I love hearing people’s testimony of coming to a FULFILLED understanding of Bible Prophecy and the Gospel. I’m impressed by how many people have the courage to explore and embrace this view. I see Preterists as Reformers of traditional Christianity, calling people to see Jesus and the Bible with fresh eyes – to understand them on their own terms. I’ve read countless stories of people coming from all different backgrounds – Catholic, Protestant, Baptist, Charistmatic, Reformed, Dispensationalist, Jehovah’s Witness – to a Fulfilled view of Scripture. These people especially impress me because most of them are overcoming years of indoctrination in traditional futurist theology to come to a place where they can finally hear what the Scriptures say on their own.
I love to hear how, through a deep study of Scripture and history, they decided to take Jesus at his word and believe he came to his disciples when he said he would. This page is dedicated to letting you know that if you’re coming to a fulfilled view, YOU’RE NOT ALONE! Many, many have gone before you. Only recently have we been able to make a worldwide community with technology, have a voice and start a grassroots Reformation. Now a fulfilled reading of the Bible is gaining momentum as the fastest growing eschatological view.
Did Jesus do what he said he would do? These folks say YES. HE. DID.
Here’s my story, in short.
MY JOURNEY TO PRETERISM…
Caused a paradigm shift to a bigger, more loving and present experience of Jesus… but at first, it wasn’t easy … it began with healthy doubts about the accuracy of dispensationalist futurism … was marked by the shock of learning about the inconsistencies of futurism and it’s misinterpretation of scripture … led to a sojourn in the land of Partial Preterism … which led to researching and comparing all other views, including full preterism … was astonished at how much clarity preterism brought to Scripture – it was compelling and consistent – it just made sense …which was both an experience of joyful gratitude and fear about questioning traditional doctrines for the first time … it led to a revolution of freedom in my faith … now I am rejoicing in the good plan of our good God who is here reigning in His Kingdom and seeking to come into the world THROUGH us … who is not calling us to wait for Him, but who is WAITING FOR US to be salt and light … who is not perpetually about to come to us, but perpetually ASKING US TO COME TO HIM and drink freely! And which birthed a desire to share this incredible news with others … because the FULFILLED GOSPEL REALLY IS GOOD NEWS! … produces deeper FAITH and awareness of God’s PRESENCE here and now… despite the hardships of being misunderstood, and of a minority view, IT IS STILL W O R T H I T! Everyday I feel grateful and humbled to know this truth.
OTHER TESTIMONIES & OPENED EYES
Lionel writes . . .
My friend gave me some of the Preterist interpretations of “eschatological” Scriptures and it seemed so right and reasonable that, to his pleased surprise, I told him, “I’m already almost Preterist!” It’s the only interpretation of those Scriptures I’ve ever read that seemed to fit. (Is Frederick Farrar of this persuasion?). HOW I COULD HAVE LIVED 65 YEARS, READ SO MUCH OF THE EARLY CHURCH FATHERS (Augustine, Anselm, Calvin, Luther, etc., Documents of the Christian Church, Valiant for the Truth, Ecclesiastical History, etc and many more modern Reformed) AND NEVER, I MEAN N E V E R, COME ACROSS THIS REFRESHING INTERPRETATION OF ESCHATOLOGY – IF THAT’S EVEN THE WORD FOR IT – IS ABSOLUTELY STUNNING. I’ve known for many years who Abraham’s seed were, “Now to Abraham’s seen (singular – Christ) were the promises made” and “If ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed,” etc which most every Christian I know misinterprets, so I know how ignorance can reign. But I NEVER THOUGHT ANYTHING SO REMARKABLE AS PRETERISM COULD BE SO HIDDEN FROM ME. It just blows my mind! As an Amillenialist, most of those Scriptures always confused me. I’m going to read more of your opinions and interpretations. Thank you. God Bless. Lionel Ledbetter, primabaptpoet@yahoo.com
William writes . .
Saved at age 20 … Ordained to the ministry on my 21st Birthday as a Southern Baptist Pastor … now, 50 YEARS LATER and retired, I discovered Preterism … wonderful to discover truth, but somewhat frustrating also to realize I could have done more to help others if I had come to see these truths sooner … still, I am pressing on to learn more in this arena and to do what I can where I am now. William, from Alabama, Winter 2010 Issue of FULFILLED MAGAZINE (a fantastic free publication).
Erika writes . . .
I have always been fascinated by the end times. In fact, in high school I set to memorizing the entire Olivet Discourse (Matt 24.) I believed God was going to rescue us from this evil world. I never studied it carefully though because reading Revelations was too confusing. My dad was super knowledgeable. More than once, he would draw a timeline for us about what was to happen in the end. I read most of the “Left Behind” series and in Jr. High and Sr. High youth group I watch several of the “scare-you-into-getting-saved” films about the rapture and being beheaded.
This past summer at church Riley was giving away free copies of book, “Beyond Creation Science.” I took it because I was going on a trip and needed something to read. Well, I couldn’t put it down!
Now it all makes sense. Really. Finally, all of the parables don’t seem strange, I understand them. The New Testament has come alive. I finally understand the context that Jesus and the writers of the New Testament were coming from. I understand! And I’m hungry! I can’t put the Bible down.
Erika, Minneapolis www.HeCame.wordpress.com
M.J. writes . . .
This is such a fun experience for me, reading the bible from the preterist perspective. I am so thankful I met you, and also for this site and [our church]. I am learning so much from our dialogue, I feel the MOST FREE I have ever felt as a Christian, because I am finally getting answers that make sense and also no one is condemning me for having questions. 12/03/11
Susan writes . . .
I was a pre-millennialist since being saved, about 14 years ago. Then I had my big preterist paradigm shift about 8 months ago and it’s been like bible study on steroids ever since! It is great to meet some other women Preterists. I have only met guys since becoming a “past fulfillment” believer. So, it’s nice to see other women as excited and motivated to take a deeper look at the bible and question the status quo. Most of my Christian sisters are still pre-millenialist but there are a few who have the independence of mind to investigate Preterism. I live in San Francisco. Are any of you close to the Bay Area? God Bless, Susan
William writes . . .
I think that if one were to openly and honestly study The Holy Scriptures as written and delivered to the early Churches, without their preconceived notions… and without personal bias and indoctrination, with the use of proper hermeneutics, historicity, time lines, that they would be hard pressed to reach any eschatological solution which best fits “end time” prophecies other than the PRETERIST position.
I was a premillenal dispensationalist for 37 years, because I was raised and taught so. But when I began to study the Bible for myself … I could no longer honestly make that system fit the Scriptures. I studied the rest of the “known” eschatological doctrines such as “mid trib,” “post trib,” “A millenial,” “modified dispensationalist,” etc. However, NONE of those would fit the Scriptures either without “force fitting” them to suit one’s own pet theories and personal doctrines.
I had never heard of the “preterist” view. But I arrived there on my own for the most part in my personal studies without even realizing I’d become a preterist!
…I discovered that a lot of today’s “so called” doctrines were never known or even held by the early Church Fathers. Such as a “rebuilt temple in Jerusalem” and a “certain thousand year millennium” were condemned and pronounced anathema by John Himself and many other Church Fathers. The very doctrines the main stream denominations are teaching themselves today, would have had them labeled as heretics by the early Church Fathers, so they shouldn’t be so hasty in judging others … Respectfully, William L. Rush.
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Jim M writes:. . .
I’m wonderfully excited about how intimate and loving He is. God zapped me at age 15. After that I spent the rest of my life sorting out why what was preached didn’t match scripture or what my heart said. So yeah, its been a lifetime of wrestling, unlearning, relearning, and even getting branded rebellious, lol.
