A CALL FOR MARTYR-LIKE PERSERVERENCE

by B.E.Kimball

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Edited by

Walt Hibbard of

 THE PRETERIST VIEWPOINT

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Should the so-called Preterist Reformation movement, which could be thought of as a continuation of the much older Protestant Reformation of Luther and Calvin’s day, where solid biblical doctrines were set forth to refute the heretical Roman Catholic (RC) church dogmas, really be called a Reformation movement?  Should it be thought of in the same light as the original Protestant Reformation?

The earlier Reformation of yesteryear was known as a great revival of Biblical truth where godly men took a stand against the unscriptural doctrines of the RC church and did so to such a degree that they not only suffered loss of power, political positions, high church standing and excommunications and in many cases lost even their very own lives.  They did not give in to these horrific pressures and torments of their day.  No, they stood for the truth that the Lord had given them.  They stood strong in God’s sight and often stood alone.  They were well grounded in Christ Jesus and what He demanded of them because of their responsibilities to uphold those God-given truths even to their death.  They didn’t aspire to be martyrs.  They did not want to be slaughtered by the sword but they knew if they recanted God’s truth, they would never see heaven!  In that event they would have sold out to the forces of darkness and not persevered in the Faith.

They, the Reformers, were the ones that brought the church out of the Dark Ages.  They were the ones that strongly affirmed that the doctrines of salvation could not have any works added to them, for if works were added to grace then they would become the works of man and not the free gift of God.  They knew that even the smallest amount of good works added to God’s total, immeasurable grace would make God’s grace none other than the works of man and man alone.

But now we claim that there is a new continuation of the old Reformation and those precious truths.  And we say that we are continuing the work of the Reformation by more perfectly teaching the truth about eschatology; namely that all so-called future events in the Bible have already been fulfilled about circa 70 AD.  We Preterists, as we call ourselves, have progressed from the partial preterist position, to the figurative or spiritual view, to where we are calling ourselves Literal Preterists.  At least that is where we should be headed and the position we should be teaching.  Yet we recognize that there are many Figurative Preterists today that Ed Stevens calls Inconsistent Preterists.  But surely there are enough Literal Preterist books in print now to explain all of that.  There is no longer any good reason to remain in any of these inconsistent positions.

The point that I am presenting for your consideration is this:  I am deeply concerned that some of the Preterists groups today are actually taking us back into the Dark Ages where many ungodly doctrines are now being warmly received, or at least tolerated, for the sole purpose of unifying the Preterist movement.  This is, as I’m sure you will realize, the exact opposite of what the old Reformation movement was all about and for which valiant Christians gave their lives.  The first Christians held to God’s truth and were terribly treated as we read in the Holy Scriptures, and the great men of the Reformation did the same.  But the Preterist movement today will apparently do almost anything to avoid a splitting of their ranks.  Under the guise of Preterist unity we are accepting such doctrines as Baptismal Regeneration which is little different from what the RC church teaches, that the church sacraments are a necessary part of the works added to the salvation process.  We also have among our number, individuals who teach false doctrines such as Annihilationism (which reminds one of some aspects of the RC doctrine of purgatory), and Universalism (which teaches that all men eventually will be saved!), and Arminianism (which gives man, not God, control over who is to be saved, not unlike what the RC church teaches), Heaven Now (which claims that believers are actually in heaven right now) and Dualism, (which makes that Bible unstable and turns it into a bunch of fables).

And so it goes on and on.  All these, and many more, unbiblical doctrines that Christians have died in past centuries to overcome, are being given the okay today by some Preterist groups to advance a feigned Preterist unity!  It is difficult to distinguish the difference between this false unity in Preterist circles and the false unity of the ecumenical movement which includes every hateful bird.  The ecumenical unity movement stands for no doctrine except unity.  They have to jettison all of God’s truth and empty the Bible of all content to maintain this unity and likewise the Preterist movement is reducing many vital truths of the Bible to non-existence for the sake of the unity of Preterism.  No wonder our Preterist movement is driving away all of the big gun Reformed theologians of today, such as R.C. Sproul, Gary DeMar and the alike!  Alas, we are witnessing the potentially-great Preterist movement being identified with a half dozen or more false doctrinal systems, none of which relate to true biblical, yes, Literal Preterism.

The Preterist movement today is attacking the ancient creeds and confessions that many great Christian men of centuries past have compiled so that the biblical truths can be taught more easily.  No, these creeds are not inspired, and no, they are not the Bible, but they are a tremendous labor of love and discernment for us to partake of so that the great truths of the Scriptures will shine through ever more clearly.  And they also keep the fabric of the Protestant church bodies doctrinally sound and are a great guide and learning tool for maintaining stability in local church governments.

