June 2011
Volume 6 #6
Wading River Baptist Church
P.O. Box 438, 1635 Wading River-Manor Road, Wading River, NY 11792
(631) 929-3512; 929-6022
www.wrbc.us
Well, May 21st came, and Jesus didn’t. By
this time, most of America knows that
Family Radio’s founder, owner, and chief
Bible teacher, Harold Camping, publicly
declared that, according to the Bible, Jesus
Christ would return to earth on May 21,
2011, and divine judgment would begin.
He was adamant. “Beyond the shadow of a
doubt, May 21 will be the date of the Rap-
ture and the day of judgment,” he said to
reporter Tom Breen of the Associated Press
in a January 3 interview. At 6:00 PM on
that day, local time, each time zone would
be hit by rolling catastrophic earthquakes.
Just how certain was he? In the same in-
terview, he concluded, “If May 21 passes
and I’m still here, that means I wasn’t
saved.”
When the Lord Jesus did not return on
May 21, did Camping hold a press confer-
ence and announce that he had not been
saved all along? Did he even humbly con-
fess his heretical date-setting, declare him-
self to be—by biblical definition—a false
prophet, and then beg the forgiveness of
his many blindly naïve followers? Did he
promise never to engage in this sort of
speculation again? Not at all. On May 22,
Camping described himself to the news
media as “flabbergasted,” and unable to
explain why events didn’t transpire as he
expected. He was looking for answers, he
said. Equally perplexed were his many
disciples, some of whom had liquidated
their life savings to spread the word of the
impending rapture via RV caravans, some
5,000 billboards, and full-page magazine
advertisements. Camping and his predic-
tions have become the butt of irreverent
jokes throughout the media. Genuinely
evangelical believers, whose faith is tainted
by the apocalyptic nonsense disseminated
by Family Radio, wish Camping would just
go away.
office@wrbc.us
A Tragedy of Errors
Part 1: Hermeneutics
Unfortunately, however, he has not,
and it turns out that we have not seen the
end of Camping’s mischief. In fact, he
found his answers rather quickly. On May
23, Camping resumed taping his “Open
Forum” program, declaring that he was off
by five months. The earth will now be
obliterated on October 21, 2011. In other
words, we have to go through all of this
nonsense again. He did exactly what Wil-
liam Miller did in 1844, when Christ didn’t
come as predicted. He declared that May
21st was indeed a “spiritual” judgment day
(some of us called that one!). Even his
employees at Family Radio were dismayed
that they saw no humility, but only arro-
gance. Camping’s public relations aide,
Tom Evans, told the Los Angeles Times,
“We obviously went too far, and that’s
something we need to learn from.” But will
they? That’s highly doubtful.
The tragedy is that we have been
through all of this before when Camping
predicted the end of the world and the
coming of Christ in 1994, which didn’t
happen because he (trained as a civil engi-
neer) made a mathematical error! One
would have thought that he would have
checked his math this time. He has, how-
ever, decided that since judgment and sal-
vation were completed on May 21st, he will
not warn people anymore. Family Radio
will just play Christian music and Bible
teaching programs. The world will have to
be surprised when it is obliterated in Octo-
ber!
The question that we are addressing in
this issue of The Beacon is why Camping
makes these predictions. How do we ex-
plain the obvious heretical nonsense of
someone who says he believes that “the
Bible is absolutely true and authoritative,”
and is God’s message of salvation (Camp-
ing, We Are Almost There, p. 1)?
The first problem with Camping’s
thinking is his view of divine revelation.
God’s revelation, he says, consists of three
parts. The first two are as expected, the
Old Testament (1447-391 B. C.), and the
New Testament (A. D. 33-95). But, Camp-
ing asserts, “the New Testament, like the
Old Testament, was written by God in such
a way that many truths set forth in it re-
mained hidden from the true believers of
the church age” (p. 2). These hidden truths
concern the accurate understanding of the
timing of God’s salvation program and the
final 23 years of the history of the world.
Thus the third part of revelation is new
truth: “It is almost like God has given us
an addition to the Old and New Testa-
ments” (p. 3). The New Covenant is the
whole Bible, and God is now finishing our
understanding of the Bible.
Thus, Camping holds to a view of
God’s Word that includes new revelation.
This is a very serious error, but one that
has, almost without exception, distin-
guished false religions and the cults. They
hold to the Bible plus—the teaching of the
Roman magisterium, Science with Key to
the Scriptures, the Book of Mormon, the
writings of Ellen G. White or Herbert W.
Armstrong, etc. Every false religion claim-
ing to be Christian insists upon additional
revelation beyond the Bible. Camping fits
well into this category of “cult.” That is
why he has fallen into the errors of declar-
ing that the church age ended in 1988, that
Christ died twice, and annihilationism
(there is no hell and the unsaved simply
cease to exist).
The second problem underlying
Camping’s theology is his faulty hermeneu-
tics—his method of interpreting the Bible.
