My Testimony

Bryan Sherwood 

I posted this a little over a year ago at Terry's other group, Covenant Talk. I did a quick editing job so the timing will make sense.

My story is similar but still a little different. I was a futurist for over 20 years, started out a pretribber, and before my paradigm shift, I was a posttrib dispie. A friend of mine that created the Bible Fulfilled Prophecy group here at Facebook, Steve Mullican, we use to attend the same church down in Texas. We've been friends for close to 20 years, and we lost touch of each other about the mid 90's, and just reconnected about two and a half years ago. I was anti preterist till a little over two years ago.

I had a discussion board on the Aimoo network, and invited my friend Steve to join the group. I had a eschatolgy category that was totally dispie. He posted some things in there that had preteristic overtones, and at that time I was somewhat bothered by what he posted. This too, was a little over a couple of years ago, and I suggested we have a talk on the phone. I said Bro, the stuff you're posting seems to be preterist, saying all this stuff was fulfilled, and telling me about Matthew 24:34 and "this generation". I said, Man, you've got to be kidding, so you believe Jesus already came back? He said yes, and I had to hear how he was going to wiggle out of this one.

When I asked him how he reached this conclusion, he said Bryan, you're reading someone elses mail. What in the world was he talking about? He was very patient when he explained time statements and audience relevance to me, and he demonstrated it by the scriptures. I couldn't believe it, scriptures I've read over and over again, had a whole new light when those two principles were applied. We talked more and more on the phone, he was sending me links in my e-mail, and invited me to Paltalk where I could hear others discuss fulfilled eschatology.

I'll be honest, it wasn't an easy transition, after being indoctrinated with dispensationalism for over 20 years. I started out as a partial preterist for a few months because I still believed there was a possibility Jesus could come back one more time, and I also had a problem with the resurrection. Then the Pastor that owned the Paltalk room, talked to me over an hour on the phone and answered all my questions, and shortly after that, I became a full preterist. Now I'm very comfortable with my paradigm shift after numerous hours of bible reading and studying, and other books I've read like Matthew 24 Fulfilled, Last Day's Madness, The Parousia, a book that I really treasure, and the book I'm reading now, Behind the Veil of Moses.

All my friends here at Facebook and Paltalk have also assisted in the knowledge that I've achieved in such a short amount of time. The bible makes so much more sense to me, and the message of fulfilled eschatology has caused a renewed zeal for God, the bible, and also for studying. Without trying to be tacky or prideful, I can honestly say that, I'm proud to be preterist. I thank the Lord foremost, for opening my eyes to see, and my heart that was opened to receive this message. I also thank all of you for your posts, blogs, and teachings that have helped me a long the way on my journey. Lord bless ya'll, and thanks for taking the time to read my testimony.

How I became a Heretic.

Charles Shank

Some have been wondering where my story is, so here it is in short ( relatively );

I was brought up, from as early as I can remember, in the Reformed Baptist tradition. From what I remember; eschatology was never a huge consideration or worry, so I never really got into that aspect of doctrine until about my mid-teens when my family left the Reformed Baptists and adopted the moniker 'Reformed'. At this point; I started to become familiar with names like Gary North, George Grant, Rushdoony, and even, later on, Demar.

In my late teens and early twenties; I was introduced to some of the work of Max Sotak from Colorado, and of J. Stuart Russel and others, like Josephus. With the help and instrumentation of these men, and the Holy Spirit; I began to be a Berean and study the Scriptures for myself, and, putting two and two together, to see that what I'd been taught ( postmillenialism ) did not quite add up. I started out then, as something like partial ( inconsistent ) preterism, and gradually, God brought me, through many means,, to understand that all biblical prophecy had been fulfilled in the first-century with the 'cloud' judgment of national physical Israel.

Learning to dig and not just rake.

Wanda Short

Hi everyone! My name is Wanda and I live in South Florida... I have a 19 year old son and three grown step children and five step grandchildren! Hahaha and I am only 43!

I grew up in a Christian (Lutheran) home but was never immersed in scripture or taught in the Word...our family was very active in the church but it was mostly social activities and community service type events. My parents have a deep and strong faith and are believers in the Gospel yet we never discussed anything outside of our Sunday school lesson. We were not encouraged to ponder, explore, dig, research or question anything....just believe what is being told. In youth group we never prayed (except at dinner), we never talked about anything to do with our foundation of faith...we just went bowling and on trips and things that were fun but that didn’t feed us spiritually. So, I grew up very lazy in regards to what I believed and therefore did not experience joy or the desire to even know more of God.

