The world was supposed to end yesterday, and didn’t. A viral TikTok anxiety trend (aka #rapturetok), this latest Rapture non-starter was predicted by Joshua Mhlakela of South Africa, who, in 2018, met Jesus Christ in a dream. The son of God reportedly said to him “On the 23rd and the 24th of September 2025, I will come to take my church.” For Mhlakela, Christ’s return would have had great implications for international football. As *The New York Times* reports, “‘He was telling me that by June 2026, the world is gearing up toward the World Cup,’ he said, but because chaos would descend after the Rapture, ‘there will be no World Cup in 2026.’” In the aftermath of our failed redemption, TikTokers have outpoured a range of emotions, from disappointment to anger, with some users having supposedly sold their homes and cars to prepare for the end. TikToker Melissa Johnstone took to the platform to express her confusion: “Did they take my neighbors and not me? Nothing has happened.”