He insists that almost every church in the
world cannot understand many truths of
the Bible, and that is because they don’t
obey the Bible’s instructions concerning
continued on page 2
1
continued from page 1
interpretation. Although he stresses the
importance of the original languages, he
himself was never trained in the languages
and frequently betrays his ignorance. But
the heart of his method of interpretation is
his “spiritualizing” hermeneutic. Camping
reserves his most vitriolic scorn for the
“man-made” literal, historical-grammatical
method of biblical exegesis, the method
which interprets the biblical text according
to the normal usage of language. Concrete
language is understood concretely and
figurative language figuratively. It is no
wonder that Camping is so hostile to this
hermeneutical method, because it is the
only one that would ensure that he would
not wander off into grievous interpretive
error. This method, used consistently by
conservative evangelical theologians, is to
be totally rejected, says Camping.
The reason for this is that the Bible is a
“spiritual book.” His hermeneutical prin-
ciple is based on Mark 4:33-34, which re-
cords that Jesus “did not speak to them
[the crowds] without a parable.” However,
Camping conveniently leaves out the rest of
verse 34: “but He was explaining every-
thing privately to His own disciples.” Thus,
Camping assumes that every detail in
Scripture has some hidden, mystical mean-
ing; and when it comes to prophecy, the
keys to understanding have only been re-
vealed since the end of the church age in
1988.
Camping’s background is in the Re-
formed Church, and this denomination is
committed to Covenant Theology with its
accompanying amillennialism. Reformed
theology has, for the most part, historically
ignored the details of biblical prophecy; it
has dismissed the interpretation of pro-
phetic truth based on literal, historical-
grammatical exegesis. This interpretive
mysticism, better described as “allegoriz-
ing” than “spiritualizing” (there’s nothing
spiritual about faulty interpretation), has
therefore distinguished Reformed escha-
tology, but not its approach to other divi-
sions of theology. For example, Reformed
theology does not allegorize the cross (or
other doctrines concerning salvation).
When it comes to eschatology, however,
Reformed theology has chosen to employ
so-called “special hermeneutics,” which
amounts to the application of allegorizing
to biblical prophecy where it would reject
that approach to the rest of theology. What
Camping does, then, is to extend mystical
hermeneutics to details of prophecy which
most Reformed, amillennial preachers and
teachers have treated superficially, or not
at all.
Specifically, words like “Canaan, Is-
rael, Judah, Jerusalem, Zion, the temple,
etc.” are used to represent the kingdom of
God. They are used spiritually of the
church which, during the church age (A. D.
33-1988), externally represented the king-
dom of God (WAAT, pp. 9-11, 14). Like
most Reformed theologians, Camping re-
gards the 1,000 years of Revelation 20 as a
symbolic (“spiritual”) number representing
the church age (“completeness”). The ac-
tual number was 1,955 years, but then ac-
tual numbers cannot be allowed to get in
the way! The insuperable difficulties
Camping faces in interpreting Revelation
20 this way are apparent when he says that
in the church age, Satan was bound so as
not to deceive the nations, but even though
he was bound, he still went about as a roar-
ing lion (p. 15), leading to the failure of the
church. Bound or not bound, Mr. Camp-
ing? Which is it?
Camping justifies his approach to
prophecy with Daniel 12:9 (“these words
are concealed and sealed up until the end
time”). The problem was that the “man-
made” hermeneutics of the churches “made
a great amount of biblical information in-
accessible” (pp. 19-21). In his view, the
entire Bible is a parable. There is hidden
spiritual meaning behind each historical
detail, and finding the truth “requires an
immense amount of Bible study” (p. 19).
He, of course, was willing to do that im-
mense amount of study, and thus, “almost
every day new truth is pouring from the
Bible” (p. 21). Alluding to Amos 3:7 (that
God “does nothing unless He reveals His
secret counsel to His servants the proph-
ets”), Camping assumes he is the one to
whom God has revealed His secrets, thus
tacitly ascribing to himself the status of a
prophet (p. 22).
Here, then, are the basic principles of
interpretation embraced by Harold Camp-
ing as he has given them (WAAT, pp. 24-
26).
1. The Bible is a very analytical
book, written like an engineering book,
where truth is presented as absolute fact.
2. Each and every number recorded
in the Bible is accurate, even if it is difficult
to understand.
3. There is great precision in the
occurrence of historical events (numbers of
years, etc.).
4. Frequently, God uses numbers to
illustrate spiritual truth. Camping assigns
specific meaning to specific numbers (2, 3,
4, 5, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, 17, 23, 37, 40, 43).
Number 17, for example, symbolizes
heaven, and number 43, God’s wrath or
judgment. Large numbers are then broken
down into smaller numbers. 153 is 3 x 3 x
17. Thus as for the 153 fish the disciples
caught (John 21), it is God’s purpose (#3)
to bring to heaven (#17) all those whom He
has saved.