About eight years ago I became a member of a Presbyterian church in our town and became involved as a youth group leader. I had been active as a youth group leader for the last 20 years and was suddenly tired of being the leader that my own youth leaders had been (big on fun, short on discipleship). My heart was so heavy all the time because the teens wanted to know more of God and they wanted to know more about faith and I couldn’t even tell them what I believed. Every interaction with them became a cycle of missed opportunities to encourage them in the truth of God’s word. Finally I couldn’t bear the thought of continuing in that fake superficial capacity - so I went to Alan and asked him if he would disciple me so that I could then in turn disciple the teens.

Thankfully he agreed and that decision was the catalyst to a life and completely heart changing experience for me. The more I understood and experienced the Sovereignty of God and His free gift of Grace the more I desired to know Him! Through these discipleship meetings Alan was able to continually encourage me and point me back to Christ and I was able to put off many of the damaging experiences I had gone through as a child! It has been (and continues to be) a long, bumpy, at times terrifying road but I feel for the first time in my life that I don't have to fight for control...or independence...and that I don't have to DO anything for my salvation!

A few years ago, Alan asked me to read a paper he had written "Reading the Bible Through New Covenant Eyes"…this was the start of his much larger work that ended up being the book by the same title. This short paper was enough to start my journey into learning how to read scripture in context and to remember that it is written to a specific people in a specific time. Ha! No longer could I take one verse out and throw it around and make it mean whatever I wanted it to at that moment! Wow. So once I understood that - it really was a very easy jump for me to then realize that Jesus is very specifically speaking of His second coming to the disciples (not me!) and that there is scriptural proof that the Parousia occurred at the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD. This then naturally led to my embracing of Full Preterism. What this did for me was to bring everything I had hoped for – into a completed state! God has fulfilled ALL His promises…I don’t have to worry about when He will do it (which always led to my fear of Him changing His mind!) because He has been true to His Word (scripture) and it is done! This was like the corner piece of the puzzle for me – I am eternally ALIVE! The bible is from start to finish the entire story. Well, that “small” paper has since evolved into the full length book featured on this website and I have had the pleasure and joy of reading the many drafts that it has gone through to its completion!

Will Alan’s book and the logical conclusions that you must make from it change your life as drastically as it has mine? I pray it does! I pray that your heart bursts with joy as the implications of Full Preterism become clear to you! I thank God every day for the passion and fire He placed on Alan’s heart which makes him willing to stand for truth and to shepherd those in his flock. Well-done Alan! Now when will the next one (Living Our Lives With New Covenant Eyes) be ready for proofing? :-}

From Amil to Pret

Tony Denton

Well, here goes, Terry. :) I'll try to keep it short. I was raised among the churches of Christ which, as most everyone knows, is of the amillennial persuasion. After high school, instead of going to a seminary, I pulled a Timothy and Titus sort of thing by moving in and traveling with a fella who had been a full-time minister for maybe 40 years by that time (this was 1981). 

I started being supported a little as I began going here and there to preach in 1982. In '83 I was called from the east coast to my first real located work in McAlester, OK. (I was raised in Raleigh.) In 1985 I moved to Durant, OK, to work with another preacher in a mission work. While there, he and I decided to study Mat. 24, pretty much each on our own, then come together to share our conclusions. This is where it all began for me. He and I had both, contrary to the way we were taught, came to the same conclusion that Mat. 24 was ALL about an end-of-judaism scenario, not an end-of-time scenario.

After that, little things here and there began to bother me (though not this other fella) as I went on with my general Bible studies--many things just weren't jivin' fer me; but it wasn't until, I think, '92 or '93 when I met and heard ... yeah ... Don Preston speak at a "unity" meeting in Kentucky (or was it Tennessee?). He spoke, I think it was, for 45 minutes, and piece after piece after piece of the puzzle was easily being put into place. So I attacked him the first chance I had, bombarding him with questions. We began corresponding, and it hasn't stopped since. Now for the rest of the story. Once I began gettin' serious about studying the Bible from this new-to-me preterist perspective, I, as each year came along, had to stop singing certain songs with the congregation and teaching on certain issues, because I never much liked teaching something about which I didn't feel convinced.

As you can imagine, especially being a full-time supported minister for over two decades by this time, things just kept snow-balling to the point that there was nothing I could teach on which didn't somehow reflect my new way of seeing the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. It got to where folks started asking me questions, and all I could do, if they wouldn't let it go, was to sit them down and say, "OK, you asked fer it. How're goin' deal with it?"

Most who asked were, as is often the case (just think of Jesus' disciples) were the type who trusted me and were interested in where I was theologically so they could study it as well. But, finally, the wrong person discovered my heavy preterist leanings in '07 and told the wrong person (someone who isn't of the Berean mind-set, and, sadly, also a honcho who was the only one with his name on the church property and treasury); so half the congregation followed his intimidating lead and refused to study this with me, dropped my support like the proverbial hot-potato, and even the locks on the church building doors were changed. (This guy never did seem to really like me much or want me there [though nearly everyone else did], so it seems he finally found his ace-in-the-hole to destroy my "good" in the brotherhood, leaving us in a lurch, and that after being diagnosed with MS without insurance; thus even benevolence was thrown out once I was labeled a preterist-heretic.)

