Symphony,
The thing that never sat with me was the "TWO" Second Comings. I thought there was only one second coming? The pre-tribulationist view teach Jesus is coming to snatch us out before the tribulation, then he will come again to get those born again during the tribulation ( I thought the Holy Spirit was suppose to gone?) It never added up.
I got a book a number of years ago entitled "Rapture Prophecy or Heresy" by Col H. Speed Wilson. He gives the history of the origins of the "secret rapture", which incidently was not a known doctrine to the church for the first 1800 years. Speed gives a challenge to everyone who reads his book and the corresponding Scriptures, and can still "prove" the rapture theory $10,000.
I have in the meantime done some research of my own ( by the mouth of two or three witnesses....) and found even more evidence that the Pre-Tribulation doctrine was non-existent prior to 1830.
In 1830 a woman named Margaret McDonald in Scotland had this "vision" of being caught up....she was also a member of Edward Irving's ( a defrocked minister of the Church of Scotland) Catholic Apostolic Church. This new doctrine eventually was adopted Darby the father of modern dispensationalism.
For more lengthy information log unto
http://www.ncinter.net/~ejt/There's alot more on the web.
Psalm 119