Preterism 101 Part 1

[rhope4]

 

PRETERISM 101

 

By David A. Green

July, 2002

Following this brief article are 101 biblical, preterist "time-indicators." (Hence the title.) There are many more than 101 to be found in Scripture, but these are probably the most blunt and obvious of them all. If we were to include every preterist time-indicator in Scripture, the number would possibly be in the hundreds. My purpose in displaying these passages (with some cross references) is to lay out in a concise, easy-to-read format the overwhelming testimony that our Lord actually fulfilled the Law and the Prophets, as He said He would. (Matt. 5:17)

Now it seems to me that there are only two ways to "get around" these 101 Scriptures and remain a futurist. One of those ways is to dismiss the spirit of imminence that saturates the New Testament and to say that it only indicates things that are "soon in God's sight."

There are some major problems with that approach. If the imminence saturating the New Testament was only an "in-God's-sight" imminence, then why was the Old Testament not also saturated with an "in-God's-sight" imminence? Why did God not tell Adam and Eve, "The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand?" Why did He not tell Abraham, "The Son of Man is about to come in the glory of His Father with His angels; and will then recompense every man according to his deeds?" Why did He not say to Malachi, "This generation will not pass away until all these things take place?"

Why is it that a Second Coming in the 21st century was "imminent" in the 1st century, but was not imminent before the 1st century? There is no substantive defense against this objection. The fact is that what God said was near to the Apostles, He said was not near to the earlier prophets. Perhaps the clearest illustration of this truth is found in a comparison of Dan. 8:26 and Rev. 22:10:

6th century B.C: "Seal up the vision; for it shall be for many days." (Dan. 8:26)

1st century A.D.: "Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near." (Rev. 22:10)

What God said was far away in Daniel's time, He said was imminent in the Apostles' time. The implication is inescapable: The imminence in the New Testament was real.

Granted, it is not unreasonable to use an expression of imminence or brevity in reference to a relatively long period of time, (II Cor. 4:17) but it is biblically unreasonable to interpret every statement of eschatological imminence throughout the New Testament as meaning "2,000 years later." If we are going to claim scriptural support for such a hermeneutical approach, the only option is to make II Peter 3:8 ("With the Lord a day is like a thousand years") a "Code Key" that unlocks the "secret" meaning of the Spirit. But not only is that method Gnostic-like, it makes eschatology (and ultimately, soteriology) utterly impossible to understand correctly without the mystical elucidation of II Peter 3:8 (and Ps. 90:4).

The second technique that is employed to "get around" the New Testament declarations of imminence is to dichotomize the spirit of imminence (and therefore the unified eschatological theme of Scripture), and to say that some or most New Testament imminence Scriptures do indeed indicate nearness in time (such as in references to the Great Tribulation in A.D. 66-70 and to a "coming" in judgment in A.D. 70.) but that other imminence Scriptures are in reality not statements of imminence at all. (In this approach, all references to the Second Coming, the Resurrection of the Dead and the "final Judgment" are said to contain no indications of imminence whatsoever.)

The problem with this method is simply this: Denial. The Bible says it. They deny it. They have thereby been forced to construct a duplicitous, theological system of "Yes" and "No." They have created a kind of twilight land of both "shadow" and "substance." (the land of partial preterism and historicism) They are rather like Saul of Tarsus, a man who sincerely and ignorantly "kicked against the goads" of the plain declarations of Scripture.

Many who have found themselves in this predicament recognize that they are in abject exegetical poverty, and so they end up appealing strictly and only to the authority of "the historic Church and her creeds." Not unrelated to this sad phenomenon is the defection of many protestants to the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Denial is a complicated and destructive thing indeed. Like deception, it becomes a tangled web. The incredible eschatological confusion that has plagued the Christian world since the days of the Reformation is a testimony to that fact.

But in contrast to the chaos of futurism, the Scriptures (below) have a straightforward teaching, which is this: The fulfillment of all prophecy was "at hand," "near," "soon," "about to be," etc. when the New Testament was written, and it was all to be fulfilled by the time the old covenant vanished and its temple was destroyed (in A.D. 70).

The prophetic message is so simple, yet it is so profound. In a way it is not surprising that we missed it for so long.

Now a final note. The Apostle Peter was referring to eschatology when he said the following:

"...in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction." (II Peter 3:16)

Be careful what you do with the truth. Being in possession of a true, biblical proposition is by no means an evidence of being wise, no matter how wonderful the proposition is. There is no denying that some preterists are "untaught and unstable," and have used preterism to "distort" the Scriptures. (They are Universalists, Arians, Neo-Gnostics, etc.) They despise the collected teachings of the historic Church as being little more than the tricks of jugglers, and have blasphemed virtually every pillar of the Faith. They imagine themselves to be pioneers, but they are revilers in the tradition of II Peter and Jude. Do not follow them. Avoid them at all cost. Please see my Q&A #33.

