[John T]

* Patty Winter wrote, On 5/23/2011 7:31 PM:
:-) What's it like there today?

It was very much business-as-usual until around 5:00 p.m. when the
press (invited) began to show up. Once again, visitors other than
media were banned from the building, but members of the press more
than made up for their absence. There were more reporters and cameras
than I have ever seen in one place before. All the stations were
there, including, I think, one of the Chinese newscasts.

Of course, as David Kaye mentioned in another thread, there remains
October 21st, so Camping seems to think that he can just pick up the
rhythm and march to it at least until then. We'll see.

Naturally, Camping blamed God for the failure, saying that Christ had
actually returned, but spiritually instead of physically. That sounds
quite familiar if you've ever studied the history of doomsday cults
and their failed predictions. In the face of contradicting reality,
they just say that it's spiritual, and you wouldn't understand unless
you take up their view of life and eternity. Done.

One thing the press has gotten consistently wrong is the amount of
donations. The $100+ million figure they throw around is money derived
primarily from the sales of Channel 64 and the cash-plus trade of
106.9 FM for 610 AM. Whereas donation income has remained relatively
steady, what has been different recently is that the flow of many
small donations was replaced by a trickle of fewer and bigger donations.

For the moment jobs seem to be relatively safe, but that could change
depending on whether income continues or not. There are some stations
that could be sold for a better-than-tidy sum and could fund
operations for several years. Most likely that will happen, but that
doesn't mean there won't be a housecleaning as we experienced after
September 1994. Some of the "ghosts" (people who don't really have
productive jobs) could be forced to go haunt someplace else.

JT
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