That is impossible according to this:
2Th 2:1 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,
2Th 2:2 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.
2Th 2:3 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;
Sorry but I won't let you deceive me about the rapture.
Hello ewq1938!
This scripture that you posted above, is one of the most misunderstood. And the reason for this, is because when people read it, they do not recognize the change that Paul makes. You bolden one, but not the other and that is why the confusion:
*
by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him
*
That the day of the Lord is at hand
Though the two events above are closely linked, they are separate events. And in order to understand the context of what Paul is talking about, it is important to understand the difference between the two.
Paul starts off with "
by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" and then in verse 2 switches to '
the Day of the Lord,' also mentioned as '
that day.'
The reason for this, is because there were false teachers in Thessalonica teaching that '
the Day of the Lord' had already come, not our being gathered. The coming of our Lord and our being gathered to Him is a blessed event, removing the church from the earth before His wrath begins. Where the Day of the Lord is the time of God's wrath, which is the time period which follows after the church is gathered. Everywhere that you read about the Day of the Lord, it is always about God's future wrath.
Therefore, since there were those teaching that
the Day of the Lord had already come, the Thessalonians were basically writing to Paul to say "Hey Paul, these people are teaching that
the Day of the Lord has already come, so how come we weren't first caught up to meet the Lord in the air according to your teaching?"
In short, it is
the Day of the Lord that will not take place until the apostasy occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed.
What you are doing, is making our being gathered to the Lord and the Day of the Lord as the same event, and they are not.
"Let no one deceive you in any way. For
that day (Day of the Lord) will not come, unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction. Therefore, Below is the chronological order:
* The coming of our Lord and our being gathered to Him
* The Day of the Lord (wrath of God) identified by the apostasy and the revealing of the man of lawlessness.
The following verses even support this stating that the One who is not holding back the man of lawlessness and the full power of sin, will continue to do so until He is taken out of the way. Then that man of lawlessness will be revealed.
The One who is restraining is the Holy Spirit, when He is taken out of the way, then the church must also be taken out of the way because the Holy Spirit dwells within every believer.
* The One who is restraining is taken out of the way (and the church with Him), then the man of lawlessness will be revealed.