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10/9/8:
10/5/8:
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David Jeremiah on the End Times
“I would be the last person in the world to try to draw sensationalist
truths from the Scripture,” he adds. “You can get a crowd if you know
how to frame your stuff, but I'm past all that. I don't need to do that.
But what I do know is this: This is a different day unlike anything that
I've ever known, unlike anything the world has ever known. So what does
that mean?”
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WuFather: End Times - Seems
like a Wiki by Michael Baigent.. but an interesting start on a site
questioning mainstream perceptions in the religious world.
10/3/8:
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Apocalypse
When? (2008) "Many mainline Christian church leaders sit in silent
embarrassment over the renewed bugaboo about end-time prophecy. It is
awkward enough for them to watch evangelicals and fundamentalists engage
in prophecy wars. But some church leaders find it even more humiliating
to see evangelicals at odds with evangelicals and fundamentalists
pointing fingers at other fundamentalists. Some church leaders and
thinkers are trying to come to agreement and publish one unified
message. Yet, success has eluded them. Why? The answer is a matter of
history."
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Critical:
Is the Great Tribulation Future or Fulfilled? "William
R. Kimball, president of “Disciples Indeed” Bible School in
South Lake Tahoe, California, has written a book entitled
What the Bible Says About the Great Tribulation
(Presbyterian & Reformed Publishing Company, 1983, paper, 291
pages). The book is primarily a study on Matthew chapter 24 and
the author seeks to prove that the great tribulation (mentioned
in Matthew 24:2 1) is not a future time of trouble but was
fulfilled in history. He believes its historical fulfillment
took place at the time of the Jewish war, around the year 70
A.D. This is a common position taken by
nondispensationalists. They do this in order to explain away a
whole host of prophetic passages which they do not wish to
interpret literally. Kimball is but one spokesman for the
popular but erroneous view which says that the Great Tribulation
has already been fulfilled in history in connection with the
destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 A..D. This paper
was written not just to answer Kimball, but to answer all those
who share this position with him."
/
The Destruction of Jerusalem Contrasted with the End of the Age
10/2/8:
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Josephus: Looks like a must-own:
The Complete Works of Flavius Josephus (Available 10/14) "An
exquisite reproduction of a circa-1850 large, single-volume collection
of Flavius Josephus’s complete literary works. A priest, scholar, and
warrior, this Jewish historian is best known for his works The
Antiquities of the Jews and The Jewish Wars (both included
here). This classic translation by William Whiston is a treasure of
information and beautifully detailed artwork from the historic Tallis
publishing family, renown for their illustrated maps of the world."
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Preterist Universalism:
Books that Changed my Life: The Adventures of a Christian Hedonist
"The journey that took me from believing in an eternal hell to Christian
Universalism all started with the book,
‘Shades of Sheol:
Death and Afterlife in the Old Testament’
by Philip Johnston. I learned that Israelites were quite agnostic about
what happened after death and did not have a firm belief in either
heaven or hell. The book
‘Jesus and the
Victory of God’ by NT Wright, really
showed me how Jesus’ predictions that many Christians believe are a
future post-mortem Judgment actually refer to the destruction of
Jerusalem in 70AD. This is one of the best books on the purpose of
Jesus based on the cultural context of 1st Century Israel."
10/1/8:
9/29/8:
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Former Full
Preterists :
William Price: Death Against Preterism "Preterism is defined as a
belief that most or all of biblical prophetic events pertaining to the
parousia of Christ, the 2nd Coming, has already come to pass. This
circulates both partial and full preterism as both equally heretical
doctrines. I believe preterism is a heresy which did begin with a man
named Hymenaeus, and was dealt with by Paul in his epistle writings. He
turned this man over to Satan. I know this heresy personally, because I
use to be in it, and I tell you, as strong as a case they may make, they
in fact are presenting spiritual gnosticism in presenting the preterist
heresy."
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Mystical Stones Hold Ancient Secret - "The Roman destruction of
Jerusalem (Masada?) in 73 A.D. may not have happened as believed.
Professor Aaron Skorsky, in an attempt to find the ancient Masada
Stones, rumored to have been involved in Jerusalem's destruction, also
discovers ancient documents that reveal new truths about the past that
could inspire terrorist activity in the present. -- Ancient history
comes alive when the mythical Masada stones are proven to be real. Soon
terrorists try to use them in the ongoing conflict between Israel and
Palestine in E.W. Bonadio's "The Masada Stones: A Novel" (ISBN
059527566, iUniverse 2008)."
9/26/8:
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HyP/HP:
Brian Schwertly:
Full Preterism Refuted #1: The Rapture (9/25/8) "In
3:2 we are not only told that Jesus will be revealed, manifested or
unveiled before the saints, but that believers will see Him when He
returns. The verb used here
hopsometha (the
future tense of horao)
is almost always used of physical or of beholding with the eyes. It is
“we have seen with our eyes…the life was manifested, and we
have seen.” Obviously seeing with the eyes was a literal sensation.
The apostles saw, heard, touched and handled the Messiah. If John were
using the same verb in a non-literal manner in 1 John 3:2, then we would
expect the apostle to indicate such in the immediate context; however,
he does not. This is a glorious promise! At the second coming we will
receive glorified bodies like Christ’s glorified body and we will behold
at the glorified Savior."
9/25/8:
9/18/8:
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Dismantling the Rapture - "Closer to home, the Reformed churches
have been afflicted in recent decades with a similar sort of
rationalism. As Kim points out in the broadcast, most of our partial and
full preterist friends are former dispensationalists. They’ve traded
their rationalist chiliasm for rationalist preterism (i.e., the claim
that everything in Matt 24 and the Revelation was fulfilled in AD 70).
Full preterism is, of course, heresy against the catholic faith that
confesses a bodily future return of Christ. There are forms of partial
preterism, however, which often go hand-in-glove with triumphalist
postmillennialism and theonomic ethics and Christian Reconstructionism
that has to make the messiness of a semi-realized biblical eschatology
go away in order to facilitate their program of cultural transformation
and their own version of an earthly glory age."
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Theo-Politics:
The battle for Sarah Palin's soul "Buchanan, a Catholic hero of the
SSPX,
said this week that "the lady is no neocon". But, clearly, he's
worried that the Zionist lobby is getting to his girl: "Will the
neocons who tutored George W. Bush in the ideology he pursued to the
ruin of his presidency do the same for Sarah Palin? Should they succeed,
they will destroy her. Yet, they are moving even now to capture this
princess of the right and hope of the party. "In St. Paul, Palin
was told to cancel a meeting with Phyllis Schlafly and pro-life
conservatives. McCain's operatives said Palin had to rest for her
Wednesday convention speech. Yet, on Tuesday, Palin was behind closed
doors with Joe Lieberman and officials of the Israeli lobby AIPAC.
There, according to The Washington Post, Palin took and passed her oral
exams."
9/16/8:
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HyP: C.
Michael Patton:
Is the Hyper-Preterist Gospel a Different
Gospel? - Part Two (2008) "try as I
may to understand and find some degree of legitimacy in your theology, I
can’t. I am still not ready to say that it is damnable, but it seems to
me to be an extremely serious departure from some essential elements in
the Gospel. No matter how one defines orthodoxy, I cannot find a place
for the eschatology of the hyper-Preterist. It is about as far as one
can deviate from the beaten path."
