Sometimes it's tough digging up old bones. That and going on 4 months disability with a recent prognosis of not being able to continue doing what I have been doing for the last 19 years is a lot to deal with. No more professional screwdriver and wrench turning for now. At least for now anyways...Who knows what a little physical therapy and acupuncture will do. 8)
Anyhow...Day 24 is on it's way...
Be blessed, Mike
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Leave of Absence...
I think I need to take a little time off from this project. I guess in some sence I feel that I have somehow missed the point...
I'll get back to you shortly to finish this story...But until then...I'm going to be what I should be...
God Bless...
I'll get back to you shortly to finish this story...But until then...I'm going to be what I should be...
God Bless...
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
The Lake of Fire and the New Creation...Day 23
A few months before I had swallowed the red pill of preterism I had begun editing and producing a teaching program called "Reality," with Pastor Britt Merrick. For those surfers of you out there you might recognize his name. He is the son of Al Merrick, founder of Channel Island surfboards. Britt is the pastor and founder of a church located in Carpinteria California by the same name as his radio program...Reality. I thought that this was the greatest thing since sliced bread. Not only did I get to listen to some great teaching...But I was also getting paid to do it. 8)
Before Britt began his own church he was a youth pastor at a Calvary Chapel Santa Barbara. And so of course this meant that his teaching style pretty much lined up with Calvary Chapels distinctives. Which was great...Until I embraced a fulfilled view of eschatology. 8( And I must admit that it was kind of hard at first to sit and listen to hour after hour of teaching that I no longer agreed with. However...One of the unforeseen benefits of this was that it actually helped reinforce the fulfilled view that I was quickly learning about. Funny thing about this whole thing is that he spends a lot of time in his teaching proclaiming the typical pre-millenial futurist point of view. Matter of fact the most popular of his teachings was his end-times series. And here I was...A preterist...Producing one of the most popular programs airing on Calvary Chapel owned radio stations around the world. Helping promote a view that I felt was misleading. Eventually this would be one of the deciding factors as to my leaving the station.
O.k. So it had been about three weeks now since I had come to understand a fulfilled view of eschatology. I had just finished making my way through the New Testament, line upon line, verse by verse and I had some more questions. The one that I chose to address first was found in Revelation 22. It was the freshest of all seeing as how I had just finished reading the book. From the futurist perspective, Revelation 22 describes the conditions of a time in the future after Jesus returns, after the great white throne judgment takes place and after sin and death are destroyed and creation is remade anew. Basically a new creation in which righteousness dwells and sin and death has been eradicated. Yet I couldn't reconcile this with what I was seeing in Revelation 22.
Revelation 22:1-3 And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him.
And so I thought...Wait a minute. If the curse had been reversed and sin had been dealt with why was there still any need for "healing of the nations?"
The next problem I encountered was just a few verses later. Verses 14-15.
Revelation 22:14-15 Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie.
If this passage is to be understood quite literally we then have a major problem. You see...This passage is describing the New Jerusalem that is part of the new creation that takes place after the judgment in which sin, death and the devil have been eradicated and yet there are still, "dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie," outside the gates of the New Jerusalem.
And so I approached one of the pastors on staff that was teaching in our school of ministry with this conundrum of sorts. I first asked him about these leaves that were for the healing of the nations found in Revelation 22:2. He said, "I think it is better understood as they are for continual health rather than actual healing...You see, at this point they are in the new creation. There is no more sin therefore it can't be understood in a wooden literal sense."
I then asked him who these people were that are outside the city. His answer was that this was a picture of the eternal state of those that had died the second death. That is, those that had not accepted Christ before the last day. He pointed me back just one chapter to Revelation 21:8 "But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."
I said, "Wait a minute...If Revelation 22 is painting a picture of the eternal state beyond the great white throne judgment and the second death then how is it these people are still alive outside the gates the New Jerusalem?"
And he said, "Well you see...If being inside the New Jerusalem is the destination of those that believed then outside the gates would be the abode of those that didn't believe...The lake of fire."
And then I responded with Revelation 22:14 "Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city."
And then I said, "And who is outside the gates?"
He smiled and said, "Well...We need to be careful to not press the analogy too far." Or something to that effect. He smiled, turned and briskly walked away. Sigh...<---Long drawn out sigh. 8) It was passages like these that couldn't be satisfactorily answered within a futurist framework of interpretation that would eventually drive the final nail in the coffin of the "Left Behind" theology that I had been holding to so tightly.
Before Britt began his own church he was a youth pastor at a Calvary Chapel Santa Barbara. And so of course this meant that his teaching style pretty much lined up with Calvary Chapels distinctives. Which was great...Until I embraced a fulfilled view of eschatology. 8( And I must admit that it was kind of hard at first to sit and listen to hour after hour of teaching that I no longer agreed with. However...One of the unforeseen benefits of this was that it actually helped reinforce the fulfilled view that I was quickly learning about. Funny thing about this whole thing is that he spends a lot of time in his teaching proclaiming the typical pre-millenial futurist point of view. Matter of fact the most popular of his teachings was his end-times series. And here I was...A preterist...Producing one of the most popular programs airing on Calvary Chapel owned radio stations around the world. Helping promote a view that I felt was misleading. Eventually this would be one of the deciding factors as to my leaving the station.
