Prepare for the worst: The world will end by Wednesday at the latest, according to a preacher whose prediction has swept the globe.
Joshua Mhlakela, a South African pastor, claimed Jesus came to him in a series of dreams and gave him signs based on a soccer tournament pointing to the world ending by Tuesday Sept. 23, or Wednesday Sept. 24 at the latest.
The prediction, one in a long line of dates for the Rapture which have so far failed to materialize, languished on a YouTube channel for months but with only hours to go, became a viral phenomenon.
“He [Jesus] said:‘There will be no World Cup 2026’… Because life on Earth will not be business as usual for those who are left behind,” the pastor said about one of his visions in an interview.
The pastor then explained that he had to research when the next soccer World Cup would take place and discovered that it would be held in the U.S, Canada and Mexico.
The pastor’s “main” vision gave him the almost precise dates. This time, he claims he was awake, and that Jesus told him: “On the 23rd and 24th of September 2025, I will come to take My church.”
“He [Jesus] used the word Exodus, but He was talking about the Rapture,” pastor Mhlakela said.
The Rapture is a position held by some Christians that believers will be “snatched away” by God and “meet the Lord in the air.” Non-believers will be left behind to face tribulation and God’s judgment on Earth.
The word “rapture” does not appear in the Bible and was popularized by 19th Century British preacher John Nelson Darby.
A recent survey found 63 percent of America’s Evangelical Christians believe we are living in the end times.
Some of that number said they had started getting ready to be taken away by God.
One user claimed on TikTok that they had sold their car, while another prepared her home for those who would be “left behind,” leaving Bibles for them.
The South African pastor’s prediction is hardly the first; so far, prophets of the Rapture have yet to get the date right.
Intriguingly, it is not even the first time the end of the world has been predicted to fall on the same date as the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah.
In 1988, former NASA rocket engineer Edgar Whisenant also predicted that the rapture would occur during Rosh Hashanah, which that year fell between September 11 and 13. It did not.
Inevitably, others mocked the preacher’s prediction.
“Look, if nothing else, the Rapture might make rent affordable again for those of us left behind,” a user on X said, offering an optimistic take on the end of times.
“We should all collectively pretend like we witnessed the rapture on Tuesday & make them think they got left behind,” one user posted on X.
A TikTok user described seeing a woman standing outside, naked, staring up at the sky on Rapture Day. “Unfortunately, she had not ascended,” the user said, before adding, “Do clothes prevent you from ascending?”
Late-night host Stephen Colbert addressed the rapture on The Late Show on Monday.
“As it says about the return of Christ in Matthew 25:13, ’Ye shall know neither the day nor the hour—unless you’re some random dude in South Africa,’” Colbert said.
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