Yeah, sad story; but my family and I are much, MUCH more spiritually content than we had ever even thought we could be, having been raised so very legalistically. So for a few years now (it was slow partly due to the fact that my family's living depended on it), I've considered myself a full or true preterist, for I'm now convinced that such is exactly what God expects me to believe from my own, personal studies, instead of from what I was taught to believe and teach. THE END. :)

I tried to prove preterism false.

Tracy M

I loved reading some testimonies here, and particularly one by “Jamie” who was raised with the preterist view! How refreshing it was to hear her call futurism’s tangible kingdom and literal end of the world, “a little nutty.” Lol. I believe one day everyone will look back and wonder how we could have believed something so contrary to God’s Word.

I was raised to believe the ridiculous notion that God wasn’t lying when He said His return would be ‘within a generation’ and ‘soon, shortly, in a little while, quickly’… He just wanted every generation to live ready. So ‘at hand, the last hour, near, at the door, about to come’ and my favorite, ‘will not delay’ were magic adverbs which would one day apply, whenever it was really time. How did the futurist tradition even come to be in the first place?! Sometimes I think that if 2 Peter 3:8-9 (1000 years like one day) and Matt 24:36 (no one knows the day or hour) weren’t in the Bible, everyone would be a preterist.

Have you seen Brian Martin’s video, “You’ve Got to be Kidding, Right?” I highly recommend it. My testimony is very similar to his, in that I came to the view by trying to prove it wrong to my dear misguided Christian brother, who had been the best man at our wedding. My husband and I were committed to bringing him and his wife back to reality. Ha! We had no such luck.

As I look back, I realize that the 6 areas that really opened our eyes coincidentally start with 2 H’s, 2 A’s and 2 T’s. So I use the acronym ‘HAT HAT’ to remember them.

Hermeneutics… Audience Relevance… Time Statements…
History… Apocalyptic Language… Typology.

Some of the highlights along the way were, 1) Learning that the Bible wasn’t written TO us, but FOR us, and that Revelation really was written TO the 7 churches in Asia.

2) learning that the ‘elements’ that were to melt in fervent heat were not atomic particles, but elementary teachings or principles, as used in Galatians 4:9.

3) Learning that “heavens and earth” referred to Israel or God’s covenant with Israel.

4) Seeing that planet earth endures forever (Eccl 1:4, Psa 78:69, Psa 104:5)

5) Reading Josephus’ historical account of the first century persecution and War of the Jews.

6) Seeing how John's spiritual imagery was borrowed from the Old Testament prophets who used the same language to communicate national destruction, not planetary demise.

7) The typology of the High Priest, 40 year Exodus types and shadows, and Feast Day significance. How the Old Covenant was a shadow of the New Covenant substance.

8) Realizing that Jesus meant what He said when He told Peter He wanted John to remain till He returned! (Jn 21:22) How many people gloss over this??

9) Reading Luke 21:20-22 again for the very first time. That was one big ‘Aha.’

I’ve seen these t-shirts at Berean Bible Church: “Preterism… it’s about time.” Great play on words. I think that phrase should replace the doomsday billboard out on the Interstate saying that May 21 is the end of the world. Or at least go up on May 22!

My Journey to Preterism

Dale Stanford

I had grown up in church and knew about Jesus. I read the bible and thought I had accepted Jesus as my Savior. I don't think I even considered the term Lord and what it meant. But I always sensed God in my life. I believe He kept me from getting into trouble and from harm many times as I was growing up. But He let me do my thing knowing that I would someday realize that He was THE way, THE truth, and THE life! I continued to live my life as I wanted through highschool, one year of college, and 6 years in the Navy. I got married in the Navy and we partied our way through it. We had a daughter in the Navy and a son shortly after we got out. After 9 years of marriage she filed for a divorce and I was crushed! There was a small church that I had passed every day on my way home from work, so God brought it to my attention one afternoon. I knocked on the pastor's door one afternoon and he invited me in. We talked, cried, and prayed together. He invited me to come to church there, so I did. For the next two years I spent every free moment I had studying the bible. I couldn't get enough! I also listened to lots of christian music. Keith Green was my favorite. His music blessed me so much! I went to every service and event that the church offered. I sang in the choir, played on the fast pitch softball team, and participated in all of the work parties. God was blessing me, and I wanted to tell everyone I knew about Him! A lot of my friends thought I was being too pushy, but I just wanted them to know the love I had just found in Jesus! While I was singing in the choir, I met a young lady who became my current wife. We have been married almost 29 years now, and have a 21 year old daughter. She is our miracle baby, and God has used her to bless our lives!