O.k. So it had been about three weeks now since I had come to understand a fulfilled view of eschatology. I had just finished making my way through the New Testament, line upon line, verse by verse and I had some more questions. The one that I chose to address first was found in Revelation 22. It was the freshest of all seeing as how I had just finished reading the book. From the futurist perspective, Revelation 22 describes the conditions of a time in the future after Jesus returns, after the great white throne judgment takes place and after sin and death are destroyed and creation is remade anew. Basically a new creation in which righteousness dwells and sin and death has been eradicated. Yet I couldn't reconcile this with what I was seeing in Revelation 22.
Revelation 22:1-3 And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him.
And so I thought...Wait a minute. If the curse had been reversed and sin had been dealt with why was there still any need for "healing of the nations?"
The next problem I encountered was just a few verses later. Verses 14-15.
Revelation 22:14-15 Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie.
If this passage is to be understood quite literally we then have a major problem. You see...This passage is describing the New Jerusalem that is part of the new creation that takes place after the judgment in which sin, death and the devil have been eradicated and yet there are still, "dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie," outside the gates of the New Jerusalem.
And so I approached one of the pastors on staff that was teaching in our school of ministry with this conundrum of sorts. I first asked him about these leaves that were for the healing of the nations found in Revelation 22:2. He said, "I think it is better understood as they are for continual health rather than actual healing...You see, at this point they are in the new creation. There is no more sin therefore it can't be understood in a wooden literal sense."
I then asked him who these people were that are outside the city. His answer was that this was a picture of the eternal state of those that had died the second death. That is, those that had not accepted Christ before the last day. He pointed me back just one chapter to Revelation 21:8 "But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."
I said, "Wait a minute...If Revelation 22 is painting a picture of the eternal state beyond the great white throne judgment and the second death then how is it these people are still alive outside the gates the New Jerusalem?"
And he said, "Well you see...If being inside the New Jerusalem is the destination of those that believed then outside the gates would be the abode of those that didn't believe...The lake of fire."
And then I responded with Revelation 22:14 "Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city."
And then I said, "And who is outside the gates?"
He smiled and said, "Well...We need to be careful to not press the analogy too far." Or something to that effect. He smiled, turned and briskly walked away. Sigh...<---Long drawn out sigh. 8) It was passages like these that couldn't be satisfactorily answered within a futurist framework of interpretation that would eventually drive the final nail in the coffin of the "Left Behind" theology that I had been holding to so tightly.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
What do you mean there's no Santa??? Day 22
So...After a couple of weeks of going through the New Testament line by line with my IPod in one hand and colored pencils in the other it had become quite clear to me that I was never going to be able to look at the Bible again like I once used to. Even to this day when I come across someone in an online forum, discussion group or even in person that tell me that I am wrong and that I need to repent of my ways, I can't in good conscience do so. The only thing that I can think of that is equivalent is believing in Santa Claus. You see...When I was in kindergarten there was this boy by the name of Joey Willis. He was the rebellious one of the bunch in my kindergarten class at Bethany Lutheran School. He was a little bit of a bully. A little bit loud if I remember correctly. He was the first person that introduced me to the proper use of the middle finger in getting the attention of the teacher. And to top it all off...He had a dirt bike. And so needless to say...He was the king of show-and-tell. Another thing about Joey Willis. He had this crazy notion that Santa Claus wasn't real. How crazy was that?
Well over the following couple of years other boys in the class had joined the band wagon and of course wanting to be part of the in crowd I of course chanted the same mantra. "Santa Claus wasn't real." But inside I knew that they were wrong. I mean for crying out loud, how could he not exist when there were presents from him under the tree and a stocking filled with joyous delight every year...right on time contrary to what they other boys had been saying. 8)
Then one fateful morning, in the late 70's, about a week or so before Christmas as I was getting ready for school I noticed this big pile of presents on the love seat that resided on the south wall of the living room of my parents house. And contrary to my mothers verbal warning from the kitchen as she was busy cooking breakfast not to dig to deeply, I dove in. Deep!!!
The reality of what Joey Willis had been preaching year after year every Christmas season flooded over me like a 55 gallon drum of warm honey. Suddenly a sick feeling welled up in the pit of my inner most being and a lump found it's way to my throat as I saw that Santa's presents had found their way to my house a week before they were supposed to...and in a sick twist of fate...Santa had the same penmanship as my mother. With a gift to me from my mother in my right hand and a gift from Santa in my left hand the reality that I had been denying had now become undeniable. MY MOTHER WAS JOLLY OLD SAINT NICK!!! 8)
And so it was with my understanding of Bible prophecy. I would never again be able to look at the Bible in the manner in which I had for many years. I was no longer reading something that was written to me as much as it was as though I were reading someone else's mail. Now I'm not by any means suggesting that the Bible is not written to us. Surely it is, just as I would suggest that it was written to all men of all time, ever since the time it was penned. However it was becoming ever more clear to me on a day by day basis through my studies, that I first needed to understand what it meant to those people of which it was first written to before I could apply it to myself.
