As the pieces of the prophetic puzzle fall into place with alarming speed and intensity, family members who I’ve always believed to be mature Christians are becoming afraid of the Lord’s return fro us. I’ve asked why, and they can’t give me a clear answer. I don’t understand why professing Christians would fear this. The thought had occurred to me that they might not be secure in their faith, but they’ve been devout Christians since I was a child. What would you advise?
I assume you’re referring to the rapture rather than the 2nd Coming. I would advise empathy. I’ve found that when push comes to shove relatively few people are excited to give up all they’ve accumulated here for something they’ve never seen and don’t know very much about. There’s never been a rapture before so no one knows from experience how it will work. And don’t forget, from their point of view, we’re only guessing that it will happen soon. If we’re wrong and they get all excited it could be embarrassing for them. All we have to go on is faith, believing that we’re right about the timing. Also it’s so final. If people are left behind it means they were never really saved, even though they thought they were. People have to be pretty secure in their beliefs to be excited about something with so many uncertainties. It’s a test of how real our faith is.