I am a bit crushed today.  Seeing preterism devolve into an attempt to get the biggest piece of the pie possible instead of ministering to others and helping others learn, it depressing.  Then seeing a man I respect support such things, just tears my heart out.  Then when I look in the mirror I see the man I should be pointing a finger at.

When did preterism become about getting monetary supporters and money?  When did we become futurists?

It makes me want to walk away from preterist radio, all the forums, all the groups, and just circle the wagons with my friends and get back to just existing in a small, unseen, unknown corner of the preterist world.

Ego has always been present in preterism as some people see it as a way to bypass authority and set themselves up as “pastors” or professors etc.  Now sometimes these are people with genuine gifts and abilities to pastor and then it is a great thing.  But sometimes it is people who just want to make a living as a pastor, or who want to promote themselves or see themselves as having the one true word and needing to teach everyone else their superior theological position.  Then it is a determine to God’s Kingdom not a benefit.  I also think it has been tempting at times for all of us to think of making money with our teaching and writing etc.  I know I have fallen into that trap before, so it’s not like I can point a finger at others without pointing at me too.

The individual, renegade, cowboy nature of preterism  has often led to preterists trying to come up with novel theologies they can promote, “Idealism,” “IBD,” “CBV”, “Realized Preterism,” “Hybrid Preterism,” and so on and so on.  Instead of studying to learn from others, new preterist men seem to want to invent something to make their mark on preterism.  They want to be known.  It is often just about ego any more, and that saddens me.  I know 11 years ago, I tried this as well, trying to marry Reformed Preterism with Process Theology categories.  You all might remember that fiasco!  So again, I cannot point fingers at others without pointing them at me too.

We have become just like the futurists, promoting ourselves instead of the faith; promoting hitting people over the head with our theology instead of showing love and care for others.  We have become what many of us saw as a good reason to leave futurist churches.  I have seen the enemy and it is us!

I know I have been one who has had heated theological discussions in the past with those who were theologically astute in preterism and its critics.  I have often been arrogant myself in these discussions, but through my sinful pride, I still saw a need to be a minister to those who were not as learned as I, those in real need and those hurting.  Now many seem to be throwing aside anyone without the theological sophistication of a professor, it seems acceptable to treat those in need and the poor with contempt.  I see very little Christianity in many preterists these days.

I am just as guilty as others and I am sick of what I have become in many ways.

When we cannot even discuss feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, taking care of the hurting, and ministering to those in need without using theology or politics as an excuse for ignoring them, something has gone terribly wrong.

Again, it saddens me.  There is no need to point fingers or place blame, we have all let it happen.  But I really want to just crawl back into a hole, write as I can, read as I can, and just take care of my friends and family.

Today I am sick of preterism.

Now I know of many faithful men who have stood fast in preterism for many years, and I respect them a great deal, this is not about them, this is about me.

I know our critics will latch onto this email and use it against preterism.  But maybe that is what it will take for us to see what we have become.

Preterism should be about bringing healing to the nations from the New Jerusalem, not about protecting our territory, or attacking each other, or ignoring those in genuine need.

I am the chief of sinners in this, and for my role I apologize to all of you!

Blessings In Christ,

Ed

What is a pastor?  Is he a good teacher?  Is he a good leader?  Is he someone good at drawing people together?  Is he a counselor?  What are his responsibilities?  One of the big problems the church has faced is that many people have decided to follow the brick-and-mortar model of a church and appointed themselves to start such a church.  The problem is that many of these men are not qualified to be pastors.  I am talking more here about heart, focus and shepherding than anything else.  If a man is unable to be a shepherd, a gentle guide who cares for every member of his flock as his own, he should not even be thinking of starting a church.  I hear often from futurist pastors “I need to do what is best for the majority of my congregation.”  By which they mean shunning a small minority they believe are beyond help.  But Jesus left the 99 to try to save the 1; that is being a shepherd, not playing to your power base!

