For me there is a military aspect to the Christian life. We are not only to desire and patiently await our Lord’s return, but we are also called to engage the enemy and to save or rescue others who are caught in the Devil’s web of lies and confusion which are blinding mankind. One of those lies that is growing in strength is called Preterism. Preterism is a Christian eschatological view (of or relating to the ultimate destiny of mankind), which interprets, some i.e., partial Preterism or all i.e., full Preterism, prophecies of the Bible as events which have already happened. This school of thought interprets the Book of Daniel as referring to events that happened from the 7th century BC until the 1st century AD, and likewise sees the prophecies of the Book of Revelation as events that happened in the 1st century AD.
Why is Preterism dangerous?
One of the more important aspects of Christianity is evangelism, the message of salvation from God’s wrath which is foretold, and from which, we are to flee, is removed by this lie. Preterism removes the hope of being saved from God’s wrath so, consequently, evangelism becomes an irrelevant topic. Another danger is that it waters down all end-time prophecies that would otherwise alert us to Christ’s soon return. The obvious signs of societal decay, (environmental crisis, earthquakes, weather anomalies, apostacy from Christ, the rise of false beliefs, the abuse of scientific discoveries, homosexuality, economic failure, etc.) growing worse by the day, are, to the Preterist signs of an improving world. Furthermore, are preterist really convinced that all the terrible curses described in Revelation have really already occurred? All of this and more is simply explained away and discounted by preterists. This massive Delusion has become the hope of the preterist, they have reduced the Apocalypse to an imaginary fantasy with very little to get worried about or to prepare for.
If Christ has already returned, as the Preterist believe, in AD 70, then it is apparent that everyone missed Him. The Bible warns us: “there shall come scoffers in the last days…saying, where is the promise of his coming” (II Peter 3:3-4). People who appear to be in their right minds and who, in every other respect seem normal, do not understand prophecy unless twisted to conform to their fallen imaginations; the Bible calls them “scoffers”.
The intent and purpose of living the Christian life is to recognize and avoid deception and to finish our tour of duty. To be diverted from the truth and onto a rabbit trail is easy once we allow our fallen natural minds to attempt understanding of this dark world apart from Holy Spirit inspiration and truth. Once our fallen mind takes hold of Scripture with the intent to understand on its own, what we can expect is exactly what we see in the world of the Preterist, failure, lies, and apostacy.
The chief evil of the Preterist is that he creates and encourages a habit of reading the Scriptures in a loose and superficial way. General impressions are embraced and erected on a faulty foundation and a pretentious and imaginary structure results. Preterism, like Rome, markets their assumptions which, to the unknowing, form an axis on which prophecy must turn.
The real issue at stake here is the character and value of the Bible. If the views of Preterists be justified then the language of Holy Writ, such as the close of Revelation chapter six, becomes nothing but bombast and the ranting of a disillusioned fool. If wild exaggeration is characteristic of end-time prophecy, what confidence can we have in any other part? If the Great Day of Divine wrath, described in such horrific terms, are nothing but words describing a brief crisis in world history, which has long passed, are we to understand other words of the great joy of saints and the doom of the impenitent as mere exaggeration or illusion? If the unsurpassed solemnity of graphic prophetic words and our Christian faith is based on nothing more than hyperbole, then our entire Christian faith is fictitious, distrustful, and a spiritual hustle.
With the increased interest in end-time events do not allow yourself to be put at ease in Sodom. Be vigilant and awake and close the door on the many false teachers leading many astray in ignorance and pride. There are many polluted theories in the world, but only ONE truth: beware of cheap imitations. One on-line site called “Rival Nations” is deceiving many, otherwise orthodox Christians, with their impressive and well written articles. Jesus warned about these end-time deceptions, don’t be tricked by good marketing.
