Why is The Rapture Trending on TikTok? What is the Rapture?

Pictures from the Gospel of Matthew: Word for Word Bible Comic (Matt 24:23-31)

Yesterday and today #raptureready and #Rapture are trending on TikTok but why? For me, this is a fascinating coincidence as I am drawing the pages for 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 right now, ahead of our next Bible Comic Kickstarter

Why is The Rapture Trending on TikTok now?

Joshua Mhlakela, a pastor from South Africa, said in a TV interview that he had seen Jesus in a vision. In this vision, Jesus returned to Earth on Rosh Hashanah, which falls on the evening of Monday, 22nd September – Wednesday, 24th September in 2025. Mhlakela said that the Rapture would take place on either the 23th or 24th of September.

TikTok users have made this statement viral, with many asking "What is the rapture?" and others taking the opportunity to create derisory posts in response.

Pictures from the Gospel of Matthew: Word for Word Bible Comic (Matt 24:40-44)

What is the Rapture?

An extract from “GotQuestions.org”

“The rapture of the church is the event in which God “snatches away” all believers from the earth in order to make way for His righteous judgment to be poured out on the earth. The rapture is described primarily in 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 and 1 Corinthians 15:50–54. God will resurrect all believers who have died, give them glorified bodies, and take them from the earth, along with all living believers, who will also be given glorified bodies at that time. “For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up [Raptured] together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever” (1 Thessalonians 4:16–17). The rapture will involve an instantaneous transformation of our bodies to fit us for eternity. “We know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2).”

Could the Rapture be today?

The short answer is “Yes”. Yes, because the Rapture could happen on any day. There are no prerequisite conditions for it to happen, and Christ teaches us to be ready for it to happen on any day. This is called the Doctrine of Imminence.

But there is no real reason to assume that the 23rd or 24th of September 2025 is any more likely than any other day.

Pictures from the Gospel of Matthew: Word for Word Bible Comic (Matt 24:40-44)

Is the Rapture the same as the Second Coming?

Many understand The Second Coming and the Rapture to be synonymous, with one happening at the same time as the other.

A more careful study of the Scriptures reveals that they are not the same and may indeed happen at different times. The Rapture can happen at any moment and involves the removal of the faithful from the Earth as Jesus appears in the air and calls his own. In the Second Coming, Christ comes down to Earth with his faithful and establishes his rule. Some see these two happening at the same time, believing that Christ will appear, rapture the church, and then descend to earth. While others believe the rapture will happen before the great tribulation, and Christ's return will be at the end.

For an in-depth study of these things, watch this video by Chuck Missler.

Does the word Rapture appear in the Bible?

Yes. There are many blogs and articles reporting on this Trend and many are claiming that the Rapture is not in the Bible. The word “Rapture”, that we use comes from when Latin was the language in which the Bible was studied. In Latin, 1 Thessalonians 4:17 reads “Deinde nos, qui vivimus, qui relinquimur, simul rapiemur cum illis in nubibus obviam Christo in aera, et sic semper cum Domino erimus.”

Repiemur is the route word for Raptured. It means to be caught up, or snatched away, which is why modern translations use those words.

Is Rapture in the Bible? Yes the Latin Bible is the reason we use the word Rapture for this future event.

Coincidence?

The fact that I am drawing these pages and that we are gearing up to run our Kickstarter for The Epistles to the Thessalonians in just a few weeks they seem like a coincidence. But, as the Jews say, "coincidence is not a kosher word."

View fullsize

I draw this image on Sept 23rd 2025. It is unfinished and will include spirits rising from the graves.

If you want to know more about the Rapture and see the verses in the context of the full epistle, be sure to read your Bible and come back to our Kickstarter…

SEPTEMBER: New Book Kickstarting soon! Audiobible and preorders

This month:

• NEW BOOK KICKSTARTING SOON!

• Bible Comic x Audiobible

• Preorders available

• Kickstarter Update

• CRT Event

• David’s Tent

• + more

New Book Kickstarting in October

I'm as surprised as you are, but we have decided that the next book will be The Epistles to the Thessalonians (1 and 2 in one volume) and because the release will be in September 2026, the best time to do a Kickstarter is now! This will give room in Spring to run our Kickstarter for Skies of Belief.