And so the long and the short of it is that I had begun to see the last days spoken of in the Bible as fulfilled in the last days of Israel's old covenant age and that I could no longer go back to the end times understanding that I had once held.
Now...as I read passages like 1 Peter 4:7 "But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers."(NKJV)
and
1 John 2:18 "Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour."(NKJV)
I could no longer in good conscience see these things as speaking of something yet future to us some 2000 years after they were written. These apostles had been given the signs of the times by Jesus in Matthew 24 so that they could discern when then end spoken of by Jesus would take place. And by their own testimony they were convinced that "the end was at hand" and that it was "the last hour."
And now I was convinced as well...
Well over the following couple of years other boys in the class had joined the band wagon and of course wanting to be part of the in crowd I of course chanted the same mantra. "Santa Claus wasn't real." But inside I knew that they were wrong. I mean for crying out loud, how could he not exist when there were presents from him under the tree and a stocking filled with joyous delight every year...right on time contrary to what they other boys had been saying. 8)
Then one fateful morning, in the late 70's, about a week or so before Christmas as I was getting ready for school I noticed this big pile of presents on the love seat that resided on the south wall of the living room of my parents house. And contrary to my mothers verbal warning from the kitchen as she was busy cooking breakfast not to dig to deeply, I dove in. Deep!!!
The reality of what Joey Willis had been preaching year after year every Christmas season flooded over me like a 55 gallon drum of warm honey. Suddenly a sick feeling welled up in the pit of my inner most being and a lump found it's way to my throat as I saw that Santa's presents had found their way to my house a week before they were supposed to...and in a sick twist of fate...Santa had the same penmanship as my mother. With a gift to me from my mother in my right hand and a gift from Santa in my left hand the reality that I had been denying had now become undeniable. MY MOTHER WAS JOLLY OLD SAINT NICK!!! 8)
And so it was with my understanding of Bible prophecy. I would never again be able to look at the Bible in the manner in which I had for many years. I was no longer reading something that was written to me as much as it was as though I were reading someone else's mail. Now I'm not by any means suggesting that the Bible is not written to us. Surely it is, just as I would suggest that it was written to all men of all time, ever since the time it was penned. However it was becoming ever more clear to me on a day by day basis through my studies, that I first needed to understand what it meant to those people of which it was first written to before I could apply it to myself.
And so the long and the short of it is that I had begun to see the last days spoken of in the Bible as fulfilled in the last days of Israel's old covenant age and that I could no longer go back to the end times understanding that I had once held.
Now...as I read passages like 1 Peter 4:7 "But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers."(NKJV)
and
1 John 2:18 "Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour."(NKJV)
I could no longer in good conscience see these things as speaking of something yet future to us some 2000 years after they were written. These apostles had been given the signs of the times by Jesus in Matthew 24 so that they could discern when then end spoken of by Jesus would take place. And by their own testimony they were convinced that "the end was at hand" and that it was "the last hour."
And now I was convinced as well...
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Calvary Chapel Preterist...Day 21
And so it had at this point been about a week since I had come across the fulfilled view of Bible prophecy. And what an emotional week it had been. Especially because of the context in which I had discovered it. Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa was not the place to find an objective point of view on something outside of what they held as one of their distinctives. And so one morning as I was driving home from school something led me to stop by one off my old haunts...Parkcrest Christian Church in Long Beach and see my friend Mike Goldsworthy. At that time, if I remember correctly he was still the pastor of the high school ministry and he had this really cool little office in the back. Well...Come to think, the whole office facility at Parkcrest is pretty cool. You see...As the church was making plans to expand about 10 years ago a mortuary that was on the same piece of property was about to put the property up for sale but first offered it to Parkcrest. Needless to say they snatched it up like a 3rd baseman does a line drive. Not only did it have a ton of office space but it also had a sanctuary/chapel right out on the main thoroughfare compared to the main church building that was set back quite a ways. If you are ever in the Long Beach area I'd recommend stopping by and checking out one of their weekend services. <---Shameless plug. 8)
Anyhow...Back to my visit with Mike Goldsworthy. I'm not sure why I thought to stop in and see him but I would find out very quickly that God must have had his hand in this chance meeting. We snaked our way back through the offices and conference room to an outside courtyard and then back into another door through an office setting to Mike's office. A small office with a small forest's worth books covering one wall and a door to the outside world on the other. Oh...And of course a large chair, or maybe it was a small love seat for guests. After a few minutes of small talk I asked him about where he stands on the issue of eschatology. With a smile on his face and a little bit of trepidation in his voice he answered, "something along the lines of a the partial preterist camp." I was kind of surprised but more relieved than anything.