It seems to me that if the Preterist movement is, in fact, the true extension of the Protestant Reformation of days-gone-by, we should certainly be holding to the great creeds and confessions, except in those special areas of eschatology where Preterists have labored long and hard.  We should stand true to such important and life-giving doctrines as God’s salvation by grace alone and faith in Jesus Christ alone like those great Reformers of past centuries did.

I fear that we, as a new movement in eschatological studies, are losing all credibility and for a multitude of reasons that I have mentioned in the above paragraphs.  But there remains much hope and cause for encouragement.  We must stand like a flint for those good and true, long established doctrines of the Protestant movement and of course continue our work in the areas of eschatology, without taking the church of God back into the Dark Ages once again.  What would those faithful men of God say to us if they knew that we could not even trust in the Lord enough to take the smallest of stands?

Where do YOU stand on these absolutely essential doctrines of the Christian faith?

"I cannot submit my faith either to the Pope or to the Councils, because it is clear as day they have frequently erred and contradicted each other. Unless therefore, I am convinced by the testimony of Scripture . . . I cannot and will not recant . . . Here I stand, I can do no other. So help me God, Amen."

Martin Luther

 Inconsistent Futurists/Partial Preterists

..."Mathison's book is proof that the next wave of reformation (the "Preterist" Reformation) has begun. Its articles sound so hauntingly similar to the creedalist and Romanist complaints against the first Reformers. This is another of those times in church history when the voice of REFORM must be shouted above the hysterical whines and woeful moans of blind tradition. Our response to Mathison's book may become one of the defining documents of the Preterist Reformation, much like Russell's book was for the last century.

The articles in this book will be the kind of "theses" we will need to nail to the electronic doors of every futurist institution in the world."... Ed Stevens

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IT’S CHRIST’S RIGHTEOUSNESS THAT I NEED

by

Walt Hibbard

In brief, I think his article hit the nail on the head. Salvation is surely ALL of God. It is by His grace, extended to a certain chosen people (the elect), that people ordained to save. There is nothing that anyone of us can do to gain God's favor. The only favor and merit God sees is in His Son, Jesus Christ, for only He was sinless. All the rest of us are sinners and nothing that we do can assist in any way in saving us. Even the faith that we exercise in believing in Jesus is a "gift of God" (Eph. 2:8-9).  And only God can bestow that gift, too!

Good works, including baptism, in a believer's life, come about only as a result of God's giving us a new heart to believe. Regeneration bestowed by the Holy Spirit, therefore, must come first. Then from that new heart, the good works spring.

The Bible makes clear in Romans that the sinner needs "the righteousness of God." What's that? Well, it is a perfect righteousness, something that you or I will never have in

ourselves. We will always fall short, even after we are saved. "God's righteousness" is the actual righteousness of Jesus Christ. So is there someway that I, as a sinner, can have that

"perfect righteousness" bestowed upon me? YES, but only if Jesus Christ bestows HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS upon me! This has to be Jesus' "imputed righteousness," the righteousness that is "reckoned" or "placed to my account." Unless, I have THAT righteousness, anything I do have is simply NOT GOOD ENOUGH to get me into heaven! Christ says, "Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”

Then, when God actually bestows CHRIST'S RIGHTEOUSNESS on me, then and only then, am I capable of doing anything at all pleasing to God, the good works we are talking about. So good works or baptism have absolutely nothing to do with being saved. They come afterwards as God uses His people to help build Christ's Kingdom on this earth. Life can be really exciting and challenging, but it all has to start AFTER the Holy Spirit bestows Christ's righteousness upon a person, and that person is then accepted in the Beloved.

Sure, God looks at and even judges our good works, but these are only good works that come from a heart that has been given new life by Jesus Christ, whose perfect righteousness is the basis for all that follows after it.

So this is what I sincerely believe the Bible teaches. God has changed my life. He has given me Christ's perfect righteousness and that is the basis on how God looks at me. He sees Christ. He no longer sees me as a rotten sinner undeserving of anything from His hand. He sees me, with all my sins forgiven forever, past, present, future, and as His child. He will never leave me nor forsake me, and He will NEVER blot me out of the Lamb's Book of Life. He chose me! I did not choose Him! I'm so glad of that; otherwise, if it had depended on me in ANY WAY, I would be eternally lost. I rejoice that I am saved!!

~~Walt of the www.preteristviewpoint.com