2006 Site Updates at PreteristArchive.com, The Internet's Only Balanced Look at Preterism ; The Preterist Archive, www.preteristarchive.com aka preterist archives

The Events and Times of the Visions of Daniel and St. John

"Of one thing I think I may say I am certain, viz., that I am not wrong in the main, that my system is good, and hence, I have no doubt.. Its results are certainly good. I care not, therefore, for the present popularity of the opposite view." (Letter to brother, May 2, 1850)

"I think probable, that at no very distant day my views, and those of the early Church, may prevail."

12/19/6:

Ludovicus ab Alcazar Study Archive - "qua ratione possit in bello illo spiritali, quod itra unius hominis pectus geritur, distinguere duo veluti bella, quorum primum respondeat bello Ierosolymae corruere; alterius vero, universam Babylonem conflagrare" "A Spanish Jesuit of Seville named, Luis De Alcazar (1554-1613) invested forty years of his life to this study which culminated in his 900 page commentary, "Vestigatio Arcani Sensus in Apocalypsi (Investigation of the Hidden Sense of the Apocalypse). In this work which was published posthumously in 1614, Alcazar made a new attempt irrespective of both Catholic and Protestant views to interpret the Apocalypse through the use of critical-historical methods. He concluded that the Apocalypse describes the two-fold war of the Church in the first century; one with the Jewish synagogue, and the other with paganism, which resulted in victory over both adversaries."
Free Online Books: Thomas Newton: Dissertations on the Prophecies Which Have Remarkably Been Fulfilled.. NEW PDF FILE "As a general in the wars (Josephus) must have had an exact knowledge of all transactions, and a Jewish priest he would not relate them with any favour of partiality to the Christian cause. His history was approved by Vespasian and Titus (who ordered it to be published) and by King Agrippa and many others, both Jews and Romans, who were present in those wars. He designed nothing less, and yet as if he had designed nothing more, his history of the Jewish wars may serve as a larger comment on our Saviour's prophecies of the destruction of Jerusalem."
Free Online Books: Norman Bentwich: Josephus (1914) NEW PDF FILE
CNN Presents: After Jesus - The First Christians - Presenting extremely liberal view of issues, such as Dating the New Testament
CTRL-ALT-DEL "Are you struggling with the last-minute shopping for that pre-trib pre-mill dispensational teenage boy in your home? Don't worry, wholesome Christian entertainiment is but a mouse click away! You can still purchase the Left Behind: Eternal Forces video game!"

12/18/6:

Free Online Books: John A.T. Robinson - Redating the New Testament "One of the oddest facts about the New Testament is that what on any showing would appear to be the single most datable and climactic event of the period - the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70, and with it the collapse of institutional Judaism based on the temple - is never once mentioned as a past fact."

12/12/6:

PretBlog: Revelations: Vatican may open St. Paul's tomb "The Vatican said on Monday it was studying the possibility of opening a thick marble sarcophagus believed to contain the remains of the 1st century apostle St Paul to study its contents."

12/9/6:

Free Online Books: Thomas Lewin, Titus Flavius Sabinus The siege of Jerusalem by Titus, with the Journal of a Recent Visit to the Holy City (1863) "Of all the evidences, the one perhaps entitled to the greatest respect is the testimony of the Jews themselves by the immemorial custom of assembling at what is called the Wailing-place, to bemoan the loss of their beloved sanctuary. The tradition carries value with it, as one accompanied with a ceremony, and that not attractive from outward gaud, or as ministering to pleasure or amusement, but it is the outpouring of a broken spirit, and one which could only have originated in the destruction of their Temple, and must have been coeval with that event, and thence transmitted from generation to generation."

12/8/6:

Critical: Preterist Wall of Shame / Discussion The pictures of the men on this Wall Of Shame are those who have perverted the Word of God and are teaching the false 70AD rapture doctrine of the Catholic Church. They are to be disfellowshipped and not allowed in any Apostolic Jesus Name Pentecostal Church unless they repent and come out of this false doctrine.
PretBlog: Revelations: St Paul`s tomb unearthed in Rome ROME, GA, Italy (UPI) — Archaeologists unearthed a sarcophagus containing what they believe to be the remains of St. Paul the Apostle. The tomb, dating back to at least 390 A.D., lay in a crypt under a basilica in Rome. | CatholicWorldNews
ARTchive: A Meditation on Rembrandt's Jerusalem "2006 marked the 400 anniversary of Rembrandt’s birth. This oil on panel painting is one of the finest works of Rembrandt's Leiden period. For many years it was incorrectly identified but it certainly shows Jeremiah; who had prophesied the destruction of Jerusalem by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon (Jeremiah, chapters 32, 33), lamenting over the destruction of the city. "
MP: Abundant Life Fellowship Prophecy Conference - Morgantown, IN, Jan. 18-20, 2007 - Guest Speakers, Don K. Preston, James "Bud" Sparks, Marvin "MJ" Sparks

12/6/6:

Preterist-Idealism: Nathan DuBois - Scripture Interprets Scripture: Part One - The Covenants, The Jerusalems, The Flesh and The Spirit "Since most preterists agree that the kingdom is within and written on the heart and that the Spirit brought us to life and into an eternal covenant (the new covenant on the heart), then isn't the description of the Jerusalem from above warranted and accurate as a portrayal of our heart in Christ vs. the Jerusalem from below as our heart under the law?"