Knowing me, I probably spent most of the time talking that morning about everything that had happened over the last week or so. I was just so incredibly happy to find someone that was not hostile to my unfortunate, difficult and precarious situation. But...I had been awake all night and early into that morning and what would now soon be afternoon and I really needed some sleep. As I was leaving he recommended a book to me that he said really helped him out with where he was at. It was "The Last Days According to Jesus." by R.C. Sproul.
And so the following day I stopped by Lighthouse Christian Store and picked up a copy. I kept it with me and read a few pages here and there when I had the time. It's not a long book. Something like 250 pages or so. Definitely a worthwhile read especially if the popular views taught on T.V. and in a lot of churches today has left you scratching your head. Sproul does an incredibly good job demonstrating quite reasonably how the olivet discourse, in Matthew 24 was fulfilled just as Jesus had said...Before that generation(40 years) would pass away.
As well at this same time I had concluded that the best thing to do was to go word for word through the New Testament with a fine tooth comb and see what I could dig up now that this paradigm shift had taken place. And so I didn't just open up my Bible and start reading. I took my Bible on mp3 and listened to it while following through line upon line with a set of colored pencils ready to mark things up. This project took about two weeks to tackle. Now my Bible had all of the timing statements related to the end times/last days hi-lighted in green. I'd say that this was a watershed moment...But it was more like sitting under a waterfall for two weeks. There was no turning back.
How would I reconcile this with being a Calvary Chapel pastor? Could I still be a Calvary Chapel pastor and teach a preterist view of eschatology? How would I reconcile this with working for Chuck Smith?
These are just a few of the questions that would make what remained of the last semester of The School of Ministry the most difficult 3 months of my life. 8(
Anyhow...Back to my visit with Mike Goldsworthy. I'm not sure why I thought to stop in and see him but I would find out very quickly that God must have had his hand in this chance meeting. We snaked our way back through the offices and conference room to an outside courtyard and then back into another door through an office setting to Mike's office. A small office with a small forest's worth books covering one wall and a door to the outside world on the other. Oh...And of course a large chair, or maybe it was a small love seat for guests. After a few minutes of small talk I asked him about where he stands on the issue of eschatology. With a smile on his face and a little bit of trepidation in his voice he answered, "something along the lines of a the partial preterist camp." I was kind of surprised but more relieved than anything.
Knowing me, I probably spent most of the time talking that morning about everything that had happened over the last week or so. I was just so incredibly happy to find someone that was not hostile to my unfortunate, difficult and precarious situation. But...I had been awake all night and early into that morning and what would now soon be afternoon and I really needed some sleep. As I was leaving he recommended a book to me that he said really helped him out with where he was at. It was "The Last Days According to Jesus." by R.C. Sproul.
And so the following day I stopped by Lighthouse Christian Store and picked up a copy. I kept it with me and read a few pages here and there when I had the time. It's not a long book. Something like 250 pages or so. Definitely a worthwhile read especially if the popular views taught on T.V. and in a lot of churches today has left you scratching your head. Sproul does an incredibly good job demonstrating quite reasonably how the olivet discourse, in Matthew 24 was fulfilled just as Jesus had said...Before that generation(40 years) would pass away.
As well at this same time I had concluded that the best thing to do was to go word for word through the New Testament with a fine tooth comb and see what I could dig up now that this paradigm shift had taken place. And so I didn't just open up my Bible and start reading. I took my Bible on mp3 and listened to it while following through line upon line with a set of colored pencils ready to mark things up. This project took about two weeks to tackle. Now my Bible had all of the timing statements related to the end times/last days hi-lighted in green. I'd say that this was a watershed moment...But it was more like sitting under a waterfall for two weeks. There was no turning back.
How would I reconcile this with being a Calvary Chapel pastor? Could I still be a Calvary Chapel pastor and teach a preterist view of eschatology? How would I reconcile this with working for Chuck Smith?
These are just a few of the questions that would make what remained of the last semester of The School of Ministry the most difficult 3 months of my life. 8(
Monday, May 11, 2009
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Soon, Near and At Hand...Day 20
As I continued to research further into this method of interpretation that was new to me the more I realized that this was nothing new at all. The more time I spent researching the fulfilled view of eschatology, the more I realized that I had quite simply missed the boat regarding this view as I had been studying the end times over the last couple of years. I had heard the term preterism before and simply laughed it off as absurd but now, somehow, something had changed. Why was it that this understanding that was new to me was now ringing through my head as true? Maybe it was because of many many hours of study that left me frustrated. Maybe it was because of someone like Hank Hanegraaff, whom I respected highly for his work on the radio, that had accepted some form of preterism that helped me see past my own desires of upholding the futurist view that I had been holding to so tightly. Then again, maybe it was something as simple as God's will and His timing. Either way a new season in my life had begun and my life would never be the same.
And so with each and every passing morning that I was working at the radio station I began to look deeper and further into the preterist view of eschatology. Although I must say...I almost felt kind of funny doing this research while working at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa. The reason why is because of some recent changes that they had made to their network at the church. You see...CCCM is a huge church. And when you add up all of the hundreds of different people that work there in all of the different ministries that have access to their computer network and the internet it was pretty clear why they had just recently added Websense to the network. Websense is a security and monitoring software that tracks where everyone that has permission to be on the network has been. That and block certain things that most churches don't want their staff looking at.
