I just awoke from a dream. In it, I told a woman, "There is no rapture." By that I meant what the false church calls the "pre-tribulation rapture". The church you left probably believed it and I do not know if you know one person that does not.

When I was in the false church, I'd hear them preach it. At a certain point I was confronted on it and said, "It doesn't really matter." That was an ignorant statement. Of course it matters, because if you are wrong, you are antibiblical and telling a lie and are a false witness. One dispensationalist church gave me all kinds of extrabiblical books to prove their point. That made me go ahead and search the scriptures and clarify this doctrine within myself. I think that somewhere on the site (or the emails to the list), I addressed this very question. You see before this, I could talk about the Catholics, but I had left my baptist brethren alone. I was confronted with this. I had to tell the truth about everything--even if it would offend baptists. If I had refused to do that, I believe that I would have received no further information.

When you speak against the false doctrine of even a friend--unless they are really a truth seeker--they may not be your friend for long. I used to know people. True doctrine divides. I was told that I was not a Bible believer over this issue--yet I can set forth my strong reasons, which they cannot. Without letting doctrine divide and do its work, you deny the truth and put yourself in harm's way.

If this question is not settled for you, i.e., the pre-tribulation rapture, search the scriptures. I like to start with Matthew 24.

Of note, people who believe this false doctrine must learn it from ignorantly following church tradition or from a false teacher who will wrest with the scriptures to make them say what they do not say. They teach many complex schemes and write books. Nobody can understand it but those that went to "seminary" or as one missionary put it, "cemetery". False doctrine, kills. But if your doctrine is correct it is life giving and can be followed without extrabiblical sources and the traditions of man.

You said in one of your emails that you want to preach. One man was made a "minister" in a church that I went to. He once said he wanted to know if he would be a real one (minister). He took the chair and preached as a novice. There were times when he had a word and he seemed earnest--but he had some serious issues. Some time passed. At another church we were in the parking lot and he was talking about Saul of Tarsus and added to him (Saul) characteristics of King Saul. I said that those were two different men who lived hundreds of years apart.

The gospel is the whole message of Jesus Christ, not simply the "Romans Road". "If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed." Yes, the evangelist preaches the gospel and brings souls into the kingdom. As you mentioned, it is so important to have the scriptures in your right hand so that you can meet each person at the point at which THEY are. The Ethiopian eunuch had a specific question about Isaiah 53 as I recall. Wherever a person is, we should be able to meet there. The false church often can only take their audience to a prescribed set of scriptures.

As a preacher of the gospel, it is wisdom to understand that we live in a climate where most people you meet have heard something of the Lord Jesus Christ and what he has done. This is NOT new news to them. Many blaspheme his name continuously using his very name as an exclamation. I have not watched television in a decade or more, but I perceive that on tv or in movies or something or some combination, they keep misusing that name to their own confusion. One can, and should, assess the climate in which they find themselves. Paul, for example, related that the Cretians are alway liars. On Mars hill, he looked around at the altars of the society and made commentary. Know the climate in which you are.

Many of these things are learned through reason of experience. As we read the scriptures and apply them, our senses are exercised to discern good and evil. Once this has occured, one is in a position to teach. But before that, how can one teach? Yet it happens over and over again in the false church. Through the years, I've been on both sides of this divide--where things went well and when things went wrong to my shame and the shame of the kingdom.

Mephibosheth