Many disregard the false prophets like Camping and Glenn Beck as little more than insane but ultimately harmless crackpots.
Not so.
A California woman named Lyn Benedetto was one of millions who heard Camping's message, and became concerned that her daughters would suffer terribly in the coming apocalypse. She allegedly forced her daughters, 11 and 14, to lie on a bed and then cut their throats with a box cutter. She then tried to kill herself, though police arrested Benedetto and all three survived.
The people listening to Camping and Beck's end times threats aren't competent to be trusted with such fearmongering. They will harm themselves and others.
This is now part of the debate about false prophets and End Times believers. What will fearful people do when false prophets terrorize them with threats concerning the Apocalypse? Answer: Some of them will inevitably try to kill their children and themselves.
When false prophets promote bogus threats about the End Times, they willingly and now knowingly put children and gullible people's lives at risk.
Next time you hear Glenn Beck threatening his listeners with fire and brimstone, think of those two children lying in bed while their mother cuts their throats with a box-cutter.
Because that's what the threats of Camping and Beck will result in... again and again and again.
An elderly man in Taiwan reportedly killed himself on May 5 ahead of the Rapture by jumping out of a building... There were other unconfirmed reports of doomsday-related suicides around the world as well.
That was someone's father, grandfather, brother, or friend.
Gone. Just so some jerk could make himself famous.
This isn't the first time we've seen this. People like Camping and Beck know better, they're just mentally ill enough not to care.
This is of course not the first time that failed doomsday predictions have led to tragedy. The most famous pre-apocalypse suicides in recent times occurred in 1997 when the Heaven’s Gate Christian... Prompted in part by scripture, rumors, and late-night radio talk shows, the group's fanaticism led to nearly 40 deaths.
False prophets like Camping and Beck have, are, and will get people killed - very likely including children. They know it. They just don't care.