5. Sometimes numbers prophesy a
future event. Daniel 12:12 speaks of the
blessing of those who come to the 1,335
days. This prophesies the coming of Jesus
whose ministry lasted from September 26,
A. D. 29 until May 22, A. D. 33, a total of
1,335 days (!).
6. The true understanding of any
biblical truth comes only when the Holy
Spirit decides that it is time for us to know
that truth.
7. The ceremonial feast days are
shadows of things to come. Much of
Camping’s speculations about prophetic
dates is grounded in the dating of the
ceremonial feasts.
One can see the significant role that
numbers play in Camping’s hermeneutics.
Even in the matter of biblical interpreta-
tion, however, it’s true that “there is noth-
ing new under the sun” (Eccl 1:9). Camp-
ing’s fascination with and manipulation of
numbers reflects the Jewish Kabbalah, a
brand of esoteric mysticism with roots in
the 1st century, but which fully emerged in
the Middle Ages. Jewish exegesis was
founded on four methods, only one of
which was the literal sense (Peshat); the
other three involved mystical, hidden, and
allegorical interpretations. Kabbalah
(“tradition”) claimed secret knowledge of
the unwritten Torah communicated by God
to Adam and Moses, knowledge which pro-
vided a way of directly approaching God.
Texts were interpreted according to the
real and the symbolic. Kabbalism assigned
meaning to letters of the Hebrew alphabet,
and eventually involved magic formulas
and the symbolism of numbers (the meth-
od called “Gematria” which is similar to
Camping’s speculations).
In the Middle Ages, the influence of
Kabbalism was passed down through
Jerome and Augustine to Roman Catholic
Scholasticism in the quadriga (the fourfold
sense of Scripture: literal, allegorical, ana-
gogical, and tropological). Thus the text
usually did not mean what it seems to
mean, and Camping has eagerly embraced
a similar approach to interpretation.
The important reality about these sys-
tems of interpretation is that they all led to
serious theological error, and by adopting
similar non-literal interpretive methods,
Camping has likewise perpetrated decep-
tive beliefs. He has many devoted follow-
ers, and his refusal to acknowledge the
errors of his beliefs and his persistence in
date-setting may lead to the development
of an identifiable new cult. Believers fully
continued on page 3
2
continued from page 2
committed to the truth of the inerrant and
authoritative Word of God should be aware
of this danger and reject all past, present,
and future influence from Camping.
Perhaps the most sobering issue of all
is Camping’s words quoted above, “If May
21 passes and I’m still here, that means I
Getting Acquainted with Dennis Tyska
It is fair to
say that a
man re-
ferred to as
a lifelong
Long
Islander
would be
somewhat
stereotyped
as a city slicker or something in the close
vicinity of one. Native New Yorkers are
perceived to be in the fast lane of life ⎯tak-
ing in Broadway shows and all the sights.
But we can safely say there is one New
Yorker, a Long Islander, who is still living a
half mile from his childhood home that by
no means fits that perception of a typical
New Yorker.
Dennis Tyska, born and raised in the
Riverhead area, grew up on a farm with the
simple life of the land. That was when the
roads to Riverhead cut through farms and
not much else. He was a part of a Polish
community com-
prised mostly of
farmers, many of
whom were part
of his extended
family.
Dennis was born in Greenport, NY on
July, 22 1946, the second of three children.
His father, John Tyska, farmed until Den-
nis was 16 years old; at that time, he began
bartending at the Riverhead Polish Hall
while assisting in the management of the
Hall. His mother, Helen Tyska, was a de-
voted Mom, always in the kitchen with
“down on the farm” cooking.
Dennis attended the Riverhead High
School and⎯being a farmer’s son⎯his
after-school activities were somewhat lim-
ited; his father worked seven days a week
and his mother did not drive. Just like all
farm boys, Dennis learned to drive as a
very young boy and always found time to
do a few wheelies in the back fields of the
farms. You might say his love for driving
trucks began there in the farm fields.
In 1966, shortly after graduating from
high school, Dennis enlisted in the Air
Force and served three years during the
Vietnam War. His three-year tour of duty
wasn’t saved.” Mr. Camping needs to give
that statement serious consideration now
that May 21st has come and gone. His fol-
lowers need to do the same, and then move
forward by rejecting his teachings, joining
solid Bible-preaching churches, commit-
ting themselves to “grow in the grace and
included one year during
which he was stationed in
Thailand (July 1967
through July 1968).
After Dennis was
honorably discharged from the Air Force,
he worked with a friend delivering home
heating oil. This job demanded that Den-
nis obtain a CDL (commercial driver’s li-
cense), which he acquired and has kept
active.
In 1970, Dennis gained employment at
Cablevision, where he remained for 22
years. He worked up the ladder of em-
ployment until he became the head-end
technician maintaining the electronics and
six tower sites throughout Long Island. His
job included many hours of being on call
when the severe weather conditions would
wreak havoc upon the quality of the recep-
tion. If the quality of the picture on the TV
was not up to par, who would they call??
