The Preterist Blog ~ 100% Hyperpreterist Free|we can haz rezurekshun?

When it comes to the “leaders” of Hyperpreterism, you may wonder why some of them, who otherwise seem like bright individuals — why do they remain within the hyperpreterist movement? Sure, we can understand why such a movement might be appealing to some unemployed, spouseless person with no life.  And sure we might understand why it might be a fun place to hang out if the person admits to constantly being confused & is seeking other people just as confused as they are to make them feel better.  But what about the person who seems fairly stable, perhaps had been a real Christian for many years, maybe even had some seminary training?  After a while, don’t you think this person would see what a sham hyperpreterism really is?  If nothing else, if they were honest they’d have to admit that whatever hyperpreterism is, it isn’t historically Christian.  Maybe they do admit this to themselves privately.  So, there must be more to it. Read the rest of this entry »

Well if that title doesn’t get attention I don’t know what will.  But I didn’t use it just for shock value nor do I think it misrepresents hyperpreterism.

I have been in the process of reviewing a book by Keith Mathison called, The Shape of Sola Scriptura.  I am reviewing this book for a couple of reasons.

1. I want to understand more about the concepts of Sola Scriptura, since it was my misunderstanding of that concept that allowed me to be duped into hyperpreterism & remain there for 15 years. I also believe most, if not all hyperpreterists suffer from an incorrect concept of Sola Scriptura — which comes out more as private interpretation.

2. I want to eventually do a verse-by-verse commentary of the Bible (perhaps starting this June) & want to start by understanding how to read the Bible.  For so long, people on all sides have said, “We are just saying what the Bible says”, yet then the real issue is who can say what the Bible says?  Applying some convoluted “logic” or favorite “hermeneutic” isn’t enough.  It is no wonder we have over 38,000 denominations — a fact hyperpreterists often use to claim all of the Church is wrong.  There MUST be a more God-honoring way to approach the Bible than to just read a text & claim your interpretation is the best if not the only interpretation.  I have to believe a Sovereign God has left us with a better method, otherwise each man WILL “lean on his own understanding” & claim it is as good as the next man’s.

So, I wanted to share a little bit of the review of The Shape of Sola Scriptura, especially how it relates to hyperpreterism’s premise of themselves being the “recoverers” of some lost “truth”.  Pay attention to the Franciscans & how their beliefs so resemble EVERY heretical group in history & how it was actually & ironically their beliefs that gave us the concept of Papal Infallibility.

In this same way, it is the erroneous & shortsighted beliefs of hyperpreterism — which to some people may seem innocent enough — that I believe will give the Church some of its most vile doctrines in the future (if the Church embraces any of what hyperpreterism claims). Read the rest of this entry »

We often talk about how “reductionist” hyperpreterists can be.  What we mean by this is that they tend to minimize majors or reduce things by absurdities.  We have seen how they do this with things like Jesus’ discussion with Nicodemus about the need to be “born again”.  They will often say this discussion was only concerning the need for the Old Covenant people to be “reborn” in the the New Covenant people.  It supposedly has nothing to do with individuals needs today.

Hyperpreterists are probably the most reductionist when it comes to the issue of the resurrection.  This is evident especially in how they will claim the resurrection of the believers happened in or around AD70 & only in a spiritualized sense YET they will quote John 11:25

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.

So, on one hand they want to limit the resurrection to the first-century & on the other hand they cite this verse & don’t seem to understand that Jesus said this BEFORE AD70.  And yet on the other hand (yes, 3 handed-”logic” of hyperpreterism), hyperpreterists want to deny the UNIFIED historic Christian position that the resurrection of the believers is yet future. Reductionist indeed! Read the rest of this entry »

Besides theology, I enjoy a nice relaxing time doing gardening in my yard (see here).  Many articles have been spawned as I take time to meditate & reflect while griming in the soil to plant or when plucking some weeds.

Last night I took some time to carefully remove bagworms from an evergreen/pine tree.  Bagworms attach themselves to the host tree, looking very much like pine cones.  A casual observer may think the bagworms belong to the tree when actually they are parasites that are destroying the tree one branch at a time.  It starts with just one lone bag that eventually breaks open with over 1000 larvae in each bag.  In time, an entire evergreen would be destroyed by what at first seemed innocent enough.

Heresies are like bagworms.  They may look like they are part of the tree.  Casual observers may even get upset to see someone removing bagworms from a tree, as if they suppose a person is pulling pine cones.
Read the rest of this entry »

While I was a fundamentalist Christian, I experienced & at times participated in the activity of being offended by almost everything.  They would often be offended by the length of someones hair, or if a woman wore slacks, or other such things that may or may not have some biblical principle behind it.

