Oh yes, very challenging to some peoples belief systems. I have found that people get very angry over FP. I have had other Christians who have known me for a while say, "What is your hope?" or "Are you even a Christian?" or "I think you are up to something and have ulterior motives." Hurtful to hear those things from people who should know you.
It amazes me their reaction. If you say Jesus already came back then that somehow makes you not a Christian in their mind.
Hello delirious! The reason for this and which I agree with, is that, by teaching that Jesus has already returned, it makes those believing it and teaching it, false teachers. Case in point: consider the scripture below:
"Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly. Their teaching will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have departed from the truth. They say that the resurrection has already taken place, and they destroy the faith of some." - 2 Tim.2:16-18
Hymenaeus and Philetus considered themselves Christians. However, because of their false teaching that the resurrection had already taken place, Paul said that they were:
* Ungodly
* That, like a disease, it would spread like gangrene
* They had departed from the truth
* And were destroying the faith of some
The Preterist's (Full) believe that Jesus returned in 70 AD and that the resurrection has already taken place, as well as all end-time events. Because of this, they all fall under the same condemnation as Hymenaeus and Philetus did.
I think part of it has to do with the escapist mentality taught in churches today. The mentality that says this world is going to hell in a hand basket and we need to escape it. You take away the rapture hope for some people and they seem to get really angry at you and call you all kinds of false things.
Jesus is the One who used the words "I will keep you out of the hour of trial." So yes, believers will be escaping that hour of trial, the wrath of God via the seals, trumpets and bowl judgments. I have found that the majority of people have no idea of the severity and magnitude of what God is going to bring upon the earth. If they did, they wouldn't be claiming that Jesus is going to protect the church on the earth during the time of His wrath. Not to mention that the church is never mentioned again after the end of Revelation 3 and during the entire narrative of God's wrath, which is described in detail from chapters 6 thru 18, with His return revealed in Rev.19:11-21.
With just the four seal and the sixth trumpet a fourth and a third, repectively, over half the earths population will have been killed. And that is not including the fatalities that will result from trumpets 1, 2 and 3, nor the seven bowl judgments. This decimation is supported when Jesus said, "For at that time there will be great tribulation, unmatched from the beginning of the world until now, and never to be seen again. If those days had not been cut short,
nobody would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, those days will be shortened.
So, that time period will be so bad, that if Jesus didn't return when He does, no one would be left alive on the earth.
People can call themselves Christians all they want! But if they are believing and teaching a different word, then that is a big problem. By this teaching that Jesus has already come or that He is going gather His church after His wrath, they don't understand the underlying principle of what the believer has become in Christ. What I mean is that, Jesus suffered God's wrath on behalf of every believer, satisfying if completely. Therefore, since God's wrath has been satisfied, God's wrath no longer rests upon the believer and that because when we believed we were credited with righteousness and reconciled to God.
The same condemnation goes for those who believe and teach that Paul is a false apostle and liar. (See 2 Pet.3:15-16)
Consequently, anyone today who is believing and teaching this about Paul fall under the same condemnation. These people think that they are Christians as well, but are condemned.
And should I go on about those who call themselves Christians who believe and teach that we are still under the law of Moses? Our trust should be solely in what Christ did through His sacrifice and not in our good works, which are the result of faith, not the means of salvation.
