A South African pastor, Joshua Mhlakela, is under fire after his widely publicized prophecy that the Rapture would occur between September 23 and 24 failed to materialize, leaving followers disillusioned and critics emboldened.
Mhlakela had gone viral earlier this year after claiming that Jesus appeared to him in a vision and told him the Rapture would take place during the Jewish Feast of Trumpets, also known as Rosh Hashanah. The Rapture, a doctrine embraced by some evangelical Christians, teaches that Jesus will return to take believers to heaven, leaving others to face tribulation before the world’s end.
The prophecy sparked a wave of online fervor, particularly on TikTok, where users coined the term “RaptureTok.” But when the predicted days passed without incident, disappointment quickly spread.
On September 23, Mhlakela hosted a livestream where he urged viewers to “be patient” as midnight approached, assuring them that “the Lord is on his way” with “a host of angels.” At 12:17 a.m. on September 24, he and his guests signed off, telling followers to “keep waiting” because “September 23rd, 24th. One of these two days, he is coming.” The broadcast has since been deleted, and Mhlakela has remained silent online.
The fallout has been swift. Several preachers and influencers who had amplified his message have now apologized. Among them was Australian preacher Tilahun Desalegn, who sold his car in anticipation of leaving earth. “I won’t need her beyond September, because I’m going home to where my father in heaven is,” he said in a video that later went viral. After the prophecy failed, he admitted: “I will never publicly talk about the Rapture again.”
Nigerian preacher Kingsalem Igwe also issued an apology to his followers, saying, “I only believed a man who claimed Jesus told him.”
Many Christians criticized Mhlakela from the outset, pointing to scripture. “Do not be deceived! No man knows when Jesus will return,” one viewer wrote during the livestream. Prominent pastor and author Vladimir Savchuk also warned that anyone setting a date for the Rapture is “directly contradicting Jesus’s word.”
Mhlakela first revealed his prophecy three months ago in an interview with CettwinzTV, where he insisted he had seen Jesus seated on a throne, who told him plainly that he would return on September 23 or 24, 2025. The prediction stirred both fear and humor online, with TikTok users posting memes and videos—one even hoisting his dog into the air as if preparing it for salvation.
While many now dismiss the failed prophecy as another in a long history of unfulfilled end-time predictions, the episode underscores how quickly religious claims can spread online—and how damaging the fallout can be when they collapse under unmet expectations.