The price of believing "prophets"

Okay, feel free to laugh. Harold Camping, author of one of the biggest whiffs in the history of idiotic hucksters and cons the world over, missed completely on his assertion that May 21st was the day that Left Behind groupies would get sucked out of their autos into the sky only to find out that the aliens from Zeta Reticuli were just doing it to have 'em as a snack. Silly humans, they would say, we knew you would be crunchy and good in ketchup! Well, that didn't happen either. The following should've been a tip-off:

 Camping also spoke about his original prediction in his book, "1994?", that the date of Sept. 7, 1994 was a strong candidate for Judgment Day. Rather, that date was a double edged sword, he said. On that date, God brought his judgment on all the churches and congregations because they had become apostate. At the same time, God began to evangelize the world, creating a salvation plan for people outside of the churches. This followed the end of the church age in May 21, 1988, after which few people were saved.

"We were convinced that on May 21 that God would return here in a very physical way and usher in the final five months of judgment," said Camping, who earned his Bachelor of Science in civil engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. "The fact is when we look at it spiritually, he did come. Let me back up. There's not a new date. We've talked about Oct. 21 being the end of the world. But we've not emphasized it because we've focused on this date."

Of course, the real reason he didn't emphasize that date is because Camping is eternally (pun intended) fond of moving the goalposts. As the Dispatches piece makes clear, he engaged in a bit of especially ridiculous handwaving in order to retcon the real real End of the World to October 21st.

Cute, no?

No.

Read this and weep:

When asked about finances, Camping said he really did not know how much money Family Radio raised for its multi-million dollar May 21 apocalyptic campaign.

"We've had the gifts from our listeners. They're not really giving it to Family Radio. They're giving it because of their desire to proliferate the word of God," he said.

Furthermore, that money will not be returned, Camping said in response to a follow-up question.

"We're not at the end. We're not out of business. We still have to go another five months," he said. "It was given to get the Gospel out and we are spending it as wisely as possible."

If that seems in any way to be a public admission - intentional or otherwise - that Camping is either a deluded madman or an aged, thoroughly dishonest bastard who gladly takes tons of money from the pious and/or gullible in order to fatten the coffers of his "ministry", maybe it is. I doubt he cares. Most of the worthless sacks of shit who bilk followers out of their life savings don't, and Camping is probably no exception to that rule.

In my opinion, the only difference between Camping and Bernard Madoff is that Madoff didn't have a place to hide when his con job ran out of rubes to fleece; Camping will claim that the tax exemption his "ministry" enjoys gives him the right to fleece suckers to his heart's content, and  any legal action against him would violate his rights as a "minister". In response, here's hoping that there is some sort of divine justice and that he's not around long enough to spend any of it.

Your tax dollars at work

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Representative Pete DeGraaf, member of Congress and all-around steaming pile of crap. And the fact that he's an associate pastor makes him even more of one.