12/5/6:

Preterist-Idealism: Nathan DuBois - The Nature of the Christ: The Dilemma of Chronology (2006) "Jesus was Messiah from the foundation, He did not become the Messiah only after He did the work. He did the work to reveal Himself as Messiah.. Are we really putting the "Type" as being the purpose and fulfillment over the "anti-type" to which they pointed?
HP: Kenneth L. Gentry Jr. : Of Preterists and Postmillennialists (2001) "Although it is true that hyper- preterism holds that the entire Olivet Discourse speaks of A.D. 70, one’s position on that particular question does not necessarily lock one into the hyper-preterist heresy. The difference in interpretation at this specific point might be altogether negligible between an orthodox interpreter and a hyper-preterist. In fact, there are several verses where we find disagreement among orthodox interpreters and in which similarity to the hyper-preterist position may be noted. Where the fundamental differences would arise would be in other passages and on specific theological questions."
HP: Babu Ranganathan: The Bible vs. Traditional View of Hell (2006) "Evangelist John L. Bray gives an interesting commentary on this phrase: "that in the day thou doeth such and such, thou shalt surely die," is an idiom understood by the Hebrew people, and it meant "in the day you do such and such, know for certain that you will die." The day the action took place determined what would result later; it was settled (emphasis mine) on the day the action took place."
Free Online Books: Joost Van Den Vondel - Hierusalem Verwoest - Hierusalem Verwoest (1620 - PDF)
Free Online Books: "Ben Asaph" - The Moriad: or, End of the Jewish State - The End of the Jewish State (1857 - PDF)

12/1/6:

Preterist Watchdog/Testimonies From Former Full Preterists: Nathan DuBois - Why I Needed to Repent: A Letter to a Friend... Among Friends (2006) "Am I saying full preterists are the Pharisees of today? NO! But I am saying I AM ONE! I was so caught up in the system of things that I could SEE that I was missing, and causing others to miss, the things that can only be seen by the heart. I saw the purpose and will of God in AD 70, the "new" (though very old) law of God being advented, but I missed the heart behind it. I have been guilty of Phariseeism."
Free Online Books: P.S. Desprez: Daniel; or, The apocalypse of the Old Testament (1865) "In unequivocal language, which hardly even the science of hermeneutics can explain away, the Son of Man had announced his speedy advent to destroy Jerusalem." (Daniel, p. 235)

11/30/6:

F.D. Maurice Study Archive
Free Online Books: F.D. Maurice: Lectures on the Apocalypse: Or, Book of Revelation of St. John the Divine (1861) "The principal historical allusions in these Lectures are to the state of the Roman world during the years preceding the fall of Jerusalem."
Preterist Watchdog/Testimonies From Former Full Preterists: G.R. Gaudreau: My Journey: A Funny Thing Happened (2002) "It was in October 1996, when I came to Preterism, that I started having these very serious doubts and I just couldn't get rid of them. I kept trying to bury them, but they just kept coming back. I'm glad I found these errors and I'm grateful to that man who first posted the list of errors. He had a lot of courage. He met with a lot of opposition and stood his ground, because he knew he was right. He could not, would not, ignore the evidence."
Preterist Watchdog/Testimonies From Former Full Preterists: Cho Sun Hoon: My journey from protestantism to the Catholic Church "Then as I adopted the full preterist viewpoint, I began doing more research, and even attended a live debate between a futurist and a preterist. The more I learned about preterism, the more I was looking for applications of preterism for the present day: Namely, where is the parousia (presence of God) if it came to an end? Some of the full preterist arguments were so convincing, yet there was something missing"
Preterist Watchdog/Testimonies From Former Full Preterists: G.R. Gaudreau: The Second Coming: Another Failed Promise "Preterists constantly accuse futurists of evasion and of dismissing the clear meaning of such passages as those I have cited above, in favour of a soon return of Jesus. But on the other hand, Preterists hyper-spiritualize whatever scriptures are in their way. What's that old French proverb again? Oh yes... "Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose!" Preterists, who accuse their "brethren" of being dishonest with the Scriptures, end up doing exactly the same thing. "

11/29/6:

Preterist Watchdog/Testimonies From Former Full Preterists: William Price: My blog about coming out from false doctrine, and into Kingdom reality (2006) "I wanted it to be public that I renounce my full preterist position.. It is not as if prophecy is a salvation issue, but just wanted to share this."

