Malawian Man Sentenced For Wrongly Predicting End Of The World

It's bad enough that the world didn't end on May 21 for followers of Christian fringe group leader Harold Camping, but things got worse for a Malawian disciple who pleaded guilty for distributing false leaflets about the end of the world.

Saduki Mwambene, a 39-year-old bicycle repairman, got six month suspended sentence for distributing pamphlets about Camping's doomsday predictions, Agence France Presse reported on June 12.

"Police opened a case for him for circulating false documents that threatened the peace and security of citizens," an official with the magistrate's court in Chitipa district told the AFP.

A judge released Mwamben on bail, but ordered him to come back for a hearing after May 21 to prove that he'd given out wrong apocalyptic information.

Camping, who suffered a stroke over the weekend, became a short-lived media sensation in the run-up to May 21 -- the day he said would be the Rapture.

HIs followers plastered the cities in the U.S. and around the world with billboards proclaiming that humanity's time on Earth was short.

Comments

[Marty Albertsen]

12:29 AM on 06/15/2011

It's silly to prosecute him, but Malawi is not excactly a bastion of free speech and democracy.

[Jeffin90019]

01:36 PM on 06/14/2011

The kult of the water walker is the wackiest "religion" in the world.

[wakawaka09]

08:03 AM on 06/14/2011

One would think that being wedded to such an inane belief system would be sufficient punishment in itself.

[NunyaBus99]

12:13 AM on 06/14/2011

Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful.
Roman philosophe­r Seneca

[FaisalNahian]

12:36 AM on 06/14/2011

true!!

[ltgdir]

11:16 PM on 06/13/2011

He got off easy. Every "fundamentalist" conservative Christian should be even now planning to stone all those involved for being false prophets. That is, if they have any real consistency in their sense of obedience to scripture.

[Nonpartay]

01:36 AM on 06/14/2011

I don't think they really understand what false prophets are. Jesus said, "You will know them by their fruits" and that a good tree cannot bring forth bad fruit while a bad tree cannot bring forth good fruit. Seems to me tricking people and lying to them about something like the end of the world, which you would think most people would just ignore as the ravings of a lunatic but some do believe them, is bad fruit off a bad tree. Fruit is defined as "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control." (Gal. 5:22-23) Somehow, I don't see these phony predictions as exemplifying any of this, and it caused a lot of people a lot of trouble and some of them a lot of money. ::sigh:: I do wish people would stop giving religion a bad name. However, I'm not sure stoning them is quite the answer. :)

[maab76]

09:34 AM on 06/14/2011

If we lived by the TEACHINGS rather than rank memorization (of questionably accurate translations of the original texts - as well as which were actually chosen for the "book") we would be in much better shape.

Did appreciate your listing of the 12 gifts of the Holy Spirit.

[KingKrub]

11:11 PM on 06/13/2011

Awww... Bicycle Repairman! Thank goodness you're here!

[robphilnz]

09:54 PM on 06/13/2011

It's a bit like suicide: you only face charges if it fails to happen.

[Just Legalize It]

08:36 PM on 06/13/2011

Dinosaurs were on Earth for roughly 160 million years. The arrogance of man believes that we are the most intelligent and dominant species of the whole universe and that the forces behind the existence of our universe are focused on only this planet and nothing else on the universe.

At what point do we accept the fact that the odds are that we are not the most advanced species in the universe? At what point do we accept that not a single human being on this planet knows exactly how the universe started? At what point do we accept that many different civilizations that could be millions and even billions of years more advanced than us have a direct connection to not only our existence but also our development?

We are not alone in the Universe. The Earth is not the only celestial being with life on it. We also know that the Earth is AT LEAST 4.56 billion years old and that the known universe is at least 14 billion years old. How can we be so arrogant as to think that humans, which have been around for much less than 1 million years, are the most advanced beings in the universe?

Humans are to the Universe as atoms are to humans. We are nothing.

[dbsherri]

08:53 PM on 06/13/2011

My, but you know a lot! (not). It's okay to have opinions. Spreading opinions as fact is dangerous. I don't BELIEVE we are alone in the Universe. I also don't believe man is at the top of the food chain. Especially after watching a movie called Micro(something). It was awesome...watching how other spieces used just what it needs, recyles what it doesn't need, and doesn't waste anything...shares, supports, helps...we are far from the most intelligent.

But I don't see how your ramblings have anything to do with the story. And by the way, you might be nothing, but the people I love are not nothing

[gecko013]

09:50 PM on 06/13/2011

We are as old as the Universe. The atoms that make up your physical body came from stars which came from something else, and so on. Time doesn't exist. It is an illusion fabricated to exploit you and I. And it is not a benchmark for which humans must obey and gain seniority in order to understand and contemplate the very nature of everything. That advanced civilization you speak of is accessable to humans this very moment. We need only tear down all the false systems we created within ourselves and allow love ...A foundation of love will support magnificent structures mirroring a magnificent Universe.

