Rapture Hangover

If you are reading this, the world as we know it didn't come to an end yesterday.

But it sure felt like it with the crush of news media covering the kick-off party for the Apocalypse.

On the eve of Judgment Day aka Friday night, the Internet buzzed with talk of the Rapture, when supposedly Jesus Christ comes back to Earth, true believers are beamed up to Heaven, and several months of miserable living ensues until the curtain officially closes on October 21.

There were 3,940 Google News articles on the Rapture alone on Friday. The top five search words on Google were end-is-nigh related or Harold Camping, the 89-year-old California radio station personality, who predicted the Rapture would happen Saturday.

Around lunch time Friday at 12 p.m., the volume of people Googling Judgment Day peaked, according to Google Trends.

At 9 p.m., Twitter logged 3,560 real time tweets and more on the event alone.

Facebook also buzzed with people talking about the Rapture with invites to parties and "Rapture Looting," when the homes of the righteous will be empty and ripe for the picking.

Gadget blog, Gizmodo, even published a handy list on all the essential gear you will need for the Apocalypse from tasers to axes.

They then promoted a Rapture prank, encouraging people to lay out their old clothes and sunglasses on the ground so they could fool bystanders that they were "raptured up." Call it Rapture Bombing, they say.

Meanwhile back in Bloomfield, all was normal yesterday as people went about their daily lives, according to Mayor Raymond McCarthy.

"Most people have have been humorous about it," said McCarthy, also noting that he knew nobody who made amends - just in case.

Sgt. Ron Glover of the Newark Police and a deacon at the city's New Hope Baptist Church on Sussex Avenue scoffed at self-described Biblical scholar, Camping.

"How does he know?" Glover said.

Equally skeptical was Marques-Aquil Lewis, member of the city's school board and minister at New Light Missionary Baptist Church, which straddles both the West and Central wards.

"I think it's a myth. It's phoney," he said. "Because the Bible says when the Lord returns, he will break the clouds and we won't even see when he's coming. The Bible tells us we don't know what day it will happen."

But what if you or a loved one was let down the Rapture didn't happen?

There is not much guidance, but tales of caution.

A story from Christian Post details the Rapture hangover that ensued for Jason Boyett when the world didn't end in September 1988, as predicted by former NASA engineer Edgar Whisenant.

Devastated, Boyett said he felt cheated and lied to by his pastor. He started to explore his faith through a series of books on Christianity.

Camping also predicted that the beginning of the end would happen in 1994.

Boyett says in a Washington Post article not to laugh at Camping's listeners.

"It’s easy to laugh at the failed predictions of date-setters," Boyett said in the Washington Post. "God knows I’ve had my share of it. They’ve been wrong for two thousand years and they’ll be wrong in the future. But it’s getting harder and harder to laugh at the people who believe them. You might think they are mindless sheep. I think they are victims of hope, and that’s no longer funny."

Here's a round-up of stories about Judgment Day from Patch sites across the country: