Harold Camping's First Date: September 1994
Harold Camping, Take One: 'I Know the Month and the Year.' The Month Was September 1994.
Seventeen years before his famous 2011 date, the Family Radio president told the world Christ would return in September 1994. September 1994 had other plans.
What was said
“Here I am saying to the world, the whole world, that I know the month and the year that Christ is going to return.”
— Harold Camping, president of Family Radio (book '1994?' and radio show 'Open Forum') · said Sep 1992 · due September 1994 (final day: September 27)
September 1994 came and went, and so did the 27th. Camping recalculated and came back in 2011 (see that entry).
The fine print
He went public in September 1992 with the book '1994?' and its sequel 'Are You Ready?', pushed nightly on Family Radio's Open Forum. Christianity Today reported in June 1994 that he called the prediction 'very likely' but not foolproof. That's a forecaster's caveat, not a hedge on the claim, so the entry is judged busted. By October CT said his prediction had been that the world would end on September 27.
Later spin
On September 28, 1994 he told Christianity Today: 'Apparently it was incorrect ... Obviously this has not happened, so that was inaccurate.' He said he had misunderstood the importance of the Feast of Tabernacles.
Sources
- End-Times Prediction Draws Strong Following - Christianity Today (June 20, 1994)accessed 2026-09-29
- Camping Misses End of World - Christianity Today (October 24, 1994)accessed 2026-09-29