29 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
This short excerpt from Matthew 24 explicitly teaches that the rapture or gathering together of the elect is after the tribulation. It also shows that the return (singular) of Christ is not something hidden or secret but highly visible and impossible to miss. Tribulation is mentioned three times in the passage in reference to believers and not once does Jesus advise that there is a way to escape it.
yes. That passage seems to say the tribulation starts with the destruction of the temple and ends with his coming. Not seven years. What am I missing?
That point is explicitly addressed in the essay. There will be those who believe in Jesus and are killed after the Rapture of the Church. These are the ones who are gathered.