Your email:

I have recently come to know by reading my bible that what I have been taught my whole life is wrong. I need more information, though, because I lead a bible study group and I am responsible for what I teach these people. I have been taught all my life the pre-trib rapture. I know this to be wrong. I know that it will be exactly as you have said on your site, that we will be here until the last day. I don't know exactly what information I need, but am praying with all my heart and soul for this information.
Let me give you a little more information. I have always believed the "Left Behind" version of things. About two weeks ago, for no real reason, I started questioning this in my heart. Let me say again, for no apparent reason at all, I started questioning this. Nothing happened to make me wonder, nothing happened to make me doubt what I'd always been taught, just this feeling in my heart all of a sudden, that it was wrong. DEAD wrong. Like a muddy glass window was suddenly hit by a burst of water from a powerful garden hose. Yesterday, I was reading the bible to my 3 year old son before naptime as is our custom, (and let me also say that I always thought I had at least a decent knowledge of the bible because I have studied it and read it since I was ten and I'm now 31) and I read something that made me stop reading to my son and take a lot closer look. I could no longer read to my son where we were and he commented that I had stopped reading. I just had to tell him that I had to understand this before I could keep reading, that he should go ahead and go to sleep. I read, and kept reading, and things started to make sense. I have, as I said, some knowledge of the words in the bible. I put some verses that I knew that hadn't really made sense before with the one that I had read, and it all finally made sense. I hadn't formally prayed about the matter, but I had let God know in the past week or so that I needed to know more, and that I sincerely wanted to understand. It all came together. I got on my knees and blocked the "children storm" (noise) in my house and prayed to God to make it unmistakeable, where I couldn't misunderstand it, where I would know it came directly from him. I can say without a doubt that I got my prayer answered TRIFOLD! I just need to know more, I need to be pointed in the right direction in the scripture where I can read it myself and pray about it. I tell everyone in my bible study group constantly to read for themselves, don't be anyone's blind sheep. Blind sheep are led over a cliff, always. Trust the Lord to show you the meaning of what you read, not any human being. Not me, not your preacher, not your father, mother, brother, friend, neighbor, TRUST ONLY GOD when it comes to matters of your soul. Well I try to do just that myself. I have never made a very good sheep because when someone teaches something that I KNOW to be an untruth, a lie, I'm outta there! I can read for myself and pray. Now, I'm asking you for help to find the scriptures to read about prophecy because I don't know where all of them are. I need to know more about the "geography of prophetic verses in the bible" so that I may read them for myself and pray about them. By geography, I don't mean world geography, I mean that I need to know where they are so that I can study them for myself. I'm sorry this is so long, I'm just hungry and want more (spiritual) food.

 My answer:

Hi,
Wow, what a beautiful email! Your email has the presence of the Spirit all over it.

What happened to you has happened to others who have sent me similar email. It happened because when God spoke you heard him and when you heard him you listened and when you listened you obeyed. Many receive this message from God, but ignore it. You may be surprised at how many ignore the revelations God gives them through the Word and the Spirit.

The best way to feed in the Word is to search by yourself and let the Spirit guide you. Here is a link to my reference charts on my web site. http://www.lastday.info/chartintro.html

When you click on the link it will take you to the 'How to use the charts' tutorial. Then from there you go to the charts themselves. The colorful top half of the charts breaks events down to the four basic time periods of the last days and gives you the events of each period. The bottom half is the verse reference charts where you can find the events in the scripture and read for yourself. I believe that not only will it help you seek the Word, but will be invaluable for teaching the end-times prophecies as well. I must note two things that you may already know but better said than sorry: ALWAYS read the verses in their proper context, because that is the only way to understand their meaning. Second, if you don't know the Old Testament prophecies then you will have considerable difficulty understanding the New Testament prophecies.

Please feel free to email with questions as often as you like.

I pray that I have served you well.

In the service of the LORD Jesus,

Randy