Sorry to correct you my brother but Scripture is very clear on this.
2 Thess. 2:1-10...............
"Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to Him: (
This is the RAPTURE) We ask you, brothers, 2 not to be easily upset in mind or troubled, either by a spirit or by a message or by a letter as if from us, alleging that the Day of the Lord has come. 3 Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way. For that day will not come unless the apostasy comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction. 4 He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he sits[
d] in God’s sanctuary, publicizing that he himself is God
.(This is the 3rd Temple).
5 Don’t you remember that when I was still with you I told you about this? 6 And you know what currently restrains him(
Holy Spirit), so that he will be revealed in his time. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, but the one now restraining will do so until he is out of the way,(
RAPTURE) 8
and then the lawless one will be revealed. The Lord Jesus will destroy him with the breath of His mouth and will bring him to nothing with the brightness of His coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one is based on Satan’s working, with all kinds of false miracles, signs, and wonders, 10 and with every unrighteous deception among those who are perishing. They perish because they did not accept the love of the truth in order to be saved".
The Rapture.....then the 7 year Tribulation and then the 2nd Coming of Christ at Armageddon.
The RApture MUST take place before the A/C is revealed.
No problem, brother. It is nice to discuss these things, although it will probably require a thread of its own. Doesn't this passage refutes the pre-tribulation rapture?
"Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ
and our being gathered to Him: We ask you, brothers, not to be easily upset in mind or troubled, either by a spirit or by a message or by a letter as if from us, alleging that the Day of the Lord has come. Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way. For
that day will not come unless the apostasy comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction. He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he sits in God’s sanctuary, publicizing that he himself is God." (2 Thessalonians 2:1-4)
What I understand from the passage above is that "our being gathered to Him" (rapture) won't take place before the arrival of the Antichrist. The post-tribulation stance seems to be based on the verses that follow:
"Don’t you remember that when I was still with you I told you about this? And you know what currently restrains him so that he will be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, but the one now restraining it will do so until he is out of the way, and then the lawless one will be revealed. The Lord Jesus will destroy him with the breath of His mouth and will bring him to nothing with the brightness of His coming. The coming of the lawless one is based on Satan’s working, with all kinds of false miracles, signs, and wonders, and with every unrighteous deception among those who are perishing. They perish because they did not accept the love of the truth in order to be saved" (2 Thessalonians 2:5-10)
However, this stance seems weak to me because it is based on the assumption that "what currently restrains him" is the presence of the Holy Spirit. However, as far as I know, there is no Biblical basis for this assumption. Moreover, "what currently restrains him" cannot be the presence of the Holy Spirit, since that would contradict what Paul wrote two verses earlier (i.e., that the rapture would not take place until after the arrival of the Antichrist). There are verses that directly refute the idea of a pre-tribulation rapture, for instance:
"
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. 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. 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." (Matthew 24:29-31)
I know that some people argue that "his elect" are only the Jewish believers, but in that case there would be two raptures and not one. Furthermore, in the Bible the "elect" are the believers, both Gentiles and Jews. How do you interpret these verses?