After South African Pastor Joshua Mhlakela predicted the Rapture would occur on September 23, coinciding with the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, many evangelical social media users shared how they were preparing for their ascension to heaven. However, the subsequent lack of a rapture has left some to deal with the material consequences of their efforts.
“The Rapture is upon us. Whether you are ready or you are not ready, the Rapture in 14 days from now is going to take place,” Mhlakela said in a video posted in early September. “No human being on this earth is ready for what is coming. I began to hear literally in my ear the sound of the trumpet.”
The pastor, on the CENTTWINZ TV podcast, to 426,000 subscribers, said he was “a billion percent sure” the Rapture would take place on Tuesday.
He previously claimed in a video from June that Jesus appeared to him in a dream in 2018, saying, “On the 23rd and the 24th of September, 2025, I will come to take my church.”
The damage left behind
A scripture from First Thessalonians, seemingly referencing the Rapture (the beginning of the end of human history in Christian theology), reads that followers of Christ “who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.”
Mhlakela’s prediction led more people to Google ‘Rapture’ than popular singer Taylor Swift in recent days, according to People magazine.
Those who believed in the prediction were advised to avoid making weekend plans, leave their cars and phones unlocked, and make things accessible for those left behind, according to The New York Times. Politico also reported that some believers had reportedly quit their jobs and moved states in preparation.
The prediction also left an emotional impact on many believers, according to Politico. In one TikTok with over 1.5 million views, a woman cried that she would soon be separated from her children, and others expressed their anxieties for their pets, which they didn’t anticipate would join them in heaven.
Some social media users spoke of preparing automatic feeders and bulk buying pet food, hoping those left behind would find their animals and take over their care.