Hyperpreterism’s New Hero

While I was a hyperpreterist there was always a certain anticipation in the movement that all we needed to really get hyperpreterism accepted was to find a “big name” to accept it. The reasoning was that if we could get a well-known person with lots of influence to accept hyperpreterism then not only would this give hyperpreterism the door into validity, but it would allow us to have a spokesperson, a posterchild, a hero for hyperpreterism.



A few years ago when Hank Hanegraaf from CRI seemed to be leaning toward hyperpreterism, there was much excitement within hyperpreterism that he would be the hero. And for a long time now, Gary DeMar of American Vision has been considered a “closet” hyperpreterist though he verbally denies it, his actions & on-going resistance to actually call hyperpreterism a heresy has led most hyperpreterists to give up on DeMar being a public mouthpiece for the movement. DeMar does more “good” for hyperpreterism by having hyperpreterists on his radio show & never making a distinction that he is interacting with a hyperpreterist over an “orthodox preterist”.
But finally, after many years of hoping they would find someone to pin their dreams of going “mainstream” the hyperpreterists may have found their man. Brian McLaren, known for his very liberal, socialistic theology & political views & for being one of the architects of the so-called “Emergent Conversation/Church” has recently said: “I believe all predictive prophecies were fulfilled in the destruction of the Jewish Temple in AD 70 under the Roman Empire.” (source)
Now, this is a dream come true to the liberal faction of hyperpreterism, which being led by Virgil Vaduva has been promoting postmodernism & Emergentism for the last 5 years. Vaduva believes that hyperpreterism & Emergentism are a match made in…well hyperpreterist heaven now. I used to resist that idea but now I believe Vaduva is on to something. Both “isms” tend to have the same reject-all-historicity premise so indeed they are a great match.
The funny thing about this is, the quasi-conservative hyperpreterists led by Sam Frost M.A.R. can now give up all hope of portraying hyperpreterism as a biblical, conservative system. Once McLaren’s name is associated with hyperpreterism it will forever be the liberal anti-doctrinal, anti-theology it really is.
I’m sure the quasi-conservative hyperpreterists will still try to make noise but they aren’t as good at it as Vaduva & his clan. Instead, the quasi-conservatives will continue to be relegated in their corner, talking about how much they are glad they have each other & pretending to be representatives of legitimate theologies such as Calvinist.
Anyhow, kudos to Vaduva! You have finally guided your cultic movement to the point where you can team up with your long time hero. Sorry about your luck Sammy, maybe you could have a private phone call with Vaduva & get back into his good graces before you are left behind?
NOTE: There was picture of McLaren with Vaduva but Vaduva complained that he “owns” the picture though you can see the original picture here: http://www.preteristcosmos.com/bartok-moment.jpg