What will the Antichrist demand when he defiles the temple?
At the midpoint, after Israel has begun temple worship, the Antichrist will come to the temple, defile it, immediately stop any kind of Jewish worship, and demand that he himself be worshiped as God. That desecration will trigger the final three-and-a-half years.
Les explains that the signing of the treaty is the trigger mechanism that begins the final seven years. He teaches that the two witnesses come to Jerusalem, the 144,000 are sealed, and judgments begin to fall. At the midpoint, after Israel has enjoined temple worship, the Antichrist moves from his headquarters somewhere in Europe and comes to the temple. He defiles it, immediately stops any kind of Jewish worship, and demands that he himself be worshiped as God. This triggers the final three-and-a-half years. Les compares the tribulation judgments to birth pangs in Matthew 24, increasing and crescendoing toward delivery.