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

A while back when Hank first “came out” of the eschatological closet, there was a flurry of hyperpreterist (NeoHymenaean) spin that perhaps Hank was in actuality embracing that view. I made extensive commentary at that time at the irresponsibility of these actions and the blindness to obvious reality. However, part of the issue was an article in The Dallas Morning News in which Hank was credited as saying that the rapture was past. Now really, if anyone thinks about this, Hank is not going to casually reveal in such a manner that he has now rejected the hallmark of his ministry - orthodoxy. An odd smell from Denmark is readily apparent to anyone at all familiar with Hank. But a lot of people are not that familiar with Hank, and this article was picked up by numerous other papers.

At that time I had a conversation with the religion editor for the original paper (who by the way was very helpful) and was the catalyst for The Dallas Morning News to contact Hank’s ministry for a clarification. The result is what follows which is published as well here by permission.

Clarifying his views: Re: “New take on Rapture puts authors in apocalyptic feud”

appearing 12/10/04 in The Dallas Morning News (reprinted by permission)

Letters to the Religion editor

05:51 PM CST on Friday, December 10, 2004

Nov. 6

Just a note to clarify some misconceptions concerning my view of biblical eschatology communicated in the article.

First, Tim LaHaye’s assertion that I subscribe to the “nonsense that Christ came back in 68 A.D.” is surely one of his more creative works of fiction. Such a notion is not even hinted at in my book, The Last Disciple, nor have I made such a statement in any forum. Dr. LaHaye simply manufactured this assertion out of whole cloth.

Furthermore, I have never suggested that the Rapture has already taken place. Thus, the article’s opening sentence, “What if the Rapture has already happened?” is misleading. In fact, unlike the “Left Behind” series which is based on the pre-Tribulational Rapture theory posited and popularized in the 19th century by John Nelson Darby, “The Last Disciple” series is centered on the great and glorious truth of Resurrection.

Finally, nowhere in “The Last Disciple” is there any suggestion that in order “to survive, early Christians must decipher a mysterious code.” While deciphering the symbols of Revelation is often difficult for 21st-century Christians addicted to “newspaper theology,” John’s coded letter would have been substantially clear to first-century believers.

Thank you for the opportunity to make the above clarifications and to affirm that I hold to what is taught in Scripture and codified in the creeds: Jesus is coming again; the dead will be resurrected; and the problem of sin will be fully and finally resolved.

Hank Hanegraaff, president, Christian Research Institute, Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.