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Church would be taken out of the way BEFORE the man of sin would be revealed, would be a di-
rect contradiction and totally unscriptural!

We have seen, in the preceding pages, the reason WHY Paul was so careful not to mention
the restraint by name when writing to the Thessalonians. But if the restraint had been the holy spirit
or the Church, there would be absolutely no reason for this caution. As a matter of fact, Paul men-
tions the Church and the holy spirit several times in his epistles to the Thessalonians -- see 1 Thes-
salonians 1:1, 5, 6; 2:14; 4:8; 5:19; etc.

It is also a fact that there is no record of anyone believing that the restraint mentioned by
Paul was the holy spirit until the latter half of the fourth century -- and we only know of this be-
lief because Chrysostom REJECTED IT! Notice: "Some indeed say, the grace of the Spirit." But
he goes on to point out that the restraint was the Roman Empire and could NOT be the spirit:
"Wherefore? Because if he [Paul] meant to say the Spirit, he would not have spoken obscurely, but
plainly."

What Chrysostom rejected was a theory about the restraint being the grace of the spirit in
connection with spiritual gifts. It had nothing to do with the dispensational idea of the spirit being
taken out of the world in a secret rapture of the church. Comments Hogg and Vine, the teaching that
the holy spirit will be taken out "seems to be of quite modern origin; there is, apparently, no trace
of it in early writings on the subject" (The Epistle to the Thessalonians).

The Proof of Daniel

Those who adhere to this viewpoint face serious problems of interpretation. They teach
that after the Church is gone, Yehovah will turn to the Jews -- a believing remnant of which will
preach the gospel of the kingdom into all the world. They will be so empowered, some ask us to
swallow, that they "will become the mightiest evangelists this world has ever seen" (Hyman Ap-
pleman, Antichrist and the Jews, p. 12).

According to Hal Lindsey in his popular book on prophecy, "They are going to be 144,000
Jewish Billy Grahams turned loose on this earth -- the earth will never know a period of evangel-
ism like this period....They are going to have the greatest number of converts in all history"! (The
Late Great Planet Earth, p. 111). As much as Billy Graham might be gratified by this, the fact is
that this idea is total nonsense!

Those of a discerning nature might ask HOW these Jews will be so empowered if the holy
spirit, which convicts and converts, is taken from this earth? If you look into the arguments given to
explain away this glaring discrepancy, you will find them to be totally weak and unconvincing.

There is absolutely no reason to believe that the restraint of which Paul wrote was the holy
spirit or even the Church. We have solid, incontestable evidence that the early Christians believed
it was the Roman Empire that would be taken out of the way -- and then the man of sin would be
revealed. We also know it was Paul's practice to PROVE what he taught from the scriptures. In
this case, his teaching about the fall of the Roman Empire was based on Daniel 7, to which we
will now turn

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