An article published by CNN last week bringing attention to “rapture anxiety” is receiving pushback by experts who see the article as “out of context.” The article, entitled “For some Christians, ‘rapture anxiety’ can take a lifetime to heal,” written by AJ Willingham who, “specializes in internet curiosities, humor, pedantry, sports and setting the record straight” according to her contributor page, detailed the “religious trauma” of individuals like a woman named April Ajoy. Ajoy grew up evangelical and is one of the growing number of so-called “exvangelicals” that bring attention to what they believe are harmful beliefs from the church. The article detailed the concern that “rapture anxiety” 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 “sensational” Rapture themed movies and books like the popular “Left Behind” series.

End times expert and author, Jeff Kinley, addressed the article on CBN Faithwire. When asked if he had heard of the term “rapture anxiety,” Kinley stated it was a new term to him. “The first thing I thought was, ‘Really? You’re 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’ve rarely encountered,’” he said. “The flip side of it was the irony,” he continued. “The rapture is really designed to bring comfort, not anxiety. It’s a complete opposite.” Kinley also brought up the concept of “maranatha,” a term used by the early church to state their anticipation of the return of Christ to earth. Kinley stated he didn’t believe this to show any anxiety at all.

Phil Vischer on his “Holy Post Podcast” also addressed the concept of “rapture anxiety” brought up by the article. “What have we done to our children?” Vischer questioned. He seemed to take the article’s claims more seriously, addressing it as an effect of the “subculture” he had grown up in and the media that had sparked so much fear in him about being “left behind” and the portrayal of “fear as a motivator for a love relationship with Jesus,” as Vischer called. He and others on the podcast considered “rapture anxiety” an attempt to control people.

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 “connecting the dots” of how current events aligned with end times prophecies of the Bible.

Todd Hampson, co-host of the “Prophecy and Pros Podcast” with Kinley was more critical. “I 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’t know if I’d call it trauma. That’s probably a pretty extreme word, I haven’t heard it put that way before,” he said. He also took aim at the article’s 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: “But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.”