FEAST OF TRUMPETS & THE RAPTURE

I have friends who believe the Trumpet of God is the Trumpet for "The Feast of Trumpets," and that is when, at some point in the future, the Rapture will take place. Now where did we get the idea that the blowing of that Trumpet announces the Rapture of the Church?    I don't know who started this idea but the rapture is about the church and the Feast of Trumpets is about Israel. Why would a Jewish Feast have anything to do with the rapture of the church?    I think the confusion began when even some "good guys" got fouled up with Matthew 24:30-31. Verse 30 speaks of the Son of Man, the Messiah, who will come with "power and great glory" in order to reign on earth in His kingdom. Then verse 31 says "He will send His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other."    The elect would be Israel, and concerning also possibly Gentile believers, at the end of the tribulation, that is, those who have believed during the tribulation. Many do a knee jerk when they read "elect" and instantly say "the church." This is wrong! You can have "the elect" of Israel as well as "the elect" of the church. Before this trumpet is sounded in Matthew 24:31, the sun "will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light" (v. 29). Does this take place just before the rapture? Somebody is not thinking clearly!    The Feast of Trumpets is mentioned in Leviticus 23:23-24. This is all Jewish and has nothing to do with the rapture of the church!    The rapture trumpet is then mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15:51-52. It is about "those who sleep" in Jesus. The "we shall all be changed" is the church believers. And this trumpet is simply called "the last trumpet", last in terms of calling for the last event of the church, not Israel. In the great rapture passage of 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, Paul speaks of "the trumpet of God" and when it is blown "the dead in Christ, not Israel, shall rise first and then those who are alive will be caught up together with the resurrected." Again, nothing about the Feast of Trumpets or about Israel.    In Revelation, the Seventh trumpet is sounded by the seventh angel announcing the future arrival of the kingdom. Again, there is more of the tribulation coming, the bowls of wrath, and this certainly would not be the sounding of the trumpet to take the church home!    I'm not confused but some Bible teachers are all fouled up. They are not using good observation when discussing this issue.    On the Feast of Trumpets in Leviticus 23:23-24 Unger says "The blowing of the trumpets prefigures Israel's age-end regathering from worldwide dispersion."    When interpreting the Bible, keep the lines straight. Don't cross over the lines and run various subjects together that should not be run together.    Do yourself a favor after reading the above. Look up all the passages of Scripture and see what you can see! The Bible becomes the authority on the issue. I'm shocked that some Bible teachers say that the Feast of Trumpets is about the rapture! They are just dead wrong! –Dr. Mal Couch (8/10)