11/28/6:

Preterist-Idealism: Nathan DuBois - God, The Judge of the Heart "The gospel is living, it is active. Today men are judged righteous or unrighteous by being "in Christ" or not. Judgment accompanied the kingdom because it was at the "revelation of Christ" in AD 70, to the world, that men were judged by the gospel vs. the law. "
FP : Added Quote from Sam Frost: Observations "Preterism is an interpretive system that is locked on the events of 66-70 A.D. It views this as the decisive eschatological event. The Second Coming, Resurrection of the Dead and Great Judgment are seen as having taken place in and around these years. This is a contradiction to Christian orthodoxy and its Creeds, Councils and all the Reformed, Baptist, and Methodist Standards (and we wonder why preterists are called "heretics"!)." "The whole world was changed. What once reigned over all the world (the Sin and the Death of Adam) was now replaced with a new reign, a new kingdom: the Grace and Righteousness.. As preterists we must assert that our present day existence in the world is not one which is ruled by the Death and the Sin. Rather, our own time since the time of Christ's parousia, is ruled by the Grace and Righteousness. Let me assert quite plainly: all men are under the rule of the Grace and Righteousness. No man is under the rule of the Death and the Sin. How can anyone who is a preterist claim that any man is under the reign of "the Death" when clearly "the Death" has been defeated and "swallowed up in victory" as Rev 20.14,15 clearly illustrates? And, if "the Death" has been defeated entirely for all men, then "the Sin" that reigned "in the Death" has equally been hurled into the "lake of fire." In other words, the Sin has been removed from the cosmos along with the Death. This is not just true for believers in Christ, but true for all men, everywhere. If I left the article here, many would assume that the only result of such a theology is universal salvation for every man. This would be true. But, because Scripture informs our thinking so that we think God's thoughts about the world around us, such a conclusion cannot be reached."

11/26/6:

Critical: Bill Reeves: The Preterist View Heresy "About a year ago Brother Max King, of Warren, Ohio, came out with his new book, entitled The Spirit Of Prophecy, advocating a Preterist-View of prophecy. This teaching has caused a mild furor among the liberal brethren wherever it has had a hearing. The following series of articles will review this novel doctrine, as set forth in a series of lectures by King before the Brookwood Way church of Christ, Mansfield, Ohio, in the summer of ‘70, in several presentations which he and C. D. Beagle made before groups of liberal preachers last year (‘71) (and also recorded), and in King’s book."

11/25/6: PreteristArchive.CD Version X - "Reformation Day" Edition - Update to reflect all website updates, materials through 11/15/6 (notably the discovery of Samuel Lee)

* All "Secret Archives CD" editions updated with new books, materials

11/25/6:

Critical: John Loftus: Debunking Christianity: Preterism is an Admission that Jesus Failed to Return - "if the Trinitarian God has always reigned over his world, then what difference did it make to the world in general that Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 AD? Presumably God (Father, Son, & Spirit) never had to ask anyone for permission to reign over his world. The Bible claims he just does, and that he always has done so. It really doesn't matter to God whether or not people acknowledge that he does--he just does. So if preterists are correct that God-in-Jesus started reigning in 70 AD, then who is Jesus now reigning over that he didn't reign over before then? So what difference did the destruction of Jerusalem make in the lives of anyone at all with regard to the reign of God-in-Jesus? "
Critical: Paul Manata: No Fair, You're Cheating "What's he talking about? What was the "return" that the early church expected? A bodily one? The one where Jesus comes to judge the living and the dead, etc? Well, "partial-preterism" doesn't think that this "return" has happened. So it looks like Loftus doesn't understand either partial-preterism or early church history. Which is it partner?"
P-I: Blog: Nate4OneNation - "Where do we put the value of the truth. In the event? Or the pre-existing fact, kept in secret, from the very beginning. Is it us in AD 2006 seeing the cross made of wood, and the temple made of stone that crumbled, that can boast, because of those events (AD 30-70), that our salvation is true? Or was it true, because God declared it before the foundation of the world ever existed."

11/24/6:

HP: Duncan McKenzie: Duncan McKenzie: The Covenant Judgments of Revelation "The new heaven and earth in Revelation (and Isaiah) is not heaven. Notice, it still has unrighteous people in it, those outside the New (covenant) Jerusalem (Rev. 22:14-15). The new heaven and new earth is a symbolic representation of the post AD 70 spiritual order of this planet. The old covenant order (the old heaven and earth) flees and the new covenant order (the new heaven and earth) is established (Rev. 20:11; 21:1-2). One has to constantly remember that the truths of Revelation are communicated by way of symbols (Rev. 1:1). In the new heaven and earth hose who are part of the New Jerusalem bride have access to the tree and water of life (Rev. 22:1-2); those outside of the new covenant city do not. "

11/23/6:

Bibliography: Gary DeMar and Francis X. Gumerlock: The Early Church and the End of the World (2006) "Francis X. Gumerlock has undertaken the task of translating a number of ancient and medieval commentators who have written on Matthew 24 and Revelation. He shows that many early and medieval Christian writers believed that these prophecies had already been fulfilled before the "end" of Jerusalem, that is, before its destruction by the Romans in A.D. 70 which resulted in the end of the Old Covenant world."

