The Rapture—September 23, 2025?
Bodie Hodge, M.Sc., B.Sc., PEI
Biblical Authority Ministries, September 10, 2025 (Donate)
Well, some dispensationalists are at it again. There is a
prediction from a Pastor in South Africa who said Jesus appeared to him and
told him the date of the rapture would be September 23-24, 2025 (the two days
are due to dateline issues). An article states,
“In a YouTube video viewed nearly
500,000 times, Pastor Joshua Mhlakela, a South African preacher, claimed Jesus
appeared to him in a divine vision and said he would return during the Feast of
Trumpets.
'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 said during the
interview with CettwinzTV.
'He said to me on the 23rd and 24th
of September 2025, I will come back to the Earth,' the pastor declared.”[1]
Of course, the media is abuzz and others chimed in with
support. So now, between YouTube videos and news articles, the allegation for
the rapture on this date has stretched to more than a million who have heard this claim.
First off, relax. This is not the first time people have
predicted a “rapture”. Just so you know, all the ones before this have been
wrong. 100% wrong.
And for the record, the post-millennialists, amillennialists,
and historic pre-millennialists do not have the doctrine
of a dispensational rapture event in their eschatology.[2]
The only eschatological view that has a dispensational rapture is the
dispensational pre-millennialists.
Dispensationalism And Its Origin?
Dispensationalism formed in the Brethren Church in the mid-1800s.
John Nelson Darby, was the leading gent who brought dispensationalism as an interpretive
theme as well as an eschatology when he founded the Plymouth Brethren
denomination in the 1830s. Due to disputes, he then formed the Exclusive
Brethren denomination.
Dispensationalism is, therefore, the Brethren eschatology
and interpretive theme. As the 1800s unfolded and the 1900s began, the
dispensational view began to grow and its adoption in some other churches took
place. Many who followed William Miller, like hosts of Adventists, took hold of it. When Pentecostalism began in 1902, they
utilized it. And even many Baptists gave up their historical pre-millennialism (defended
by leading Baptist pastor and commentator John Gill) and replaced it with
Brethren teachings.
A common way to spot dispensationalism is when they take Matthew
24 (which is in the context of the Temple’s destruction) and try to apply
those passages to a dispensational rapture event.
False Predictions
There have been many false predictions of this dispensational
rapture. I could put a long listed of failed predictors here but others have
already done that, so there is no sense in reinventing the wheel.
Many others espousing the Brethren eschatology are very
clever though—they “date
tease” instead of “date set”. I know a dispensational gent, a friend of
mine, who just keeps saying that the rapture is anytime as the politics and
elections in the USA get rough. For over 20 years, he kept saying the end could
be at any moment “because so and so is president” and they are destroying things.
So, the rapture must be anytime now, he would say.
Over these last 20+ years, there hasn’t been a rapture. This
was a date tease though. Many think they keep themselves safe by teasing as opposed
to setting, but both are wrong.
The bigger problem is that there is no dispensational rapture
at all according to all three of the classical eschatological positions held by
church people for since the New Testament was completed in the first century. Dispensationalism
is the new kid on the block.
The fact is that Christ will return like a thief in the night
(2 Peter 3:10)—just as He said He would. Christ will come back, when Christ
comes back.
Be careful getting caught in predictions that comes from
people who claim Jesus spoke to them and told them a date. This actually denies
the doctrine of sufficiency
by the way. And the fact that prophecy
is closed.
So, relax.
□
Bodie Hodge, Ken Ham's son in law, has been an apologist
since 1998 helping out in various churches and running an apologetics website.
He spent 21 years working at Answers in Genesis as a speaker, writer, and
researcher as well as a founding news anchor for Answers News. He was also head
of the Oversight Council.
Bodie launched Biblical Authority Ministries in 2015 as a
personal website and it was organized officially in 2025 as a 501(c)(3). He has
spoken on multiple continents and hosts of US states in churches, colleges, and
universities. He is married with four children.
[1]
Chris Malore, Pastors convinced Jesus will return in just days as 'ancient
Biblical promise hints at imminent rapture', Daily Mail, September 9, 2025, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-15077269/Jesus-return-just-Biblical-promise-rapture.html.
[2] The
understanding of rapture prior to Darby was simply seen as the second coming
of Christ, but not a dispensational rapture event with people disappearing
and Jesus coming half way back and then going back to heaven for 3.5-7 years.
