Sherri Shepherd Went to Jail Because of a Failed Rapture Prediction

Sherri Shepherd revealed how she went to jail for eight days because of a Rapture prophecy.

To be clear, she wasn’t talking about the one that was supposed to happen on Sept. 24, an idea that was popularized by a South African pastor. On her talk show Sherri, Shepherd reflected on why she didn’t believe this recent Rapture prediction — because she’d fallen for one before.

“I have been through this before. I used to be in a religion that told me that the Rapture was coming,” Shepherd recalled. “They told us to get our house in order. And I said, ‘Why? I’m not going to need a house where I am going. I don’t need those worldly possessions.'”

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Because she didn’t believe in the prophecy, Shepherd decided not to take care of serious expenses that are punishable by law.

“I didn’t pay my bills. I didn’t pay my taxes,” she explained. “I did not pay my traffic tickets because why would I pay anything when the world’s about to end? My registration had been expired for two years. I had seriously $10,000 worth of unpaid moving violations.”

After admitting she didn’t show up to court to pay for parking tickets, Shepherd revealed what happened when the Rapture never occurred.

“The world never ended. I went to jail,” she said. “I was on my way to perform at the Comedy Store in Hollywood and I didn’t know, so they picked me up. I went to jail for eight days and because I fell for the Rapture, I became a hardened criminal.”

Shepherd gave a somewhat different spin on this time in her life in a 2006 interview. In a conversation with Belief Net, Shepherd explained how becoming disillusioned with and leaving the Jehovah’s Witnesses left her convinced that “I was going to die and that I was going to go to hell.”

“I felt like, well, I’m not a Jehovah’s Witness and that’s the true religion,” she said. “I can’t go to church because those are from the devil. I felt like one of the walking dead. I was never mad at God. I just felt like God was mad at me.”

It was that mindset, she said, that led her to unpaid tickets and, eventually, jail.

“I felt like…, ‘I’m going to die, so if I’m going to die, I’m going to write all kinds of bounced checks,'” she recalled. “‘I’m going to sleep with a lot of people. I’m going to not pay my bills. I’m going to die anyway!’

“There’s one scripture, ‘Let’s eat, drink, and be merry, because we’re all going to die.’ “That’s really how I felt. Let’s do everything!” she continued. “I went to jail because my registration was two years expired. Police would stop me and give me a ticket to appear in court. I had like eight of those. My bench warrants totaled $9,000.”

The latest Rapture warning came from South African pastor Joshua Mhlakela who claimed that he saw Jesus in a vision returning on Rosh Hashanah.

“The rapture is upon us, whether you are ready or not,” Mhlakela said in an interview. “I saw Jesus sitting on his throne, and I could hear him very loud and clear saying, ‘I am coming soon.’”