Pastoring is much more than preaching on Sunday and organizing a few events, or doing some writing.  Pastoring is nurturing and loving every single member of the congregation, regardless of their place in life.  The thing I see lacking the most in pastors these days, is love.  Some are great teachers, outstanding writers, great organizers, but instead of shepherding a flock they are more interested in carving out a niche for themselves.  When a bump in the road (read: less than perfect member) arrives they circle their wagons instead of following scripture and being a minister to those in need.  This is also obvious in the community when pastors and churches only help certain kinds of people, instead of being the church to everyone in need.

This is where the model of the scriptures comes into play so much.  A pastor should be under the guidance and support of older, more experienced pastors.  He should be taught how to shepherd.  He should learn how to counsel his people in love.  He should learn how to care for those in the community.  For many pastors, preaching comes naturally, but they can and do permanent damage spiritually, psychologically, and physically when they fail to learn the other necessities of being a shepherd.  Let’s say, for example, a person in the church needs marriage counseling.  If the young pastor, without being a good counselor, or knowing what he is doing, dives right in to counsel the couple because he is their “pastor,” a relationship has started that can never be severed.  He is now a part of their marriage.  They have opened up themselves in a way that does not go away just because counseling stops.  If he gives bad counsel, he could damage lives forever.  If he abandons the counseling, he could make it impossible for that couple to ever entrust their marital secrets to another counselor.   If, on the other hand, he brought an experienced pastor along side with him in the counseling process as he learns, he has less risk of creating problems.  That pastor would be able to be someone else the couple could trust.

Pastoring is much more than preaching on Sunday.  There are so many things pastors can do that can be spiritually devastating to their members without even knowing it.  I focus in on counseling in particular, because that is part of my training and background.  I have seen hundreds of people personally whose spiritual, emotional, and psychological lives have been completely shattered by pastors who give advice when they should keep their mouths shut, who counsel people with no knowledge of what they are doing, but especially of counselors who start the process with a member, gain trust, and receive intimate secrets from couple or individuals, and then either walk away from counseling or hand the people off to other counselors.  Anyone  trained in psychology, or counseling knows this is one of the most damaging things a counselor can do.  So why do people with no experience and no oversight  think they can pastor people and counsel them?  I am not sure.  But the damage is rampant in our pews and in people that will never step foot inside a church again.

That is why it is essential for men thinking of starting new preterist churches to find an experienced mentor, to guide them through these landmines.  AS a shepherd your first concern should be for your sheep, each and every one.  (Remember Jesus left the 99 to try to save he one, he didn’t stay with the 99 to do what was best for the majority!)  There are many experienced pastors in the preterist movement who can guide young pastors through this process.  Don’t be ashamed or embarrassed to ask for help.

This week on The Journey Ed Hassertt and I did three live broadcasts discussing the future and what a preterist church might look like. We looked at the model of the Church throughout the book of Acts and contrasted that with the situation that most preterist’s today are in.

And the reality of it is in most cases that we are all spread a lot like the first century Church was.

So we were thinking…Why not for the time being do exactly what they did? And so…Ed and I would like to get some feedback from you guys. Especially from those of you that are not able to meet within the context of a local fellowship and what your needs are so that we can start meeting them.

In other words…We want to start an Online Preterist Church and equip those of you that are spread out so that when the time comes and more people begin embracing preterism, the local fellowships will be a natural outgrowth of what we can provide now online.

And so what we need now is some feedback from you guys.

Here are a few ideas we’ve had that we would like to implement. Ed Hassertt and I would begin doing three live broadcasts per week. Two of them would be a basic verse by verse teaching through the book of Acts. The third one would be a live call in show where we would highly encourage listener interaction while discussing the other two teaching programs that week.

Ed would be available during all the other live broadcasts and other set hours for general discussion and counseling when needed by the members of this new online church body.

Ed would also be available for more individual needs like personal and marriage counseling in a private chat room, on the telephone or for video conferencing on Skype for a more face to face interaction if desired.

