#RaptureTok: Some Christians believe the world is ending today - and some have quit their jobs

Dubbed “RaptureTok”, this is a corner of TikTok which is hotly anticipating the Rapture, a biblical belief that faithful Christians, living and dead, shall soon be swept up in the sky with their Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 

Suddenly, "RaptureTok” quickly became a meme, with users making parody-style clips discussing religion, practitioners of the Christian faith who believe the end is near, and additional content surrounding the trending topic. 

So widespread is the belief that some believers are even selling their cars and quitting their jobs in anticipation for the Great Return of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Faithful TikTokers believe the Rapture will arrive today - Tuesday 23 of September.

The specific date came from Joshua Mhlakela, a South African pastor who claims that he saw Jesus in a vision, returning to the world on Rosh Hashanah (New Year in Judaism).

In an interview with CettwinzTV, Mhlakela warned, “The Rapture is upon us, whether you are ready or not. I saw Jesus sitting on his throne, and I could hear him very loud and clear saying, 'I am coming soon.'"

Mhlakela then gave his prediction a bit of breathing room, clarifying that the Rapture will occur "on the 23rd and 24th of September 2025."

When asked how confident he was, Mhlakela said he was “a billion percent sure.”

As the phenomenon began to catch fire, and even spread to the wider web, creators began offering practical guidelines on the rules to follow during the Rapture - some even made videos outlining the dos and don'ts, with others sharing words of advice to anyone looking forward to being swept up to heaven on Tuesday.

"When you finally start moving up into the air, I recommend that you don’t hold on to anything,” one woman said on TikTok. “I definitely don’t recommend looking down ... Just keep calm, take a deep breath, slowly release it and keep your face looking upwards.”

Interest in the Rapture quickly sparked a flurry of mocking and satirical social media posts, as well, with people celebrating the coming of lower rents or asking believers to hand over their money or keys to their home.

Others even, in reality, quit their jobs as the madness vastly swept the internet. 

"Look, if nothing else, the Rapture might make rent affordable again for those of us left behind," X user @JaggedAuthor wrote.

Some users were, however, disappointed that Rapture was happening before payday. 

"At least let's eat our salaries first! It's the Christian way of doing things," one X user posted. 

As of this morning, there are over 395,000 TikTok posts mentioning the word “Rapture."  This has also spawned humorous skits and anecdotes as the internet leans on to the doomsday fever for some comic relief.

Despite the laughs, some people worldwide have taken Mhlakela seriously, according to the digital content site LADbible. 

Some have sold cars and quit their jobs, and one woman transferred the deed to her house. Others have wondered if their pets qualify for the event. 

One video posted under #RaptureTok showed two people hysterically laughing with overlay text that read: “I am so petty I am going to lay out a couple of outfits in my driveway on Sept 23rd so when my neighbor walks his dog he he will think me and my dog made it to heaven for the rapture and they didn’t.”

Pastor Joshua Mhlakela's rapture announcement is another in a long list of end-of-the-world predictions, including the persistent tale that a planet named Nibiru will collide or pass close to Earth, causing catastrophic destruction. NASA has repeatedly debunked the claim.

News of the alleged impending rapture was even shared to a Facebook group "People who like John Hagee & Matt Hagee Ministries & Cornerstone Church" where a user asked whether the biblical end of the world would happen. 

The user was soundly shutdown by respondents, most of which cited Matthew 24:36, which states "But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,[a] but only the Father." 

But the existence of the Bible verse hasn't stopped people from taking to Google to seek out answers or sooth the concerns, with more than 5000% increases in searches for topics like "Is the rapture happening tomorrow?" and "Why are people saying the rapture is tomorrow?"

Apocalyptic predictions often emerge during periods of social upheaval, economic instability, or global crisis, says Dr. Debra Kissen, founder and CEO of Light On Anxiety Treatment Centers. A definitive date as to when life will be over, at least as one currently knows it, provides “cognitive closure”—a return to certainty, predictability and a sense of control over personal and world events.

“Anxiety is built into the human experience,” says Kissen. “We are the only animal that is aware that we will one day die and our loved ones will die.”

The concept of the end of the world/apocalypse is a common trope in film and TV, with a number of hits like War of the Worlds, The Day After Tomorrow, 28 Days Later and more. Many of these films focus on non-biblical end times like alien invasions or a breakout of a deadly infection, while others like Left Behind, The Seventh Sign, Legion focus on a religious "end of days."

According to the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, there are believed to be two phases to Jesus' second coming that begins with the rapture. The rapture is when Jesus is said to "come for believers, both living and dead" as described in Thessalonians. The rapture will purportedly be "secret, for it will be unknown to the world of unbelievers at the time of its happening."

So, this basically means that if some of your righteous colleagues don't make it back to the office after lunch, you are 100% sure where they've gone - and it's definitely not back home.