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Does Bible Prophecy Matter Anymore? How We Understand
Bible Prophecy...
JOHN HAGEE'S UNBIBLICAL INTERPRETATIONS AND PREDICTIONS...
Does Bible Prophecy matter anymore? With so many Bible Prophecy teachers making so many wild interpretations of what the Bible supposedly teaches will happen in our near future, who have time and time again been proven wrong, the believer could be forgiven for simply abandoning the Bible as being prophetically credible. But being convinced in the inerrancy of Scripture and aware that much of what is taught in Dispensational churches inadvertantly attempts to undermine the inerrancy of Scripture by its false prophetic interpretations, I set about to study the subject of Bible Prophecy and learn for myself what the Bible really says and predicts.
I'm a Conservative Pentecostal Classical Idealistic Preterist, although I'd prefer the label- Christian. I welcome the scrutiny of my views and expect the need to defend them. I therefore expect to be able to do the same with others and their views. Central to my view is the unique authority of Scripture which reveals that Christ is Cause, Reason, and Purpose of life. From this fount my understanding of Bible Prophecy flows. Most Bible prophecy is fufilled therefore in Jesus Christ. His coming as Messiah and Saviour was the core of Old Testament prophetic hope. But one very popular and vocal Bible Prophecy teacher, John Hagee, has now declared that Jesus did NOT come as Messiah. He now promotes a concept that God has two means of salvation: one by faith in Christ, the other by being born a Jew. He asserts that Jesus Christ did not claim to be the Messiah and therefore the Jews did not reject Him as their Messiah. Even the novice Bible reader should detect how wrong this is. Hear for yourself-
John Hagee is promoting the logical extension of "Dispensational" Eschatology. His method of interpreting the Bible can be tested from both history and Scripture. Upon examination of his teachings it will be shown that he is wrong, wrong, wrong!
It's time for Christians to re-examine what teachers like Hagee have taught regarding Bible Prophecy.
Dispensationalism has reached its peak with the Left
Behind phenomenon. Its new champions include Tim LaHaye, John
Hagee, Kenneth Copeland, Jack Van Impe. Almost without exception,
all of the predictions these teachers have made (based on their Dispensational
interpretation of Bible prophecy) have not only not come
true, at times the degree to which they have been wrong has been
dangerously alarming. Who could forget the avalanche of supposed Bible
Prophecies these teachers promoted that predicted the total collapse
of the world banking and airline systems with the Y2K bug?! I have
detailed some more of these faulty predictions in another
article. But the exposure of this faulty method of interpreting
the Bible and Bible prophecy has not only embarrassed Dispensationalism,
it has hastened its inevitable demise!
Many Christians have been quick to realise the inadequacies
of Dispensationalism but have not known what to replace it with. This
vacuum has increasingly been filled by Preterism (from the Latin word
'praeter' which means the past). There are two types of Preterism.
The first is Full Preterism (also known as 'Hyper' Preterism
or Pantelogy) which regards all Bible prophecy is fulfilled.
The other is Partial Preterism (also known as 'Classical'
Preterism) which regards most Bible prophecy fulfilled - except the
return of Christ, the Resurrection, Final Judgment, and the New Heaven
and Earth. Partial Preterism agrees with ancient Creeds of the Church
while Dispensationalism and Full Preterism do not. The difference
between Full Preterism and Classical Preterism is explored in more
detail [here].
Some very respected Bible teachers have adopted the Partial Preterist
position. These include: Dr. R.C. Sproul, Steve Griegg, and Hank
Hanegraaff. One of the best cases for the Partial Preterist position
is the eBook- The Most Embarrassing Book
In The Bible which can be immediately downloaded to your
computer and read off your screen or printed out.
The implications of how we understand Bible Prophecy
goes much further than merely guessing about the future. It actually
goes to the heart of how we interpret the Bible and therefore whether
the Bible is truly God's Word. This then leads to how we understand
God, salvation, and church. If we can get the correct method for interpretting
the Bible and its prophecies we can learn to declare the Good News
with confidence knowing that God's Word is thoroughly
reliable because it has a proven prophetic track record. Correctly
understanding Bible Prophecy will help us to marvel at God and
His Ways and help us to communicate the Good News with awe and passion.
Dr.
Andrew Corbett, Legana, Tasmania, December
2007
Why do some people believe? Every Christian has a story of conversion. For some Christians their story is a journey from atheism to belief in the God of the Bible because of the evidence. For others, like Abdu Murray, their conversion story from Islam to Christianity was based on the credibility of the Bible. Then for those like Sy Rogers, former homosexual and formerly a Gay Rights activist, his conversion to Christianity was based on the love and acceptance he experienced in a Christian community. Many people become Christians for reasons like these, but, by far, the most common reason, at least statisticaly, is some kind of Pentecostal encounter. [Read full article]
Heaven and Hell are commonly presented as either the benefit or the consequence of how a person responds to God. It's as if people think that the whole point of religion is to get people into Heaven and to keep them out of Hell. From this "religious" perspective, Heaven is Ultimate Bliss, Paradise, Perfect Beauty - while Hell is Fire, Eternal Punishment, Anguish, Torment, and The Devil's Domain.
