The "secret" rapture debunked

A lot of people have this idea that the rapture is going to be this event where you're just going through your normal day and all the sudden Christians just disappear and no one knows what happened.  I've even hear Christians make up theories about how people will say that aliens took everyone.  Movies like Left Behind and A Thief in the Night popularized this idea.  Here's what the bible says about the rapture.

Revelation 1:7:
7 Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him.  Even so, Amen.

I've heard some people say things like "You're confusing the rapture and the second coming".  According to the bible, the rapture is the 2nd coming.  When he comes on a white horse to rule the earth, that's the 3rd coming. Here's proof:

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18:
13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
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.
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:
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.
18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

Notice in verse 15 where the rapture is described as his coming. I have no idea where people got this idea that his 2nd coming is when he comes to rule the earth at the end of Daniel's 70th week.

Here are some more verses that debunk the "secret" rapture:

Matthew 24:27:
27 For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
Matthew 24:30:
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.
Mark 13:26:
26 And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.
Luke 17:24:
24 For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day.
Luke 21:27:
27 And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.

The scripture that "secret" rapture teachers reference a lot is 1 Thessalonians 5:2. Here's what it says:
2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.

Here's the context around that verse:

1 But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you.
2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.

What v2 means is that unbelievers are not going to expect this at all.  In v4, Paul points out that the rapture will not overtake believers as a thief because we'll know that it's about to happen because we'll be in the midst of the tribulation.

The sudden destruction mentioned in v3 is the wrath of God that gets poured out the same day as the rapture.  That's similar to how sudden destruction would come to your house if a thief came in the night.

If you read Luke 17 Jesus talked about how the rapture and God's wrath would happen on the same day:

26 And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.
27 They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.
28 Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;
29 But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.
30 Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.

Don't be fooled by these Hollywood movies about the rapture.  Get your doctrine from the Bible.