And so here I was full of excitement for this new path that I was traveling down and wanting to search every corner of the world wide web, scooping up every morsel of knowledge on the subject that I could find...And now they would be keeping track of every step I took. Doh!!! 8)
At first I was a little apprehensive. I didn't want them to see that I was spending so much time looking at websites about something that was so fundamentally different from what Calvary Chapel taught. Now mind you...I wasn't by any means letting this research keep me from doing my job. If you remember being on-air leaves you with a lot of spare time. Although I must say...my studies for the school of ministry did take a slight turn for the worse. Not to much though. I had already gotten so far ahead on so much of my work that I was able to coast for a while.
And so after a few days I got over my Websense related apprehension. And I was off doing tons of research on the topic of preterism and of course like most people I've spoken to, that had come to a preterist view of the end-times, I was pretty excited and wanted to tell everyone. And so I did. Kind of quietly at first. I started printing out pages here and there. Asking pointed questions related to the time statements found in the opening and closing chapters of Revelation. But most of the people I was talking to...Other School of Ministry students, had a lot on their plates and didn't really have the time to dedicate to this kind of thing or they really just didn't care. Eschatology was not their gig...They'd say things like, "I'm not worried about it too much...It's all gonna pan out in the end."
Needless to say I was really kind of surprised how little interest most people had. And those that would listen to me almost always had a question that I wasn't ready for at this point in my journey. And that's about the time when I came across an article online by a guy named David A. Green. It was called "101 Preterist Time-Indicators for the Second Coming of Christ - From Preterism: 101."
When I finished reading this article I had to pick my jaw up off of the cold, laminated counter top in the studio and wipe up copious amounts of drool. <---A little too descriptive...Maybe??? Anyhow...I was absolutely shocked to see just how many time statements there were indicating that the last days events found in the New Testament were nothing other than soon, near and at hand. I had thought that surely with all of this fine evidence printed out and in hand that someone would see what I was seeing. And so what was the first response I got from one of my School of Ministry brothers. "Well of course the end was near...And it still is. 2 Peter 3:8 'But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.' It's only been a couple of days to God."
Clearly at this point my zeal was much stronger than my understanding of a fulfilled view of prophecy. And so I decided that I just needed to keep my mouth shut and study more.
And so with each and every passing morning that I was working at the radio station I began to look deeper and further into the preterist view of eschatology. Although I must say...I almost felt kind of funny doing this research while working at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa. The reason why is because of some recent changes that they had made to their network at the church. You see...CCCM is a huge church. And when you add up all of the hundreds of different people that work there in all of the different ministries that have access to their computer network and the internet it was pretty clear why they had just recently added Websense to the network. Websense is a security and monitoring software that tracks where everyone that has permission to be on the network has been. That and block certain things that most churches don't want their staff looking at.
And so here I was full of excitement for this new path that I was traveling down and wanting to search every corner of the world wide web, scooping up every morsel of knowledge on the subject that I could find...And now they would be keeping track of every step I took. Doh!!! 8)
At first I was a little apprehensive. I didn't want them to see that I was spending so much time looking at websites about something that was so fundamentally different from what Calvary Chapel taught. Now mind you...I wasn't by any means letting this research keep me from doing my job. If you remember being on-air leaves you with a lot of spare time. Although I must say...my studies for the school of ministry did take a slight turn for the worse. Not to much though. I had already gotten so far ahead on so much of my work that I was able to coast for a while.
And so after a few days I got over my Websense related apprehension. And I was off doing tons of research on the topic of preterism and of course like most people I've spoken to, that had come to a preterist view of the end-times, I was pretty excited and wanted to tell everyone. And so I did. Kind of quietly at first. I started printing out pages here and there. Asking pointed questions related to the time statements found in the opening and closing chapters of Revelation. But most of the people I was talking to...Other School of Ministry students, had a lot on their plates and didn't really have the time to dedicate to this kind of thing or they really just didn't care. Eschatology was not their gig...They'd say things like, "I'm not worried about it too much...It's all gonna pan out in the end."
Needless to say I was really kind of surprised how little interest most people had. And those that would listen to me almost always had a question that I wasn't ready for at this point in my journey. And that's about the time when I came across an article online by a guy named David A. Green. It was called "101 Preterist Time-Indicators for the Second Coming of Christ - From Preterism: 101."
When I finished reading this article I had to pick my jaw up off of the cold, laminated counter top in the studio and wipe up copious amounts of drool. <---A little too descriptive...Maybe??? Anyhow...I was absolutely shocked to see just how many time statements there were indicating that the last days events found in the New Testament were nothing other than soon, near and at hand. I had thought that surely with all of this fine evidence printed out and in hand that someone would see what I was seeing. And so what was the first response I got from one of my School of Ministry brothers. "Well of course the end was near...And it still is. 2 Peter 3:8 'But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.' It's only been a couple of days to God."
