Rapture Fears Swirl on Social Media After Pastor “Predicts” Jesus’ Return

By Tata Mbunwe

A South African pastor’s prediction that the Rapture will occur on Tuesday, September 23 or Wednesday, September 24, 2025, ignited a wave of fear and debate among Christians online.

The claim comes from Joshua Mhlakela, a preacher who shared what he calls a “divine prophecy” on YouTube and in an interview with Centtwinz TV.

According to Mhlakela, Jesus appeared to him in a vision and revealed the exact date of His return—an event the pastor says will align with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.

“The rapture is upon us, whether you are ready or not,” he claimed. “I saw Jesus sitting on his throne, and I could hear him very loud and clear saying, ‘I am coming soon.’ He said to me ‘on the 23rd and 24th of September 2025, I will come back to the Earth.’”

The prophecy has since gone viral on TikTok, with many users making a mockery of it.

September 23–24 coincides with Rosh Hashanah, also known as the Feast of Trumpets—a holiday many Christians believe is symbolic of end-times prophecy.

A History of Failed Predictions

It is not uncommon for individuals and groups to predict specific dates for the Rapture, sometimes by interpreting biblical passages and sometimes claiming personal visions.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses predicted Christ’s return several times, including in 1874, 1914, and 1975.

They interpreted the Rapture as an invisible, ongoing gathering of the faithful rather than a sudden event.

In the 19th century, Baptist preacher William Miller predicted Christ’s second coming for October 22, 1844, convincing tens of thousands of followers to sell their possessions in preparation.

When the day passed and nothing happened, an event known as the “Great Disappointment”, it gave rise to the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

More recently, Harold Camping, an American Christian radio broadcaster, famously predicted Christ’s return for May 21, 2011, but later revised it to October 21, 2011. Neither date came to pass.

What Is the Rapture?

The word “rapture” does not appear in the Bible, but the belief is rooted in passages such as 1 Thessalonians 4:16–17, which says:

“For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.”

The term itself comes from the Latin raptura, meaning “a carrying off or seizure,” which translates the Greek word harpazo—“caught up.”

Many Christians, especially evangelicals, believe Christ’s second coming is a sudden event called Rapture, where the living would be caught up in the air to meet him.

But other Christian denominations like the Catholics and Protestants hold a different belief.

Aside from Thessalonians, 1 Corinthians 15:51–52 further emphasizes the sudden nature of the event:

“Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.”

Despite such predictions, most Christians believe it is not for mankind to know the day or hour of Jesus’ return.

They point to Matthew 24:36, where Jesus himself says the timing remains known only to the Father.

For many believers, that means living faithfully and expectantly, ready for the Rapture at any moment, but careful of anyone who claims to know the date.