Following the failure of Harold Camping's 2011 end of the world prediction, it became evident that he got something wrong. And similar to the aftermath of Camping's 1994 prediction, there are some attempting to tweak his 2011 prediction believing there to be only a slight error that needs correction. For his part, Camping still believes the great tribulation began in 1988 and continues today. In other words, he now believes the great tribulation is longer than the 23 years he originally taught. Others however are inexplicably holding on to Camping's idea of a 23 year great tribulation, perhaps unaware that Camping's biggest proofs for a 23 year great tribulation were almost entirely dependent upon 2011 being the end of the world! These proofs are detailed below:
Proof #1: one of Camping's biggest proofs for 2011 being the end of the world was also one of his biggest proofs for a 23 year great tribulation. This proof is based on Camping's long held belief that the church age ended, and the great tribulation began, on Pentecost (May 22) 1988. Camping then concludes the end of the world, and the end of the great tribulation, would be exactly 7000 years after the flood of Noah's day in 4990 BC. That would be the year AD 2011. Once Camping had these two endpoints it was a simple matter for him to conclude the duration of the great tribulation must be 2011 - 1988 = 23 years.
Comment: clearly this proof was entirely dependent upon 2011 being the end of the world and judgment day, which it obviously wasn't, so this proof for a 23 year great tribulation is obviously defective.
Proof #2: on page 438 of his book "Time Has An End" Camping states the first great judgment, the flood of Noah's day, occurred exactly 6000 + 23 years after creation. Then the next great judgment, when Jesus was crucified, occurred exactly 5000 + 23 years after the flood. He then notes that the year 2011, which he asserted would be the final judgment, is exactly 13000 + 23 years after creation. He then asks rhetorically "Is all of this coincidental? Or does it show the majestic consistency of the unfolding of God's salvation plan?" His point is unmistakeable, in his view this could not be coincidence and therefore we have confirmation that the year 2011 will be the end of the world and that the duration of the great tribulation is in fact 23 years.
Comment: here again is a proof that was entirely dependent on the validity of 2011, and now that 2011 has passed uneventfully we can see this proof for a 23 year great tribulation is also invalid.
Proof #3 - part 1: on page 436 of the same book Camping states that the first part of the great tribulation is 2300 days per Dan 8:13-14, or approximately 6 years, and that if we assume the entire great tribulation is 23 years, then the difference is 17 years. This he says is significant because the number 17 points to heaven and the number 23 points to judgment and judgment day. Thus, he contends the fact that 2300 days (~6 years) plus 17 years sums to 23 years shows that his 23 year assumption for the great tribulation is correct.
Comment: in this case Camping uses a bit of circular reasoning by assuming a 23 year great tribulation in an attempt to prove a 23 year great tribulation. But even if we ignore that there are other issues here, for instance Camping's proof that the second part of the great tribulation would be 17 years is that the number 17 represents heaven. Realizing perhaps that this alone isn't very convincing, Camping goes on to suggest that the feast of Trumpets (Tishri 1) 1994 began "the period of the second Jubilee" (ref: page 447 of "Time Has An End"), a period that would last 17 years until judgment day came. In other words, the proof that the second part of the great tribulation would be 17 years, and that the entire great tribulation would be 23 years, rests critically upon the 17 years beginning in a Jubilee year. Of course now that the 1994 Jubilee year plus 17 years (2011) has passed, this particular proof falls apart, at least until the next Jubilee rolls around in 2044, to which one must add 17 years to get to the end (2061), so anyone counting on this proof will have to wait almost another 50 years for the end.
Proof #3 - part 2: this proof is very closely related to the prior one except that it emphasizes the fact that Camping was able to link biblically significant events to each of the key dates in his timing for the great tribulation. Specifically, he found there were exactly 2300 days from Pentecost (May 22) 1988 to the feast of Trumpets (Sept 6/7) 1994, and exactly 23 years or 8400 days from Pentecost (May 22) 1988 to Zif 17 (May 21) 2011 (where Zif 17 is the 17th day of the 2nd month, the date Genesis 7:11 says the flood judgment of Noah's day began). Camping's contention in this regard was that it would be virtually impossible that these time periods (2300 and 8400 days) could just randomly or coincidentally land on biblically significant dates the way they did, and therefore we can be assured a 23 year great tribulation is true.
Comment: of all Camping's proofs for 2011 and a 23 year great tribulation, this is perhaps the most astonishing one, that he was able to identify historical biblical events that fit down to the very day with his great tribulation time line. However like the proofs identified above that stood or fell with 2011 being the end of the world and judgment day, we know this proof for a 23 year great tribulation is also without merit.
Proof #4: another proof used by Camping involves a comparison of both Jacob's 7 year great tribulation (Acts 7:11, Genesis 41:30) and Israel's 70 year Babylonian captivity (Jeremiah 25:11) to Camping's 23 year great tribulation. In particular, Camping noted that 7 years is equivalent to 84 months, 70 years is equivalent to 840 months, and 23 years is equivalent to 8400 days (page 461 of "Time Has An End"). Camping implies once again that this couldn't be coincidence, but is a "pattern" that God has provided involving the number 84 to assure us that a 23 year final tribulation is completely harmonious with the two other major tribulations in the Bible.
Comment: while not being readily apparent, the fact is that 23 years is only equivalent to 8400 days if and only if the first or starting year is a leap year. If the starting year is anything other than a leap year, then 23 years is actually 8401 days, not 8400. That means that this particular proof is also tied into the validity of 2011 being the end of the world, which of course it wasn't, so this proof of a 23 year great tribulation also must be disregarded, at least for every non-leap start year (i.e., every three out of four years, or 75% of years).
Proof #5: many of Camping's proofs for his dates and time periods involve the ability of those time periods to be factored into significant spiritual numbers. As an example, consider the following two time paths highlighted in Camping's books:
Church age: AD 33 to AD 1988 = 1955 years = 5 x 17 x 23
End of world: AD 33 to AD 2011 = 1978 years = 2 x 23 x 43
Camping's end time calendar concluded the church age was 1955 years, and that very astonishingly this number has prime factors with great spiritual significance: 17 (heaven) and 23 (judgment). He also concluded there would be 1978 years from the start of the church age to the end of the world, and this again featured significant spiritual prime factors, in this case 23 (judgment) and 43 (judgment). In Camping's view the number 23 kept popping up everywhere he looked, confirming to him again and again that God wanted us to focus on the number 23 in regard to the great tribulation.
Comment: the example illustrated above is again dependent upon the year 2011 (1978 years from AD 33 to AD 2011), and since 2011 not the end of the world, the prime factors of 23 and 43 in 1978 years must be considered coincidental and not in any way supportive or indicative that the great tribulation would be 23 years long.
Summary: the examples cited above were among the chief proofs offered by Camping for a 23 year great tribulation, however as has been demonstrated each of them relied either entirely or very heavily upon the accuracy of his 2011 prediction. So given the failure of 2011 to be the rapture and end of the world, these proofs must be either dismissed entirely or considered to be very very suspect.