In other words we would like to provide you with someone much like the first century church found in the Apostle Paul, but in a much more modern setting where technology allows us to do the same things the Apostle Paul did.

This would simply be something real that we can do now until the time comes where more small fellowships can be formed where people can meet from “House to house,” on a regular basis.

We would also like to make this a resource to equip those of you around the U.S. and the world that would like to facilitate home fellowships.

Please listen to the following three broadcasts we did this week and let us know your thoughts.

Send us your feedback – feedback@ad70.net

Thanks, Michael J. Loomis

All scripture from The 1599 Geneva Bible, Copyright 2006 by Tolle Lege Press, White Hall, WV.

This is a general introduction to this topic to spark discussion, not a complete treatise on the issue. Every society required financing of public works, charity and care for all.

Social financing is a necessity in any and every society above the most backward level. If ti is not provided by God’s people, the state must step in and assume the responsibility, or face anarchy. Status Welfarism and social financing have been from antiquity a source of civil corruption, the destruction of the family, and a burden that can bring down the state.”

Often American Christians of the conservative variety have equated Christianity with blind capitalism. The problem is, scripture does not teach a blind capitalistic economic system. It does teach a value for private property and accumulating work through honest healthy work, but it places limits on both. One of the primary issues concerning those in the United States right now is economic policy and universal health care. People on both sides have been using sound bites about freedom of choice, lack of care, helping out those in need, but I have yet to see a consistent biblical response to the question of bailouts, economic stimulus packages and universal health care. So I want to take some time to delve into those issues with you. What does scripture have to say about these issues? As full preterists we believe that scripture defines our actions and responsibilities. We also believe that the dwelling of the New Jerusalem offers healing to all the nations. Is this healing merely spiritual or does it have physical dimensions as well?

Rousas Rushdoony states this idea succinctly: “By undermining the Biblical doctrine of property, capitalism has undermined itself. The godless state and the godless corporation are alike in their disregard for the theological meaning of property.”

Unrestrained capitalism is just as evil as unrestrained communism in the biblical model. All economic principles are to be subject to God and his word, and God’s word places limits on property purchasing and property use through the sabbath and jubilee laws. These laws are easily extended through analogy to ownership and use of all means of production in a post-agriculture economy. As a preliminary statement, my premise is that the poor should be cared for, the economy regulated and medical care provided for all citizens. I hope that is controversial enough for my readers to compel you to read further.

Is it the government role to care for the poor? Biblically we can see a precedent for this, but ti is the result of sin, not the result of good economic policy. Just as Israel, in their sin, demanded a king instead of God’s rule over them, people today have demanded the slavery of state run charity over biblical economic obedience. When the government must care for the poor, it is because the Christian community has been disobedient to God’s law. If the Christian does not obey God, he has no standing to complain when the government forces him to do so. If the Christian wishes to be free from the tyranny of excessive taxation and the paternalism of the welfare state, he must obey God and care for the poor himself. The are only two choices, Christian economics according to biblical law, or slavery to the state. The Christian’s sin is the cause for the welfare state, not the Democratic party or the Republic party. We need to accept responsibility for the consequences of our sin and repent before we can criticize government’s attempt to do what we are commanded to do ourselves!

Scripturally, those who were too deeply indebted to manage their own finances could “sell” themselves into slavery to pay their bills. This was in contrast to bankruptcy laws and 19^th century debtors prisons. When those who sold themselves into slavery chose to remain in slavery rather than enter into freedom and the free economy again, they were biblically allowed to do so:

Exodus 21:5-6 – But if the servant say thus, I love my master, my wife and my children, I will not go out free. Then his master shall bring him unto the Judges and set him to the door, or to the post, and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall serve him forever.

The corporate body of the church in the United States has willfully submitted itself to slavery of the state. It has decided it likes the benefits of living under a master better than freedom. The church has submitted itself to government run charity, government run economies, and statist policies. The government is the master, the church, the slave. The church has given the state this power, but instead of choosing to go free and take responsibility for its own lawful debts to society, the church has chosen to remain a slave. When the slave willfully submits himself to the master, the master then has the biblical right to control the economics, life and education of the servant. There is nothing unbiblical about the state doing this under these circumstances, but it is slavery, plain and simple. The government is the master, we are the slaves. We are slaves because we chose to be so.

