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David Meade describes media claims as ‘fake news’ but says the rapture will occur between
May and December this year
Reports that the world will end on Monday are incorrect, according to the man reported to have said the world will end on Monday.
Numerous news organizations reported this week that the world would be destroyed on 23 April, citing David Meade, a Christian conspiracy theorist who has made a number of incorrect predictions about the end of the world.
But in an interview with the Guardian, Meade described these reports as “fake news”.
Meade, who has written 14 books – mostly focused on the end of the world or the mysterious planet Nibiru, thought by some to be on a collision course with Earth –said he does not in fact believe the world will end on 23 April.
Instead Meade believes that the rapture – when Jesus will appear and save his followers but reject the rest – will occur at some point between May and December of this year. He would not be drawn on a specific date.
But even the rapture will not signify the end of the world, Meade said.
Meade said the rapture will merely bring in seven years of “tribulation”, followed by 1,000 years of “peace and prosperity”, before the world is destroyed.
“So the world isn’t ending anytime soon – in our lifetimes, anyway!” Meade said.
The British newspaper the Daily Express, which regularly cites Meade in news stories about the end of the world, appears to have been the source for the 23 April date. The Express has written more than a dozen stories about the world’s demise in the past week.
Other news organizations then picked up on the story, some debunking it.
Meade has made a number of incorrect predictions about the fate of the world. He predicted that a planet called Nibiru would herald the destruction of Earth on 23 September 2017, which did not happen.
Meade also previously predicted that the seven years of tribulation would start on 15 October 2017. Meade’s tribulation criteria are unclear.
Nasa has said it “knows of no asteroid or comet currently on a collision course with Earth”.
Scientists have several theories about when Earth will be destroyed, although none of the data points to this Monday.
The most widely accepted theory is that the sun, which is already gradually increasing in temperature, will expand and swallow up the planet. Some scientists believe this could happen as soon as 7.6bn years’ time.
