Billboards proclaim Jesus’ return on May 21, 2011 – Detroit Free Press
Mark your calendars and get ready.
According to 20 billboards to appear Monday across metro Detroit, Jesus is returning on May 21, 2011. And if you aren’t saved, it isn’t going to be easy, says the Christian Web site behind the billboards, which are to read “He Is Coming Again!”
The goal is to convince people to accept Jesus and that the Bible is the infallible word of God, said Allison Warden of Raleigh, N.C. She’s with www.wecanknow.com , the site putting up the billboards along with a Christian radio network, Family Radio.
The billboards are to dot various locations in metro Detroit and in eight other cities, Warden said. First reported by the Tennessean, the billboards are being erected during the Christmas season to remind folks of the message of the season. In Detroit, they will stay up until early January. Warden would not say how much the billboards cost or who is paying for them. But a spokeswoman for CBS Outdoor, which was contracted to put up the billboard posters, said each poster costs $500 per four-week period. They will be placed on surface streets, not off highways.
The billboards are meant to be a reminder to folks to prepare for what is often known as the Rapture. After certain followers of Jesus are raised up to be with him, those left behind after May 21 will have to suffer through an earthquake that will open graves. And five months later — on Oct. 21, 2011, to be exact — the world will end “with God destroying the universe and everything in it,” Warden said.
She said the billboards are not intended as “some sort of scare tactic. … I really try to make it as inoffensive as possible.
“You can’t scare anyone into your viewpoint or salvation, so it’s an invitation for people to go ahead and look at Scripture.”
The Web site also encourages people to leave their churches and denominations, arguing that churches have become corrupt. Family Radio also leans conservative on various issues. Its Web site has a poster that says “Gay Pride” is “Planned by God as a Sign of the End.”
Other Christians believe in the end of times, but many say they don’t know the exact date. How did the group arrive at May 21, 2011, as the date Jesus will return? The Web site says it has to do with what the Bible says, citing May 21, 1988, as being the start of 23 years of tribulation.
The message may unsettle some, but belief in the idea that Jesus will return is held by four out of five Christians, according to the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion and Public Life.
The Rev. Ed Rowe of Central United Methodist Church in Detroit said that if “Jesus is coming, that’s cool.”
But he said it’s more important to focus on acting out the message of Jesus, rather than worrying about when exactly he’s going to return.
“In the meantime, what are we doing to care for people who have been kicked to the curb, to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to keep people in their homes?” Rowe said. “Maybe we should worry more about that, and a little less about when he’s coming back.”
Via: Billboards to proclaim Jesus’ return on May 21, 2011 | freep.com | Detroit Free Press.
