Rapture explained as TikTok fuels end times predictions

TikTok users spark renewed debate over rapture, a Christian belief about Jesus returning to gather true believers.

Recent discussions on TikTok have reignited interest in the Christian concept of the “rapture,” with some Evangelical users predicting it could occur this week. The belief, central to a branch of conservative Protestant theology known as Left Behind theology, holds that Jesus Christ will descend from heaven and take true believers with Him. Those who have died in faith will be resurrected, while others will be left behind on Earth.

This interpretation is rooted in a passage from the First Book of Thessalonians (4:16–17), which describes the Lord descending with a trumpet call, the dead rising, and the faithful being “caught up” to meet Him in the air.

In addition to the rapture, the theology also emphasizes the “Tribulation” – a seven-year period of turmoil marked by natural disasters, wars, and the rule of the Antichrist, described in biblical books such as Daniel and Revelation. Believers expect Christ to return afterward, defeat evil at Armageddon, and establish a thousand-year reign on Earth.

The rapture, however, is not an ancient Christian teaching. Philip C. Almond notes that it emerged in the 1830s through the theology of Anglican preacher John Nelson Darby and gained prominence with the 1909 Scofield Reference Bible. Its popularity later grew through Hal Lindsey’s 1970 bestseller The Late Great Planet Earth and the Left Behind novels by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, which sold more than 65 million copies.

For many, Almond observes, the rapture symbolizes a hope of escape from a troubled world to a place of peace, before eventually returning to a just and renewed Earth.