9/12/8:
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Apocalypse Now? 30 Days the World Didn't End
1284:
Pope Innocent III predicted the Second Coming for this year. He based
his prediction on the date of the inception of the Muslim faith, and
then added 666 years to that.
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DoD approves sale of bunker buster bombs to Israel The US Department
of Defense has notified Congress of a potential sale of 1,000 smart
bombs capable of penetrating underground bunkers to Israel, which would
likely be used in the event of a military strike against Iran's nuclear
facilities.
Tom Joseph: "I
have a Preterit group started at a Christian bookstore in Parker Colorado
(South of Denver). There are some that want it to become a Preterit Church.
If you have any people in the Denver Metro area that is looking to join us
or would like to be on the ground floor of a full “Hyper-Preterit Church”
please let me know." atthewell@comcast.net
9/9/8:
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HyP: C.
Michael Patton:
Is the Hyper-Preterist Gospel a Different
Gospel? (2008) "During this program I said
that hyper-preterism is definitely unorthodox,
finding its antithetical opposite affirmed from
the earliest Christianity until now by all
traditions of Christianity (Orthodox, Catholic,
and Protestant). All Christians have always
affirmed that Christ’s return, the resurrection
of the dead, judgment, and the new heavens and
earth are yet future, even if we disagree about
the details. However, I also said on the program
that while this doctrine is an unorthodox or
heretical view of eschatology, it is not a
doctrine that is damnable in the sense that if
one believes it, they are, by definition, not
Christian.. I am beginning to seriously
reconsider."
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dEmEnTia: Brian Abshire:
Christian Eschatology: The Irrelevance of the Modern Nation State of
Israel to Biblical Prophecy (2008) "One of the recurring features of
popular evangelical eschatology is the almost unconditional support for
the nation of Israel based on what is claimed to be Biblical prophecy.
The argument goes something like this; since the Jews are God’s chosen
people, and God gave the land of Israel back to modern day Jews in 1949,
therefore, Christians are morally required to support the nation state
of Israel, regardless… Many Christians see the re-establishment of the
nation of Israel in 1949 to be some sort of “prophetic” event signaling
the beginning of the end times. This led some writers in the seventies
to predict that the Second Coming MUST happen sometime BEFORE 1988 (”88
Reasons the Rapture Will Happen in 88″) since that would be “one
generation” (40 years) after Israel had been gathered out of exile."
9/8/8:
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Review of Goodman's Clash of Ancient Civilizations (2008) "Rome and
Jerusalem appears at a time of world crisis for
the Jewish people and religion. Many doubt the very existence of a
Jewish people and call Jews an "imagined community." The ancient
heritage and roots of the Jews in the Land of Israel have been subject
to corrosive deconstruction and doubt and have come under vicious and
libelous attacks. A wide array of intellectuals, politicians, and
Christian and Muslim leaders challenge the existence of a sovereign
Jewish state of Israel. Moreover, Judaism often seems so diluted that it
cannot be clearly defined. In
light of this background, Martin Goodman's erudite and encyclopedic
volume restores ancient Jewish civilization to its proper place in world
history and contributes to the ongoing debate about the origins of
hatred toward Jews and Judaism. The work is indeed a tour de force. "
9/6/8:
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Apocalypse:
John W. Marshall, Canadian Corporation for Studies in Religion -
Parable of War: Reading John's Jewish Apocalypse (2001) "A radical
reinterpretation of the Book of Revelation of John, viewing it as a
document of the Jewish diaspora during the Judean War." (The first
addition to a new archive studying Eberhard Visher's "Jewish Apocalypse
; Christian Redaction" theory in Die Offenbarung Johannis eine
Judische Apokalypse, 1886)
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"Vischer was followed by
Harnack in the view this was a
Jewish
apocalypse worked over by a Christian" (Robertson's Word
Pictures)
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"German scholar
Vischer.. holds the Apocalypse to have been originally a purely
Jewish composition.. we think, it cannot be objected to.. The
Apocalypse abounds in passages which bear no specific Christian
character but, on the contrary, show a decidedly Jewish complexion."
(Catholic Encyclopedia)
The Literary World By Samuel R. Crocker (1887)
9/4/8:
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Archeology/Jerusalem:
Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs Release on the Ancient
Fortifications of Jerusalem "South
of the line of fortifications from the Byzantine period and at a depth
of approximately 4 meters below the elevation of its base, a tower that
is preserved to a height of 3.20 meters was exposed which dates to the
time of the Hasmonean Dynasty (the Second Temple period). The tower was
built on the bedrock which was straightened and made fairly level. It
was constructed of large stones that are characterized by a dressed boss
in their center, with no bonding material between them. The
“header-stretcher” construction method used in building the tower is
typical of the Hasmonean period. The tower was part of the line of the
“First Wall” that is described by Josephus. Other sections of the “First
Wall” were revealed at the base of the western wall of the Ottoman city
wall, in David’s Citadel and in other excavations that were conducted in
the Jewish Quarter. The soil fill and the pottery sherds that abut the
city wall prove that it was used until the time of the Great Revolt and
the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in the year 70 CE.
Afterwards, the stones of the wall were taken for secondary use,
probably in order to build “Aelia Capitolina”, the Roman colony which
the emperor Hadrian established on the ruins of Jerusalem in the year
131 CE."
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Roman army defeats modern foes with HIV virus Researchers found that
people who live in lands conquered by the Roman army have less
protection against HIV than those in countries they never reached
9/3/8:
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Irenaeus on the date of the book of Revelation "Robert Gundry has
done a lot of great work on demonstrating that Eusebius has manipulated
many texts in order to discount the book of Revelation. Gundry goes at
great lengths to show that Eusebius created the dichotomy between "John
the Apostle" and "John the Elder" in order to discount the book of
Revelation because of its supposed millennialism."
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Archeology/Jerusalem:
Wall dating to Second Temple unearthed -
Jerusalem's
ancient wall unveiled ""The fact that after 2,100 years the remains
of the wall were preserved to a height of three meters is amazing," he
said. The construction dates from the period of the Second Temple
- the 2nd Century BCE until the temple's destruction by the Romans in
70AD.
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Al
Aqsa in danger : animated clip from Palestinian Media Watch
The film is the latest in a
series of propaganda films, clips and news articles launched by Hamas
and other Arab groups regarding the alleged threat to the Temple Mount
caused by Israel.
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Former Full
Preterists: D. Anderson (Will
release full name when paper made available)
"It may come as a shock to
some, but I no longer hold to the FP position and no, Lloyd, nor Rod can
be held to ridicule here for my change but they both have made some
valid points that have complimented my study.. I do have a scriptural
response and I'll share it privately with some and then publicly when I
get it on paper but in the meantime, I'm still in study. I've been
seeing some problems for a while and have finally taken the time to
search it out. While FP has straightened out much, it is not the end
all imho."
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Full Preterist Response:
"I will say the same thing about you that I did Roderick. I pointed out
how there is no middle ground and that Roderick's heart would eventually
get harder from his sin of rejecting and
compromising the Word of God. That is the road you are on..
