Given the recent interest in Harold Camping’s mistaken predictions of a May 21, 2011, rapture, here are some thoughts from David Jeremiah in his Jan. 2, 2011, Turning Point Daily Devotional:

“Save this date!” That’s the slogan of those proffering specific dates for the return of Jesus Christ to earth.

The fourth-century Christian writer Lactantius determined Jesus would return in A.D. 520. Many believed Jesus would come in the year 1000, causing adherents to stay up all night on New Year’s Eve 999, awaiting the great event. Some among the Anabaptists believed Christ would come in 1533–exactly 1500 years after His death by their reckoning. Archbishop Ussher believed our Lord would come on a particular day in 1644. George Rapp, a religious teacher in Pennsylvania, predicted Christ’s return on Sept. 15, 1829. William Miller caused widespread panic through America by announcing Oct. 22, 1844, as the date of Christ’s return. In the 1980s, a popular booklet gave 88 reasons why the rapture would occur in 1988.

“Jesus told us to be ready any time. Not even the angels know the exact day, but we’re to ‘Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is” (Mark 13:33).

It might be today! Are you ready?


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In the June 17, 2010, edition of his Turning Point online devotional, David Jeremiah writes: “The Diamond Wedding Gown, offered exclusively by a chic bridal salon in Beverly Hills, can be yours for only $12 million. It’s the most expensive wedding dress in the world, and it’s bedecked with 150 carats of diamonds. If that’s over your budget, you might consider the world’s second most expensive wedding dress. It comes in at a mere $8.5 million and features 1,000 pearls and a rare five-carat white gold diamond.

“Save your money. Those dresses are rags compared to the wedding garments of the Bride of Christ, which He purchased at the enormous price of His own blood.

“In the Gospels, Jesus compared His Second Coming to a Groom returning for His Bride (Matthew 25:1-13). In Revelation 19, the angels announced our Lord’s return with this glad refrain: ‘Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come.’ In Revelation 21, the New Jerusalem is described as descending to the New Earth like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

“Talk about a Diamond Wedding Gown! Let’s look forward to that Day.”


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