Why being a Tribulation Saint is a dangerous second best choice to being Raptured.

The rapture can happen, as that is what happened to Enoch, Elijah, Yahshua(Jesus), and those who were resurrected with Him. There have been raptures before, and there will be again. And it will happen because Yahshua said it will. The only question is that of it's timing.

The rapture does make sense as the two judgments are not the same. The 'Judgment Seat of Christ', the Bema, will be a judgment in heaven of the believers who were raptured. It will not be a judgment of sin, but a judgment of one's works after they were redeemed.

2 Cor 5:8-9
8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
9 Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.

"We" being believers in Christ. We have to give an account of what we have done for Christ since becoming believers, whether it be good or bad.

The 'Great White Throne of Judgment' on the other hand will be for those who are not redeemed, who have died without the Salvation of Christ. And it WILL be a judgment of sin for those who reject Christ.

Revelation 20: 11-15 The Final Judgment

11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

At this time, believers are not dead but are already living in their immortal bodies, and have been so for 1000 yrs already. So they cannot be part of the dead that are judged. And they have already been judged by Christ at the Bema seat. They cannot be judged a 2nd time, as that would be double-jeopardy. Also our fate as believers is not determined by our works, as we have been redeemed by Christ. It was the work of His blood on the cross that redeemed us. Our original works are dead, forgiven, and forgotten. We believers will not be judged by them, lest Christ's sacrifice for us would be in vain and a waste of His Holy life. Everyone at that trial will be unbelievers who didn't have the salvation of Christ, who had died in their sins. Their names will not be in the Lamb's Book of Life, and they will be found guilty and thrown into the Lake of Fire.

You see those are two separate events with two separate groups of people. The first group are the believers, the second are the unbelievers, and the two groups do not share the same fate. EVERYONE will stand before God, yes. Some will stand at the Bema Seat as believers who are redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. And others will stand at the Great White Throne of Judgment later in shame as unbelievers who died in their sins.

When the rapture happens, Yahshua will bring the spirits of the dead in Christ back with Him from heaven to earth.

1 Thessalonians 4:14
14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

He will be in the clouds, and the recently returned spirits of the dead will be translated into their resurrected bodies.

1 Thessalonians 4:15
15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.

1 Thessalonians 4:16
16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

This is the resurrection of the dead moment. And then the resurrected dead (returned spirits united with new resurrected bodies) go up into the air to meet Yahshua in the air. And THEN those believers who remain will be translated into their resurrection bodies, and go up in the air after the resurrected dead, to meet them and our Lord in the air. This all happens at the same event, and in the "twinkling of an eye".

1 Thessalonians 4:17
17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be *caught up* together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

1 Corinthians 15:52
52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

Who is "we" here? Both dead and alive believers.

And then ALL believers will return with Yahshua to heaven as He said we would.

John 14: 1-3
1. Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me.
2. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?
3. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

Where did Yahshua go to prepare a place for His bride, His believers? - to His Father's House in heaven.
What will He do after that? - He will come back for us. That is the rapture.
After He comes back for us, what will He do? - He will TAKE us somewhere.
Where will He take us? - to be with Him where He is.
Where is He? - in His Father's House in heaven.
Yahshua told us he is preparing a place for us in heaven. And that He will return to get us and take us back to His Father's House in heaven so that we can be with Him there. This is Yahshua's teaching to us on His rapture of us at a future time.

After this, the events of the Tribulation happen: Yahshua opens the 7 Seals unleashing their judgments, then the 7 trumpet judgments happen, then the 7 bowl judgements happen, etc. All of these things are God's judgments being meted out to an unbelieving world. All of this is the wrath of God, designed to test an unbelieving Israel and punish a hateful world. It's for "those who dwell on the earth", not for believers.

But we believers are not appointed to be here during the time God's wrath.

Revelation 3:10
10 Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.

And that is our Blessed Hope!

Titus 2:13
13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Yahshua(Jesus) Christ

Don't get fixated by the 'Last Trump'. Did you know that the 7th trumpet of the 7 trumpet judgements is not the Last trump that will happen?

There will be another at the 2nd Coming of Christ at the Battle of Armageddon. This will be at least 3.5 yrs after the 7th Trumpet judgment of the tribulation.
Then there's the trumpet blowing that will happen every year after that, of the 1000yr Millennial Reign of Christ at the annual Feast of Atonement holidays.
There will be many more trumpets after the "7th Trumpet Judgement", so it's best not to get stuck on that point.
Historically, the "Last Trump" is also the last trumpet blow of the series of trumpet blows of the Yom Teruah High holy day. The "Last Trump" of the return of Christ might reference that.
Then there's the "Last Trump" done in ancient Israel to call in everyone for any holy feast day. That is a possibility too.

Ultimately, we know the rapture will happen. We just squabble over the timing of it's occurrence. Whenever we think it will happen, one thing is abundantly clear, we must each be ready for it before it happens. And we need to work to get as many as will listen to also prepare for it. Our hearts need to belong to God, and our lamps need to be trimmed with plenty of oil to keep up our midnight watch until our master returns for us.

Peace