PRETERISM AND THE DAY OF THE LORD
As a general rule Read & Run do not comment on any Church groups or theologies. The bible has more than enough to say. However there are two reasons to depart from this tenet with the Preterist eschatology.
The detail has been in ‘print’ for 2000 years.
Why then does the world fail to recognize the beast?
The Preterist argument has been well used in the past to defend the Papacy from accusations of being the antichrist. If prophetic events can be written off as past events, the way forward is clear for the many changes to be instituted by the beast power without undue resistance.
Confrontation with the beast is clearly indicated as part of the course of duty ahead.
When the time comes Christians will have their work cut out for them. Christ says the crucial words will be given to us when necessary. That does not mean He will wave a magic wand. Biblically there is no precedence for God’s people not to prepare. A full understanding of the Preterist’s usage of scripture and the correct reply is essential.
But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. 20 For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you. Matt 10:19
With due diligence in studying God’s word we can be ‘ready to give an answer’ in the right way at the right time as prompted by the Holy Spirit.
The Preterist use of scripture has never been fully incapacitated.
Those that believe that Christ is yet to come, the Futurists, have shot themselves in the foot by not being able to present a cohesive version for the Return of Christ. The vacuum has been filled by a more comprehensive and better documented approach by the Preterists. This gratuitous circumstance does not make the Preterists right. It does however accentuate the problem the Futurists have. Without any agreement on the scriptural details amongst themselves it only demonstrates they do not understand what they are talking about.
At Read & Run we have held the position that our End Time Bible Toolkit can prove any theory or version for the Return of Christ correct or false. It simply is a thorough bible checklist of all the events involved. If any theory cannot accommodate all the relevant bible verses coherently, then it is false. Since no one else has been able to show a clear explanation for every Preterist scripture they use, we will take the opportunity to do so. In the process we will by default explain the full set of circumstances for the Return of Christ that will stand up to any biblical test.
New Book
Subject: Our Preterist ‘article’.
After having said for some time that we would post a Preterism article, it became apparent that the subject was far larger than what meets the eye. Also apparent was the significance of the Preterist manifesto that will take place during the Day of the Lord. If it can be ‘proved’ the beast and all other ‘End Time’ events transpired in 70 AD than an alibi has been handed on a plate to the real beast, false prophet and all who prefer a lie. Preterism is dangerous stuff and all those acting on the Lord’s behalf will need to understand and be familiar with the correct answers.
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 2 Tim 2:15
The Real Gospel
To really do justice and categorically lay to rest all Preterist arguments, a very detailed account of what really is the Gospel of the Kingdom of God needs to be explained. From there a comparison to what the Preterists have to say can be placed side by side. The discrepancies become all too obvious.
We are not talking about ‘an article’; this will take a comprehensive book.
For the benefit of the majority of people the approach used will be ‘Einstein’s theory of relativity’.
Einstein’s Theory of Relativity:
‘If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough’.
Albert Einstein
Here is an outline of the books direction:
The Return of Christ - A Line in the Sand Author: Michael Storey
A study of Preterist / Futurist literature show the following:
- There is a huge division in the Church on understanding prophetic scripture. It has been pointed out that there has never been a comprehensive study of prophecy as has been done through Church history on such issues as the ‘Trinity’ and ‘Justification by Faith’. These were momentous subject matters during the early years of the Church and later during the Reformation.
- The result of prophetic scripture never being studied by the Church has left it completely rudderless. It has never formerly checked on where God is leading the Church. This has left a vacuum that has ended in the total mishmash that Church is in today. The Churches have formulated their own ‘plan’ of salvation. The failure to comprehend the immense significance of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God is the root cause of misunderstanding.
- Since the Church denominations have dug themselves deeply into their own theologies and dogmas, the necessary study and action as a result will never occur voluntarily. A detailed study of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God (God’s long term plan) would reveal far too much discrepancy for their comfort.
- The fact that the Church has vastly different opinions on such a high percentage of scripture and that they are unable to use God’s word to arrive at a common understanding indicates that the Church is currently walking out of step with God. This last assertion is fully backed by scriptures showing that at the time Christ does return there will be: a) complete confusion within the Church b) a falling away c) a large percentage able to be deceived. Christ goes so far as to warn that many professing to come in His name must not be believed.
- The Preterist argument that all ‘end time’ scripture has been fulfilled is dangerous. It provides an alibi for the ‘beast’ when the time comes. This has been a fundamental defence used by the Papacy in the past. For this reason it is essential to be aware of the line of reasoning.
- The Preterist argument needs to be answered in full. The correct understanding of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God should in theory serve as a roadmap to achieve this purpose. If a consistent and completely unambiguous explanation of all scripture on the subject successfully answers every Preterist point without contradiction, then this would more than indicate the correct Gospel of the Kingdom has been reached.
How would we summarise this? One disconcerting view would be that the Church has come full circle to where it was when Christ came the first time. None of His people were ready for him. Hardly any recognized that a volume of scripture had unfolded right before their eyes. The established ‘Church’ groups of the day were so far off track they could not reconcile the plain reality of scripture with their own preconceived conception of it.
Christ makes it very plain that the same situation will repeat itself. So many will be so disillusioned at what really transpires with the onset of the return of Christ that there will be a (great) falling away. This can only refer to Christians since you cannot fall away from the faith unless you were involved in the first place.
Retrieving the Lost Ground
The real solution is to determine just what the Kingdom of God is. There is a ‘gospel’ that is consistently being referred to through the whole bible. This is what needs to be established. Just what is the real gospel of the Kingdom of God?
Before any answers to the Preterist / Futurist dilemma can be reached the issue of gospels needs to be addressed. Since the position of the Preterists is that the Kingdom is already here and virtually all prophecy was fulfilled in 70 AD we have a very different picture to an ‘end time’ that is still yet to unfold. So different, they constitute completely different gospels. Within the framework of Christianity many other ‘gospels’ exist in addition. This is nothing more than hopeless confusion, which precisely describes what we have today.
Establishing the correct gospel and proving that it is the correct gospel is the task of this book.
As they say, the ‘proof of the pudding- is in the eating’. The Preterist’s full arsenal of scripture can be adequately explained from the vantage of a correct gospel. Nevertheless, to really make the point stick, so can every single verse from Genesis to Revelation concerning unfulfilled events. That is the ‘proof of the pudding’.
Chapter One and Two now available to read. See left column.
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