This story is about suicide. If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please contact the Suicide Crisis Line at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
There is a “heaviness” in today’s society, said pastor and best-selling author Max Lucado of San Antonio, Texas, in an on-camera interview with Fox News Digital; however, there is also a solution for it, he also said just as his latest book was being published.
“There is a lack of hope, especially among teenagers, where the suicide rate continues to rise,” he said. (See the video at the top of this article and another video within this piece.)
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“Overall, the suicide rate is the highest it's been since World War II. We feel trapped. We don't have a clear understanding. And my experience has taught me that clarity about the future gives value to the present.”
That's why he wrote his latest book, What Happens Next, revealing his deeper premise and the actions that all people can take, including those of faith, no matter their particular stage of life or situation.
Pastor Max Lucado's latest book is titled “What Happens Next.” In an interview with Fox News Digital, he said, “I have a lot more friends in heaven than on Earth. So I started thinking: Where do we go when we die? What is it?” (MaxLucado.com)
“All my life I've been fascinated by what the Bible has to say about the end times,” Lucado said.
However, “it's only in the last few years that I've become obsessed with understanding what's about to happen. And I think there are two reasons.”
“To be honest, you just start to wonder.”
She said that for her next birthday, which is in January, “I'll need 70 candles on the birthday cake. And I don't know if I'll have a fire extinguisher that can put them all out or not,” she added with a smile.
But “as you get older,” he said, “to be honest, you start to wonder. And I have a lot more friends in heaven than on Earth. So I started to think: Where do we go when we die? What is it? What is God's plan for the end of this world?”
Questions like these that are common among older people, she said, have been “accelerated by all the things that are going on in the world today.”
He said the study of “end times” can be “intimidating and scary for a lot of people. I've had a lot of people say to me, 'I don't even want to talk about the end times because I'm scared of them.'”
Jesus told his followers and tells us: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God.”
But Lucado believes that such a position is “unfortunate.”
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He assured all who might feel that way that “according to the Bible, what happens next should be a source of great encouragement and hope. Jesus said to his followers, and he says to us, 'Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God. Trust also in me. In my Father's house there are many mansions. And if it were not so, I would not have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.'”
“Whenever you feel anxiety… just pray. Pray,” Lucado said. “And be open to exploring what's about to happen.” (MaxLucado.com)
Thus, “with these words and many others like them, Jesus exhorts us to look to the future without fear, but with faith.”
The emphasis on hope, he said, is “very, very helpful, I think, because we can endure in difficult times, we can overcome the fears that we have, because we know that these difficult days are only going to last a moment, and we have reason to pray. Just pray that it will be so.”
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She added: “Whenever you feel anxious, or you see the news and feel like you want to crawl into a hole or cover your head with a pillow, just pray. Pray. And be open to exploring what's about to happen.”
“We can all explore this. And through that trust, we find the courage to face the future.”
Lucado told an anecdote from his childhood as an analogy to real life.
“When I was young, my dad would take us on long camping trips. My brother and I would get so excited and he would tell us all about the things we were going to see, even though we had never been to New Mexico, Colorado or Utah. He would tell us all about it.
“And we got very excited because we trusted my father.
“It's the same with God. We can trust Him and be excited.” [about the future]In this book, I try to explain what is happening right now in heaven. For those loved ones who have already been in the presence of Jesus, I try to explain what heaven will be like for those who believe in Christ.
“We are waiting for Christ's return. We are waiting for him. We believe that it can happen at any moment. And that is the reason for our hope, the reason for our joy.” (Max Lucado; iStock)
He added: “I have tried to be equally honest and speak of the tragedy that awaits those who reject Christ, but I believe we can all explore this and, through that trust, find the courage to face the future.”
Lucado noted that the Bible has “more than 300 references to the return of Jesus.”
And “the idea is that the Christian lives life on tiptoe. We are waiting for the return of Christ. We are waiting for him. We believe that it can happen at any moment. And that is the reason for hope, the reason for joy.”
When her three daughters were young, Lucado said, “When they were in diapers and then in the baby stage, there were always nose prints and fingerprints on the window by the front door. Back in those days, I would come in the front door and they would hear 'Daddy's on his way home' and they would all run to the window and stand there.”
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“They couldn't wait for me to come home. They were looking forward to me coming home.”
The Bible, Lucado said, “says there is a blessing for those who wait for Christ's return. We can begin and end each day saying, 'Come today, Lord, come today.'”
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Lucado said, “God’s ultimate answer to the world’s struggles and suffering is not found in this life, but in the next.”
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Look “What Happens Next?: A Public Forum on the End Times with Max Lucado” now available on Fox Nation.
