A South African pastor, Joshua Mhlakela, and thousands of his followers were disappointed that the rapture did not take place on Tuesday, September 23, 2025, as Mhlakela had predicted.
The prophet, in June, had predicted that the rapture, which is the coming of Jesus Christ to take his followers back to heaven, would happen on Tuesday, 23rd or Wednesday, 24th.
As a result of the prediction, some quit their jobs, while others closed their accounts and put their houses in order in preparation for the coming of Jesus.
The prophecy spurned a trend on social media tagged RaptureTok, featuring stories of people announcing the plans they had made in readiness for the rapture.
Over 321,000 posts were generated on TikTok as of yesterday, Tuesday, with content mentioning the Rapture.
Clips from South Africa show thousands of men, women and children climbing a mountain, where they believed that they would have a vantage view of Jesus when he arrived on Tuesday.
A clip shows the prophet’s followers gazing at the sky in expectation of the rapture.
They were disappointed that the rapture did not take place by nightfall. Many continued to keep vigil on the mountain as Mhlakela listed two days as the possible return dates of Jesus.
So far, the second date is fast proving to be unrealistic as well, as Jesus has yet to arrive at the time of filing this report on the evening of Wednesday.
Past predictions have proved false, but this did not stop the followers of Mhlekela from believing his claims.
Joshua Mhlakela had told CettwinzTV that he had seen visions of Jesus Christ returning on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.
The prophet claimed he saw Jesus sitting on his throne.
He claimed he could hear him very loud and clear, saying, ‘I am coming soon”. He then listed the dates he heard.
The man, Joshua Mhlakela
Mhlekela, born in 1982, lives in Johannesburg but was originally from Cape Town.
He claimed he became a Christian in 2000, and some years later, he saw a vision of an angel as tall as a tree who was looking for demons to cut down.
Mhlekela said that in 2003, he became an assistant pastor, but resigned in 2010 because he felt he had served God.
The prophet claimed he was inspired to start his own church in 2016, but later shot it.
See his followers climbing a mountain and waiting for Jesus here.
