The cult of Death

I was raised in an evangelical church where we were constantly told that the end times are at hand. I was told that I would never marry, never have children, and never see my 20's. I was told by a pastor that Mikhail Gorbachev was the antichrist (the birthmark on his forehead was the give away) and that we would not live to see the 1990's. In the seventh grade (1988), I was on a church trip and we stopped off at Carl's Jr. to have lunch. Carl's had recently put in new machines which allowed the customer to use a credit/debit card to pay for your meal. Our youth pastor at the time explained to us how this was a sure sign of the end times because soon all monetary exchanges would be based on credit and cash would be a thing of the past. Instead of credit cards we would all have a computer chip placed under our skin (by the wrist) and this chip would track all of our banking. The antichrist would take over the worlds monetary system and if you refused to put the mark of the beast on your forehead, your access to money would evaporate and you would become a Christian refugee. We were all sternly warned to never allow anyone to put a computer chip in our body. I could barely eat my Western Bacon cheeseburger because I was so frightened of the end times. When Gorby left office the church quickly moved on (never acknowledging what they told us) and picked up on the Gulf War in 1991. This was the sign that the world was ending (the mother of all battles was at hand). We met at RHCC to pray and were told that we could have over 100,000 Americans killed in this battle and the end times were at hand. As the 90's progressed the church fixated on the year 1999 (666 backwards) and the Y2K scare. Of course, nothing happened and the world continued to spin. What interests me is why does Christianity have such dreams of an apocalyptic nightmare?
A brief history of the "prophets" predicting the end of the world:
-Donatus and Novatiian gathered followers with their "end-times" predictions in the 3rd and 4th centuries.
-When the Visigoths sacked Rome (A.D. 410) it was thought to be the end-times.
-In the sixth century, Pope Gregory said, "signs described by our Lord as presaging the end of the world were already accomplished."
-As the year 999 approached, thousands of people gathered at St. Peters Basilica in Rome weeping and trembling and awaiting the end of the world.
-The Inquisition, the Black Death, natural disasters, all were see as signs that the world is coming to an end.
-Hal Lindsay wrote, "The late great planet earth" in 1970 which became the best selling book in the nation that stated the world would end before 1980
-Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins has made millions for themselves with the "left behind" book series.

Why would anyone want the end times to come? Have you read the book of revelations? How could you ever tell children that their classmates and friends and parents would soon be thrown into a lake of fire and be tortured for eternity? Is this not a form of abuse? Why do pastors and religious leaders NEVER take accountability for their failed predictions? I can remember asking my pastor what would happen to Brandon Bernstien (I was in 7th grade) and I was told that my best friend (who is Jewish) would spend eternity in hell. What? Bernie is going to hell? Because he is Jewish? And than I was told that God is Love but the end-times are near. I have my own theories on why the church has a cult of death but would like to hear your thoughts. Perhaps I will write an addendum to his post. I look forward to all comments.