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Laurie writes . . .
I was “saved” in a post-trib church in the 1970’s. Several years ago the pastor was going through Matthew and I decided to “find the truth” to the eschatology question. I’d always been bothered by the “this generations” [shall not pass away before all prophecy is fulfilled, Mt 24, Lk 21] and all the “soons” [regarding Jesus’ coming] etc since becoming a Christian. So I took off the “man’s teachings” hat and asked God to show me what was the truth. He showed me what I later found out was called preterism and have been a “heretic” ever since! The more I study the more this view lines up with the scriptures! The scriptures are a beautiful tapestry woven into a blanket of salvation. Hallelujah.
I fellowship with a couple of women who…after my sharing have come to believe the preterist view… on one hand I wish I’d never heard of preterism [because of the difficulty of being a minority now] but on the other I feel blessed and honored that God would bless me with this truth. God’s scriptures have opened up so much more since the revelation.
Todd writes …
I’ve considered myself a ‘full Preterist’ for 15 years. I feel like I’ve struggled to get uphill to AD70, and now I just have to relax and coast to where He leads me -or- coast back down to where I left Him. Coming to full preterism is like finding myself at the end of the road with full access to U-Turns. PTL. Even though I am saved, I have my own individual generation of blessings & tribulations to go through, within the mercy & grace of God, before I meet my own ‘It Is Finished’. Is that not something more to look forward to? I must continue to make it personal.
‘One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.’ Psalm 27:4…If you think there’s nothing else to come, then what have you to inquire about?
I covet your prayers, for I’m still a work in progress…” Thank you, Todd. Fulfilled in Christ
Anonymous writes…
In those days I used to go to sleep around 11pm with the radio on that was tuned into a Christian show. I don’t remember what show it was now because that was a long time ago. While I ways sleeping I felt like I was burning up. I heard a voice as clear as if I was awake saying “We are not living in the last days.” I started crying in my sleep and when I woke up my pillow was soaking wet and I kept saying I love you Jesus over and over.
I thought the voice was came from someone talking on the radio. So I wanted to hear more about what he was saying. The next night I listened to the same radio program but I never heard person that again. God burned something deep into my soul that night. I started reading the Bible after work and on weekends. Now the Bible was coming alive!
The Old Testament and the New Testament now FIT together like a hand in a glove. I now understood that Christ’s language about his “coming in the clouds” was not to be taken literally but was language of Deity. Christ was saying he is [like] God who “rides the clouds” in the Old Testament.
After about a year or so I found another Christian radio station that I could listen to at work that comes on here in Philadelphia, called The Joy Of The Lord. It is hosted by a dear friend named Arthur Melanson.
About two years before I started listening to Arthur’s radio program he started teaching preterism. He explained how Josephus was a eye witness to the destruction of Jerusalem at the end of the Jewish age. Then I look into that part of history. That was over 20 years ago now and I have been teaching preterism ever since! I cannot really explain to anyone where that voice came from that night. When I think back on that night it still bring tears to my eyes. God burned something deep within me that I cannot let go. I may lose friends and family but I cannot stop telling others about the good news of our complete salvation and how it was accomplished! I still spend a lot of my time these days studying the Bible and looking into church history. Laying aside the traditional teaching of men. I want to know all about God for myself. With that in mind God has blessed me tremendously and taken me on the greatest adventure of my life!
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Jason K writes…
I became a Christian in May of 2001 and assumed that TBN was right because of their countless hours of programming stressing that the world was going to end in 2000. However, when 2000 came and went without the world ending (nor our computers malfunctioning), I had to find out the truth for myself instead of relying on the paid spokespeople of false prophecies.
It was then that a minister friend of mine told me that the events of Revelation “mostly” happened in the past – everything except the Resurrection and the Judgment at the end of time. I wasn’t even aware of the term “preterism” but I knew that it was more trustworthy than the pin-the-headline-on-the-prophecy method of Pre-millennialism.
I started by reading Jim McGuiggan’s commentary (Partial Preterism), then I read Christopher Davis’ book and then another by John Oakes, Ph.D. and also, ‘An Eschatology of Victory’ by J. Marcellus Kik. It wasn’t until that commentary that I saw the pattern of how the destruction of the “sun moon and stars” was actually relating to the demise of Israel. And it woke me up for good on everything else. I learned to that objectivity is THE key to prophecy interpretation.
I saw the patterns with the beasts, heads and horns in Daniel corresponding to the world empires from the time of Daniel until Jesus. That was simple enough being that most of the work had been done for me. But other pieces started to fit as well such as the “prostitute” in Revelation referring to Jerusalem. Then seeing that New Jerusalem was spiritual and conquered Old Jerusalem that was physical really opened my eyes to that being the time when Jesus separated the sheep from the goats, the bride from the prostitute, Zion from Sinai, freewoman from slavewoman, mark of the Spirit from the mark of the beast, army in the heavens from the army of the bottomless pit. The list enveloped all of the bible in a “spiritual nutshell” so clearly to me that I had no reason to think that a future Judgment awaits us all today after seeing that death was destroyed in their time.
I was then suggested the first two volumes of ‘Christian Origins and the Question of God’ which gave me a background on Jewish Messianic symbols and figures and expectations. I also suggested ‘Days of Vengeance’ by Rev David Chilton which I found surprising because it had validated all the findings I had stumbled upon yet he was at that time he was still leaning toward a FUTURE Resurrection of a physical body at a final day of Judgment. Confusing as it was to agree with him on everything except our conclusions, I still believed what the bible said over Chilton’s fears of what he might have felt was too much for him to express. After reading that book, I learned that I was a “Full Preterist”. And not long after that, I found that Rev David Chilton himself had become a Full Preterist as well! (He converted to Full Preterism AFTER writing the commentary I read). I knew I was in good company then and so far sharing a preterist view has been a precursor to meeting truly spiritual Christians.
Jean-Pierre Côté writes…
I became a Christian in 1984, and I went to a Pentecostal dispensationalist church for 10 years. I left to go to Baptist church and also joined the theological faculty of a university which deepened my interest in eschatology. I was fascinated with dispensationalism, I started to learn about Historic Premillenianism, then Amillenialism. Then I encountered two books, Last Days Madness by Gary DeMar and The Apocalypse Conspiracy by John Noé. IT TOOK MANY YEARS FOR IT TO SINK IN but I was slowly integrating some of the principles I learned in these books. Then I listened on You Tube to William Bell in the fall of 2007. Then I started to read, print, watch, listen to all the preterist stuff I could find! This has revolutionized my paradigm. I have never been so blessed. Now I am a Full Preterist keeping the only French speaking Full Preterist site in the world. http://preterismebiblique.ning.com/ I really enjoy and listen to every podcast on Preterist Radio. I love Don Preston, Max King, David Curtis and many others. God Bless you all. Jean-Pierre
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May L writes …
I studied many different dispensational event timelines…Different end of the world/rapture/millenial timelines…I studied the Jesus’ Kingdom is or is not here and I wondered: “Does ANYBODY know what the Bible is talking about?!”
Did Jesus really mean what he promised about his coming? If not, wouldn’t that make Him a false prophet? How could He be mistaken? If the Bible was written by inspired writers, how could they have misunderstood Jesus?” And many other questions like this arose. I didn’t know anybody else with the same questions I had, and I couldn’t get the same answers to my questions from different sources. I fast became disillusioned with mainstream Christianity.
