2nd Thessalonians 2:1-10, “Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.”
Taken by itself the preceding passage of Scripture seems to teach that the Man of Sin must appear before the Rapture of the Church. However, if we rightly divide the Scripture and consider the whole counsel of God, we can only conclude a pre-Trib Rapture. I am fully confident dear reader that if you diligently study God's Word, you will come to the same conclusion that without the pre-Trib Rapture doctrine, Bible prophecy has no context. No other position fits the puzzle of Bible prophecy, which is history (His-Story) written in reverse.
My ministry friend B.J. Houser wrote these prolific words (I didn't edit anything)...
I believe that the Bible clearly teaches a pre-trib Rapture, not because it holds out the promise of a 'great escape', or because somebody convinced me in a high-pressure sales job, or because it is my opinion and I am sticking to it.
I believe the Bible teaches a pre-trib Rapture because a pre-Trib Rapture puts the last days and the Tribulation into a context consistent with the overall flow of Bible prophecy.
That is the only reason that I teach a pre-trib Rapture. It makes no difference to me if other, sincere born-again believers embrace a different view; the timing of the Rapture plays no role in our salvation.
Saving faith is faith in Who is coming, that He is coming again, as promised, and that He will keep all His other promises, including standing as our Advocate before the Righteous Judge.
Our faith is that "God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life."
But the timing of the Rapture is CENTRAL to the understanding of the overall Big Picture in the last days.
The 'last days' is a different era than the Tribulation Period. The 'last days' is used throughout Scripture in the context of the Church Age.
At Pentecost, the Apostles, newly-indwelt by the Holy Spirit, rushed from the Upper Room to the street, giddy from the experience. So giddy, in fact, that some bystanders thought they were drunk.
"Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine. But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words: For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. But THIS IS THAT WHICH was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass IN THE LAST DAYS saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:" (Acts 2:13-17).
The 'last days' is the Church Age, whereas the Tribulation is the 'Time of Jacob's Trouble'. They are two different Dispensations of God. That is central to understanding the times in which we now live.
We are currently in the "dispensation of the grace of God" (Ephesians 3:2). Paul calls the conclusion of this present dispensation the 'dispensation of the fullness of times.' (Ephesians 1:10)
During this dispensation, believers are indwelt by the Holy Spirit.
"And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world."
But John reminds us:
"Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world." (1John 4:3-4)
Note the context. John is speaking of the 'spirit of antichrist' which he says is 'already in the world.' He says that the spirit of antichrist cannot overcome the Church saints; because He Who indwells us (the Holy Spirit) is greater than the spirit of antichrist.
But this SAME PROPHET, writing of the SAME antichrist, (once antichrist comes in the flesh), says; "And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to OVERCOME them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations." (Revelation 13:7)
Since John penned both passages, and they cannot both be simultaneously true, the flow of Bible prophecy is interrupted, if the Church Age runs concurrent with the Tribulation.
During the Tribulation, the antichrist is 'given' power to overcome the saints. Is he 'given' power over the Holy Spirit? Jesus said, in the context of devils driving out devils, 'a house divided cannot stand'. (Matthew 12:25)
Clearly, God isn't giving power over Himself to the antichrist. That leaves two possibilities, apart from a pre-trib Rapture.
The first is that the Holy Spirit indwells the Church until the onset of the Tribulation, at which point He is withdrawn from the vessels he indwells, leaving believers on their own.
The Apostle Paul says He is 'withdrawn' BEFORE 'that Wicked' is revealed. (2nd Thessalonians 2:7-8)
For a pre-Trib Rapture to be a false doctrine means our generation was chosen out of all others in Church history to face the greatest spiritual trial the world has ever known — without the Comforter that Jesus promised would indwell us until He comes.
The second possibility is that John was either lying or mistaken when he said the spirit of antichrist cannot overcome indwelt believers.
In either case, the promises of Scripture are broken.
Assessment:
Over the last thirty years, I've listened to explanation after explanation of why the pre-trib Rapture is a 'false doctrine'. It usually revolves around the concept of a 'great escape' or some other misunderstanding of the flow of Bible prophecy.
Its opponents will spare no effort to 'prove' that it is a false doctrine, as if the timing of the Rapture were somehow of eternal significance. It is not.
The eternal significance of the Rapture is this:
"The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout . . . and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together WITH them in the clouds, to meet the Lord IN THE AIR. . ." (1st Thessalonians 4:16-17)
Now let's try and pull it all together.
"And as He sat upon the Mount of Olives, His disciples came unto Him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?"
Note the first thing Jesus says in reply to that question.
"And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in My Name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many." (Matthew 24:3-4)
Jesus said the one who comes in His Name would deceive 'many' - not all. Initially, most of Israel will be fooled.
"I am come in My Father's name, and ye receive Me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive." (John 5:43)
Paul identifies the one who Israel eventually (and temporarily) receives as their messiah as the antichrist.
And so, if the one claiming to be Jesus is standing on the ground, instead of meeting me in the air, then I will know that he is an imposter, no matter what tricks he is able to perform.
