Preterism is an absurd and heretical view of Bible prophecies. But well-known Christian personalities such as R. C. Sproul, James Kennedy, Hank Hannegraaf, and Jay Adams promote the heresy of Preterism. According to someone “it is spreading like wildfire” on social media. That is why Christian should know how absurd and heretical this view of prophecy really is, and reject it out of hand.
The heresy is primarily in the rejection of the Resurrection/Rapture of the Church and the real, visible, tangible, physical Second Coming of Christ with all His saints and angels, to the battle of Armageddon (Revelation 19 and many other passages), and events to follow.
“According to preterism, all prophecy in the Bible is really history. The preterist interpretation of Scripture regards the book of Revelation as a symbolic picture of first-century conflicts, not a description of what will occur in the end times. The term preterism comes from the Latin praeter, meaning “past.” Thus, preterism is the view that the biblical prophecies concerning the “end times” have already been fulfilled—in the past. Preterism is directly opposed to futurism, which sees the end-times prophecies as having a still-future fulfillment.” [Got Questions]
So what does Preterism teach falsely? Here are their 14 absurdities:
1. There are no future events to be seen the book of Revelation.
2. All end-times prophecies were fulfilled in AD 70 (when the Romans attacked and destroyed Jerusalem). [Note: as a result they try to change the date of the writing of Revelation to before AD 70, when it is generally accepted as AD 95.]
3. There is no future 3 ½ year reign of the Antichrist, and no temple in Jerusalem which he will desecrate with the Abomination of Desolation.
4. The Tribulation and Great Tribulation are already past.
*5. The Second Coming of Christ has already occurred as a “spiritual return”.
*6. The resurrection of the dead is already past.
*7. The final judgment is ongoing.* [*Note: Partial Preterists believe that these three are still in the future.]
8. There is no future Rapture.
9. There is no future literal Millennium.
10. The eternal Kingdom of God is already being established on earth.
11. The New Heavens and the New Earth have already come into existence.
12. The term “this generation” in the Olivet Discourse applied to Christ’s generation.
13. There will be no future redemption and restoration of Israel.
14. The Church has replaced Israel.
We could go into great detail as to why all these ideas are totally foolish. But the best biblical evidence against Preterism is the FACT that none of the cataclysmic cosmic events which are revealed in the Bible have occurred. And they will occur just before the Second Coming of Christ.
When we combine Matthew 24:29, Mark 13:24-25, Luke 21:25-26, and Revelation 6:12-17, this is what we get – a series of events which are TOTALLY UNPRECEDENTED and unimaginably devastating:
1. AFTER THE GREAT TRIBULATION
“Immediately after the tribulation of those days” or “but in those days, after that tribulation” or “And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake”
2. THE SUN SHALL BE DARKENED (BLACKENED)
“shall the sun be darkened” or “the sun shall be darkened” or “there shall be signs in the sun” or “the sun became black as sackcloth of hair”
3. THE MOON SHALL BE DARKENED AS BLOOD
“the moon shall not give her light” or “there shall be signs in the moon” or “the moon became as blood”
4. THE STARS SHALL FALL FROM HEAVEN UPON EARTH
“the stars shall fall from heaven” or “the stars of heaven shall fall” or “there shall be signs in the stars” or “the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind”
5. THE POWERS OF THE HEAVEN SHALL BE SHAKEN, AND IT SHALL DEPART AS A SCROLL
“the powers of the heavens shall be shaken” or “the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken” or “the powers of heaven shall be shaken” or “the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together”
6. EVERY MOUNTAIN AND ISLAND WILL BE MOVED OUT ITS PLACE
“upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity” or “every mountain and island were moved out of their places”
7. THE SEA AND WAVES WILL ROAR AS NEVER BEFORE
“the sea and the waves roaring”
8. MEN’S HEARTS WILL FAIL THEM BECAUSE OF FEAR
“Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth” or “And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?”
Had any of this happened already, we would not even be living on this earth as it exists, and the heavenly bodies would not continue to exist as we see them.
