Mike Winger Is ‘Terrified’ for Joshua Mhlakela’s Followers
The way that Joshua Mhlakela is “leveling up” is “super scary,” according to apologist Mike Winger. “I’m terrified for the people who are involved, who still believe this man.” Winger said “the reinterpretation of prophecies that have already failed” signifies a cult, and Mhlakela is counting on his followers forgetting his previous predictions.
“He hates you, Joshua followers,” said Winger. “He doesn’t care about you. It’s the worst kind of depraved indifference. You’re just a tool for his own pleasure. You’re NPCs [non-player characters] in a video game.”
People should view Mhlakela “as not just mistaken [but] as evil,” Winger warned. “If you see him as anything else, you’re going to be prone to fall into more deceptions in the future spiritually.”
Those who already fell prey to Mhlakela’s deceptions shouldn’t despair, Winger said. “Realize that the grace of Christ is there for you. Get back up. Go back to church, because many of you are isolated…Ask your leaders to help you process what happened and learn the lessons and learn to stop setting dates” for Jesus’ return.
Winger added, “We are just to be ready at all times, not to be predicting over and over and over again.”
Although Winger said the CentTwinz YouTubers shouldn’t have platformed Mhlakela, he commended them for asking the false prophet tough questions. When the hosts confronted Mhlakela about his “goal-shifting,” he rambled on in a “comically bad” way, Winger said.
False Prophet Has ‘Got To Be Stopped’
Mike Winger also warned that Joshua Mhlakela—“one of the biggest scumbags of 2025”—is unlikely to stop after the new dates come and go. The teacher will probably set new dates, tell his followers they didn’t have enough faith, or say the rapture did occur and now we’re in the tribulation.
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But because Mhlakela is “dragging so many [people] down with him,” Winger said, “he’s got to be stopped.” Winger added:
I don’t mean through physical violence, but he has to be stopped through public shaming, total awareness, putting on display. And I think that if you learn to spot someone like Joshua, you’ll learn to spot the next guy, too. Because these guys always go in patterns…reinterpreting their prophecies, taking no blame for anything.
