Man ‘who sold car’ believing world would end issues public apology after it didn’t happen

A man who claimed to have sold his car in anticipation of the 'end of the world' has issued a public apology after the day of retribution never materialised.

Tilahun Desalegn was among the thousands of people who were intensely preparing for the supposed 'Rapture' which was rumoured to be taking place last week.

South African pastor Joshua Mhlakela called on Christians to get their houses in order before God came to 'rescue' them - and this was all meant to go down on either last Tuesday (23 September) or Wednesday (24 September).

He claimed that non-believers would be left to face the wrath, while warning that the world would be left 'unrecognisable'.

"The rapture is upon us, whether you are ready or not," Mhlakela previously told Innocent and Millicent Cent. "I saw Jesus sitting on his throne, and I could hear him very loud and clear saying, 'I am coming soon'."

It didn't take long for social media users to get wind of the allegedly impending Rapture, resulting in most of our For You Pages on TikTok transforming into 'RaptureTok'.

Desalegn is one of the people who took the opportunity to share the supposed word of God with people online and he's been churning out videos on the topic since June.

The devout Christian was so convinced that Judgement Day was on the horizon that he flogged his five-year-old car.

In the clip which subsequently went viral, he told his 30,000 followers: "She’s got to go. I won’t need her beyond September. I’m going home, to where my father in heaven is."

But we're now nearly a week on from what was supposed to be the end of the world... and Desalegn's feet still remain on solid ground.

Although a lot of 'RaptureTok' content creators have gone awfully quiet over the last few days, he decided to face the music and hold his hands up - so he shared a video 'repenting for his failed prediction'.

Desalegn has now vowed to 'never publicly talk about the Rapture again' after he was left with egg on his face last week.

"The Rapture didn't happen like I said it would," he said in a nearly ten minute apology video which has since been viewed more than 1.6 million times.

"I want to acknowledge that it wasn't me saying it 'might' happen - no, no, I was fully convinced and repeatedly said in all of my videos that a Rapture would happen.

"I was convinced I was seeing many convincing signs, in the form of licence plates and truck signs and just the testimonies of other people sounding very convincing.

"You should hear some of these testimonies, they were... very compelling and very convincing."

"All the evidence, the maths, it looked like it was all pointing to the Rapture happening finally," Desalegn said. "And it did not. September 23rd and 24th have come and gone.

"I want to publicly apologise to everyone that I convinced to get their hopes up high about the Rapture happening."

Desalegn said that although a lot of Christians may be 'very disappointed' about the lack of the Rapture, this kind of situation is unfortunately a byproduct that comes with 'the nature of watching for it'.

"This does happen often," he admitted about the date mix-up, while insisting he wasn't 'excusing himself for being wrong'.

He claimed that his videos about the alleged Rapture were made with the best intentions - and although it didn't transpire last week, he still 'looks forward to when it does happen'.

"Even if this date has come and gone, I still believe it will happen," Desalegn continued. "I just don't know anymore when it will happen and I'm not going to speculate anymore.

"I'm never going to talk about the rapture, I'm just going to look forward to it happening. I will watch in my own private time, but I won't talk about it publicly."

Desalegn went on to say that he never intended to have his 'face plastered all over the internet' when he shared the clip of him 'selling his car'.

"I did not want to be famous," he said. "I never intended for that video to become famous on TikTok... and now it's all over YouTube, probably Instagram as well. Not ideal.

"I was hoping that it would just be a thing between me and my Rapture watcher friends... Honestly, I just didn't want it to blow up the way that it did.

"I just want to be clear that I never gave any instruction to anyone about what to do with their belongings, their homes or their cars or anything like that.

"I literally just sold my own car and that was it, and I uploaded a video about it. I said I won't need it anymore because I'm going to eaven, and obviously it hasn't worked out that way."

Social media users praised him for 'owning up' to his error, with one saying: "I respect that."

Another wrote: "I accept your apology. I'm a skeptic and I am not a Christian. I've seen these predictions come and go all my life."

A third asked: "Even IF the rapture was happening and you knew the day... why would you ever sell your car lol? Yeah you won't need it, but why sell it?"

And a fourth joked: "What if it happened and you just didn't get raptured like the rest of us?"