Emotions high over end-of-world prediction

The clock ticked past 6 p.m. at various time zones around the world, but no extraordinary cataclysm occurred, despite months of warning and preparation by a Christian movement.

For the Tubbs family of Freeport, the end of the world was scheduled to begin Saturday evening.

Ruben Tubbs, his wife, Wendy, and five of their seven children are among those who believe that it's Judgment Day. They prayed together in their tan shingled Colonial as the clock neared 6 p.m., when they expected to rise to heaven leaving behind nonbelievers to suffer earthquakes and other catastrophes.

Mixed in their joy is sorrow at the thought of leaving behind two daughters "who have separated from us to some degree over this issue," said Tubbs, 53. "There's deep sorrow because of that."

The Tubbses are among the Long Islanders who believe the predictions of Harold Camping, a radio broadcaster who says he has found in the Bible support for May 21 as the Day of Judgment, 7,000 years from the day Camping says Noah stepped into the ark.

Many of the believers have traversed the country in mobile homes proclaiming Judgment Day and handing out tracts to convince others of the end.

Although Tubbs hasn't quit his job, he has used his retirement savings to help fund those efforts.

Their predictions may tap into a vein of anxiety in a time of war, terrorism and natural disasters. But for many, the response is dismissive.

Some are planning After-Rapture Parties. A humorous posting on Facebook "invited" people to a Post-Rapture Looting event "everywhere" (over 580,000 said they would "attend" as of Friday afternoon).

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said jovially on his weekly radio address Friday: "If the world ends tomorrow, I don't think you have to worry about returning library books, parking tickets . . . Alternate side parking will be suspended. Although I think alternate side parking will take on a whole different meaning actually."

The Rev. Marc Herbst, pastor at Faith Evangelical Lutheran Church in Syosset, said: "Most people I speak to think this is more comical than anything else. If you look at the New Testament, it says that only the Father knows" the Day of Judgment.

Regina Eger, of Lake Ronkonkoma, administrator of the Sayville Methodist Church, said the reaction she sees is more dismissive than joking. "We hear from so many different places it's going to happen here, it's going to happen there and it never happens."

Meanwhile Tubbs, who has hosted a weekly Bible study group in his home on Sundays, did so again on Friday night.

"It's like the last time we'll be gathering and praying and singing," he said. "We have in common the same sorrow and joy mixed together. We want to meet for the last time 'til we meet at Jesus' seat."