There are distinctions made between the Bride of Christ, which is the Church, and a local group of church-goers.  The Bride of Christ is the whole body of true believers since the Saviour shed His blood on the cross of Calvary and rose again from the dead three days later.  A local group of church-goers can have a group within it which truly has Jesus Christ abiding in their hearts.  These truly born again Christians are a fraction of the whole Church.  The whole true Church extends worldwide and universal into the heaven of heavens.  The true Church will come together as a whole body at the rapture.  The dead in Christ shall arise first, then those which are alive and remain here on earth will meet them in the clouds.  The Church will be in its fullness as the Bride of Christ, after the rapture, to meet in heaven for the marriage supper of the Lamb.    See I Corinthians 12:12-14, II Corinthians 11:2, Ephesians 1:22-23, 5:25-27, and I Thessalonians 4:13-18.

  Whereas, a local group of church-goers can be comprised of several groups of people.  Within the meeting place of a local assembly there can be true believers, devils, false prophets, deceivers, and government political informants.  Not all of these people meeting together are part of the Church which is the Bride of Christ.  The true believers within these local assemblies are a small part of many members of the whole body of Christ, which is known as the Church, or the Bride of Christ. See John 13:18-30, Acts 1:15-20, 5:1-11, Romans 12:4-5, Romans 16:4-5, I Corinthians 5:9-13, and Jude 8-13.

  The local assembly of true believers, being mixed with other types of non-believers, is commonly referred to as the local New Testament church.  The day-to-day business of the Lord takes place at local assemblies on a worldwide basis.  A true local church is autonomous and free of any external authority or control in all manners of faith, practice, and business.  In other words, no arch-Bishop tells a local pastor when and what to preach.  The local assembly collects up funds to run itself and does not pay funds to a headquarter for a local franchise fee.  A true local Bible believing church is free from all government restrictions and authority including lying about members for political freedom.  See Acts 5:29, 20:24-35, I Corinthians 3:9-16, and I Peter 5:1-4.

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