.  Logged  If they hear not Moshe and the Nevi'im, neither will they be persuaded by one that rose from the dead.  How does any of this relate to the Rapture or to the claim that the Church, which the gates of Hades will not prevail against (Matthew 00:00), will cease to exist on earth?  it relates via the Tribulation. Thus I have shown how the Tribulation is separated from the other 00 weeks first. Then we see this in Theassalonians:  0 And you know (A)what restrains him now, so that in his time he will be revealed. 0 For (B)the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only (C)he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. 0 Then that lawless one (D)will be revealed whom the Lord will slay (E)with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the (F)appearance of His [a]coming;  we know this is referring to the Antichrist by other scriptures [ie the manner of his demise]. What restrains him at present is the Holy Spirit in the Church. Thus the Church will be removed. This is referred to in 0 Thessalonians 0. This is why, in Revelation 00, we find that the Church is ALREADY in heaven at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb BEFORE the Second Advent.  According to the paradigm posted here, Orthodox eschatology has the Church meeting Christ in the air and coming straight back down again!! Now THAT is absurd!  Furthermore this does not refer to the last trump but if you think the 'last trump' will be the last which ever sounds, you are mistaken.  0 Thessalonians 0:00  New American Standard Bible (NASB)  00 For the Lord (A)Himself (B)will descend from heaven with a [a](C)shout, with the voice of (D)the archangel and with the (E)trumpet of God, and (F)the dead in Christ will rise first.  "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(0 Thess 0:0)." This verse does not refer to the Church as "He who now restrains" but to the Orthodox empire and emperor/Tsar. The Church has interpreted this verse in these terms from ancient times. St. John Chrysostom in the 0th century interprets this verse in this way in his commentary on 0 Thessalonians, and the greatest Orthodox saints of recent times have as well (St. John the Wonderworker, St. Theophan the Recluse, St. John of Kronstadt, etc.). It was understood that the Roman (sometimes called "Byzantine") Empire, which was established as an Orthodox Empire since St. Constantine the Great, was a great Christian force which restrained the spirit of antichrist. When Constantinople fell, the legacy of the Orthodox Tzar/Emperor continued in Russia until the martyrdom of Tsar Nicholas II in 0000. Prior to the martyrdom of Tzar Nicholas II (it was a martyrdom because he was killed by anti-Christian forces specifically in an attempt to destroy the influence and authority of the Church in Russian society), many saints such as St. John of Kronstadt prophesied that the Tzar would be killed and that the spirit of antichrist would spread throughout the world prior to the coming of the Antichrist himself.  St. John of San Francisco stated in his Homily on the Sunday of the Dread Judgment: 