You may have heard something recently about a rapture that didn’t happen, or a “hoax” that fooled millions of people into believing that Jesus Christ was coming to take his Church from this earth to Heaven on September 23 or 24 this year. These specific dates were proclaimed in June by a South African named Joshua Mhlakela who said that he was visited by Jesus Christ. According to Joshua, Jesus told him “I am coming soon”, listing the dates of September 23 and 24 for his return to rapture the Church.

This testimony of Joshua’s took the world by storm over the ensuing months, resulting in a deluge of videos about the anticipated rapture on social media and even in some main stream media outlets.

Additionally, social media outlets exploded with thousands of videos from people discussing their own personal confirmations about Joshua as well their own visions and confirmations from God.

I am a Christian, a believer in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. I believe that what the Bible says about the rapture of the Church and its prophecies about the end times and tribulation that will happen afterwards is the true and the infallible Word of God.

Thus, when I heard Joshua’s testimony it excited my soul to think that it could actually happen within my lifetime.

I know that we as Christians should be living every day as if the Lord will return any minute….but it is so very human to fall back into the day-to-day routine of life with the expectation of the rapture being relegated to the philosophical rather than the practical. A similar example is a person who suddenly receives a terminal diagnosis….before receiving such news they lived their life routinely, but afterward every moment, every day suddenly becomes precious. It seems it takes a deadline to put everything into perspective.

Now that September 23 – 24 has passed, the world is mocking and scoffing Joshua and all believers who anticipate the rapture of the Church. As it is written:

[2Pe 3:4 NIV] They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.”

When I first heard about Joshua’s revelation, I was skeptical. The Bible strongly cautions us to beware of false prophets and to not allow ourselves to be deceived. But, it also advises us to “test the spirit” when we receive a word or information that may or may not be from God. 1 John 4:1 – 3 says:

1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

My method of “testing the spirit” consisted of the following:

• Does this acknowledge Jesus as the Son of God?
• Does this contradict the Scripture in any way?
• Has the Holy Spirit checked my spirit in any way about this issue?
• Did I receive a personal confirmation about this issue?
• Are there two or more witnesses that confirm what is being said?

Joshua’s testimony seemed (to me) to be based upon sound Biblical doctrine. He acknowledged the deity and the gospel of Christ.

The “red flag” that most objectors mentioned was the fact that Joshua announced a set of specific dates for the rapture of the Church. The outcry of the usual “No man knows the day or hour!” (based upon Matthew 24: 36) argument was great. That verse says:

“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”

That verse is commonly applied to the rapture and the interpretation is that it is impossible to know when the rapture will take place. It is my opinion, however, that this interpretation is in error when taken in context with the verse before it:

[Mat 24:35 NIV] Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

The words “But about that day or hour” in Matthew 24:36 refer back to the previous verse that says “Heaven and earth will pass away.” This is the promise that God will one day destroy the present heaven and earth and create the New Heaven and New Earth. This was prophesied by Isaiah in Isaiah 65:17 and Isaiah 66:22 and will happen after the Rapture, the Tribulation and the Millennium reign of Christ.

God’s word actually instructs believers to be watchful for the return of Christ so that we will be prepared and not taken by surprise:

[1Th 5:4 NIV] 4 But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief.

So to me, the fact that Joshua named Sep 23 – 24 as the time that Christ would come to rapture his church did not seem to be a Biblical contradiction.

Not finding any apparent Biblical contradictions in Joshua’s testimony, I then took it to prayer. I asked the Holy Spirit to make it known to me if this was a deception or if this was actually a message from God for his children here on earth.

Studying end times prophecy, the Bible says:

[Act 2:17-18 NIV] 17 ” ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. 18 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.

As I was (and am) already firmly convinced that we are indeed “in the last days” I did not find it strange that someone was talking about receiving a vision or a word from God, since his Word told us to expect such things.

As those dates approached I continued to ask the Lord to make it known to me if I should disregard Joshua’s testimony. One day I asked God to send me a confirmation that this word was true. In my daily Bible reading that day this verse jumped off the page:

That was pretty exciting!