One day while driving, I was searching the Christian radio programs that I knew and came across an old familiar voice. He was talking about a subject I had never heard, called “preterism” and about the 2nd Coming having taken place in and around A.D. 70. Boy, did that get my attention! That radio host was Arthur Melanson right here in Pennsylvania. I continued to tune in whenever I could and it was like I was back in school learning Biblical history that I had never been taught! (Arthur was a futurist when I had last heard him on the radio, so I was quite surprised to hear HIS CHANGE OF POSITION to the Preterist view!_
FINALLY I was starting to get answers to my questions that made BibLical-sense. And so 15 years later my journey with Jesus continues! I believe the Holy Spirit opened my eyes and ears and made me a Christian Enlightened.
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Bill S writes…
As a young Christian, I often heard about the “imminent return of Christ in our future to rapture His Church”. I told my friends about Jesus and I prayed for them with urgency that they would not be “left behind” at the “rapture” for it was going to happen “any day”.
I zealously believed I was living in the last days of grace, and that time was almost over. God was going to take the Church from the planet, and all of my non-Christian friends were going to be left behind to experience a time of unparalleled distress and terror under the one-world government of the Antichrist. Though I didn’t know at the time what it was called, I believed in dispensational premillennialism.
During that time, I began to center my studies more in the doctrine of personal salvation. I came to the realization, from my study that I could be misunderstanding God’s plan of salvation because in Hebrews 9: 28 it says, “So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” Under the teaching of dispensational premillennialism we are told that complete salvation came at the cross. However that is not what Hebrews 9: 28 says.
So during that time I studied the Word diligently and fearfully to how salvation was really accomplished. After years of this struggle, God fulfilled his promise to me: God began showing me His great and unsearchable things! As I began to understand the Bible more and more, I began to understand my own salvation. To my joy, I discovered that I had been saved by His grace, in the invisible working of Christ as our High Priest [Adam, the first priest did not accomplish our everlasting atonement, but Jesus, the second priest, did]. (Hebrew 9:24-26) Nothing could make more sense! My view of salvation became more spiritual (fully Christ-centered) the more I read the Bible.
One day, I discovered The Parousia by J. Stuart Russell, which teaches that all biblical prophecies were fulfilled by A. D. 70 (except for the millennium.) Finally I met someone else in my local area who was also a preterist, and he introduced me to a contemporary preterist author whose books delve more deeply into the particulars of the Resurrection doctrine than did Russell’s book. Max King’s books, The Spirit of Prophecy and The Cross and the Parousia of Christ.
Since then, I have enjoyed years of sweet fellowship with preterists not only in my local area, but throughout the world by means of the Internet. Understanding the Bible in its past fulfillment has opened the door for many as the beginning to much biblical understanding.
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Brad Baker writes…
Just over seven years ago I have become convinced that there was error in every Church I had been to since 1974. At the time I had been going to a Seventh Day Adventist Church…We believed their explanation of the end times, but after 10 years of that I became set free from that deception with the help from those who call themselves Former Adventist. I read a few of their books like Sunday in Crises.
Two years before becoming a Full Preterist I had begun to see that Heaven was a Spiritual place to enter into NOW. I started believing Jesus Christ manifested Himself through believers who were over-comers according to the degree we walked in the Spirit and abided in Christ.
Then I got informed of all the different end time views and studied what they each believed. After discovering the Preterist view I had a choice Partial or Full. Thanks to Brian, from Edmonton, who helped get me started in my learning. But the place where I became convinced of the full preterist view was at the New Jerusalem Ministries with Terry Cropper giving me support and revealing in full detail what the Preterist view was.
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Tereza S writes…
I had been part of a church for 26 years, they preached often about the return of Christ, and how we must be ready. I was a youth leader at that church and even held viewings of the left behind films at my home!!! One day we went with the youth to a church in a another town, the pastor was telling the youth to get ready for Christ’s return, when a teenage lad came bursting through the door shouting “where is He then, you told me years ago He was coming!” The pastor stumbled and asked for his leaders to talk to the boy, I looked over at him. He was a mess over this. He had been a Christian but had walked away from God because of this disappointment and breach of trust. I couldn’t get that boys face out of my mind.
I did the teaching most Fridays at youth, and I always wanted to be correct in what I took to the meetings, so I sat in prayer one day and asked the Lord to “give me knowledge beyond my understanding.” After a very short time I felt the Lord say ‘read Revelation.’ I cried out “No not that book, it scares me!” But the feeling was so strong I carefully opened it up. As I started to read the first chapter I saw what He was showing me…”The Revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave to him to show to his servants those things which MUST SOON COME TO PASS” and in “Blessed is he who reads and they who listen to the words of this prophesy and keep those things that are written in it FOR THE TIME IS AT HAND” So I sat there and thought ‘But this was written over 2000 years ago, the time ‘at hand’ and ‘soon’ meant THEN“. So my research began, I went partial preterist first then within a few weeks I learned myself into a full preterist. I kept my husband up to date with what I was discovering and he loved it, he said that Preterism just made sense!.
Word got back to the church leadership that I was a Preterist. I was called to a meeting and told to change my thinking. I said you must be joking, they called me a heretic and said I wouldn’t be allowed near the youth until I “saw sense”. I walked out that night and never went back. Russ and I received an official letter kicking us out the church. In a sermon one morning Russ was described as ‘Satan’ and I a ‘Jezebel’ and how they were better off without us.
But it doesn’t hurt anymore as God has healed us, and we are free and happy. I thank the Lord so much for leading me to Preterism, and now I have met wonderful friends on here, genuine people too, there is something about most full Preterists, A PEACE that is from knowing our Lord did what He said He was going to do…
Jamie V writes…
I was born to parents who were preterists. My dad was a preacher and he and my mom raised my brothers and I believing this way. In fact, I had no idea what the rest of the world, as far as most Christians believed until I got to be around 10 years old. I was shocked that people actually believed that Jesus was coming back physically and that the world would end etc… It was really hard for me to believe! A little nutty!
Well, I grew up, of course studying for myself which only reinforced my beliefs. In college, I didn’t bring it up to most of my friends (a Christian college-Harding University). At the same time, it was never a big issue to me, it was just something I always believed and that was that.
Then a few years later, I got married to my husband, also a Christian. But because the whole fulfilled prophecy thing was never a big issue to me, we never really talked about it. He found out several months after we were married and well, it was a big deal to him! He thought me and my family were crazy! He started studying it more (to save me from this insanity) HE ENDED UP BECOMING A PRETERIST and starting the awesome WEBSITE Planet Preterist and doing CONFERENCES EVERY YEAR. (www.planetpreterist.com)
Now we have three girls of our own, and of course we will teach them the same way I was taught when I was a child…that this world is a wonderful place that God made for us and that we can do our part to make it even better and that Jesus is with us now! God is not some angry God who can’t wait to destroy us.
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Terry C writes…
If you leave a man all alone on a island with just a Bible, he will become a preterist.
We Thank God for the blessing of preterist parents!
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M Lyn writes…
“One of these days some simple soul will pick up the Book of God, read it, and believe it. Then the rest of us will be embarrassed.
The Holy Book of the living God suffers more from its EXPONENT today than from its OPPONENTS.”
~Leonard Ravenhill
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Bryan S writes
I was a futurist for over 20 years, started out a pretribber, and before my paradigm shift, I was a posttrib dispensationalist. A friend of mine that created the Bible Fulfilled Prophecy group here at Facebook, Steve Mullican, we use to attend the same church down in Texas. We’ve been friends for close to 20 years…and just reconnected about a year and a half ago. I was anti-preterist till almost a year ago.