And because of this, reading you (like Roderick) will end up being a
complete waist of anyone's time."
9/1/8:
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Dutch intel: US strike on Iran "imminent"
"On Friday, Ma'ariv reported that Israel had made a strategic
decision to deny Iran military nuclear capability and would not hesitate
"to take whatever means necessary" to prevent Teheran from achieving its
nuclear goals.
According to the report, whether the
United States and Western countries succeed in thwarting the Islamic
Republic's nuclear ambitions diplomatically, through sanctions, or
whether a US strike on Iran is eventually decided upon, Jerusalem has
begun preparing for a separate, independent military strike."
8/30/8:
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Report: Israel won't allow nuclear Iran
"So far, Israel has not received American
authorization to use US-controlled Iraqi airspace, nor has the defense
establishment been successful in securing the purchase of advanced
US-made warplanes which could facilitate an Israeli strike."
8/27/8:
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DSS:
Dead Sea Scrolls to be published on Internet Equipped with
high-powered cameras with resolution and clarity many times greater than
those of conventional models, and with lights that emit neither heat nor
ultraviolet rays, the scientists and technicians are uncovering
previously illegible sections and letters of the scrolls, discoveries
that could have significant scholarly impact.
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Hologram of Temple meant to summon Messiah - "He was inspired in
part by a passage in the Midrash Rabbah, a collection of Torah analysis
written more than 1,000 years ago, which says that the temple will
descend fully built from heaven as a manifestation of light. It’s a
prophecy that many Jews have embraced because it suggests that only God
can build the temple. But Hayutman found a loophole. He realized that
another way to get a temple of light to descend from the heavens was to
combine a blimp with hologram-producing lasers.
8/25/8:
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Audio/Video:
Gentry's The Beast of Revelation Identified
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Critical:
Dave Hunt on Preterism:
(Video)"they
put out a statement a few years ago that all the promises to Israel were
fulfilled in the time of Joshua. Now Joshua lived 110 years, these are
everlasting promises, this is an everlasting covenant, everlasting
possession of this land. And we would only have to go to, I mean, there
are hundreds of prophecies promising Israel be restored. " // On Hyper
Preterism: "They claim that Jesus Christ returned in fulfillment of His
promise to come back to take us to heaven, He returned in the person of
the Roman armies to destroy Jerusalem and to excommunicate Israel, and
Israel is finished. Now if that is not wicked, and if that is not
twisting the scriptures I don’t know what is."
8/19/8:
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Christians
United for Israel and Attacking Iran "The "squeeze Iran" and
"confront Iran" positions are strongly encouraged by the increasingly
powerful Zionist Christian Fundamentalist community.
About 5,000 people from across the United States attended the third
annual
Washington-Israel Summit, organized by
Christians United for Israel (CUFI). There, the "Iranian threat"
loomed as a pervasive theme. "What do you do with a maniac like
Ahmadinejad? I'm not sure diplomacy works," Gary Bauer, President of
American Values and a CUFI executive board member, told the crowd during
the July 22 "Middle East Intelligence Briefing."
8/13/8:
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Son of
Hamas leader converted to Christianity
"He was born the
son of one of the most influential leaders of the militant Hamas
organization in the West Bank and grew up in a strict Islamic family.
Now, at 30 years old, he attends an
evangelical Christian church, Barabbas Road in San Diego, Calif.
JONATHAN HUNT: Do you think you'll ever go
back to a Middle East living in peace? MOSAB HASSAN YOUSEF: There
will be a 100-person (percent? TD) peace when Jesus comes back, when he
judges everybody. His kingdom's going to be 1,000 years and it's going
to be completely peaceful and it's going to be the kingdom of God."
8/12/8:
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Discovery: 2,000 Year Old Silver Coins
- "Professor Oded Lipschits, the head of the dig, believes the pot was
hidden in a hurry, around the time the Romans destroyed the Biblical
temple in 70 AD and the owner of the coins possibly intended to return
for them."
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Roman temple uncovered in ancient Jewish capital of Galilee No
evidence has been found that reveals the nature of the temple’s rituals,
but some coins dating from the time of Antoninus Pius, minted in
Diocaesarea (Zippori), depict a temple to the Roman gods Zeus and Tyche.
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Ultra Cruel Rapture
Prank - The crew of Prank 3:16 showed up at a coffee house and faked
the rapture on an young lady.
8/9/8:
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Tisha B'Av:
A Day of Responsibility
Isn't it obvious
that such closed-mindedness and self-righteousness fosters a disunity
that our enemies do not hesitate to exploit? Have we forgotten
that even as the Romans massed ominously on the horizon, Jews of the
Second Temple period were riven with factionalism, each camp clinging to
its false certainties? Unable to put their differences aside, they
contributed to the undermining of the Jewish
commonwealth. "
8/6/8:
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Gary DeMar:
The Olivet Discourse: The Test of Truth
"Either
the Olivet Discourse applies to a generation located in the distant
future from the time the gospel writers composed the Olivet Discourse or
to the generation to whom Jesus was speaking; it can’t be a little bit
of both. As we will see, the interpretation of the Olivet Discourse in
any of the synoptic gospels does not allow for a mixed approach, a
double fulfillment, or even a future completion. Matthew 24:34 won’t
allow for it: “Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away
until all these things take place” (also see Mark 13:30 and Luke
21:32)."
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J'lem Dig turns up gold coins from end of
Second Temple period "What
was a pot holding coins doing at the bottom of a cave used for raising
pigeons? According to Lipschits, the pot was covered up in a way that
indicates that it had been concealed in a hurry. "We know that coins
like these were brought to the Temple"
7/29/8:
XXIV. 32-36. — Now learn a
parable of the fig-tree : When its branch is yet tender, and putteth forth
leaves, ye know that summer is nigh : so likewise ye, when ye shall see all
these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto
you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. But of
that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my
Father only.
There are four things in these words. First, the comparison of the fig-tree,
wherein Christ's meaning is, that just as we know the coming of summer by
the fig-tree, so by the fulfilment of all these tokens, of which He has
spoken, shall we know of His coming to judgment. Second, that the ruin of
Jerusalem should come, before that generation of men, who were then living,
should pass away, as, in point of fact, it came. And although it appears
strange to refer these words to the ruin of Jerusalem, I know of no other
expedient whereby to get out of this difficulty ; for the expedient employed
by those, who, by generation, understand the Jews, making Christ say : this
Jewish race shall not be wholly destroyed, unless all these things be first
fulfilled ; but the Greek text does not permit it, which properly means :
this generation, these men, who are now alive, and it is commonly said that
a generation is the space of a century; whilst the expedient which others
adopt, who say that all the things which Christ here mentions, as to
persecutions, as to wars and rumours of wars, and as to false Christs and to
false prophets, were, even as Josephus writes, seen before the destruction
of Jerusalem ; neither does this harmonise thus, for Josephus does not
-write that those false Christs and false prophets wrought the great signs
and prodigies or miracles of which Christ has here spoken, as because the
same inconvenience is incident to this expedient as in referring these words
to the ruin of Jerusalem, since it is so, that, in that declaration, " Till
all these things be fulfilled," it seems, that all that He has said of the
sun, of the moon, and of the stars, with all that remains pertaining to the
universal judgment, has also to be included; and, therefore, I think it to
be a good expedient to refer it to what He has said of the destruction of
Jerusalem. Whilst it is a better expedient for a man to confess his
ignorance and say : this, I do not understand.