About 3 years ago my job ended. After about 6 months my faith was shaken, and I began to worry about it. How was I going to provide for my family without a job? One day I took my bible out to my patio and began reading the book of Job. After a few days of reading, thinking, and praying about what Job had endured, I fell on my face before God! How could I complain and feel sorry for myself after what Job had gone through? I knew that God had promised me that He would never leave me, and that He would always provide for my needs. But I had suddenly lost that faith. I repented and asked Father to forgive me for not trusting and believing Him. I told Him that I would never forget those promises again, and that I trusted Him no matter what happened in my life. Well, it's now been 3 years and I still haven't landed a full time job! But my faith hasn't been shaken since that time! I haven't worried about it since then and I praise God for His promises!

Shortly after my faith failure, I ended up on Ed Steven's website (preterist.org). I don't remember how I got there, and I don't remember anyone talking to me about preterism. But once I was there and began reading the Q&A's, everything started to click. The time statements and audience relevant scriptures couldn't be refuted! The more I read, the more I discovered the fact that scripture had already been fulfilled! I googled other preterist sites and found Don Preston's site as well. I communicated with Ed Stevens via email and phone, and he sent me several of his books to review for him. I'm thankful for Ed Stevens and his heart for ministry! I have also grown to love Don Preston, Michael Loomis, and many other preterist brothers and sisters. I love following Terry and other preterist friends on facebook! I have so much more to learn, but I know that I will always be learning until I leave this life! It is like being re-born again! I love studyng God's word, and am always ready and willing to share His truth with others. I pray that He will open up more doors for me to share the truth of fulfilled eschatology with those who are ready to hear. It is frustrating sometimes attending a futurist church and having to bite my tongue at times. I have shared with several brothers and I know God is working on them. He was patient with me for almost 30 years. How can I not be patient with them? May God reveal more of His truth to us as we seek Him. May He fill you with His love, grace and peace. I look forward to seeing all of you in the unseen realm!

Blessings,

Dale

My Journey into Preterism

Tina Rae Collins

I grew up in a very conservative, extremely strict, always critical church that accentuated what I did wrong and never what I did right. The idea was to search the New Testament with a fine-tooth comb and try to find any commandment or example that we must follow and beat people over the head with it. No matter how many wounded, bruised, hurting disciples came out of this, we kept on beating (or getting beaten) until the results we wanted were achieved. We insisted that we were the one true church and all others were denominations that God disapproved of, and therefore all people in them would burn in hell forever. I honestly think we were proud of this—that we were the true disciples and God would take vengeance on the others, who, although they tried very hard to please Him but somehow missed the mark, would writhe in agony for eternity while we laughed and danced and enjoyed our life in heaven.

This all somehow looked good and holy from the outside, but I knew my own dark heart. I knew I could not and was not measuring up. I knew that I failed at every turn to live up to what I was reading in the Bible. Sure, my preacher was good and his wife was good and the elders and their families were upstanding people. But I was a fake. While I tried, possibly harder than they did, I could not be the person I knew I should be and I thought they were. I was always fearful, thinking God was going to drag me off to hell by the hair of my head at any given moment. I could never find true happiness in serving Him. I heard and read about the peace that passes understanding but it was far beyond my reach.

Thankfully, that has all changed. I have finally, through realized eschatology, found the amazing peace that God’s word says can be ours. Nobody will ever again make me feel bad about my walk with God. Oh, and I now truly understand what it actually means to walk with God. I feel His presence in my life in a way that I never did before. How did I get from there to here? Grab a cup of hot cocoa and sit down and relax--this may take a while.

In 1993 I met Art Ogden (he spent a week in our home during a gospel meeting), and I read his book Avenging of the Apostles and Prophets. I had read the words of others on the book of Revelation, but nothing ever clicked. I knew right away, however, that Art was onto something. I didn't understand why he suddenly jumped thousands of years right there at the end of Revelation, but I got the rest of it and knew it was truth. Art was a partial preterist. He could not bring me all the way to the truth, and it was many years before I got there.

A few other things over the years got me more interested in this topic; and then one day not too long ago (sometime in 2007 or 2008) a friend wrote me and, without meaning to, he let the cat out of the bag. Something he said made me realize that he believed in fulfilled eschatology, which I had previously read some about but had dismissed, although I kept the information I had been given and stored it away. I wrote my friend and asked if he was a preterist. He said yes and I started bombarding him with questions. The one big hurdle I had was 1 Corinthians 15, and my friend finally got me over that as he showed me that it was the law that kept us under sin and death and the law was gone. Now I realize that, instead of being the hurdle to get past, this chapter teaches very strongly that the resurrection is past.

