. Thus
God has effectively ended the possibility of the observance
of the New Testament ceremonial laws - water baptism and the Lord's
supper."[1]
Is Mr. Camping making a valid argument for the death
of the Church by comparing it to the literal destruction of the Temple in
Jerusalem? God not only effectively, but also literally
ended the observance of (not just the possibility of the
observance of) the Old Testament animal sacrifices in the Temple in
Jerusalem with the destruction of the temple. God brings judgment
on individual churches by granting them apostate leaders who scratch the
itching ears of the congregation. We are playing God when we speak
with authority - an authority that I don't think God has granted to any
of us - when we say we know that all churches are under God's judgment.
Ecclesiology - what is supposed to happen at a church
meeting on the Lord's Day?
Mr. Camping has always had a conventional but wrong
understanding of how to do church. He has been so much a part of the
institutional church environment that apparently he doesn't realize that
he has learned an improper view of ecclesiology. If he did a proper study
he would learn that NT churches always met in homes and where highly
interactive and they did not have a clergy/laity system. Neither did they
have elders who played "Simon Says" every Sunday, forbidding
the rest of the local body from participating (except in a limited way on
command). Believers in the NT churches were very involved in their
meetings as can be seen in 1 Corinthians chapters 11 through 14.
Only when we realize that the local church is to be
patterned after the family and not after a spectator sport, will we see a
problem with Mr. Camping's advice when he tells Open Forum listeners that
they can fellowship around their radios on Sunday. It is one thing
to encourage believers to listen to fairly sound Christian radio programs
- and that is good advice if they cannot find any like-minded believers
locally with whom to spend the Lord's Day. It is entirely another matter
to refer to listening to a radio as "fellowship".
Spirit beings – from where does he get all his ideas?
Mr. Camping (along with many well known bible
teachers) seems to know an awful lot about angels, demons, and Satan...
far more than can be found in the pages of the Bible. And he
frequently blames the devil for many things that God clearly takes credit
for in the Bible. Mr. Camping (and everyone else for that matter)
should stick to a strictly Biblical discussion, and should indulge
in some exhaustive word studies to expand his understanding of what
God has to say, as well. His teachings on spirit beings, like the
teachings of so many other's, rely more into the traditions of the
Catholic Church and other extra biblical speculations than on the direct
teachings of Scripture.
Look in the mirror, forever
Mr. Camping rightly points out that judgment begins in
the house of the Lord and that believers are to avoid hypocrisy. But he
goes beyond that to say that we have enough sin in our own lives so we
should not point out sin in others. If that is the case, then how can a
believer be salt and light? How can they be faithful to these commands of
God?
1 Timothy 5:20 "Them that sin rebuke before all,
that others also may fear."
2 Timothy 4:2 "Preach the word; be instant in
season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and
doctrine."
Titus 1:13 "This witness is true. Wherefore
rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith"
Ezekiel 33:8 "When I say unto the wicked, O
wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the
wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his
blood will I require at thine hand."
If we are truly the Lord's children, we will want to
know when we err. We will want to know when we are offending brothers and
sisters in Christ and when we are disobeying God. We will welcome
correction rather than run from it. When everyone is afraid to step on
everyone else's toes, you end up with relationships where more and more
sin is tolerated for the sake of some outward meaningless unity.
One man show - contrary to Biblical pattern
By his own admission over the air, Mr. Camping has not
and never plans to disciple anyone to assist him on the Open Forum
program. And yet scripture says there is safety in the multitude of
counselors (Proverbs 11:14) and Christ sent His disciples out by two.
This is very problematic, since it causes people to focus too much on
him, rather than on Christ and on the Bible as the only authority.
As a result, he is viewed as the authority and he can and does squash
questions that he does not want to address by muting callers who
challenge his teachings. Some people need to be muted when they are being
argumentative, but others are merely trying to bring needed correction,
which he claims to desire and be open to.
A dangerous spiritual combination exists any time you
have these ingredients:
- a
charismatic leader who controls lots of money and other resources
- a
leader who can filter out negative feedback (as Mr. camping does on
the Open Forum)
- an
organization where there are basically no checks and balances with
respect to the top man
- an
organization that says it is more faithful than the rest of
Christendom, including churches that hold to beliefs that are not
much different than those of the organization
Enormous amounts of money are coming into Family Radio
from people around the world who have no control over where that money is
going, how it is to be used and where church discipline cannot be
practiced. Mr. Camping is not accountable to a single listener as far
as I know and he is not even accountable to the president of his school
of the Bible. This is spiritually very dangerous.
Dealing with error properly
While it is proper and necessary to correct a brother
and to warn others of bad teaching if we are unable to dissuade someone
from a wrong viewpoint, it is not appropriate for Christians to treat
each other unkindly or with contempt. The writers of the New
Testament often pointed out error and they warned of bad teachers but
they did not approve of uncharitable behavior as we see here:
Colossians 4:6 "Let your speech be alway with
grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every
man."
Ephesians 4:32 "And be ye kind one to another,
tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath
forgiven you."
Let us take heed of the words of the apostle Paul
quoted above and do our utmost to avoid the world's way of dealing with
those we disagree with. We should avoid name-calling, sarcasm, and
other forms of speech that do not glorify our holy God. We should
use language befitting ambassadors for Christ.
Recommendations
We believe Mr. Camping should humbly step
aside, assume a less visible position in the ministry, and assist
Mr. Otero in training up his successors. Sadly, he has made
what had been a "more faithful than most" ministry look and
sound more like a cult than a herald of God's kingdom. He has
brought great distress and grief to those who worked so hard along side
him, to make the ministry a God glorifying beacon of truth. The Open
Forum - much the same as happened in 1994 - is again focused more upon
Mr. Camping's latest revelations than on the Bible, and on Christ and him
crucified, a clear violation of the scriptural mandate so succinctly
stated by John the Baptist:
"He
must increase, but I must decrease." [John 3:30]
There are undoubtedly many qualified teachers within
Family Radio who get only a fraction of the time to teach (if any time at
all) that Mr. Camping bestows upon himself. We must ask ourselves
why it is that Mr. Camping allots so little airtime to other folks or any
other teachers within Family Radio and so much time to himself.
Shouldn't he be spending more time examining and editing some of the
recorded programs his ministry airs - programs that come from pastors and
teachers who may not even believe the doctrines of grace and who perhaps
should not even be on the air?
Be a Berean!
Acts 17:11 These were more noble than those in
Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind,
and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
I will wrap up this article with an obvious but oft
ignored truism:
If we spend more time reading and studying our Bibles than
listening to religious celebrities, we are less likely to be tossed to
and fro by every wind of doctrine.
Other Information About Harold Camping's False
Teachings
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