Welcome!
Nice explanations, blueteapot.
To make links work, place them between url brackets like this (remove the spaces):
[ url ][ /url ]
Or, click on the "Quote" button & you can see how I did it for these:
http://gracethrufaith.com/selah/parables/the-parable-of-the-wedding-banquet/
http://www.opendoorministrieswv.org/ancientjewishwedding.html
http://gracethrufaith.com/ikvot-hamashiach/seven-things-you-have-to-know-to-understand-end-times-prophecy-part-3/
http://www.swrc.com/ministry/faqs/tribulation/twotaken.html
Thanks so much, TN Dove! I've fixed the original post to test myself. Uhmm...since you are being so helpful....can you tell me if there is a way to bold and/or italic the type? 
Blue
Email: ljbutler2@yahoo.com
Enjoying your links, blueteapot
. .
especially noticing these words in this one:
http://www.opendoorministrieswv.org/ancientjewishwedding.html
. . "In John 15:16, Jesus said, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you
that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain.”
In ancient Israel, brides were usually chosen by the father of the bridegroom. He would
send His most trusted servant to search for a bride for his son.
We have not seen Yeshua (Jesus), but God’s servant, the Holy Spirit, has revealed Him
to us: I Peter 1:8: "Whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet
believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory".
Blue
Nice job fixing your links!
Well... bold is a tough one, because the entire site is already bold by default.
For italics, use [ i ][ /i ]
Italics
To change size, [ size=24 ][ /size ]
Size 24 (you can choose whatever point size you like
To change color, [ color=red ]Red Text[ /color ]
Red Text
Purple Text
(Most color names will work)
To underline, [ u ]underlined text[ /u ]
underlined text
Hope this helps. Shortcuts for these are available by clicking on the bb code link on the Enter Message: screen. (right above where you normally type in a reply message)
Hi Mike - I would respond with a few points:
You said...Just wondering the CHURCH being Raptured is excluding those churches..
This would depend on your definition of Church. If your definition of church is an assembly of exclusively believers - then no, none will be excluded. If your definition of church is simply an assembly, comprised of both believers and non-believers, then yes, some individuals [the non-believers] will not be raptured. Strong’s defines its use in the N.T. both ways.
It is interesting to note that in Revelation 1-3, Jesus specifically addresses the angel of the church - in other words, the leadership.
You said...Christ would punished in Revelation chapter 1-3....
I would caution against confusing punishment with discipline. A father disciplines a child, but the child is still a member of the family. I do not see anywhere in Rev. 2-3 where salvation is taken away.
You said...and those un-deserving members of the 7 churches punished by Christ are only bridesmaids...
The adjective Undeserving applies to all of us [see Romans 3:23] We cannot use that as a qualifier for who goes and who does not, since we all fail and are undeserving. A better word here would be unbelieving. If you are an unbeliever, you are certainly not part of the Bride. You may or may not become a bridesmaid during the time of Jacob’s trouble. However, no one who is now a believer is a bridesmaid. All current believers are a part of the Bride.
You said...Yes the Bride must be waiting for Christ like RITA people. Those that feel that Jesus is not coming yet may not have eyes of the Holy Spirit (Oil) with them....
We know that God’s Word does not contradict itself. All parts work together in a perfect seamless fit and will be fulfilled. Jesus was pointed about that [Matt 5:18]. Thus, we can use scripture to correctly interpret scripture [Timothy 3:16]. And therefore, we can look at John 3:14 and Acts 16:31, plus many others, and understand that believing - not watching or waiting - is the key to salvation. And if you are saved, you are sealed. If you are sealed, you go. I suspect more than a few believers are going to be err…caught with their britches down….but they are still going.
Email: ljbutler2@yahoo.com
I wrestle with the concept everyday. Pastor Sandy and Dr. O seem to concur with what I'm reading in scripture. At the same time, I was raised in a very "religeous" cult...worldwide church of god...and it is much more difficult to unlearn a thing than it is to learn it.
I'll pray as I read your research. I only want the TRUTH to be revealed to me.
Thank you again.
You are more than welcome, Elainey. When I was a young christian, I read about the "two in the field" and I remember I was afraid I would be left behind. I didn't understand then that being left behind, in this context, was the preferrable position!
The more I study and learn about God, the more awestruck I am at His perfect balance - wholly Just, wholly Love, wholly Powerful.
The false gods of this world [which are really all just masks of Satan] are capricious. One never knows where one is with them.
Chaos, confusion, capriciousness - these are not of God. The literal meaning of the word "Satan" is the Accuser or the Adversary.
Revelation 12:10 (King James Version)
10And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.
Yet, listen to God's response to the Adversary.
Romans 8:30-39 (New International Version, ©2010)
30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
More Than Conquerors
31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”[a]
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
We know that Jesus is the author and perfecter of our faith. Think about that. It comes from Him, it's perfected by Him. No accusation from Lucifer is going to pervail against Him. That's why the old song goes "Blessed Assurance, Jesus is mine."
Email: ljbutler2@yahoo.com