I had a discussion board on the Aimoo network, and invited my friend Steve to join the group. I had a eschatolgy category that was totally dispensationalist. He posted some things in there that had preteristic overtones, and at that time I was somewhat bothered by what he posted. I suggested we have a talk on the phone. I said Bro, the stuff you’re posting seems to be preterist, saying all this stuff was fulfilled, and telling me about Matthew 24:34 and “this generation”. I said, Man, you’ve got to be kidding, so you believe Jesus already came back? He said “yes”, and I had to hear how he was going to wiggle out of this one!
When I asked him how he reached this conclusion, he said, “Bryan, you’re reading someone else’s mail”. What in the world was he talking about? He was very patient when he explained time statements and audience relevance to me, and he demonstrated it by the scriptures. I couldn’t believe it, scriptures I’ve read over and over again, had A WHOLE NEW LIGHT those two principles were applied. We talked more and more on the phone, he was sending me links in my e-mail, and invited me to Paltalk where I could hear others discuss fulfilled eschatology.
I’ll be honest, it wasn’t an easy transition, after being indoctrinated with dispensationalism for over 20 years. I started out as a partial preterist for a few months because I still believed there was a possibility Jesus could come back one more time, and I also had a problem with the resurrection. Then the Pastor that owned the Paltalk room, talked to me over an hour on the phone and answered all my questions, and shortly after that, I became a full preterist. Now I’m very comfortable with my paradigm shift after numerous hours of bible reading and studying, and other books I’ve read like Matthew 24 Fulfilled by John Bray, Last Day’s Madness by Gary DeMar, The Parousia by JS Russell, a book that I really treasure, and the book I’m reading now, Behind the Veil of Moses.
All my friends here at Facebook and Paltalk have also assisted in the knowledge that I’ve achieved in such a short amount of time. THE BIBLE MAKES SO MUCH MORE SENSE TO ME, and the message of fulfilled eschatology has caused a RENEWED ZEAL FOR GOD, THE BIBLE, AND STUDYING. Without trying to be tacky or prideful, I can honestly say that, I’m proud to be preterist. I thank the Lord foremost, for opening my eyes to see and my heart to receive this message. I also thank all of you for your posts, blogs, and teachings that have helped me a long the way on my journey. Lord bless ya’ll, and thanks for taking the time to read my testimony.
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Dave L writes…
Back when I was about 8 years old, my mother became a Christian (Charismatic /Pentecostal /Dispensationalist). Two years later I accepted Christ. While I believed in God, Jesus was never “real” within me via the Spirit. I was taught all the Law stuff. At about age 12 (1983), I rebelled big time… The Law was just too tough, I couldn’t be good enough – so I rebelled!
I stayed away from the Lord up until December 2007, when researching Ron Paul, the RFID chip, Illuminati, etc… I recalled the [terrifying] Dispensationalist view of the last days and asked God to forgive me and please let me “back in”. Nothing happened spiritually within me to speak of for these first few months and I became a hell-mongering Fundamentalist, till one day my mother asked me why my “fruit” was so hateful and judgmental instead of love, peace, mercy, etc…
Soon thereafter, God really started to plant seeds of the fruits of the Spirit within me… During my fundamentalist time I had started playing an online game called Evolution (playevo.com) in order to witness to it’s players which were primarily atheists… so when God turned me from [judgmental] Fundamentalism to “preaching” only love, grace, mercy, etc… I would get even more frustrated that the atheists were even more mean… and often cried out to God to open their eyes. I even started to argue with the Lord how unfair it was for Him to torture people in hell forever and ever, when so many people’s perception of God was through the Fundy’s eyes.
Long story made short, first Jesus opened my eyes to what hell was to a degree, sheol, hades, gehenna, tartarus…. then He opened my eyes to free will being false. These two things alone were pretty mind-blowing to me, yet I had the feeling so to speak that there was more. So one day when that searching hunger arose in me, I asked Him to reveal more to me… that’s when “the last days” popped into my heart, which I said.. nah, I can’t be hearing right… hell not being true was huge, but to think that the last days aren’t nowadays – that really blew my mind!
At the time I was on YouTube witnessing about God’s wonderful plan of reconciliation of all humankind… and the Lord made me bump into Christine Flockhart – bit by bit she was sharing with me about the New Heavens, New Earth, etc… I still couldn’t grasp it until one day while reading John 15:18-25 where in verse 25 it said the reason the “world” hated Jesus and His disciples was because it was written in their Laws... and that just jumped off the page at me.
I messaged Christine about this and she was ecstatic that I could start to see who /what the “world” was (old covenant Israel)… step by step, much more has become real within me, researching, praying, testing every step of the way. Seeing as how much my eyes have been opened the last 2.5 years or so is really mind-blowing and knowing my background and cursing out of the Lord when I was younger and so much more that I haven’t typed here, is truly truly humbling… Why me Lord, I often ask… I’m still maturing and growing closer to Him day by day… but man… what a ride thus far!
Christine F writes…
I attended the Church of Christ when I was 20 years old and I went for about four years. You know “the one true Church”! LOL.. I struggled with a lot of guilt when I finally decided to leave that Church. Over the years I continued to study the Bible and the Lord started opening my eyes to the fact that we were set FREE from the doctrines of men. Boy was that freeing indeed and I no longer felt guilty for not attending an Institutional Church. No more pattern of worship for me.
I decided I was going to try to tackle the book of Revelation and the Lord first showed me that WE ARE IN New Heavens and Earth. I knew then that there had to be more to all the Dooms-Day madness teachings so I continued to search for the truth. I started researching all the different views of the end times and I ran across the site www.freedomsring.com by Cecil Hook. Then I ran upon numerous other preterist sites and I became a partial preterist. That only lasted about 4 months and I moved on to full preterism as I could not deny the Scripture that Christ returned in 70AD. I am just overjoyed to have now met so many preterist brothers and sisters here on facebook and I love you all so much.
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My Descent up to ‘Heresy’ – BY Charles Shank
I began Life at an early age: I saw a Francis Schaeffer film on the perils of ‘witchcraft’, and it (quite literally) scared the ‘hell’ out of me (so to speak!). Being brought up in an Reformed Baptist church… I was not taught much in the way of eschatology (not that I remember anyway-probably a good thing )! In my early teens then, my parents became rather disappointed with the lack of covenantal teaching in this church, and, to make a long story short, my father was instrumental in founding the FORC (Federation of Reformed Churches ). This was ‘a step up’ so to speak, and thereafter I began, even more to learn and adhere to the principles of what was called ‘The TULIP doctrine’ ( I still do, to a great extent, seeing these principles in Scripture. In the Reformed Church, I was introduced, gradually to the doctrine of ‘post-millennialism’, and thus began my journey toward what I now call ‘im-partial preterism’ (more about this later ). As I continued to grow in the knowledge and admonition of the Lord; I gradually came up with some disagreements, with the help of a brother-in-law, with the Reformed way of thinking, particularly in the area of ‘millenarianism’, and eschatology in general. When my brother-in-law moved to the Denver, Colorado area in the mid 90s; he began attending a small church pastored by Max Sotak. Already somewhat familiar with the basic principles of ‘fulfilled eschatology; he then introduced me to this same principle, and when I joined him and his family several years later, I began attending this ‘heretical’ church too.