Recently, we at PretBlog have experienced some hyperpreterists that have been going on & on about how highly offended they are about this or that.  They are offended that someone said they are glad they are not their spouse — hey, sometimes I feel sorry for my own spouse since I’m a short geeky guy who can’t dance but you don’t see me get all offended.  These same hyperpreterists even make irrational assumptions at words, such as “whale” & “pig” & get offended because they think someone is talking about their weight.  They are constantly getting offended & demanding apologies for their hurt feelings.  But you know what I get REALLY offended by?  I get offended when people who claim to be Christians get more offended by common expressions & by their own irrational assumptions than by how these same people berate 2000 years worth of Christianity.

I & 2000 years worth of Christians would like these hyperpreterists to apologize for implying 2000 years worth of Christians have been too dumb to see the supposed “truth” of the hyperpreterist interpretation.

I & 2000 years worth of Christians would like these hyperpreterists to apologize…no, not apologize, WE WANT THEM TO REPENT of defaming God, defaming Jesus, defaming the apostles, defaming the Holy Spirit, & defaming the community of saints!

I am HIGHLY OFFENDED that people claiming to be Christians hate Christianity so much that they would defame it & try to replace it with their own private interpretations.

These hyperpreterists get offended by petty things but excuse real offenses.  They overlook that they are offensive to God, offensive to Jesus, offensive to the apostles, offensive to the Holy Spirit, & offensive to the community of the saints.  No, no — the hyperpreterists think we should overlook all of that & just accept them.

So, next time you hear these hyperpreterists whine about how “offended” they are & demanding an apology — ask them to repent of the offensive behavior they are engaging in against 2000 years worth of Christians.

Perhaps a new reader might wonder why PreteristBlog spends time mentioning the actions of hyperpreterists?  Perhaps a new reader might think, “Just deal with the position”.  But what must be realized is that character matters.  I get so sick of hearing hyperpreterists say things like, “The people who know me, know my heart…” as if they are different in person than they are in their online communications.  I understand that some people are different from online to in-person, but it should not be so with people claiming to be Christians.  It should be a WYSIWYG.  If we can’t determine a person’s “heart” via 5+ years of their written expression, then 1) they are either a poor communicator or 2) they are two-faced/double-minded. (James 1:8)  Either, way such a person would have no business being a teacher/leader & certainly NEVER any sort of “pastor”.

This brings us to the topic at hand.  Hyperpreterist Jason Bradfield, protege’ of hyperpreterist “teacher” Sam Frost has a reputation for his thuggery & has displayed it again recently in a really, really unethical way. Read the rest of this entry »

After the publication of an exegetical article regarding Matthew 16:27 on the website called, Theology Today (ref) a respondent asked some very good follow up questions which I would like to answer in this current article. 

The contention of the former article is that Matthew 16:27 pertains to Christ’s vindication rather than to any sort of future “Second Coming”.  The article was partially written as a refutation to an heretical group called “Hyper-Preterism” (ref) which claims all major eschatological events occurred in the first-century or more specifically at the year AD70.  The article was partially written to reiterate the historic Christian interpretation of Matthew 16:27, not to introduce some new or personal interpretation. 

In the course of the article I made these statements in especial contrast to how even some non-heretical people may claim, “Jesus came back in judgment in AD70, but there is yet a final future return”: 

Read the rest of this entry »

With the recent lockdown of the SGP-hyperpreterist compound, the relegating of hyperpreterists to a specific section of CARM forums, & the general “see-you-coming” tone of most Christian forums I know many hyperpreterists are just iching for any interaction.  Since most of you are newer to the hyperpreterist movement, you really don’t know anything about the history of the movement & its leaders…nor do you seem to care.  But I did want to help you out so that you can STOP REPEATING THE FALSEHOODS about Christians & I want to help you appear to be more informed: Read the rest of this entry »

Hyperpreterists often quote Mt 16:27-28 as proof-texts for hyperpreterism.  They claim that anyone who cannot see those texts as pointing to Jesus’ Second Coming are “dishonest” yet 2000 years of Christian interpretation of Mt 16:27-28 has not produced anything like hyperpreterism.  In the article that follows, I’d like to exegete ALL of Mt 16, verse-by-verse.
Read the rest of this entry »

One of the marks of a cult besides its rabid martyr complex (“woe is us, everyone is against us — we are the only true believers around”), is that when close scrutiny of their teaching & actions comes, they will close the doors to the light of day.  The so-called “conservative” hyperpreterist community SGP appears to have done that over the past week.  They now require membership to even read anything let alone comment.

For many years, most hyperpreterist websites would require membership to comment, but SGP now joins its offshoot site, “DeathisDefeated” in making sure no one can audit what they are doing.

This has apparently sparked an uptick in new registrations at SGP since now the closet hyperpreterists aren’t able to quietly follow along.

In another related cultic action, a few months back, SGP admin Jason Bradfield fearing there was a “mole” among SGP members began to purge the inactive member roles.

So, SGP has entered a new phase of its cultic existence.