Matthew 24 - Transition or Not? Pt. 1

"Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven." (Acts 1:11)

I grew up mostly in Pentecostal/Charismatic churches. Thus, I was taught, and my entire family believed in Dispensational eschatology. It scared me to death, and led me to make a move toward Christ at the ripe old age of five years old.

However, when I REALLY started to follow Christ, I was about 23. I became passionate about this new old Book I had discovered called the Word of God. As I studied, I began to see many things that didn't add up, especially when it came to my favorite subject, eschatology.

Finally, an opportunity came to sit in a class on Revelation with a former pastor. I had no idea what I was getting myself into! This is NOT what I was expecting. What I learned through that course was the Amillennial/Idealist view of Revelation. It absolutely floored me. For once, not only did Revelation make sense, but all the loopholes were beginning to close, and the Bible began to open up to me.

Basically, that pastor taught the interpretation of William Hendriksen, and used the "scene" method put forth by Michael Wilcock. This teaching absolutely changed my life for good. I was so passionate that I began to try and share it with others, because I thought they would become as excited about it as me. However, I soon found out that most Christians don't even open their Bibles, and were lost about everything I was trying to tell them.

From that point I began to really look hard at the book of Daniel. Once again, I found that there were some inconsistencies to a degree. Not only that, but I began to realize that the view I held demanded a negative view of the future of the Church. Like the Dispensational teaching I had turned away from, Amillennialism teaches a somewhat negative view of the kingdom and the Church. I felt this to contradict the positive view of the Church, and my beliefs about the Kingdom of God that I had always held. The thing that led me to Preterism, was actually to investigate the erroneous beliefs of a minister friend of mine that denied a physical resurrection and denied the Second Coming of Christ. This led me to cautiously investigate Preterism. Preterism is the belief that most Bible prophecy was not only fulfilled in the 1st Century, but also that the Bible was relevant directly to that generation, and not to ours.

Even more so the Bible began to make even more sense to me, and I found that my hunger began to be appeased more and more. Although I do still hold many Amillennial views of certain things, (and thankfully so does David Chilton, so I'm not alone...) I shifted toward Orthodox Preterism/Postmillennialism. I figured out that what Hendriksen did was to take the Preterist view, and simply apply it to the church in every age. Thus, now I had what it really meant, and one way to apply it.

Sadly I discovered that conjoined with Orthodox Preterism was this view of the minster friend of mine: Hyperpreterism. Just as moderate Calvinists constantly have to deal with Hyper Calvinists, I found the same to be true with Preterism.

It was breaking my heart because I thought that my friend, (even though I still disagree with him), was in some far out fanatical cult. I do believe he knows Jesus Christ as Savior, but he is deceived on this point of doctrine.

Thus, I found the teachings of Dr. Kenneth Gentry, who teaches that both the coming in judgment upon Israel, and the Second Coming of Christ are both discussed in the Olivet Discourse.

I've been preaching now for 17 years. I am non-denominational because, for one reason, I've never found a denomination that believes like I do about every point. Thus, my experience has been to allow God to show me in His Word what He wants for me, and then to investigate as to whether or not any other prominent ministers held the same view as what the Lord was showing me.

I have found myself to be heavily aligned with Wesley in most things, Calvin in a very few things, etc...So on my journey to find a person who held a viewpoint most like mine I found Chilton, and then Dr. Gentry.

One thing I have refused to let go of is the belief that Jesus Christ will physically return and this old body of mine will be raised out of the ground. As I began to investigate whether or not the Church had always held this view, (because I was shocked to find out that the Church had not always held to Dispensationalism), I found that the Church had consistently, more than any other doctrine, had agreed and professed across spans of time, across denominational borders, across geographical boundaries, the belief that Jesus Christ would come again and that we would be raised from the dead.

Though I believe in Sola Scriptura, I will be the first one to say that if our belief contradicts what the Church as a whole has professed for over two thousand years, then we better be about changing our view. The Church has been wrong about some things, but there is no way that the ENTIRE Church has been wrong this whole time about something so fundamental to the Christian Faith. (to be continued...)