 

[WandaShort]

HI!  Do you know Dave?  I absolutely adore him...do you listen to his show on Monday nights at 6:00pm PST on preterist radio?  It is called "The Living Body" and it is the four authors of "House Divided" - Dave Green, Mike Sullivan, Sam Frost, and Ed Hassertt.  Archived podcasts are at: preteristradio.com just click on the Living Body and they all show up! OR go live during the show and we have a chatroom - www.ad70.net 

Dave has so many awesome teachings...plus he was instrumental in me connecting with another preterist who has now claimed my heart!  :-}

I am so glad I found this site! blessings, wanda

[rhope4]

No, the only one I've actually met is Don Preston.  He got me very grounded in the truth year before last.

[WandaShort]

I LOVE Don!  Do you listen to the shows on preterist radio?  www.ad70.net  you can listen live and enter the chatroom and have awesome fellowship.  If you can't listen live you can listen to all of the archived shows at: www.preteristradio.com

Don and William Bell do a show every Tuesday night 6pm PST called "Two Guys & a Bible".  They are doing a study on Zion and it is FANTASTIC!  Can you catch the power of that??  LOL!

Dave Green does a show on Mondays at 6pm PST with the other three authors of House Divided - Mike Sullivan, Sam Frost, Ed Hassertt and it is awesome too!  Actually all the shows are really good...I love the one  on Thursday with Dave Curtis and Chuck Coty called 17:11.

Are you on facebook?  I will be on later but I am not sure how to look for ya...you can connect with hundreds of preterists from around the world!  Also, we have a prayer team if you have a heart for prayer - my facebook is: [e-mail] wanda short and the two ministry pages that are preteristic that I work in are: AD70.net Prayer Team & Reaching Out Ministries...

I am so excited to have "met" you!  I hope that we can have more fellowship together!  Are you on any of the ning sites?  You can go to my reaching out website and i have the links to the main ones there...look for me Wanda Short on any of them!

Blessings, dear sister!

[rhope4]

Actually, I didn't know of any of those sites you just mentioned of Don's.  I just knew of the eschatology.org site.  He came to my father's church here a few times, and that's how I met him.  The true men of God reach out even to the small towns!  Daddy's church has less than a dozen members at present, but I think me and my family will be switching over soon...waiting on confirmation from the Lord first.  I was sent to a "futurist" church and have been there four years now.  Waiting for release...  Getting so tired of being lied to, lol, and many of that church originally came from Daddy's many years ago.  Many KNOW the truth and choose to ignore it.

I AM on facebook, but I hardly ever go there.  However, I have some futurist minister friends on there, and if we can get a discussion going on the wall, it could get interesting, lol. I'm on there as [e-mail]   My name is Renee Conn.

I like being a Conn-woman, lol, but that's a story for another time!

[WandaShort]

Renee that is awesome!

It sounds like you really havent had the pleasure of networking with all us other prets!  LOL!  There are thousands of us!  I will try to jump on facebook tonight and look for ya!  this is so exciting!  Blessings dear sister! wanda

[rhope4]

You're right...I DON'T know many preterists.  Brady is a small town of less than 6000 population, and Daddy's church is the only preterist one here.  I've come to know that the truth is coming to light more and more though, and it's neat when I come across people like you and Heather who believe the same way.  It's why I started this group.

I'll get on facebook after 8 tonight Central time.  Looking forward to adding you!

[WandaShort]

WHOA!  Is your daddy Pastor Hallford?????  I have been trying to reach him because our prayer team is slated to pray for him and the church this coming week!  I had emailed to the request any praise reports or requests...Renee - will you PLEASE email me directly at: [e-mail]? 

I coordinate the AD70.net Prayer Team and we spotlight a ministry, a church and a radio program as well as individual requests within the preterist community!  Our main journal page is at: http://prayer.ad70.net/ and we are on facebook too!  How amazing is our God???  That he brought me to your group and you end up being in the church that I have been wanting to contact?  Blessings dear sister!

[rhope4]

I sent you a letter through email, Wanda.  For the benefit of Heather and anyone else who sees this, Hallford is NOT my father, but my father is one of the main musicians in the radio program he has.  He's actually younger than my husband by a couple of years, lol.

Hallford's grandfather, Rev. Charles Grimes, was the one who discovered that Jesus came back in AD 70 in this community, and that church has been shrinking ever since.  NOT a popular view in this area, but I feel more freedom in knowing that God has indeed kept His Word.  Daddy tells me that more and more eyes are being opened to the truth all the time.

[WandaShort]

Amen Sista!  The Preterist  movement is growing leaps and bounds!  Even if your area is not open to allowing scriptures to speak to us without the infallible man's interpretation there is still hope!  We will be praying for Pastor Hallford's congregation and it sounds like maybe your radio ministry should be a separate prayer spotlight! 

Thanks for the call last night!  I willl try to reach him in the next day or so.  Can you send me info on your radio ministry? thanks and blessings! w

[rhope4]

I'll get with Daddy tomorrow night when we have our karate class and log on here.  I might can do something with information then.