The absurdity and heresy of Preterism

Preterism is an absurd and heretical view of Bible prophecies. But well-known Christian personalities such as R. C. Sproul, James Kennedy, Hank Hannegraaf, and Jay Adams promote the heresy of Preterism. According to someone “it is spreading like wildfire” on social media. That is why Christian should know how absurd and heretical this view of prophecy really is, and reject it out of hand.

The heresy is primarily in the rejection of the Resurrection/Rapture of the Church and the real, visible, tangible, physical Second Coming of Christ with all His saints and angels, to the battle of Armageddon (Revelation 19 and many other passages), and events to follow.

“According to preterism, all prophecy in the Bible is really history. The preterist interpretation of Scripture regards the book of Revelation as a symbolic picture of first-century conflicts, not a description of what will occur in the end times. The term preterism comes from the Latin praeter, meaning “past.” Thus, preterism is the view that the biblical prophecies concerning the “end times” have already been fulfilled—in the past. Preterism is directly opposed to futurism, which sees the end-times prophecies as having a still-future fulfillment.” [Got Questions]

So what does Preterism teach falsely? Here are their 14 absurdities:
1. There are no future events to be seen the book of Revelation.
2. All end-times prophecies were fulfilled in AD 70 (when the Romans attacked and destroyed Jerusalem). [Note: as a result they try to change the date of the writing of Revelation to before AD 70, when it is generally accepted as AD 95.]
3. There is no future 3 ½ year reign of the Antichrist, and no temple in Jerusalem which he will desecrate with the Abomination of Desolation.
4. The Tribulation and Great Tribulation are already past.
*5. The Second Coming of Christ has already occurred as a “spiritual return”.
*6. The resurrection of the dead is already past.
*7. The final judgment is ongoing.* [*Note: Partial Preterists believe that these three are still in the future.]
8. There is no future Rapture.
9. There is no future literal Millennium.
10. The eternal Kingdom of God is already being established on earth.
11. The New Heavens and the New Earth have already come into existence.
12. The term “this generation” in the Olivet Discourse applied to Christ’s generation.
13. There will be no future redemption and restoration of Israel.
14. The Church has replaced Israel.

We could go into great detail as to why all these ideas are totally foolish. But the best biblical evidence against Preterism is the FACT that none of the cataclysmic cosmic events which are revealed in the Bible have occurred. And they will occur just before the Second Coming of Christ.

When we combine Matthew 24:29, Mark 13:24-25, Luke 21:25-26, and Revelation 6:12-17, this is what we get – a series of events which are TOTALLY UNPRECEDENTED and unimaginably devastating:

1. AFTER THE GREAT TRIBULATION
“Immediately after the tribulation of those days” or “but in those days, after that tribulation” or “And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake”

2. THE SUN SHALL BE DARKENED (BLACKENED)
“shall the sun be darkened” or “the sun shall be darkened” or “there shall be signs in the sun” or “the sun became black as sackcloth of hair”

3. THE MOON SHALL BE DARKENED AS BLOOD
“the moon shall not give her light” or “there shall be signs in the moon” or “the moon became as blood”

4. THE STARS SHALL FALL FROM HEAVEN UPON EARTH
“the stars shall fall from heaven” or “the stars of heaven shall fall” or “there shall be signs in the stars” or “the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind”

5. THE POWERS OF THE HEAVEN SHALL BE SHAKEN, AND IT SHALL DEPART AS A SCROLL
“the powers of the heavens shall be shaken” or “the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken” or “the powers of heaven shall be shaken” or “the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together”

6. EVERY MOUNTAIN AND ISLAND WILL BE MOVED OUT ITS PLACE
“upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity” or “every mountain and island were moved out of their places”

7. THE SEA AND WAVES WILL ROAR AS NEVER BEFORE
“the sea and the waves roaring”

8. MEN’S HEARTS WILL FAIL THEM BECAUSE OF FEAR
“Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth” or “And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?”

Had any of this happened already, we would not even be living on this earth as it exists, and the heavenly bodies would not continue to exist as we see them.