There are several biblical principles that the church has ignored to its detriment. Refusal to obey these laws has led to slavery. Since this is not a full economic treatise I will not touch on all of them, but I am working on a full book on this topic. But one law which has consistently been ignored, is the gleaning law. Remember as we now live in the promised land of the New Heavens and the New Earth, we are to shape our world as God intended. The principles of biblical law can show us how life in the promised land is to operate and give us an indication of how we build the society God wants from us now that he has fulfilled his promises to us and brought us into his kingdom.

One of the key limits on capitalism in biblical law is the gleaning law:

Leviticus 19:9-10 When ye reap the harvest of your land, ye shall not reap every corner of your field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest. Thou shalt no gather the grapes of thy vineyard clean, neither gather every grape of thy vineyard, but thou shalt leave them for the poor and for the stranger; I am the Lord your God.

Those who own the means of production are required to provide for those who are hungry and unemployed or underemployed. In ancient times the means of production was essentially land, and the products were the crops they produced. Ancient land owners were commanded to leave the corners of the field unharvested as a way to provide for the poor. It has been estimated that this amounted to 5-15% of the production of those fields.

Gleaning was a form of morally compulsory charity. It remains the primary moral model for biblical charity… In a non-agricultural society gleaning cannot become a literal model for charity. Morally, however, We have the blessings and all the wealth we need at our disposal to care for everyone, but we have failed to obey God and enslaved ourselves. Let’s break free from slavery and do the job ourselves!gleaning is to be our guideline for charity… God expects the more successful members of a community to provide economic opportunities.

Elsewhere the bible tells us that we are to care for the widows, orphans, sick, imprisoned, even those who are thirsty.

Matthew 25:40 – Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it to me.

We cannot deny that the Christian is supposed to be providing for the poor, either through outright giving, redemption of debt, interest free loans, or providing a job (gleaning) so they can work for their own provision.

Kinsman supporting their own:

Leviticus 25:25 – If thy brother be impoverished, and sell his possession, the his redeemer shall come, even his near kinsman, and buy out that, which his brother sold.

Interest free loans to those in need:

25:25-27 – Moreover if thy brother be impoverished, and fallen in decay with thee, thou shalt relieve him, and as a stranger and sojourner, so shall eh live with thee. Thou shalt take no usury of him, not vantage, but shalt fear they God, that they brother may live with thee. Thou shalt not give they money to usury, not lend him thy vittles for increase.

If biblical economics were followed no one would be without food, a place to live, or necessary care. Curiously enough, however, many Christians in the United states have applied evolutionary theory to economics. The survival of the fittest begins to be a way to blame to poor for being poor and absolve the Christian of his responsibility to the poor. We say things like, “he needs to get a job,” “he needs to take responsibility for his own actions,” “we cannot help everyone.” While there is some truth to each statement they do not negate our biblical obligations to care for those in poverty and need. Other biblical principles deal with the slothful individual but the laws concerning those in poverty do not make such discrimination, they do not leave us an escape clause to refuse help.

It is the Christian communities God-commanded role to care for the poor and needy. If they refuse to obey, they incur a debt to their fellow man. When they do not pay that debt they enslave themselves to those that will pay that debt, in many cases, their government. This slavery is biblical, but a worst case scenario for the disobedient Christian.

In Genesis 26, Abraham faces a famine. Although we are not experiencing an agricultural famine, many circumstances indicate this could be considered an economic famine. The lack of work to earn money for food is just as much a famine for those in that situation as the lack of crops was for the ancient farmer.