I read The Parousia by Russell and Who Is This Babylon? by Don Preston. I began to get in contact with every preterist I could find to help me. Even though I was learning and realizing that I had been wrong, I could not take that final step and say I actually believed what I was learning. I kept saying I was “studying preterism.” Part of that, of course, was that my husband (at the time) was powerfully against the idea of preterism. He did not want me studying it. At first he said we would talk about it. “Talking about it” became him giving me several passages of Scripture that he said refuted fulfilled eschatology. I stuck them in a book to look at later and forgot where they are, and he became angry that I had lost his “refutation.” I told him I did not need Bible passages as I had read the Bible, and particularly the New Testament, from front to back on numerous occasions. I said I needed him to sit down and explain to me how his passages refuted preterism. That he would not do, and he finally banned the subject in our house. He did, however, bring it up sometimes himself so he could say how “stupid” it was. Once I reminded him that we weren’t supposed to talk about it and he said, “No, YOU can’t talk about it. That’s the beauty of being the head of the house.”

Knowledge is good, but if you can’t defend it, do you really believe it? I wasn’t sure. One day I sat with my older sister on a church pew as a preacher was standing in the pulpit talking, and she pointed out a passage in the Bible to me. The passage was:

Ephesians 4:11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;

12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:

Her thinking (I assumed) was that since we still have some of these people (evangelists, pastors, and teachers), why do we not have apostles and prophets? I wanted to help her understand, so later I told her that I do not believe we need the others—that we no longer need to tell our neighbor about God because we all know Him. I told her I do not think we need pastors or evangelists, who are no longer inspired as they were in New Testament days, to tell us anything, as we have the Word of God and can read it for ourselves. I brought in 1 Corinithians 13 and “that which is perfect,” explaining that all that had taken place and we no longer see “through a glass darkly.” And then I, perhaps unwisely, brought up fulfilled eschatology, which thoroughly appalled her.

My sister and I own an e-mail discussion list together. As time went by she began to question me publicly on the list. I tried every way I could to get around talking about fulfilled eschatology, as I was not studied enough and did not feel that I had the ability to defend my new-found beliefs (or thoughts, or whatever I considered them at the time). But she hounded me until I finally had to answer her questions or look like a coward. And so began a very long discussion that sent me seeking preterists from every corner of the earth to “come over into Macedonia” and help me out. One man in particular was a lifesaver. He sometimes gave me answers before I even needed them. It was as if, and I believe it was, God was there anticipating my needs and providing for me in great detail. I was able, through help, to defend fulfilled eschatology—and learn a great deal myself! I can never fully believe something until I can defend it against the adversaries. After I had done that I finally realized that I was indeed a preterist.

Needless to say, my husband became more and more angry and cold toward me. He accused me of discussing preterism just to irritate him, which was far from the truth, as the last thing I wanted was to irritate him. He put time limits on how much I could study preterism. He said he would not worship with me and could not fellowship me. I asked what he would do if I went where he went to worship and he said he would reveal my beliefs to the leaders. Eventually he stopped me from all study of fulfilled prophecy and told me to give him my materials. I never did get them together and he never asked for them again—thankfully, because I gathered them together and took them to my daughter’s house for safekeeping. Because of this and other problems in our marriage, my husband divorced me in 2009, stating to me that he would tell the judge that I was a preterist as his reason for divorcing me. He was only joking, of course, but it shows how strongly he felt about it and that it did indeed have a bearing on our divorce.

I decided I needed to quickly read the New Testament through to see if I could find anything that would prove fulfilled prophecy to be false. Although, as I said, I had read it many times, I needed to search and make sure nothing refuted my new beliefs. I didn't find anything. Then I read it through again, in a different version, just to see what I could find that would bolster my belief in fulfilled prophecy. What a surprise I got that time! Fulfilled prophecy jumped out at me from practically every page of the New Testament. I was extremely excited but also ashamed of myself for having missed it all those years when it was sitting there staring me in the face.

I believe it is God’s will that I teach the truth on this subject, and I am using every avenue available to me to do just that. I want others to know the joy, peace, and overwhelming love of God and man that comes from this truth. Some believe “end times” study is not very important because it doesn’t change us or give us anything to do. Well, it does change us. It lets us see that God truly is love and that He wants to come to us and dwell with us and be our God. It changes everything.

Now that I have discussed what and how, I would like to discuss why. Why did I change my views? What is it about preterism that makes me believe I finally have the truth about end times? This is the fun part. You might want to pop you some popcorn to go with your hot cocoa.

Malachi 4:1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
2 But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.
3 And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts.
4 Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments.
5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:
6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

Luke 12:49 I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled?

Matthew 11:13 For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.
14 And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come.

