The ANTICHRIST And the RAPTURE

What role does the Antichrist play in regard to the Rapture of the Church?        
A surprisingly large role, for we read that the Rapture "cannot come" without him!!        
       "For that day [of the Rapture] cannot come except..        
        the Man of Sin/the Son of Destruction be revealed"      
                                              (2 Thessalonians 2.3).        
"Son of.." is an Aramaic idiom for "having the nature of.."          
So "Son of Destruction" means someone whose very nature is destructiveness.        
So "Son of Destruction" can be shortened into "The Destroyer"          
         
Let me paraphrase that verse like this,        
"The Rapture comes right as the Destroyer gets revealed,"        
Presumably by BEING the Destroyer - by launching great destruction of some kind.        
So the context or setting of the Rapture should be the great destruction          
caused by the Antichrist, aka, the Destroyer ("the Son of Destruction").        
         
When we go to the main Rapture passage,we find confirmation.        
       "We...shall be caught up..to meet the Lord in the air...        
        [at the time of] SUDDEN DESTRUCTION" (1 Thessalonians 4.17-5.3).        
This "sudden destruction" will be the Destroyer's work, without question.        
But how can we determine just WHAT this "sudden destruction" is?        
If we can discover WHY he is launching this "destruction,"        
That will tell us what this "sudden destruction" really is!!        
 
We read that "the Beast [the Antichrist/Destroyer] will make war on the saints,        
And overcome them [gaining] power over every..nation," the world(Revelation 13.7).        
In short, "the Beast" gains power over the whole WORLD, so that would be his motive.        
This tells us that the "war" which he launches is world war.        
But "World War 3" and nuclear war are fairly synonymous terms.        
So, the "sudden destruction" accompanying the Rapture(1 Thess 4.17 - 5.3)          
is nothing less than the NUCLEAR WAR launched by the Antichrist,        
"against the saints," the (nominally) Christian nations (America, Western Europe),        
As his way to take over the whole world.        
So, the time in which the Beast "makes war against the saints[the Christians]"(Rev 13.7), -        
THAT would be when "the Rapture of [a portion of] the Church" takes place !!        
Yes, the Antichrist really DOES play a central role at the Rapture, after all, doesn't he??!!        
       
PS: Why do i say (5 lines earlier)that the Christian nations represented by "the saints"(Rev 13.7)        
= America and the nations of Western Europe, in particular?        
Because of the term, "the Beast." found in Rev 13.7.        
It is the same "Beast with ten horns"(Rev 13.1) given in Daniel 7.7-8.        
In fact Rev 13.7 is nothing less than the interpretation/explanation of Daniel 7.8.      
The "four Beasts" (Dan 7) are "4 kingdoms[empires]" in succession(Dan 7.17).      
The same 4 empires, in succession, as those described in Daniel 2.39-40.      
The first 3 are identified as Babylon(Dan 2.38),Persia(Dan 5.28), Greece(Dan 8.4-5,20-21).      
This points to the Roman empire as the Fourth Beast/kingdom.      
For history tells us Rome succeeded/conquered Greece and its possessions,      
starting in 200 BC, and continuing steadily over another 150 years.      
 
The Roman empire was marked by one-man-rule (by Caesar)(Dan 7.7=Rev 12.3).      
But after it split up, each land had its own king(Dan 7.8=Rev 13.1).      
(Note the shifting of the crowns from 7 heads to 10 horns, Rev 12.3-13.1).      
My point is that Dan 7.8 is POST-Roman-empire.      
Then comes the conquest of 10 sovereign nations occupying once-Roman territory.      
This is a return to one-man-rule (by the conqueror, of course).      
This is called the return of the Beast(Rev 17.8,11),      
"It was, now is not, but will ascend[return]."      
     
In his "vision at night," Daniel "saw the ten horns, then another horn      
came up among them" using great force/violence(Dan 7.8).  
("The 10 horns are 10 kings" and by extension the 10 nations they rule(Dan 7.24)).     
"Came up among" = to enter into from without,      
So ten nations are being INVADED by an 11th nation, obviously.      
Because Russia is close enuff to Western Europe,is predatory enuff,      
Strong enuff to do it, Russia is the obvious choice for the aggressor nation.      
So, the ruler of Russia becomes also that of Western(and Eastern) Europe.      
Since the ruler of once-Roman Europe is himself called "the Beast,"      
The ruler of Russia becomes the Beast.      
Since the ruler of a nation and that nation itself are used interchangeably,      
("Hitler invaded Poland," and "Germany invaded Poland" are both true),      
The title "the Beast," can apply to Russia as well as to Russia's ruler      
(as well as Western Europe under the Antichrist(Gorbachev)).  
 
So when we read that the 8th head of the Beast  
"receives a deadly wound which actually isn't deadly"(Rev 13.3-4),  
This can refer to Russia during World War Three.  
It, WW3, is supposed to be "deadly" to both sides, according to  
"Mutual Assured Destruction,"(MAD) but it turns out NOT to be mutual.