SLIPPERY ESCHATOLOGICAL LABELS

PMW 2023-003 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.

Be aware, if you try to discover if an evangelical has adopted Full Preterism (aka Hyperpreterism), you have to be careful and precise when you ask him his views. You cannot simply ask him about a certain label to discover where he stands. This is so for two reasons:

(1) Full Preterism (Hyperpreterism), like most theogical systems and movements, has many variations. You cannot simply ask someone, “Are you a Full Preterist?” That person might want to avoid association with a few (or even many) of its implications, so they could simply say they are not “Full Preterist” since they don’t adopt the whole system. This is much like the logical problem of the Fallacy of the Complex Question. You can’t answer “yes” or “no” to the question: “Have you stopped beating your wife?”

In fact, Full Preterists themselves generally disavow the label “Hyperpreterism.” Common sense warns people not to be hyper anything (even hyper-spiritual). (Look at how much trouble Elon Musk is in because his hyper-rich!) The Hyperpreterist label has been applied to this movement from outside. It was created by orthodox men who wanted to highlight the erroneous nature of the movement while disassociating it from historic preterism. No HP would grin and say, “Yes, I am a Hyperpreterist.”

Why I Left Full-Preterism (by Samuel M. Frost)

Former leader in Full Preterist movement, Samuel M. Frost, gives his testimony and theological reasoning as to why he left the heretical movement. Good warning to others tempted to leave orthodox Christianity.

See more study materials at: KennethGentry.com

(2) To ask someone within orthodox evangelicalism if he is a “Full Preterist” is like asking him, “Would you mind standing on this Improvised Explosive Device for a few minutes, while I take this call on my cell phone?” If he is new to the system, he almost certainly will refuse such a fiery death, whether or not he liked the Dave Clark Five song, “I’m in Pieces, Bits and Pieces.” This is true even if he knows how James Bond is going to return to action after his fiery demise in the last Bond movie, “No Time to Die.”

History shows that the early stages of adopting an heretical view generally follow the rules of dodgeball. That is, as long as you can dodge the ball you are safe. But once you are behind the eight ball moving at a high rate of speed, you are out!
So then, to discover if someone is eschatologically heretical, you should ask three simple, basic questions:

1. Do you believe in a future bodily return of Christ?

2. Do you believe in a future physical resurrection?

3. Do you believe temporal history will end so that sin will be wholly removed from the world and suffering and death will be no more?

Why Not Full-Preterism? by Steve Gregg
This work exposes some of the key flaws in Hyperpreterism by someone who has formally debated them. Much insightful material for those who might be tempted to forsake historic Christian orthodoxy.

For more Christian educational materials: www.KennethGentry.com