Over the years since then, he and I have had many discussions, both between ourselves and with others, and gradually progressed all the way through what we called consistent preterism, to what could be called full-preterism, in which he still continues, while I have retreated into im-partial preterism. I promised an explanation, so here it it: I became an IP because I saw, that though the truths of fulfilled eschatology were, in my view, undeniable; the great majority of the modern church has not ‘seen’ this un-deniable truth! (though, by the grace of God, that’s changing). Although these principles are true, and at the earliest stages of my ‘descent’ [progress!] I was very vocal about this ‘new’ truth I had ‘found’ and so alienated many brothers and sisters. After quite some time; my eyes were opened to this fact, and I began to realize that, even though, for whatever reason, these brothers and sisters were still brothers and sisters, and I was, in a sense, doing no different than the church throughout history has done; trying to ‘ram it down their throats’! I termed it ‘im-partial’ partly as a bit of a jab at those who would term themselves, (which would be most of my family) ‘partial’ preterists (we used to call them inconsistent preterists, back in the day) but also, because, as I explained earlier, my touting the principles of fulfilled eschatology in front of those who were not yet ready for it, was alienating ‘those for whom Christ died’! I was not willing, anymore, to do this, and thereafter, slacked off my proclamations of ‘the Kingdom, NOW’, and to focus, rather, on building up (edifying) that Kingdom! Discussions of this sort could, and usually would, turn into rather heated debates (I’m right, you’re wrong; end of story), more often than not, ending with two brothers walking away from each other, with neither being edified through the experience. I love to discuss the principles of ‘fulfilled eschatology’ and the grammatical/historical hermeneutic, but I’m pretty careful now, who I discuss them with, and to what extent, because, as Paul said ‘if my brother is offended; I will no longer eat meat…..’ Can I do any less?
[Charles brings up a great point. We should discuss this here on my blog! I’d love to hear your thoughts about this relational issue of keeping the body whole and at peace, perhaps even at the expense of sharing truth…where does balance come into play? How do you know if someone is “ready” to hear this?]
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Jeff R writes…
But I was ‘born again’ in 1981, joined a dispensationalist church in Germany in January of 1982. The pastor was a very good student of the bible, but unfortunately a disciple of John MacArthur. He had a good hermeneutic approach to the study of the scripture. I learned much under his teaching and Learned the importance of being a Berean and studying for myself in order to show myself approved unto God a workman, not needing to be ashamed but rightly dividing the word of truth.
I embarked on a trip through the word of God and around the globe. The Air Force was sending me to various places as I was growing in grace and knowledge of God and his word. I wound up back in Germany. I began to study regularly and to teach regularly with a group of men who were very serious bible students.
We began to study the differing approaches of Dispensationalism and Covenentalism. We saw scriptural difficulties with both and some good points with both. We decided that we were either covenantal dispensationalists or dispensational covenantalists. We could not decide based on the scriptures!
So as the Air Force is wont to do, it moved me again, this time to Oklahoma. I left off studying the dispy covenantal controversy and began to study what I have come to know as New Covenant theology. I was amazed…all this time and there is a middle ground between covenantalism and dispensationalism. As I began to grow in my understanding of New Covenant theology I recognized that it is taking the scriptures to their logical conclusion...and I would have to dump my futurist paradigm! So in 1996 I discovered that I could not be a futurist anymore!
I was so convicted by the scripture and so AMAZED AT HOW THE BIBLE FIT TOGETHER much more with a preterist view… I was very encouraged in what I was learning. I think the first time I told someone else I was a Preterist was in the summer of 1996, I told my wife…She thought I went off the deep end.
I realized that before I could go public with my change of doctrine that I would have to first teach my wife and kids. I did. Suffice it to say my wife is a preterist and my kids are huge thorns in the sides of their Sunday school teachers! I have been a preterist for over 14 years now and I am beginning to see many others coming to this understanding. It is a great journey and I SEE GODS WORD AND HIS PURPOSES MUCH MORE CLEARLY.
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T Cropper writes…I 100% agree with you about the journey. I HAVE NEVER KNOWN SO MUCH JOY!
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Bryan S writes…I’m sure looking forward to learning from the seasoned preterists in this community. I’m the rookie here with only a year under my belt. This journey truly gets sweeter as the days go by. I enjoy the testimonies, definitely some good reading. Lord Bless
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Steve R writes…
What I like about my story is that I was a Preterist before I really knew there were other preterist Christians out there – I went through a period of about a year, where I thought I was just CRAZY!! Like I was seeing something in Scripture that no one else saw! It actually made me question my faith!
John P writes…
During the time I was in the process of coming to hold the preterist view a strong futurist friend introduced me to Cecil Hook’s books on the Freedom’s Ring website. But that was before Cecil Hook was a preterist! And here I am now, years later, in the Philippines and come across his site again and I was shocked that a site a futurist friend showed me is now run by a Preterist Christian…I hope that will convince my friend! But you know how hard headed a futurist can be.
Anonymous writes…
I got so sick and tired of hearing Hal Lindsey that one day a friend lent me some of his books. One of them was Kenneth Gentry’s book “The Beast of Revelation.” I then bought a few of his books and started talking with Gentry on the phone (back then talking with him was easy). Slowly in my journey I came to the postmillennial view since I liked its take on the antichrist and so forth as well as a more positive light on society…I even had Dr Gary DeMar’s book as well, “The Last Days Madness.”
Then one day I heard the word “PRETERIST”, so I did research on it and came across Rev David Curtis’ church’s website (with sermons and study materials). He is a Sovereign Grace pastor who holds to many things I already agreed with. I then started receiving his tapes and when I heard “Up, Up and Away the Rapture” I liked it and listened to it many times. I then wanted more of David’s sermon recordings. I started filing them online for others to hear. At the time I was also speaking with Ed Stevens and I was reading his small books where he writes Gentry a letter and also answers the basic questions futurists ask. Author Gary Dr. DeMar gave the questions to Ed Stevens that he answered in his book “Questions About The Afterlife.”
I even read John Noe’s book and when I read his book it sounded so true that I question God and told God to help me to not believe this for it is too good to be true. As it is, many of us grow up in churches thinking there is only one view to eschatology since eschatology is not always a subject pastors like being challenged over and so many of us are left in the dark.
I was thankful for my desire to read which granted me the opportunity to hear of Preterism and to later on in my life disregard the premillennial view which to me so sadly brings dishonor to God. For example, “I believe the Scriptures teaches that Israel could have obtained her much-sought-after messianic kingdom by recognizing Jesus as the Messiah. We all know the sad reality—the Jews rejected Jesus. As a result, the kingdom is no longer near but postponed”. Tommy Ice in “The Great Tribulation” page 115. “Mark 1:15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.” How can Mark 1:15 be postponed when Christ Himself said it was “at hand?”
PRETERIST = Precise Reliable Exegesis To Extirpate Really Insidious Sophomoric Teachings
Thanks also for the many older books we are now able to read such as B B Warfield, Moses Stuart, Milton Terry and so forth which brings us an early date to Revelation. It surprises me how a doctrine, such as dispensationalism, that is only a little over 200 years old has so polluted the minds of so many church goers.
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Loren A writes…
I was born into a very conservative pentecostal church. I was saved when I was seven. Being very conservative there were only about 5-6 subjects preached. So I was very indoctrinated in the views of our church. When I was in my early 20’s I went into the ministry. During this time something was said to me that caused me to go to God and take a new look at everything I had been taught as doctrine. I came across a bible study by a very respected pastor. The study was the 70 weeks of Daniel. In his study Larry Smith brought out that all 70 weeks were fulfilled at the time of Christ! I studied and studied this for the next year. I have the book, don’t know if anyone has heard of it “Things To Come” by J Dwight Pentecost. I read this book cover to cover and back, the more I looked at things the more I was convinced Daniels 70 weeks were fulfilled at the time of Christ.
So If the 70 weeks were fulfilled this changed everything!
