He will not rapture his saints before the reign and persecution by the Beast. He has no reason to. Did he rapture saints before the persecution by the communists? It's no different this time, except the Beast will restrict buying and selling to only those who received his mark, and that it will be world wide. Ask the saints who were tortured by the communist. They will say it's no different than anything the Beast will have in store for the captured saints.

I beg to differ with Ed's position that the Tribulation is "no different this time". To compare it with persecution by the communists or anything which previously occurred in history, is at odds with the written word of God, as spoken by Jesus Himself:

"For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be."

- Matthew 24: 21

"For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be."

- Mark 13: 19

Keeping in mind that one of the previous world events was a global flood killing every single living being (outside of the ark), that says a lot about how bad this time will be if Jesus says it will be worse than anything before it (which includes the flood).

See ya in the air,

Eric