Why was the Rapture predicted for September the 24th? And why didn't it happen?
Mark Honeychurch - 29th September 2025
In an article from two weeks ago, I wrote about an Official Information Act request sent to the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet by Melanie Petrowski, a conspiracy theorist from Napier. The request was about the rapture, which had apparently been given a date of September the 24th this year. Melanie wanted to know whether the Government was aware of this pending event, and what preparations they may have made. She also wanted to know if the government was ready for some of the new systems that were about to be put in place by the antichrist to monitor and control us, and she sought reassurances that Prime Minister Christopher Luxon (or Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour if Luxon was raptured) was going to resist these new technologies, such as drones, the Beast System, quantum dot tattoos, and more.
As we neared the fateful date that Melanie had predicted, I started to notice social media posts mentioning this same date for the rapture, including an image of someone’s car being used to warn everyone - apparently the photo was taken in Pennsylvania, USA:
With all this attention, it seemed likely that the date didn’t come from an obscure Christian in New Zealand. Surely Melanie’s OIA request wouldn’t have had the kind of reach that would cause Christians all over the world to adopt this timeline. So, where did the date come from?
When searching online for the origin of the 24th September rapture date, the name that immediately popped up was Pastor Joshua Mhlakela. A few more minutes of reading articles and looking for sources led me to a YouTube channel called “CENTTWINZ TV” (read as “Cent Twins TV”), hosted by Innocent and Millicent, Christian twins from South Africa.
In June the twins interviewed a local pastor called Mr Joshua (Joshua Mhlakela) for their podcast, “I’ve Been Through the most”. In the interview Joshua spoke of a series of visits he received from Jesus in his dreams from 2006 onwards, where he first told to start a church and then warned of the impending end of the world. At about 40 minutes into the interview, Joshua tells the twins about how the culmination of these visits was in 2018, when Jesus appeared to him in person to give an exact date (or rather dates) for the rapture - the 23rd and 24th of September 2025:
Here’s what Joshua had to say:
So I was sleeping one morning. Early morning, I wake up. I’m awake now, I’m not dreaming. I switch on the lights, and I’m reading my Bible. And Jesus appears. He appears in front of me in a white robe this time. I’m looking at him and he says these words:
“From the time Israel became a nation in 1948, there will be 77 years to the Exodus.”
Now, he used the word Exodus, but he was talking about the rapture. Remember, I’m not dreaming. I’m looking at him as he’s talking without his mouth opened. Remember, he’s speaking through his mind. He says to me,
“On the 23rd and the 24th of September, 2025, I will come to take my church.”
After after naming the 23rd and the 24th of September, 2025 being the rapture day, he then says,
“Then after, there will be a 7 year tribulation on earth on those left behind. On the 15th of September 2032, I will return to earth as king.”
So on the 23rd and the 24th of September, he said he would come. It is going to be, if you are aware, a festival of the trumpets.
This mention of a festival of trumpets appears to be an allusion to the Jewish Yom Teruah (day of blasting - more commonly known as the Feast of Trumpets), also called Rosh Hashanah (the Head of the Year). This is the beginning of the Jewish New Year, a 10 day long event that culminates in Yom Kippur, the day of atonement.
Joseph continued on this rapture theme in the interview, warning people to get right with God before the 24th:
So I am here to warn South Africa and the world that Jesus is returning. If you are found without Jesus in your heart, in your life, if you have not given your life over to Jesus, time is closing in. Within three months, the world would be an unrecognizable place. We are only left with a little over three months and then the rapture would happen, where millions of Christians all around the world including South Africa will disappear in a split second. And, after this great disappearance, after the removal of Christians in the world, then the judgment of God is going to fall upon the world for seven years. This is what will actually lead to the world ending before the return of Jesus to rule now on this earth in 2032, on the 15th of September.
So I am here to plead and to beg the people. The time that you thought you had, you don’t have it. So world, be ready. Leave all sins behind and come to Christ, where you will find salvation because the time as I said is now closing in. I am one of the last calls of God. I won’t say I’m the only call, but I am one of the last calls of God. Celebrities, business people, ordinary citizens, government, ministers, presidents, countries, continents all over the world. My appeal to you is that you give your life to Jesus now, because the time of the rapture is at hand.
This warning appears to have spread via social media, although It’s hard to tell how many people took it seriously. I’ve seen a lot of talk online of people selling their possessions, quitting their jobs and even selling their houses in preparation for the rapture - although I’m not sure what these people would do with the money. Much of the content also looks suspiciously like parody videos, with people having a bit of fun with the idea of Christians suddenly disappearing.
Melanie’s OIA request curiously hasn’t been answered by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, and a response is now over a week overdue. I wonder if Melanie will complain to the Ombudsman about this tardy response, or whether maybe she’ll just assume that it’s taking a while to put a response together because Christopher Luxon has been raptured.
It’s not surprising that many people have been looking to Pastor Joseph since the date of his prediction came and went. He’s now given a follow-up interview with the Cent Twins that was published two days ago:
Interestingly, in contrast to the previous interview this one comes with a disclaimer at the beginning:
DISCLAIMER
The stories and views expressed on ‘I’ve Been Through the most’ are that of the guest and not of Centtwinz Tv. The following stories are real life stories that can affect sensitive viewers and may be triggering; therefore we advise that you please watch with CAUTION.
In the video Pastor Joseph says that the fact that his prophecy spread around the world is proof that it came from God. He says that after two nervous days worrying that his prediction was wrong, on the 25th of September a friend called him and reminded him that Jesus probably doesn’t use our modern Gregorian calendar - nope, he’s much more likely to use the older Julian calendar. This historical calendar is 13 days behind ours, so apparently the rapture is now due in 8 days’ time, on the 7th of October 2025.
In a way I feel sorry for Joseph, because he’s not learned his lesson - instead he’s clutching at straws, looking for some technical reason why his original date was wrong. This is a familiar tactic that others like Harold Camping have used when predicting the end of the world, and if history is any kind of reliable indicator we’re going to see Joseph become more and more desperate as he throws out dates that come and go without anyone being taken up to heaven.
Any sympathy I have for him, though, pales in comparison to the annoyance I have that this man is arrogant enough to think that he alone has been chosen by God as His messenger of the End Times. Just claiming to know with certainty that any religion is the One True Faith seems pretty brazen to me, but to then claim that you’re also the bearer of the most important message within that religion is staggeringly self-aggrandising. Christians often try to answer these types of criticisms by claiming that they’re just the vessel God has chosen, and that the miracles are all God’s doing - but this is nothing more than deflection of the criticism, as it does nothing to answer why they were chosen by God to be His vessel.
Maybe Joseph needs to start praying for some real humility and wisdom, rather than seeking out importance and fame under the cover of simply being a “tool” of God. And while he’s at it he should probably lay off the End of the World predictions as well - from the looks of the YouTube comments for his two interviews, it seems like he’s attracting a lot of mentally unwell people, and probably scaring many of them.