I Used to Believe that the Church Would Pass Through the Tribulation
The scriptural representations of the Great Tribulation are wholly negative with no attempt to minimize the severity of human suffering in that time. During the Great Tribulation, God will pour out His wrath on mankind and will judge all of creation, just before the peace of the Millennium is ushered in.
The illustration part really had me thinking of my belief of where I was trembling to death:
If Chrsitians do not realize that they will be taken out of the world before the Great Tribulation begins, they could become very discouraged looking forward to those years.
I remembered it was said that the Year 2000 was going to be the end of the world. I was newly saved around 1998 (and still had a lot of issues that I tried to take care of outside the grace of God) and I was surrounded by unsaved folks. I was still having trouble with Roman Catholicism. Half of me thought this and half of me thought that. Half of me still felt Roman Catholics were saved but the other half says no. I also remembered the paranoia there was that the Antichrist would soon appear. I was really a bad person in some way and I decided enough was enough about sin. Some materials that I saw (still in VHS format) included the movie called "Image of the Beast" by Mark IV Pictures. The description just made me think "Will the church go through all this?" However, the pastor who first shared to me the Gospel said that the Rapture will happen first and the martyrs are those who will get saved during the Tribulation.
Why did I fear the Tribulation? Just thinking about what the seven years of the Antichrist's reign will do can be frightening. There's a guy claiming to be Jesus. I used to have that stupid mentality of thinking so and so was the Antichrist. Both Yasir Arafat and Saddam Hussein are now dead and in Hell. The Antichrist is not going to be obvious yet I was so attracted to those stupid theories about the guy. Though, I did have (part of me) wanting to think that the Pope would either be the Antichrist or the False Prophet. 1999 A.D. was coming to an end and it was really a major concern. The One World Government could spring up anytime! It will soon mean no man can buy or sell without the mark of the Beast. Revelation 14's warning about it is very stern that those who accept the mark will wind up in the Lake of Fire. Though, part of me still believed that only the unsaved will take the mark and those who are saved won't. Then again, part of me believed you can renounce your faith and take the mark. What I didn't count on was that refusing the take the mark is a fruit of genuine salvation just like any good work that a truly saved person does.
Back then, I did have the struggle with understanding eternal security too. I didn't believe that you lose your salvation every time you sinned. I felt that Christians who fall into sin can still be shamed and chastised. I still felt people who claim to be saved but live otherwise are fake converts. However, I also believed it was possible to renounce one's faith. A good example is saying you can't trust Jesus today and your works tomorrow. It's because if you're in Jesus then you are secure and if not, you're not secure. Such a truth can make one believe salvation can be lost even if you don't buy into Dan Corner's messy message! Many times, I feared one day I might renounce my faith without realizing that God's grace is the preserver. I read the pamphlet "Safe and Secure: The Permanence of Salvation" though I ended up still not understanding it. I always believed that if you're in Christ then you can't lose your salvation. However, I always felt it was possible to renounce that faith even after the same pamphlet listed out 1 John 2:19. 1 John 2:19 can be a very difficult verse to understand because God's Word requires much study. I'd dare say I missed it and was too engrossed with New World Order and later, Vatican conspiracy theories over the Word of God. I still had that struggle that says if the renounced it then maybe they're not saved or that they walked away after supposedly getting saved.
Eventually, further study would show that the Pre-Tribulation Rapture must happen first. Today, Christians are the biggest stumbling block for the still ongoing but not yet finalized New World Order. The only reason why the New World Order is not yet completed. Christians are such a huge block. Just notice now China is only making the churches stronger. Persecution of Christians in this day and age just makes them way too strong. The Church Age is under the restraining power of the Holy Spirit. It will require the Church to be gone before the agents of Satan can finally form the New World Order. That's why I really think it makes more sense for the Church to be gone (first) before most of the world can eventually accomplish the New World Order.