How long does the Antichrist have everything under control during the first half of the tribulation?
The Antichrist appears to have everything under control for only a few months at the start of the first half of the tribulation. The remainder of that three and a half years is not a utopia; it gets progressively worse, with war, invasion, and famine crescendoing.
Les explains that the first three and a half years are not going to be a Sunday school picnic or a utopia. Maybe just for a few months, the Antichrist is going to seem to have everything under control. But the remainder of that three and a half years is going to get progressively worse. The war and the invasion in Israel, along with the attending famine, is already beginning to crescendo. Then at the midpoint of the seven years, there comes a great earthquake, marking the sixth seal.