Understanding Imminency, From A Biblical And Canonical Perspective

   The New Testament teaching that Christ is coming “soon,” while relevant to the entire Body of Christ, has often been confounded by Hyper-Preterists, who imagine that Christ must have already returned in A.D. 70.  By using a “critical-historical” hermeneutic, Hyper-Preterists see N.T. epistolary writings as historic documents which do not contain the final assessment of Christian faith for the entire church age, but only the “deposit” from which later scholars were left to develop their confused and contradictory schemes.  Far from being salutary, such error as theirs is often accompanied by a denial of fully-credentialed apostolic teaching, and by addition to and subtraction from the inspired New Testament writings.  Under such a scheme of interpretation, men keep what suits their fancies, theories, and agendas, and dispense with the rest, with the excuse that such teachings were only addressed to the “original recipients.”  Nevertheless, to those who have fully investigated the Hyper-Preterist system, the error is transparent.  For even Hyper-Preterists —  unless they are radical cessationists  —  recognize that the original recipients were members of the same “Body of Christ” to which we also belong.  Oh! if that unifying principle were only acknowledged and applied, the Hyper-Preterist movement would be extinct by tomorrow..

Are Preterists Controlling Your Mind?

  One of the discoveries I recently made, after three years of battling the doctrines of systematic Preterism, is that, although few Christians know it, Preterism’s tactics of exegesis are mind-altering.  In order to accept the doctrines of Preterism, one must assent to the premise that the Bible is to be approached in a critical-historical, rather than canonical, fashion.  Whenever Preterists use New Testament phraseology like “soon,” “at hand,” and “shortly” to assert that eschatological events are now past fulfillment, the implication is always that the texts must be understood from a purely historical perspective, and not as they relate to the entire “Body of Christ.”  When the Christian finally agrees with the Preterist’s reasoning, and adopts such interpretations as his own, he is unaware that in his mind a subtle shift has taken place, whereby his thinking has been altered..

Defusing Hyper-Preterism: Step #3 — Applying Sola Scriptura

     When the Hyper-Preterist has agreed to the basic premises of Christianity, then and only then will the apologist be ready to open the Bible and discuss the meaning of texts.  Remember, there are three main materials that one will need when discussing the plausibility of Hyper-Preterist doctrine and its errors —  1): a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures; 2): a working knowledge of church history; and 3): an understanding of the development of the New Testament canon.  Complementary to this knowledge is the reception of certain premises and presuppositions, such as that —  1): For 2,000 years, God has maintained a correct understanding of eschatology within His community of saints; 2): the Bible is revelatory literature, and is to be received as such; 3): God has left us with a current canon of Scripture, which contains the final assessment of truth for the entire church age.  Anyone lacking any of the above is not  —  I repeat is not —  properly equipped to defuse Hyper-Preterism, no matter how prominent their ministries, or who they think they are.  God is no respecter of persons..