May 21st : End of the World?

• Saturday is last day on earth, claims evangelical Christian
• Harold Camping, 89, wrongly predicted 'the rapture' date once before in 1994
  
• God's chosen few ascend to heaven, sinners left behind to face earthquakes
• Atheists hold parties to celebrate 'inevitable embarrassment'
• Christian author calls Camping's prediction 'flat-out wrong'
  

Usually when we party like there's no tomorrow we wake up with a hangover of biblical proportions.

But while fun-loving atheists plan to take two paracetamol as per usual on Sunday, some evangelists will be taking the 'no tomorrow' angle a little too literally.

According to some minority sections of the Christian faith - via one octogenarian's rather embarrassingly unreliable maths - 'The Rapture' will take place at around 6pm tomorrow; Saturday, May 21.

Workings: Camping is basing his prediction on decades of studying the Bible and his belief that the Noah's Ark flood happened in the year 4990 BC

Jerry Jenkins, co-author with Tim LaHaye of the 'Left Behind' series of apocalyptic novels that have sold millions of copies worldwide, is among those who has a problem with the prediction.

'As a believer, I'm already a kook compared to most people, so for someone to choose a date and get everyone excited about a certain time, my problem is it makes us look worse,' said Jenkins, 61.

But the very industry in which Jenkins' books are aimed and sold are part of the problem according to Barbara Rossing, professor of the New Testament at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago.

She describes a huge apocalyptic 'prophecy industry' that includes video games, board games and books, and says: 'It is very appealing to people.'

Julie Baker advertises her beliefs on a T-shirt in New York