Dennis, of course! Snow, sleet, pouring
rain, or damaging winds⎯it did not mat-
ter. Ever faithful and courageous, Dennis
would be adjusting equipment or even
climbing one of the towers in every imag-
inable weather condition and at all hours of
the night.
Also working at Cablevision (as a dis-
patcher) was a single Mom. A friendship
grew, only to be put on hold for a while
when the single mother quit Cablevision
and moved on to a better-paying job. Den-
nis also moved on, marrying his high
school sweetheart only to have the mar-
riage end in divorce.
Fortunately, the paths of the single
Mom, Joan Tyska, and Dennis crossed
once again, and what used to be just a
friendship got shifted around to a deeper
relationship of a soul-searching bond.
Joan became Dennis’ best friend, sharing
all of his griefs and sorrows as well as the
joys. Joan, in the early stages of the rela-
tionship, was not interested in marrying
again. Dennis, on the other hand, had
other plans for the relationship as he pa-
tiently waited for her to change her mind;
she eventually did and married Dennis on
December 31, 1983.
knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ” (2 Pet 3:18), and living faithfully
until He actually does return. Maranatha!
⎯ Pastor Ron Glass
We must not forget to mention his
1973 Ford F-250 pickup truck! At the age
of 35, Dennis began transforming a simple
Ford pickup truck into a semi-monster
truck⎯a truck with the big wheels and a
roll bar!! The truck was a masterpiece of
perfection and an extension of his growing
love for trucks and being on the road. A
few years after the transformation of his
truck, a duplication of the truck was com-
pleted by a family member; only this time,
as a miniature replica in the form of a bat-
tery-operated toy truck. It kept the kid in
Dennis nourished.
Never having children, Dennis in-
stantly became a Dad of sorts upon marry-
ing Joan. Joan had two daughters and four
foster children, all teenagers. This brought
Dennis to the reality of a crash course in
parenting, one which cut him loose of his
carefree ways as he supported his wife in
striving to create a loving safe haven for the
children. As the home became an empty
nest, another young teenager in need of a
roof and support moved in with the inten-
tions of staying for two weeks but instead
became attached and stayed for two years.
The relationship bonded into a par-
ent/daughter relationship and is still to
this day rooted in the Tyska family. Not to
have the guest bedroom empty, a young
Polish student found her place in the Tyska
family for a time before returning to Po-
land. With each young teenager, Dennis’
fatherly wisdom grew, earning him the
well-deserved title of DaDennis or “Bad-
mamajama”.
Once all the children were grown and
on their own, attention was turned to
Joan’s Mom, aging and living alone in
Ocala, Florida. This motivated the “road
trips” to Florida twice a year to check in on
Mom English. Dennis did not pass on the
opportunity to buy a 37’ motor home for
the semiannual trips to Florida. Mom E.
was being cared for and Dennis was on the
road again!!! He was happy.
continued on page 4
3
continued from page 3
By Dennis’ 50th birthday, it was time to
bring Mom E. back to Long Island and
move her into the empty guest room. Once
in NY, Mom E. preferred to attend a Bap-
tist church, instead of the Wading River
Congregational Church where the family
had been attending. So, the very next Sun-
day, Dennis, Joan and Mom E. became a
part of the WRBC under Pastor Glass’
preaching.
Dennis was raised Catholic, with relig-
ion never being one of the strong points in
his life. There were always a lot of unan-
swered questions; as a result, he remained
in limbo spiritually. But now in a hus-
band/wife relationship, Joan became a
catalyst in a spiritual awareness on Dennis’
part. As the years accumulated at the
WRBC, so did Dennis’ spiritual wisdom
and willingness to accept Jesus Christ as
his personal Savior. In 2010, Dennis was
baptized and joined the church along with
his wife.
As Cablevision advanced in its tech-
nology, Dennis’ position became less se-
cure; by 1992, Dennis was laid off to seek
new employment. Fortunately, Dennis has
a way of being a “jack of all trades” allow-
ing him to master whatever is necessary to
continue with an income. He began his
own lawn business, mainly with senior
citizens as his clients, and his popularity
grew within the senior community.
But when the opportunity arose to
work for Ivy Acres of Calverton⎯a position
that would put him on the road again⎯he
sold his thriving lawn business and went
full-time with Ivy
Acres, where he is
still employed
today. He entered their employment as a
salesperson with the traveling show truck,
later moving into the position of a truck
driver delivering interstate.
Missionaries of the Month – Joe and Denise Holman
Joe and Denise
Holman are mis-
sionaries in
Cochabamba,
Bolivia, with the
goal of radically
impacting Bolivia
by igniting the
church pastors and leaders to know God
better and to love Him more. For now,
though, they are in the states with their 11
children and have been since June 3, 2010,
with hopes of returning to Bolivia by Au-
gust 2011. Studies have shown that home
assignments are essential for long-term
Being on the road is a passion of Den-
nis’ and as he serves at the WRBC, the pas-
sion is extended to driving the church bus.
