Will the first part of the tribulation be peaceful?
No, the first three and a half years of the tribulation will not be a time of peace and prosperity. It will include famine, pestilence, earthquakes, and an expected Russian invasion, as God's judgments begin and intensify like birth pangs until the midpoint.
Les explains that the signing of the treaty triggers the final seven years. He notes the two witnesses will come to Jerusalem, and from them the 144,000 will be sealed and become evangelists to the whole world. He feels there will be a great Russian invasion sometime after the tribulation begins. Then the various judgments of God begin to fall. Les emphasizes this is not going to be three-and-a-half years of peace and prosperity; instead there will be famine, pestilence, and earthquakes until the midpoint. He compares these judgments to birth pangs—mild and far apart at first, then increasing and crescendoing. At the midpoint, the Antichrist comes to the temple, defiles it, stops Jewish worship, and demands to be worshiped as God, triggering the final three-and-a-half years.