The doctrine of a pre-Trib Rapture isn't a 'great escape' for the Church; it is a necessary evacuation of the Holy Spirit's restraining influence as part of the overall Big Picture for the last days.
Remove it, and the chronology of Bible prophecy is thrown into chaos.
The pre-trib Rapture doctrine has no saving value. It is of no eternal consequence to anyone that they believe in a pre-Trib Rapture. I feel no particular need to convert someone to my understanding of the last days.
One is saved by God's grace through faith in the finished Work of His Son on the Cross as payment in full as our pardon for sin.
But without the pre-Trib Rapture doctrine, Bible prophecy has no context. That is why I teach it as doctrine. It is my obligation as a minister of Christ.
"Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." (2nd Timothy 2:15)
And our insurance against end-times deception.
Bravo my Brother in Christ. That being said, I humbly disagree with B.J. Houser on two minor issues:
- Dispensationalism - I have never liked dispensational doctrine, simply because the Bible doesn't teach it. You have to really imaginatively stretch the four mentions of the word “dispensation” (which means to administer) in the New Testament to fabricate a whole system of dispensationalism. It is bad scholarship in my opinion.
- Manmade Israel - Kindly said, B.J. Houser believes present-day Israel is the fulfillment of Bible prophecy to rebirth Israel, but I don't. Present-day manmade Israel was created in May of 1948 by the ungodly United Nations, who drove out the Arabs by using deadly military aggression against them. Hosea 3:4-5 prophecies that God won't restore the true nation of Israel until the Jews repent toward God. That still hasn't happened as of 2026. Of the seven million Jews inhabiting Israel today, only about 2% profess faith in Jesus Christ (and that includes all the pseudo-Christian cults like Roman Catholicism, Church of Christ, Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons). Jeremiah 23:7-8 teaches that when Jesus returns at His Second Coming, the LORD will return born again Jews to their own Promised Land. No unsaved Jew will ever enter into the Promised Land or Heaven.
Brother Houser continues exegeting the Word of God...
The Rapture of the church is the future, imminent event in which Jesus Christ descends from heaven to gather all believers of the present church age to Himself, transforming the living and resurrecting the dead in Christ, and removing the church from the earth prior to divine judgment. Scripture presents this as a blessed hope grounded in Christ’s promise and accomplished by His power.
Jesus first promised this event to His disciples. He said, “Do not let your heart be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you. For I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:1–3). Christ comes for His own and takes them to the place He has prepared, not to the earth but to the Father’s house.
Paul provides the most detailed description, saying, “For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore, comfort one another with these words” (1 Th. 4:15–18). The verb “caught up” translates harpazō (ἁρπάζω), meaning to seize or snatch suddenly. The meeting place is “in the air,” not on the earth. This is presented as comfort, not warning.
Paul explains the transformation that accompanies this event, saying, “Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality” (1 Cor. 15:51–53). A mystery is truth previously unrevealed. This instantaneous change applies to both resurrected and living believers.
Other passages reinforce this expectation. Paul wrote, “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself” (Phil. 3:20–21). As Christians, we are “Looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus” (Tit. 2:13). The posture of the church is expectancy, not timetable calculation.
Scripture also distinguishes the rapture from the later return of Christ to the earth in judgment. At the rapture, Christ comes for His saints and meets them in the air. At His return, He comes with His saints to the earth in visible judgment and rule. The church is promised deliverance from the coming outpouring of divine wrath. Paul states, “For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Th. 5:9; cf. Rev. 3:10).
A Christian is a person who has received God’s free gift of eternal life by believing in Jesus Christ as Savior. At the moment of faith, the believer is placed into the church, the body of Christ, and therefore shares in its future destiny to be caught up to be with the Lord forever. Scripture states, “for whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16b). The gospel of grace proclaims that salvation is entirely the work of God, accomplished through the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross and offered freely to sinners.
Scripture states, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph. 2:8–9). Faith alone in Christ alone is the sole condition, because eternal life is received by believing, not by reforming, committing, or persevering. As Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life” (John 6:47). Salvation rests on Christ’s sufficiency, not human performance, and the one who believes in Him “has passed out of death into life” (John 5:24).
Brother Houser further writes... The Antichrist will appear after the Rapture of the Church. At present, Satan operates an antichrist system that has functioned since the fall of man and permeates the world. John writes, “every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world” (1 John 4:3). According to Ronald Sauer, “the spirit of the antichrist is in the world now, to be followed by the physical presence of the antichrist later.” (Ronald Sauer, “1 John,” in The Moody Bible Commentary, p. 1981).
This system is active, hostile to God, and oriented toward rebellion, preparing the world for Satan’s future ruler. Paul states, “For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way” (2 Th. 2:7). Lawlessness is present now in principle, not yet in person. The system exists; the man does not. Its full manifestation awaits the removal of restraint and the unveiling of the Antichrist.
Ed Hindson states, “The spirit of Antichrist is alive and well—it is the Satan-inspired expression of lawlessness and rebellion against God, the things of God, and the people of God. It has been alive since Satan slithered his way around the Garden of Eden. It has been the driving force behind the whole terrible history of the human race—wars, murders, thefts, rapes, and the like. It is the ugly expression of the destructive nature of the great deceiver himself.” (Ed Hindson, “Antichrist,” in The Harvest Handbook of Bible Prophecy, p. 34).
