The pastor at the centre of controversial reports he was charging for supposed selfies of himself in Heaven now claims the original Facebook post detailing the revelations was fake.
Pastor Paseka Motsoeneng, also known as Prophet Mboro, is being investigated by South Africa's Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities (CRL) for allegedly selling images of heaven, but he is accusing the commission's chair of using the inquest to sully his church's reputation.
Prophet Mboro, who last year faced an inquiry for not filing his church's financial audit, was recently faced with the threat of more charges after reports circulated that he claimed to have been captured to heaven on Easter Sunday and took photos of God's kingdom, reported Sowetan Live.
The CRL was alerted to reports that Mboro was asking for a donation of R5000 to receive the heaven selfies through WhatApp accounts.
CRL commission chair Thoko Mkhwanazi Xaluva earlier stated that they would be looking into the heaven selfies claims and were considering filing charges against Mboro.
"Millions of people take religion very serious and for him to say he met Jesus's beautiful Xhosa wife is an insult to the religion," Mkhwanazi-Xaluva said.
After the backlash he received after allegedly charging for the photos, Christian Daily reported last week that the pastor claimed to have lost the phone bearing the photos in the carwash.
Now, he is denying that he made the claim of going to heaven in the first place, saying that the Facebook account that announced that he went to heaven was fake. He also threatened to file charges against those who made the account.
"I watched the news and heard a woman who was behaving like a nuts girl [talking about Mboro] and I want to say I'm a Christian and those [her comments] are an insult to my calling and the entire Christianity," said Mboro.
In an interview with Sowetan LIVE, the pastor said he never went to heaven.
"I went to heaven? So you mean I'm dead? I'm going to open a case against people who opened the Facebook page. I will also be suing Xaluva tomorrow," said Mboro.
Mboro said Xaluva should be held accountable for her statements.
"She has insulted me and she has damaged my name and she's going to pay me with her commission. The commission, was it to destroy churches or protect religions? What was its purpose?" he asked.
