Review of Preterism

Preterism article #1

Introduction   by Richard Joseph

Preterism is the study of the bible from the perspective of the bible.  It promotes the idea that all of the eschatological events mentioned, especially in the New Testament, have been fulfilled by AD 70.  I have been following the teaching of Ed Stevens at his link www.preterist.org for a long time and get most of my information there.  If you are interested in this type of study then I highly recommend that website which is the home for the International Preterist Association.  That does not mean that I follow all of those that sell books on that site but Mr. Stevens has done a great job explaining the ins and outs of preterism.  So where do we start?  Let’s start in the pew where I heard several preachers say, almost word for word, that; “All of the disciples thought that the end was coming in their lifetime but they were mistaken”.

Yes, I actually heard them say that and your pastor has probably said it too.  That is a statement that you will never hear me say; ever.  In other words those pastors actually believe that they themselves are the inspired writers of scripture but Peter, Paul, John etc were not.  That is called a cult.  So why would someone say such a thing?  It is because of a lack of knowledge of historical events and from faulty theology being taught year after year in our seminaries.

Preterism, on the other hand, dictates that the Apostles and Jesus were correct in everything they said.  Jesus spoke as if the end of the age were to happen within the current generation of the disciples.  Every New Testament writer spoke of the end coming very soon.  There is no mention of a long and protracted waiting period.  These are the things that I would like for us to discuss.  So let us begin.

Preterism article #2

Daniel lays it out.  By Richard Joseph

The book of Daniel is one of the most amazing books in the bible as far as prophecy is concerned.  Gabriel gave Daniel visions so accurate that I sometimes wonder how people could get it wrong, but we have.  The first century Jews missed it and then nearly everyone else missed it as well even up to today.  Let’s take a quick look at the Book of Daniel and especially what it has to say about end- times events.

Daniel not only interpreted the king’s dreams with pinpoint accuracy but he was also given the itinerary for what we commonly refer to as end-times events.  In this vision he foresaw turbulent times beginning during his lifetime and the return of the Jews from captivity back to the land of Israel to begin building their temple once again.  From that time there would be a period of events (called Daniel’s 70 weeks) that predicted several items including:

Historic events in the Middle East leading up to the coming Messiah

The ushering in of the Anointed one

The anointed one being cut off

The city destroyed

A flood of wartime events

An end to sacrifice

Abomination that causes desolation.

God’s true followers delivered

Resurrection of the dead and judgment

I may have missed some stuff but this is a basic list of things that will come into finality during that period of time.  Daniel was given this information and then was told to seal up the scroll that contained the vision until the time of the end.  One last message that he received (it appears that Jesus himself was one of the messengers) is that “When the power of the holy people has been finally broken, all these things will be completed”.

The one word that sticks out is completed.  We will examine this as we go on.  I am not going to spend time explaining everything in one article.  For one reason, I can’t explain everything due to lack of knowledge and secondly, it would take volumes and a lifetime to do it.  My goal is to give an overview of events so as to debunk faulty theology.  If this is an interesting study for you then it is really up to you to study this on your own to more fully understand the bible and the kingdom of God.  Every generation from the first generation on has predicted that the end-times events were to occur in their generation.  We will soon find out which one was correct.  All others were wrong.

                                              “WE ARE IN THE LAST DAYS”!

The newspaper had the usual “LAST DAYS SEMINARS” advertisement with a full half page ad.  This is common these days.  If you drive around, it will not take long before you notice a church with signs about having “END TIME PROPHECY” seminar banners.  I just have one question.  In Matthew 24:20 Jesus warns that you should pray that your flight during the persecution of the great tribulation isn’t on the Sabbath day.  So my question is: What should I do if my flight is on the Sabbath Day?