In recent times there has come a lot of push-back regarding the very notion of Hell as it perceived by many. Among Christians who have rejected the classical view of Hell are several well-respected writers including...[read full article]
Where is human history going? Many people believe that the Bible has not only accurately predicted human history to this point, but that it predicts a coming 'Golden Age'. This possibly impending event is called: "The Millennium". But there are very devout Bible readers who think this kind of reading of Scripture is actually a gross misreading of the Bible, and that what the Bible really says about the future may surprise - and even shock people today.
The "Millennium" is the touchstone for how people label themselves when it comes to interpretting Bible prophecy. Depending on how they regard the Millennium, they will classify themselves either as, (i) Premillennial; (ii) Amillennial; or, (iii) Post-Millennial. Within these Millennial categories there are people who take a "fundamentalist" view, generally known as "Dispensationalists" and there are others who take a "Reformed" view, generally known as "Historicists", or the position I will argue for- "Preterist"... [read the full article]
The problem with approaching a particular text of the Bible with a preconceived notion of what it means is that it can hinder us from appreciating its actual meaning. I think this might be the case with the Second Peter 3:12 text...
[more]
Are we already in the New Jerusalem as Full-Preterists claim? [read]
Much damage to the credibility of the Bible has nearly been done by those who twist the contents of the Book of Revelation to force it to sound like it refers to the events of our present day. Time and time again, so called Bible-Prophecy teachers have been left with egg on their faces as their ridiculous speculations have proved to be completely wrong. Our Administrator forwarded onto me a copy of an email we were sent claiming that our understanding of the Book of Revelation was wrong and that we would be humiliated by the Lord when the Rapture took place on October 17th 2009. [Read]
If you were downtown and looked across the street over the parked cars and saw someone you knew rushing intently to push a little old lady over, what would you think of that person? Would your opinion of this person change if you later discovered that the cars you were looking over obscured your view of this person actually pushing this little old lady out of the way of a speeding sports car which was hurtling towards her and about to hit her? Sometimes, a bigger picture changes the entire picture!
This is what reading the Book of Revelation is like for some people. They have their understanding of the Book of Revelation obscured by their lack of understanding about history, Biblical language, and even modern opinions [read]...
The Bible is uniquely prophetic. No other religious or holy book makes predictions of the future like the Bible does. This phenomenon has led some Bible teachers to over-emphasise the Bible's ability to predict the future. The rise in claims of the Bible's prophetic detail coincided with its increased availability. When medieval scribes increased production of Bible copies the number of prophetic speculations also increased. When the Gutenberg Bible revolutionised the way Bibles were produced from the 1500s, there was similarly a marked increase in the number and variety of prophetic speculations...[more]
Some Christians regard the Church as God's "Plan 'B'" and that He has some unfinished business to complete with Israel. This has become big business! Those who promote the Biblical concept of one means of salvation and therefore one covenant people of God are derided as Replacement Theologians but this is totally ironic when you realise who is really doing the replacing...[more]
Many of the "new" atheists are now making a lot of noise about Bible Prophecy. Theologically liberal scholars have long fuelled the atheists' assertions that Bible Prophecy is really just fabricated history made to sound like predictive prophecies. But now they've gone a step further! In fact, for some of them, they've made these new claims about "failed" Bible prophecies central to their arguments for atheism... [more]
Is Preterism "Over-Realised" Eschatology? Mark Driscoll, considered one of the best preachers in the world today, recently implied that Preterism was "over-realised" eschatology. His concern was that Christians holding this position would no longer engage culturally or in evangelism with the world. But this criticism should not be directed at Preterists since they are largely not dis-engaged! [Read]
Dispensationalism has reached its peak with the Left
Behind phenomenon. Its new champions include Tim LaHaye, John
Hagee, Kenneth Copeland, Jack Van Impe. Almost without exception,
all of the predictions these teachers have made (based on their Dispensational
interpretation of Bible prophecy) have not only not come
true, at times the degree to which they have been wrong has been
dangerously alarming. Who could forget the avalanche of supposed Bible
Prophecies these teachers promoted that predicted the total collapse
of the world banking and airline systems with the Y2K bug?! I have
detailed some more of these faulty predictions in 
Many Christians have been quick to realise the inadequacies
of Dispensationalism but have not known what to replace it with. This
vacuum has increasingly been filled by Preterism (from the Latin word
'praeter' which means the past). There are two types of Preterism.
The first is Full Preterism (also known as 'Hyper' Preterism
or Pantelogy) which regards all Bible prophecy is fulfilled.
The other is Partial Preterism (also known as 'Classical'
Preterism) which regards most Bible prophecy fulfilled - except the
return of Christ, the Resurrection, Final Judgment, and the New Heaven
and Earth. Partial Preterism agrees with ancient Creeds of the Church
while Dispensationalism and Full Preterism do not. The difference
between Full Preterism and Classical Preterism is explored in more
detail 
Dr.
Andrew Corbett, Legana, Tasmania, December
2007 