Clearly at this point my zeal was much stronger than my understanding of a fulfilled view of prophecy. And so I decided that I just needed to keep my mouth shut and study more.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
The future was looking much brighter...Day 19
The future was looking much brighter. The doom and gloom of the futurist views that I had once held on to were now being replaced by a renewed sense of excitement in understanding the last days prophecies found in scripture as fulfilled quite victoriously within the time frame in which they were promised to take place.
Although...There I was...An employee of Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa. A church that holds to a very literal interpretation of the scriptures...That is literal, unless it leads to absurdity. And all of a sudden I am faced with the reality that my very literal view that I had been holding to was no longer holding the water that it once used to. Sigh...<---Long drawn out sigh. 8)
One of the best things about working the overnight shift at the radio station is that it gave me ample time to study. If you remember, this was the primary reason that I was able to work full time and go to the School of Ministry. That following night I got into the station a little early to get some of my nightly duties wrapped up before my on-air shift started. I then proceeded to get all of my required studying done for school so that I could get to work on studying this new found way of understanding the scriptures from a fulfilled perspective.
And so with a few quick keystrokes I was on my way to my favorite internet search engine...Google. I typed in the word preterism. Holy mackerel...Ten's of thousands of hits. And then I typed in preterist. There were even more hits than the previous search. How could I have missed this for so long. 8) Anyhow...One of the first pages that I came across was www.preterism.us. A website that no longer exists aside from that wonderful online utility known as "The Wayback Machine." On this website there were 19 articles by a guy named David B. Curtis, who serves as the pastor of Berean Bible Church, in Chesapeake, Virginia. And one by a guy named Don K. Preston. Don is a speaker, radio host, and author of many books.
And so I started reading the articles one after the other. I was barely able to tear my self away to take care of my on-air duties at the station. Everything I was reading was making complete sense and I was becoming more and more excited with each and every paragraph. All of the problems that I had reconciling different issues within the futurist framework of eschatology were quickly fading away. Mind you, these articles weren't small by any means. It probably took me three days to get through them all with everything else that I was doing.
That morning when Lee Davis came in he found me full of excitement and with eyes as bright as a red red rose from having spent all night staring into a computer monitor in a dimly lit studio, having probably blinked no more than 7 times. 8) While I was in school he too had read a number of the articles and had found himself just as intrigued as I had. The lively discussions that Lee and I had each morning as we went through all of the articles on the website made up for the many months of animosity that had been created by the fruitless arguments over the futurist views that we once held. The both of us were now experiencing a renewed sense of excitement for a study of the scriptures. We were both greeting each other every morning with new things that we were now seeing that we had somehow missed before.
Where the Bible had once been quite simply printed words in black and white, we were now seeing a new, vibrant and living narrative that was reconciling issues that had once caused much confusion.
Although...There I was...An employee of Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa. A church that holds to a very literal interpretation of the scriptures...That is literal, unless it leads to absurdity. And all of a sudden I am faced with the reality that my very literal view that I had been holding to was no longer holding the water that it once used to. Sigh...<---Long drawn out sigh. 8)
One of the best things about working the overnight shift at the radio station is that it gave me ample time to study. If you remember, this was the primary reason that I was able to work full time and go to the School of Ministry. That following night I got into the station a little early to get some of my nightly duties wrapped up before my on-air shift started. I then proceeded to get all of my required studying done for school so that I could get to work on studying this new found way of understanding the scriptures from a fulfilled perspective.
And so with a few quick keystrokes I was on my way to my favorite internet search engine...Google. I typed in the word preterism. Holy mackerel...Ten's of thousands of hits. And then I typed in preterist. There were even more hits than the previous search. How could I have missed this for so long. 8) Anyhow...One of the first pages that I came across was www.preterism.us. A website that no longer exists aside from that wonderful online utility known as "The Wayback Machine." On this website there were 19 articles by a guy named David B. Curtis, who serves as the pastor of Berean Bible Church, in Chesapeake, Virginia. And one by a guy named Don K. Preston. Don is a speaker, radio host, and author of many books.
And so I started reading the articles one after the other. I was barely able to tear my self away to take care of my on-air duties at the station. Everything I was reading was making complete sense and I was becoming more and more excited with each and every paragraph. All of the problems that I had reconciling different issues within the futurist framework of eschatology were quickly fading away. Mind you, these articles weren't small by any means. It probably took me three days to get through them all with everything else that I was doing.
That morning when Lee Davis came in he found me full of excitement and with eyes as bright as a red red rose from having spent all night staring into a computer monitor in a dimly lit studio, having probably blinked no more than 7 times. 8) While I was in school he too had read a number of the articles and had found himself just as intrigued as I had. The lively discussions that Lee and I had each morning as we went through all of the articles on the website made up for the many months of animosity that had been created by the fruitless arguments over the futurist views that we once held. The both of us were now experiencing a renewed sense of excitement for a study of the scriptures. We were both greeting each other every morning with new things that we were now seeing that we had somehow missed before.