There is never a moment’s hesitation for
another WRBC road trip if his work sched-
ule allows it. When you have spent your
whole life on Long Island as Dennis has,
you take advantage of opportunities to get
off the Island and explore.
As the fast life of New York City ex-
panded east on Long Island, the simple life
of the farmer began to deteriorate; how-
ever, this trend had little effect on Dennis.
Once the country life was embedded in
Dennis’ heart, it has remained without
apologies. He is pure country but now with
a western flair. He still loves to work the
land and has three tractors through which
his creativeness can flow. His imagination
is quite vivid and innovative, and it shows
around his home. There he has built ar-
bors, a pond (more to the size of a small
lake; big enough with a bridge to an is-
land), and many gardens to allow his wife
to work.
As stated before, he is a “jack of all
trades”; Dennis has a God-given ability to
fix almost anything. He becomes a most
valuable commodity of a household adher-
ing to a budget. Not only does he keep his
own home in a state of repair, but also the
respective homes of his Mother down the
road and his Aunt and Uncle in Riverhead.
His greatest passion is being on the
road in the RV, getting off of Long Island
and exploring life outside of NY. He loves
camping, exploring, and being in the coun-
try⎯especially when he can sit by the
campfire with his wife. He still bowls in a
league with his brother and nephew, and
likes his NASCAR. In his younger years,
Dennis excelled in sports; yet he never had
missionaries, which the Holmans are.
They had been on the mission field for
three years; it became necessary to fulfill
the requirement of a one-year home as-
signment that would permit a time of re-
freshing, visiting, preaching, fund raising,
and chilling with their friends. One of their
early visits after arriving in the states was
to the WRBC on June 13, 2010, when the
church welcomed Joe to the pulpit. At that
time, it was with hopes that Joe would re-
turn to the WRBC with his entire family
before returning to the mission field.
After receiving a little money from
Joe’s father’s estate when he passed away,
an opportunity to join a team. He once
owned a boat and would spend his free
time fishing, clamming, or crabbing and
then sharing his catch of the day. His days
of deer hunting with his buddies upstate
during Thanksgiving week are long gone
and have been replaced with family and
church responsibilities.
It is not hard to spot Dennis. He is the
guy with the cowboy boots and hat. Dennis
is most comfortable in a pair of jeans but
cleans up well in his western garb. His
sense of humor is not only catching but
uplifting as he finds humor in almost any-
thing. Dennis is quite at home in the
kitchen, always possessing a farm boy’s
appetite. On occasion, Dennis will trade in
his cowboy hat for a chef’s hat to prepare
his favorite meal⎯breakfast.
As Dennis has attended the WRBC
over the past 15 years, his walk with Christ
has continued to strengthen and his under-
standing of God’s Word has steadily pro-
gressed. He continues to study the Bible,
being particularly fascinated by the great
battles of the Old Testament and by the
book of Job. He loves the fellowship and
freely gives of his time in taking care of the
church bus and ushering, among other
things.
Now if this article seems biased in
anyway, it probably is. Dennis is my hus-
band, my best friend, and someone to
share eternity with. It cannot get any bet-
ter than that.
⎯ Joan Tyska
they decided to use the money for a never-
to-be-forgotten vacation to Disney World
and for a cruise. Joe shared pictures of his
entire family and of this memorable event
(along with other updates and information)
on Facebook as well as his on his web
pages: www.Holmanfamily.org or
www.TheHolmansInBolivia.blogspot.com
or www.Joe-Holman.blogspot.com; it
makes for interesting reading and offers
real insight into life with the Holmans.
As for the children, the oldest, Seth, is
now 22 and is living in Alexandria, VA, and
is working as a waiter. Next in line is
Jacob, 21, living with the family for this
continued on page 5
4
continued from page 4
year with plans to attend college next year.
Caleb, 18, was given the choice to finish his
senior year here in the states but has cho-
sen to return to Bolivia. The rest⎯Ben
(16), David (14), Josh (12), Faith (11), Hope
(9), Joy (7), Patience (6), and Mercy
(2)⎯are all being homeschooled by Denise.
When they return to Bolivia, Joe will
embark upon a new facet of his ministry.
The largest newspaper in Bolivia, Los
Tiempos, has asked Joe to write a short
article each week on marriage and family.
Joe’s articles will appear in a Sunday
April 29, 2011 will be a date remembered
by the history books; the date when Prince
William of Wales married Kate Middleton.
The attention given to this royal wedding
captured the hearts and souls of people
worldwide as everyone lived in the fantasy
of the event. The pomp and circumstance
given to such an occasion in the grandeur
of Westminster Abbey was beyond all ex-
pectations of one’s imagination.
But for those that love the Lord and are
constantly waiting for Christ’s return, April
29, 2011 will not hold a candle to what is
awaiting God’s children. May this royal
wedding be a reminder to be ready for our
royal ascension in the pomp and circum-
stance of God’s love?