WHY NOW? You may have noticed that we release two or three Bible Comics a year, and we know our fans love to back the Kickstarters and get the KS exclusive editions of the comics, as well as other unique benefits like original artwork and collector's editions. With two new books a year, we need two Kickstarters a year. The best times for Kickstarters are March-May or September/October, So we have to take the bull by the horns and get this thing going!

WHY THESSALONIANS?: Like Galatians and James, Thessalonians is a very early book that's written halfway through the Acts time period. With Acts done, it's great to see this letter expanded the story in the midst of the Acts storyline. We get to see more of Silas, Timothy, Aristarchus and, of course, Paul. Thessalonians is also quite a short book, which works well with the time required to complete Skies of Belief.

Head over to the Kickstarter preview page now and hit "Notify Me". Also, to see the first three pages of the comic!

Bible Comic + Audiobible

We have finally obtained the rights to use the NIV Dramatised Audio Bible in our marketing. Thank you to everyone who prayed on this! It looked like it wasn’t going to happen for a very long time, and now the contracts are signed!

It is my plan to combine this audio (which features a cast of actors) with a dynamic slideshow of the comic images, creating 30-60 second long videos that will feature as Reels, YT Shorts and TikToks. Hopefully, they will attract the attention of people who would otherwise never read Bible in their day-to-day life.

• CAN YOU HELP?: I'll be looking for people to help create these videos. So if you're a wiz on video editing software, please get in touch.

I plan to create a Christmas series first and start it in December. This is a still to show you what it might look like…

Preorder the Great Commission

If you missed the Kickstarter or if you're thinking, "I wish I bought another one as a gift", The Great Commission Strategic Card Game is now available to pre-order.

Placing an order now will see the game delivered in time for the release date at the start of November. If you add any books to your order, they will be sent together and not arrive until the game is available.

BOARD GAME GEEK: If you’ve got your game already, please head to our Board Game Geek page and add your weight scores, star ratings and reviews. It requires 30 reviews to populate the game’s rating, so please be generous :D

If you have any questions, please post them there as well. Don’t be shy, it’s great for us to see that people are playing, and we are keen to hear your thoughts!

EXTENDED RULEBOOK: We are currently creating the extended rulebook, which includes FAQs, clarifications, and more flavour text. This will be available to download for free on the website before the game’s full release in November.

PREORDER: The Great Commission Strategic Card Game

£34.99

Preorder Galatians

The Epistle to the Galatians: Word for Word Bible Comic is also now available to pre-order. It releases at the start of October, so there's no time to waste.

The Epistle to the Galatians : Word for Word Bible Comic: NIV Translation

£8.99

CRT Event

Last week, I attended CRT, an industry event for publishers and Christian bookshop owners to spend time together.

We demoed the game for people, and there was a lot of interest. It's a great event to make connections, and one of the reasons we were able to obtain the NIV rights. I was a guest on a podcast, which will be on Premiere Christian Radio soon, with the title: "Can I Be A Christian If I Don't Read The Bible?"

One question that came up was, should we now look at getting a big publisher to take the work to the next level or continue as a self-publisher? Please pray for me that the right answer and/or opportunity presents itself there.

David’s Tent Event

We had a great time at David’s Tent. Paul demoed the game to lots of people, and we had loads of interest as it was our first time there. Welcome to anyone who has joined this newsletter at that event!

Prayer Requests

Audiobible Videos: Thank you for praying for this. Please join me in praying that when the videos launch, they are really successful and have a great reach and impact.

Kickstarter!: It’s happening again! Please pray it goes well and lots of brand new people discover the Bible Comic for the first time!

Partnerships: Please pray for other partnership opportunities like the ones we have with the prison ministries and Bible charities. With the help of bigger partners, we can really grow our reach! Please also pray about whether we should join forces with a big publisher if I get the chance.

AUGUST NEWSLETTER

(August’s Email posted as a blog a little later. If you want to get the news fresh, be sure to subscribe to the email)

This month:

The Great Commission Update

Epistles Updates

Prison Ministry

David’s Tent

Portuguese Editions

+ more

The card games are finally here!!