11/22/6:

Free Online Books: Sir David Lyndesay: Ane Dialog: Of the Most Miserabill and Most Terrabill Distruction of Jerusalem (1555) "For extreme hunger, zald the spreit. Thare wes the Prophesie compleit, As Christ affore made narration, The day of his grym Pasioun.. This Prophesie it come to pas, That day, with mony lowde Allas!"
Free Online Books: Thomas Nashe: "Christ's Tears over Jerusalem" (1593) - "It is not unknown by how many & sundry ways God spake by visions, dreams, prophecies and wonders to his chosen Jerusalem, only to move his chosen Jerusalem wholly to cleave unto him. Visions, dreams, prophecies and wonders were in vain; this gorgeous strumpet Jerusalem, too too much presuming of the promises of old, went awhoring after her own inventions; she thought the Lord unseparately tied to his temple, & that he could never be divorced from the ark of his covenant, that, having bound himself with an oath to Abraham, he could not (though he would) removed the law out of Judah, or his judgment-seat from Mount Shiloh. They erred most temptingly & contemptuously"
HP: Gary DeMar: "Shreds of Preterism" Among First-Century Writers "Ice and LaHaye get off on the wrong foot in their analysis of preterism. The historical argument is a death blow, or to use Mark Hitchcock’s metaphor from his chapter on the dating of Revelation, "A Stake in the Heart" to their brand of futurism. The earliest historical sources, the Didache, 1 Clement, and the testimony of James, the brother of Jesus, demonstrate that preterism’s history is a first-century history. "
FP: Kurt Simmons: Christ's Eschatological Coming: Jewish or Universal? "In the almost 25 years I have been a Preterist, my understanding of the eschaton has grown and changed. In the early years, it was natural to view Christ’s eschatological coming almost exclusively in terms of God’s judgment upon the Jews and the end of the temple service and Mosaic law. With time, I began to widen my study to take account of troublesome passages that seemed outside the scope of Jerusalem’s fall "

11/21/6:

Pretblog: Advent Christian Church marks 120 years - "The church’s history has much to do with waiting for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, and Superintendent for the Advent Christian denomination Clinton E. Taber feels that the last days of human existence as we know it are near."
Free Online Books: Stephen Davis: Don't Be "Left Behind" (PDF) - "This is my new book which examines the popular doctrine of a pretribulation rapture and shows that it is unbiblical. Rather, this book takes a partial preterist, amillennial approach to eschatology."
Blog: Peter Leithart
Bibliography: Peter J Leithart: The Promise of His Appearing (PDF Except) - A brief commentary on II Peter from a preterist perspective. Dr Leithart patiently takes the reader through the whole book, showing that the whole is concerned with the coming of Christ in AD70, the Destruction of the Temple and the End of the Old Covenant:

A. Fruitfulness and knowledge of Christ, 1:1-11
B. Reminder of the power an coming of Christ, 1:12-21
C. False prophets, 2:1-3
D. God knows how to protect the righteous, 2:4-10a
C. False teachers, 2:10b – 22
B. Reminder of the Day of the Lord, 3:1-13
A. Encouragement to perseverance, 3:14-18

11/20/6:

Free Online Books: Robert Holmes: On the prophecies and testimony of John the Baptist, and the parallel prophecies of Jesus Christ (1782) - Bampton Lecture
Bampton Lecture Series Study Archive
Free Online Books: Now Fitted With Google Online Books Search Engine!
Critical: Official United Pentecostal Church (UPC) Position on Preterism "License or Certificate of Ordination shall not be issued to anyone who teaches.. all forms of preterism."
Samuel Lee: Added Lee's 1836 College Green Letter and Autographed Portrait

11/19/6:

Free Online Books: Ralph Churton: Eight Sermons on the Prophecies Respecting the Destruction of Jerusalem (1785) - Bampton Lecture

11/18/6:

Free Online Books: Nehemiah Nisbett: The Triumphs of Christianity Over Infidelity Displayed, or, the Coming of the Messiah (1802) the True Key to the Right Understanding of the Most Difficult Passages in the New Testament; viz. of the Predictions of the Coming of Christ, of St. Paul's Man of Sin, of the Antichrist of St. John, and of the Sure Word of Prophecy of St. Peter; Being a Full Answer to the Objection of Mr. Gibbon, That our Lord and His Apostles Predicted the Near Approach of the End of the World in their own Time. The Whole being intended as an Illustration of the Necessity and Importance of Considering the Gospels as Histories, and Particularly as Histories of the great Controversy between our Lord and the Jews, Concerning the True Nature of the Messiah's Character.

11/17/6:

Free Online Books: John Jortin : Remarks on Ecclesiastical History (1805) "The history of the Jewish war by Josephus seems to be a commentary upon the prophecies of Christ."
Jean Le Clerc Study Archive | Daniel Whitby Study Archive
Library Holdings Search - Added to Key Study Links at the top of each page

(Alford On Preterism)
"16.On the other hand, some have regarded the prophecy as one already fulfilled. So Grotius, Wetstein, Le Clerc, Whitby, Schöttgen, Nösselt, Krause, and Harduin. All these concur in referring the "advent of the Lord" to the coming of Christ in the destruction of Jerusalem".

17. Grotius holds Antichrist to be the godless Caligula, who ordered universal supplication to himself as the High God, and would have set up a colossal image of himself in the temple at Jerusalem : and in "him that hindereth" he sees L. Vitellius, the proconsul of Syria and Judaea, whose term of office delayed the putting up of the statue, -- and in "that lawless one" Simon Magus. This theory is liable to the two very serious objections, 1) that it makes "the man of sin" and the lawless one" into two seperate persons: 2) that it involves an anachronism, our Epistle having been written after Caligula's time.