Up till now I struggled over understanding prophecy as it was always confusing to me. It seemed you had to memorize what all the symbols meant just to understand everything, now understanding how everything has been fulfilled makes everything began to fall into place. I never even stopped at Partial Preterism because I saw almost immediately that either all things were done or not at all!
Now for the coupe de vile, I don’t beleive in a resurection of our bodies. OT tells us from the dust we came to the dust we will return, it is my contention when we die we go strait to be with the Lord. This body rots and goes back to the ground from which it came from. Paul said the dead in Christ will rise first, I beleive that has happened. Then he says, “Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up to be with them in the air”. When? When this fleshly body dies.
I have come to the realization in the last few years that it is all about relationship with God. Paul says God was in Christ recconciling us back to him. Jesus restored the way back to relationship with God lost in the garden. I preach now we have so much time in this life “this life is just a vapor” we must make the best of it in relationship with God in this life. For in this life only do we have this special body with the feelings God created us with to have the kind of relationship we can have with him, we must make the best of it. And it truely is a great life, I can truly say ‘He is my friend’.
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Charles Shank writes…
”Is ‘the healing of the nations’ ( Revelation 22:2 ) all up to us now? Has God given to us, frail, faulty humans that we are, the task of fulfilling what His Son had begun? In the greatest sense, yes! However, as every Christian knows; we are not alone, these tasks do not rest solely upon our feeble shoulders ( thank God! ); Jesus, speaking in His capacity of Almighty God, tells His disciples, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you’ ( Hebrews 13:5 ( Deuteronomy 31: 6-8, Joshua 1:5 ) John 14:18 & 19 ) In John 14:12, Jesus tells His disciples, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father’. I wrote above that we have been redeemed, and sanctified ( Romans 8:29 & 30 ) that we might be, as music artist Jewel puts it, ‘God’s Hands’, His tools for, and means of, physical transformation. Having said that; I do not mean to say even now that it is all up to us; we each have a choice to make, and while, more often than not, it may seem like many make the wrong choice, it is that persons choice, and he must make it and take the responsibility for it, for good or evil. Whether we feel like we’re up to it or not; we are those ‘healing leaves’, having been appointed so by God; and having the fullness of the Presence of Almighty God Himself forevermore with us, we have the strength, and authority, to do what He has bidden us! I have been asked, as I’m sure many believers in fulfilled eschatology have, ‘if all Scripture is fulfilled; is there anything left? Is it still authoritative for all walks of life, or do we have reason and license to move beyond, especially since we now have the presence of ‘Immanuel’ ( Matthew 1:23 )’ I answer ‘Yes!’ We have been purified, our consciences cleansed by the once for all sacrifice of God’s Son, and I believe that, along with God’s Word, revealed through that Son, along with the consciences that He has cleansed and claimed as His own; we can live our lives doing right and what is good, and because of that, or through this sacrifice, which is acceptable to God ( Romans 12:1 ), acting as ‘God’s Hands’!’ from ‘The Finished Work of Christ http://charlesshank.blogspot.com/2009/12/finished-work-of-christ-what-now.html
“Again; Paul wrote to the church at Rome ( Romans 12:1 ), ‘I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service’ : like I said before, this may be ‘old hat, ‘old ground’ that we’re covering here, but it stands repeating, I believe. We are those ‘leaves’ that John mentioned above! Physically speaking, of course, we are not leaves, nor are we physically to heal the nations ( although, sometimes, this does happen as an extra benefit ), but spiritually, we are ‘leaves of the tree’ ( that Tree being Christ/God ) and ‘branches’ of the True Vine!” from ‘Jesus and the Resurrection of Life’ http://charlesshank.blogspot.com/2010/04/jesus-and-resurrection-of-life.html
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Beloved of God writes . . .
About 6 years ago a friend sent me the book “Last Days Madness” by Gary DeMar. I was bewildered. I was amazed. I had always had serious questions about the way Revelation and Jesus’ predictions have been interpreted… But just left them alone. But his book opened up a whole new paradigm for me. It was very liberating, however still left me with some unanswered questions. I was excited yet a little frustrated. Trying to talk of it to other Christians was also very agonizing for I realized how very steeped in certain ways of thinking we have become, not ever even questioning why we believe the way we do. I asked God to show me truth. I have since been on a journey with Him that has been and continues to be sooooo liberating and FREE! I love Him and love our journey together. This web site is awesome. What a magnificent God, a magnificent God-plan, for us in His Son’s Kingdom. God passionately desiring to dwell in and have His kingdom in the earth in our flesh bodies. Thanks for all the work that has gone into this site. From one who is “Loved and a Lover of God, my ‘Ishi’. (Hosea 2:16)
Will writes . . .
I had been studying dispensationalism for many years. Though it does open the scriptures in many ways, it also poses many new paradoxes. I have always noted with curiosity the disregard and disinterest given the Destruction of the Temple in year 70AD. All through my study this has nagged at me like an itch I can’t reach. I intend to spend as much time as is required to come to a full understanding of the Preterist Position. This site will greatly assist me and I am very grateful to those that have labored to place all this info online at my disposal. Thank you and God bless. -Will Blalock
Anonymous writes . . .
I thought I was the only one in the world who believed that the first and second comings of Jesus were to the same generation in the first century. For many years I have been reading my bible only and discovered that it presented a different narrative than what I heard preached in the Gentile christian churches. In the last few months I have learned quite a bit about Preterism. – 11 Feb 2003
Dr. I.S. Alcordo writes . . .
With my near death experience, I came to believe that sometime in 70 AD, upon the rejection and destruction of Herod’s Second Temple in Jerusalem, which marked the end of the Jewish Age and God’s rejection [of Old Covenant Israel], the FIRST RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD also occurred, which, since then, has been ongoing.
Jesus declared this in Jn 11:25-26:25: Jesus said to her, “I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” Jesus then asked, “Do you believe this?” With all my heart, spirit, and soul, I DO! I pray that with my testimony, you can also say, “Yes, Lord, WE DO BELIEVE!”
Anonymous writes . . .
I am a full preterist and I love it. No one ever has [good] answers to my questions about a future coming of Christ, and I am at a Bible college! The message is getting out here; we are making a change and a difference. Keep up the good work. Don’t ever give up no matter what people say and do to you. We must endure for the truth. Scripture is God’s Word. We must stand by it, not man’s interpretation. Where the Scriptures speak, we speak. Where the Scriptures are silent, we are silent. The Scriptures have spoken about Christ’s return and His installment of the New Covenant, New Heavens, and New Earth which we live in. It is silent about a future coming. 03
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J.P. writes . . .
Being an amateur historian, I always have thought the siege and destruction of the Jewish Nation in 70 A.D. was an event of historical significant importance. But it is from reading Holy Scripture, that one readily finds God had always used other nations to either punish or to bless the Hebrew people. … So it’s no surprise to me the Roman empire was simply carrying out the divine dictates of a wrathful God in finally destroying an insolent people for their rejection, and betrayal to death of His Son. But when you listen to, or view, any so-called Christian cable station, you never get this simple and direct point of view. In fact, the events of 70 A.D. are little mentioned, and if they are, are cited without any spiritual perspective. So how has this time honored Christian doctrine, cited by your numerous authors of both past and present centuries, become so anathema today. To say the least, the sound of the silence is quite deafening. J.P. 05 Jul 2003
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Caleb writes . . .
