The embarrassing verse
By Richard P. Joseph
“Say what you like,” we shall be told, “the apocalyptic beliefs of the first Christians have been proved to be false. It is clear from the New Testament that they all expected the Second Coming in their own lifetime. And worse still, they had a reason, and one which you will find very embarrassing. Their Master had told them so. He shared, and indeed created, their delusion. He said in so many words, ‘this generation shall not pass till all these things be done.’ And he was wrong. He clearly knew no more about the end of the world than anyone else.”
It is certainly the most embarrassing verse in the Bible
C.S. Lewis, "The World's Last Night" (1960)
C. S. Lewis must have never read the entire New Testament because if he thinks that this one verse is embarrassing, he ain’t seen nothin’ yet! Lewis was an educated idiot. He apparently understood the bible from a philosophical point of view instead of a life changing spiritual vantage point with absolute no historical faults. Unfortunately, most seminary trained pastors fall right in line with Lewis. They regurgitate the garbage that their seminary professors spewed on them without ever stopping to wonder how the professor became the inspired prophet but Jesus and the apostles were not. I am writing all of these articles for one main purpose and that is to encourage Christians to stop and listen to what they are saying to themselves.
I have actually heard many preachers say what C. S. Lewis said above as if somehow the preacher is the inspired apostle but Jesus, Peter, John, Paul et al are uninspired and made mistakes. Can someone please explain that one to me? Lewis mentions only one verse but somehow forgets to mention dozens of others that say or mean the same thing. In other words the entire New Testament centers around the idea that the second coming was to occur in the first century. Lewis, using intellectual reasoning, ended up committing blasphemy. If anyone wants to know what blasphemy is, please re-read the opening statement of this article. Preterism now becomes more important than ever. I was going to start quoting scripture but that would not really serve my purpose. If I were to pull one or two scriptures out of the bible that show that the Parousia was to occur in the first century, that could be challenged by the futurists. The reality of the situation is, is that the entire New Testament has an imminency threaded throughout every page. This is not the case of some cult pulling one obscure scripture out and trying to make a point. A first century Parousia is the undercarriage of the entire New Testament. How can you miss it? If you are someone who is new to preterism then my first advice to you is to stop and take a deep breath. Then say to yourself, my preacher is not inspired like the apostles were. Then say, the apostles were indeed inspired and could not make this type of mistake. Then read the entire New Testament with an open mind. Read some solid preterist material and see if it begins to make sense. For me the pieces of the puzzle fall right into place. I do not have to make any excuses why Jesus is an “embarrassment”. The second coming indeed came exactly 40 years after the cross and it is well documented. Please stop listening to your pastor and start believing the scripture.
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