As Rapture nears, doubters ask for last playful word

RALEIGH -- Five months ago, a 29-year-old woman from Ohio rolled though Raleigh in a white Subaru that proclaimed from hood to taillight that Jesus Christ would return May 21 - that's Saturday - to claim the faithful few for heaven and doom the rest to a fiery apocalypse.

Allison Warden came bearing news from California radio evangelist Harold Camping, who sparked a worldwide Rapture-watch with his guarantee that the end times had arrived - exactly 7,000 years from the day Noah launched his ark.

But on the eve of apocalypse, the sharpest criticism of the Rapture message comes from the Christian church, which insists from nearly every domination's pulpit that the day of judgment cannot be foretold.

"I would hope to think that you couldn't find a single, serious Bible-believing person who would take that seriously," said Steve Noble, a Raleigh Christian broadcaster who plans to dedicate today's show to the subject.

"For anybody to take that position, you would have to be crazy, ignorant or senile," he said. "The Bible makes it very clear that nobody can know. Not even Jesus knows."


The Rapture, as described in 1Thessalonians 4:13-18, involves the Lord descending from heaven with a shout, in the voice of the archangel, and the "dead in Christ" rising to meet him in the clouds, beginning an eternity together.

Raleigh at 6

If the warnings from Camping's followers come to pass, a huge earthquake should strike the Pacific Rim late tonight, killing millions as it cracks and rips its way around the globe, finally reaching Raleigh at about 6 p.m. Saturday. In all, about 3 percent of the population will find salvation, while the rest await the end of the world on Oct. 21.

Their message has appeared on nationwide billboards and, on Thursday, splayed across an entire page of USA Today. A New Hampshire company has gotten nearly 300 people nationwide, including 20 in North Carolina, to pay $135 for their pets' post-Rapture care.

The only people in Raleigh making any fuss about Warden's dire warning are the atheists, who on Saturday will hold a Rapture party, a celebration with what they call good-natured humor. At one point, they'll be de-baptizing attendees with a hair dryer.

"We think it's important to debunk ridiculous claims like these," said Ivan Cone, a 42-year-old software writer, "and a good way to do that is to celebrate the absurdity. It's our way of saying these predictions are nonsense."

It isn't clear whether Warden is disappointed by the response. She did not return repeated calls or e-mail messages.

Records show her and her mother living in a 5,000-square-foot house on the banks of Falls Lake, which is assessed at $750,000 and listed for sale. A large recreational vehicle with Ohio plates sits in the driveway. A card left at the door went unanswered.

Warden's media appearances, plentiful last winter, have been scarce as May 21 draws near. Humorous jabs at her predictions have multiplied.

One post on Twitter suggests this Rapture prank: On Saturday, take some of your unwanted clothes and shoes and leave sets of them arranged on sidewalks and lawns around town.

One man who plans to attend a Friday night Rapture party, Raleigh artist Chris Musto, challenged Warden and any other believers to deed him their cars before Saturday, arguing that they would no longer need them. No one accepted, but as a member of the Triangle Free Thought Society, his series of anti-Rapture YouTube videos found unlikely support from other Christians.

"The best way to get two people who don't get along is to give them a common enemy," he said.

Raleigh's Rapture party is private. But in Fayetteville, a collection of self-described humanists and freethinkers will hold a public two-day Rapture weekend downtown, including a performance Sunday by outspoken atheist rapper and Star Trek enthusiast Greydon Square.

"We have the perfect bird's-eye view of everyone on the street," said local humanist chapter president Geri Weaver. "So if anyone disappears. ..."


source: http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/05/20/1210860/as-end-nears-doubters-ask-for.html