I encourage you to keep pressing on as Jesus did, his message wasn’t popular either… nowhere in the bible have I seen Jesus preaching rapture, maybe he would have been more popular if he did anyways… remember God is a creator, what sense would it make for him to take us to heaven and damn everyone else who’s not saved to hell… and if God is spirit, why would he come and establish a natural kingdom, it doesn’t make sense. The real issue is the wrong religious mindsets that have been passed down to us since Scofield decided to write his own reference bible in the late 1800s that was never contested and now is one of the most massed produced reference bible in the world… people are too lazy to get in the face of God for themselves, they want their pastors to know God for them, that’s a problem! THE KINGDOM IS HERE! Love you guys. Caleb Robertson caleb.robertson51@gmail.com
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John Noe writes in his booklet ‘The Many Comings of Jesus’ . . .
“I asked a seminary professor who teaches a course in eschatology to show me a single scripture to support the idea of a single, future, second coming. Together we examined all the classic ‘second coming’ scriptures, one by one. I showed him how each of them was pertinent and fulfillable for 1st century believers and how some others were not limited to a single future event. But none of them literally spoke of a second coming. “I agree, I agree, I agree” he said on each. “But” he lectured me, “I still believe jesus has left this world, hasn’t come back yet, and there will only be one coming – the final one, the second coming.” With all due respect to this precious man of God, such a response is an emotional reaction which grows out of a lifetime of DOCTRINAL CONDITIONING and NOT from the Word of God.”
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Anonymous writes . . .
The beauty of the preterist view is its strong evidence that these two end-time events have happened, and happened exactly as and when they were supposed to. The Lord has returned as and when He said He would. Therefore, if you are a Christian and die tonight, you will go directly to heaven, receive your judgment of rewards, and eternally put on your new, resurrection, spiritual body. Count on it. I am!
In the meantime, there is a lot of co-heir living and Christ-like reigning to be done, much more than is usually preached, practiced, and perceived by the “rapture-left-behind” crowd. Jesus Christ has done everything for his people to be “kings and priests unto God” (Rev 1:6 KJV), to “reign on the earth” (Rev 5:10), and to “reign for ever and ever” (Rev 22:5). Let’s rejoice, be glad, and start behaving more like all this is true.
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Breann writes . . .
My husband has recently been fired from his full-time youth pastor position, we are excommunicated from our church, and have been labelled heretics because of our [fulfilled] end times beliefs. FULFILLED MAGAZINE has uplifted me by knowing that the view we hold eschatologically and the hermeneutics we use to interpret Scriptures are held and used by more Christians than I thought. Breann from Texas, Winter 2010 Issue of FULFILLED MAGAZINE (a fantastic free publication!)
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Doug writes . . .
Unfortunately, many Christians still feel a Jewish restoration to “their land” is necessary for Christ’s second coming. In backing this Jewish venture these Christians have no idea of the ongoing suffering they are causing. Fulfilled prophecy is, I believe, the key to peace there. That is why I appreciate your helping me relate these truths to my fellow Evangelists. Doug from Oregon, Fall 2010 Issue of FULFILLED MAGAZINE (a fantastic free publication!)
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Tygre writes . . .
[After reading preteristic book, The Beast of Revelation, by Dr. Ken Gentry] The Beast of Revelation will blow your mind as you watch the puzzle pieces that never seemed to fit or make sense from a dispensational view, fall perfectly into place. There were so many times reading this book that I had two reactions at once: “Well, of course; why didn’t I see that?” followed by, “WHY have none of my pastors ever preached this?” We don’t know our first century history, and we are paying for that ignorance.
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Vikki writes . . .
Riley thank you for introducing me to preterism. It has sparked in me a renewed interest in studying the Bible!
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E. writes . . .
Riley, I am so thankful for the hope and light and life you have shared with me. Like William Wilberforce, the English politician who spent his life working to end slavery, we, too are on the right side of the issue. I expect to spend the rest of my life sharing the Preterist view with folks. And to me, that is exciting!
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Christopher writes . . .
Preterism helps make sense out of a tough subject. It is a shame to see how badly the book of Revelation has been distorted by the dispensationalists. All Christians should study the preterist view.
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M. D. writes . . .
I am still processing all of this and it does seem to address so many of the inconsistencies I have seen in modern traditional doctrines. I do have questions and topics I would love to get your thoughts on … This is a very deep topic because it changes my faith foundation or core. I see mostly positive afftects but still a little nerve racking. I feel like meeting you was not an accident, I have been praying and searching for so long for the Lord to bring me to a place where I could have community and dialogue. Thanks for you willingness to dialogue with me and help me along this journey.
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Dan M writes …
No one I know of personally understands the Bible as clearly as those who know preterist theology.
Kerry C writes…
I’m going to have to do some more reconnaissance before I jump in with the input … I see that I better listen, and probe the lines a bit more. Good stuff though, my learning curve will spike a bit I’m sure.
Reviews of: “The Antichrist and the Second Coming: A Preterist Examination” by Duncan McKenzie
Jerry Wayne Bernard, Ph.D., Litt.D
I teach theology at Bernard Bible Institute [CA] and we have few books in our Library that are as thorough as [“The Antichrist and the Second Coming: A Preterist Examination”]. … The Dispensationalist will learn much from this book. I happen to be a full preterist and enjoyed reading this well researched material. What ever your position on the Second Coming, you need this book in your library…
John S. Evans
McKenzie’s book is a significant addition to a growing volume of literature on eschatology that is helping Christians to better understand the extent to which biblical prophecies were fulfilled in the first century AD rather than being promises of what is to happen in our future.
John “Doughboy” from TX
I have no other “end times” book like this one. I’m glad I met the author personally or else I may not have ever heard of it. Couldn’t imagine my Full Preterist life without it…If you are a futurist, give this one a chance, you’ll at least learn history and then use the book as a paperweight since its so stacked!
SearchingForWhattheBibleActuallySays
“This book has to be the easiest presentation of prophecy I’ve ever read. There is almost no theological speculation in it. The author simply compares scripture with scripture to get the definition of symbols and the chronology of events. The subsection on hermeneutics was worth the price of the book alone. It will be interesting to see the Partial Preterist camp try to debunk it without resorting to simple name calling…”
Brock D. Hollet
“Duncan is a master at drawing Old Testament backgrounds into the reading of New Testament Bible prophecy. The content was clear and highly convincing. The only weakness of the book is that it fails to demonstrate that the millennium passage in Revelation 20 refers to the present time. Overall, this book is a must read for any student of Bible prophecy!”
I’m Brazilian. The book is excellent… Unfortunately many do not realize that Jesus went beyond a simple promise, he ensured that he would return in that generation and that some of those who were with him would not die without witnessing his glorious return! Undoubtedly, the preterist interpretation of prophecy is the only one who does not make the Lord Jesus and his apostles false prophets. A very positive point is his identification of the man of lawlessness unifying Daniel, Paul and John…
Mr. K. Singleton (UK)
“I would recommend this book to anyone. It is simple to read, yet scholarly, and presents the preterist position without trying to force scripture into an unnatural system…
Here is the testimony of a woman coming out of a Jehovah’s Witness background into a preterist view Julie McAllensays: 1/2013
Under my previous religion, our message was not the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Our message was the kingdom. The kingdom was the gospel and we were fulfilling the preaching campaign foretold by Jesus at Matthew 24:14. I regularly went door-to-door asking people what “the kingdom” for which they prayed in the Lord’s prayer meant to them. Seldom could anyone give me an answer but neither did they tell me their testimony of what the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ meant to them personally. The most I got out of “christians” on the other side of the door was the address of their church and bake sale they had there. It continued to feed my conviction that I had the truth and my religion was the only true dispenser of it, for I knew the gospel, they didn’t. I was one of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
I …became disillusioned with my religion and wondered if we really had the right message. Endeavoring to read the Bible sans Watchtower, I filled pages with verses trying to answer the question myself, “What is the good news of the kingdom?” At the time, the addictive quality of mind control brought me right back to the vomit of the cult as I determined that the kingdom was a heavenly government comprised of 144,000 individuals, a remnant of which existed in the Watchtower organization… but the latter part was where the doubt crept in. How did I know the remnant was really just in THAT religion?
