It is our privilege and pleasure to introduce a repository of studies and books written over a period of 50 years by our beloved Bible teacher, the late Mr. Harold Camping. Mr. Camping was the co-founder and former General Manager of Family Stations, Inc., a Christian radio ministry that began in 1959 with a single station in San Francisco, and grew to a network of over 50 stations, in addition to a shortwave facility that broadcast in many languages worldwide. Beginning at the age of 35, Mr. Camping, who received his Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering, studied the Bible intensively as if cramming for finals, in addition to hosting the Open Forum, a live telephone talk program that aired 5 nights a week for 90 minutes each evening, taking questions from listeners and answering them using only the Bible as a guide. Early on in his career, Mr. Camping was able to discover the Biblical calendar of history extending all the way back to creation in 11,013 B.C., a conclusion that has stood the test of time to this very day. From time to time, Mr. Camping was led by the Bible itself to make adjustments and/or corrections to his teaching as the Holy Spirit and listeners calling into the Open Forum shed additional light on the Scriptures.

Although having been born and raised in the church and serving the church for over 70 years, Mr. Camping’s diligent study of the Bible, as well as answering listeners’ questions each night, led him to arrive at doctrines that were in opposition to doctrines taught in the churches – doctrines concerning marriage and divorce, the nature of salvation, the nature of God’s judgment, the role/authority of the church, and the role of the confessions that came out of the Reformation, which the churches look upon as having an authority equal to that of the Bible, while overlooking the Bible’s teaching that the words of this book are to remain sealed until the time of the end (Daniel 12:9). Another key discriminator is the Bible’s teaching that Christ spoke in parables, and without a parable spake he not unto them, which stands in opposition to the historical-grammatical hermeneutic that has been adopted by the church fathers.

The time finally came when Mr. Camping felt compelled to declare to the world that the church age was officially over, and that the Bible was commanding the believers to depart out of the churches. This conclusion was reinforced by the timeline of history relating to the end of the world. In projecting the timeline of history to the very end, Mr. Camping was led by the Bible to declare that Christ would return in judgment and rapture the believers on May 21, 2011, and that this would be followed by five months during which the earth and its inhabitants would be in convulsions, ending in their utter annihilation. When these dates passed without incident, some concluded that none of the teachings concerning the end could be trusted, while others concluded that Christ had returned in spiritual judgment so that salvation was no longer possible beyond May 21, 2011.

This ministry, SearchingHisWord, holds to the position that the timeline concerning the end of the church age, and the beginning of the great tribulation in 1988, and the beginning of the latter rain in 1994, is accurate. God's judgment remains on the churches, whereas outside the churches, salvation continues right to the last day when Christ appears in power and great glory to usher in the events described above. As to the matter of salvation, when God commanded Jonah to pronounce that Nineveh would be destroyed in 40 days, and yet did not destroy the city because the people of Nineveh repented in sackcloth and ashes, that became a picture of the salvation of those who are repenting in our day in response to the message that judgment day is almost here.    

In conclusion, the following important points should be kept in mind as regards this repository:

• · Progressive revelation. God has a timetable for the revealing of truth. As we approach the time of the end, God is revealing truths previously kept hidden (Daniel 12:9, Habakkuk 2:3). Thus, as we approach the end, we can expect that conclusions previously held may be modified as God reveals more truth.
• · It is with great sadness that SearchingHisWord ministry must disclaim and disavow any affiliation with the ministry of Family Radio, which during the 50+ years that Mr. Camping served as GM, faithfully heralded forth the true teachings of the Bible, with integrity, yet today has disassociated itself from those teachings and aligned itself with the churches.