[vanillalizard]

08:05 PM on 06/13/2011

at least the false "profits" are being brought to task for their fraud.

[Nonpartay]

07:48 PM on 06/13/2011

I don't understand these people. If the world were really going to end on May 21, what was the point of putting up posters about it? If the only way someone could somehow escape the effects of this world ending was to accept Jesus, wouldn't it have been more to the point to put up signs just about that and leave out the stuff about the end of the world?

I once went to a Christmas concert at a megachurch (I had never been there, a coworker invited me, and I wanted to see what it was like), which ended up having two sermons along with the music. The second sermon was basically this message: If you don't accept Jesus, you're going to hell. It really ruined the Christmas spirit for me. Do you accept Jesus just to save your skin, not out of love? How is that supposed to have any benefit for anyone? It doesn't seem like a pure motive to me. If the only reason you accept Jesus is to save yourself because you think the world is ending, that seems just as impure a motivation. I'll never understand why Christians use threats to try to get people to accept Jesus. Is that really necessary or even a good idea? Somehow I doubt it.

[theyahwist]

04:52 AM on 06/14/2011

Nonpartay, you seem to have questions regarding the next step and the so-called christian world has no answers for you. Maybe you can meet at [e-mail] and see what truths exist in the Holy Script that we all should know about and maybe share. I enjoyed reading your post as I had similar questions myself.

[maab76]

10:25 AM on 06/14/2011

Be sure to assess your gullibility factor before you go.

[Andre Fabre]

03:32 PM on 06/13/2011

It would be a great day when the world stops believing those apocalyptic stories of old... What nonsense!

[Hopalongpoppyseed]

04:04 PM on 06/13/2011

The Apocalypse is indeed nonsense, but as I am sure you know, it's great for controlling the gullible and self centered.

[Nonpartay]

07:59 PM on 06/13/2011

It's only really nonsense if you try to take it literally. It's obviously allegory and symbolism and open to many interpretations, imho. A Catholic once told me he thought it was the history of the Christian Church up till that time (around 100 CE) in code. I thought that was kinda interesting. I've also heard some say it's all about the history of Islam, also in code, of course.

[Joel Kent Melville]

01:17 PM on 06/13/2011

shame on you for believing a false prophet!

[buggeroffyou666]

06:02 PM on 06/13/2011

All prophets are false prophets because the myth they are based on is false.

[nfatt1]

12:56 PM on 06/13/2011

The third world legal system is more advanced than ours. Who Knew ?

[Steve Lives]

12:58 PM on 06/13/2011

France is 3rd world?

[Vandoo]

01:36 PM on 06/13/2011

No, but Malawi is

[A-Superstitionist]

01:38 PM on 06/13/2011

Agence France Presse reported about a court case in Chitipa, the capital of 3rd world country Malawi:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malawi

[EdRea]

03:16 PM on 06/13/2011

That is, if you consider restriction of speech over freedom of speech to be more advanced.

There are those who argue you are wrong.

[Green Bay Gentleman]

05:06 PM on 06/13/2011

Actually you could draw similarities to yelling fire in a movie theater. It is not protected speech if it causes people to panic and can lead to harm.

[vanillalizard]

08:06 PM on 06/13/2011

if defrauding people of god-only-knows how much money is "freedom of speech", we have too much of it here.

[Hope Richardson]

12:37 PM on 06/13/2011

Poor guy. Camping ought to be sued or something for all the damaged he cause. If not, then arrested for fraud (yes, I know he actually can't be arrested for this, but I wish he could -_-).

[Nonpartay]

08:05 PM on 06/13/2011

You'd think he'd know better. He made a prediction like this before and it didn't come true. If I were he, I'd have a little more humility about it, even suggesting it's a possibility, but you never really know, so many have made these kinds of predictions and nothing happened. The Jehovah's Witnesses said the world was going to end in 1975. People were completely freaked out about it. When December 31 came and went, they lost half their members, but the other half stayed. Go figure. The point is though that they've been predicting the end of the world for so long, you'd think most people would finally have it figured out that the world is not going to end like they think it will. Ages end. New ages begin but the planet? Not for quite a few more billions of years from what I understand.

[Candide33]

11:51 PM on 06/13/2011

The Jehovah's Witnesses have pulled their end of the world fraud in 1914, 1918, 1925 and 1975, each time they made out like bandits because they convinced many in their flock to give away all of their belongings.

[jakeriley]

12:23 PM on 06/13/2011

Does this mean they're going to arrest every Christian, Muslim, and Jew too?

[LebronJeremy]

12:46 PM on 06/13/2011

Probably not Jews because they usually don't try to convert everyone.

[SubgeniusMustHaveSlack]

05:26 PM on 06/13/2011

They try to convert Palestinians into dirt.