I was alone in my study and I knew I had not been raptured. But being cautious about generalizing from too small a database, I went looking for my beloved Judy to see if she had been raptured. I found her serenely reading a book. Still, I hedged any conclusion and went to bed, wondering who among the unraptured would be showing up the next morning to hear me preach. Next morning everybody was present, all spreading the news that the Rapture didn’t happen.

As I say, I was going to let the matter drop until I learned Harold Camping had raised $70 million promoting his crack-brained idea. Then to make things worse, I saw him on television revising his message to say that the world will come to an end on Oct. 31 for sure. I reckon he will raise another $70 million by then.

I have decided that I don’t care if he is 90 years old, I’m not going to pull any punches. He is full of nutty ideas and people should quit giving him their hard-earned money.

He is casting old men in a bad light. I know lots of men who are 90 or more years old who are intellectually sharp as tacks. On top of that, lots of Bible-believing folk take the Bible seriously and wonder about the concept of the Rapture. They don’t need this fellow heaping public ridicule on their serious concern. I just want this old guy to quit predicting the end of the world. I want him to go fishing or do something else relaxing. It may not be as lucrative as predicting, but he’s already got as much money as he will ever need. Now, as for those lost souls who gave him $70million dollars ... oh, never mind.

Also in the news, President Barack Obama went to Ireland to visit his ancestral homeland. Hewas surrounded by O’Reillys, O’Malleys, O’Ryans, O’Shaughessys, O’Neals, and other O’Somethings. It was a fine thing. Although he is not redheaded and freckled, they all seemed proud to be related to him, as I would be, too, if it were so.

Then, he went to see Queen Elizabeth of England. He caused a minor kerfuffel when he toasted her while the British anthem, God Save the Queen, was playing. I cut him some slack on this violation of royal etiquette. He may have thought they were playing My Country ’Tis of Thee. As readers of this divine, Southern-fried song sheet know, in 1831, shortly after the American Revolution, Samuel Francis Smith wrote our patriotic song to the same tune as God Save the Queen. Or when timely, God Save the King.

I suppose the songwriter wanted to make the point that the king of England is not our American king any longer. Americans are happy for God to save the queen, but we have no queen. Christians celebrate the King of Kings.

Memorial Day was a quiet day at our house this year. I watched the great old war movie, Patton. My uncle, Bernard Harless, was a driver for Gen. George S. Patton at one point during World War II. I don’t ever glorify war. No sane person does. However, I hold in highest regard the patriots who have answered America’s call to arms in defense of liberty. This is why I hold incontempt the people in business and politicians in power who profiteer on the patriotic sacrifices of the men and women who serve the nation.

On this Memorial Day I just stood and quietly saluted those whose bravery has kept us free and those who serve today.

The as-yet unraptured Harold Bales is a retired Methodist minister who lives in Kannapolis. Contact him with your news at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .