In 2 Thessalonians Paul did not know who the Antichrist was going to be. That is why when he was talking about the revealing, the person of the Antichrist, was not known to him yet, though the revealing he is speaking about, was to the world. And means that it is proven to them that he is the Antichrist.

Some theology says that Nero was the Antichrist, because his name can work out to be 666. Because in the Greek, and Hebrew too, letters are used for numbers. But John didn’t write 666, he wrote ‘Besmilah.’ And that the Tribulation started with Nero killing all of the Christians, and then the abomination of desolations started when the temple was destroyed in 70 A.D. In Matthew 24 and Mark 13, the disciples asked what the sign was going to be of the end, and of His coming. That is what happened when the temple was destroyed.

The Bible shows in Daniel, that the Tribulation, and Great Tribulation can not come to pass until the prophecies in Daniel are unsealed. And they were not unsealed in Paul's time, or in 70 A.D. They saw the 'sign.'

Daniel shows how there are things that need to come to pass, until the Antichrist comes on the stage. And the prophecies in Daniel are also linked to the prophecies in Revelation. In Daniel the head of gold in Nebuchadnezzar's dream is Babylon . And the shoulders are Medo-Persia, which was a split empire. The mid section is Greece . And the legs are Rome , just as Rome also was 'split' over the West, where Italy now is, and the Middle East . Then from the Roman Empire , came the feet, which was the Muslim Empire. And the toes come out of the Muslim Empire, and are the ten kings. The Muslim Empire also dwelt in the West, just as Rome did, COMING out of the legs.

The four beasts in Daniel's visions explain where the Antichrist comes from. The lion represented Babylon , just as it did in their day. The leopard representing Greece , which conquered Medo-Persia very quickly. And the fourth beast, Rome , which was very strong. People say that the first beast can't be Babylon because it already was reigning, and the interpretation of the vision says 'will arise.' But the word in the Hebrew for 'arise' means to get up in order to leave. If you lay this vision as a transparency on top of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, you will see how they are not contradicting. The ten horns out of the Roman Empire , are as the ten toes of the Muslim Empire. This vision of Daniel’s shows the authority of the beasts.

Without Daniel's prophecies, then anything can be the Antichrist. And without Daniel's prophecies then Revelation can just all be only symbolic. And we can be in the Tribulation now, and even the 1,000 years. Which is impossible, because that doesn’t agree with the prophecies in Daniel, nor Revelation and the rest of the Bible. Thinking we are in the Tribulation and or 1,000 years are now, comes from only looking at signs.

And again, people think that there can be no rapture, because of 2 Thessalonians 2. If someone reads 2 Thessalonians 2 thinking that the “Day of Christ” is the only time He comes, then they use the next verse which says ‘that day’ as pertaining to Christ’s only coming. When “Day of Christ” is actually “Day of the LORD” in the Greek, and is the ‘that day’ which is in verse 3 (though it doesn’t say “Day of the LORD” in the Greek when it says ‘that day,’ it just says ‘it’). What happens in reading things like this, is that the only return of Christ, is after the Tribulation. What I did with the NKJV, is show how the “Day of Christ” is the “Day of the LORD” and is the ‘that day’ mentioned. Not the day of the rapture for the church. But the day of the Second Coming for the Jews. And why would they think that the “Day of the LORD” had already come, if there was no Second Coming yet? Because the “Day of the LORD,” His wrath, encompasses from when His wrath begins, until it ends. That is why the Second Coming could have been a hope for the Thessalonians, because Jesus would destroy their enemies.

It is not that the church has to go through the Tribulation, and then gets saved from His wrath, as if His wrath is only when He destroys the Antichrist. His wrath begins when the Lamb opens the scroll. And being in the lake of fire is not His wrath, like that is what we are saved from. That is His judgment, and the wickeds’ punishment. The lake of fire is where there is outer darkness. Because the wicked have no hope. Both the humans, and the angels. Their souls are going to be eternally destroyed, over all of eternity. They are never going to get what they want, and always have everything that they do have taken away from them. That is having no hope, or peace, and having outer darkness. They never get to receive anything good, thus it is ‘outer’ darkness. And what could be the hope for their insides, is taken away, thus it is torture (And their insides don’t prosper either, they are forever in their own insufficiencies.) That is the worm that never dies, and the fire that is never quenched. Outer darkness is like a black hole.

Paul was not saying that there is no rapture, and Christ’s only coming is after the Tribulation. What do you tell people who think they are in the Tribulation? He told them what had to happen for the Tribulation to be happening.

How could we be in the Tribulation, even now, even if someone says that when the temple was destroyed it was the abomination of desolations? Where is His wrath that is in Revelation, even if it is only symbolic? Who are the 144,000? Which are supposed to be anointed before the abomination of desolation. Where are the two witnesses? 70 A.D. was the ‘sign.’ Not the fulfillment of the abomination of desolation.

Someone could say that the church is no different from the Jews and the rest of the world, as Jesus was killed, and that the church destined for the Tribulation. Even though Paul said that the church was not. Jesus came once, and was not accepted. And then He ascended. And then He was also even offered to the Gentiles. Now, anyone may accept Him. The Tribulation comes on the Jews and the Gentiles, because even after Jesus died, He is still offered with no wrath, and they don’t accept Him. And the Tribulation comes because that comes to an end. And God’s wrath comes, and He saves His remnant.

The Bible says that it is impossible for there to be the remission of sins without the shedding of blood. It was impossible for Jesus to not die. Why then is anyone accountable for rejecting Him, and Him having to die? The fact that His own disciples left Him, shows how, even in receiving Him, without His death which is the sacrifice, so that our insides can be perfect, that no one could really be with Him. Because without the perfect insides, they couldn’t really be, and stay in Him. This is where the Jews, and also the occult come to hate Jesus. Because He said He had to die, but then that we are accountable for Him dying, even us living nowadays, because our sins are why He had to die. Jesus speaking about Israel ’s unfaithfulness to Him, was not vain, and it was not false humility, and it was not false discipline. It was the EXTENT and FULFILLMENT of why He had to die. Therefore the church, the ones who accept Him after His sacrifice, and those who won’t, whether Jews or Gentiles, are not the same. As if we should all go through the Tribulation because it was our sins for which He had to die. By accepting Him, we are saved from having to go through the Tribulation which is His wrath. God never said that we have to go through His wrath to be saved, or brought to Him. That is what people believe who think that now is the Tribulation, and or, the church goes through the Tribulation. God says we have to accept Jesus to come to Him. And it is the ones who don’t, when He is freely offered, and without wrath, even after His death, who go through His wrath, and the Tribulation.