A fire was prophesied to come upon Israel at the time the "Sun of righteousness" would "arise with healing in his wings." Elijah was to come beforehand to prepare the people for that "great and dreadful day of the Lord." If we believe Jesus' words--that John was Elijah that was coming--we know that the day was also coming when the wicked in Israel would be consumed and the righteous would tread them down. We can know the day was imminent because Elijah was there. And Jesus intimated that the fire was already kindled.

Matthew 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)
16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:
17 Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:
18 Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.
19 And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
20 But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:
21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.

Matthew 24:27 For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
28 For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.
29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
32 ¶Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:
33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.

I should be able to stop here. At least I feel that way now. But how many times did I myself read these passages and not understand the way I do today? If we just clear our heads of any preconceived ideas and read what this text says, we can see that the great tribulation was coming on Jerusalem and it would be the worst tribulation that ever had been or ever would be. And IMMEDIATELY after THIS TRIBULATION ON THE JEWS Jesus would come in the clouds with power and glory and the trumpet would sound and Jesus would gather His elect from one end of heaven to another. THAT generation would not pass until ALL that Jesus spoke took place. I sincerely believe that, were this speech of Jesus' written in any book besides the Bible, all of us would easily understand that all these things were going to happen in that generation. Most of us are basically brainwashed to believe what we have been taught. It is no fault of our own, and nobody meant us any harm. Our teachers were doing the best they could to teach us what they thought was truth. We read what we expect to be there.

There is more. I have page after page. But this should be enough for now.

"I'm Not Changing...Just Growing"

 

 May Lyn

"Who, What, When, Where, Why and How?"

Different dispensational event timelines...Different end of the world/rapture/millennial timelines...Jesus' Kingdom is/is not here...

"Does ANYBODY know what the Bible is talking about?"

"Did Jesus mean what he said? If not, wouldn't that make Him a false prophet? And being who He is, how could He be mistaken? If the Bible was written by inspired writers, how could they have misunderstood Jesus?" And so on...and so on...

I didn't know or hear of anybody else with the same questions I had, and I couldn't get the same answers to my questions from different sources. I fast became disillusioned with mainstream Christianity.

One day while driving, as was my custom, I was searching the Christian radio programs that I knew and came across an old familiar voice. Couldn't mistake that accent! I hadn't been a regular listener and so hadn't heard him for a few years. He was talking about a subject I had never heard, preterism, and about the 2nd Coming having taken place in and around A.D. 70.

Boy, did that get my attention! That radio host was Arthur Melanson right here in my own back yard. I continued to tune in whenever I could and found that I was back in school learning Bibical history that I had never been taught. By the way, Arthur was a futurist when I had last heard him on the radio, so I was quite surprised to hear his change of position.

I was starting to get answers to my questions that made Bibical-sense not man-sense. And so 16 years later my journey with Jesus continues! I believe the Holy Spirit opened my eyes and ears and made me a Christian Enlightened. ♡

Why I changed my views.

 

Loren Adkins

Why I changed my views from futurism to Preterism. 

I have been in church my whole life, at least as close to being born into life as a Christian as on can get. My mom got saved just before I was born and started to attend a Apostolic Pentecostal church. This was a very conservative church, as they preached against everything it seemed. We were also what most refer to as oneness. We refuted the triunity of God teaching unless one was baptized using the “name of Jesus” one was not saved. We further preached that one had to speak in tongues to receive the Holy Ghost.

There is much more I could say about this but that is another testimony. About 5-6 years ago my new son in law gave me a bible study he came across on Daniels 70 weeks. This study was put out by a former United Pentecostal Church International Pastor that I had high respect for as a teacher. Before I go on I want to give a little more background on myself. I was really into prophecy as I wanted to understand the books of prophecy so I could see and know when Christ was coming back to judge the world, and all the trappings that went with it, the anti-christ, false prophet, tribulation etc. The problem is that in all the studies I would listen to and in all my own study things would not fall into place in my heart. Now I am a spiritual guy, I don't learn by the usual methods. I learn concepts of learning but them must learn through those concepts myself. There is little that I have learned by memorization, which seems to be the method many learn by today. Which is why I believe many take what has been taught them as doctrine without deep study themselves, if it looks good, sounds right, and feels ok at the time it must be right. I mean because the man behind the pulpit would not lead me astray that is his job, that is what he gets paid to do tell us what is the word of God so we can just be saints, right.

This attitude I might add is the reason the world is the way it is we have become gullible to almost every media that we hear and see.

