More people from various groups of Christianity are coming to realize the Biblical significance of what happened circa 70AD. Dispensational futurist still insist the book of Revelation was written post 90AD, which to them means most of Revelation has a future fulfillment since the catostrophic events of 70AD were already in the past when John had penned it. Yet the new covenant Kingdom could not be right at the door as Jesus clearly stated while the old covenant and kingdom was still standing. While Hebrews tells us the old was ready to vanish: Heb 9:8 the Holy Spirit this signifying, that the way into the holy place hath not yet been made manifest, while the first tabernacle is yet standing; Heb 8:13 In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away. Steve Simms whom we have no acquaintance recently posted this article in the Examiner. << MORE >>

SPIRITUAL 1 CORINTHIANS 2:9-15                                                                                                                                 
 MAINTENANCE  TITUS 3:8                                                                               

NEWSLETTER 
                                               MARCH 2008
                           WEB ADDRESS: spiritualmaintence.org
                       E-MAIL ADDRESS: grindan@bellsouth.net
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The Spiritual Maintenance Newsletter is a monthly study of scripture and matters that deal with our spiritual life and our growing in grace and knowledge of the nature and character of God. It is not a lecture or a sermon but practical help and insight for our faith walk in this tired busy world. You are invited to e-mail responses, AGREEMENT IS NOT REQUIRED.  Some print out the newsletter and share it with others, and some study it over a ...<< MORE >>

My name is Dan and I found your email address on Properpreterism.org. I began studying preterism in the late 1990's when I was in my early twenties, but didn't quite understand it at the time. As it happens I unfortunately became a backslidden Christian for the better part of ten years and nearly put it out of my mind completely. About two years ago I renewed my relationship with Christ and for the first time in my life experienced true repentance for my sins. In the last two years I have spent a great deal of my time studying scripture and bringing myself closer to God. I am a full preterist, but there are still things that I don't fully understand, so I was happy to come across your website. What I am trying to understand mainly is what happens to this physical world? Is this world to continue on as is forever as many full-preterists seem to believe with sin still existing in some form?<< MORE >>

Hi Jerry,

Hope all is going well. I was debating this guy from a video that was airing and we got on the subject of archaeological finds. Well naturally, I brought up Noah’s Ark and he sent me this reply below, basically saying the claims have been fully refuted and it’s not what they thought it was. You are probably familiar with this, but I’d be interested to hear your reply.

Thank you,
Steven

Comment on the findings of Noah's Ark:

1)A report published by geologist L. Collins in co-authorship with the original discoverer of the 'anchor stones' David Fasold, found that they are ...<< MORE >>

Question: "Why should I believe in Christ’s resurrection?" Answer: It is a fairly well-established fact that Jesus Christ was publicly executed in Judea in the 1st Century A.D., under Pontius Pilate, by means of crucifixion, at the behest of the Jewish Sanhedrin. The non-Christian historical accounts of Flavius Josephus, Cornelius Tacitus, Lucian of Samosata, Maimonides and even the Jewish Sanhedrin corroborate the early Christian eyewitness accounts of these important historical aspects of the death of Jesus Christ. As for His resurrection, there are several lines of evidence which make for a compelling case. The late jurisprudential prodigy and international statesman Sir Lionel Luckhoo (of The Guinness Book of World Records fame for his unprecedented 245 consecutive defense murder trial acquittals) epitomized Christian enthusiasm and confidence in the strength of the case for the resurrection when he wrote, “I have spent more than 42 years as a defense trial lawyer appearing in many parts of the world and am still in active practice. I have been fortunate to secure a number of successes in jury trials and I say unequivocally the evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus Christ is so overwhelming that it compels acceptance by proof which leaves absolutely no room for doubt.”<< MORE >>

Thousands, perhaps even millions, of Bible students have read and pondered over the ominous words "THE BOTTOMLESS PIT" in the several passages shown below: (emphasis and comments added by author) And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the BOTTOMLESS PIT. 2 And he opened the BOTTOMLESS PIT; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. 9:11 And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the BOTTOMLESS PIT, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon. (Revelation 9:1) And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the BOTTOMLESS PIT shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. (Revelation 11:7) The beast that you saw was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the BOTTOMLESS PIT, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. (Revelation 17:8) And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the BOTTOMLESS PIT and a great chain in his hand. (Revelation 20:1) And cast him into the BOTTOMLESS PIT, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. (Revelation 20:3) What is this BOTTOMLESS PIT (abyss or abussos in Greek.)? Where is it located? Does it have another, possibly more common, name? If so what is that name? << MORE >>

I recently had a couple of folks send me a link to a news interview concerning wood found on Mount Ararat. After viewing the information I feel the need to respond, so folks are not continually deceived. For the last four centuries an almost overwhelming tradition has developed, that the Ark of Noah landed ON Mount Ararat. Obviously tradition is a powerful thing, because people believe tradition without ever investigating for themselves. Most folks, especially Christians, point to the Scriptures as proof to confirm the Ark landed on Ararat. However, like other Christian traditions, a misunderstanding of the Word has lead many to believe something that is not accurate. Try this little test yourself: ask any Christian how the animals went into the Ark?<< MORE >>

Recently I came across a statement in an article which I was reading that really got my attention. The author of the article wrote: “When Christ ascended to the right hand of the Father, he finally received the Kingdom promised to him (Heb. 1). Ever since that time, Jesus has been reigning over his Kingdom. First Corinthians 15:25 states, “For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.” Jesus, our victorious King, is in the process of conquering his enemies on the earth.” As we can see the author used “Heb 1” as the bases for his conclusion. Does Hebrews 1 really demonstrate that Jesus Christ received the promised Kingdom at the time He ascended to the right hand of the Father? This student of Scripture does not think so. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that Hebrews does not teach that Jesus received the promised Kingdom at the time of His ascension and to demonstrate when Jesus actually did receive the promised Kingdom.<< MORE >>

