Hi Bruce....I really enjoy the spirit of your messages!  There is anticipation and excitement between every line, and I find myself more uplifted in reading them.

I just had a question about one thing, and maybe you or other Doves could clarify....here is your link:

http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/feb2012/brucew216-3.htm

You said that I Thess. 4:16-18 is the same event as Matthew 24:31, and  you said that they both happen at the end of the Tribulation.  I see it a bit differently by the wording of each, but I could very well be wrong.

I Thess.4:16 says, "for the Lord HIMSELF shall descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God:  and the dead in Christ shall rise first;"....

Matthew 24:31 says, "And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven! to the other."

It seems to me that in the first one, Jesus, Himself does the gathering...and the "shout" is specific from Him as well as the "voice" of the (individual) archangel and not "angels".  Is the "trump of God" the same as "great sound of a trumpet"?  And I also don't see any "dead in Christ" being taken FIRST when the angels are sent to gather the elect from the four winds.

And also, if the gathering of the whole body of Christ is at the end of the Tribulation, how do the armies in "fine linen" who come with Him (Revelation 19:14) get there to be ready to come with Him?  I can't picture a severe "U-turn" at the end of the Tribulation so that the saints are gathered up in the "clouds" (I Thess. 4:17) and then turn around to be with Jesus when He sets foot on the Mount of Olives.

The only explanation, to me, of how the "armies" in fine linen come back with Jesus Christ as King, is that they are taken up to heaven BEFORE the sudde! n destruction on the earth.  Otherwise, it makes no sense.  So, if you could explain how this happens, I would love to hear it.  Or maybe one of the other Doves could clarify this for me....

YsiC,

Arlene