{"id":4501,"date":"2022-10-10T15:23:54","date_gmt":"2022-10-10T19:23:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/?p=4501"},"modified":"2022-10-10T17:01:28","modified_gmt":"2022-10-10T21:01:28","slug":"end-times-author-takes-aim-at-cnns-assertion-some-christians-suffer-from-rapture-anxiety-the-rapture-is-really-designed-to-bring-comfort-not-anxiety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2022\/10\/end-times-author-takes-aim-at-cnns-assertion-some-christians-suffer-from-rapture-anxiety-the-rapture-is-really-designed-to-bring-comfort-not-anxiety.html","title":{"rendered":"End Times Author Takes Aim at CNN\u2019s Assertion Some Christians Suffer From \u2018Rapture Anxiety\u2019: \u2018The Rapture is really designed to bring comfort, not anxiety.\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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An article published by CNN<\/a> last week bringing attention to \u201crapture anxiety\u201d is receiving pushback by experts who see the article as \u201cout of context.\u201d The article, entitled \u201cFor some Christians, \u2018rapture anxiety\u2019 can take a lifetime to heal,\u201d written by AJ Willingham<\/a> who, \u201cspecializes in internet curiosities, humor, pedantry, sports and setting the record straight\u201d according to her contributor page, detailed the \u201creligious trauma<\/a>\u201d of individuals like a woman named April Ajoy. Ajoy grew up evangelical and is one of the growing number of so-called \u201cexvangelicals\u201d that bring attention to what they believe are harmful beliefs from the church. The article detailed the concern that \u201crapture anxiety\u201d was causing people like Ajoy to worry about the rapture appearing at any moment and being condemned instantly to Hell by any type of sin they had committed. The article asserted that the problem had been compounded by a series of \u201csensational\u201d Rapture themed movies and books like the popular \u201cLeft Behind\u201d series.<\/p>\n

End times expert and author, Jeff Kinley<\/a>, addressed the article on CBN Faithwire<\/a>. When asked if he had heard of the term \u201crapture anxiety,\u201d Kinley stated it was a new term to him. \u201cThe first thing I thought was, \u2018Really? You\u2019re making up this whole idea of the fact that people all over the place are just so filled with anxiety about the rapture, which I\u2019ve rarely encountered,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cThe flip side of it was the irony,\u201d he continued. \u201cThe rapture is really designed to bring comfort, not anxiety. It\u2019s a complete opposite.\u201d Kinley also brought up the concept of \u201cmaranatha,\u201d a term used by the early church to state their anticipation of the return of Christ to earth. Kinley stated he didn\u2019t believe this to show any anxiety at all.<\/p>\n

Phil Vischer on his \u201cHoly Post Podcast\u201d<\/a> also addressed the concept of \u201crapture anxiety\u201d brought up by the article. \u201cWhat have we done to our children?\u201d Vischer questioned. He seemed to take the article\u2019s claims more seriously, addressing it as an effect of the \u201csubculture\u201d he had grown up in and the media that had sparked so much fear in him about being \u201cleft behind\u201d and the portrayal of \u201cfear as a motivator for a love relationship with Jesus,\u201d as Vischer called. He and others on the podcast considered \u201crapture anxiety\u201d an attempt to control people.<\/p>\n

They also linked the onslaught of focus on end times theology with the fear of nuclear war during the Cold War through the 80s, with many Christians \u201cconnecting the dots\u201d of how current events aligned with end times prophecies of the Bible.<\/p>\n

Todd Hampson<\/a>, co-host of the \u201cProphecy and Pros Podcast\u201d with Kinley was more critical. \u201cI think if [the Rapture is] taken out of context or taught to young kids without the full context of what Jesus promised, what our hope is as believers … it can be a little scary. I don\u2019t know if I\u2019d call it trauma. That\u2019s probably a pretty extreme word, I haven\u2019t heard it put that way before,\u201d he said. He also took aim at the article\u2019s assertion that Rapture teaching is a relatively new phenomena from the 1800s and cited several Bible verses to support his claim. The varying disagreements and misunderstandings of what the Rapture will look like further highlight what Jesus said in Matthew 24:36: \u201cBut of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An article published by CNN last week bringing attention to \u201crapture anxiety\u201d is receiving pushback by experts who see the article as \u201cout of context.\u201d The article, entitled \u201cFor some Christians, \u2018rapture anxiety\u2019 can take a lifetime to heal,\u201d written by AJ Willingham who, \u201cspecializes in internet curiosities, humor, pedantry, sports and setting the record…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":664,"featured_media":3175,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nEnd Times Author Takes Aim at CNN\u2019s Assertion Some Christians Suffer From \u2018Rapture Anxiety\u2019: \u2018The Rapture is really designed to bring comfort, not anxiety.\u2019<\/title>\n<meta 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