One of the principles of the sacrificial system of scripture was to show who is was that owned the means of production. God is the ultimate owner of all land and resources, not man. As a means of regulating the use of wealth so it goes to those in need, instead of feeding a overblown bureaucracy is the limit God placed on the role of government and its income:

The temple or priestly tithe was only one percent of the believer’s tithe, which was paid to the Levites (Numbers 18:26). This was used by the Levites to provide a variety of services, care of the sanctuary, its music, service as educators, judges, and more. God does not in His law permit a rich and powerful state nor church.”

Government is to be limited, it only grows beyond its biblical bounds when Christians allow it to do so. We are responsible. It is time we realized that and acted accordingly.

In the end, providing health care is the same as any other care provided to the poor. The free market, restricted by biblical laws is the best model. This would mean doctors, medical companies, insurance companies and drug companies providing a portion of their profits for gleaning through providing a means for those in need to earn the care they need. This may be through working directly for the provider, tr through working for the community as donated resources by the provider and corporations. It is the Christian’s role to provide this for those in need, through the resources of the Christian community, Godly business practices and personal charity. When the Christian does not provide for those in need, as was mentioned above, he creates a debt. When he does not pay that debt, he sells himself into slavery to the entity or individual that pays that debt for him.

Christians have sold themselves into slavery to the government by not paying the debt they owe to the poor. If they refuse to obey God, it is ridiculous to complain that the government is doing it for them. Those who oppose government run health care, government welfare programs and economic stimulus packages, must pay their debt and break free of their slavery to the state. The only way for this to happen is for Christians, churches and Christian business owners to step up and pay their debt, to care for the poor and needy in their community. We cannot hope to, as individuals, solve the problem overnight, but we can start with our community, which is after all, the biblical model.

I call for Christians to discover ways to provide for the health care needs, nutritional needs, and housing needs for those in their immediate community. Obedience must start with a single step, but as more and more in the Christian community repent and take up this task, eventually we can turn our society from one in which our debt is to the government to one in which our only debt is to God. Political action is not the solution, biblical obedience is!

The curse has lifted and the only limits and poverty are those created by our disobedience and sin. We can change the world, and it may be that change takes place by providing health care for one persona t a time.

Revelation 22:3 – And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it and his servants shall serve him.

Deuteronomy – 8:7-10 – For the Lord they God bringeth thee into a good land, a land in the which are rivers of water and fountains, and deopths that spring out of valleys and mountains. A land of wheat and barley, and of vineyard, and fig tress and pomegranates; a land of oil, olive and honey; A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarcity, neither shalt thou lack anything therein; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose mountains thou shalt dig brass. And when thous hast eaten and filled thyself, thou shalt bless the Lors thy God for the good land, which he hath given thee.

We have the blessings and all the wealth we need at our disposal to care for everyone, but we have failed to obey God and enslaved ourselves. Because we are preterists we know that the curse is lifted and the God is brining healing to the nations through us. We just fail to realize that too often. Let’s break free from slavery and do the job ourselves! Until we obey God, we have no room to complain if the government does our job for us.

Original material will be forthcoming this weekend, but I wanted to consolidate the topic to this site.

We know the present reality in which we live! We should be living as if our actions are meant to shape the universe we live in, because they are! How many of us know for example that biblical law not only limits the size of the government but the size of the church as well!!

Many American Christians feel that scripture always justifies their position. Many used scripture as justification for slavery while others claimed slavery was always unbiblical, although scripture speaks of definite laws regarding slavery and the stealing of men. This will not be the volume to defend or attack those positions, I merely point out the ways in which Christians use scripture to justify their own views. The same has been seen throughout history in various political debates concerning economics. Some claim scripture teaches unfettered capitalism. Some feel scripture teaches unfettered communism. Both are to be disappointed with this exegesis of the actual economics of scripture. Capitalism is to be bound by biblical mandates which do limit profits in some cases and provide for those in need in a much more aggressive way than straight capitalism. Communism is in its essence theft and is not amenable to a biblical economics, although the spirit of providing for the lesser among us is contained within scriptural economics. Exploration of biblical economics is both fascinating and convicting.

