A CNN report in September warned of “rapture anxiety.” The report cites networks of “exvangelicals” “who have removed themselves from what they now view as the damaging beliefs of some evangelical, Pentecostal and Baptist churches” (“For some Christians,” CNN, Sept. 27, 2022). CNN warns of “traumatic religious experiences that can last for years–even a lifetime.” One of these is “rapture anxiety,” which is “recognized by some faith experts and mental health professions as a type of religious trauma.” The whining, easily-offended exvangelicals talk of “being tricked by church leaders into watching violent rapture-themed films or crying themselves to sleep thinking about people and pets that would be left behind.” Rapture anxiety is even credited with causing a fear of heights! The CNN report claims that “the rapture is scantly mentioned in the Bible” and “only dates back to the 1800s.” Neither of these claims is true. The Rapture is plainly described in the Bible in two prominent passages (1 Corinthians 15:50-58 and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). It was first taught in the apostolic churches 2,000 years ago and has been believed by Christians throughout the church age. (See “When Was the Pre-Trib Rapture First Taught?” www.wayoflife.org.) As for “rapture anxiety,” it is a malady for the unsaved. For the born again, the Rapture is comfort, encouragement, and godly challenge. The major passages on the Rapture, emphasize this. “Wherefore comfort one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:18). “But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:57-58).
(Friday Church News Notes, October 7, 2022, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)
