Antichrist
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Will the Antichrist be visible before the Rapture?
But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief.
It may not be possible to be certain about the identity of the Antichrist before the Rapture, but the rise of the Antichrist and global government is specifically pointed out among various signs for believers as indicating the nearness of the Day of the Lord, preceded by the Rapture. There are several verses which appear to indicate that followers of Jesus will have some understanding about the identity of the Antichrist just prior to the Rapture. Why would the Holy Spirit include the revealing of the man of sin as one of the signs leading to the Rapture and the Day of the Lord if there can be no recognition of the man of sin before the Rapture? Part of what Jesus explains to the disciples in Matthew 24 may be directed to Jews who will be left behind after the Rapture, but the Holy Spirit's message to the Thessalonians is clearly directed to followers of Jesus, those who will be taken in the Rapture: "But you, brethren, are not in darkness...".
Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition
It's clear both the "falling away" (apostasia) and the revealing of the Antichrist will occur before the Day of the Lord, when He destroys the Antichrist with the brightness of His Coming, but where does the Rapture fit in? Some teach the falling away is the Rapture. The word apostasia is only used one other place (Acts 21:21), where the context appears to be closer to not enduring sound doctrine than a description of the Rapture. As a side note, a wise man (OK, the leader of our weekly Bible study) once told me he believes the falling away has a double meaning, and he may be right. We do know with certainty that the time of the end, leading to the Day of the Lord, will be a time when people turn away from the Truth (Luke 18:8, 1 Timothy 4, 2 Timothy 3, Jude 1, 2 Peter 3), so I personally believe falling away does refer to a falling away from the Truth. If so, then logically the falling away happens before the Rapture. The "unless" strongly places falling away before the beginning of the Day of the Lord, but the revealing of the man of sin is associated more passively through a trailing "and". So the timing of the revealing of the man of sin is not as strongly emphasized as the timing of the falling away. This leads me to believe that the revealing of the man of sin is a gradual process, beginning before the Rapture, and completing with certainty at the signing of the 7-year pact, after the Rapture. If any doubt about identity remains, the requirement of the Mark, which can optionally be the name of the beast, will make the Antichrist's identity clear.
And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. 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. 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.
These verses talk about He who restrains being taken out of the way, which allows the lawless one to be revealed. Whether this is a reference to the restraining ministry of the Holy Spirit, or to followers of the Jesus, through whom the Holy Spirit works and restrains, this removal event will logically correspond to the Rapture. These verses provide strong support for a pre-trib Rapture and reinforce the understanding that the Antichrist and the mystery of lawlessness will not be revealed until after the Rapture. On the other hand, "the mystery of lawlessness is already at work", even now, before the Rapture.
I believe these verses are clear the Antichrist will be completely revealed after the Rapture. But the mystery of lawlessness, which is already at work, is a sign of the times for believers. So we won't know for sure who the Antichrist is, this side of the Rapture, but it's very possible we will observe (and are now observing) the assembling of the global government and even the Antichrist himself (though not known with certainty). In fact, these are specific signs that make us aware the Day of the Lord is approaching fast, and before that, the Rapture!
Have there always been Antichrist candidates?
Identity template in the Bible:
Assyrian
It's likely the the Antichrist will be Assyrian, based on multiple passages throughout the Bible that appear to point to that individual. The whole chapter of Micah 5 appears to be a timeline of Israel, from the first coming of the Messiah to His second coming and final judgement. The reference to the Assyrian appears to be a reference to the one we would call the Antichrist.
Mic 5:5 ...When the Assyrian comes into our land...
Zelensky
Is Zelensky Assyrian? To most of the world he is Ukrainian (whatever that really means); to the Jews he is Jewish, but in fact he may be something else. Significant Assyrian populations are present throughout Ukraine, including Zelensky's hometown of Kryvyi Rih.
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| Assyrian man | Zelensky |
In stark contrast to his Jewish background, he has the unlikely endorsement of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the tentative endorsement of the Arab League, and gives particular interest to participating in iftar with Muslims. Additionally, he has always enjoyed a strong backing from the Pope.
He's survived an uncanny number of assassination attempts.
Seems to be a goal of most current world leaders to pay their respects:
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USA |
Congress, Joe Biden, President Trump, Lindsay Graham, Janet Yellen, Mitch McConnell, George W. Bush, William Burns |
| UK |
Rishi Sunak, Boris Johnson, James Cleverly |
| Italy | |
| France | |
| Germany |
Stolz & Macron, Annalena Baerbock |
| Saudi Arabia | |
| EU |
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| UN |
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Headlining G-something summits:
Meetings with non-government entities:
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Cover of TIME Magazine...
(Jan 2023), 
(Nov 2023)
This is uncanny...
