“I’m a pre-trib,”
Matthew 24:29-31
29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
In Jesus Name, may your spiritual eyes be opened to this truth.
You probably think it is weird and unscriptural to divide the Second Coming into two events. Far from it! Going back to the Old Testament and reading the Messianic prophecies, we soon get the idea that different prophecies are saying different things. How do you reconcile the suffering Messiah of Isaiah 53 and the ruling Messiah of Isaiah 9:6-7? How could He come to suffer and die, and to rule and reign, at the same time? The best explanation, which past events proved true, is that He first came to die and pay the penalty for our sins, and He will come back to rule the earth.
So, when the New Testament describes the Second Coming in two different ways, the logical conclusion is that the Second Coming will also take place in two phases.
The Rapture will be signless, only for believers, a resurrection of dead believers and a change into immortality to living believers. It will be followed by the Tribulation, at the end of which will be the second stage of the Second Coming: signs in the heavens (Matt 24:29-31 describes this), all shall see him, no resurrection (dead unbelievers will be resurrected 1000 years later).
With all due concern, it is YOUR spiritual eyes that need to be open!