The next verse seals it for me.
1Th 5:21 Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.
"Don’t despise those that teach you, your inspired speakers. Don’t be offended at anything that they say. If they have the Spirit of God they are doing this for your habitation, your welfare, your future."
I don't seek after anybody. I didn't ask to have the one teacher I call 'teacher'. What I 'learn' from others is often as much about what NOT to believe as what to believe. A person does NOT have the Spirit of God because he or she claims to have it. We know them by their fruits--good or bad--what kind of spirit they have. The Lord is working in all things, but NOT always for the reasons we may think, or that others may claim.
Just me talking, but I don't want to spend the rest of my life in doctrinal 'trial and error'. I have proven to my own full satisfaction that what Ray teaches on B-T is good. IF there is ever a "post-Ray Smith" period of my life, it will be me teaching myself from the foundation of the gospel I've recieved here. Ray has said there will be no successor to his teaching ministry. I have no plans now or ever to look for one, outside of the Spirit of God working in me to teach myself. I've probably disqualified myself from teaching others, and I know many others have disqualified themselves from teaching me.
If that sounds like I'm ignoring the advise, it may be that I'm just trying to 'read all the words'.