Facepalm: man spends all his savings in advance of (false) May 21 rapture date

New York Man Spends Life Savings Ahead of May 21 Doomsday

"A New York man spent his entire $140,000 life savings advertising his prediction that the world will end May 21, the New York Post reported Friday. Robert Fitzpatrick, a 60-year-old Staten Island resident, said he spent at least that sum on 1,000 subway-car placards and ads on bus kiosks and subway cars. They say, "Global Earthquake: The Greatest Ever! Judgment Day May 21, 2011." In a self-published book, "The Doomsday Code," Fitzpatrick said the Bible offers "proof that cannot be dismissed." "Judgment Day will surprise people. We will not be ready for it," Fitzpatrick said in an interview with the newspaper. "A giant earthquake will render the earth uninhabitable." If you want to set an alarm clock, the quake will happen just before 6:00pm local time, he said. "God's people will be resurrected. It is also the day that God stops saving anyone," he said. Fitzpatrick hopes that he is one of the chosen ones, but he could not be really certain. "There's just a little doubt," he said. "Most churches teach that if you just believe, you will be saved. It is not our choice. It is God's choice."

Let's see... where to begin. It makes no financial sense to do this. I understand believing wholeheartedly in a biblical precept and wanting to use your earthly resources to advance that precept on behalf of the lost. That is to be commended. But Mr Fitzpatrick is so misguided in this particular decision, it's stunning to think of the waste.

But leaving the fiscal, earthly decisions aside for a moment, let's look at the biblical error here. Nothing in the bible tells the reader that the world will end on May 21. Nothing.

Next, he said a great earthquake renders the earth uninhabitable? I don't see that in the bible. In Revelation 6, when the 'mega seismos' occurs, the Great Earthquake, people still live on earth for a period of time, perhaps several years. They engage in commerce, create governments, wage in war, and, well, what Jesus said in Mt 24:38 that the days of the end will be just like in the days of Noah, "people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man." Doesn't sound like the earth will be uninhabitable to me if people are going about their business like that.

As for not being ready? Jesus addressed that, too: "So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him." (Mt 24:44) and in Matthew 24:42, "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come," and also in Matthew 25:13, "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour." So no one will be ready? No one at all? Bueller? Bueller? Except Robert Fitzpatrick...he is ready, because even though Jesus said at least four times no one knows the day or hour, Mr Fitzpatrick knows. Sigh.

Mr Fitzpatrick said that on that day God stops saving anyone. A terrible accusation! And completely false! Post rapture salvation continues in the Tribulation! This is scripturally proved by Rev. 7:14, Rev. 14:13, and Rev. 20:4.

And as for being God's choice versus faith and belief as the mechanism for salvation, Mr Fitzpatrick makes it sound as if God was up there pointing and saying, "I'll take you and you and you but not you or you." God's 'choice' was to send Jesus to us as our Redeemer as opposed to another choice God could have made, say, obliterating us for all time. Once Jesus' work was complete, John 6:28-29 says, "Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.” It means that it is OUR choice: believe or not believe. That truth is repeated in John 6:39 and Ephesians 2:8-9.

I hope the rapture comes before May 21, actually, but May 21 would be fine with me. Or May 22. Or June 22. The answer is that we simply don't know. I wonder if Mr Fitzpatrick will be doing when he wakes up May 22 and realizes he has no money to live on. Now THAT is worth a facepalm.
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