That is exactly right.
We were commanded by the King Himself to look for those signs.
Look at Luke 21:28.
“When these things begin to happen, look up, for your redemption draws near.”
Why did He not say, “When these things are completed, look up, for your redemption draws near?”
The naysayers are ignorant of scripture. Flat-out deniers and they cannot bring themselves to say who The Restrainer is.
It boils down to the obvious reality that if the true identity turns out to be the Holy Spirit indwelling born-again believers, then their particular rapture timing theory is shot to pieces!
In Paul’s second letter to the Thessalonians, he told them that “the one who restrains must be taken out of the way so that the son of perdition may be revealed.” It reads like this at 2 Thessalonians 2:6-8:
“And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. 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. And then the lawless one will be revealed….”
Also, we have the straightforward assurance in 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10:
“For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.”
Pretty simple for those who trust Christ that He is true to His Word.
It could be an actual entity that is restraining not just the “church” itself. And when the restrainer is taken out of the way, it could still be a number of years as the Beast fully manifests himself before the rapture, hence the mention of “elect” that could be deceived if it were possible. Still, I’m a pre-tribber to mid trib when the Two witnesses get raised back up. We have to keep in mind that none of us knows the hour. We could be raptured today but there could still be an indeterminate time between that and the rise of the son of perdition since the last 7 years starts when the 7 year peace treaty is formalized with Israel. Beast guy might need some time to rise, get consolidated, get killed per the Bible then rise from the dead. He might be around in some form before we get raptured but not fully in place but with a steadily increasing persecution of Christians occurring already world wide! Or in 30 seconds, 29, 28, 27....see ya there!