Testimony

My Journey To Fulfilled Eschatology

I still remember the first time someone showed me a stereogram. By now most everyone has seen those pictures of colored patterns in which, if you look just right, you can see an hidden object. The first one I saw was supposed to be the Stealth Fighter. I was in the office of a friend on a daily basis and I would spend a few minutes staring at the thing each time.

For a couple of weeks, I thought he was probably in the back room laughing his head off because he was really putting one over on me. Then one day, an edge of something briefly popped out of the maze of color and I became convinced there really was more to this picture than meets the untrained eye.

I devoted myself to seeing the image and in short order it was almost impossible to look at the print without seeing the hidden image. My experience with fulfilled eschatology has been similar. I'll get to that, but first let me give you a little background.

I was raised in an amillennial tradition. However, my teachers never did really get around to telling us what that meant (Honestly, I don't think they even knew). The general idea was that most of the prophecy in scripture had already been fulfilled and we were just living out our days until Jesus came back and we were hauled before the judgment seat with fear and trembling.

We didn't study prophecy much because it just wasn't seen as being all that relevant. At the same time, we were encouraged to be diligent students of God's word. When I tried to read the prophets, I could see how some things came to pass in the captivity and then later in the fall of Jerusalem, but there were just too many strange figures and concepts for me to spend time on; especially since we considered it just history for the most part.

Then in the early seventies, the Jesus movement hit and as a young married adult I was exposed to a lot of pre-millennial dispensationalism. Part of it seemed to make sense but other aspects seemed contrived. I vacillated for the next 25 years or so without ever making a commitment to any position. That led me to adopt the ever popular pan-millennial position (it will all pan out like God intends).

That suited my comfort level until the day I heard Hank Hanegraaff first mention the preterist view. I have an associate degree in Bible and lacked just a few hours having a minor in it from a Christian university. Still, I didn't have a clue what he was talking about but I made a mental note to look into it someday soon. A year or so later, I was looking through a CBD Catalog and saw John Noe's book, Shattering the Left Behind Delusion. I devoured it and my eschatalogical stereogram experience started.

A futurist friend has described the experience as being like a dazed cartoon character with x's for eyes. I know what he means. It was an odd experience. On the one hand, what I was reading made so much sense that I wanted to gulp it all down. At the same time, my mind was telling me to take it easy and not draw any rash conclusions.

I shared the experience with several trusted Christian friends and continued studying (I urge you to do the same). Some of those friends were a lot more intrigued than me and it wasn't long until they were leading me to additional resources. I joined an on-line discussion group and asked a few questions which raised some of the objections you probably have right now. Each time, I received solid biblical exegesis explaining how those passages made sense from a fulfilled view.

After pestering others awhile, I decided it was only fair of me to quit bothering them and study for myself. I bought and began reading a number of books on the subject and digging into the subject in scripture like never before. Little by little my doubt gave way and after almost two years of study I concluded that the fulfilled view made more sense of the scripture than anything I'd previously considered.

Is it the correct view? With all my heart I believe it is. Nevertheless, if it is not, I am anxious to be shown the fatal flaw. A number have tried, but most just raise the same tired objections that indicate they have not made a diligent study. Sadly, most of them never will.

I pray you have a different attitude as you consider the content you find here.

May God bless you as you seek His truth!

Updated 10/09/04