What is spoken in I Corinthians 15 jives perfectly with Revelation 11:15, giving the lie to a secret coming by Jesus seven years before the "real" second coming. This paralleling of Biblical passages is one of many methods of debunking this 100-year-old theory known as the "pre-tribulation rapture."

And like evolution, it is still a theory, though there are believers who will swear that it's true, codify it in books, immortalize it in films...

Consider. Think.

Paul (I Corinthians 15:51 & ff.): When the last trumpet sounds, we will all be changed, "we" being those who are here when Jesus comes back. Obviously those who have died already have not received their new bodies yet. It is presumed they will do so here. For, also at that last trumpet, the dead will be raised.

Where did Paul get the notion of a "last trumpet"? It is not poetic. It fits perfectly with the language of John in the Revelation. In the 8th through the 11th chapters of that book, a series of trumpets sound. Seven, to be exact. First, there is the "first trumpet." Last, there is the seventh trumpet. The last trumpet.

What happens at John's "last trumpet" ? Why, the same thing that happens at Paul's: The heavens are suddenly alive. The reign of God begins. The wrath of God falls on the wicked of earth. The saints are rewarded. Many signs and wonders in the heavenlies.

Jesus (Matthew 24)weighs in on this scene with His own words: "Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened...the tribes of earth... will see the Son of man coming..., and He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet , and they will gather together His elect...

Paul (I Thessalonians 4:16) drives in the final nail to a pre-trib notion of a secret coming, when he again mentions the trumpet: The Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout... and with the trumpet of God... and the dead in Christ will rise first...

At least two of the above passages are used to "prove" a secret appearance seven years before the final one. The other two are supposed to be "second coming" passages. It seems clear to me that every one of the above verses points to the same huge event.

And the trumpet sounds the note of proof.