Subject: GREETINGS IN THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST
   Date: Mon, 29 Jun 1998 15:42:00 -0500
   From: bconkle
   To: alrogers@gmx.com

You have no idea who I am, but I am a Christian brother that also shares your belief on "the last trump." I have attempted to be a diligent student of the Bible ever since I was saved and became involved in Church, and like many new Christians, I was fascinated by scripture concerning the rapture, end times, prophecy, etc. All the books I bought concerning the rapture held to the pre-trib view, and so I held to this belief also for several years. Then, while studying my Bible last year, I read the exact same verse that you have pointed out: I Corinthians 15:52. I had read and heard this scripture so many times, and I could not believe that I had not latched onto those 4 monumental words: "AT THE LAST TRUMP." I was ecstatic; I was well-familiar with all the different Pre, Mid, and Post trib rapture theories, but the Lord revealed to me that this scripture was the key - find out where the last trump is blown, and any question about the time of the rapture would be clearly settled. I laboriously searched through the scriptures, and the last trump that I could find mentioned was in Revelation 11- the sounding of the seventh trumpet! I was ecstatic that the Lord would choose to reveal to me this tiny nugget of truth. I shared it with several of my Christian friends, and then with my pastor - but my pastor did not accept my "last trump" theory because it implied that the church would remain on earth during the Tribulation; he pointed out to me Revelation 3:10, where the Lord said that he would "...keep thee from the hour of temptation...". I was hurt and did not understand how he could reject an interpretation that is so plain and so clear as the one that the Holy Spirit had revealed to me. So, from that point on, I have just pretty much kept my interpretation to myself. But it occurred to me that with all the Rapture info on the Net, that surely I could find someone else who held to my view. After searching through many "pre-trib" web pages, I became so frustrated that I just typed in the words "THE LAST TRUMP" and did a search on it, and here comes up your page! I was so thrilled, and as I read it, I became reassured that I was not alone in my rejection of the Pre-Trib view. I just had to e-mail you and let you know what a blessing your page has been to me; I only hope that others will "stumble across" your page like I did. My prayer is that God richly blesses your life for your valiant effort to sound out the truth; may your future reward in Heaven be great. See you then....

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   Subject: The Last Trump
   Date: Wed, 01 Jul 1998 16:43:29 -0700
   From: "Al" elroger2@iamerica.net
   Organization: Carpentry/Ministry
   To: bconkle
 

Al's reply:

Dear bconkle,

I do appreciate you looking at my study. I know what you are saying when God showed to you this truth about the last trump. It has been a long and hard truth for me to get out. I have done a lot of studying with no moral back up on this subject from the churches I have attended. There was no one who believed what the Lord had showed me. Later on I did find a couple of my friends who did agree with the scripture on this subject. At first I really felt alone, but I keep on studying, because I knew that it was God's Holy Spirit who led me into this truth (John 16:13). Since then (for the last 2 years), I have heard probably only about four messages on the radio that agree.

Other Christians need to understand that Jesus is going to come, and at the last (1 Cor 15:52) and seventh (Rev 10:7) trump, call His Church out -- an event we call the rapture, the First Resurrection (Rev 20:5-6) which corresponds to the Jewish feast of ingathering (Exo 23:16) mentioned in the Old Testament. If we understand the parable of the Sower and where the seed is sown in the good ground (Mat 13:1-23), we should understand that there is only a one time end harvest coming for the church. We need to be prepared for that joyful occasion (Marriage Supper of the Lamb) and want others to be in that number.

When you diligently study the word "... rightly dividing the word of truth" (2 Tim 2:15 KJV), it will not end. You will have to come back to His word time and time again to pick up where you left off. God has a way to keep our minds and hearts busy reading His word, finding out more, especially about Himself. Since you have accept the truth, and not theories like the Pre-Trib and Mid-Trib Raptures, Gap and etc., God's order of events fit together much better. I believe some theories came about by false prophets (Mat 17:15-20) and false teachers (2 Peter 2:1-3) who may of had no root, who did not understand, who took the word out of context, twisted it, eventually got away from the word and covered up their ignorance with errors. I find when I want to understand a truth better, I take key words of a subject I am studying, find that word in the Hebrew and Greek (take it from me you do not have to be a scholar), and look up like scripture on that subject. By this method I get a better over-all Biblical perspective and understand more what God is trying to showing me. If I run into a part I do not understand, I set it aside to study later.

Dividing the word can be very useful because we do have translations (the King James for me is the best) of the original tongues, and some words when they were translated may not have had an equivalent and a substitute word or several words for the meaning of one word may have been used. To add to the complexity of our quest for the truth, over the years we can see some of our English words in today's language have additional meanings which may alter the original meanings in our thinking. So when we study, rightly dividing the word is a very good strategy even logically thinking. While deep into your study, being spiritually minded, you will see the infallible, inerrantly inspired word of God. We may change and need to change but God does not (Mal 3:6).

I hope I can encourage you to go deeper into the word and take hold of some more meat of the word. First, we were new born babies in Christ who desired the milk, but now we are more mature and we need meat. I am very thankful for your testimony. We are not alone. We may seem few in number, but in time, if we stay in the word, we will grow to be part of a mighty army.

With Love in Christ!
Al

The Last Trump!
http://www.lasttrumpgathering.com
alrogers@gmx.com