End of Revelation...the battle of Armegeddon in the Valley of Megiddo...it has a history as one of the bloodiest valleys in history even now. Revelation can be a bit confusing -- a great deal of it is symoblism, while much else of it is John trying to describe things that didn't exist yet in his time, so it SOUNDS like symbolism but isn't (for instance, it is evident when he is describing nuclear attacks and even, I'm convinced, tanks and helicopters, but never having seen these things he resorts to saying things like, "I saw something that looked LIKE.... There are several different views of when the rapture will occur. My belief is pre-tribulationism, but it's an in-house debate (I was moderator on a very large Pre-trib board for several years). My recommendation is to buy anything by Hal Lindsey, who is the best known writer on pretribulationism if you'd like to learn more.
Whichever view point is correct...we are very, very close.
I am informed with the schools of thought on the tribulation. I have read (15 years ago, at least) Hal Lindsey's book. I also believe in pre-trib. I just can't remember everything, as written, in Revelations, just snippets, because I really haven't studied it. I never felt the need to be concerned about it. I no longer feel that way.
a little off topic
The last of the Left Behind books, "The Glorious Appearing" was pretty gory in parts, too, but the parts of Jesus speaking directly to the Christians was soooo --- wow. I was really really blessed by what I read.
Then, just when you thought the world was over --- Mel Odom has written a companion series to Left Behind.