The third thing that there is in these words is the stability and firmness
of Christ's words, which are more stable and more firm than heaven and
earth.
The fourth thing is the profound mystery that God maintains in His own
purposes, since He has not even revealed to His angels, the day when the
final judgment shall take place ; and, if it be hidden from the angels, how
very great would be our temerity, were we to pretend to know it.
St. Paul likewise understands that the angels never heard of the call of the
nations to participation in the grace of the gospel, until they saw it,
whilst he proves that some Jews, as, for instance, David and Isaiah,
understood it : and, if these understood it, and prophesied concerning it,
it is a great thing to say that the angels should not have understood it, at
least from the Scriptures ; as a matter of fact, our blindness is very
great. "
7/28/8:
-
Free Online Books
(Excerpt):
Charles L. Holman:
Till Jesus Comes:
Origins of Christian Apocalyptic Expectation (1996) "Early
Christian writings share an understanding that believers live in the
end-times. This leads to the common expectation, the common hope, that
God would one day achieve final and ultimate victory in the coming of
Jesus. This book traces the origins of this understanding in the Old
Testament, in prophetic literature, in Jewish apocalyptic writings, and
in the New Testament. The resulting map informs the church of today that
still lives between the times."
-
Free Online Books:
Keith Mathison:
The Shape of Sola Scriptura
(2001) "An important point that must be kept in mind is observed by the
great ninteenth-century Princeton theologian Samuel Miller. He noted
that the most zealous opponents of creeds "have been those who help
corrupt opinions".. Another heresy that has been widely promoted with
the assistance of the modern Evangelical version of solo scriptura
is hyper-preterism" (Full book available online at Google)
"while there are numerous internal squabbles over details, in general
advocates of this doctrine insist that Jesus Christ returned in A.D.70
at the destruction of Jerusalem and that at that time sin and death were
destroyed, the Adamic curse was lifted, Satan was cast into the lake of
fire, the rapture and general resurrection occurred, the final judgment
occurred, mourning and crying and pain were done away with, and the
eternal state began." (pp. 242,243)
-
Keith
Mathison Study Archive - Long Overdue
7/26/8:
-
Studies/Apocalypse
of John:
J.D. Michaelis -
The Apocalypse (1801 English
Edition PDF) "the Apocalypse
contains prophecies with which the very persons to whom it was
sent were immediately concerned. But if none of these
prophecies were designed to be completed till long after their
death, those persons were not immediately concerned with them,
and the author would surely not have said that they were
blessed in reading prophecies of which the time was at hand,
if those prophecies were not to be fulfilled till after the
lapse of many ages" //
History of New Testament Research: Michaelis /
Grotius /
Lightfoot /
Whitby /
Locke /
Eichhorn
-
Nathaniel Lardner:
Lardner on the Date of
the Apocalypse (1788 PDF)
-
Mother Jones: Let there be light crude (2008) "Evangelical preachers
claim that a giant oil find in Israel will usher in the end of days.
Enter the con men and penny-stock hustlers."
-
Going undercover at the CUFI Summit "While Hagee tries
to distance his Eschatology from his support for Israel, it
bears mentioning that the two are actually inexorably
linked. In early 2007, Hagee participated in a conference
call with bloggers where he denied that eschatology plays
any part in his support for Israel. But as Bruce Wilson, who
monitors the religious right on the blog Talk2Action,
pointed out in April:Pastor Hagee's words were directly
contradicted by literature from Hagee's San Antonio
Cornerstone Church Magazine, which exhorts readers to
"Become a Part of The Fulfillment of Prophecy." by sending
money to help Jews resettle in Israel. It is standard to
Christian Apocalyptic Premillennial Dispensationalist
eschatology that Jews must be encouraged to return to Israel
where, according to the prophetic tradition, most of them
will be killed in the Tribulation, Apocalypse and battle of
Armageddon except for a "remnant", generally held to number
144,000 Jews who have converted to Christianity, will
survive and serve as evangelical "super-Billy Grahams" who
will convert all of humanity, surviving the expected
(nuclear) end-times conflict, to Christianity. //
Christian Zionists
Target Israel - Footage from the latest rally
7/25/8:
-
Studies/John:
Henk Jan de Jonge:
Anti-Judaism in
the Gospel of John (2001 PDF)
"The depiction of "the Jews" that arises in the Gospel of John is not a
favorable image. The Evangelist not only speaks frequently of "the
Jews" as a group that is in vehement opposition to Jesus, but he also
treats this group repeatedly as a large, monolithic, indistinguishable
mass."
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Studies/Apocalypse
of John: Henk Jan de Jonge:
The Apocalypse of
John and the Imperial Cult
(2002 PDF) "The book is often dated to the reign of Domitian, mainly on
the basis of the testimony of Irenaeus.5 But Irenaeus was writing in
Gaul in about 180 CE. He thought that John saw his vision some 35 years
before he, Irenaeus, was born. 'We would not normally regard so distant,
belated and second-hand an opinion äs, by itself, evidence."
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Herod's Temple:
Martin Goodman:
Diaspora reactions to the Destruction of the Temple (1999) "It is
noticeable that in AD 66 - as Agrippa II is said by Josephus (perhaps
with hindsight) to have warned would be the case - the considerable aid
that these Jews could have provided to the rebels was not forth-coming..
The cause of such inactivity was not, I suspect, indifference so much as
overconfidence."
7/24/8:
-
Free Online Books/Apocalypse
of John:
James JL Ratton -
The
Apocalypse of St. John - A Commentary on the Greek Text
(1912 PDF) "This edition of "The Revelation of Jesus Christ" completes
my work in connection with the Apocalypse.. It gives additional proofs
of the early date of the Book, before the fall of Jerusalem.. Nero's
place in the Revelation of the Kingdom as the Destroyer of Daniel, the
Antichrist of the Jews, is pointed out.." [A Catholic/Orthodox book
rejecting of the Future Antichrist as myth. Nero, not the Pope, is
"Antichrist" - Could be seen as descendent of Alcasar's theory]
-
Gary DeMar:
A Review of "Understanding End Times
Prophecy" (7/2008) "Benware and
other dispensationalists claim that the only way Revelation can
be interpreted is literally. Let’s put their standard to the
test. “The third angel sounded, and a great star fell from
heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the
rivers and on the springs of waters” (Rev. 8:10). If one star
hits the earth, the earth will be vaporized in an instant. In
fact, if a star gets even close to the earth, the earth is going
to burn up before it hits. Then there’s Revelation 8:12: “Then
the fourth angel sounded, and a third of the sun and a third of
the moon and a third of the stars were smitten, so that a third
of them might be darkened and the day might not shine for a
third of it, and the night in the same way.” How can a “third of
the sun” be smitten without catastrophic results on the whole
earth and not just a third of it? All of this language is drawn
from the Old Testament and only has meaning as it is interpreted
in light of its Old Testament context—the judgment and
destruction of nations (Isa. 14:12; Jer. 9:12–16). To ignore how
a passage is used in the Old Testament is like trying to
interpret Egyptian hieroglyphics without the Rosetta Stone."