We’ve finally received the games today! At both the USA distribution centre and with us here in the UK. It's great to have them, and it's been a real rollercoaster with all the tariffs potentially stopping and disrupting our progress. After we'd committed to the Chinese production, the tariffs went up to 145%! Like many game producers, we didn't know what to do - whether to wait, to pay the extra or to ask for donations. In the end, when the time came to ship the games, the tariffs went down to 30%. Thank you for praying and thanks the Lord for that!

An extra 30% tariff was still a lot of money, but we decided to absorb the cost, thanks to the great success of the Kickstarter, and being unwilling to add additional costs onto our backers.

We found a way to utilise our existing distributors to fulfil the American orders, so the games received in the USA won't be direct from us but fulfilled by our partners.

The games arrived about a week behind schedule, but now we are starting to get them packaged up and ready to send out over the next several days.

Epistles Update

All the Epistles’ comics have gone out, except for the people who also backed the card game Kickstarter also, their orders will be combined with the game and sent out shortly before all the other game-only orders.

I numbered 1200 books and signed and drew inside over 100, and my wife is working through over 1000 orders, all with different add-ons and locations, so it’s been a full week and a half since they arrived.

If you are in the USA and backed the campaign for more than just the Epistles, the other books will arrive with you in the next week or two as a separate parcel, direct from the distribution centre.

Here’s a look at the “UK distribution centre”…

Prison Ministry

We have arranged for the prison books funded by the two Kickstarters to go out through our US charity partners. That’s 154 Mark’s Gospels, 37 Epistle to the Galatians and 37 Epistle of James.

We are considering ways in which to get our Spanish titles donated into prisons too. So watch this space for news about that.

David’s Tent Event

Next weekend we will have a stand at the David’s Tent Event in the UK. If you are at the event, be sure to come and see us, and play a demo of the game!

Portuguese: Verso a Verso

I just received a few copies of each of the bible comics created in Portuguese! They look really professional and really consistent with the English and Spanish, so that’s really good. To go to their shop, click the image.

See the opening of the parcel on our TikTok Channel: https://www.tiktok.com/@wordforwordbiblecomic

Prayer Requests

Firstly, thank you for praying for the safe delivery of the books and games and for the items below!

Audiobible Idea: Thank you for praying for this. There’s been a lot of positive movement, but we don’t have anything in writing yet! One last push!

Portuguese: Please pray for the Portuguese translation to take off and that anything holding back its potential will be overcome!

Events: David’s Tents and Christian Resources Together events are on the horizon. Please pray they both go really well.

Partnerships: Please pray for other partnership opportunities like the ones we have with the prison ministries and Bible charities. With the help of bigger partners, we can really grow our reach!

July Newsletter

This month:

• New TikTok Shop

• Epistle Updates

• The Gathering

• The Great Commission Update

• Hangout

• + more

TikTok Shop UK

I recently started to set up my UK TikTok shop as I’m hoping to up my TikTok game. When I set it up, the shop has given me several “Customer Vouchers”. So TikTok will cover £5 of your purchase. I’ve got 10 such vouchers so far, which expire in a week, but I’ll get more as I sell and receive reviews. Click the image below to go to the shop.
https://vt.tiktok.com/ZNd5VxBG1/?page=TikTokShop
Help?: If you are a TikTok pro and you’d like to help me figure it out or be an affiliate seller, let me know! Thanks

Want your own TikTok shop?: If I refer you, I’ll get benefits, so head to this link if so: https://seller-uk-accounts.tiktok.com/account/register?refercode=ELWTAN

Epistles Update

Both books of the Epistles are complete and just finishing the last proofreading rounds and then they will head to the printer next week. They will also be arriving here at the start of August, so we are going to fulfil both Kickstarters at once (God willing). Let’s pray the heat gives us a break that week. At that time, I’ll need to draw hundreds of images in the inside covers of the Collectors’ Editions books. What have I gotten myself into!?

