Despite warnings from online prophets and TikTok evangelists, the Rapture scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025, did not occur. Concerned citizens all over the world braced for the imminent rapture last week, ready to ascend to Heaven while those left behind faced the Final Judgement. However, the would-be doomsday seemingly came and went without any effect on the population.
“I was excited because I thought I would be freed from the drudgery of teaching, and then the rapture didn’t happen. So then I had to wake up again on Wednesday to come back,” English teacher Susie Choe said.
The craze started with a prophecy from preacher Joshua Mhlakela. He predicted that the second coming of Jesus would coincide with the Jewish holiday Rosh Hashanah on a podcast on June 16, 2025 based on a blurry vision. This message quickly made its way from viewers of the YouTube channel the CentFam to Christian TikTok, prompting many dramatic responses.
Under the #rapture on TikTok, nearly 363,000 posts have been shared showing preparations and predictions. People began to rid themselves of their earthly possessions, including a woman who claims to have sold her house. They quit their jobs and refused to study for exams in preparation for the end of times.
At a local convention for Apocalypse Predictions and Wrongdoing, one of many gatherings sparked by the viral prophecy, President Barnaby Rapturous announced his resignation to cleanse his soul. Now that the rapture has not chosen him, he regrets this. “I never would have done this if I knew [the rapture] wasn’t going to take me. I should have been more selfish and spent less time with my kids,” Rapturous said.
While many people still remain on Earth, it is always possible that only a handful of the truest believers were selectively plucked, and the rest are damned. Reporters have also reached out to the souls raptured, but have received no responses so far. Some left behind attention-seekers have come forth to share their experiences.
“I woke up at like 3:00 a.m. because my bed was shaking. I thought it was the end of times, but this wasn’t even Tuesday—or was it? I feel like everything has been so rapture, rapture, rapture I’ve lost track of all time,” sophomore Theophilus Leftbehind said. “I was just waiting and waiting and then, BOOM, nothing happened.”
Some have speculated that this apparent “shaking” could have been attributed to a local earthquake happening around the same time. Unfortunately, the cause could never be fully determined.
Tuesday morning, people dressed nicely, left kind, educational Bible verses in their kitchens, and tried their best to carry on with the day. Many prayed extra hard to get their golden ticket from Jesus. Users populated TikTok with videos of their rapture outfits, and the excitement was palpable.
“I swear, I felt something pulling me up to the sky. I was dressed nicely and I was ready,” local elevator operator and minister Saul Salvation said. “Now, I believe the prophecy was misinterpreted. It is not an event, but a spiritual state of being. Those who are truly pure have already been raptured.”
Other possible heathens commented on their terrible pre-rapture choices. “I really prepared for this. I thought, the world is ending. I’m lactose intolerant. The world is ending. Let me eat that tub of ice cream,” senior Celeste Tael-Misteck said. She later reported mild stomach pain, but no signs of divine judgment.
