Perhaps the downward slide happened when Virgil Vaduva; arguably the most aggressive pusher of full preterism to date left the scene. His premier Full Preterist site sits gathering virtual dust. Those who tried to fill the void when Vaduva stopped promoting FPism were not able to compare an iota. How many conferences did they put on compared to Vaduva. It is looking more and more like Vaduva WAS FPism. Without him, it has gone nowhere but down. Even Vaduva's goldenboy; Sam Frost couldn't keep it alive so he bailed ship to join his mentor...in another cult.
I'm sure there will be FPists that say I am writing FPism's epithet too early, but when all they have left is Preston who can't offer anything but the same worn out youtube videos of him sipping coffee and pushing his latest book that is simply a rehash of his last book; what do they have left?
Michael Miano made waves but is no Vaduva or Preston. Larry Siegle tried to become the new Michael Loomis but as wishy-washy as both of those men are; Siegle makes Loomis look like a stubborn old man as much as Siegle is uncommitted even to his own beliefs.
Dave Green, for all his pithy comments never ventures too far from his own base. A man like Michael Sullivan, with his apparent hatred for everyone but himself is unlikable even by his own kind, so that's a no-go.
Maybe FPism will rise again in the future; but for now it lies dead along side of the road. It was never able to gather the kind of following groups akin to it; like Mormonism, JWs, or even Dispensationalism did. Maybe they should have spent less time trying to trademark the word "preterism" (as Vaduva actually tried); and more time working on anointing their leaders as Sam Frost wanted to be (joke). Or more than likely, it is simply that most people; even non-Christians realize that FPism is something OTHER than Christianity so they don't buy it from the get-go.
5 comments:
Roderick...I did not know that anyone tried to trademark the word "preterism," but I am guessing the impetus for that came from Max King's son, Tim, successfully trademarking the term "Transmillennial" about 10 years ago. Anyway, thanks for a well done article. If FP is dead, good riddance to it!
Hi Unpreterist Author/ Blogger.
Hi Roderick, i emailed you on your site.. I just want to repost my comments here
I'm so thankful that I have found your site. I almost loose my hope and joy when I was introduced to Preterism years ago. I almost have a total "Paradigm shift" based on those belief as they say.
The thing that really bothered me is what Jesus said in Mark 13:30 and Matthew 24:34 "Truly. "THIS" generation or "genea" will not pass until ALL things will be fulfilled." They always say that when Jesus says THIS it means "this" and not THAT???? I'm reading your Blogs at the Unpreterist site and I'm comforted that my Faith in the future advent is not that fully destroyed.
I just want to post some links that I've read and hopefully you could help enlighten me and other Preterist victims to still hold on in hoping for the blessed appearing. I believe in the articles you have written and deep In my Heart I believe Jesus will still return in the future. But this articles are still messing with my mind. Hope you could help debunk this claims in your future articles.
http://www.andrewcorbett.net/articles/bibliteral/index.html
http://www.andrewcorbett.net/articles/heavens-melt/index.html
http://www.andrewcorbett.net/articles/two-witnesses.html
http://www.andrewcorbett.net/articles/dispensational-disappointment/index.html
http://www.andrewcorbett.net/articles/marriage_supper_of_the_lamb.html
and also this Video. It's just one hour but when I saw this, It almost shattered my faith just like the honest but Poor narator who is a futurist but was converted to HYPER-Preterism.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7Ui-hf10u4&feature=c4-overview-vl&list=PL7D3F7CF23B7D0807
Again thanks for your Unpreterist site. It's really helpful in undoing my indoctrinated beliefs about Preterism. ALso can I ask a few questions if you will.
1) Is "THIS" generation really means the Generation when Jesus is speaking or THAT/THOSE generation in the future who sees all the signs. They say that Jesus did not have mistaken grammatically, when he said that THIS means THOSE or THAT? Any thoughts on this?
2) Does "Coming in the Clouds" means "Coming In Judgment" I know it's literal, but they say in the Old Testament. Coming in the clouds is related to Coming in judgment. Is it true.
3) Does the "ELEMENTS" will be melt with fervent Heat." in 2nd Peter 3 means the Elements of the old covenant and not the litteral Physical elements on Earth or heavens. They say it's "STOICHEON" in Greek which means not material.
I hope you could answer my Questions. It will benefit and for my part I would be completely healed in undoing the Preterist virus that caused me sick.
Thanks and God Bless!
This article is pointless .. Who cares if preterism is popular or not . The important thing is that it is based in scripture . Until preterism is proved wrong by scripture it is the truth . Every debate or article that I have seen concerning eschatology views preterism is by far the clearest . They have nothing to hide they just say what the bible says and there is no gymnastics .. Popularity means nothing just what the bible teaches
Well, it's not whether it is "popular or not", it is whether if Christians throughout history, reading scripture have ever interpreted in the way full preterists do. And you know what? Christians DON'T interpret scripture in the way full prets do.
So now what????
The movement to/away from full-hyper-preterism is due to many things, but the truth remains...
Just remember that no matter what you or anyone else may claim, ALL prophesies were fulfilled. We need not look at only the words of the NT, but at the OT as well.
First we need to understand this important fact...we have an OT to learn from. What does that mean? It means we have to understand what WAS going on, to understand what was to come.
Everyone uses the "symbols" and "signs", "feasts" and "shadows" to prove that Yashua came in the flesh. Even the first century christians used the LXX (Septuagint) to prove that Yashua came in the flesh. Psalm 40 was rewritten by the Masoretic scribes to make sure their Hebrew brothers wouldnt fall into the "trap" of "...but a body thou has prepared for me...". Instead, they changed this prophetic scripture into nothing by saying, "...thou has pierced my ear...".
Since the signs and symbols, cycles and patterns are clearly given in the bible, and we use them to convince others of the resurrection, as well as ourselves, we need to remember that the OT is a "sign" of larger things.
What sign is this? The sign of fulfillment. But how can this be proven? By understanding what was then, to see how it was concluded.
With all these things being said, I would like to direct you to OT scripture that proves without a doubt, that preterism is the truth. This scripture starts in Exodus 12 and ends in 2nd Kings 25.
First, we see that the children of Israel were under the power of Pharaoh, (sin, the carnal man, satan, the flesh). They were FORCED to do what the slave master, (the body) said, because they were born into slavery.
Second, we see a "savior" by the name of Moses. He is going to lead the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, (bondage, slavery to sin).
Third, there is a passover.
Fourth, there is a walking for three days and nights to the sea of reeds to cross over to the other side. (...and they were baptized unto Moses...) Death, burial, and resurrection.
Fifth, the children wander for 40 years until Joshua enters the land of Canaan to start his campaign.
Sixth, there are judges up to the final king of Judah. Later, people were taking into captivity. Thus concludes the 1000 years from Joshua to the last king of Judah.
All of this was the "physical" or old man aspect of the prophesy, whereas the spiritual was to be fulfilled later by the words of Moses about another prophet, Yashua, who would be like him.
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