Can God lie? Absolutely not!
Would God ever lie or do that which constitutes a lie in order to bring one to an understanding of the truth about a particular matter? Absolutely not!
Would God ever employ a lie of Satan's making to be the motivating factor to draw a rerpentant sinner unto Himself? Absolutely yes!
And that, I am persuaded to belive, is the most likely scenario that transpired when you, Sean, were given the visions of a dream wherein the enemy attempted to cause you to believe that you had missed the "rapture." Don't you get the picture?
Obviously, you had already become convinced that there was going to be an "any-minute" bodily removal of all of the saints of God from the earth, both the living and the dead, that is to say what is commonly known as a 'rapture of the church," and the enemy was simply trying to confirm your greatest fear, that is, that you, being unsaved, had missed it. The vision was intended to discourage you from further pursuit of the matter. Hang it up, Sean, you missed it! You're lost, and there's no more hope for you! Yes, that is what Satan wanted you to believe.
But, thanks be to God, who knows the heart, was able to recognize something in you that Satan could never recognize, and that was your deep-seated desire and conviction to be saved. So God intervened and "turned the tables" on Satan's subtle tactic of trying to deceive you, and using the fear which had been instilled in you, brought you to an understanding of your need for baptism, which resulted in your salvation. I thank God for that!
However, because you've mistakenly concluded that the visions of the dream were from God, and not from the enemy, then you've also mistakenly concluded it as a confirmation that there will be a "rapture of the church." And therein lies the problem. Allow me to explain, and please, please, read carefully and ponder the merits of what I shall state before responding!
When Peter arose on the day of Pentecost to tender an explanation of the events that had just been witnessed by many Jews assembled there, he quoted a prophecy from the writings of Joel, wherein it is written that the Lord had said,
"I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, AND YOUR YOUNG MEN SHALL SEE VISIONS, AND YOUR OLD MEN SHALL DREAM DREAMS" (
Acts 2:17). Thus we discover that God does, in fact, give dreams and visions to young and old alike.
Likewise, we find it written in
Job 33:14-18, that it is by the means of the visions of dreams that God oft-times "speaks" to man, yet most do not perceive that such visions are from God therefore they fail to comprehend the message that God conveys to them by means of this medium.
However, as with any, or all of the visions one might receive through dreams, it is extremely important to always bear at the fore of the mind the necessity of ascertaining or establishing it source. Let us never forget that Satan always seeks to duplicate everything that God does, and seeing that God can and does relay messages to us by means of the visions of a dream, then we must be aware that Satan will do the same thing.
Therefore we must make that crucial distinction as to the source of the dream. We are able to do that by adhering to that same method or principle of verification which was used by Joseph in determining the source of Pharaoh's dreams:
"And Joseph said unto Pharoab, The dream of Pharaoh is one: God hath shewed Pharaoh what he is about to do" (
Genesis 41:25). But wait! Did not Pharaoh receive two dreams wherein he saw two different visions? How then could Joseph state that they were one? Well, here's the answer:
"And for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice; it is because the thing is established by God, and God will bring it to pass" (
Genesis 41:32).
Think on these things as I pause for awhile to rest and "catch my breath," and if the Lord be willing I shall return to provide you with some indisputable and irrefutable scriptural facts that will prove, beyond all reasonable doubt, that the "alleged" rapture of the church doctrine is a cleverly deceived "doctrine of devils."
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