The failed rapture prophecy of a South African pastor Joshua Mhlakela has left many who believed in his prediction in shock and despair, with some lamenting losing jobs, homes, and belongings.

Mhlakela had predicted that the rapture would take place between Tuesday, September 23, and Wednesday, September 24.

Mhlakela who claimed that Jesus appeared to him in a vision and revealed the exact date when the world would end, stated that the rapture would take place during the Feast of Trumpets, also called Rosh Hashanah, a two-day Jewish festival that some Christians believe pointed prophetically to 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.

The prophecy later went viral and generated mixed reactions.

While some dismissed it as another doomsday prediction, others took it seriously, resigning from their jobs, selling off property, and preparing for what they believe will be the end of days.

Using the hashtag #RaptureTok, many users on TikTok expressed their preparation for the rapture.

One user, Hannah Gallman, claimed God confirmed the prophecy with her in a vision.

She said, “When I heard about Joshua’s vision, I took it seriously because it lined up with a timeframe I was already looking at. I really do believe this is happening next week. I’m not going to say 100 per cent that it will, but the confirmation God has given me seems to be pointing to next week.”

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.

Pastor Chris Okotie, of the Household of God Church, 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, in an interview with Sunday PUNCH, cautioned Christians against following “heretical preachers”.

He added that such preachers should face sanctions.

He said, “These types of people are those that the government should penalise for misguiding and misinforming the people. The pastor should be raptured into detention.”

Ayuba noted that it was regrettable that some people still fell for Mhlakela’s prophecy, adding that history was marked by failed 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.