The end of the world will come on Sept. 23.  

“The Rapture is upon us, whether you are ready or not,” said pastor Joshua Mhlakela during a podcast interview with CENTTWINZ TV. 

The sentiment has taken the internet by storm, flooding trending hashtags on X, Instagram and TikTok. Videos of parents saying goodbye to their children, flowcharts for which family members will take over left behind homes and people talking about how they imagine their dogs being taken to heaven are filling feeds.  

Whether these people believe it or not, this is fearmongering. 

Fearmongering is when someone encourages people to adopt a particular line of thought by using scare tactics. It’s being used today on social media by giving calls to action to any who will listen—do this before the trumpets sound, buy this before it runs out.  

In 2012, people believed that the end of the Mayan calendar heralded doomsday. The Order of the Solar Temple was a movement during the 1990s in which they believed that the end of the world was coming. 

These instances are part of a phenomenon called doomsday anxiety: a fear that people believe the world will end and that they need to be prepared for when it happens.  

Threats of the end of days often lead to people taking violent action. A man in China stabbed 23 children and one elderly woman in the Henan province, influenced by the 2012 phenomenon. The Order of the Solar Temple committed 74 murder-suicides.  

Non-violent doomsday prepping spiked during COVID-19. Resources were becoming scarce due to the collective fear of running out, leading to most famously toilet paper shortages. Doomsday prepping can come at a negative cost.  

These worries—or hopes—of a day like the Rapture come up consistently throughout history. None of them end with a doomsday. 

While there are times when this prepping has been beneficial, there are people who isolate themselves to the point of being solitary. People start to withdraw from their lives, focusing on being prepared for the next disaster. 

Fearmongering is something that has a lot of real-world consequences. It can cause violent action, polarization, stress, rage, paranoia, etc.  

Cases like these will never stop happening. Give or take two years, the next doomsday scare will come.  

Many who push these beliefs fully believe what they are saying and think that it is their duty to tell people about it. Many more are paid by making engaging social media content.  

The main way to combat this is to start thinking about what information you’re consuming critically. Don’t panic.  

Be sure when consuming any amount of information that you are getting the full facts and that you are understanding the message of the information you are being given.  

Don’t take everything at face value. Investigate things that may have more impact than the surface level and make sure that it is accurate. That’s how you avoid being influenced.  

So maybe it isn’t the Rapture. Maybe it’s just Tuesday.