One of our wonderful proofreading volunteers, Nicole, wrote this in her email to us about the Epistle of James, “I'm normally more of a word person than a visual one, but the images in this one really jumped out at me. They added a level of clarity I wasn't expecting, simply because that isn't usually how my brain works. Great job!”

The Gathering

Paul and I had a great time at the Gathering. We demoed the game for lots of blokes, ran a full game and made some great connections. We had a good-sized stand with two tables.

“Welcome along” everyone who signed up to this newsletter there!

The Great Commission Game Update

We anticipate the arrival of the games at the start of August. Right now, they are at Yantian International Port and have a long journey ahead of them…

We are also gearing up to get reviews for the game on YouTube etc.

If you are a reviewer or you have a platform with which to promote the game, we’d love you to help us get the word out in Sept/Oct ahead of the November release! If you’ve got a favourite channel that you’d like to review the game, why not send them a message encouraging them to review it.

BGG: We’ve updated our Boardgame Geek page, and you can now add your comments, rating, reviews and mark yourself as a fan.

If you’d like to get ahead, you can download and read the full rulebook via the website

If you haven’t completed your survey for the Kickstarters, you won’t get your rewards, so don’t forget!

Patron and Backer Hangout

If you’re a backer or a Patron, we will be having a video call soon to chat about the projects and answer any questions you’d like to bring. I’ve sent out a Poll on an update, so please grab that link and let me know when you’re free!

 Go to Patreon 

Shout Outs

JUDGES TOWER DEFENCE: A Christian collective called Ruach Entertainment just launched a mobile game on Kickstarter. Check it out here:

GATE ZERO: Another Christian video game is Gate Zero from Bible X. They have secured a presence on Xbox and PlayStation and recently released this trailer:

Prayer Requests

Smooth Production and Delivery: Please continue to pray that the production of the books and the card prints correctly, stays on schedule, and the US tariffs don’t do anything crazy.

Audiobible Idea: We got a positive reply about the audiobible, but nothing is settled yet. Please continue to pray!

Growing the Team: Thank you for praying. There are a lot of opportunities that we could be embracing, but we don’t have the time. In the last month, we’ve been approached by 2 parties offering to help or having ways to help up expand. So, please continue to pray on this!

Newsletter: June: Epistle of James, Events, How to Play and more

This month:

• The Epistle of James

• The Gathering

• Post UKGE update

• How to Play Video

• Did you add your address to Kickstarter?

• Skies of Belief Images

• + more

The Epistle of James

I am currently finalising the colours on the last few pages of the Epistle of James, and on Friday, our patrons started to receive the pages from this book. If you'd like to be among them and get very early access, head to:

https://www.patreon.com/WordforWordBibleComic

The Gathering this weekend

Many of you on this newsletter are from the Gathering, a men’s event in a field near Swindon. Well, next weekend we’ll be there!

If you're there, be sure to come and see us with your mates. Play and preorder the card game, buy some books, get some free Christmas Cards and more.

The Great Commission Game: Post UKGE Update

Just over a week ago, I was at the UK Games Expo at the NEC. It’s an event with over 40,000 attendees, and most importantly, some of the most influential people in the industry.

I spent much of my time there handing out hundreds of leaflets and talking to big retailers and distribution companies about the game. All the distributors were very interested, and now we are waiting for them to come back to us. It’s a great time to pray that one of them may be inspired to take us on and do a great job getting the game into shops across the UK, Europe and the US

We recently received the final print sample of the game and the new mats, and we are really pleased with how it has turned out! We are still on track with our schedule:

• June: Ship out from the manufacturer TODAY!

• Aug: Arrive with us in the UK and the distribution hub in the USA.

• Late Aug/Sept/Oct: Get to you (depending on where you live).

Here’s a photo of the assembly line at LongPack…

We’ve just created a little 2-round demo tutorial that we will be showcasing at the Gathering. You can watch the demo now on YouTube, click below (and why not subscribe while you’re there)…

Did you add your address to Kickstarter?

Hi Backers, it’s not long before the games and the books arrive with us, and we ship them to you. If you haven’t put your address in your survey yet, you won’t get your rewards. If you are in the USA, that could make a big delay as all the orders will be done in one big hit and if yours isn’t part of it, it could be problematic.

