What do you do with the following scripture?
II Thessalonians 2:1-3
1: Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,
2: 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.
3: 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;
The words falling away first properly translated would be “a drawing out from among” or “a departure first” from the Greek words He apostasia.
Jesus said in Matthew 24 that the love of many would wax could. Paul used this same word 'apostasia' when he wrote that in the last days many would depart from the faith. Historically, the apostasy was not interpreted to refer to some kind of rapture of the church. But rather to refer to the departing from the faith mentioned in other scriptures.
Let us consider further details Paul gives in this passage:
8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. 9 The coming of the
lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders.
(NKJV)
So this individual is destroyed at the brightness of Jesus' coming (parousia). Consider what else occurs at the Lord's coming (parousia).
I Thessalonians 4
15 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 by no means precede those who are asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive
and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words. (NKJV) (Bold emphasis mine.)
If this lawless one is destroyed at the brightness of the Lord's coming and we are raptured at the Lord's coming, why does pre-trib set the rapture seven years before the Lord's coming. Nowhere does the Bible teach the rapture occurs seven years before the Lord's coming. Pre-trib comes from reading pre-trib into passages where it makes a whole lot more sense to just go with the plain reading of the text.
Consider also I Corinthians 15
22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. 23 But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those
who are Christ’s at His coming.
(NKJV)
Again, we see the resurrection at Christ's parousia/coming, not seven years before it.
I Thessalonians 1:10
10: And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.
5:9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
You aren't explicit with your argument, but I am guessing your point is that bowls of wrath are poured out in the book of Revelation. Maybe you think God does not know how to aim. 'Wrath' has to do with anger. 'Wrath' is not a time period. Do you think God will have wrath against the tribulational saints, who overcome Satan by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony?
When Christ returns us the Body of Christ
1Th 4:17 He will not come to the earth …we will meet him in the air.
How is this an argument for pre-trib. At the second coming, Christ returns, the saints meet Him in the air and return with Him. I have read that the Roman empire used to have a 'parousia' for highly ranked officials. When the ambassador or other official came to town, the people of the city would go out to meet him and escourt him into the city.