Sabbath Years and the year of jubilee are the basis of a biblical economic system. Inflationary systems, communism, socialism, and Keynesian all have one thing in common, the maximization of distribution to their chosen class. Biblical economics has one goal, the eternal sustainable dominion of man over the earth for his own benefit. Many Christians deny environmental concerns based on the dominion mandate. This misses half of the biblical model. Other Christians deny the dominion covenant in the attempt to reach sustainability through environmental fiat. Ignoring either half of the biblical purpose only leads or tyranny and exploitation, and an increasing reduction of the number of people the land is able to sustain. The earth was created to sustain man and provide him wealth, if ti is treated as god has demanded. We will need to explore what this means in terms of sustainable use of the earth, a great deal of this is based on the principles of sabbath and jubilee as taught in scripture. We will also need to explore what dominion means, as taught in scripture. Finally, we will need to explore what God’s law and economic policies do in provision for the poor and alien in our midst. As we are now in the New Jerusalem, we are to finally be practicing the economics as laid out in scripture. Even Israel failed to follow God fully in this regard. Preterism means not that we shed the principles of biblical economics, but that our world is finally the first place where it can be put into its full and final form.

I have been contemplating the way Christians live in America today. It seems to me they are much more concerned with getting the latest Republican candidate elected than worrying about whether that candidate will actually uphold scripture in his/her governance. We are so set on winning little battles we have lost the war for our culture and the future.

Now I can excuse the futurists somewhat. I mean heck, if the world is going to end or God is going to miraculously transform the world into a perfect place to live instantly, why make an effort? What’s the point. The dispy adage about polishing brass on a sinking ship is true, if you are a futurist. Working for cultural transformation, biblical economics, biblical justice and Godly government are futile from the futurist perspective. But I cannot excuse preterists.

Edward Hassertt

A Response To Kenneth Gentry

When addressing the scholars of the Reformed community, care must be taken to get our facts, logic, and scripture correct. Unfortunately, those scholars do not take the same careful approach in dealing with Preterist Theology or the people involved. These scholars play loose with the facts, use logical fallacies, special pleading, and personal attacks. What is even more disturbing is their pointed criticism of the “difference” in theology shown by preterists when even those organized to argue against it (e.g., the contributing authors in Mathison’s book) cannot agree on the interpretation or application of the key eschatological texts of Holy Scripture. Despite the overwhelming fact that they cannot agree on the most simple aspect of their own eschatology, these glass-house dwellers try to dispel their own disunity by casting stones at those trying to be biblically consistent with their theology and hermeneutic. If internal confusion and hasty attack were sound argumentative techniques, the responses to preterism would be daunting. As it is, however, they represent nothing more than a loud, shrill, persistent (but not ultimately significant nor convincing) critique of preterist theology.

As an introduction to the type of criticism being leveled against biblical preterism I will first deal specifically with the introduction to the Keith A. Mathison edited book, “When Shall These Things Be”, penned by R.C. Sproul, Jr. I will follow with a thorough cross-examination of the testimony offered in the chapter authored by Kenneth Gentry. In the end the evidence will show a consistent misrepresentation of the preterist position and its adherents. It will also demonstrate that the criticism is unfounded being precariously founded on ill-formed arguments and attempts to impugn preterist through constant repetition of guilt by association claims. The attack on preterists for using improper hermeneutic and argumentative tactics fails due to lack of evidence with regard to either charge. Without showing any preterist who uses the techniques they condemn, there mere assertion proves nothing. With regard to the argumentative techniques they criticize it is quite telling that Dr. Gentry often uses the same tactics he previously condemned. This inconsistency in the facts and the form of their arguments should be enough to give any reasonable reader pause. In my case it invokes a need for a deeper investigations into what they are attempting to prove. But such a deeper look, only reveals a dependence on history unsupportable from scripture, with little else to back it but the traditions of men. When we cross-examine the testimony of these men against preterism we form more than a reasonable doubt that their claims are true, we find their evidence insufficient to even form a prima facie case against preterists and preterist theology.

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