The following is an article written by Thomas Ice concerning preterism. Now
there is a certain individual on Usenet heavily promoting this concept
however nothing in his posts has convinced me nor hardly anyone else of his
support being anything more than misguided zeal. Much of his argument is
based on faulty premises and in some cases, outright fabrications and
obfuscations. I, for one, do not accept preterism as a legitimate concept
but a gross fiction unsupported by scripture. Mr. Ice's article brings up
interesting points concerning the topic. I'm not certain of Mr. Ice's claim
that R.C. Sproul embraces preterism, but nonetheless, Ice's article is
worthy of reading.
May God bless,
Carl
my website -- http://www.nettally.com/saints/
my blog -- http://www.anniemayhem.com/cgi-bin/wordpress/
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Has Bible Prophecy Already Been Fulfilled?
by Thomas Ice
Recently I attended the Ligonier Ministries National Conference with about
4,000 other people in Orlando, Florida. Ligonier is the ministry of R.C.
Sproul. I attended because for the first time in 30 years the topic was on
Bible Prophecy. Guess what? The predominate view, led by Dr. Sproul, was
that most of what you and I believe to be future prophecies have already
been fulfilled by first century events. This view now being championed by
Dr. Sproul and others is known as preterism.
When Will Prophecy Be Fulfilled?
What is preterism? Before I explain that in more detail, I want to orient
you to the four views that people hold in relation to the timing of
prophetic fulfillment. The four views are simple in the sense that they
reflect the only four possible ways that one can relate to time: past,
present, future, and timeless. When speaking of the fulfillment of Bible
prophecy these four timing possibilities are called preterism, historicism,
futurism, and idealism.
The preterist (Latin for "past") believes that most, if not all prophecy has
already been fulfilled, usually in relation to the destruction of Jerusalem
in a.d. 70. The historicist (present) sees much of the current church age as
equal to the tribulation period. Thus, prophecy has been and will be
fulfilled during the current church age. Futurists (future) usually believe
that almost no prophetic events are occurring in the current church age, but
will take place in the following future events: the tribulation of seven
years, the second coming, the 1,000 year millennium, and the eternal state.
This is the view that I and Midnight Call magazine hold to. The idealist
(timeless) does not believe either that the Bible indicates the timing of
events or that we can determine their timing in advance. Therefore,
idealists see prophetic passages as a teacher of great truths about God to
be applied to our present lives.
Preterism vs. Futurism
Idealism, as an approach to Bible prophecy, is rarely followed outside of
liberal scholarship and thus is not a significant factor in the mainstream
of current evangelical debate over when prophecy will be fulfilled.
Historicism, once the dominate view of Protestants from the Reformation
until the middle of last century, appears to exert little attraction as a
system of prophetic interpretation to conservative Christians, outside of
Seventh-Day Adventist circles. However, it must be noted that most
historicists take a preterist view of the Olivet Discourse, but disassociate
it from the tribulation as found in Revelation and some New Testament
Epistles. During the last 150 years, within evangelicalism, futurism has
grown to dominate and overcome historicism. At the turn of the millennium,
we see an attempt to challenge futurism arising from evangelical preterism.
We must await the next millennium to see where this development will lead.
But the last five to ten years has seen an increase in the ranks of
preterism, from hundreds to thousands, as someone as well-known as R.C.
Sproul has adopted this view.
What Is Preterism?
Preterists argue that major prophetic portions of Scripture such as the
Olivet Discourse and the Book of Revelation were fulfilled in events
surrounding the a.d. 70 destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans. They believe
that they are compelled to take such a view because Matthew 24:34 and its
parallel passages say that "this generation will not pass away until all
these things take place." This means it had to take place in the first
century, they argue. Revelation, they advocate, says something similar in
the passages that say Christ is coming "quickly" or that His return is "at
hand." Having settled in their mind that these prophecies had to take place
in the first century, they believe they are justified in making the rest of
the language fit into a local (Jerusalem), instead of a worldwide
fulfillment. Most preterists believe that we are currently living in at
least an inaugurated new heavens and new earth, since all the Book of
Revelation had to have a first century fulfillment.
There are at least three kinds of preterism. For lack of better terms we
will call them mild, moderate, and extreme. Mild preterism teaches that the
Book of Revelation was fulfilled during the first three centuries as God
waged war on the two early enemies of the church: Israel and Rome. The first
half of Revelation teaches that Israel was defeated in a.d. 70, while the
last half of Revelation is about God's conquest of Rome in the fourth
century when Constantine declared the Roman Empire Christian. Thus, this
earliest form of preterism teaches that Revelation was fulfilled in the
first 300 years of the church's history.
Moderate preterists believe that almost all prophecy was fulfilled in the
a.d. 70 destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans. They do believe that a few
passages still teach a yet future second coming (Acts 1:9-11; 1 Corinthians
15:51-53; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17) and the resurrection of believers at
Christ's bodily return.
Extreme preterists, or consistent preterists, as they prefer to be known,
hold that all future Bible prophecy was fulfilled in the destruction of
Jerusalem in a.d. 70. If there is a future second coming, they say, the
Bible does not talk about it. Extreme preterists believe that there is no
future bodily resurrection, which place them outside the realm of Christian
orthodoxy.
I have never personally encountered a mild preterist. I have only
encountered them in books like Isbon T. Beckwith's The Apocalypse of John.
Today, most of those calling themselves preterists would fit into the
moderate camp. Those like R.C. Sproul, Kenneth Gentry, Gary DeMar, Gary
North, and Greg Bahnsen belong in this group. However, extreme preterism is
growing and has made noticeable gains in recent years. Although David
Chilton's books on preterism are from the moderate perspective, he did
convert to extreme preterism before his recent death. Other extreme
preterists include: Max King, John Bray, Ed Stevens, and Walt Hibbard.
I believe it is important for lovers of God's Word to be aware of these
false views so that they not be caught off guard when they encounter such
opinions. This is why I am writing about this subject. In the next
installment, I will be further introducing many of the strange views of
preterism on specific issues. After that, I will pursue a critique of the
preterist misinterpretation of Scripture. For those who are interested
further in this matter, you may wish to order my book with preterist Ken
Gentry, The Great Tribulation: Past or Future? This book is a debate between
Dr. Gentry and I on this matter.
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