7/23/8:
-
Free Online Books:
Huchown: Sege of Jerusalem (1380) Added PDF File "Whan alle was
demed and don they drowen up tentis, Trossen here tresour and trompen up
the sege, Wenten syngyng away and han here wille forthred, And hom riden
to Rome. Now rede ous oure Lord! "
-
Nero:
Greece: Shades of Nero’s, Um, Glory (2008) German archaeologists
using radar technology say they have discovered the ancient chariot
track at Olympia where the Emperor Nero of Rome bribed his way to
Olympic laurels. The location of the track is one of the last mysteries
of Olympia, where the ancient Greeks founded the Olympics in the eighth
century B.C. Nero, who loved Greek culture, bribed Olympic officials to
have the games postponed for two years to coincide with his tour of
Greece in A.D. 67. He participated in a chariot race and was declared
the winner, despite falling off his chariot.
-
Index of links on the Apocalypse of Gabriel
7/20/8:
-
Latest Study Archive:
Wilhelm Bousset
(1865 - 1920)
Author of
The AntiChrist Legend
(1895 PDF) "But where are we elsewhere to look for the appearance
of the witnesses and of the beast ? According to ver. 8, in Jerusalem.
Even apart from the words " where also our [their] Lord was crucified,"
Jerusalem is unmistakably indicated both by the connection with vers. 1
and 2, and by the circumstance that in the earthquake in which the tenth
part of the city fell seven thousand men were slain (ver. 13). For the
assumption that the scene takes place in Rome there is not a particle of
evidence. The assertion that Jerusalem could not be called " the great
city " can be shown to be groundless, while the fact that Rome is
elsewhere in Revelation also called " the great city " proves nothing
for the explanation of this quite exceptional chapter."
-
Studies/Apocalypse
of John:
The
Historical New Testament: The Apocalypse
(1901 PDF) - Explaining in detail Bousset's (very mature, yet
controverted by the Dead Sea Scrolls?) explanation of the wide range of
dates for the Apocalypse. You are not a true student of the
Apocalypse until you have digested this view!
-
Studies/Matthew:
James Tabor:
A
Hebrew Gospel of Matthew (1999) "Eusebius, H.E. 3.24.6 "Matthew had
first preached to Hebrews, and when he was on the point of going to
others he transmitted in writing in his native language the Gospel
according to himself, and thus supplied by writing the lack of his own
presence to those from whom he was sent."
-
Christian Zionism:
IsraelENews - Why
aren`t evangelicals denouncing Pastor John Hagee? (2008) "Hagee's
also a fervent supporter of the State of Israel against its Muslim
neighbours. But he doesn't bother to tell Jews that Christians of his
ilk expect all Jews to convert to Christianity. If they don't, such
end-times Christians believe Jews will suffer eternal damnation when
Jesus returns in the Last Judgment. "
7/18/8:
-
Book by
Hyper Preterist Assassin, Charles Guiteau
-
The Truth: A Companion to the Bible
(1879) "Christendom
must have a new theology — a theology to fit the fact that Christ came
A. D. 70. The great practical effect of this doctrine will be to
establish the faith of Christendom in the Bible. This doctrine throws a
calcium light upon the New Testament. It illuminates its otherwise
mysterious words, verses, and chapters. No one can understand the Bible
without this view of the second coming. It is a living stream of water
running through the New Testament. This doctrine is the missing link,
uniting Primitive Christianity with modern Christianity, and, it is
believed, Holy Ghost power will come to the church by a belief in this
doctrine. Thousands have rejected the Bible, to their eternal death, on
account of its apparent inconsistency, not knowing the truth concerning
Christ's second coming.. We epitomize the history of the race thus
: Adam, Noah, Abraham, Christ's birth, Christ's death and resurrection,
Christ's second coming, A. D. 70. Christ's second coming is the
pivotal fact of history." (pp. 53,55)
-
First Century History:
W. Simpson -
History of the Christian Church - First Century
Only (1857 PDF) Papias,
Bishop of Hierapolis in Phrygia, and one of John's disciples. flourished
in the reign of Trajan. He was the first propagator of the doctrine of a
Millenium, or temporal reign of Christ on earth for a thousand years,
when the elect shall be gathered together, after the resurrection, in
Jerusalem. Papias, having been a disciple of St. John, was supposed best
to know the Apostle's mind as to the thousand years mentioned in
Revelations [c. xx.] Hence, the doctrine of a Millenium was much in
vogue for two or three centuries, and those who held it were termed
Millenarians and Chiliasts. It was held, not only by the Gnostic
heretics, especially the Cerinthians, and by the Montanists, but
likewise by Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, and others : but the
notions of these latter were not of that gross and sensual kind which
have been ascribed to Cerinthus and his followers. Origen powerfully
refuted the millenarian doctrine."
-
Tisha B'Av:
Reuven Hammer:
The Limits of Mourning (2008) "The three week period mourning for
the destruction of the Temple begins this week and once again we will
recall the catastrophes that overtook our people both in the year 586
BCE when the Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians and in 70 CE when
the Second Temple was burned by the Romans. Perhaps it is too simple,
however, to speak only about the Temple. Much more was involved." (The
writer is an author and lecturer who serves as the head of the
Rabbinical Court of the Masorti Movement.)
7/16/8:
-
Former Full
Preterists :
P.S.
Desprez:
Analogy between the Apocalypse of the
Old Testament and that of the New
(1865 PDF) -
Another Post-Hyper Work
-
Preterist
Universalism /
Free Books:
Thomas Whittemore:
A
Commentary on the Revelation of St. John, the Divine
(1848) "For our part, we are willing to confess, that if a man believes
the Apocalypse was not written until after the destruction of Jerusalem,
and if he believes in the common notions concerning the day of God's
wrath, the judgment of the dead, the great dragon, the bottomless pit,
&c., &c., he cannot understand the book. He will be continually hampered
by his pre-conceived system ; and, in harmony with such a system, no
probable interpretation can be given. Although Professor Stuart has
produced an excellent work upon the Apocalypse, — the most consistent
and valuable, we think of any we've have ever seen, — yet he was
manifestly troubled and warped in his judgment in interpreting certain
parts by his theological system, or creed, especially his belief in
endless misery, and the popular notions of a future judgment. "
-
AntiSemitism:
The Fall of the Temple
: A Study in the History of Dogma (1921 PDF) Interesting
little book. Enjoy.