You don’t understand the theology you are critizing at all.

On the contrary, I understand this theology very well. So you will need to tell us what is different in Preterism that has not be posted.

Preterism is a classic example of what happens when a person grasps one important aspect of Biblical truth and pushes it to such an extreme that it becomes heretical. It happens all the time not only with eschatology but with other aspects of the Christian faith.
Jesus said You will know the truth and the truth will make you free. The Bible has multiple levels of truth all are valid but to be stuck
on one level leads to a stunted spiritual understanding and at worse heresy.

I don't spend time learning about all these extra biblical titles and learning methods; I instead focus all my attention to scripture.

But based on what the OP lays out, I agree that this "Preterism" stuff is heretical.

Do you know both Preterism and Dispensationalism came from the Jesuits in an attempt to remove the Papacy from the charge of "Antichrist" pinned on it by the Reformers? Aren't we being the pot calling the kettle black here?

When I says you don’t understand the theology, it means you posted in accurate statements, not that you left things out.


Now there might be different theologies under one word sane as your side has st least three very different Rapture theologies.

I’ll speak for my understanding. This is from reading your post, not cutting and pasting your errors.

First the Resurrection has not yet occurred but will happen in the future as described in Revelation and else where.

Second, Jesus will return in body when his enemies have been made a footstool for his feet. That is when the dead rise first and those alive meet him. This is all future.

Third, The church is not Israel. There a NEW covenant not like the one with Israel. Jews and Gentiles grafted into the same vine, for all who will, that is, jesus Christ.

Fourth, Jesus describes himself coming to particular groups (a threat) if they didn’t repent so if he doesn’t see this as a problem in regards to his bodily return, why should we? Obviously being naughty doesn’t being about the second coming and nevertheless He SAID He would come. I believe him.

Fourth, Antichrist is NEVER mentioned in the book of the Revelation and that term was coined by the author, John, himself who never used there. There is no Antichrist in Revelation. There is a man of horrible sin, but not “antichrist.”. John actually wrote there are many antichrists.

That’s enough for now although there’s more. By the way, truth is not a majority vote.

Preterism: Both Preterism and Dispensationalism come from the Jesuits to deceive protestants from thinking the Papacy is Antichrist.

Preterism was formulated by the Jesuit scholar. Luiz de Alcazar (1554-1613). And offered for the same reason as was futurism: that is, A Roman response to Protestants to take the pressure off of Rome. …..Preterism is thus credited as a response to the Protestant’s historicism claims that the papal system was the antichrist or the "beast." Accordingly, it shares common origins with futurism (Dispensationalism), which was formulated for the same purpose. Death of the Church Victorious – Ovid Need

You would need to show me which statements were inaccurate. I have presented exactly what Preterists and Partial Preterists believe.
Except that that is NOT the Preterist position. Here is what they believe:
"According to the Bible, when was the resurrection to take place? The Scriptures testify that the time of the resurrection was to be at the end of the Old Covenant age. We know this to have happened in AD 70 with the destruction of the Jewish Temple. The disciples knew that the fall of the temple and the destruction of the city meant the end of the Old Covenant age and the inauguration of a new age. "
https://www.preteristarchive.com/Hyper/1999_curtis_resurrection.html
Again, that is NOT the Preterist position. Here is what they believe:
WWJD. When Was Jesus Due? What did Christ say about the TIME of His coming? He said he would return in that first century generation, before “some of those standing there tasted death” (Matt. 10:23; Matt. 16:27,28; Matt. 24:34)...So, Jesus’ predictions were fulfilled. He did not fail, nor do we need to engage in theological gymnastics to try to explain-away the seeming delay or postponement of His return. It happened right on schedule.
https://www.preterist.org/about-us/what-is-preterist-view/
What you have said describes the Church. But you have failed to say anything about redeemed and restored Israel.
The Antichrist is known by many names and titles throughout the Bible. In Revelation he is called "the Beast". And he is described in Revelation 13.

So it seems that you are the one who does not know what Preterism teaches.

