Sheila Jones, from Sacramento, California travels through West Virginia to promote Judgment Day on May 21, 2011.
Prepare yourself: the end is here. The end of the end of the world predictions, that is.
Family Radio, the religious organization started by self-professed prophet Harold Camping, is no longer calling for the end of the world. Is it possible after two failed predictions this year, and at least two more in past years, that they just don’t know when the Rapture will be?
(LIST: Top 10 Failed Predictions)
So, for now at least, they’ve stopped predicting. That’s right, there’s no other ominous date in their calendar for the foreseeable future. And the 90-year-old Camping, who told The Christian Post last week that he has retired as head of Family Radio, isn’t turning to his Bible to make another calculation. And FamilyRadio.com, which previously acted as a mouthpiece for their Judgment Day prophecies, has since removed all word about the end of times. They’ve scrubbed all past mentions of the date – including the explanation about why the May 21st events never materialized.
Camping has been historically firm and disquietingly precise in his prior predictions, spawning much discussion. After all, imagine if he were right! He famously predicted, to much online frenzy, that the end of the world would occur on May 21, 2011. The very bold plan was topped by an even bolder hypothesis that said apocalypse would occur by way of earthquakes happening at 6 p.m. local time that Saturday. Did you feel the shaking? Neither did we. In fact, the only rumbling came from Camping’s compound near Oakland, Calif. as the press banged down his door to inquire.
Camping, who said he was “flabbergasted” the rapture hadn’t occurred, revised his prediction, instead calling for the ultimate Judgment Day on October 21, five months later. That day, too, has come and gone with not one of us Earthly beings having faced the pearly gates or forced to evaluate our life’s worth.
Until next time, Family Radio. If there is a next time, that is.
Nick Carbone is a reporter at TIME. Find him on Twitter at @nickcarbone. You can also continue the discussion on TIME’s Facebook page and on Twitter at @TIME.