What People Are Doing Wrong This Week: Admiration
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Are you prepared for the Rapture of the Church and the ensuing days of turmoil? After all, according to some online evangelical Christians, it will happen today (or perhaps tomorrow), just in time for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish Feast of Trumpets.
Whether true believers will meet Jesus in heaven this week remains to be seen, so I’m trying to keep an open mind, but I’d like to share what to expect if the Rapture does occur. According to the New King James Version of 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, “The Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trump of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.”
Dramatic, but not the end of the world (as they say). While believers in Christ, both living and dead, will pass away, the wicked will remain on earth to deal with the consequences. Nicolas Cage starred in a documentary about this in 2014.
Why do people think the Rapture will happen this week?
The genesis of this “Rapture” wave appears to have been an interview with South African Joshua Mhlakela, which he conducted on the YouTube channel and podcast CENTTWINZ TV several months ago. Mr. Joshua said that he personally knows Jesus and that in 2018, he had a dream in which the Lord told him, “The 2026 World Cup will not happen.” Jesus later appeared to him in the flesh and said, “On September 23 and 24, 2025, I will come for My Church.” Seven years of tribulation will follow (hence the cancellation of the World Cup). After that, according to Mr. Joshua, Jesus will return to Earth, presumably to deal with us pagans.
Mr. Joshua’s prediction gained popularity among some evangelical Christians, and believers began spreading the date on social media, particularly under the TikTok hashtags #RaptureTok and#rapture2025 , where people shared their thoughts on the matter , cited dubious evidence to support the date, attempted to convert unbelievers in fast food restaurants , and offered practical advice on how to prepare for their ascension to heaven to commune with beautiful angels. Or so it seems.
How many Christians are actually preparing for the Rapture this week?
While Mr. Joshua’s interview undoubtedly influenced some , the nature of social media makes it difficult to determine how many people are preparing for the Rapture and how many are simply poking fun at it. I spent the entire morning watching Rapture-themed videos, and some people seem sincere , but many are simply poking fun at an easy target , and there are plenty of people who are illustrating Poe’s Law , because I really can’t say for sure.
Ultimately, I don’t think many people sincerely believe in the Rapture. It seems more people point and laugh than prepare, so everyone is a little off. Mainstream evangelical churches tend to ignore statements about specific Rapture dates when they appear in the wider culture, and, more importantly for Christians, there’s a biblical problem with this prediction.
If you think you know the day of rapture, you are mistaken.
If we follow the Bible (and why not, right?), then either Mr. Joshua and everyone else on TikTok predicting the Rapture date are wrong, or the Bible itself is wrong. According to the Apostle Mark, when asked when the End Times would begin, Jesus replied, “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” He made no exception for TikTok users.
Mark’s companion, the Apostle Matthew, agreed with him, writing, “Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming” in Matthew 24:42. “If the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief was coming, he would have watched and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect,” Matthew continues.
So, if you ‘re expecting the Rapture, it won’t happen; it’s a self-defeating prophecy. And even if you’re not prepared to accept the Bible as the word of God Himself, the Rapture seems unlikely based on past predictions.
So many delights, so little time
Dr. Joshua and the denizens of RaptureTok aren’t the first to predict the end of the world, and while I can’t say for sure, they probably won’t be the last. Hippolytus of Rome predicted the end of the world in 500 AD. German monk Michael Stiefel predicted October 19, 1533, would be the last day. Baptist preacher William Miller predicted the Rapture would occur on October 22, 1844, leaving between 50,000 and 100,000 Millerites sorely disappointed on October 23. Of the more recent doomsday predictors, none has been as influential as Harold Camping .
Harold Camping: King of the Biblical Apocalypse
Harold Camping, an engineer and radio host, is perhaps the most famous modern-day doomsday predictor. He founded Family Radio in 1958 and built it into a Christian media empire broadcasting to more than 150 American markets nationwide. Then, in the early 1990s, Camping became convinced of the imminent rapture of the Church. Using his own approach to biblical numerology, Camping calculated the timing of the Last Day and published it in his 1992 book, 1994? The date: September 6, 1994.
When the world stubbornly refused to explode in the mid-1990s, Camping recalculated. The true date, he said, was May 21, 2011. “Camping was 100% certain,” says Dr. Charles Sarno, a professor of sociology at Dominican University of California and a lecturer at Berkeley. “He said, ‘The Bible guarantees it,’ and what better guarantee could you ask for?”
In the months leading up to May 21st, Camping launched a massive advertising campaign: billboards, endless radio broadcasts, even mobile homes wrapped in plastic with doomsday warnings . It worked. “On May 20th, the most popular Google search in English was ‘May 21st,’ and ABC News and other major television networks reported on it, and the BBC covered it, so it gained almost worldwide visibility,” says Sarno.
May 21st passed, and Camping was forced to field calls from confused listeners of his radio show, asking why he’d gotten it wrong. Eventually, Camping again moved the apocalypse to October 21st, 2011, but this time it didn’t work either. Shortly thereafter, he suffered a massive stroke and disappeared from public view, leaving his subordinates to squabble over control of the remnants of his media empire.
Why do people believe in the end of the world?
We won’t know for sure until the end of the week, but whether you’re guided by math, history, or the Bible, you probably won’t have to cancel your weekend plans. However, the world is indeed coming to an end—at least your world—and it’ll likely end in a hospital bed for you, not a flight to heaven to be with Jesus.
If I could swallow that, maybe I’d believe in the Rapture, too. End-of-the-world predictions offer certainty, drama, the joy of possessing secret knowledge, and the possibility of entering heaven without dying, so I don’t envy the TikTok doomsday fans. I feel sorry for them, because time marches on, and life, strangely enough, continues to crawl along, leaving them struggling to explain why they’re still here among the rest of us idiots.
Unless they’re wrong. In that case, don’t write to me—I’ll be daydreaming.