Gary DeMar: An Irresponsible Leader

Filed Under (dee dee's posts, hyperpreterism) by dee dee on 11-10-2008

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 Gary DeMar at American Vision is promoting on his homepage a work by hyperpreterist John Bray. Now at the time that Bray originally wrote this work he was orthodox. HOWEVER, he currently is not, and not just that, Bray ANNOUNCES that he is not in THAT book. Does DeMar warn his audience? Of course not. DeMar is aloof to such heresy. Not my job, he says.

On his site, DeMar claims of this book:

Representing a lifetime of Biblical research and years of garnering rare Bible commentaries from the greatest libraries around the world, Matthew 24 Fulfilled restores a Biblical interpretation of prophecy and gives a careful verse-by-verse exposition of the pivotal Chapter 24 of Matthew’s Gospel. Presenting the historical context and Biblical background to Christ’s prophecy, Rev. Bray gives a compelling case that Matthew 24 was indeed fulfilled in A.D. 70.

I have the book. How did I end up getting it? Because Mr. Bray lied in an advertisement for the book. I no longer have the advertisement which IIRC was in a Seventh Day Adventist magazine, but I really don’t care who believes me or not. The advertisement said the the arguments presented therein were fully orthodox. Like the typical slippery hyperpreterist, that is not precisely true.

Here is the addendum to the Second Edition:

I have come to the conclusion that the even which we have term ‘The Second Coming of Christ’ actually took place in the first century during that generation of people who lived in the time of Christ, according to the prophecy and predictions of both Jesus and the writers of the New Testament. All teaching, therefore, concerning the resurrection and judgment connected with the Second Coming of Christ must be studied and understood in light of this context.

Liar, liar, pants on fire. I spoke with Mr. Bray personally about eight years or so ago. He is singularly unconcerned with orthodoxy. I blame that in great part on the memberships that he brags about on the back of the Second Edition: Conference of Florida Baptist Evangelists, the Conference of Southern Baptist Evangelists, the Fellowship of Baptist World Ministries, and the National Association of Evangelicals IF THEY KNOW of his views. It is quite possible that they do not. Do you think he volunteered them? Likely not, though he did boast to me that the First Baptist Church of Lakeland (Southern Baptist) had no problem with his heresy. Shame.

Now my copy of the book is only 304 pages. The copy DeMar is peddling on unsuspecting sheep is 354 pages. Does anyone believe that the extra fifty pages are repentance of his heresy? If I wanted to burn some money, I would buy it.

Oh and despite DeMar’s glowing summary, unless the book has been completely revised, it is sloppily written and amateurish. There is some interesting information to be gleaned and sourced if the proper warnings are given as I do in the Bibliography to my commentary, It’s Not the End of the World:

Matthew 24 Fulfilled, John L. Bray, John L. Bray Ministry 1996. (caveat - author slipped into NeoHymenæan apostasy and has an addendum to the end of this book announcing such - however, this book is fully orthodox)

Gary provides no such warning, and HE NEVER DOES. If anyone has this edition I am very curious to know what the additional 50 pages comprise, and if the book no longer has the appearance of a sophomore’s term paper. Someone put a nicer cover on it than the completely cheesy sketch that was on their previously, but you can put a load of crap in a pretty box, and it is still crap.

I didn’t even find it worthy of including on my main site index.