Doomsday preacher Harold Camping was left a laughing stock when his prediction that the world would end on May 21 failed to materialise.

But the 90-year-old Californian may well have the last laugh after revealing that May 21 was in fact Judgment Day - a spiritual moment when the righteous would be chosen - and simply a warm-up for the Rapture which happens exactly five months later.

This means that Friday, October 21, will mark the start of the Apocalypse - when believers will be whisked away into heaven and hell will be unleashed on earth.

And cynics should be warned, as the Rapture Index - a monitor of current affairs for the frequency and intensity of end-time signs mentioned in the Bible - is at an almost all-time high.

Bed-ridden Camping, who suffered a stroke soon after 'Judgment Day', said: 'We can be sure that the whole world [will be annihilated] on 21 October 2011.'

And since he said that the day of judgment had already passed, there was nothing the non-righteous could do to save their souls