HOW I BECAME A PRETERIST

I never heard of "preterism" even though I received a Bachelor of Science degree in Bible from Johnson Bible College a long time ago - 1969. Eschatology we was a subject offered there. My grandfather graduated from JBC in 1912, so I asked him if he was a premillenialist, amillenialist, or postmillenialist. He said he was a panmillenialist - it will all pan out in the end. I always believed that Jesus Christ would return - very soon. I accepted the SOON return of Christ without question - without study.

My journey to preterism began when I heard of Dominionism. I didn't know what Domionism was, but I was sure that it was a heretical and dangerous teaching. I had heard that domionists wanted to make God's Old Testament laws the law of the land - I decided to preach against this doctrine, but realized I must study their belief's before I could speak. I went to the Christian Book store and asked them if they had any books on Dominionism - they had no idea what I was talking about. I looked through their shelves containing books of the "Coming of Christ" etc. I picked up a book published by Dominion press entitled: PARADISE RESTORED & also THE DAYS OF VENGEANCE An Exposition of the Book of Revelation by David Chilton. I began reading it and hearing myself shout out "that's right", "amen" - "why haven't I ever heard of this." I told a member of the Church I attended that I no longer believed Jesus Christ returned in vengeance in 70 a.d. He told me to keep quiet or I would be marked a heretic. He told me the preacher had debated Joe Balyeat on this subject some time before I came there and our preacher marked him as teaching heretical doctrine. Our congregation was amillenialist. He looked up this Joe Balyeat and purchased his book he had written about Babylon. I eagerly read it and the next time I saw Mr. Balyeat I told him I was now a postmillenialist. He embrassed me as a fellow traveler.

The Bible became much more meaningful to me when I viewed through the lens of a postmillenialist, but I had questions still. I searched for more material and found Don Preston on the web and ordered many of his books and videos of debates on the subject of "Preterism" or as he calls it "Realized Eschatology." The next time I saw Joe Balyeat I told him I was no longer a postmillenialist, but had moved to being a full Preterist - he was not pleased. In our Bible studies we were studying the book of Hebrews - I realized the teacher completely missed the message of Hebrews - I now saw everything through the lens of preterism - and it was clear for the first time in my life.

One day somebody said "If the book of Revelation was written after 70 a.d. then how can you possibly believe Jesus Christ returned in 70 a.d." Good point! I formed a study group to delve into this most important question. If Revelation was written after 70 a.d. then preterism is indeed a false teaching. For about a year 6 or 7 of us studied that question. We all came to the conclusion that Revelation was written prior to 70 a.d. A key book in our study was REDATING THE NEW TESTAMENT by John A.T. Robinson and a book by Gentry. Only two of us have moved on to become full preterists from that study.

My study of Roman history, Josephus and many other books confirmed to me that I was looking at eschatology through the clear lens of Preterism. One year on my way to a Biblical Archaeology Society seminar I decided to go out of my way to pay Don Preston a visit in Ardmore, Oklahoma. I asked him if he could give me an hour of his time to tell me why he believed that Jesus Christ returned in finality in 70 a.d. He gladly spoke to me as, as I filmed him with my new Mini-DV camcorder - not for an hour, but for 4 hours. Don Preston is a brilliant Bible scholar and debater (a debater in the tradition of Alexander Campbell). I urge you to go to his website at: www.eschatology.org for many great study aids and articles. I am just a small voice in the field of preterism, but hope to add a lot more to the study. I have been selling preterist books and videos on ebay for quite a few years now and have sold items to over 1,000 buyers. Preterism is growing. Check back here SOON for more about preterism.