Screenshots of the viral footage.
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Claim: Social media users and blogs like lindaikejiblogofficial shared a clip of people waiting on the mountain, claiming South African church members were awaiting rapture after the Sept. 23, 2025, prophecy.
Verdict: Misleading. We found that the video is not of South African church members awaiting the rapture, but of members of the Roman Catholic Church in Uganda who had been visiting the mountain monthly to worship and pray since 2024.
Full Text
For over 2,000 years, Christians worldwide have believed that no human knows the time when the trumpet will sound and when the saints will be raptured. The Holy Book said it’d be “like a thief at night”.
In what appears to be a dramatic change of events, a video started making the rounds on social media showing a large group of men, women, and children gathered on a hill surrounded by woods. The people were lifting their faces and cheering as if seeing something exciting in the sky. The descriptions attached to the video claimed the people gathered to be raptured.
Popular Nigerian blogs, including Linda Ikeji, have posted this claim, amassing thousands of likes, controversial arguments, and merciless mockeries. Other blogs in Ghana said it was a South African pastor who gathered his church members for the second coming of the lord.
Although religion is a sensitive subject in many societies, people often exploit it to spread false information. DUBAWA conducted this verification to set the record straight.
Where the story began
On June 17, 2025, Joshua Mhlakela, a South African preacher, claimed in a YouTube podcast that he had received visions from Jesus telling him that He (Christ) would return on Sept. 23 and 24, 2025, to take Christians.
Joshua explained that South Africa, Israel, and America would be raptured on Sept. 23, 2025, while Australia and Asia would be on Sept. 24, 2025. He emphasised that “these dates are irrefutable.”
However, on Sept. 23, 2025, bloggers began sharing his clip after his prophecy failed. Within 24 hours, he became popular, making headlines in local and international newspapers.
To verify the video of the congregation waiting for Preacher Joshua’s rapture, we broke it into keyframes and conducted a reverse image search. The results linked us to the original version, shot at Mirama Calvary Hills in Ntungamo District of Uganda and posted on TikTok on Aug. 1, 2025. @Gerald.akiiki shared this video one month and 22 days before the South African preacher’s rapture claims went viral.
We discovered that the congregants were members of the Roman Catholic Church who had been visiting the mountain monthly to worship and pray since 2024, as seen here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Mirama Hills, Uganda, on Google Maps.
Who started the ‘rapture-wait’ narrative?
“Truth Be Told Page” (archived here) is an Instagram blog owned by a woman who does not use any other public name. She is popular on Instagram for creating videos that criticise prophets who preach controversial messages or perform questionable miracles.
She has “dragged” famous figures such as Prophet Jeremiah Fufeyin, David Ibiyeomie, Chris Oyakhilome, and several other infamous pastors for their miraculous performances. She is the source of the congregant-rapture wait narrative.
On Sept. 24, 2025, she mockingly posted Preacher Joshua’s podcast with the caption: “If you are seeing this video, that means you missed rapture today. I’m dropping this update from above.”
Hours later, she posted another video (the one under verification) with a label that read, “They gathered ready to be rapture.” However, she tagged Prophet Jeremiah, saying, “@prophetjeremiahomoto, don sell Rapture. Oya pack up and go home.”
Screenshot of the viral video as posted by “Truth Be Told.”
Following that, she made two additional posts, each with captions suggesting how the people headed to the mountain where the rapture would take place, and how they all returned, unraptured.
DUBAWA observed several other posts alleging that people gathered to be raptured were taken from her Instagram, as they all carried her exact labels. Some added that the event occurred in South Africa, and others argued that it happened in Rwanda.
Conclusion
While a South African preacher initially claimed rapture would take place on Sept. 23 and 24, 2025, the viral videos showing how people gathered to be raptured are misleading. The original video shows members of the Roman Catholic Church in Uganda, who had been visiting the mountain monthly to worship and pray since 2024.
