• A South African pastor claimed Jesus told him the rapture would occur on September 23 to 24, timed to Rosh Hashanah, and the prophecy spread widely on TikTok (despite no evidence).
  • The #rapture hashtag has amassed over 350k videos.
  • Now that the anticipated rapture date has passed, posts from some of the most viral believers are being deleted.

Yesterday it was 70 degrees and sunny where I live. Honestly, just the perfect early autumn day. You’d have never known just by looking outside that it was the day that a large sector of the internet was convinced that the literal rapture would ensue. This past weekend, over on the evangelical Christian side of TikTok, word caught on that Jesus Christ would return to Earth on either Tuesday, September 23, or Wednesday, September 24. “Why?” You may rightfully ask. Well, the prediction stems back to a South African pastor named Joshua Mhlakela, who claims that Jesus Christ himself visited him to share this rapture prophecy as a warning.

During Jesus's big comeback, which was meant to coincide with the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah (aka the Jewish New Year), Joseph said that our Lord and Savior would treat his most loyal believers to a trip up to heaven, while the remainder of the population would be forced to face the judgment of God on Earth for seven years. Joseph decided to share this divine update on the future of mankind on a podcast (notably not New Heights or Call Her Daddy, where most of this year’s biggest revelations have dropped) this past June.

Joseph’s alleged message from Jesus hit TikTok, and although it was presented with no backup evidence beyond his own conviction, it sent ChristianTok into complete chaos. The hashtag #rapture has just over 350,00 videos filed under it (some of which feature people who genuinely accepted that 9/23 marked the end times, and most that dismissed this entire thing as a collective bout of religious psychosis). In the days leading up to the predicted rapture this past weekend, users in the former camp posted about quitting their jobs, selling their belongings, and praying for some last-minute good faith from the powers up above. The rapture prediction’s specificity and the mania surrounding it helped it escape the ChristianTok bubble, which is why the majority of viral rapture-related videos are pure satire. The fake updates from heaven were my favorite.

But now that September 23 has come and gone, curiosity begged me to check in with the biggest accounts that were pushing the rapture narrative. And even though the anticipated window still has yet to end (Joseph did mention September 24 would be a rapture day too), many of the main RaptureTok truthers have already begun to go private or delete their accounts. But one archivist refuses to let this moment in history pass without record. Over on The Rapture Clownery Archive 2025 page, many of the quickly disappearing rapture warnings are being collected and organized into playlists based on the creators who posted them. “I have them in the purest versions, downloaded straight off of the accounts[s] with as little editing as possible,” the admin shared in an intro video. “I’m here for all of your ‘apocalypse that never happened needs.’”

Some of the main RaptureTok creators, like Tilahun Desalegn (the one who sold his car), are refusing to give up. In a recent update, he shared that God sent him the message “let’s fly 9/25,” meaning that the rapture date has been extended/postponed a day. Hannah Gallman posted a similar disclaimer: “I never said 100% that [the rapture] will be September 23rd.” So stay on the lookout for that.

The man who started all of this drama, Pastor Joshua Mhlakela, actually hopped on a now-deleted livestream to keep track of his status during the rapture. Just after midnight on September 24, he said, “I wonder how God works this out, in terms of the minute and the second...please keep waiting with us, he is coming. September 23rd, 24th. One of these two days, he is coming.”

I can think of no better time to reflect on how dangerously powerful a 30-second podcast clip can be.

As we wait, I can think of no better time to reflect on how dangerously powerful a 30-second podcast clip can be. While plenty of the RaptureTok action was all fun and games, this week’s series of events served as proof of how quickly misinformation spreads and how eager people are to do the spreading (and even make major life decisions based on it). Hopefully, the next time that a viral apocalypse prediction hits our feeds, this current one’s turnout will serve as a learning lesson.