Video: Introduction to Preterism

You Tube ^ | 2011 | Alan Bondar

[grumpa]

It is suggested that the viewer not change his mind about Bible prophecy based on this video. But as preterism is probably the fastest growing view of eschatology in the church, we are going to be hearing more and more about it. This video might encourage the viewer to do more study. It is by a young pastor in Florida:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWHiykrDzGo&list=UUeL-YuC4w5ZryACp5B-DWzQ&index=6&feature=plcp.

[.45 Long Colt]

Amen!

It ought to give every dispensational Christian pause that Mormons and Jehovah’s Witness and 7th Day Adventists share their basic eschatology.

Something else I am really thankful for, as I type this, my elderly parents are attending their first class on the Doctrines of Grace and basic reformed theology. They have been in dispensational free will Southern Baptist congregations all of their lives, so this class will really challenge their beliefs.

[.45 Long Colt]

I believe the Apostle Paul dealt with that rather clearly in Romans 2.

[Migraine]

You are implying that I am a heretic, along with the others you mentioned in the same breath. I do not return the favor; rather, I call you a brother in Christ with a differing view of the future, which we both see through a glass darkly. I value the one Lord one Faith one Baptism aspect of our mutual faith — in fact, I have memorized the entirety of Ephesians, I value its lofty implications so highly. I value the oneness Jesus sought for us in the garden as He prayed with an unimaginable intensity for that very thing. So I do not call you a heretic just because we see a vague, obliquely-delineated future differently.

I do have a position, however, and will contend earnestly for it. I do not hold the position frivously; but rather, studiously, as you do yours.

Dispensationalism is actually ancient. It refers prinipally to God’s new and different ways of dealing with, and relating to, mankind over time. He dealt with Adam one way before the Fall, another way ever afterward. He dealt with Noah one way as He judged the world by Flood (itself a different dispensation) than He dealt with Noah and his few survivors after the Flood.
More dispensations:
Babel
Abraham
Moses, the Levitical Law
the Wilderness journey
the period of the Judges
the Kings
Babylon
the years of famine for hearing the Word of God
when Christ was on the earth
the ascension and Pentecost
the New Testament and the Church (the present)

It does not seem unusual, then, to me, that God intends to end the present dispensation by putting Israel back on center stage for 7 years as implied in Daniel 9:24-7. Now, to me, the antiquity of preterism is understandable in view of 1)early Christian antipathy toward Jews and 2) the seeming impossibility of Israel ever returning to its land. On the other hand, the relative newness of the return to dispensational interpretation is also understandable because of our present and increasing proximity to the actual apocalyptic events. This, to me, is reminiscent of the exitement around Judea as dispensionally-minded people began to feel that the time was right for Messiah to appear. It is also like the feeling in America as the unthinkable, Civil War, began to seem inevitable (signs of the times seemed very much on the near horizon — BTW, are we seeing those signs again?). Churchill wrote of “The Gathering Storm”; scientists are trying to discern pre-earthquake patterns (all the more noticeable as the event approaches); women have birth pangs (again, the more noticeable as the event approaches).

So, we have our reasons, just as you have yours. I obviously think my reasons are better; but I don’t call you a heretic. I would gladly pray alongside you; I would gladly take communion with you. We have a higher cause that transcends this particular issue.

[Lee N. Field]

It ought to give every dispensational Christian pause that Mormons and Jehovah’s Witness and 7th Day Adventists share their basic eschatology.

One would think.

***hint: it ain't us "preterist, amil, 'replacementarian'" types that have eschatological beliefs nearly lock step with heretic religions.... I'm just saying. --raynearhood

[Migraine]

It ought to give every dispensational Christian pause that Mormons and Jehovah’s Witness and 7th Day Adventists share their basic eschatology.

This is a bizarre, straw-man, finding -- a little like saying "milk has a lot in common with vodka since farming is involved in the production of both".

More to your point, Mormons believe they are the fulfillment of Israel -- their present-day expression. Joseph Smith is seen as a re-iteration of Moses. In Mormon parlance, the rest of us are called "gentiles". Sounds a lot more like replacement theology that it does dispensationalism.

I could do the same for Jehovah's Witnesses and 7th Day Adventists and preterism. But that would be a straw man, wouldn't it?

[one Lord one faith one baptism]

dispensationalism is a horrible heresy, because it denies the Church and makes the kingdom of God about DNA rather than faith in Jesus Christ. ( i don’t know you, so i am not accusing you of being a heretic, you just may have been taught poorly )
the NT is clear the true Jew is one inwardly, not outwardly ( having the proper DNA )
the NT is clear that if belong to Jesus Christ, you are an heir to the promises made to Abraham.
the NT is clear “so all Israel shall be saved”. Does this mean every physical Jew will be saved? NO! Christians have never belived this and Jesus Himself told the Jews of His day they would die in their sins unless they believed in Him. No, the true Israel of God will all be saved and this Israel is not dtermined by flesh and blood, but all those that by the grace of God are in Christ ( Jew and Gentile alike )