The local leader of an end-of-world prophecy group, Johannes Coetzee, burst into tears at a press conference in Nelspruit, Mpumalanga, when quizzed about how he got the date so wrong, Beeld reported on Wednesday.
“We are spiritual prostitutes. We sinned by confusing people,” Coetzee said.
“We are begging God for forgiveness. It is obvious that we misinterpreted the information in the Bible.”
At one stage during Tuesday’s press conference he started crying, saying he took the blame on himself.
Coetzee and about 80 of his followers booked themselves into a Johannesburg hotel over the weekend to wait for the end of world on Saturday, as predicted by United States evangelist Harold Camping.
“There was peace in our hearts. But then, when nothing happened, fear started setting in and we got scared.”
Coetzee said they were wrong about two things: the earthquakes and the predictions that Christians would ascend into heaven.
However, he insisted that Saturday was still the start of the end of the world and that the world would definitely end on October 21. This time, it would be destroyed by “sulphur and fire”.
When asked by Beeld if he would be hosting a press conference again on October 22, he replied: “No. Let’s see what happens.”
Meanwhile, South African evangelist Angus Buchan, convener of the so-called Mighty Men gatherings, posted a clip on YouTube that the Bible clearly stated that nobody knew when the end of the world would come.
If people knew their Bible, they would know this, he said, adding that he would be overjoyed if Jesus returned to Earth tomorrow, or if Jesus returned in a thousand years. — Sapa