I read that study you recommended and found a giant flaw. In it correctly quotes 1.Cor.15.51-52 and linked it to 1 Thess.4.16. Yet he ignored one extremely important wording in 1 Cor.15.51 - 52 that places the timing of the rapture at the Last Trumpet!
So when is the Last trumpet? Revelation gives the last trumpet, Rev.11.15. There are only seven trumpets and this is the seventh. Further it is blown after the two witnesses die after their 3 1/2 years of ministry and after they themselves rise. The we read:
“The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of the L-rd and His Christ and He shall raign forever.” Rev. 11.15
And then the elders fall down and say:
“We give thanks to Thee, L-rd G-d Almighty, Who art and Who wast, that Thou hast taken Thy great power and begun to reign, The nations raged, but They wrath came, and the time for the dead to be judged, for rewarding They servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear Thy Name both small and great, and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.” 17-18
This is a post trib rapture not a pretrib rapture whatever other texts seem to imply elsewhere. This particular one is crystal clear. Further, there is no evidance that once we are taken up to join Him in the clouds, we will not come down with Him again as well. Indeed its highly probable given what the angles said in Acts after Christ was taken up, 1.11, He will return the same way and the elders state: “Thou hast taken Thy great power and begun to reign,” .
Thus even if it appears these two events are unconnected, John made it very clear they are not. Of course this could be why Paul stated it was a mystery which could be why what seems so obvious to some is so hard for others to understand.
However please consider, who do you think will suffer more if they are wrong? Those who believe as we do, He coming after the Tribluation and who then prepare their hearts to go through the tribulation and then are raised before it; or those who assume the pritrib rapture based on those arguments given in that study, who then find themselves in the Tribulation unprepared?
Thanks for taking the time to explain your position. You made a good point of I Cor 15. However, I did find this response to this objection in a word study which does seem to make sense.
"sálpigx; gen. sálpiggos, fem. noun. A trumpet (
1 Cor. 14:8;
Rev. 1:10;
4:1;
8:2,
6,
13;
9:14). As announcing the approach or presence of God (
Heb. 12:19 [cf.
Ex. 19:13,
16,
19;
1 Kings 1:34,
39]), or the final advent of the Messiah (
Matt. 24:31). In
1 Cor. 15:52 the last trumpet (
1 Thess. 4:16, "the trumpet of God" [a.t.], which means a trumpet which sounds by command of God;
1 Sam. 13:3;
2 Kings 12:13).
The trumpets in Scripture are of great significance in eschatology in determining when the rapture of the church takes place (
1 Thess. 4:13-18). This involves the question of whether the mention of the "last trumpet" in
1 Corinthians 15:52, simply referred to as "the trumpet" in
1 Thessalonians 4:16, is the same as the seventh trumpet in
Revelation 11:11-15. Some assume that these trumpets are identical and thus presume that the rapture of the church will take place at the time of the occurrence of the seventh trumpet of
Revelation 11:15. This seventh trumpet is in the middle or toward the latter part of the seven-year tribulation period, i.e., Daniel's prophetic seventieth week (
Dan. 9:25-27).
The contexts of the passages make it clear that not all references to trumpets in Scripture describe the same event nor are all the trumpets sounded for the same purpose. The trumpet of
1 Thessalonians 4:16 is mentioned in association with the resurrection of believers. Two events are described as taking place. The first is the resurrection of the believers who had died (
v. 16). Immediately following this, the believers who are alive at that time will be raptured (
1 Thess. 4:17). According to
1 Corinthians 15:52, all believers, both the dead and living, will be changed at this time. This changing process will be simultaneous with the resurrection. The trumpet of
1 Thessalonians 4:16 and
1 Corinthians 15:52 deals entirely with believers and their resurrection and change. The seven trumpets of Revelation, however, deal with God's demonstration of wrath and judgment on unbelievers. It has nothing to do with the last trumpet for the church, for believers of the dispensation of grace. Believers are raptured from the earth because God did not appoint believers unto wrath (
1 Thess. 5:9).
The rapture is said to be at the last trumpet (
1 Cor. 15:52), but the last trumpet is not to be equated with the seventh trumpet of
Revelation 11:15. The word for "last" in
1 Corinthians 15:52 is not hústerē
<G5305>, hindermost, final or closing, but eschátē
<G2078>, the latest, not in the process of time but pertaining to the events spoken of. This trumpet then is not necessarily the final trumpet. Also, the seventh trumpet of
Revelation 11:15 is not designated as the last trumpet although numerically it is the last in a series of seven. The trumpet of
Revelation 11:15 is only the last of seven trumpets spelling the judgments of God and is to be followed by the seven bowls of
Revelation 15;
16.
In
Matt. 24:31 the Lord speaks of God sending His angels with a great sound of a trumpet. They shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. This is not called the last trumpet, yet it follows the Great Tribulation of
Matthew 24:29. It concerns the elect of the Tribulation period who responded to God's heavenly witnesses of
Revelation 7. This is actually the last trumpet although not called such.
Deriv.: salpízō
<G4537>, to sound a trumpet."
Source: The Complete Word Study Dictionary – New Testament.
As to whether a rapture believer will persevere less than someone expecting the tribulation, is a reasonable hypothesis, though untested. I think most pre-trib believers know there is a possibility they might be in part or even all of the tribulation. Anyone with Jesus truly as Lord should be able to adjust and do the best they can. It is not like we will have a choice, we just will either go sooner or later. I'm guessing the pre-trib rapture idea is better-suited for evangelism since it is more sudden and unexpected.
