When Does The "Last Trumpet" Sound?

 When Does The "Last Trumpet" Sound? - by Bill Perkins - https://compass.org/when-does-the-last-trumpet-sound/ Last week on Compass TV (compass.org/TV) we featured the late Ed Hindson’s excellent Steeling the Mind Conference presentation, “The Air-tight Case For Pre-Trib Rapture.” That title alone was probably enough to “Release the hounds” against my Pre-tribulational Rapture position. And, predictably, they came blasting with both barrels. I used to call these Mid- and Post-Rapture people “brain dead” and “dumber than a box of rocks.” But eventually I came to the conclusion that I was wrong to respond that wayto my brothers and sisters in Christ who have been so wickedly deceived by the devil. I should have more compassion for them. So I’m working on my responses to those who hold to inconsistent doctrines. And, for what it's worth, Susie and I were saved in the late seventies in a church where the pastor was staunchly Mid-Trib. So defending a Mid-Trib position was one of thefirst things I learned as a new Believer. I’ve heard every argument under the sun why Pre-Trib Rapture is supposedly wrong. But over the years of being a “vocal” Believer proclaiming the Bible was 100% accurate, I had to learn to be a Biblical Apologist... able defend my beliefs that every wordin the Bible was inspired by God. All Scripture is inspired by God (God-breathed) and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 2Tim. 3:16 And it didn't take long to come to the inescapable conclusion that Mid-or Post-Trib Rapture are impossible to defend theories from the pit of hell. Satan doesn't want Believersto be excited and confident about Jesus coming for us at the Rapture. Rather, he wants us scared and worried. So he has this very small but quite vocal group of Mid- and Post Tribbers trying to steal our joy. For instance they harp on the “Last Trump” happening well into the Tribulation—either at the middle or toward the end of the 7-years of horror. They base their Mid-trib position on these two Pauline verses: For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 1Thess. 4:16 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 1Cor. 15:52 And then they tie those two Pauline verses to this verse in Revelation: but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel (blowing the 7th Trumpet), when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished, as He preached to His servantsthe prophets. Rev. 10:7 But that’s wrong. The Pauline verses are not referring to the seventh angel in Rev. 10:7. Rather, the last trump Paul was referring to is the last trumpet blown on Rosh Hashanahat the end of the TWO DAY scripturally commanded celebration (which is interestingly consistent with the 2 Day / 2000 year Church Age). Furthermore, as a strict dispensationalist I know that dispensations, by their very nature, don’t/can’t overlap. You can’t have two dispensations going on at the same time.One has to end, then the next one can begin. Therefore the Tribulation dispensation has to be a separate and distinct time period dealing with the Jews. The Church Age dispensation MUST end before the Tribulation dispensationcan begin. Lastly, if the Rapture were at the end of the Tribulation, a Mid- or Post-Trib Rapture would conflict with Jesus’ proclamation that everything would be normal up until theRapture…buying, selling, building, planting, harvesting, social events, etc. (Matt 24; Luke 17) With half the world’s population dead from drugs, wars, starvation, lack of electricity and eaten by wild beasts in the first three years of the Tribulation, the world willbe in chaos. And by the end of the 7-year Tribulation Isaiah 24:6 says “Few men are left." So the end of the Tribulation is NOT a normal buy-and-sell time. NOTHING will be normal. Food will be scarce and social events will be nonexistent. Most of the world willbe dead from the wrath of God. And this does not even take into account using the sniff-test: The Lord has told His bride, the Church, that He will “Rescue” her before His wrath is unleashed. Wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come. 1Thes 1:10 For God has not destined us for wrath, 1Th. 5:9 So He’s told us in no uncertain terms that Believers living in the Church Age are not going to be the object of His wrath. So does it make sense that He would pre-plan todrag his bride through the mud, the blood, and the beer just before He marries her? Please. Satan wants you to be fearful of the future. He wants to scare you into submission... so you might do things that are unscriptural. But God says our future is secure, thatHe’s in control: "For I know the plans that I have for you,” declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Jer. 29:11 So Believers should not have their eyes looking down on earth for the coming Antichrist, or personally worried about the horrible things soon to be unleashed on an unsuspectingworld. Rather, we’re looking up for Jesus Christ to call us from the sky. An incredible event unequaled in history. Like Noah was promised to be spared from God's wrathful worldwideflood, Believers will be spared from God's wrathful worldwide destruction. Our goal is to learn to trust the accuracy of a literal translation of God’s Word! Don’t let those brain-dead Mid-Tribbers steal your joy of living in and being used by theLord in these exciting times. Whoops, there I go again, dissing on the Mid-Tribbers. Let me rephrase: Don’t let those poor, pitiful, sad, scripturally inaccurate Mid-Tribbers confuse you with their non-Biblical clucking. We'll explain everything on the way up.