-
Alfred Edersheim:
The Temple Ministry and Services at the Time of Jesus
(1874 PDF)
7/15/8: Found great quote by
Arethas (c.850 - 944)
(On the
Early
Dating of Revelation)
"For there were many, yea, a countless multitude from among the Jews, who
believed in Christ : as even they testify, who said to St Paul on his
arrival at Jerusalem : Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there
are which believe. (Acts xxi. 20.) And He who gave this revelation to the
Evangelist, declares, that these men shall not share the destruction
inflicted by the Romans. For the ruin brought by the Romans had not yet
fallen upon the Jews, when this Evangelist received these prophecies : and
he did not receive them at Jerusalem, but in Ionia near Ephesus. For after
the suffering of the Lord he remained only fourteen years at Jerusalem,
during which time the tabernacle of the mother of the Lord, which had
conceived this Divine offspring, was preserved in this temporal life, after
the suffering and resurrection of her incorruptible Son. For he continued
with her as with a mother committed to him by the Lord. For after her death
it is reported that he no longer chose to remain in Judaea, but passed over
to Ephesus, where, as we have said, this present Apocalypse also was
composed ; which is a revelation of future things, inasmuch as forty years
after the ascension of the Lord this tribulation came upon the Jews."
7/14/8:
-
Hermann Gebhardt - Latest Study Archive!
-
Hermann Gebhardt:
The Doctrine of the Apocalypse
(1820 PDF) "But this year is so clearly indicated by the description of
the Beast, in complete agreement with everything else in the book, that,
as we shall show in the sections on nearer doctrines, the choice can
only be, whether it was written under the government of Galba, between
August 68 and January 69, or in the time from the accession of Vespasian
to the destruction of Jerusalem, between the end of December 69 and the
spring of the year 70. And as in the same sections we find nothing in
favour of Vespasian, but on the contrary very important considerations
in favour of the time of Galba, we conclude, with Volkmar and others,
that the Apocalypse was written in his reign, toward the end of the year
68, or early in the year following. "
-
David N. Lord:
Christ's Prophecy (Matt.
xxiv) of the Destruction of Jerusalem, and of His Second Coming
(1858) "the one event is typical of the other; his coming to destroy
Jerusalem in representation, faint, indeed, but real, of his glorious
and awful coming to take vengeance upon the finally impenitent ; and
that language, therefore, is used of it which seems appropriately to
belong to the final judgment." — Pp. 318, 319.
The assumption on which Dr. Owen here proceeds is surely as complete a
"jargon of hermeneutics " as that of Mr. Alford. For he divests the
language of the Saviour altogether of a predictive office, and assigns
that function to tlie events which his words denote ; making the coming
of the Son of man in the clouds of heaven, a mere type or symbol of the
acts of his providence by which Jerusalem was destroyed ; and then
assigns to those acts of providence by which that city was overthrown,
the office of representing his real personal coming at the last
judgment, to take vengeance upon the finally impenitent. Can a worse
error in " hermeneutics" be conceived than this, which thus wrests from
the language of prophecy all its predictive meaning, and transfers the
office of prediction to the events which it signifies, as types and
symbols of a different class of events ; and then makes these last
events types and symbols of the other class that are literally denoted
by the language of the prediction, and by which they are themselves held
to be represented? Or is there any other principle that makes the
interpretation of the Sacred Word more entirely the work of a wild and
lawless fancy? (p 414)
-
Free Online Books: The Gladiators: A Tale
of Rome and Judea (1863) PDFs:
Volume One |
Two |
Three
7/13/8:
7/12/8:
-
Free Online Books:
Moses
Stuart -
A
Commentary on the Apocalypse (1845)
PDF OF VOLUME TWO
"After all the investigation which I have been able to make, I feel compelled to believe that the writer refers to a literal and definite period, although not so exact that a single day, or even a few days, of variation from it would interfere with the object he has in view. It is certain that the invasion of the Romans lasted just about the length of the period named, until Jerusalem was taken. " (2:218)
-
President Bush backs Israeli plan for airstrike on Iran "Despite the
opposition of his own generals and widespread scepticism that America is
ready to risk the military, political and economic consequences of an
airborne strike on Iran, the president has given an “amber light” to an
Israeli plan to attack Iran’s main nuclear sites with long-range bombing
sorties, the official told The Sunday Times. "
7/11/8:
7/10/8:
-
Herod's Temple:
The Egyptian Temples of Judaism
"It is not well known that there were two Jewish temples in ancient
Egypt. They do not form part of our traditional history, which
concentrates on the going down into Egypt and the coming out of it, as
based on the Torah accounts, for which there is little or no
contemporary corroboration. But the two temples, though well attested by
contemporary sources, have received little attention from our tradition.
One of these temples has been known about for nearly 2,000 years from
Josephus Flavius and the Talmud, and its site was claimed to have been
found just 100 years ago, but it has now been lost again. The other was
never known of till just a hundred years ago and its site has only
recently been discovered. "
-
Free Online Books:
Google Books Bibliography of Judaism and Christianity
7/9/8:
-
Revelations:The Mystery of the
Copper Scroll "It actually fits the glove perfectly for these people
known as the Zealots, who were the priestly group, who were holding down
the temple, who were keeping it from the Romans in the best way
possible. Before they were massacred, they left things behind in caves
here in Qumran," he said"
-
Revelations: More on the tablet writing of "Gabriel's Revelation" The tablet,
called "Gabriel's Revelation," is broken and faded, making much of its
content debatable. The words tell of a vision, supposedly given by the
angel Gabriel, of the apocalypse.Lines 19 through 21 of the tablet
contain words, which translated read: "In three days you will know that
evil will be defeated by justice." |
Stone's text
in English (pdf)
The stone tablet and
its owner, David Jeselsohn
7/6/8:
-
Revelations:
"Dead
Sea Scroll on Stone" contains apocalyptic texts "A
three-foot-tall tablet with 87 lines of Hebrew that scholars believe
dates from the decades just before the birth of Jesus is causing a quiet
stir in biblical and archaeological circles, especially because it may
speak of a messiah who will rise from the dead after three days. Much of
the text, a vision of the apocalypse transmitted by the angel Gabriel,
draws on the Old Testament, especially the prophets Daniel, Zechariah
and Haggai."
-
dEmEnTiA:
Trumpet blasts to Jesus: 'We're awake' on Earth - Worldwide wave of horns,
shouting planned in time zones across planet
6/21/8:
-
James Stuart Russell:
The Parousia
(1878) - Added Newly Formatted RTF File (Many thanks to Scott Mohr!)
(Hyper Preterist Millennium "violent and unnatural") "Some
interpreters indeed attempt to get over the difficulty by supposing that
the thousand years, being a symbolic number, may represent a period of
very short duration, and so bring the whole within the prescribed
apocalyptic limits; but this method of interpretation appears to us so
violent and unnatural that we cannot hesitate to reject it. " (p. 514)
6/14/8:
-
Critical:
Preterist Problems - "One particular passage
of Revelation, when I read the modern magnum opus of preterist
commentaries, David Chilton's The Days of Vengeance, the
proposed interpretation made me guffaw out loud (which is surely a
redundancy, as "guffaw" implies a sudden burst of unexpected laughter.)
And that was when I was a convinced preterist. I nevertheless
could not believe what was seriously being suggested to me."
