[TheRealThing]

Antichrist will  however deceive almost everybody left on earth after the Lord removes His Church sometime during the early stages of the Tribulation. All except those who will be saved during that time as represented by the 144 thousand Jewish evangelists and their converts. All of whom will be hunted down ruthlessly by Antichrist and murdered en-masse, along with all those who would help them with so much as a glass of water.
Revelation 20:4
4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

Notice here ^^ the deception is not with Christians, the Church is gone by that point. Nor does the deception convince the 144 thousand or their converts who are alive and remain on earth. The idea is so good is Antichrist's deception that 'if it were possible,' he could deceive the very elect. Your analogy barely skips the stone off the surface of the matter Cardfan. No Christians will be deceived, and no Christians nor any of the 'Tribulation Saints' fall into cultism as inconvenient as that may be to your theories about all this.

On a side note: It is incredible to me how often the secular world does manage to hit the nail without driving it home though. For those who've seen Avengers Infinity War there is that scene where half of humanity just de-materializes because Zanos snaps the fingers of his infinity stone gauntlet. Sort of like how: 'the Church will caught up to be with Him in the air, and so shall they ever be with Him. '