18. According to Wetstein, the "man of sin" is Titus, whose army, "while the temple was burning and all around it, taking their standards into the sacred enclosure, and placing them before the eastern gate, sacrificed to them there, and saluted Titus imperator with great cheering." (Josephus.) His "hinderer" is Nero, whose death was necessary for the reign of Titus, and his apostacy, the rebellion and slaughter of three princes, Galba, Otho, and Vitellius, which brought in the Flavian family. But this is the very height of absurdity, and surely needs no serious refutation.

19. Hammond makes the man of sin to be Simon Magus, and the Gnostics, whose head he was. The "gathering together to Christ." ver. 1, he interprets as the "greater liberty of assembling in Church meetings to worship Christ:" the apostacy, the falling off of Christians to Gnosticism (1 Tim. iv. 1) : the revelation of the man of sin, the Gnostics "putting off their disguise, and revealing themselves in their colours, i.e. cruel, professed enemies to Christ and Christians :" ver. 4 refers to Simon "making himself the supreme Father of all, who had created the God of the Jews" (Iren. i. 20). By that which hindereth, he understands the union yet subsisting more or less between the Christians and the Jews in the Apostle's estimation, which was removed when the Apostles entirely separated from the Jews: and him that hindereth he maintains to virtually the same with that which hindereth, but if any masculine subject must be supplied, would make it the law. The mystery of lawlessness he referes to the wicked lives of these Gnostics, but mostly to their persecution of the Christians. Ver. 8 he explains of the conflict at Rome between Simon and the Apostles Peter and Paul, which ended in the death of the former. Lunemann adds, "The exegetical and historical monstrosity of this interpretation is at present universally acknowledged."

20. Le Clerc holds the apostasy to be the rebellion of the Jewish people against the yoke of Rome : the man of sin, the rebel Jews, and especially their leader Simon, son of Giora, whose atrocities are related in Josephus: every one called God, &c. denotes the government : - "that which hindereth" is whatever hindered the open breaking out of the rebellion, -- partly the influence of those Jews in office who dissuaded the war, - partly fear of the Roman armies : and he that hindereth, on one side, the "Roman prefect," - on the other, the "chief men of the nation, King Agrippa and most of the high priests." The mystery of lawlessness is the rebellious ambition, which under the cloke of Jewish independence and zeal for the law of Moses, was even then at work, and at length broke openly forth.

21. Whitby takes the Jewish people for Antichrist, and finds in the apostasy the falling away of the Jewish converts to their old Judaism, alluded to in the Epistle to the Hebrews (iii. 12-14 ; iv. 11 ; vi. 4-6 ; x. 26,27 al. fr.). His "hinderer" is "the Emperor Claudius, who will let till he be taken away, i.e. he will hinder the Jews from breaking out into an open rebellion in his time, they being so signally and particularly obliged by him, that they cannot for shame think of revolting from his government."

22. Schöttgen takes Antichrist to be the Pharisees, Rabbis and Doctors of the law, who set themselves above God, and had impious stories tending to bring Him into contempt : the apostasy, the rebellion against Rome : the hindrance, "the Christians, who by their prayers put off the event for some time, until they, admonished by a divine oracle, departed from Jerusalem, and seceded to Pella : " the mystery of iniquity, "the perverse doctrine itself," referring to 1 Tim. iii. 16.

23. Nösselt and Krause understand by Antichrist the Jewish zealots, and by the hindrance, Claudius, as Whitby. Lastly, Harduin makes the apostasy the falling off of the Jews to paganism, -- the man of sin, the High Priest Ananias (Acts. xxiii. 2), -- the hinderer, his predecessor, whose term of office must come to an end before he could be elected. From the beginning of his term, the man of sin was working as a prophet of lies, and was destroyed at the taking of Jerusalem by TItus.

"All these preterist interpretations have against them one fatal objections :- that it is impossible to conceive of the destruction of Jerusalem as in any sense corresponding to the Lord's coming, in St. Paul's sense of the term : see especially, as bearing immediately on this passage, 1 Thess. ii. 19; iii. 13 ; iv. 15 ; v. 23." (The New Testament for English Readers, First Thessalonians, Introduction, p 86)

[Search Russell's Parousia for his answer to Alford]

11/16/6:

FP: Kurt Simmons: The New Heavens and Earth "The new heavens and earth were symbols for the prevailing conditions and changed fortunes of God’s people in the world under the reigning Christ following the tribulation of the last days; they look to New Testament times, but are not the New Testament itself. "

11/15/6:

Free Online Books: COMPLETE PDF FILE OF "CHRIST'S SECOND COMING FULFILLED" - No Missing Pages! (Please delete previous pdf copy if you saved it before.)
Free Online Books: Added unedited digitzed text to Marion Morris : Christ's Second Coming Fulfilled - Seeking Text Editor (details on page)
World Wide Study Bible - Added to Key Study Links at the top of each page (the commentary search is a vital tool)

11/13/6:

Free Online Books: Added unedited digitzed text to Ephraim Currier - The Second Coming of Christ, and the Resurrection; Showing by an Appeal to the Bible as it Reads, Aside From All Human Creeds and Commentaries, the Opinions of all Sects of Religionists of this Vastly Interesting Subject, to be Merely Human Opinions, and Wholly Irreconcilable with the Word of God (1841) - Seeking Text Editor (details on page)
Free Online Books: James Armstrong: An exposition of the fulfilled prophecies of the Apocalypse from the first seal to the end of chapter xix (1851) "the destruction of Jerusalem is symbolically represented by the man, clothed with linen, taking coals of fire in his hand and scattering them over the city."

