The first problem that I encountered with Calvinists was their belief that the reinstatement of Israel as a nation in 1948 was ordained by God. My belief was back then and remains so to this day is that God really had nothing to do with the reinstatement of the Israel that we have today as a nation. My interpretation of Scripture says that God cast His final judgment on (the Twelve Tribes of) Israel* in AD70 and had no intention ever again to bring this Israel we have today back into existence.
(*- Matthew 19:28 And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.)
Every time Jesus encountered the Jews, particularly the temple hierarchy and their Judaism that they practiced in their temple, He condemned them and their religion. The great "Day of the Lord", the "Day of Wrath", that Jesus and the Apostles said would happen during their generation, did happen, according to true, full preterism.
Why, I ask, would God want to reinstate an Israel, with its Judaism that was condemned by Jesus 1,878 years earlier, why would He reinstate an Israel like that, back into existence?
Unless God changed His mind on that Israel of the 1st century and decided to replace the "Israel of God", the true Israel, that Apostle Paul mentioned in his epistle to the Galatians and was established by God in AD70, with the Israel that He had previously condemned.
The Calvinists insist that God is controlling everything under the sun including man, and in this case, godless man. There is no such thing as free-will to a Calvinist. God is controlling everything and everybody. God is choosing who is going to be a believer and who isn't. In fact, I heard one Calvinist, who is also a preterist, say that God is the Author of Sin.
This, because, God is the Creator of everything. And, since He is the Creator of everything, He is the Creator or Author of Sin..... This is the rationale I've been dealing with for some time now.
I cannot and will not ever believe that beliefs such as these is the truth. And I also cannot see where Calvinism has anything to do with preterism.
But Calvinism is mild compared to John Anderson and his belief system.
John Anderson was a Satanic priest who converted to Christianity- which is a good thing.
Then he became a full preterist and was involved with well-known full preterists until he branched out on his own and started preaching things like:
Adam was the Serpent in the Garden of Eden.
He believes that Adam was Satan, the Serpent, in the Garden of Eden. Nowhere else in the preterist circles that I have encountered have I heard of this belief. After hearing it, I did some research and suspect that Anderson may have been influenced by a fellow named Brahman who came up with the "Serpent-Seed" belief back in the early 20th century. This belief focuses on sexual matters, i.e., Eve was tempting Adam not with "the apple" but with sexual intercourse... I kid you not. Anyway, Brahmanism and the "Serpent-Seed" belief sounded eerily similar to what Anderson was teaching. I did listen to a couple of his recorded teachings before I came to that conclusion.
Anderson's teachings have reached the ears of people I was introduced to in a preterist Bible study I helped get started. These people claimed to be preterists and then as time went along they gradually tried to introduce Anderson's teachings, which they fully embrace, into the preterist Bible study.
Then I find out that Anderson also believes and preaches that the death Adam was warned about by God was physical death. Therefore, Anderson and all of his followers do not believe the prophecies that death has been destroyed have been fulfilled:
1 Corinthians 15:26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
Revelation 20:14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
Anderson also believes and teaches that there is no such place as a "Hell"(the lake of fire) where unbelieving souls are cast into and are tormented (Revelation 20:10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.).
The "Hell" that Anderson believes in only is the "Hell" Jesus mentions in Matthew 10:28:
"And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."
This "Hell" is Strong's G1067- "geena -- pronounced: gheh'-en-nah of Hebrew origin (1516 and 2011); valley of (the son of) Hinnom; ge-henna (or Ge-Hinnom), a valley of Jerusalem,..."
What they believe in and what they are preaching here is called Annihilationism- a false doctrine.
What Anderson and his followers are saying is that once an unbelieving soul dies, his body and soul are cast into the valley of Hinnom, which was being used at the time of Jesus, by the inhabitants of Jerusalem, as the city dump where all the garbage and refuse was literally cast and then burned and destroyed. So their belief is that the unbelieving soul is literally "destroyed" by fire in the city dump and it is as if that soul, that person, was never born. All of his remains, including his soul, are gone forever and therefore, the unbeliever's soul does not experience the second death and does not face eternal torment.
What these adherents to this un-Biblical "theology" choose to ignore and admit to is the remaining part of the definition of Strong's G1067:
"used (figuratively) as a name for the place (or state) of everlasting punishment: KJV -- hell."
They have refused to reason with me thus far as to what this is saying.
They refuse to believe that there is such a place where there is "everlasting punishment" like Strong's definition says there is.
They refuse to believe that Jesus was using "ge-henna" or "Ge-Hinnom" figuratively for "Hell". They insist that Jesus was using it LITERALLY...
And all the while they are calling themselves "preterists".
One Anderson adherent didn't want to continue our "preterist Bible study" with preterism as its focus. He wanted to have it changed to a "Bible study" where the "truth" of the Bible is taught and discussed- the "truth" according to Anderson, that is.
These "Andersonians", as I like to call them, HAVE TO DENY full preterism because of the "death" issue.
They have only one type of "death" in mind and that is physical death.
1 Corinthians 15:25 For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
27 For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him.
They believe that since man still dies physically, "death, the final enemy" has not been destroyed; therefore, the prophecy of 1 Corinthians has not been fulfilled.
Needless to say, I quit going to the Bible study and eventually it disbanded- but the "Andersonians" still do converse with each other and get together on occasion. I hear bits and pieces from the Calvinist that helped cofound the Bible study and it appears like they all are still leaning towards this, what I believe is heretical,
teaching.
Anderson has had at least some decency and has admitted to being an offshoot of "partial-preterism"- but his belief system really has nothing to do with preterism and his association with preterism is casting an unwarranted shadow on preterism.
The others, however, still refer to themselves as "preterists"- even the Calvinist that cofounded the Bible study with me. One has started a "preterist" group on Facebook.
So, if anyone runs across these "Andersonians" all I can say is remember what they have been taught and what they believe. It IS NOT what true preterists believe.
P.S.- I was informed today (4/22/11) that John Anderson passed away earlier this week apparently of a brain aneuryism. see
http://home.ad70.net/tributememorial-broadcast-for-john-anderson/
http://home.ad70.net/voice-of-reason-john-anderson-has-passed-away/
Needless to say I'm speechless right now.
Trying to come up with a composite full preterist
ReplyDeletebody of divinity is like trying to fill a bucket with water using a strainer as a scoop. Not possible
I am a full preterist. I was once a high calvinist back in 1958. I converted to the doctrine of immediate and unconditional regeneration at that time and still hold that doctrine and preach it seamlessly with FP.
My experience with other FP's is that the majority are from Church of Christ and hold to baptismal regeneration. Some came from reformed background and are Calvinist and both groups seem to have converted to FP from Amillenialism
Not a big deal, but "Brahman" is William Branham, who had an unusual life and was very well known in religious/christian circles in the 40's-50's. Has some followers yet today. He eventually got off into an area in which he was not called to and died in a auto "accident". My understanding is that some of those close to him at the time warned him about getting into things which he was not called to, but he refused to listen. You can find his story on the net.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the "heads-up" Brandon.
ReplyDelete