Christians will NOT see the Antichrist. Here are the reasons why the Church (the Body of Christ) will be absent when the Antichrist is allowed to take full control:
1. The Holy Spirit is the divine Restrainer of the Man of Sin, the Son of Perdition. Therefore He will be "taken out of the way" before the Antichrist takes control: And now ye know what withholdeth* [restrains] that he [the Antichrist] might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only He [the Holy Spirit] who now letteth* [restrains] will let, [restrain] until He [the Holy Spirit] 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:
You're very much mistaken. First of all, Paul was teaching on the basis of Dan 7, where the Little Horn is viewed as doing harm to the saints. And so, Paul said that Christ, the "Son of Man" in Dan 7, would not come until it is time for him to come and destroy the Little Horn, in order to establish God's Kingdom on the earth.
Referring to the Restrainer as the "Holy Spirit" is clearly your insertion in the Scriptures here, and not what is being said at all! It would be completely contradictory to what Paul had been saying up to that point.
Rather, Paul was saying was that Antichrist was coming *before* Christ will come, and that something is presently preventing him from coming. In other words, the endtimes were being delayed due to a "Restrainer" that Paul refused to identify.
I personally suspect that Paul was referring to the Roman government, which he would not want to identify while under Roman rule. That would get Paul killed.
Rather, Paul assumes the reader is familiar with the passage of Daniel, to which he is referring. And in that passage, the 4th Kingdom is clearly the Roman Empire, which was the 4th after Babylon, Persia, and Greece. And Daniel made it clear that this 4th Kingdom, the Roman Empire, would not come to an end until it had divided into 10 states, led by 7 kings, along with the Little Horn, the Antichrist.
And so, Paul was apparently suggesting that Roman government was presently restraining the rise and reign of Antichrist until it had split into 10 states. And obviously, the Antichrist would then come, consolidate this Kingdom under his rule, until Christ comes to destroy him. Suggesting this "Restrainer" is the Holy Spirit is out of bounds in this passage, and is not even being suggested. The Early Church Fathers apparently felt that this Restrainer was likely the Roman government, allowing for the Gospel of Christ to be passed to it from Israel.
So your argument here has no merit, even though it remains a popular position. But if you will look at the origins of Paul's teaching in Dan 7, you will see that my view is more likely the proper interpretation.
2. The Holy Spirit indwells every saint (child of God). So when He is "taken out of the way" (returns to Heaven) all the saints will also be taken to Heaven at the Pre-Tribulation Resurrection/Rapture. Thus we have a type of the Church (the church at Philadelphia) being told that they will be absent when the "hour of temptation" or testing comes upon the earth: Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. (Rev 3:10)
The "restraint" of Antichrist's coming is what is "taken out of the way." The Church is not said to be taken out of the way!
Rev 3.10 was written about things that were at that time in the "present," with "future things" to follow. The church of Philadelphia was an actual church, and not the endtime church. Your interpretation is terribly flawed here. At best you may use it as a principle of Christian deliverance in certain situations. But nowhere is it said to apply to a Pretrib Rapture of the Church!
3. You will not find the word "church" or "churches" in Revelation 11-13 (the reign of the Antichrist). That is a rather significant omission, since the Church is absent from the earth when the events of the 6th and 7th seal take place. So why is the Church absent? Because this is a time of divine wrath against the unbelieving and the ungodly. Just as Noah and his family were safe in the Ark (a type of Christ) during the Flood, Christians will be safely in Heaven when the wrath of God is poured out upon the earth.
The book of Revelation specifically says we are not to detract from nor add to the contents of the visions. And we are told this revelation is given to the Church. If the Church is absent during the reign of Antichrist, who then is Antichrist persecuting? Do you actually think that when followers of Jesus are mentioned that this excludes the "Church?"
Again, your arguments are weak, ambivalent, and reaching. They do not fall into the category of doctrinal statements, and as such cannot be considered to be biblical theology. This eschatology is less than 200 years old. Where was the Holy Spirit on this subject before John N. Darby was born? Darby made his eschatology up, though otherwise he may have been a good man of God. We all make mistakes.