11/11/6:

Free Online Books: Samuel Lee: Preliminary Dissertations on Eusebius' Theophany (1843) - NOW COMPLETE - Section I. On the alleged Arianism of Eusebius, and on the manner in which he has expressed his opinions. Section II. On the Opinions of Eusebius, as deducible from the History of the Council of Nice. Section III. On the Opinions of Eusebius as discoverable in his Controversy with Marcellus. (lvi) General Conclusion. (xcviii)

11/9/6:

Blog: Divisions in the church - "I was reading some preterist material and i was thinking about all the different doctrines men follow. many are sincere and truth seekers.. lovers of God and His word. while i do not agree with many on their understandings nor they mine we can still be brothers and sisters in Christ and hopefully work together for our better understanding."
Saturday in Ventura, CA - Freethinkers ponder on Jesus' return - The Freethinkers of Ventura County will meet from 7:30 to 9 p.m. Saturday. Guest speaker Mike Godfrey will give a presentation on "A Preterist View of Revelation: Jesus Has Already Returned." There is no cost to attend. For more information, call 386-4232.
New Historical Preterist Book: Harold Eberle and Martin Trench Victorious Eschatology: "Here it is - a biblically-based, optimistic view of the future. Along with a historical perspective, Harold R. Eberle and Martin Trench present a clear understanding of Matthew 24 and other key passages about the events to precede the return of Jesus Christ. Satan is not going to take over this world. Jesus Christ is Lord and He will reign until every enemy is put under His feet!"
Advertisement for "Ephraim Currier - The Second Coming of Christ, and the Resurrection" - Provided by Clarice Currier:

11/7/6:

PI: Nathan DuBois: My Thoughts and Understanding of Preterist Idealism "Any theology which looks to the temporal things as its finality, any theology which takes ANY scripture and applies them to the temporal realm, and does not apply them to the spiritual truth behind it for which it was written, is an incorrect theology."
Outside Links: MP: Nate 4 One Nation | Blog

11/6/6:

Samuel Lee: Preliminary Dissertations on Eusebius' Theophany (1843) PART III. ON THE PERSONAL REIGN OF CHRIST ON EARTH. | PART IV. ON THE RESTORATION OF THE JEWS "As to his opinions on Prophecy, on the personal reign of Christ, and on the restoration of the Jews, I may perhaps say, proof has been given that these were well founded. It is, I think, impossible to find any questions wore determinately settled and fixed in the Scriptures than these are. In the question of Prophecy, declarations the most plain and positive are so bound up with facts, the occurrence of which is well known to all, that it is impossible to conceive of any thing more plain, certain, and determinate, than this question is. Again, our Lord, His Evangelist John, and His Apostles generally, connect this, beyond all possibility of doubt, with the generation then existing; and both these, as well as the Prophet Daniel, affirm, that, when the particular events so pointed out shall have taken place, then all is fulfilled; the purposes of God are finished, as declared by His Prophets, and the end is come. The Fifth kingdom of Daniel, the New Heaven and Earth of Isaiah and the Apocalypse, and the New Jerusalem of the latter, is for ever established. All is here plain, fixed, and determined: no ingenious conjectures, no wire-drawn theory therefore, no double, triple, &c. interpretation, no devices turning aside the obvious import of language, are here wanted ; all is plain, simple, obvious, and requiring no powers higher than those of the rustic, for its comprehension, and, for its reception, nothing beyond the simple and sincere desire of knowing the truth. And, what is perhaps best of all, it will throw a clear and steady light over the whole of the Old Testament, making its prophetic declarations as easy, and obvious, as are the doctrines of the New ; and, at the same time, afford a system of evidence, in all respects irresistible. As to the other questions, just mentioned, they are so intimately connected with this, that what determines the one must also determine the other : if the requirements of Prophecy are fulfilled ; then nothing remains to be done by the Jews for this purpose. The period is past; and faith in the Christ of God, is now their only resource ; and this comprehends no privileges whatsoever of an earthly nature."
Free Online Books: Stephen Charnock (Puritan) : A Discourse of God's being the Author of Reconciliation (1680) "The time of his coming was fixed in Jacob's prophecy about the time of the fall of the Jewish government, Gen. xlix. 10, before the ruin of the second temple, Mall iii.1, after seventy weeks of years from the time of Daniel's prophecy." "You know how he armed the Romans against them, discharged his wrath upon them, gave up the city and temple, which they (and even their enemies) studied to preserve, for the death of his Son, as a prey to the fury and avarice of the enemies."

