1 Aug. Paul says much evil will occur before Jesus comes again
"Brothers and sisters, we have something to say about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and the time when we will meet together with him."
"Do not become easily upset in your thinking, or afraid, if you hear that 'the Day of the Lord' has already come. Someone may say this in a prophesy, or in a message, or in a letter as if it came from us. Do not let anyone fool you in any way."
"That Day of the Lord will not come until the turning away from God happens and the Man of Evil, who is on his way to hell, appears. He will be against, and put himself above, anything called God or anything that people worship, And that Man of Evil will even go into God's Temple and sit there and say that he is God."
"I told you when I was with you [in Thessalonica] that all this would happen. Do you not remember? And now you know what is stopping that Man of Evil so he will appear at the right time. The secret power of evil is already working in the world, but there is one who is stopping that power."
"And he will continue to stop it until he is taken out of the way. Then that Man of Evil will appear, and the Lord Jesus will kill him with the breath that comes from his mouth and will destroy him with the glory of his coming."
"The Man of Evil will come by the power of Satan. He will have great power, and he will do many different false miracles, signs and wonders. He will use every kind of evil to trick those who are lost. They will die, because they refused to love the truth..."
"Brothers and sisters, whom the Lord loves, God chose you from the beginning to be saved. So we must always thank God for you. You are saved by the Spirit that makes you holy, and by your faith in the truth... So, brothers and sisters, stand strong and continue to believe the teachings we gave you in our speaking and in our [previous] letter."
(2 Thessalonians 2:1-15)
In the next part of his letter, Paul assures the new believers in Thessalonica that the ‘Day of the Lord’ hasn’t come yet, and Jesus won’t return to earth until after the ‘Man of Evil’ appears.
Paul prophesies that this evil leader will deceive people in the same way as the satan does, and will set himself up as a god. He will persecute and kill many believers before he is himself destroyed.
Paul was writing in 51 or 52AD during the reign of the emperor Claudius - a relatively humane and just ruler. Claudius was succeeded as emperor in 54AD by Nero, who shortly afterwards declared himself to be divine. Later, he proceeded to persecute and execute Christians, including Paul himself, especially after the Great Fire of Rome provided an excuse in 64AD.
Nero’s extravagant and evil lifestyle brought mounting opposition from the Roman elite, and Nero eventually committed suicide in 66AD.
The photo shows the Roman Forum in Thessalonica (by Leandro Neumann Ciuffo). You can read more from Paul's Second Letter to the Thessalonians @ https://www.thebiblejourney.org/…/the-coming-day-of-the-lo…/