Tim LaHaye and Jenkins’ Left Behind Series seems to match the Hagee remarks. There is , of course, the theological question of the Rapture based on one scripture in Thess. The Lord has never protected huge masses of Christians, the Church or the Jews from persecution. The Rapture seems to be an interpretation from the days of Scofield. It is not an old view and has only gotten a hearing in the last 100 years or so. Of course, as a believer,I want it to happen but if it does not, our faith in Jesus when he does appear will really have been tested in these Times.
God has been consistent in REMOVING believers from horrendous punishment. Noah and the Flood are an example. Sodom and Gomorrah is another example etc.. There is no reason NOT to believe He will collect His believers when He returns as Scripture states. Those not raptured or gathered up will suffer extreme wrath.
1Thes.4:17
[17] Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
I think this verse is very clear and as I mentioned simply demonstrates a pattern of NOT subjecting believers to EXTREME wrath.
What I just posted #142. (I just read your post when I was done writing it.) Sounds like the same train of thought for us both.
9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thessalonians 5:9).
and
Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. (Revelation 3:10)
God does not always protect Christians from the consequences of sin but He does promise to keep Christians from His own wrath.
The Tribulation is the wrath and punishment of God on an unbelieving, God-rejecting, unrepentant world. Christians are none of those things.