And as for the other “witnesses”, well, as I said before, there were thousands.

So….why would God allow this situation to happen when it obviously wasn’t His plan?

Thinking (and praying) about this, I think that the answer is that it WAS God’s plan to use Joshua to announce the rapture on September 23-24, 2025 to get the world’s attention. And boy, did it! The whole world became aware of this phenomenon; in fact, on Sep 23 the word “rapture” received the peak popularity rating of 100 according to Google Trends.

Without this exposure how many people would still not be aware of this event predicted by the Bible? How many people have heard the saving Gospel of Christ that might not have if this had not happened?

A spiritual revival is happening all around the globe and many, many people are coming to Christ who would not have been a participant in the rapture otherwise. In fact, I read one report dated September 26, 2025 about 7,000 students gathered for worship at the University of South Florida, at which event “some 2,000 salvations, 300 baptisms and thousands of changed lives” occurred. If the rapture had happened on September 23 – 24 these new believers would have missed it!

So while this didn’t turn out the way we all expected and hoped, we know that the rapture is not cancelled, it is just delayed. God fulfills all of His promises and He will fulfill this one in His appointed time.

Just as He did for Noah.

[Gen 7:1, 4 NLT] 1 When everything was ready, the LORD said to Noah, “Go into the boat with all your family, for among all the people of the earth, I can see that you alone are righteous. … 4 Seven days from now I will make the rains pour down on the earth. And it will rain for forty days and forty nights, until I have wiped from the earth all the living things I have created.”

Have you ever wondered why after Noah finished building the ark (which took him 120 years) God told Noah and his family to board the ark and then wait for seven days for the rain to come? You have to wonder, what was the point? Was it because of all of the mockers and scoffers in Noah’s day to have a heyday at his expense? The door to the ark was open and any of them could have joined Noah and his family on the ark, but one did. But when God closed the door of the ark and the rain began to fall, I can imagine a lot of those mockers and scoffers changed their tunes and begged to be allowed into the ark, but it was too late. (This last sentence is only from my imagination….the Bible does not actually say that happened.)

So while the world mocks and scoffs, believers wait for the soon coming of Christ to take his church off this earth and to Heaven with him.

When the rapture does happen, now that the whole world is aware of what the rapture is (thanks to the “failed” rapture that was predicted for this month) they will be witnesses of what actually happened when millions of people suddenly vanish off the face of the earth. (And no, it will not be aliens or a higher consciousness that took us away.)

While we wait we are comforted by these verses:

[Hab 2:3 KJV] 3 For the vision [is] yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.

[Rom 8:22-25 KJV] 22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. 23 And not only [they], but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, [to wit], the redemption of our body. 24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? 25 But if we hope for that we see not, [then] do we with patience wait for [it].

And for anyone who might be reading this who either has never heard the Gospel or what Christ did for you on the cross, or even if you have heard it before but have never asked Christ to be Lord of your life, I hope you’ll read a little further. This is the best news you’ll ever hear!

The Bible tells us that we all have a problem—sin. We’ve all fallen short of God’s perfect standard (Romans 3:23), and the result of that is separation from Him, both now and forever (Romans 6:23).

But here’s the good news: God loves us so much that He sent His Son, Jesus, to rescue us. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). He took the punishment we deserved, died on the cross, was buried, and then rose again on the third day—just like the Scriptures said (1 Corinthians 15:3–4).

Because of what Jesus did, we can receive forgiveness and eternal life. And the best part? It’s not something we can earn by being good enough. It’s a gift from God that we receive through faith (Ephesians 2:8–9).

So how do we respond? Jesus said, “Repent and believe the gospel” (Mark 1:15). The Bible also says that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved (Romans 10:9–10).

In short, the Gospel is this: Jesus died for our sins, rose from death to life again, and offers eternal life to everyone who turns from sin and trusts Him.

Won’t you accept him as your Lord and Savior? Do it now before it is too late! (Take it from me, you don’t want to become a Tribulation saint.)

Maranatha, brothers and sisters.

[Rev 22:20 KJV] 20 He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.