Never heard anywhere that the resurrection happened in 70 AD. Really strange idea. That was a coming in judgement upon Jerusalem same as he “came” in judgement on the Ephesians. The kingdom of God was removed from Israel according to Jesus.
No, that is Dispensationalist theology invented by Darby.
Not the same person. Same author used a totally different word.
Guess I am not one. Not a dispensationalist for sure. Guess I’m a bible believer when it comes to the second coming. Nice!

I hear what you're saying, at the same time at the end of The book of Revelation Jesus says he is coming soon.

https://biblehub.com/revelation/22-12.htm

do we change the meaning of the word soon?
or its Greek equivalent?

if words in prophecy aren't used according to their standard usage, then a prophecy can mean all sorts of things.

Did the great tribulation already happen?

As Jesus said, it happened to the inhabitants of Jerusalem in 70 AD with the events fulfilling prophesy and recorded by Josephus. It will never happen again. Do you really want that to happen to the people you know?

Exactly! Soon meant soon and it happened within a few years. “Soon” means soon but “coming”
doesn’t always mean in the resurrected body.

Fallacy: Poisoning the well.


You're building on unsubstantiated assertions. You haven't demonstrated that preterism is a heresy.

Nehemiah6 said:

According to someone “it is spreading like wildfire” on social media. That is why Christian should know how absurd and heretical this view of prophecy really is, and reject it out of hand.

Click to expand...

Makes me scratch my head to think the Tribulation (never seen before) mentioned by Christ in Matthew 24 is assessed to the Jerusalem Destruction of 70 AD when in Noah's Day, literally billions of people and life forms were wiped from the face of the Earth.

How can anyone conclude Jerusalem 70 AD was worse than Noah's Flood is beyond Scripture and Reason!

And then we have solid proofs that John was not placed in Patmos until Domitian put him there in 94 AD (Roman Archives). John clearly begins Revelation as being on the Isle of Patmos. And Preterist think John wrote this in 68 AD when we have factual Papyrus dating to 98 AD and Roman Archive specifying Domitian placed John in exile at Patmos in 94 AD.

Do Preterist purposefully IGNORE FACTS?

They must in order to secure such a False Doctrine.

I don't know about preterism, but just as an example from the OP about how about how Jesus's words should not be interpreted literally,


God said, Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth. Gen.9:11

So the cataclysm of the sea roaring can't be literal. The "sea" is also used to describe great numbers of people.

And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the harlot sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. Rev.17:15

There are many examples where taking Jesus's teachings literally make no sense.

Twice we have the reference 1,000 years equals 1 day.
We know that is not literal but it is figurative in the viewpoint of TIME with God.
If we choose to use REASON HERE, soon to God could mean a Billion years in Theory.
In general. God deals with Eternal Time, not physical time like we abide by.

I agree that preterism falls short of sound hermeneutics when put to the test on every point. However eschatology is one area that we must extend grace and patience as each person seeks to understand the scriptures for themselves and this takes time. Never allow someones views on preterism, historicism, futureism, or amillennialism, cause you to consider them an unbeliever, or a false brother. We see through a glass darkly. When you call a preterist a heretic it suggest that you think they are not saved, as if their view on eschatology must be correct for salvation. What if you are wrong about your interpretation on passages that are difficult to understand. Are you then a heretic? We allow much more grace for ourselves than we do others when it comes to the word heresy and heretic. I enjoy reading presentations on why someone believes a scripture should be interpreted a certain way. You will not persuade me that a particular view is wrong by telling me it is heresy. You will persuade by telling me what that particular scripture DOES mean, and doing a good job of using the rules of heremeneutics to make your case. There is obviously a reason why born again believers differ on these topics and listening to each other present their reasons is necessary to understanding why without judging a mans character or setting yourself up as judge over his intellect.

Papyrus 98 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), designated by 98, is an early copy of the New Testament in Greek. It is a papyrus manuscript of the Book of Revelation. The manuscript palaeographically had been assigned to years "100–125AD(?)".

So, what happened SOON around 100 AD to roughly 150 AD that was catastrophic?

According to Church history, NADA!