May 1, 2011 – The Bible study resumed at
the Hallstrom’s home after a month of can-
celed meetings due to excessive holiday
scheduling. Only, this particular Bible
study started an hour
earlier to accommodate
a surprise 60th birthday
buffet to honor Doug
Heuzey. Bonnie Heuzey,
with Jackie Hallstrom
assisting, put together a
wonderful buffet, birthday cake and all, to
celebrate Doug’s milestone birthday of 60
years.
May 5, 2011 – Regular Wednesday night
prayer was moved to Thursday night to
accommodate National Day of Prayer. It
was a time when churches all across Amer-
ica observed this annual event with unified
prayers for our nation. Let not the prayers
stop as we continue to pray for our nation
and our leaders at such a critical time. May
we continue to pray daily for a revival
among evangelical churches in America
and a great awakening of lost sinners?
May 8, 2011 – Pastor Glass never forgets
to honor the mothers on Mother’s Day
⎯especially his own Mother⎯as he fea-
tured his Mom in the May issue of The
Beacon. It was a wonderful tribute to his
magazine insert called “Happy Families”
(not a Christian magazine) that resembles
Parade magazine. He has asked not only
for your prayers but ideas for topics he can
expand on in the areas of marriage and
parenting. You can e-mail Joe Holman at:
Bolivianjoe@gmail.com .
The Holmans love staying in touch
with everyone and have given you multiple
ways to do so. Please take the time to
check them out on their websites or on
Facebook. It is obvious from the pictures
and blogs that there is a lot of love in this
A Month in Review
Mother, very representative of how WRBC
honors our mothers. May God continue to
bless and honor moms, especially those
who honor His Word.
May 13, 2011 – Not enough is ever said
about WRBC’s AWANA program under the
leadership of Chris and Jackie Hallstrom.
They run a full schedule of Friday nights
beginning in September through the end of
May, with sometimes as many as 16 young-
sters attending. One of the favorite events
remains the Grand
Prix when each
AWANA participant
purchases a small pine block of wood and
plastic wheels from which they construct
their cars, hopefully getting one or both of
their parents involved
with the project. The
cars race on a wooden
two-lane track, this year
run by Kendal Conway,
one of the AWANA assis-
tants. Awards are given for the best design
and the fastest car. The following Friday,
May 20, 2011 was the final night of
AWANA for the 2010-2011 season where
awards were given out and the AWANA
kids were able to spend their AWANA dol-
lars in the AWANA store set up for this
purpose. Throughout the year, the kids
were able to earn “dollars” through club
attendance, wearing their
uniform, bringing their
handbooks, bringing a
visitor, and completing
handbook sections. Jacob
Chapman was one of the
family, not
even to men-
tion the sense
of humor that
is being
shared with
one another.
You will fall in
love with
them, especially knowing how deeply they
love the Lord as they impact the world by
sharing the message of God’s Word.
⎯ Joan Tyska
recipients of a special 1st prize award.
May 14, 2011 – For the seniors that are in
senior denial and missing the Senior Saints
Luncheons, you have missed another out-
standing luncheon honoring our vets and
coming together as God’s Army for a meat-
loaf and mashed potato
luncheon. It was a record
turnout to hear Bill
Mallman not only lead
the devotions but to hear
him make a “joyful noise”
on his harmonica and
banjo. Diane Pandolfini showed up in full
army gear supplied by her son serving in
the army; this was Diane’s tribute to our
fighting men. Closing the activities for the
afternoon was a very loving and surprising
acknowledgement to the Senior Saints
leader (that would be me, Joan Tyska) on
her birthday. Even a writer can be lost for
words at moments like this; so humbly I
say⎯thank you!
May 21, 2011 – Congratulations are in
order for Mike Pandolfini on his retirement
after 23 years with the Long Island Rail-
road.
May 21, 2011 – Spring work day turned
out to be the perfect day weather wise to
tidy up around WRBC. Flower beds were
weeded and cultivated, curbing repaired,
bushes trimmed, the kitchen cleaned, and
the biggest project of all⎯the garage was
cleaned out. Clutter had been collecting in
continued on page 6
5
continued from page 5
the garage for many years, and for Cheryl
Sunderland and Maureen Glass, this was
not only a big task at hand but a most cou-
rageous move on their part.
May 22, 2011 was designated as “Mayday
for Marriage” Sunday by the New Yorker’s
Family Research Foundation as New York
churches focused on preserving the biblical
In his cover article, Pastor Glass addressed
both the incorrect view of divine revelation
and the faulty, allegorizing hermeneutic of
Harold Camping, the president and principal
Bible teacher of Family Radio. This article
will build upon the foundation laid by Pastor
Glass and will summarize Mr. Camping’s
overall chronology (his timeline which begins
with creation and concludes with the end of
the world) as well as his eschatology (doctrine
of the last things).
