Bridgeton billboard: World will end in May 2011

Bridgeton billboard: World will end in May 2011

BRIDGETON - Edwin Ramos wants everybody to know that the world is going to end May 21, 2011.
That is why he is leasing billboards across Cumberland County and printing that very message on them.
There are currently three billboards, located in front of Ramos’s house on Oak Drive, in Vineland; on Delsea Drive, in Vineland, and in front of the Dollar & Up store on Route 49 coming into Bridgeton from Millville.
They bear the message, “Judgment Day, May 21, 2011, THE BIBLE GUARANTEES IT”, in addition to a crossed out “2012”.
This indicates that the world will not end in 2012, an idea popularized by the recent movie of the same name starring John Cusack, which based the date on a legend that the Mayan calendar ends in that year.
The boards also prominently display the website of Family Radio, www.familyradio.com.
Family Radio is a network, led by Harold Camping, that is broadcast on more than 150 radio stations in the United States, as well as ones in Europe, Africa, and Asia.
Camping had speculated that the world would end in 1994. He has written several books, including one that encourages Christians to eschew church in favor of studying the Bible at home, and another that states that gays expressing pride are a sign from God that the world is coming to an end.
Ramos said that he has been listening to Family Radio, broadcast locally on 89.3 FM, 92.3 FM, and 106.9 FM, for about ten years.
“About three months ago, it hit me,” said Ramos. “Camping had kept talking about the end of the world, but I didn’t really understand it until then. That was when I knew I had to start to warn people.”
Until recently, Ramos was the owner and operator of American Industrial Electrical Contractors, located in Vineland.
After he determined that he had to warn everybody, he covered his work trailer in a wrap bearing the same message as the billboards.
“I was pulling this trailer with my work truck, which still had my company logo, and of course people saw it and I stopped getting as many calls,” said Ramos.
Business steadily dropped off until Ramos said that he has only one steady client left, who was not encouraging of his plans. He says that he is planning on giving the business to his father, Willy Ramos, who he works with, although he says there is not much of a point since he thinks the world will end in May.
Ramos also recently sold his work truck in order to purchase an RV, which will receive a wrapping similar to the work trailer’s.
Most of his family and friends have not been very supportive.
“I started to notice my friends were not calling as much,” said Ramos. “I also stopped having as much contact with my in-laws.”
He says he is thankful that his wife, Jessica Ramos, is supportive.
“Her and I share the same beliefs, thank God,” said Ramos.
He also has three daughters, aged 4, 6, and 9, who attend Vineland Public Charter School.
Until May 21, Ramos said that he is using the late payments that customers still owe him to pay his bills and fund his warning campaign.
“The billboards cost $150 per month, and there is a $375 charge to install the artwork,” said Ramos. “Thank goodness that the owner is giving me a six-month lease.”
The owner of the signs is Vista Outdoors, an advertising company owned and operated by Dan Theokas.
Theokas said that Ramos has been leasing the sign for about a month. That means the lease will run out, very conveniently, sometime near the middle of May.
When asked how he liked leasing a billboard to Ramos, Theokas said, “Well, he is planning on leasing six more.”
Ramos foresaw a violent end for the world. He quoted Luke 17, in which fire and brimstone is rained down on Sodom and Gomorra.
“But, God warned Lot to take his family and leave, and Lot was saved,” he said.
Ramos believes that there are a few chosen for salvation, who God will not do away with on the judgment day.
Ramos added that there is a five-month judgment period after May 21, during which the world will slowly be destroyed, and after which God will form a new heaven and earth, placing the earth’s last day at Oct. 21, when he thinks it will be completely obliterated.
What is he planning if he wakes up on Oct. 22?
“If the Bible declares it, which is God declaring it, then there are no more questions. It is not even something that I factor in. I believe the world will end on that day.”
Inside the Dollar & Up, when asked what the customers and employees had been saying about the sign out front, one employee answered, “What sign? None of us has even noticed it.”