After the Rapture of the Church, when revealed, the Antichrist will rule a unified global government. Daniel foresaw a final kingdom that “will devour the whole earth and tread it down and crush it” (Dan. 7:23). John describes a beast to whom authority is given “over every tribe and people and tongue and nation” (Rev. 13:7). This is worldwide political dominance. National sovereignty collapses under centralized authority. Law and power are concentrated in one man energized by Satan himself. John states, “The dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority” (Rev. 13:2).
This political dominance is reinforced by global economic control. No buying. No selling. No exceptions. “He causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark… and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark” (Rev. 13:16–17). Economic participation becomes a tool of worship and allegiance. Commerce is weaponized. Survival is tied to submission to the Antichrist. Scripture is explicit that economic pressure enforces loyalty to the system.
The system is also religious. The Antichrist does not begin as an openly atheistic tyrant but as a deceiver. Paul calls him “the man of lawlessness” who “takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God” (2 Th. 2:3–4). Revelation describes a false prophet who enforces worship of the beast and performs signs to deceive the world (Rev. 13:11–15). This is religious devotion. Satan’s long ambition to be worshiped finally finds its human instrument (Isa. 14:12–14; Matt. 4:8–9).
Behind this future system stands Satan’s longstanding counterfeit kingdom. Scripture states that “the whole world lies in the power of the evil one” (1 John 5:19). Satan is called “the god of this world” who blinds unbelievers (2 Cor. 4:4). He has always sought centralized control, uniform thinking, and coerced unity apart from God. Babel was the prototype: “Come, let us build for ourselves a city… and let us make for ourselves a name” (Gen. 11:4). God descended upon their rebellion and wrecked that early system. In the future, He permits a final version to run its course under judgment.
The timing of these events is important. The Antichrist cannot be revealed until the restraining force is removed. Paul states, “You know what restrains him now… only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. Then that lawless one will be revealed” (2 Th. 2:6–8). The Church, indwelt by the Spirit, functions as that restraint. Once removed, restraint ends. Lawlessness accelerates. Deception spreads like wildfire. Authority rapidly becomes centralized. The world does not suddenly become evil. It simply loses restraint.
Scripture also predicts a growing global appetite for deception and control. Scripture states, “Evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived” (2 Tim. 3:13). “They did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. For this reason, God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false” (2 Th. 2:10–11). Humanity does not stumble into this system unwillingly. They willingly welcome it. They exchange truth for security, freedom for safety, and worship for convenience.
What we see today is preparation for the full expression of Satan’s coming kingdom. Global institutions that bypass national accountability. Cultural hostility to biblical truth. Technology that enables surveillance. Economic systems capable of total centralization. Moral relativism. Rejection of absolute authority except when it promises protection. Scripture identifies this as “the mystery of lawlessness” already at work (2 Th. 2:7). Satan’s structure exists. The final ruler does not.
It follows logically that those who promote globalism and a centralized world economy are, whether knowingly or unknowingly, aligned with Satan’s antichrist system in its present, preparatory form. Scripture presents Satan’s system as one that seeks centralized authority, economic control, uniform allegiance, and unity apart from God. When individuals or institutions advocate structures that dissolve national sovereignty, concentrate power, and subordinate truth to collective security, they advance the same patterns Scripture identifies with the mystery of lawlessness already at work (2 Th. 2:7). This alignment is ideological and functional and it contributes to the stage setting for the future reign of the Antichrist.
For the believer, this truth produces confidence rather than fear. Christ promised deliverance before divine wrath, for “God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Th. 5:9; cf. Rev. 3:10). The next event on the prophetic calendar is not the Antichrist, but the gathering of the Church to Christ. “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord” (1 Th. 4:16–17). The Rapture occurs first. This is followed by the seven-year Tribulation, the final week decreed for Israel and the nations (Dan. 9:27; Matt. 24; Rev. 6–18). After that comes the Second Coming of Christ in power and glory to judge and to reign (Matt. 24:29–30; Rev. 19:11–21). The sequence culminates in Christ’s kingdom on earth, where He rules for a thousand years in fulfillment of God’s promises (Rev. 20:1–6).
In summary, Scripture clearly teaches a coming satanic global system under the Antichrist. It also teaches a present preparatory phase already at work. What we observe today aligns precisely with biblical stage setting. The Church waits, watches, and works, confident that God’s plan is on schedule and that Christ will remove His people before judgment falls. “Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Rev. 22:20).
I enjoyed reading his commentary. I told Houser that I think he's a prolific writer. He has a good understanding of the Scripture, which is rare in this generation. Any time that I read something that helps broaden my understanding of the Holy Bible, I like to share it with others for your edification too. To God alone be the glory.
Do you believe the Gospel friend? Have you been born again? We here unsaved people make all kinds of excuses for being atheists and rejecting Jesus Christ, but the Holy Bible says the simple truth why they won't believe is a rejection of God's Word. John 5:38, “And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not.”