Head to he campaign page, at the top find the Survey request and fill it in.

If you are changing address, update it now as the addresses will be locked down soon. If you are not sure where you’ll be, I recommend inputting a family or friend's address to receive it for you.

Skies of Belief Images

Also at the UK Games Expo, we previewed the Skies of Belief Tabletop Roleplaying Game on the press night before the show. This is Chris Lowry, a vision in yellow, who will be the co-author…

For UKGE, I created artwork for the 10 nations, and you can see them all (full size) on the Kickstarter Preview page (below)

As an example of the setting, I was recently creating regional versions of the name of the Avatar in the setting. A historical figure who claimed she was The Goddess in the flesh. Her name in her own culture was “Shekinah (the Redeemer)”, but in other lands, with different naming conventions, this evolved over the centuries. For example, with the three people groups pictured above, this became “Shikinikihs, Lady of Liberty”, “Shikinari, Divine Daughter” and “Sh’i’a, Queen of Peace”. It’s been great fun developing these cultures and their various beliefs and philosophies.

Follow the KS and find out more…

Prayer Requests

Smooth Production and Delivery: Please continue to pray that the production of the books and the card prints correctly, stays on schedule, and the US tariffs don’t do anything crazy.

Audiobible Idea: Please continue to pray! We’ve resubmitted an official proposal to the license holders of the NIV audiobibles it’s been 6 months of waiting, so I’m praying they agree soon!

Growing the Team: There are a lot of opportunities that we could be embracing, but we don’t have the time. Please pray we can find an effective way to manage this by exploring ways to grow the team.

MAY: Free Comics, Esther Review and Updates

This month:

• Free Comic Book Day

• Review of The Book of Esther

• Finishing Galatians

• Great Commission Card Game Update

• + more

Free Comic Books Day

To celebrate Free Comic Book Day on May 3rd, we are giving away the Book of Joshua: NIV in full on Kindle. Go to your regional Kindle and bring it up there to grab it now! If you can’t find it, use ASIN: B0DP7RWC4N

Please leave a review if you enjoy the comic, as it’s great to have a good score on there.

 Download the Free Kindle 

Review of The Book of Esther

We’ve recently had a new review from Rev Reads. Extract: "The story of Esther, in its length, drama and foreign context (that we aren't used to seeing good biblical imagery for) made this one an especially enjoyable read [...] I didn't want to put it down!"

 Buy your copy 

Finishing Galatians

In the last week, I’ve been writing some articles for the back of the Epistle to the Galatians like “Galatia and Galatians”, “When was Galatians written”, “Antioch and Antioch” and “Magic in the Greco-Roman World”. I also recorded the last “Explaining the Pages of Galatians” today for our Patrons. This video is a 2-minute clip that you can view here:

 Become a Patron 

The Great Commission Game: Update

We’ve signed off on the proofs and this month we will be seeing the full production sample before it goes to press! Here’s a timeline:

• Mid Jun : The games come off the press in China

• Aug : Arrive in UK

• Late Aug/Sept/Oct: Get to you depending on where you are

  As we are printing in China, the Trump Tariffs are going to affect things, but instead of going into all the details (as it’s so changeable and uncertain), instead please can I encourage you to pray that we can get the game to our US backers and shops without either delay or excessive extra costs. I’m praying that by the time we need to fulfil the tariff will be back to normal.

TABLE TOP SIMULATOR: Paul is currently updating the TTS mod to have all the most up-to-date cards, stats and rules clarifications. In the next week or two it will be up, so backers should keep an eye out for that on updates and discord!

We’ve has been playtesting the game recently and this photo is from a narrow victory in the final round. We are really pleased with the balance of the game and how it so often comes out on a knife’s edge at the end!

Prayer Requests

Smooth Production and Delivery: Please pray the production prints correctly, stays on schedule and the US tariffs go back to normal.

Audiobible Idea: Please continue to pray! We’ve submitted an official proposal to the license holders of the NIV audiobibles and we are still awaiting their official reply.