"First, the quotation cited by Chilton is referenced
under Revelation 9:7–12 (p. 247) not 9:1–11. Second, Chilton is quoting from
Josephus’ The Jewish War, iv. Ix. 10" - Gary DeMar
6/10/8:
-
Jordan archeologists uncover "world's first church"
(East of Pella)
"Archaeologists in Jordan have unearthed what they claim is the world's
first church, dating back almost 2,000 years, The Jordan Times reported
on Tuesday. "We have uncovered what we believe to be the first
church in the world, dating from 33 AD to 70 AD," the head of Jordan's Rihab Centre for Archaeological Studies, Abdul Qader al-Husan, said."
|
Google News
5/23/8:
-
Going for Gold in Gamala
Like many contemporary houses in hilly Israeli cities, the dwellings on
the single built-up slope of Gamla were terraced apartments. Thus each
roof was the floor of the home above, saving a lot of space and
contributing to the success scored by the Jews in their first major
battle against the Romans. Following the outbreak of the Jewish
revolt in 66 CE the Romans conquered Galilee and most of the Golan
Heights. King Agrippa II, a Jew who collaborated with the Romans,
besieged Gamla for seven months. His failure to subdue the city led to
the Roman attack.
5/22/8:
-
John Hagee's endorsement rejected by McCain
over "Promised Land" remarks
"Republican John McCain rejected the months-old endorsement of an
influential Texas televangelist after an audio recording surfaced in
which the preacher said God sent Adolf Hitler to help Jews reach the
promised land. " (What would happen if the extent of
Dispensationalist views regarding the Jews were publicly known like
this?)
-
Kim
Riddlebarger:
What About the "Great" Tribulation? "A second reason why this
question is important has to do with the rise of various forms of
preterism (full-preterism, which is considered a heresy; and so-called
“partial” preterism, which is not) which contend that Christ returned in
A.D. 70 to execute judgment upon apostate Israel, the city of Jerusalem,
and the Jewish temple and its sacrificial system. Those who hold to the
various forms of preterism believe that this great tribulation spoken of
by Jesus (Matthew 24:21) has come and gone with the events associated
with the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple by the Romans. In
light of the tendency to relegate a time of "great" tribulation to the
distant past or imminent future, it is important to survey the biblical
teaching in this regard. As we will see, this time of “great
tribulation” cannot be tied exclusively to the events of A.D. 70, or to
the very end. God’s people may face such tribulation throughout the
entire time from Christ’s redemptive tribulation on the cross, until the
end of the age."
5/16/8:
-
Robert Townley
(First Full Preterist, First
Former Full
Preterist)
Christianity in the Nineteenth Century A Sermon in the Universalist
Church of Charlestown, Mass,. Sunday Morning, September 26
(1852)
"We, on the contrary, fulfill every thing by that magic phrase, "the
destruction of Jerusalem." But can we really and seriously refer these
passages which I have quoted from Paul, to the destruction Jerusalem?
Can we truly say that the rejection of the Jews and the calling of the
Gentiles, let that mean what it may, exhausted all their meaning ---the
meaning which was the thought in Paul’s mind when he wrote them? I must
confess I cannot"
On leaving
Preterist Universalism: "I fear that we are in a poor sickly way just
now, by all I can read and hear. I fear we shall remain a sect without
hope of ever being anything better. It does not look likely that the
grub will ever come to be a butterfly."
-
Any UNH Users out there?
--> Gregory Sharpe: The
Rise And Fall Of The Holy City And Temple Of Jerusalem (1764) An
Argument In Defence Of Christianity. Being The Substance Of A Discourse
Preached At The Temple Church The 11th Of November - [8 vo. 248 p. (2.)]
- Second Edition 1766
5/8/8:
-
Searchable Books: John Ben-Daniel,
Gloria Ben-Daniel:
The Apocalypse
in the Light of the Temple: A New Approach to the Book of Revelation
"The resulting interpretation differs from the one that is presented by
the majority of modern scholars, and is called 'preterist.'
Whereas the 'preterist' interpretation is founded on the assumption that
the greater part of the text is referring to the historical struggles of
the Early Church, this interpretation proceeds from the hypothesis that
the theme of the Temple is of such great importance in the Apocalypse,
that it could be termed the "organizing principle" of the text as a
whole."
-
Searchable Books: Andrea Berlin, J.
Andrew Overman:
The First
Jewish Revolt: Archaeology, History, and Ideology "The First Jewish
Revolt against Rome is arguably the most decisive event in the history
of Judaism and Christianity. The destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem
in 70 CE by the Roman General Titus forced a transformation in structure
and form for both of these fraternal religions. Yet despite its
importance, little has been written on the First Revolt, its causes,
implications and the facts surrounding it, In this volume, Andrea M.
Berlin and J. Andrew Overman have gathered the foremost scholars on the
period to discuss and debate this pivotal historical event. The
contributions explore both Roman and Jewish perspectives on the Revolt,
looking at its history and archaeology, and finally examining the
ideology and interpretation of the revolt in subsequent history and
myth."
-
Searchable Books: Adela Yarbro Collins:
Cosmology and
Eschatology in Jewish and Christian Apocalypticism - "This volume
deals with Jewish and Christian apocalyptic texts and movements from the
second century BCE through the fourth century CE. It focuses on two
major themes, cosmology and eschatology; that is, views of structure of
the universe including its religious function and interpretations of
history and the future.The detailed historical and literary analysis of
these themes are introduced by an essay on the cultural gap between the
original contexts of these texts and those of readers today and how that
gap may be bridged.The book deals with the interrelations between
post-biblical Judaism and early Christianity. The relevant Jewish texts
and history are discussed thoroughly in their own right. The Christian
material is approached in a way which shows both its continuity with
Jewish tradition and its distinctiveness."
5/1/8:
-
Wikinews:
U.S. DOJ IP Blocked by Wikipedia after pro-Israeli vandalism "Founded
in 1982, CAMERA is a pro-Israel
media-monitoring and research non-profit organization based in
Boston,
Massachusetts. On April 21 the Electronic Intifada, a
not-for-profit online publication which covers the Israeli-Palestinian
Conflict from a Palestinian
perspective, published an article describing efforts by CAMERA to
secretly influence Wikipedia articles. According to the article,
Electronic Intifada obtained a series of emails between CAMERA and
members of Wikipedia, attempting to game the encyclopedia and influence
articles on the site related to Israel."
-
Critical: Tony Warren
..Till All These
Things Be Fulfilled (2000) "That Greek word that is translated
nation is the exact same word [genea] that is translated
generation in Matthew 24. It is illustrating the crooked and perverse
"family" or generation of the devil. It's contrasted here with the sons
of God, or the family of God who shine as lights among them. These
generations aren't periods of time spanning ones life, they last until
all is fulfilled at Christ's return. One generation shall not escape the
damnation of Hell, and the other is a special people who shall by
Christ's blood escape the damnation of Hell. "
4/24/8:
-
Hyper:
Jesus is Israel: Todd Dennis -
Israel's History a Schoolmaster - From Beginning to
Very End "Sometimes, however, in an
attempt to "confirm" a prophecy, a rush to judgment is made, whereby a
mistake brings disrepute upon the supposed author. This happens often
regarding supposed prophecies about "the end of the world." For almost
2,000 years, futurist Christians have predicted the end of the world in
their near futures, only to have their expectations crushed when the
earth did not blow up on cue. Repeated failures have brought an odium of
shame to the Bible and the Lord, even though the fault was entirely with
those who mistook the prophecies for something they were not. With
Hyper Preterism, the miscues usually accrue in the other direction --
declaring something as completed when in fact it was not."