Back to this bible study, the teacher Larry Smith had just been shown by God how that the teachings of futurism were not scriptural. He began to teach PP. The study I got on the 70 weeks of Daniel was one of his first studies he put out on the subject. It was a 12 or 14 page study that was like all other studies by Larry Smith short and direct and very easy to see and understand. After reading through this study the first time I saw the validity of everything he said. In simple concise wording backed up with scripture. But as this went against everything I knew and understood. I questioned everything, I ask any one that would talk to me what they thought of this idea. As that is just what I thought it was an idea. Some passed it of as just another variation of understanding that did not matter, others tried to refute these teachings calling them heresies. I read, reread, talked to others that would talk to me, I got into deeper study of the other teachings of understanding prophecy. I have in my possession the book by Dwight J Pentecost , called of things to come. This book is as big as the bible, with comparisons of all the different teaching of understanding prophecy. Although he leans towards futurism he does give a good comparison of the other teachings. I read this book almost from cover to cover, then back through again, let me tell you I got a pretty good understanding of what is taught concerning prophecy now.

The fact is that after going round and round with this thing for 2- 3 years, I finally took a stand against all those I know around me and became what is called partial preterism. At least I believed all of the 70 weeks of Daniel were completed and fulfilled at the time of Christ. Just as I was settling into this understanding, I realized that if Daniels 70 weeks were complete and fulfilled in Christ this must change the way I see the rest of prophecy. Over the next year or two I would come to be what I term full preterist. Although I do have some differing views from mainline FP I believe all bible prophecy has been fulfilled.

I have to include my fundie journey...

Phil Liszewski

When I was in the Air Force, I was without belief, and an extremely troubled soul. My father died while I was in basic training, and it set me searching for God. Of course, going back to catholicism for my answers wasn't going to happen. I joined the Air Guard, and was baptized and saved and joined a small Baptist church. I was very annoying, drove away everyone I knew with my zealous preaching of the need for everyone to be saved :)

As a fundamentalist, I transferred from the Air Guard to the Army Guard. Then I found out I would have to do gun training. I had passed all my gun training with no problems years earlier and had forgotten about it. I couldn't imagine shooting another person, since my salvation was assured and there's wasn't, it would be the same thing as condemning them to hell, in my view at the time. I became a chaplains assistant to finish my year out. Never met the chaplain.

I must have driven my pastor in the baptist church nuts. Every week I was wanting to answer the altar call, because I was walking around convicted all the time. I really was a miserable person to be around, I'm sure, looking back. Even my hardcore friends didn't want anything to do with me anymore. I was working a pretty low paying job at the time, and a friend who had moved to Evansville, Indiana, called me up with a job offer hanging storm windows for the summer on an eight story building. Since my new bride could no longer stand to be around me either, I went to the pastor with this question: "How will I know when God wants me to move on?" His answer: "He'll make you miserable where you are." Looking back, he must have known I'd take that answer and move on. That's how miserable of a person I was before God opened my eyes to his precious grace.

I took that job in Evansville after 9 months in that baptist church I was talking about. A friend put me up for a couple weeks until I found a room for rent. My first night there, I was alone looking out a back window at the little church next door, and prayed for the Lord to help me find a church to join. Of course, in my head I'm thinking 'church', like the one I was looking at, with a couple people walking out of it with sour looking faces on. I thought, "They look dead in the Lord, maybe I can bring some life to them." Ha, I was a miserable old sourpuss myself. A few hours later, neighbors from the other side of the house came by for a bible study. They smoked and drank beer! I hadn't done that for 9 months, and while I don't remember if I actually said anything (probably) my judgment I'm sure was showing. Next thing you know, out comes Romans! By the time we got to chapter 14, I had been convicted of my judgment in a big way. That night I had a cigarette, to help me bury it. The next two weeks I couldn't tell you much about, I have no memory of where I lived, who I might have been with. It was me digging in my bible with the Holy Spirit, and it was all like a cloud, it's the only way to describe it. That summer I worked 2 days a week, and did bible study for 5 months straight. Then apparently I was ready to come back home. I hung out with that fellowship a little, and spent some time at a place called the Sheep Shed across the border in Kentucky. But mostly it was just communion. It was an awesome answer to that prayer.

I was pretty wrapped up in the Second Coming stuff at the time, but that summer was about learning about God's grace, and the fulfillment of the cross in our personal lives. Still, I kept pressing the issue.

This was his answer to me at the time...

"But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, because the son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him." Lk 12:39

"for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night....But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief." 1Thes5:2,4

"But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare." 2Pet3:10

"But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you." Rev 3:3

"Behold, I come like a thief! Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his clothes with him, so that he may not go naked and be shamefully exposed." Rev 16:15

All these verses I was taught have to do with the day of the rapture. It certainly can't be a pre-trib rapture, since the last one is placed at the end of the 'trib' as taught. When I got to this one in Rev 16:15, I noticed it was in quotes! Of course, later I would get a red letter version, but at the time that was a real eye-opener, and the Spirit used it for me, to show me the teaching I had been given was wrong. That's it...it was wrong and I couldn't count on any of it, but for now I should concentrate on what he was trying to show me. It took a long time, and I gave up on understanding Revelations and prophecies more times than I can count, because it never occurred to me to look at history, or if it did it seemed like an overwhelming task. No one taught Preterism...there was no internet...I had scripture.

"Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, like men waiting for their master to return..."Lk12:35

"For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me." Mt 25:35

These types of verses still bothered me, but I came to see them in the fulfilled light anyway. Not historically fulfilled, but in the sense that he left an attitude for us to understand.

I'm not a works person. But He does come to us from time to time with needs, if He knows we will meet them for Him. I don't even think of these things as works. If you come to my house thirsty, I'll pop you a beer if I have one (or whatever I have that you might like). I just see that as being polite, and I think most do the same. It is in His nature, and so it is in your nature. It's not that being dressed and ready to serve is going out looking for something to do. It's being ready to meet the needs of your brother when he crosses your path.

A couple years ago I started a YouTube channel, commenting on videos about grace and fulfillment.

Of course, I was talking about covenant fulfillment, not prophetic fulfillment. As an inclusionist (although I still held the annihilation doctrine) I started making friends with others who held the Universalist view. I wasn't familiar with it, and of course many of the U/R crowd are also Preterist, and I wasn't familiar with that teaching either. Dave Lewerentz started getting several of the YT crowd who were in those camps to get over to FB and I did so as well, kicking and screaming. But it gave me the opportunity to join in conversation and banter with people over these beliefs, and so back to the bible study I went. Already seeing fulfilled covenant relationship for almost 30 years, made seeing fulfilled eschatology easy, and so out came the book of Josephus that has been sitting on my bookshelf for (decades????) without getting read. I didn't even realize it had multiple books in it, so any time I started looking at it, I would get into Antiquities and basically get bored. But now, I got into the Wars of the Jews, and Mt 24 and many of the prophecies I was familiar with came together. Shortly after accepting the view, I started reading Terry's weekly posts. So, while it wasn't Terry who led me to Preterism...it was definitely Terry who helped me to understand the apocalyptic language and Josephus revealed in light of scripture even more.

That's a long post, isn't it? Sorry...it was a long road, and I came to it from a different angle perhaps then some do. It all started 30 years ago for me, and didn't come together until the last year.

My Testimony.

Terry Cropper

Here is my story. One day while I was at work for some strange reason all I could think about all day was the rapture as we have all been traditionally taught. As I was thinking about the rapture I started remembering all the fun I had as a kid when school was out in the summer time. My brother and I spent most of our summer on our grandfathers farm. In those days we would go out into the field and picking fresh tomato that we would eat with a little dash of salt. Boy did that taste good. Like all farms in those days my grandfather had pigs, chicken, and chick, ducks, cows, and a horse. Every kid should spend some time on a farm at lest once in their life time.

The more I thought about my good old days of childhood. The sadder I became. I thought about all the kids that would never spend time on a farm, learn how to drive a car, or go out on that first date. How unfair it was of God to take away kids in the rapture before they had the chance to experience the joys of life I thought.

Later that day after dinner I went to bed around 11 PM. In those days I used to go to sleep with the radio on that was tuned into a Christian show. I don’t remember what show it was now because that was a long time ago. While I ways sleeping I felt like I was burning up. I heard a voice as clear as if I was awake saying (we are not living in the last days). I started crying in my sleep and when I woke up my pillow was soaking wet and I kept saying I love you Jesus over and over. This happen around three in the morning.

I thought the voice was came from someone talking on the radio. So I wanted to hear more about what he was saying. The next night after dinner I set my alarm clock to wake me up. I listened to the radio but I never heard that person again.

God burned something deep into my soul that night. I started reading the Bible after work and on weekends. Now the Bible was coming alive.

The Old Testament and the New Testament now fit together like a hand in a glove. I now understood that Christ’s language about his coming in the clouds was not to be taken literally but was language of Deity. Christ was saying he is God who rides the clouds in the Old Testament.

After about a year or so I found another Christian radio station that I could listen to at work. At 10 O’ clock in the morning there is a radio program that comes on here in Philadelphia that is called The Joy Of The Lord. It is hosted by a dear friend named Arthur Melanson.

About two years before I started listening to Arthur’s radio program he started teaching preterism He explained how Josephus was a eye witness to the destruction of Jerusalem at the end of the Jewish age. Then I look into that part of history. That was over 20 years ago now and I have been teaching preterism ever sense.

I cannot really explain to anyone were that voice coming from that night. When I think back on that night it still bring tears to my eyes. God burned something deep within me that I cannot let go.

I may lose friends and family but I cannot stop telling others about the good news of our complete salvation and how it was accomplished. I still spend a lot of my time these days studying the Bible and looking into church history. 

Laying aside the traditional teaching of men. I wanting to know all about God for myself. With that in mind God has blessed me tremendously and taken me on the greatest adventure of my life.