The South African pastor, who made news headlines when he made a failed prediction about the date rapture will take place in 2025, has now shared a new date.
Joshua Mhlakela previously predicted that the rapture would occur on September 23, 2025, during the Jewish Feast of Trumpets.
His prediction failed. Now, he has claimed that the rapture will now take place between October 12 and 13, 2026.
Mhlakela said he had calculated the timing of the rapture. He said the new date was based on his interpretation of the biblical Feast of Trumpets, which he now believes falls in October rather than September.
Last year, followers of Mhlakela sold their properties, quit their jobs, and prepared to be taken up to heaven after Mhlakela predicted that the rapture would occur on September 23, 2025.
On the said date, they gathered, praying and looking up to the sky, but nothing happened.
When the date passed without the rapture occurring, Mhlakela said the delay was not a mistake but part of God’s plan to give people more time to repent.
He has now claimed that his earlier calculation was wrong because the Feast of Trumpets had been placed about a month earlier than its “true” date. He said additional visions, including one involving two full moons, convinced him that the biblical calendar was off by a month.
The report notes that the Book of Exodus does not state that the sun was in Aries during the Exodus.
His latest prediction has also been criticised by other Christians. Pastor and author Vladimir Savchuk said setting a specific date for Jesus’ return contradicts biblical teachings, adding that Scripture says the Antichrist must be revealed before Jesus returns.
Mhlakela’s new claim has renewed debates over attempts to predict the timing of the Rapture and whether such predictions are consistent with Christian teachings.
The rapture is a belief among some Christians that believers will be taken up to Heaven to meet Jesus Christ before a period of intense suffering known as the Tribulation.