Another Ex-Hyperpreterist -- Praise Christ Jesus

Ed Hassertt was often called the "pit bull of preterism". He was ready to defend the "FP view" tooth and nail. After the final straw of interacting with MoGrace2U/Robin, Ed finally has repented of hyperpreterism.

Some comments from him include:

"The only times I don’t like what I see in the mirror is when I am defending preterism, or talking with preterists. I wonder why that is?

Preterism tends to be filled with mavericks who do their own thing, walk away from any authority, and want to make their own permanent mark on the church. There is no real community, just a whole bunch of bandwagons that people are constantly jumping on and jumping off. The movement is in serious trouble."

Exactly, hyperpreterism is arrogant from the core. It adherents MUST claim Jesus, the apostles, and the Holy Spirit were unable to convey God's plan in a sustaining way. That supposedly, the day after AD70, all the known Christians either forgot or didn't understand the eschatological plan until along comes Max King who can somehow explain it better than Jesus, the apostles, and the Holy Spirit. Really??

Don Preston Won't Debate His Own

He goes by "RiversOfEden" because I think he works in sensitive government positions, and since hyperpreterists have been known to even threaten people's families -- he has to be careful. At any rate, it doesn't matter what a person's name is but what they are saying...well.. unless by knowing a person's name allows his opponents to personally attack him, which is probably the hyperprets motives for wanting R.O.E.s name. It is enough that he has been consistently using this alias.

R.O.E. was in the movement from early on. He helped Ed Stevens with some of his articles. What makes R.O.E. different than the average hyperpret, is:

1) He isn't trying to pretend hyperpreterism is "Christian".
2) He takes the hyperpret premise of "all fulfilled" to the logical conclusion.
3) He isn't....well...a jerk like most of them.

Let's deal with each of these 3 distinctions.

Jason Bradfield Reveals Why Sam Frost Left The Hyperpreterist Movement

After months of hyperpreterists speculating as to why Sam Frost left the movement, Frost's protege; Jason Bradfield has finally revealed the real reason.  First, we know Frost's departure from the movement is not as clear-cut; after all, Frost STILL calls hyperpreterists his "brothers in Christ" and Frost maintains a podcast show co-hosted by hyperpreterist Mike Loomis.  Even Bill Hill of CovenantRadio.com distanced himself from his co-host Jeff McCormack when it became obvious that McCormack was promoting hyperpreterism (source).

I Don't Know You or 'Your Heart' But...

Every so often, some hyperpreterist will respond to something I wrote here or elsewhere but the problem is that person ASSUMES a lot about me and then goes from there.  Such a case happened with a fellow named Brett McNeill, associated with Don Preston's congregation.  He was upset with my reporting of Don's resignation speech.  Brett left some comments but they were so laced with falsehoods I urged him to rewrite them and then I'd post the comments.  He asked me to clarify where he was using falsehoods.  This is where the "Roderick, I don't know you or your heart but..." mentality comes in.  Brett spends a lot of time trying to claim to know me and my heart and instead he ignores the stated FACTS of Don's speech.

I replied to Brett, carefully and paragraph by paragraph displaying the falsehoods within his comments.  What follows is that exchange.  My comments from hereon are in blue.  Some exchange is referring to emails Brett has sent me.  Article and audio of Don Preston that sparked this exchange: http://unpreterist.blogspot.com/2010/01/don-preston-resigns-because.html

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Ardmore Family of God -- Don Preston's Personal Cult

Don Preston, perhaps THE mouthpiece for hyperpreterism as Preston is the most published hyperpreterist author and the most widely followed hyperpreterist debater had also been a "minister" of a congregation.  The "church" was originally called the "Ardmore Church of Christ" in Oklahoma.  But in 2007-08, after 16 years of leading the congregation Preston delivered a farewell speech which was more of an admission that his congregation failed and that he was leaving due to lack of financial support.  Listen to it yourself (source).

After Preston left, to pursue more money making opportunities, another hyperpreterist named Jack Scott took the helm.  Scott spoke at a few hyperpret conferences but was never the big name that Preston had been. Scott resigned in 2010 but not before further deluding the poor folks attending that congregation. (More on that later)

But what is revealing is the REASON Preston resigned.  From the ACTUAL speech that Preston gave at the time, he CLEARLY stated he resigned BECAUSE:

1. The congregation wasn't meeting its "hopes & dreams".

2. The congregation was failing to grow.

3. The young people were abandoning the congregation.

4. The congregation was not making it "possible" to financially support Preston's plans.

The audio and the text of the speech can be accessed here, since the congregation website itself has all but cleansed itself of the embarassing episode, not even telling the visitor the history of the "church".  Since the focus on his speech, Preston and his apologists have ATTEMPTED to spin what happened.  To this end, one of the congregation's administrators recently responded in part saying:

"Perhaps a blip of truth thrown into the heresay testimony given here may be helpful. My name is Brett McNeill. To establish some credibility with the readers, I was an officer of the Board of Directors of the church where Don Preston was the full-time minister..."

HOWEVER, we have Preston's own recorded speech and text to go along with it.  The "truth" is there was no HEARSAY, it is was Preston's own words that his defender now wants to revision.  There is no bitterness, simply reporting and reporting that let's the reader access Preston's ACTUAL words -- not the puditry of opponents or supporters of Preston.  And whether a person likes or dislikes Preston or his teaching, Preston's OWN WORDS show that he resigned for the 4 reasons listed above.

JACK SCOTT ERA

Jack Scott only "ministered" to the congregation for about 3 years before resigning.  Why?  who knows, but perhaps the answer can be found in the "sermons" of  July-11-2010 or July-25-2010.

In Scott's resignation speech he states:

"I know in someways many of you feel I've let you down and in reality that is probably the truth" --  July-25-2010

So, once again this congregation gets dumped.  When will they learn that these men are using them?

The personal cult that Preston had turned this congregation into, passed to Jack Scott who also dumped them and eventually it appears turned it over to a man named Oscar Miles who is as much a radical, Christianity-hating individualist, private-interpreter as had Preston and Scott been.  This poor congregation will probably experience the abandonment by this man too.  Perhaps they should consider that God is trying to tell them something?