The information communicated in this article
is from the revised edition (August 2010) of a
document authored by Camping entitled, We
Are Almost There! (WAAT). To download
this book, go to:
http://www.familyradio.com/graphical/litera
ture/waat/waat.pdf
Camping’s chronology is based upon his con-
viction that numbers recorded in the Bible
frequently have a “spiritual meaning” in addi-
tion to an “earthly, literal meaning” (WAAT,
p. 51). To the fourteen integers listed below,
Camping has assigned the following spiritual
meanings:
2 – those who have been commissioned to
bring the Gospel.
3 – God’s purpose.
4 – The farthest extent in time or in distance
that God spiritually has in view.
5 – The atonement, which emphasizes both
judgment and salvation.
7 – The perfect fulfillment of God’s purpose.
10 – The completeness of whatever is in view.
11 – The first coming of Christ, 11,000 years
after creation.
12 – The fullness of whatever is in view.
13 – The end of the world, the details of
which began exactly 13,000 years after crea-
tion.
17 – Heaven.
23 – God’s wrath or judgment.
37 – God’s wrath or judgment.
40 – Testing.
43 – God’s wrath or judgment.
Camping frequently represents the large
numbers in his chronology as the product of
multiple smaller numbers included in the
above list. For example, according to his Bib-
lical timeline, there are 722,500 days (inclu-
sively) between the Crucifixion of the Lord
Jesus Christ on April 1, A.D. 33, and the
(falsely predicted) Rapture of the church on
and historic definition of marriage in the
face of a powerful effort on the part of Gov-
ernor Cuomo and some in the state assem-
bly to pass legislation permitting same-sex
marriage in New York. The bill has been
put under the disguise of Governor
Cuomo’s Program Bill, so stay alert to its
progress.
A Tragedy of Errors
Part 2: Eschatology
May 21, 2011. Camping factors 722,500 into
(5 × 10 × 17) × (5 × 10 × 17), and comments:
“We have learned the spiritual meaning of
these numbers. The work of the atonement
(5) is completed (10) when all of the elect are
safely in heaven (17). This wonderful fact is
doubled by the repetition of the three num-
bers, 10 × 5 × 17. This emphasis is, according
to Genesis 41:32, ‘because the thing is estab-
lished by God, and God will shortly bring it
to pass’” (WAAT, p. 61).
Let’s examine twelve important dates in
Camping’s chronology, starting with Creation.
11013 B.C. – Creation. Camping places the
year of God’s creation of the heavens and the
earth seven millennia earlier than did James
Ussher (A.D. 1581-1656), the biblical scholar
and Archbishop of Armagh in the Church of
Ireland. Ussher, in his monumental work The
Annals of the World, deduced that the first
day of creation commenced at nightfall pre-
ceding Sunday, October 23, 4004 B.C. An-
swers in Genesis has made Ussher’s respected
chronology available in a graphical format:
http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v
27/i4/TimelineOfTheBible.pdf
4990 B.C. – The Flood. This cataclysmic
event occurred 6023 = 6000 + 23 years after
creation; the mystical meaning that Camping
ascribes to the number 23 is God’s wrath or
judgment. Archbishop Ussher dated the
global flood of Noah’s day at 2349 B.C.
1877 B.C. – Jacob to Egypt. “When Jacob
and his family were commanded to leave the
land of Canaan, it was like being commanded
to leave the kingdom of God” (WAAT, p. 41).
1447 B.C. – The Exodus. Camping accu-
rately states that “Israel was in Egypt for 430
years to the very day (Exodus 12:40-41)” (p.
29). However, it is vital to note at this point
that Camping fails to consistently distinguish
between Israel, God’s earthly, covenant na-
tion, and the Church, the heavenly body and
bride of Christ. “The Bible frequently uses
words such as Israel, Judah, the temple, etc.,
in speaking about the churches of the church
age” (WAAT, p. 9).
587 B.C. – Babylonian destruction of
Jerusalem and the Temple. Camping
cites Daniel 12:11 in an attempt to explain the
1,290-year interval between Jacob and his
family leaving Canaan and the destruction of
Jerusalem at the hand of the Babylonians.
July 25-29 seems a good distance away, but
plans are already in the working for
WRBC’s Vacation Bible School. Please
pray that it will all come together in a
timely fashion.
⎯ Joan Tyska
October 2, 7 B.C. – Birth of Jesus.
Camping maintains that Jesus was born on a
year of jubilee (WAAT, p. 27; cf. Lev 25:8-13).
April 1, A.D. 33 – The Crucifixion.
May 22, A.D. 33 – The Beginning of the
Church Age. “The church age officially be-
gan on the following Pentecost” (WAAT, p.
50), which is affirmed by Scripture (Acts 2).
May 21, 1988 – End of the Church Age.
“For 1,955 years, the churches all over the
world were symbolic of the kingdom of
God…Truly, God was forever finished using
the churches to represent the kingdom of
God” (WAAT, p. 41). Camping’s eschatology
contains a 23-year (8,400 days = 7 × 12 × 100
days) “great tribulation” period that follows
immediately after the church age and which
he divides into two unequal parts.