Any suggestions?  That is what I thought; none.  I don’t even think that present day Israel has Sabbath Day laws.  So why would Jesus warn us about not being able to flee from danger on the Sabbath Day if he knew outright that there would not be any Sabbath laws when the great tribulation was upon us?  The answer might shock you but here it is.  Jesus knew that the Sabbath Law would still be in effect during the Great Tribulation of the End Times.  That is why he said in Matthew 24:34  “I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.”  Since it was to occur during the very generation of the Apostles then the Sabbath Law would still be in effect.  It is not going to happen in my generation, and it isn’t going to happen in Marco Polo’s generation, and it isn’t going to happen in my grandchildren’s generation.  It already happened in Peter’s generation.  If you don’t believe me then ask Jesus, Peter, John, Paul, Jude and any other inspired New Testament writer.  They all agree that it was to happen very soon and that it was upon them during their lifetime.  In fact if you study the actual timeline of events then you will see a crescendo of intensity starting in around A.D. 62 as the tribulation period was beginning to start.  The Apostles began a massive campaign to warn the elect to flee and prepare for the parousia which would include a rapture event.  The Jews of the first century would have to worry about fleeing on the Sabbath because you were not allowed to travel more than a certain distance on the Sabbath by civil law.  If the Parousia was to occur after the first century then Jesus would not have made that remark.  Jesus and the Apostles did not make any mistakes as far as writing scripture or interpreting the events of the End Times.  If something seems amiss then it would be us who are making the mistake, not the inspired New Testament writers.

So when you read the newspaper and a church is trying to scare you into joining them or if some scam artist gets on television and asks you to send money because the end is coming then I highly suggest you go back and read the words of the inspired Apostles and find out when the end is really coming.  While you are at it, you might want to find out what the end really is.  You will certainly find out as I hope to continue with these articles so that we can understand the word of God better.

An overview

I will attempt to give a brief overview of the history of End Times events.  There is no way to explain everything here so this will simply be an overview.  Then we can take the rest of our lives explaining the details.  However, after you read this overview, I would challenge you to read the entire bible with a different mindset.  Your mindset should be one of what is called “audience relevance” which simply means for you to put yourself in the position of those that first read the particular scripture that you are reading.  Pretend that you are living in that time and hearing that for the first time and that you are of their culture.  Trying to interpret scripture from an American perspective 2,000 years later is not recommended.  Of course scripture is valid for us today and we reap its benefits, but you need to understand it from a Jewish first century perspective in order to get the real feel of it.  So let us begin.

As you remember, Daniel laid out several things which must come to pass during or at least by the end of his 70 sevens of years.  Within that timeframe near the end of the “490” years marked from the beginning of the building of the temple after the Babylonian captivity several odd things began to occur.  A virgin gave birth to a male child and the young woman was given a message that this boy would be given the throne of David, that he was the son of the Most High, He will reign over the house of Jacob forever and his kingdom will have no end.   Jesus asked the Jews how they cannot read the signs of the times because it was so obvious that their visitation had begun exactly when Daniel said it would.  Jesus preached the good news that the kingdom of God was at hand but they couldn’t seem to grasp what he meant.  They eventually rejected him and killed him but only to their detriment.  While he was physically dead he went down to sheol and preached the resurrection message to all of the past dead that were awaiting the resurrection.  He then rose from the dead physically and showed himself to the apostles.  He predicted a time when the old would give way to the new.  He told of the end of the age and that they would experience this end.  This occurred about AD 30.  The apostles were given special power and authority by the Holy Spirit to perform miraculous healings and to preach the kingdom of God to all of the known world.  They were persecuted not only by the Jews but by the occupying Romans as well.  Beginning around AD 63, civil war broke out among the Jews and also a revolt began against the Roman occupation.  John was then given a vision of what was soon to take place.  This book that we call the book of Revelation was the announcement that the scroll of Daniel will now be opened.  Jesus will be revealed as the victorious king, the law will be fulfilled and the true church will rise out of the ashes.  Wars, heavenly signs, famines and plagues ensued.  Nero, the Roman dictator, began a severe persecution against Christians also.  Finally the Roman general Titus sacked Jerusalem and the temple was presently burned down and the soldiers pried the stones apart one by one to retrieve the gold that had melted in between them fulfilling the prophesy that Jesus had made 40 years earlier that not one stone would be left upon another.  The saints were raptured just prior to this occurrence and the dead in Hades were raised out and death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire.  This was the end of the Jewish world and the ushering in of the everlasting Church of Jesus Christ which will have no end.  There is no future rapture to occur since it already happened before AD 70 during what is called the parousia (which means a visitation period).  That was a fast and sloppy description of what happened in the first century but I am only writing short articles in order to give brief views of subjects.  I will hopefully continue and perhaps get more specific as time allows.  For an in depth study I highly recommend the www.preterist.org website already mentioned.  This is a study that will last the rest of your life as really it should.