Paul writes very specifically in his intro to this subject that there are TWO EVENTS, and they happen in a certain order:
— the coming of our Lord
— our being gathered
The order in which Paul wrote them gives us the order in which they will occur: Christ will appear, and then we will be gathered to him. That chronology mandates that Christ appears before the rapture of the Saints, and that order of events obliterates the possibility of a pre-trib, or mid-trib rapture scenario.
Personally, I think I am on good footing to assert that there IS a rapture, and that it is at the point where the Great Tribulation transitions into the final outpouring of wrath; after the Seal and the Trumpet judgments, but before the Bowls of Wrath are poured out.
I leave you free to argue about this to your heart's content (or discontent, as the case may be), but I challenge you to take it as an exercise to ask as many people as you like the following question, and make careful note of the order in which they give you their answers:
"When you think of 'The Holiday Season' what holidays come to mind?"
I can guaranatee you -- because humans live and think as chronological beings -- that well over 90% of your respondents will list their answers in chronological order, just as St. Paul listed the coming events in chronological order.
We are gathered uto Him at His second coming; just as the dead arise. Not before, but after. I believe we will be divinely protected, and supernatural provision will occur for us, but we will be here to the end.
I don’t think anyone has THE RAPTURE nor some other key END TIMES events
close to precisely or some even remotely all figured out.
However, some things are more absurd than others.