When I took my first serious look at the Book of Daniel almost twenty years ago, I did so without the benefit of familiarity with scholarly opinion. In general terms, I knew that in mainstream academia, where liberals dominate biblical scholarship, the prevailing view is that Daniel is a pseudepigraphal product of the second century BC whose “prophecies” need to be understood in that light. I also knew that those scholars who have accepted it for what it claims to be have generally used it to reinforce a futurist and premillennial hermeneutic. Upon my first careful reading of Daniel, I immediately rejected the opinions of mainstream scholars. I then flirted for a while with the futurist approach but ultimately rejected it in favor of preterism. << MORE >>

James B. Jordan’s long-awaited full commentary on Daniel is now in print and on sale by American Vision as The Handwriting on the Wall. Now that I have read it in its entirety, I herein offer some comments on this important work. Jordan is an outstanding biblical authority with a great capacity for original thinking that allows him to break free from prevailing views. Sometimes, in my opinion, he fails to make a persuasive case for his unconventional ideas, but he often offers real nuggets of exegetical insight that leave me asking “why didn’t I think of that?” In any event, his knowledge of the Bible is so profound and intimidating that even when I think he is wrong, I take it for granted that his arguments should be examined seriously instead of being airily dismissed...<< MORE >>

The way we look at the new heaven and the new earth can have a significant impact on how we comprehend prophecy. A dispensational and a partial preterist view put the new heaven and the new earth as only a future event. This poses serious exegetical problems when you consider Rev 20:6 states, “Happy and holy [is] the one having a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death does not have power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with Him [for] a thousand years.” and 1Cor 15:25-27…….it is quite evident to us this passage is holy inspired as a first century fulfillment, chronologically from a preterist perspective the “first resurrection of the saints” stated here took place before or when the millennial reign began. Rev 21 continues in a short and somewhat poetic explanation of how grand that new heaven and new earth is, but what and where is it? Is it metaphoric speech for the new covenant in Christ or has it even further implication that can contribute to our understanding? Revelation 21: 10-27 provides a very metaphoric description of the new bride/wife (immortal, incorruptible vs. the condition of his wife before Christ came on the scene i.e. OT times to rescue her mortal and corruptible state) in the heavenly kingdom after the "marriage supper of the Lamb” and His bride/wife which followed the resurrection described in 1Cor 15:23b. We read: Rev 21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth passed away. And the sea is not [any] more [fig., the sea no longer exists].<< MORE >>

We would like to take this opportunity to share some very interesting “about to” (Gk. mello) passages with you: And you are about to hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that you are not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. (Matthew 24:6) Audience relevance: Jesus clearly instructed his disciples that they (not somebody in the 21 century, 2000 years in the future) were about to hear of wars and rumors of wars. This would have been a very unusual occurrence in their day because of the great Pax Romana that had existed throughout their life time! God...now commands all men every where to repent: Because he has appointed a day, in which he is about to judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he has ordained; whereof he has given assurance unto all men, in that he has raised him from the dead. (Acts 17:30-31) Many partial preterists insist the Matthew 25 has not been fulfilled because the judgment of the nations did not take place in the first century. If it did not Paul was radically confused, not inspired. And after certain days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, which was a Jewess, he sent for Paul, and heard him concerning the faith in Christ. And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment about to come, Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee. (Acts 24:24-25) Why did Felix “tremble”? Certainly not because of righteousness or temperance, but because he clearly understood with Paul that the judgment of Yahweh was about to come in his life time in that generation! << MORE >>

Some have discussed the idea of the dating/writing of Revelation being a post 70AD occurence citing historians "Polycarp", "Eusebius which Lloyd addressed in his article John On Patmos" and "Irenaeus". Hank Hanegraf makes an important point: "It's instructive to note that the late dating by Irenaeus for Revelation is largely dependant on a single ambiguous sentence in the writings of a church father named Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons. That sentence can be taken to mean either that John or that John's apocalyptic vision was seen toward the end of Domitian's reign. Moreover, the credibility of Irenaeus as a source is called into question by his contention in the same volume that Jesus was crucified when he was about fifty years of age. I don't think there are too many evangelicals that hold to that proposition." While I would agree with this statement, I would disagree with his other assertion on this same topic, namely when he claims that the Apostle John makes no mention of the catastrophic event on apostate Judah. The Apostle John indeed does cite the event, only he prophesies it as a future event. Finally, what we have about Polycarp is purely speculation, there is nothing that actually declares the late dating. We don't even know that Polycarp knew John except possibly by his own testimony and even that is suspect. If we stick with the Bible the internal evidence tells us it could not have been written in AD95 as some claim. The Bible teaches us in Revelation 11:1-3 we read: << MORE >>

A proper understanding of when Revelation was received and written makes a great deal of difference in how it is to be interpreted. Many would agree that when one begins a study of Revelation, he should first deal with the questions: When did John receive the visions that are recorded as Revelation? When did John write down the document we call Revelation? These two things did not necessarily occur at the same time. Something to think about Where did the Church ever get the idea that John was exiled to Patmos by a Roman ruler? Certainly not from the following passage: I John, who also am your brother, and companion in persecution, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was on the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. (Revelation 1:9) << MORE >>