11/5/6:

Samuel Lee: Preliminary Dissertations on Eusebius' Theophany (1843) Part II. Remarks on the Views of Eusebius on Prophecy "Add to this, (the book of Revelation's) own repeated declarations, that what was then said was shortly to come to pass [Chap. i. 1, 3; iii. 11; xxii. 7,10, 12, 20.]; and we shall be led to a conclusion as strong as words and facts can make it, that the purposes of God, as declared by the Prophets, and generally summed up in this Book, have been long ago fulfilled and finished."
[Matt. xxiv. 34. Mark xiii. 30. Luke xxi. 32. See the note above on the term γένηται. A passage to the same effect occurs (Matt. xvi. 28.) "There be some, standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom ;" and again (John xxi. 21), "If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?" all intended, no doubt, to fix and determine the period here had in view. Let this be remembered.] ; Mark, xiii. 30, with the fall of the Temple (Luke xxi. 5, 6), the investiture of Jerusalem by the Roman army (ib. ver. 21), the captivity of the Jews (ib. ver. 24. comp. vv. 28, 29—31), and all those other remarkable events which so soon, and so exactly corresponding with these predictions, actually took place for the first, and necessarily for the last, time. The period of these Beginnings is therefore, too particularly defined to admit of doubt as to when it was."
"2 Pet. Ill. 13. Examine this chapter from ver. 7 to the end, with the parallel passages marked in the margin, and it will be found, that no dissolution of the natural world could have been meant. It had long been foretold, that the Jewish polity should be destroyed by fire; comp. Deut. xxxii. 21, with Hos. x. 19; and ib. Deut. ver. 22, seq. and ver. 43, which unites, as here, the nations with the Church of God."
"And, I may conclude here generally, that, from a close and accurate comparison of these several Visions, it must appear clear to demonstration, that, upon the fall of these four kingdoms, a Fifth should arise which should never end ; that the period marked, as that in which the fourth of these should fall, was termed the End, the latter days, and the like generally: that, at a certain point of this, the abomination of desolation should be set up; and that, after this, even to the end ; in other words, to the fulfilment of every thing here had in view, troubles such as never had been, and never should hereafter be, heard of, tribulation, indignation, and wrath, should take place : and that, when the (now) Mighty and Holy People, the Christian Church, should have spread and established its power, under the guidance of the Almighty miraculously granted, all these things should be fully and family accomplished. These Visions are so intimately, and indissolubly, linked together, and are hence so obvious and plain, as to what they unfold, and have been so bound up by our Lord Himself, with the extraordinary events which were soon to follow upon His death, that no power either human or angelic, can possibly separate them, or make them apply to any other times or circumstances."
(On the "thousand years") "Our Lord himself had moreover, assured the Disciples, that all the power of the Enemy should be subject to them" [ Luke x. 17—25, ib. 10, "I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven." Comp. John xii. 31; xvi. 11. Rev. xii. 9, 10. After this, ver. 12, seq. he commences the persecutions; but the "Woman, i.e. the (Church, is preserved during these times in safety; i.e. for a time, times, and a half; i.e. 3½ days, or during the first portion of our prophetical week. Comp. Mark xvi. 17,18; and Matth. xii. 29. In Rev. xx. 2 : The Dragon, the old Serpent, the Devil, is bound for a thousand years; after the expiration of which, he is to be let loose for a season. From ver. 4 to 7, the Saints reign with Christ a thousand years, i.e. during the period in which Satan is bound. This period is therefore, that of the Apostolical Millennium, and it is termed a thousand years for the reasons assigned above. See also my Exposition [TD: Likely his 1830 work "Six sermons on the study of the Holy Scriptures"], p. 339, &c. At ver. 7, this period being expired, Satan is let loose to make war on the Saints. (ver 8, 9). After this his body is given to "the burning flame;" and then the new heaven and new earth descend from above. This period is therefore fixed.] , which Eusebius has also very properly noticed. And, if this period may be termed " the day of the Lord, consisting of an "Evening and Morning" or, be said to be equivalent to "a Thousand years," in the language of prophecy ; it will be no extravagant thing to affirm, that this must have been the period, during which Satan should " be bound for a thousand years:" and therefore, the Evangelical millennium of the Apocalypse. "

11/4/6:

La Parusía: Russell's "Parousia" Audio Book in Espanol
Interesting foreign discussion on Pret - Italian?

Added to Samuel Lee

A Review of Lee's 1837 "Translation of the Book of Job, with an Introduction and Commentary."

11/3/6:

High Nibley: Christian Envy of the Temple "The supplanting of a stone temple by "a spiritual edifice" is for Neander nothing less than "the mightiest achievement in the history of humanity." It is a simple, eloquent formula: "The Messiah's kingdom would supplant the outworn system of the past. He would raise up a new temple of the spirit."
Eusebius: The Theophania, or Divine Manifestation of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ - Added Review "The Second Coming is treated by Eusebius as not an essential event, and even less like a culminating event, but only as one element which plays a symmetrical part as that of the theophanies of the Old Testament, compared to the first coming." (Loose translation from French)

11/2/6:

