The following is taken from biblescope.com, Will the apostasy precede the rapture? I had mentioned that I would deal with this subject in my last post.
“The second meaning for apostasy in this verse is to depart, and may be a reference to the rapture.  The forces of the Antichrist are restrained on Earth until the Holy Spirit which dwells within God’s Church is removed by the rapture.  With Christ’s followers removed from the scene, the Antichrist will be released to usher in the world’s new age religion with all of its evils.”
The verse in question here is taken from 2 Thessalonians. II Thessalonians 2:3, 6-7  “Let no one in any way deceive you for it (the Day of the Lord) will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction.  And you know what restrains him now, so that in this time he may be revealed.  For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way.”
What has happened in the evolution of the argument over a pre or post Tribulation rapture is telling in and of itself. With the pre Tribulation rapture the Day of the Lord was always supposed to be the day of the rapture itself, but to them the day of the Lord was said to include the Tribulation.
So at that time the argument focused on what is the day of the Lord. That argument was more than adequately won buy post Tribulation scholars. The day of the Lord follows the seven year Tribulation. Most pre Tribulationists have moved on to a new focus for their argument. They have moved from 1Thess. 5 to 2 Thessalonians 2. And thus you now hear: “The second meaning for apostasy in this verse is to depart, and may be a reference to the rapture.”
Pre Tribulation scholars have never had a strong Scriptural argument for their position so they come up with a “may be a reference to the rapture”. Well what may be, also may not be. And in this case again they are scripture twisting. I say this in love but I must say it.
The second meaning for the word apostasy in the Greek is understood by a Greek Dispensationalist scholar to mean. “Departing from someone or separating ones self from the dangers of that association.” This is the meaning Spiro Zodhiates places on the second meaning of this Greek word that we translate in English to be apostasy.
So let’s apply this meaning to the rapture, and what we have is a person a believer who wants to depart from the association with this world and its heathen population because there is this danger coming upon the world. It is called the Tribulation. Remember the action figure, the one committing this apostasy is the individual. So I decide to remove myself from this danger. I do this by rapturing myself? Do you see the irony in making this word into the rapture? Sorry but I can’t rapture myself folks.
So, here is the real question. What must I do to escape the wrath of God? Let me give you Paul’s answer.
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. Ephesians 2:1-3
Paul who tells us that we will escape God’s wrath in many of his epistles also makes clear what God’s wrath is, and other scripture makes clear when it will come. I assure you we will not experience God’s wrath (Orge) if we make a decision to follow Christ. Paul tells us that it is in Him that we escape the wrath to come.  But he never tells that we will escape this world and Satan’s own wrath.

See my WordPress post titled: Is The Great Tribulation Really God’s Wrath — is it really the wrath that we will not see?