Are the U.S. and Trump the Ones Restraining?

[wingnut-]

21 minutes ago, other one said:

the restrainer isn't restraining evil, he is restraining an entity called the
man of lawlessness, the son of destruction.  when i look around i see evil all over everywhere.

 

 

So you don't think this entity is the epitome of evil?  I suspect once this man of lawlessness surfaces, the evil we have seen to this point is going to look like a fairy tale life.

[other one]

1 hour ago, wingnut- said:

 

So you don't think this entity is the epitome of evil?  I suspect once this man of lawlessness surfaces, the evil we have seen to this point is going to look like a fairy tale life.

but he is not evil himself, and yes this thing will make things that are happening to some, happen to us all.

[Diaste]

On 6/23/2020 at 11:51 AM, Justin Adams said:

The Greek tense and verb structure suggest it is a 'thing' that restrains. Sure it is overseen by the Lord since He is seated enthroned and is in charge of it all.

Yes. It's a what not a who. Two events, rebellion and revealing restrain or hold back the 2nd advent.

[Diaste]

On 6/23/2020 at 9:57 AM, WilliamL said:

2 Thessalonians 2:6 And now you know the [thing] restraining [lit., holding down/fast; the Greek is neuter: ‛that which restrains/holds down’],

that he [the Son of Perdition] may be revealed in his own time. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, only the one now restraining/holding down [the Greek here is masculine: ‛he who restrains/holds fast’]

[will do so] until he is come out of the midst.

Matthew Henry (d. 1714): “This is supposed to be the power of the Roman empire, which the apostle did not think fit to mention more plainly at that time...” [The New Testament writers never openly spoke ill about the Roman authorities. If, as some claim, Paul here meant the Holy Spirit, then there would have been no reason at all for him to speak about it so obscurely.]

A. R. Fausser (1871): “...the power that has restrained the man of sin from his full and final development, is the moral and conservative influence of political states [OLSHAUSEN]: the fabric of human polity as a coercive power; as "he who now letteth" refers to those who rule that polity by which the great upbursting of godlessness is kept down [ALFORD]. The "what withholdeth" refers to the general hindrance; "he who now letteth," to the person in whom that hindrance is summed up. Romanism [papal Catholicism], as a forerunner of Antichrist, was thus kept in check by the Roman emperor (the then representative of the coercive power) until Constantine, having removed the seat of empire to Constantinople, the Roman bishop by degrees first raised himself to precedency, then to primacy, and then to sole empire above the secular power.”

 

Can there be any doubt that the spirit of lawlessness is now diligently working to destroy Americaʼs restraining (but waning) power against lawlessness; that is, that this spirit is subverting the governmentʼs ability to hold fast to the order of U.S. law and world law?

And that the current “he who restrains/holds fast” is the President of the United States, Donald Trump? (However incompetent to the task he may be.)

And that the Son of Perdition is waiting in the wings, preparing to step onto the stage as a deliverer during the coming time of economic and political chaos?

In the context of the thesis this above interpretation is wholly inaccurate. What is being held back is the 2nd advent and the gathering. What is holding those two events back is the rebellion and the revealing. "for it will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness—the son of destruction—is revealed. "

The 'it will not come' here is the day of the Lord and it will not happen till the rebellion and revealing happen first. 

When we get to the "And you know what is now restraining him," it's the rebellion and revealing restraining the coming of Jesus.

This part of the passage, "but the one who now restrains it will continue until he is taken out of the way" is not reflective of the Greek. The literally Greek here says, "merely wait till he emerges on the world stage in the middle." 

This whole idea of restraining evil is ludicrous. The Khans, Islam, Mao, Hilter, Lenin, Stalin, Pol Pot, Baby Doc, Amin are alone responsible for 350 million or more dead...the list goes on and on and doesn't address financial evils, the evils of lust, the blood rituals of the occult, idolatry, etc.

Restraining evil...what a stinking cauldron of pretrib sorcery.

 

[Diaste]

16 hours ago, WilliamL said:

Already answered, both in the first post and a later one, which you apparently did not read. Paul was not going to say it was the Empire and its ruler, for what should be obvious reasons; such as staying alive.

Or the other obvious reason that it's conditions and not political entities. Concerning the flood it was a condition that led to the judgement the world should be destroyed. Same thing we are waiting on now, conditions.

[Revelation Man]

19 hours ago, WilliamL said:

So you are saying that we can't trust Paul, but we CAN trust you? Right; but no thanks.

I said what I said.....we don't get the full picture. I can trust him because I understand we don't get the full picture of what was said, so we have to understand it for what it is. You don't seem to have to be able to grasp that salient point sadly. 

[Buddy D. Mouse]

Trump is the Restrainer - I have heard everything now.

 

[Buddy D. Mouse]

Those Thessalonians knew of Trump. Probably thousands of them came back to vote for Trump - illegally...

Stole the election from Hitlery Klingon, just like Bush stole the election from Gore. Thousands of temporarily-resurrected Thessalonians voting with hanging chads and without...

And it was Trump, long ago, that cut down all those trees in the Great Sahara Forest.

 

[Buddy D. Mouse]

Do you really think it was meteor or asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs?

Nahh. It was Trump, also responsible for Chernobyl and 3 Mile Island.

 

[WilliamL]

On 6/26/2020 at 5:41 AM, Diaste said:

On 6/25/2020 at 12:47 PM, WilliamL said:

Already answered, both in the first post and a later one, which you apparently did not read. Paul was not going to say it was the Empire and its ruler, for what should be obvious reasons; such as staying alive.

Or the other obvious reason that it's conditions and not political entities. Concerning the flood it was a condition that led to the judgement the world should be destroyed. Same thing we are waiting on now, conditions.

And again, if it was conditions, the same thing applies: there would have been no reason for Paul to not state it in writing, instead of being so oblique. (The condition of the flood was the consummate sin of man, which is explicitly stated in the Word.) The same as with the ones restraining (the first case being in the Greek neuter, the second being in the Greek masculine) being Michael or the Holy Spirit or the Church. Paul had no cause in all such cases to obscure his meaning.

All of you whose propose these solutions have provided no answer for Paul's obscurity. You just ignore the issue.