More discouragement and finally I broke away from the constant inculcating of their teachings. It took a few years of detox at home (praying, reading my Bible) before I came to the conclusion that the good news was the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And that did not come as a result of some denomination’s indoctrination for I was still under the Watchtower-instilled paranoia of going to another church. I simply read my Bible and I came to the simple truth that Jesus died for my sins. I believed in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ and I began to share that as good news with others trying to escape the Watchtower demons in their head. Paul states clearly in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 that it is the gospel by which we are saved. And I can testify that my faith in that saved — DELIVERED ME — from the condemnation I experienced when the religion who claimed to represent God had tossed me out of their kingdom. The gospel saved me and I believed I had entered a new kingdom having been taken out of darkness and born from above. I became “the church” and was now enabled and eager to fellowship at an actual church too.
I got comfortable visiting churches and the language we toss around about being “saved” and “born again”…
Then a funny thing happened just as I was starting to get comfortable in mainstream Christianity. I was reading my Bible one day when I noticed the writer of Hebrews thought he was in the last days. And I noticed Peter got so carried away at Pentecost that he thought he was in the last days also. I determined that the last days began in the first century and we were still in them!
I was visiting non-denominational churches at the time and didn’t even know terms such as Amillennialism or Preterism…I was a bit shy about bringing up this nutty idea of a “first century last days” among my new aquaintances. It felt nice to fit in for a while…and let the Holy Spirit be my teacher, not any religion.
The Holy Spirit taught me how to worship and open my mind to the Scriptures without fear of reprimand from elders… for I didn’t have any now! The idea of the kingdom became more pronounced that I was LIVING IN IT. I was in a spiritual kingdom every day!
When I slipped and commented on some of my ideas about the last days beginning in the first century, a woman… accused me of “Preterism” and sent me a magazine called “Israel My Glory” along with some articles by authors against this “heresy” I was evidently falling into. I recognized immediately the same error…pushing the kingdom to a future hope.
I was moving in prayer power by this time because… I tasted the power of the present kingdom and the spiritual dominion I had been granted. To say Jesus had not been enthroned yet and wait for Him to show up in Jerusalem was a step back into insanity!.. I sure wasn’t about to go back. The blessings I received in prayer coming before a living, reigning king could not be substituted with a carrot dangling in front of me about some future return. After reading the material she sent to straighten me out, I was only too happy to learn there were others like me and now I had a name to Google… P-R-E-T-E-R-I-S-M.
Ahhh…. validation. We ARE in the present kingdom! This is the new earth! That is the good news which the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ brought forth. It is a spiritual kingdom and those invited into it must be born of His Spirit, therefore, it was necessary for Him to die and ascend to heaven to pour it out. Yes, the gospel of the kingdom INCLUDES the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, for it brings out the power of this kingdom! And it is good news to me… but once again I find myself at odds with religion and hesitant to share it.
After being shunned by my former friends at the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses for believing the good news of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, I’m not super thrilled about the heretic label that awaits me among Christians with their hearts set on the soon return of Jesus Christ to set up His earthly kingdom. Sigh.
I find the message very confusing when Christians talk about victory yet still wait for their king and kingdom to arrive. If Jesus has not taken all authority yet, then there is no power in his kingdom. What power is there in prayer for those without a king or kingdom? …
I feel very privileged to have been kicked out of my former religion and taught by the Spirit and I never intend to let a religion dictate my beliefs…
I like being part of a faith community once again and would love to plug in there more, but I hold back as if I will be disfellowshipped there too… for the gospel of the kingdom now that I’m a Preterist. I’ve gotten the heretic label already and I think I am ready to wear it again if it should come. I know without a doubt that I love my Lord more then any fellow believer regardless of their eschatology, but I am human and as such a social creature meant to fellowship. What a shame that religion often makes Christian fellowship so difficult.
So what is the gospel really? Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so…. and keep yourself in God’s love, Julie
I get emails from all around the world like this – people delighted to discover that the Bible teaches preterism! That it was there, all the time, right in front of them. But they just didn’t see it before. They leave old paradigms after studying scripture anew, they face persecution and fear-based threats from pastors, abandonment from people who they thought were ‘friends’. And yet they cannot deny what Scripture plainly teaches; that Jesus did what he said he would do, when he said he would do it! Here is one such brave soul from Poland.
Adam writes . . .
“Thank you, Riley, for your letters. I am an ex Seventh-Day Adventist. For almost ten years I had been preaching the adventist gospel with a future second coming, the papacy as the beast, et cetera. I had some questions regarding the Olivet Discourse but I had not stopped to analyze them before. Three months ago, when I lost my job, I started to think more about what it is that I’m believing. It turned out that most of my beliefs were completely nonbiblical. I was shocked, Riley! I prayed to God for help. My “friends” left me.
So I started to read the Bible with all my heart. And, you know what? I started to SEE what the preterism is talking about.
Some friends of mine told me that the preterism is from the Jesuits and they tried to kill Protestants. They told me that during the counter reformation a Jesuit named Luis del Alcazar invented preterism to defame Protestantism. I searched for some polish websites on preterism but there are no such sites. Of course there are some that are opposed to preterism. I think it’s time to show Polish speaking people what the Preterist View is really about!”
Dave M writes . . .
I’m not much for “ism’s”, partly because they all sound the same to me. And partly because I prefer concepts that can be practiced rather thanjust discussed. I had heard about preterism before, even being told that preterism (among other ism’s) is a legitimate way to comprehend some of the Bible story (that was in a Revelation study). But it never sunk in that this “ism” could change the frameworkof such a large set of my beliefs and practices.
I went to Riley’s preterism discussion group with some expectation of a different way to see some end times things that had never clicked for me before (like the imminent time phrases, the apocalyptic numbers). It turned out that this different way to see those things put a LOT of other things in a different perspective too! So much so that the entire New Testament looks significantly different to me now! And of course the Old Testament looks different too.
A couple of examples: many of the commands to the New Testament church that seemed weird now sit better. Like if civilization as they [first century church] knew it was going to end in a few months or years of course it was better for them to not marry so they don’t risk having infants during the transition. And of course it was better for them to sell their property and share the money since who knew if the property or the money would be worth anything during or after the transition period and war? And the imminent judgment thing. That never seemed to me to be the best way to motivate people to be nice to each other. I now see that as something for the Old Covenant Jews of that time (I still don’t understand it, but I’m not a first century Jew living under the law and prophets).
So preterism changed the New Testament’s message from an obligation (“do this”, “don’t do that or risk something eternally bad”) to the incredible completion of the Old Testament story, which has always spoken to me. It’s a story about God’s interactions with human beings like me! Dave M
Riley,I just finished reading “Preterist debate and “Church error”:not having a formal college education,I found the church erro absolutely facinating,you took me from the past to the present day,what an incredible journey..It has opened my eyes emmensly….The preterist debate was wonderful as well,as Im more of that type of person,wanting to know how to present what God has revealed to me to others…Im in LOVE w/ your site,and will continue to use it as research in my journey…From the depths of my heart,I want to say thank you for all the wonderful info,and hard work you put into your site,it has blessed my 20th century socks off..Riley your the best!!! Thank You So Much for this blessing,and may God in return RICHLY BLESS YOU,for something so incredibly Christ and scripture honoring….Chris P