5Before The Doors Open

---

LINDA: A poster in a Christian bookstore introduced me to the word rapture. The explanation I received — a secret return of Jesus for His Church — sounded nothing like the Scriptures I had been taught for eighteen years.  That moment launched a forty‑year investigation.

LINDA: At first, I pushed this new interpretation of Scripture to the back of my mind. I had just come through several events of biblical proportion, and my heart was burning to share what Jesus had done for me. So I wrote to several denominational headquarters, hoping for opportunities to share my “born‑again” testimony.

Only one responded — and their answer made no sense at all. The rest stayed silent. And that silence told me something was wrong, even though I couldn’t yet name it.

So, I started visiting different denominations — Baptist, Methodist, Episcopal, Catholic, Church of God, Assembly of God… even a Jewish synagogue. And with the exception of the Jews, every single church I walked into was fixated on the book of Revelation and a secret return of Christ.

That troubled me tremendously. During the ten years I had been living in rebellion to God, it was beginning to look as if the church had left it's "first love." There was almost no preaching on sin… and very little about the name above all names — Jesus.

LINDA: It brought something I didn’t expect. I realized that what was being called “the church”… wasn’t the Church at all. Everywhere I went, the focus was on buildings, programs, denominations, and doctrines — not on the gospel of Jesus Christ and becoming His Bride.

The Church had become a location instead of followers of Jesus. A structure instead of a people. A schedule instead of a relationship.

LINDA: It was. I wasn’t looking for a building. I was looking for the Jesus who rescued me from suicide and homosexuality — the Jesus who showed me my life on a giant screen, the Jesus who fought the darkness to bring me into light.

And the more I looked, the more apparent it became: the Church had drifted from Him! Not in name — but in their hearts.

LINDA: I kept searching. But the more I asked preachers for answers, the more threatened they became. I wasn’t challenging their authority — I was simply asking, “Why did God make me? What is my purpose for Him?”

My Assembly of God pastor went ballistic when I told him I was renting a fishing cabin for the winter to seek God.

He didn’t celebrate it. He tried to stop it. He wanted to be the go‑between — the mediator between parishioners and God. But that wasn’t biblical to me.

So I went anyway.

LINDA (soft smile): That winter alone with God was real Christianity. It was beyond human explanation.

I walked out onto the beach with my Bible, held it up toward the sky, and asked God Almighty to teach me His Word. No pastor. No denomination. No filter. Just me and the Creator.

And He did teach me — Scriptures came alive in my life.

LINDA: Absolutely! I realized that if I was going to understand the truth about the rapture — or anything else — I had to learn from God Himself.

During that winter, I also discovered something else: I had been called — like every believer — to be a missionary for Jesus. Not overseas, but to America. The mission Jesus gave followers has never changed: “As you go, make disciples. Teach what I commanded. Be the light. Be the salt. Set the captives free.”

After that winter in seclusion with the Living God, I began living my life as a missionary to America which has brought me to the present moment.

LINDA: Well, I almost died a year ago. Jesus has completely restored me. So, it became clear to me I had unfinished business for Him on earth. 

Through Divine Revelation I knew it was time to be the Jeremiah I had volunteered to be back in 1981 during a church service, and I was to start with this teaching. 

This is not just a doctrine that contradicts the words of Jesus, Paul, and John but a belief system that has placed the Church in captivity— a captivity so deep, that most believers don't even know they are prisoners.

A crime had been committed and what better way to present the evidence but through a trial.

LINDA: Because when a doctrine tells believers they will escape instead of endure, they stop preparing. They stop maturing. They stop standing. They stop being salt and light and end up lukewarm and just sitting on a pew.

This doctrine isn’t just wrong — it is harming the Church.

LINDA: My hope is that this trial leads God’s people out of captivity… just like Moses led God’s people out of Egypt. 

It is not the only error being taught today but is the most prevalent one in the church groups that are still alive. 

Jesus would that none should perish. Paul warned believers would be tossed about with every wind of doctrine. John told us to test the spirits. And when I looked at the Church — confused, fearful, divided, unprepared — I knew this wasn’t just a doctrinal issue. It was a rescue mission. 

LINDA: I would tell them exactly what Jesus said: 'He is the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father but through Him.'

This trial is not asking anyone to trust me, or history, or a denomination, or a preacher. All who read this trial need only to do one thing: ask Jesus about it.

If they ask Him — sincerely, humbly, honestly — He will confirm its message.

LINDA: No. The trial is the beginning. The real work happens when each person goes to Jesus for themselves.