A South African pastor named Joshua Mhlakela made a false prediction about the rapture, and many people who believed him are now shocked and sad. Some have lost their jobs, houses, and valuables.
According to Sunday PUNCH, Mhlakela said that the rapture would happen between Tuesday, September 23, and Wednesday, September 24.
Many Christians believe in the Rapture, which says that angels will blow trumpets and Jesus will come back to take his disciples to heaven.
People believe this teaching from the Bible to be genuine, but many doomsday preachers have made predictions about when it would happen, and they were wrong.
Mhlakela said that Jesus came to him in a vision and told him the exact date when the world would end.
He said that the rapture would happen at the Feast of Trumpets, which is also known as Rosh Hashanah. This is a two-day Jewish holiday that some Christians think was a sign of the rapture and the second coming of Christ.
In an interview with the YouTube channel CettwinzTV, Mhlakela claimed, “The rapture is upon us, whether you are ready or not, it will happen in 14 days.”
“I know for a billion percent that we are going to see the Lord. The rapture is going to happen.” I can’t promise you anything, but I can promise you a billion percent that it will happen. He said, “The 23rd is the date of the church’s rapture. This date is final and cannot be changed.”
Later, the prophecy spread quickly and had a lot of different replies.
Some people thought it was just another doomsday prophesy, but others took it seriously and quit their jobs, sold their property, and got ready for what they think will be the end of the world.
A lot of people on TikTok used the hashtag #RaptureTok to say they were ready for the rapture.
Hannah Gallman said that God showed her the prophecy in a vision.
She said, “I took Joshua’s vision seriously because it fit with a time frame I was already looking at.” I genuinely do think this is going to happen next week. I can’t say for sure that it will happen, but the signs God has given me seem to point to next week.
Spencer Vans, another user of TikTok, said he was giving away his things because he thought he wouldn’t need them anymore.
He said, “I’m giving away my car for free because the rapture is happening tomorrow and I won’t need any of my earthly things anymore.” I suppose someone else will get a lot more use out of it because I won’t need it when I’m gone.
“I’ve already sold most of my things. We won’t need all of these things anymore because the rapture is going to happen tomorrow.”
On the day Mhlakela said would happen, videos of hundreds of people waiting in the woods to be hoisted up went viral.
Mhlakela also went live on the internet and confidently said that the rapture was coming soon.
Some of his followers were with him during the live video.
Mhlakela said, “I wonder how God works this out,” after a few hours had passed without the rapture happening. I know it will happen in the next two days, but I can’t say how He plans the minutes and seconds, because anything could happen at any time.
He told his followers to stay hopeful and patient.
But a lot of them went on social media to say how sad and disappointed they were.
Sath Babii, a TikTok user, said the failed prediction had left her heartbroken. She said she quit her job and gave away her things because she trusted the prophecy.
He stated, “Some of you may have seen my video where I talked about how the rapture is coming and how it seems like it isn’t going to happen as the day goes on.” I feel stupid and ridiculous. I quit my work and handed up my stuff, and now I feel extremely adrift. I’m losing my faith because I feel like everything I believed in was a lie.
“I was so eager to go home to Jesus. Why would He leave me here? Things are worse than they have ever been. If the rapture doesn’t happen now, it will never happen, and I don’t know where to go from here. I don’t think I could be a Christian anymore.
Another user said it would be hard to start over after giving up all of her things since she thought she would be raptured.
“I don’t know what to do. Everyone is still here when I woke up this morning. I gave up my favorite Funko Pop, sold my car, and donated everything else. He added, “I guess I’ve heard that it can still be today, but I’m starting to worry,” and then he started to cry.
Pastor Chris Okotie, the Shepherd Superintendent of the House of the Household of God Church, had called Mhlakela’s forecast “prideful ejaculations of a spiritual charlatan or the spurious agitations of religious mountebankism.”
In a YouTube video, Okotie said that the prediction was not biblical and that Mhlakela was erroneous to say that the rapture would happen during the Feast of Trumpets.
He answered, “The rapture will not and cannot happen on a Jewish holiday, and your conclusions are completely opposite to what the New Testament teaches and what the Bible says.”
“This is for you, brother Joshua. At the end of September, you will find out that the rapture has not happened and will not happen. I want to encourage you not to get down on yourself and think that the Lord has left you.” Don’t beat yourself up or do something to punish yourself, since He will always be with you and never abandon you. “Just pick up the pieces, be a man, and move on with your faith.”
Abimbola Ayuba, the National Director of National Issues and Social Welfare for the Christian Association of Nigeria, told Sunday PUNCH that Christians should not listen to “heretical preachers.”
He further said that these kinds of preachers should be punished.
He remarked, “The government should punish these kinds of people for misleading and lying to the public.” The pastor should be taken up in the rapture and put in jail.
Ayuba said it was sad that some people still believed Mhlakela’s prognosis, and he added that history is full with botched apocalypse predictions.
He also asked for safeguards on the abuse of religious freedom.
“Freedom of religion should have a limit, freedom of worship should have a limit, and freedom of speech should have a limit, especially when it comes to tricking people who are weak.”
Bishop Stephen Adegbite, the Lagos State Chairman of CAN, said that Mhlakela’s prophecy was wrong and not based on the Bible.
“We’ve been hearing these kinds of things since we were born, and people who call themselves pastors in this way are phony pastors because the Bible says, ‘woe unto him who says thus says the Lord when the Lord has not spoken.’ We don’t know where they derive their predictions from. I believe some of them are astronomers, not pastors of the Lord.
“The Bible tells us that no one knows when the Lord will arrive or what time it will be. “It will be like a thief in the night,” Adegbite added. “So anyone who gives a specific date for the rapture is wrong, and serious-minded Christians should not listen to them.”
He said that a lot of the people who made these forecasts were only looking for publicity and money.
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