Where the Bible had once been quite simply printed words in black and white, we were now seeing a new, vibrant and living narrative that was reconciling issues that had once caused much confusion.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Hold fast until I come...Day 18
For the life of me I can't remember what those little pocket puzzles that I had when I was a kid are called. To the right there is an illustration that should be familiar to those that had one. Rather than numbers though I remember them having something like a smiley face. We used to be able to get them after Sunday school in the Sunday school office. Probably with a Jesus face on it. 8) They used to give us a certificate every month if I remember correctly for good behavior or something of that sort. They had all kinds of goodies that you could choose from. You could buy very simple toys like the one I described above for one certificate or things like jewelry, books, Bibles, crosses, etc. for those kids that were patient and could save 3-4 years worth of those wonderful certificates with that red star in the middle. Those fleeting pieces of scrip never lasting more than one day for me. 8)What had happened to me on that early morning in March of 2005, was huge. The only word I can think of that is fitting is epiphany. As I had been studying the Bible over the last few years I had found myself getting more and more frustrated with my inability to solve that puzzle and have a smiley face staring up at me. Maybe frustration is too strong of a word. I guess I had hoped that with more study that the details regarding Bible prophecy would have become increasingly clearer. However to my dismay I found myself staring into the abyss of differing and contradictory futurist views that all seemed to have scriptural support. And I believe that it was this building frustration that was the priming of the pump that prepared me for that moment when a fulfilled view of prophecy fell in my lap.
Another example I like to use are constellations. Here in Southern California in the mountains just to the north of Dodger stadium and just a little east of the HOLLYWOOD sign is the world famous Griffith Park Observatory. If you've never been because of your geography and would like to see it, I would recommend James Dean's movie "Rebel Without a Cause." The observatory in that movie is the one that I am speaking of. Anyhow...Back to constellations. Inside the observatory they have a glass case that is approximately 6 foot square by 3 feet tall. Inside of it are stars suspended in mid air. On the display it asks you to try and figure out which constellation you are looking at. As you walk around it scratching your head you see a small x on the far side of it labeled, "Look Here." You can spend all day walking around the case but until you are standing in just the right place you can't see the "Big Dipper." You see...The constellations that we find in our dark night skies only exist from our perspective in our vast cosmos. And this is what it was like for me. I had all the right details, however I hadn't been looking at all the details from the proper perspective.
Are the events portrayed in the book of Revelation speaking of a future event? Yes...From the perspective of when it was written. Was there anything in the book of Revelation itself that spoke to it's time of fulfillment? Yes...And now they were starring me in the face and speaking rather boldly.
Revelation 1:1 "The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take place."
Revelation 1:3 "Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near."
Revelation 2:25-26 "But hold fast what you have till I come. And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations"
Revelation 3:11 "Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown."
Revelation 22:6 “These words are faithful and true.” And the Lord God of the holy prophets sent His angel to show His servants the things which must shortly take place.
Revelation 22:7 “Behold, I am coming quickly! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”
Revelation 22:12 "And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work."
Revelation 22:20 He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming quickly.”
Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Four times in the opening chapters and four times in the closing chapters. It was like a veil had been pulled away and I was seeing these verses clearly for the first time. I couldn't ignore them and what they were saying. The time was near...Not far. He was going to be coming quickly...Not after a delay of some 2000+ years. And as an encouragement because of the tribulation that the original recipients were dealing with, they were told to "Hold fast until I come!"
The original recipients that were being persecuted because of their faith were being encouraged by the words of Jesus through this Revelation to hold fast to that faith and persevere, "Until He came!"
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Changes...Some good, some bad...Day 17
After school that morning I went back up to the radio station to wrap up a few things from the night before. While I was there I thought I'd run in and see our news director, Brian Perez. I dropped by his studio with Bible in hand and gave him a cliff's notes version of what I had discovered earlier that morning. I then proceeded to point out some passages from the Bible that I had never really noticed before, that now stood out like a sore thumb.
The first one was Matthew 10:23 which states that Jesus, disciples whom He was sending out would, "not have gone through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes." Which always left me wondering which of Jesus disciples were still wandering around the Judean countryside today going from city to city spreading the good news. I mean hey...Didn't they all die before the first century came to a close? Right? 8)
And then there was Matthew 16:27-28 "For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. Assuredly, I say to you,(Jesus' disciples) there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”
How could I have missed verses like this before? That Jesus' disciples would not make it through the cities of Israel and that some of them would not die before the Son of Man comes. Those verses are right there. I had either read or listened to these same verses who knows how many times before. Of course as I looked back I realized that either these verses had been glazed over by myself or those teachers that I had been listening to or attributed to something else. I think it safe to say that certain presuppositional biases I held to kept me from understanding them.
And so I asked Brian, "Have you ever seen these verses before? Look at what they are saying." He said, "Yeah...I've seen them before and they've made me scratch my head...But I never really gave much thought to them."
