CAN slams fake preachers as failed rapture wrecks lives

The unsuccessful rapture prophecy made by South African pastor Joshua Mhlakela has left many of his followers in a state of shock and despair, with some expressing their grief over the loss of jobs, homes, and personal belongings.

Mhlakela had forecasted that the rapture would occur between Tuesday, September 23, and Wednesday, September 24.

The rapture is a widely held Christian belief that Jesus Christ will return to take his followers to heaven after angels have sounded their trumpets.

Although this Biblical doctrine is considered to be true, numerous doomsday preachers have made predictions regarding its timing, all of which have proven to be incorrect.

Mhlakela asserted that Jesus appeared to him in a vision and disclosed the precise date on which the world would come to an end.

He indicated that the rapture would happen during the Feast of Trumpets, also known as Rosh Hashanah, a two-day Jewish festival that some Christians believe prophetically signifies the rapture and the second coming of Christ.

“The rapture is upon us, whether you are ready or not, the rapture will happen in 14 days from now,” Mhlakela said in an interview with a YouTube channel CettwinzTV.

“I’m a billion per cent sure that we are going to see the Lord, the rapture is going to happen. I don’t know how to assure you, but I give you a billion per cent that it is going to happen. The date of the 23rd which is going to be the rapture of the church, this date is irrefutable, it is final,” he added.

While some dismissed it as yet another doomsday forecast, others regarded it with seriousness, resigning from their positions, liquidating assets, and preparing for what they perceive to be the end of days.

Utilizing the hashtag #RaptureTok, numerous users on TikTok conveyed their readiness for the rapture.

One user, Hannah Gallman, asserted that God validated the prophecy with her through a vision.

She stated, "When I learned about Joshua’s vision, I took it seriously because it aligned with a timeframe I was already considering. I genuinely believe this is set to occur next week. I won’t claim with absolute certainty that it will, but the confirmation I have received from God appears to indicate next week."

Another TikTok user, Spencer Vans, declared that he was distributing his belongings as he believed they would no longer be necessary.

He said, “I’m giving away my car for free, the rapture is happening tomorrow, I’m not going to need any of my earthly things anymore. I think someone will get a lot more use out of it because I’m not going to need it when I’m gone.

“I have already sold off most of my belongings; we are not going to need all of these material things anymore because the rapture will happen tomorrow.”

On the day predicted by Mhlakela, videos showing hundreds of people gathered in the woods, waiting to be taken up went viral.

Mhlakela also went live online, declaring with confidence that the rapture was imminent.

During the live video, he was joined by some of his followers.

But after several hours passed without the rapture taking place, Mhlakela said, “I wonder how God works this out. What I know is that it will happen within these two days, but I cannot tell how He arranges the minutes and the seconds, because at any moment something could happen.”

He urged his followers to remain patient and hopeful.

However, many of them took to social media to express disappointment and regret.

A TikTok user, Sath Babii, said the failed prediction had left her devastated, lamenting that she quit her job and gave away her belongings because she believed the prophecy.

He said, “Some of you might have seen my video where I was talking about how the rapture is upon us and as we approach the end of the day it is looking like it is not happening. I feel foolish, I feel dumb. I left my job, I gave away my things, I am feeling really lost. I’m feeling like everything I believed in has been a lie, I’m losing my faith.

“I was so ready to go home to Jesus, why would He (Jesus) leave me here, things are as bad as they have ever been, if the rapture is not now, it is never going to happen and I don’t know where to go from here. I don’t think that I could really be Christian anymore.”

Another user lamented that starting life again would be difficult after giving out all her belongings believing that she would be raptured.

“I don’t know what to do. I woke up this morning and everyone is still here. I donated…, I sold my car, I gave away my favourite funko pop, everything is gone. I guess I have heard that it can still be today but I’m starting to worry,” he said while sobbing.

Earlier, the Shepherd Superintendent of the House of the Household of God Church, Pastor Chris Okotie, had described Mhlakela’s prediction as “prideful ejaculations of a spiritual charlatan or the spurious agitations of religious mountebankism.”

Okotie, in a video on YouTube, argued that the prediction was unbiblical, insisting that Mhlakela was wrong to claim the rapture would occur during the Feast of Trumpets

He said, “The rapture will not and cannot take place on a Jewish feast and your conclusions are diametrically opposed to new testament doctrine and they are at variance with biblical revelation.

“This is from me to you brother Joshua, at the end of the month of September and you discover that the rapture has not taken place and indeed it will not, my encouragement to you is that you don’t become despondent and begin to blame yourself and begin to think that the Lord has abandoned you. Do not get into some kind of flagellation or penitent bastinado because He will always be with you, He will never leave you nor forsake you. Just pick up the pieces, be a man and get on with your faith.”

The National Director of National Issues and Social Welfare of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Abimbola Ayuba, warned Christians in an interview to be cautious of following "heretical preachers".

He further stated that such preachers ought to be subjected to sanctions.

He remarked, "Individuals of this nature are those whom the government should penalize for misleading and misinforming the public. The pastor should be taken into custody."

Ayuba expressed disappointment that some individuals still believed in Mhlakela's prophecy, noting that history has been characterized by unsuccessful doomsday predictions.

He also called for checks on the misuse of religious freedom.

“Freedom of religion should have a limit, freedom of worship should have a limit, freedom of speech should have a limit, especially when it comes to misleading vulnerable people.”

On his part, the Lagos State Chairman of CAN, Bishop Stephen Adegbite, dismissed Mhlakela’s prophecy as misleading and unbiblical.

“We have been hearing such claims since we were born, and those calling themselves pastors in this manner are fake 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 are getting their prophecies from. I think some of them are astronomers; they are not pastors of the Lord.

“The Bible says to us that no one knows the time and the season when the Lord will come. It will be like a thief in the night, so for anybody to give a specific date for the rapture is a fallacy, and such should not be respected by any serious-minded Christian,” Adegbite said.

He argued that many of those behind such predictions were only seeking attention and material gain.