In the July 18 th Q&A titled ‘Won’t All Christians Be Gone’ you wrote in paragraph two…and I paraphrase: ‘seeing the Church gone will motivate those who rejected (did not accept after hearing) would be motivated by the Rapture’ to believe. How do you reconcile this with 2 Thessalonians 2:5-12?
Here’s what I said in that answer.
“Seeing the Church disappear will be a strong motivating factor for those who had heard the Gospel but hadn’t made up their minds one way or the other about it, and for those who attended a church but didn’t think they had to be born again.”
Notice I didn’t say those who don’t make up their mind immediately after hearing the gospel have rejected it. Lots of people have taken some time after first hearing the gospel before finally making a decision for the Lord. Some have needed a specific sign or event to prompt them. I believe the rapture will provide this kind of stimulus for every “fence sitter”.
When the anti-Christ is revealed and begins performing his “miracles”, those who have refused to believe the truth, even after seeing the rapture, will be given a strong delusion causing them to believe the lie.