September 7, 1994 – Completion of the
first part of the great tribulation. The
2,300-day period between May 21, 1988, and
September 7, 1994, “was a time when all over
the world, and within all of the churches,
virtually no one was being saved” (WAAT, p.
43). Camping also notes that 3 × 1,290 years
(10 × 3 × 3 × 43) had elapsed since Jacob de-
parted Canaan for Egypt, once again invoking
Daniel 12:11 (p. 40).
May 21, 2011 – Conclusion of the sec-
ond part of the tribulation, and the
Rapture of the church. According to
Camping, the last 17 years have actually been
“the 6,100-day final period of salvation”
(WAAT, p. 54). “The Holy Spirit was poured
out so that outside of the churches, that is,
completely independent of any church any-
where in the world, a great multitude, which
no man could number, would become saved.”
Although believers were not removed from
the earth on May 21, Camping insisted that a
“spiritual” judgment had still occurred.
October 21, 2011 – End of the world.
Not surprisingly, Camping assigns spiritual
meaning to the 153 days following May 21.
“The number 153 spiritually breaks down to 3
× 3 × 17, just as it does when we examined the
153 fish” (WAAT, p. 62). Camping strains to
further justify this date by representing the
1,978 years between the Cross and the Apoca-
lypse as 2 × 23 × 43, and by claiming that
7,000 years have elapsed since Noah’s flood.
⎯ Peter Albrecht
6
 June Bible Quiz Questions
1) Name the daughter of Ishmael who became a wife of Esau.
2) What was the name of the city that Lot escaped to when
Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed?
3) Who built the first temple in Jerusalem?
4) Which two books of the Bible are named after priests?
5) By whom was the Apostle Paul baptized?
Bonus: What is the branch of systematic theology dealing
with the doctrine of salvation called?
― Felix Acerra
May Bible Quiz Answers
1) Egypt (Isaiah 30:7; Psalms 87:4).
2) True (1 Peter 2:5, 9; Revelation 5:10; 20:6).
3) Forty days and forty nights (Genesis 7:11-12).
4) A rainbow (Genesis 9:8-17).
5) Antioch in Pisidia (Acts 13:14). Note: Antioch was a
city of southern Asia Minor in Phrygia, situated just
north of the territory of Pisidia.
Bonus: Castor and Pollux, twin sons of Zeus, the chief
Greek god.

Submit the answers and Bible references to: office@wrbc.us

The Birthday Corner
June 1st – Bob Hart
The Anniversary Corner June 17th – Mike Pandolfini
June 3rd – Patrick & Liz Hyland June 17th – Nora Faustinorio
June 15th – Vic & Reeva Bellard June 24th – Gerry Cosgrove
June 21st – Harold & Geraldine Cosgrove June 27th – Jim Perry
June 24th – Warren & Alice Teufel June 29th – Bonnie Heuzey
June 30th – Mike & Diane Pandolfini June 2011 June 30th – Linea Piraino

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

1 8:00 AM Ladies Prayer 2 3 4
– Joan Tyska (727-5998)
7:00 PM Prayer Meeting
and Exposition of Psalms

5 9:45 AM Sunday 6 7 8 8:00 AM 9 10 11

School (OT History II; Ladies Prayer
Dr. Vic Bellard) 7:00 PM Prayer Meeting
11:00 AM Worship and Exposition of Psalms
6:00 PM Small Group
Study of Ephesians at the
Hallstrom’s (886-1334)

12 9:45 AM Sunday 13 14 7:00 PM 15 8:00 AM 16 17 18

School (Missionaries Board of Ladies Prayer
Jim & Tessie Wroth) Deacons 7:00 PM Prayer Meeting
11:00 AM Worship Meeting and Exposition of Psalms
(Jim Wroth)
6:00 PM Bible study

19 9:45 AM Sunday 20 21 22 8:00 AM 23 24 25

School (Dr. Vic Bellard) Ladies Prayer
11:00 AM Worship 7:00 PM Prayer Meeting
6:00 PM Bible study and Exposition of Psalms

26 9:45 AM Sunday 27 28 29 8:00 AM 30

School (Dr. Vic Bellard) Ladies Prayer
11:00 AM Worship 7:00 PM Prayer Meeting
6:00 PM Bible study and Exposition of Psalms

7
PO Box 438
Wading River, NY 11792
Wading River Baptist Church
• For the Exaltation of God in All Things
• For the Proclamation of Faith in Christ
• For the Transformation of God’s People
Our Purpose
1. To glorify God through sharing
the good news of salvation by God’s
sovereign grace through faith in His
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
2. To nurture believers through a
strong program of Christian educa-
tion, youth ministries, and expository
Biblical preaching.
3. To provide an opportunity for
Biblical worship, service, and fellow-
ship.
4. To extend our ministry through-
out America and around the world
through participation in home and
foreign missions.
WRBC is affiliated with the Conserva-
tive Baptist Association of America
and the Conservative Baptist Mission
to the Northeast.