APRIL NEWSLETTER: Kickstarter Ends Soon and Great Commission Update

This month:

• KICKSTARTER ENDS SOON

• Article in Religion Unplugged

• Great Commission Card Game Update

• + more

KICKSTARTER ENDS SOON

There are just days left to back The Epistle to the Galatians and the Epistle of James on Kickstarter!

Thanks to the support of so many of you, it hit its minimum goal in just 54 mins (a new record) and has since climbed to over 600%, unlocking 2 stretch goals. The new one is below!

We have 438 backers now, which is one of our highest numbers, but that’s only about 12% of the people receiving this email, so I’m hoping some more of you will get on board before the end? 

Article in Religion Unplugged!

How amazing! The comic has a full coverage article in Religion Unplugged an American religion news site. I’m so pleased that they posted this before the end of the Kickstarter, along with a link. Please give it a read and a share on your socials!

The Great Commission Game: Update

We recently received the full prototype from the printers and it’s looking amazing! Watch the unboxing in this video now!

In the last week, we’ve had the rules and the cards proofread, and gone over them with a fine-tooth comb for any inconsistencies or ambiguous language. We are super confident that there are not going to be any issues with the rules and that the game is well balanced.

If you backed that KS you might remember we unlocked a stretch goal adding Gold ink to the Events cards. Since seeing the prototype, we’ve decided that the gold will feature on the outside of the box instead, as it will be a shiny foil stamp and not just metallic ink, making it look incredible (see below).

We’ve also increased the number of cards to 240 and the How to Play Guide from a folded leaflet to a 12-page full colour booklet.

Thanks so much to all our Playtesters, things have really improved in big steps with your trials and your suggestions.

We will be signing of on the project this week and the estimated date that we’ll receive the boxes in the end of July or start of August. As soon as they arrive, we’ll be sending them out to backers, but they won’t be in the shops until October.

If you didn’t back that Card Game Kickstarter, the only way to preorder the game now is as an Add-On on the new Kickstarter.

Prayer Requests

Kickstarter: Please pray the campaign will finish strong with plenty of people backing who’ve never seen the comics before!

Smooth Production and Delivery: The final card game files will go in this week, please pray the production stays on schedule and the US tariffs go back to normal. And that we make all the right moves in regards to barcodes and boring safety considerations and the rest.

Audiobible Idea: Please continue to pray! We’ve submitted an official proposal to the license holders of the NIV audiobibles and are awaiting their official reply.

MARCH NEWSLETTER: Kickstarter live!

This month:

• KICKSTARTER IS LIVE IN 5 MINUTES!

• Campaign T-shirt voting results

• Great Commission Card Game Update

• + more

KICKSTARTER IS LIVE

It’s happening now. Please use this button, so it will connect your pledge with the newsletter:

If you’re not sure how the Epsitles will work as a comic, head over to the Kickstarter page and view the video…

Have your say: T-shirt

Over the last few days, our social media followers have been voting on the Kickstarter Campaign t-shirt with a quote from The Epistle of James. This one was the winner with 34 votes (against the others with 13-19 votes). I’m really pleased with it. Also, this will be the first time we’ve gone for a two-sided print thanks to the engagement and encouragement of our followers.

The Great Commission Game: Update

Right now we are awaiting our first complete prototype from the printers with the box, player guides, rules sheet and everything. Keep an eye on the social for our unboxing in about 1 week’s time! When we receive it, if it’s approved we’ll be telling them to start the manufacturing process asap.

Below is a little preview of the prototype box design. It will have 6 stacks of cards arranged in 2 rows of 3, making a square box that’s about 2.5cm tall.

Note: You’ll see the Great Commission as an add-on in the new Kickstarter, and while the two campaigns will be fulfilled at a similar time we will be sure to send all the original Great Commission Kickstarter fulfilment out before the Galatians/James Kickstarter add-ons for the game sent out.

Prayer Requests

Kickstarter: “Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labour in vain.” Psalm 127:1. Please pray with us that the Lord makes this Kickstarter a big success.

Influencing Influencers: We are planning an influencer campaign in March, please continue to pray those whom we’ve contacted will be keen to help.

Audiobible Idea: We’ve submitted an official proposal to the licence holders of the NIV audiobibles and are still awaiting their official reply, so it’s a great time to pray!