-
Hyper:
Preterist Podcast with Warren and Edwards - Hyperpreterism is an
over-reaction to Dispensationalism, not Church History
-
Israel claims secret pact with U.S. "the current Israeli prime
minister, said this week that Bush's letter gave the Jewish state
permission to expand the West Bank settlements that it hopes to retain
in a final peace deal, even though Bush's peace plan officially calls
for a freeze of Israeli settlements across Palestinian territories on
the West Bank."
4/22/8:
-
Matthew
26:64 / Hyper:
Matthew 26:64 is NOT a "Preterist Time Indicator"
Pointing to AD70 "In short, the usage
of "Apo Arti" in Matthew 26:64 [Apo ("from" - Strongs 575) and Arti
("now on" - Strong's 737)] is highly suggestive of the themes that have
been previously offered at this blog ; that is, a series of revelatory
recognitions of the power and glory of Jesus Christ's dominance by
friend and foe alike. Though the typically pret-friendly Weymouth
translation would like to make Jesus say "later on, you will see.." this
is not really honest. I would rather say that it was simply a mistake,
but I find it impossible to believe that neither
Richard Francis Weymouth
("If this belief ever obtains general acceptance
the earlier date of the Apocalypse will also be regarded as fully
established. For it will then be seen that the book describes beforehand
events which took place in 70 A.D.") nor
Earnest Hampden-Cook
(co-editor and author of "The Christ
Has Come") were aware of the importance of this passage regarding their
Preterist assumptions. However, not only is there no sense of futurity
in this very emphatic Greek phrase, but rather we see quite the
opposite. "
-
Tommy Ice:
Ezekiel 38 &
39 "As I have thought more critically about literal interpretation
and this passage while doing this series, I have come to disagree
with a statement made by Mark Hitchcock and I where we said:
"Ezekiel spoke in language that the people of his day could understand.
If he had spoken of MIG-29s, laser-fired missiles, tanks, and assault
rifles, this text would have been nonsensical to everyone until the
twentieth century."[10] Instead, I have come to agree with DeMar
who says: "A lot has to be read into the Bible in order to make
Ezekiel 38 and 39 fit modern-day military realities that include jet
planes, 'missiles,' and 'atomic and explosive' weaponry."[11] Even
though I think DeMar is right on this one point, it does not mean that
his conclusion is correct."
-
ABC:
American Accused of Spying for Israel |
USAToday:
US announces military spy arrest "(Kadish)
provided an official from the Israeli consulate in New York with U.S.
national defense information, including restricted nuclear weapons data,
classified jet fighter weapons system data and key information on the
Patriot missile system. Government sources say Kadish's Israeli handler
is also the same man who handled convicted spy Jonathan Pollard."
//
Israel probes efforts to free spy in US jail -
Israel has begun investigating official efforts to get the United States
to free Jonathan Pollard, a US Jew serving a life sentence for spying,
the Yediot Aharonot daily reported on Wednesday. (March 26)
4/21/8:
-
Archeology:
The Other Messiah "Bar Kokhba's letters show him
warning his followers not to trust the "Galileans"
-- a common name for the followers of Jesus of
Nazareth. The Galileans, who already were being
called Christians, were in the ascendancy. While the
Romans were fighting the Jews, the Christians were
gaining power and influence and converts in the
heart of the Roman Empire. This was not their
war with the Romans, for the Christian messiah was
the Prince of Peace, and they would win in the end,
with history-changing results. And without the
support of the Galileans, Simon bar Kokhba's revolt
was doomed. "
4/20/8:
4/19/8:
-
Critical:
James Ventilato : Christ's Soon Coming and the
Words That Describe It (2004) "To all of this might be
added another set of texts which, when viewed through
Preterist lenses, actually provides a spread of upwards of 40
years prior to 70AD; i.e., those texts connected with the gospel
of the kingdom which our Lord preached during His earthly ministry
(as did His disciples, and as did His forerunner, John the Baptist),
heralding, “Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens is at hand”
(cf. Matt. 3:2; 4:17; 10:7; Mark 1:14-15; Luke 10:9,11). When this is
viewed through Preterist lenses (for they reject the truth of a “kingdom
offer” to Israel conveyed in this gospel of the kingdom), we have the
preaching of the kingdom as “at hand” (or “near”)
over 40 years prior to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD, in
which Preterists claim that the Son of Man came on the clouds
of heaven with power and great glory and established that very
kingdom (in a mysticalized manner, of course)."
-
Free Online Books:
David
Shotter -
Nero
(1997 PDF)
4/16/8:
4/15/8:
-
Free Online Books: Nigel Cawthorne -
History's Greatest
Battles: Masterstrokes of War (2005
PDF) Jerusalem, Defending the Temple - AD70 (p. 31-) "By crushing
Jewish resistance in Jerusalem, the Romans consolidated their eastern
empire, driving Jews out of their homeland in a diaspora that has
religious and political consequences to this day."
Visual Timeline of the
Roman-Jewish War
4/14/8:
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Free Online Books:
Alan Nairne -
Essays On The Book
Of Revelation Providing A Key To Its Understanding With Commentary - A Preterist
Interpretation "Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will
see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn
over Him. Even so. Amen.
(v.7).
This verse has been recognised by many
expositors as setting the theme of the Apocalypse. It is the repeated warning
or encouragement throughout both the letters to the churches, and the chapters
that follow, of impending events that will affect the Churches and the apostate
nation of Israel. But futurist expositors would have difficulty in
seeing this, for, in immediately relegating any passage coupling “Christ” with
“coming” and “clouds” into the end times, they have had to
interpret the Book speculatively of events far off in the future. We ask our
futurist friends, if the theme of the Book is the “end times”, why does the
Author set out letters to seven existing churches, warning them of immediately
pending persecution? “Behold, I come quickly” is the repeated thought
throughout the Book. Do I believe, then, that the Second Coming took place in
70AD? To set your minds at rest, be assured that I believe Christ’s Second
Coming to final judgement and the resurrection and reward of His people will
take place in the future “end times”. I am a futurist to that extent! "
-
Dementia :
Dispensationalism - emasculating the book of Revelation
-
Covenant Theology and Dispensationalism - "The disagreement arose
when this hermeneutic of literalism began to interpret God’s promises to
Israel. This, of course, resulted in Dispensationalism’s unique take on
the distinction between Israel and the Church and their resulting
eschatology, Dispensational Premillenialism. Realizing that this
theological perspective was not in conformity with the Westminster
Confession and Catechisms, prominent dispensationalists began to
advocate a revision of the standards. (Believe it or not, Dallas
employed almost an exclusively Presbyterian faculty in its early years;
notably, Chafer and Walvoord were Presbyterians in the beginning. [p.
217-18]) " |
Covenant Theology
4/4/8:
4/1/8:
-
Free Online Books:
John Lightfoot:
John
Lightfoot's Works /
Volume Three (PDF)
Works now complete. This is also the only complete volume three
PDF available, so far as I have seen. It was missing a key
part (Parergon Concerning the Fall of Jerusalem), so I had to digitize
the missing pages from my 1684 edition -- hence the different page
styles from 368-380. Excerpt:
 |
