“Paul makes it very clear that the Anti-Christ will be restrained until the Holy Spirit and the Church are removed.”
Can you post any specific scriptures that say this?
Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him...
Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction...
who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.
And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he will 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.
John 16: 7-11; 13-14
But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.
And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment;
concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me;
and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me;
and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.
But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.
"He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you.
It is, and always has been, the Church who is the "salt of the earth", to quote God, and it is, and always has been, the Church which, through the Holy Spirit mentioned in the Scripture above, was the source of convicting the world of sin, and righteousness, and judgment. When the Church is removed, that convicting will go with it, and the Antichrist will be free to arrive on the scene and deceive, and perform miracles, and be worshiped by those who rejected Jesus Christ.