BULLETIN:  NEW DATE FOR END OF WORLD – AT 8:38 A.M. ET:  Please mark your calendars this time, and let's get it right.  We have a new date for the end of the world.

A Christian radio host who predicted the apocalypse would come last Saturday, now says he made a mistake and it will occur on October 21.

California preacher Harold Camping said the Rapture will come five months to the day after May 21, his original prophecy.

The 89-year-old said he felt so bad his prediction didn't come true on Saturday, he sought refuge in a motel with his wife.

Camping made the statement to the press at the Oakland headquarters of his media empire, Family Radio International.

He also predicted the apocalypse would happen in 1994, but blamed the world's survival then on a mathematical error.

Camping had stated there was no way the Rapture would not start on Saturday at 6.p.m, and told the San Francisco Chronicle he was "flabbergasted" his doomsday prophecy didn't come about.

Camping preached some 200 million Christians would be saved and those left behind would die in a series of plagues until Earth was destroyed in a fireball on Oct. 21.

While his latest prediction was mostly met with online ridicule, some believers took it quite seriously. One man in New York spent his life savings on advertisements warning of the coming doom.

Camping's media empire has assets of more than $100 million and had $18 million in donations in 2009.

COMMENT:  People like this give true religious leaders a bad name.  The guy is running a lucrative business and depends on the vulnerable to send in cash.  Given our free-speech traditions, I'm not sure he can be shut down, but maybe there's some law that can be used against a religious scam.  I mean, the guy got $18-million in 2009 for predicting the end of the world.  I guess people felt they wouldn't need their money any longer.

On second thought, don't mark your calendar.  Go out and have a good time on October 21st.

May 24, 2011