And then...Whooosh...My friend Jymi Stewart comes into the studio behind me and says, "What's up dude...I know what you're doing...you're wrong!" I said, "Huh?" By the way...If you've ever spent much time in a radio station you would understand what I mean by...Whooosh, when Jymi came in. Recording studios are sound proof, sealed and pretty much air tight. So when the door opens quickly...Whooosh!!! Anyhow, back to the story. 8)
I can only assume that he had spoken to Lee Davis while I was in school and that Lee told Jymi about the same things that I brought up to Lee earlier that morning. From what I remember Lee was just about as excited about this new discovery as I was. And so I had barely understood much less embraced a fulfilled view of eschatology for what was maybe 6 hours and I already ran into fierce opposition.
A little background info about Jymi Stewart. I met him at the station a couple of years earlier. He wasn't your typical Calvary Chapel kind of guy. If I remember correctly he didn't even attend a Calvary Chapel, then again most of the people that worked for the station didn't attend one either. Some did though. Anyhow...I considered Jymi a good friend. He was someone that had a great zeal for the Bible and spent a lot of time studying cults and apologetics so that he could be a useful tool in the hands of God.
Over the next few weeks as I began to study the fulfilled view of Bible prophecy or preterism, I took the time to run some of these idea's past Jymi. But he would have nothing to do with it. I was just wrong and that's all there was to it. At least that's how I remember it going down. It was a very intense time of study and emotion and with all these new ideas running through my head I may have remembered something wrong. Either way the more I became convinced of the preterist method of interpretation the less Jymi wanted to have anything to do with me.
Since that time, my relationship with Jymi hasn't been the only one affected by my understanding of Bible prophecy. However the loss of his friendship has been the most significant. Others have disagreed...But none so disagreeably. I'd love to be friends with him again some day. I've even attempted to add him as a friend on Facebook. But I can only conclude by his lack of response that he still feels the same as he did more than four years ago.
The first one was Matthew 10:23 which states that Jesus, disciples whom He was sending out would, "not have gone through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes." Which always left me wondering which of Jesus disciples were still wandering around the Judean countryside today going from city to city spreading the good news. I mean hey...Didn't they all die before the first century came to a close? Right? 8)
And then there was Matthew 16:27-28 "For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. Assuredly, I say to you,(Jesus' disciples) there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”
How could I have missed verses like this before? That Jesus' disciples would not make it through the cities of Israel and that some of them would not die before the Son of Man comes. Those verses are right there. I had either read or listened to these same verses who knows how many times before. Of course as I looked back I realized that either these verses had been glazed over by myself or those teachers that I had been listening to or attributed to something else. I think it safe to say that certain presuppositional biases I held to kept me from understanding them.
And so I asked Brian, "Have you ever seen these verses before? Look at what they are saying." He said, "Yeah...I've seen them before and they've made me scratch my head...But I never really gave much thought to them."
And then...Whooosh...My friend Jymi Stewart comes into the studio behind me and says, "What's up dude...I know what you're doing...you're wrong!" I said, "Huh?" By the way...If you've ever spent much time in a radio station you would understand what I mean by...Whooosh, when Jymi came in. Recording studios are sound proof, sealed and pretty much air tight. So when the door opens quickly...Whooosh!!! Anyhow, back to the story. 8)
I can only assume that he had spoken to Lee Davis while I was in school and that Lee told Jymi about the same things that I brought up to Lee earlier that morning. From what I remember Lee was just about as excited about this new discovery as I was. And so I had barely understood much less embraced a fulfilled view of eschatology for what was maybe 6 hours and I already ran into fierce opposition.
A little background info about Jymi Stewart. I met him at the station a couple of years earlier. He wasn't your typical Calvary Chapel kind of guy. If I remember correctly he didn't even attend a Calvary Chapel, then again most of the people that worked for the station didn't attend one either. Some did though. Anyhow...I considered Jymi a good friend. He was someone that had a great zeal for the Bible and spent a lot of time studying cults and apologetics so that he could be a useful tool in the hands of God.
Over the next few weeks as I began to study the fulfilled view of Bible prophecy or preterism, I took the time to run some of these idea's past Jymi. But he would have nothing to do with it. I was just wrong and that's all there was to it. At least that's how I remember it going down. It was a very intense time of study and emotion and with all these new ideas running through my head I may have remembered something wrong. Either way the more I became convinced of the preterist method of interpretation the less Jymi wanted to have anything to do with me.
Since that time, my relationship with Jymi hasn't been the only one affected by my understanding of Bible prophecy. However the loss of his friendship has been the most significant. Others have disagreed...But none so disagreeably. I'd love to be friends with him again some day. I've even attempted to add him as a friend on Facebook. But I can only conclude by his lack of response that he still feels the same as he did more than four years ago.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Article links on Day 15...
If you missed the links on day 15 late yesterday and early this morning they are back up. I shut down the site that I had them posted on. DOH...
Anyhow...I got them back up and they are WELL worth reading if you haven't read them yet. 8)
Mike
Anyhow...I got them back up and they are WELL worth reading if you haven't read them yet. 8)
Mike
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