Then and Now Preterist Podcast Ed Stevens

This is the second of two lessons that Ed Stevens presented at the 2016 Blue Point Endtimes Conference. The first lesson looked at HOW the pre-70 saints lived, and WHY they lived that way. We looked at their expectations and hope and other motivations to live holy lives. In this second lesson we apply those principles to our lives today. We show when the Kingdom was supposed to arrive, and what Jesus and the apostles taught about our lives in the Kingdom AFTER it arrived. Even though we do NOT have the eschatological factors motivating our lifestyle (like the first century saints had), we DO have the same hope and the same vulnerability to persecution and the same challenges of life in this evil world that they had. And that is more than enough motivation for us to live godly lives.Support the show

This is the first of two lessons that Ed Stevens presented at the 2016 Blue Point End Times Conference. This lesson discusses the kind of godly lifestyle that the pre-70 saints maintained, and explains WHY they lived that way. Their reasons for living sensibly, righteously, and godly during that time of persecution right before the End, was somewhat complex. While they were motivated by all of the same reasons that we are, they had an additional factor of eschatology. The nearness of the Parousia, and the need to finish the Great Commission, plus the imminency of the great tribulation (Neronic persecution), all combined to intensify their need to live holy lives. Even though we do not have those eschatological factors motivating us today, we do have the same hope of immortal life in heaven which those pre-70 saints had. And that hope stimulates us to purify ourselves, just like it did for those saints in the first century. For a PDF written transcript of this lesson, click here. 
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The most important doctrine in all of Biblical revelation is the Deity of Christ and the Trinity. This teaching is certainly hard to wrap our minds around, but fortunately a full understanding of it is not crucial to our salvation. What is essential, however, is that we believe in the Deity of Christ, regardless of whether we fully understand it. So we will be looking at several Biblical texts which reveal and illustrate the Deity of Christ and the Trinity. We examine the powerful arguments of Anselm (eleventh century) who showed convincingly from Scripture that our atonement is completely dependent upon the Deity of Christ. No imperfect creature (man or angel) can atone for our sins. Only a perfect sinless sacrifice can die in our place, and only God is sinless. John 17:5 clearly teaches the Pre-Existence and Eternal Begottenness of the Divine Son of God. Revelation 5 shows all saints and angels in heaven giving equal worship and glory to both the Lamb and the One who sits on the throne. If you wish to have the free PDF written lesson outline for this podcast, simply email us to request it (preterist1@preterist.org). Be sure to mention the date of this podcast when you contact us.Support the show

David Chilton gave these two speeches at a full preterist conference in Oklahoma City in 1997, not long after he had become a full preterist, and only a few months before he died. That was the occasion when he made the now famous remark: “...Here I am as a Full Preterist.” Chilton explained the meaning of Matthew 5:17-20 where Jesus predicted the passing away of the old heavens and earth. He shows that this was referring to the soon-coming end of the old covenantal world and the arrival of the new covenantal world in Christ and in the Church. He shows that this was the same “heaven and earth” and covenantal world mentioned in both 2 Peter 3 and Hebrews 8:13. He quotes from John Owen, John Brown, Milton Terry, J. S. Russell, and F. F. Bruce to support his point. Perhaps the most valuable part of this is his critique of Theonomy as it was explained by Greg Bahnsen and William Einwechter. Chilton clearly shows how the Theonomists misinterpreted both Matt 5:17-20 and Heb 8:13 when they bound the “jots and tittles” of the Ceremonial Law upon us today. If you wish to have the free PDF written lesson outline for this podcast, simply email us to request it (preterist1@preterist.org). Be sure to mention the date of this podcast when you contact us.Support the show

Premillennialists connect the “Times of the Gentiles” (Lk 21:24) with the “fullness of the Gentiles” (Rom 11:25), and claim that both texts will only be fulfilled after “all Israel” has accepted Jesus as Messiah, returned to the land of Israel, and rebuilt the temple. They see the “times of the Gentiles” as being the whole period from AD 70 until that future restoration (now almost two thousand years). We show from Lamentations 1:15; Revelation 11:2; Daniel 7:7-25; Ezekiel 30:3; Jeremiah 27:7; the Dead Sea Scrolls; the Apocrypha; Yosippon; and Enoch that the two phrases “tread under foot” and “times of the Gentiles” are referring to the Roman invasion and conquest of the Jews in AD 67-70. We also explain what the “fullness of the Gentiles” means in Romans 11:25. If you wish to have the free PDF written lesson outline for this podcast, simply email us to request it (preterist1@preterist.org). Be sure to mention the date of this podcast when you contact us.Support the show

We explain John 14:3 to show that Jesus was promising a real cognitive experiential "reception" (rapture) of his disciples into the unseen realm of heaven at His Parousia. Critics of the first century rapture have to SPIRITUALIZE the "dwelling places" language, and IGNORE the "receive you to Myself" promise of Jesus! But that was NOT just figurative language about a covenantal status or soteriological condition, or code for the Collective Body or life in the Kingdom in a spiritual sense only. We show that the dwelling places of John 14:2-3 are actually in the unseen spiritual realm of heaven, and were not accessible to the saints until AFTER the transition period, and that Jesus (actually, cognitively, and experientially) took his disciples out of the visible realm on earth and "received them" into those new dwelling places in the unseen spiritual realm at His Parousia. If you wish to have the free PDF written lesson outline for this podcast, simply email us to request it (preterist1@preterist.org). Be sure to mention the date of this podcast when you contact us.Support the show