Realizing his inability to prove from the Bible alone
that Revelation is the last book of the Bible, Camping tries various ways to
resolve this problem.
First, Camping has resorted to the claim that Revelation “has
to be” the last book of the Bible because if it not, then the command “not
to add” in Revelation 22:18 would not have been given by God. (These comments
were made on the “Open Forum”). Not only his this circular reasoning and thus automatically
invalid, it is also faulty on other counts. Deuteronomy 4:2 also gives a
command not to add to God’s word. IF what Camping says about Revelation 22:18
is true, then the Jews should not have received any more books of the Bible
beyond Deuteronomy. Obviously, God himself was not confined by such a prohibition.
Deuteronomy 4:2 prohibited any uninspired Jew from adding to God’s word, but it
did not prohibit God from adding to His word.
Second, Camping has claimed that the phrase, “prophecy
of the book” which is used in Revelation 22:18 refers to the whole Bible.
In his mind, this would curtail those who say that the prohibition in
Revelation 22:18 only applies to the Book of Revelation, which in turn, would allow
them to add to the rest of the Bible, not necessarily the Book of Revelation.
Camping’s argumentation is fallacious since there is no biblical evidence that “prophecy
of this book” refers to the Bible. John referrers to “the words of this
prophecy” when he begins the Revelation (Rev. 1:3) specifying his use of
the term “prophecy” and to what is applicable, i.e., his subsequent writing
of the Revelation. HE also closes the Revelation with, “the words of the
prophecy of this book” in Revelation 22:7, 10 as he sums up the material he
just wrote in the book. We might also add that the emphasis on “book” in
the phrase, “book of this prophecy” in Revelation 22:19 coincides with
the fact that John was commanded by Jesus to write all he say in a “book”
(Rev. 1:11). Moreover, unlike the rest of the New Testament, Revelation is
predominately prophecy about future events. Thus, John has good reason for
calling it “the prophecy of this book” whereas no other book in
the New Testament could carry that designation as well as the Book of
Revelation. Further, Revelation is the only book in the New Testament that
speaks of catastrophic plagues. John warns in Revelation 22:18 that those who
add to the prophecy will become victims of the plagues he has just described in
Revelation 9-21. There is a natural connection between the two contexts. To ignore
all this evidence in favor of the view that “prophecy of this book”
refers to the whole Bible is to ignore the context of the Book of Revelation.
Third, camping has also said that if one insists that Revelation
22:18 does not refer to the whole Bible, the rule of “Not adding” would still
apply since if one adds to the Book of Revelation (Revelation being part of the
Bible) he is thus adding to the Bible. The fallacy in this kind of
argumentation is plain. If one adds to any book of the Bible it can be
said that he is adding to the Bible. It goes without saying that no man has the
right to add to any part of the Bible. Thus, it is superfluous to make a
special case that one is allowed to add to the Book of Revelation.
The real issue, which Camping fails to address in all
these attempts, is that God is not prohibited from giving additional revelation
if He desires to do so. Camping blunders by not seeing that the command “not to
add,” whether it be from Deuteronomy 4:2 or Revelation 22:18, or whether it refers
to the whole Bible or just the Book of Revelation, does not limit God from giving
additional revelation, rather, it prohibits man from adding his own
words to God’s words, claiming them to be of divine origin. Such man-made
additions are a grievous sin that will meet the harshest punishment in Revelation
22:18 does not limit God from giving additional revelation anymore than
Deuteronomy 4:2 prohibited him from doing so. This is not to say that God has
given more revelation, but only that HE would if He wanted to.
Finally, since it cannot be proven from the Bible alone
that Revelation is the last book of the Bible, then no one knows whether some books
of the New Testament were written after the Book of Revelation. If there were,
these books would have been “adding” to the Bible, since the Bible, despite the
statement in Revelation 22:18 “not to add,” would be complete without them. Further,
in none of these books is it specified that God could not or would not give
extra-biblical revelation. (Robert A. Sungenis, “Appendix I,” in Shockwave
2000! The Harold Camping 1994 Debacle [Green Forest, Ark.: New Leaf Press,
1994], 162-64)
“the plagues”:
τας πληγας. So intent is Jesus on fulfilling this mission that he gives a
solemn warning to the readers of the Apocalypse. This is Jesus himself talking
to all of us. When he says: "I warn everyone ... " it is akin to a
colloquial expression in English: "I swear to you ... " or
"Don't you dare ... " or "Don't you even think about tampering
with this." It is a solemn threat. Hence, not only is the Apocalypse
attested by two or three witnesses (God, the angel and Jesus), it is sealed in
blood with an oath, as it were. Both "adding to" and "taking
away" the words of the Apocalypse will result in the same punishment
(hell), but to emphasize the seriousness of the threat it is described in two
stages, that is, for those who "add," Jesus will add to them; and
those who "take away," Jesus will take away from them. The emphasis
is on the possible ways of tampering with the divine word: adding to or taking
away. More specifically, the focus is on "prophecy," as can be seen
in the two similar but inverted phrases: "the words of the prophecy of this
book (verse 18) and "the words of the book of this prophecy" (verse 19).
Since the operative word in both cases is "prophecy," then
"adding to" would refer to those who claim that God inspired them
with additional prophecy about future events, and "taking away" would
refer to someone who denies that the Apocalypse contains predictive prophecy. (Robert
A. Sungenis, Commentary on the Catholic Douay-Rheims New Testament: Exegeted
from the Original Greek and Latin, 4 vols. [State Line, Pa.: CAI Publishing
Inc., 2021], 4:678 n. 328)
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