Hippolytus of Rome: HIPPOLYTUS ON ST. MATTHEW XXIV. 15-22 - IN a Paper which appeared in the last number of Hermathena (Vol. VI, pp. 397-418) I gave some extracts from the unpublished Commentary of Dionysius Barsalibi on the Apocalypse: "It contains, moreover, an incidental statement which, if true, is an interesting addition to our knowledge of the history of the capture of the city. Josephus makes no mention of the setting up of an idol in the Temple, which Hippolytus here relates as the act of a Roman commander named Trajanus. But he mentions a Trajanus as being prefect of the tenth legion at the time when Jotapata was besieged (B. J., bk. III., chh. vii. 31, viii. 8), who may be presumed to be the same person. And the name of the idol, Kore, of course represents Κορή,¹⁹or Persephone, whose images, set up beside watersprings, were so familiar to Justin in the second century, probably in Palestine (Apol. 1. 64)."
St. Ambrose (To Theodosius) "Has your Majesty never heard that when Julian commanded the temple at Jerusalem to be restored, they who cleared away the rubbish were destroyed by fire from heaven? Are you not afraid lest this should now happen? Surely you ought not to have commanded what Julian commanded."
Julian the Apostate Study Archive: Julian Against the Galileans (363) ""Why is it, I repeat, that after deserting us you do not accept the law of the Jews or abide by the sayings of Moses? No doubt some sharp-sighted person will answer, "The Jews too do not sacrifice." But I will convict him of being terribly dull-sighted, for in the first place I reply that neither do you also observe any one of the other customs observed by the Jews; and, secondly, that the Jews do sacrifice in their own houses, and even to this day everything that they eat is consecrated; and they pray before sacrificing, and give the right shoulder to the priests as the firstfruits; but since they have been deprived of their temple, or, as they are accustomed to call it, their holy place, they are prevented from offering the firstfruits of the sacrifice to God. But why do you not sacrifice, since you have invented your new kind of sacrifice and do not need Jerusalem at all?"
PretBlog: Books: It’s the end of the world as we know it — again

10/31/6:

Free Online Books: Samuel Lee (1851) The Events and Times of the Visions of Daniel and St. John "These predictions.. therefore were fulfilled to the very letter : and the facts of the case make it utterly impossible they can be fulfilled again." -- A Reviewer On This Book: "Surely one, who can understand the language 'a thousand years' as denoting the insignificant period reaching from the time of Christ to the destruction of Jerusalem -- about half a century -- is utterly unworthy of the office he has taken upon himself -- to expound the prophecies of the Word of God."
Revelations/Papyrology: Manuscripts from the Egyptian Monasteries But it is above all to the Syriac or Aramaic that we may look for the recovery of works lost in the original Greek. This language, which with slight variations prevailed from the Mediterranean to the Euphrates, and from the confines of Arabia and Egypt to Armenia, not only possesses a peculiar interest for us as being that used by our Saviour and his disciples, but also as being the vernacular tongue of many writers who hold a high rank in Grecian literature; whose works therefore can hardly be entirely free from some of the idiomatic expressions of their native land."

10/30/6:

Free Online Books: Norman Bentwich: Josephus (1914) "Yet did they occasion the fulfilment of prophecies relating to their country. For there was an ancient oracle that the city should be taken and the sanctuary burnt when sedition should affect the Jews." Josephus shares the pagan outlook of the Roman historian Tacitus, who is horrified at the Jewish disregard of the omens and portents which betokened the fall of their city, and speaks of them as a people prone to superstition (what we would call faith) and deaf to divine warnings (what we would call superstition). Josephus and his friends were looking for signs and prophecies of the ruin of the people as an excuse for surrender; the Zealots, men of sterner stuff and of fuller faith, were resolved to resist to the end, and would brook no parleying with the enemy."

10/28/6:

ARTchive/Tapestries of Titus and Vespasian in the Roman-Jewish War (1565) The series of eight large Flemish tapestries from Brussels, which were once kept in the church, are renowned. After undergoing extensive restoration they have been on display in the Museo degli Arazzi since 1984 (entrance from the rear of the church, near the main apse). The tapestries, which were woven around 1565-70, deal with themes from the Jewish War which ended with the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 A.D.
ARTchive/Francisco Hayez: Die Zerstörung des Tempels von Jerusalem (1864)

10/27/6:

Jewish Sources: Forty Years "time is running out. Could we be at the end of the forty-year grace period? Could it have started with the Six Day War back in 1967? Our rabbis teach us that that in the seventh year - the Sabbatical year - will be wars, and the year after, the Messiah will come. In our recent history, we find that the Six Day War, the Yom Kippur War, the first and second Intifada all took place during a Sabbatical year. And now we are approaching (in late 2007) another Sabbatical year. Could this be the end of the forty-year grace period that started in '67?"
Critical: The Preacher's Files: Matthew 24 - Answering the Preterist Argument - "Reading the discussion that happened in the summer concerning Mt.24 (how I got there I don’t know) I finally saw the problem with the Preterist argument. They interpret Mt.24:30 as the 2nd coming and we understand that it refers to 70AD. Then they equate Rev.1:7 to the same thus fulfilling Revelation in 70 AD. I believe Rev.1:7 refers to the end of the Roman persecuting power (that Revelation is warning the Christians of the day about) fulfilled by the coming of Constantine in 313 AD? "
Discussion Board - 2007 Format Up and Running

10/26/6: