Rasaka New Doctrine

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=200 BGCOLOR="#003399" TEXT="#080000" background="040c8c00erkjxk.jpg"> <div> <B><U>Greg Rasaka</U></B></div> <div> <B>is the editor of </B><I><B>Eschatology Review</B></I><B>.  </B><I><B>Eschatology Review</B></I><B> is a free publication available by contacting Greg at 32080 N.E. Corral Creek Road, Newberg, Oregon, 97132.  You can also reach him via e-mail at gjr@viclink.com.</B></div> <div> <B>This article combines two of Greg's from the March and April 2003 issues of </B><I><B>Eschatology Review</B></I><B> and used with his kind permission</B><I><B>.</B></I></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <FONT SIZE="7" COLOR="#000066" FACE="Brush Script MT" ><B>Restoration Ministries</B></FONT><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#FFFF99" FACE="Arial" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#CC0000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT>  |     <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Restoration Ministries"><U>home</U></A></div> <div>                                                   </div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <IMG SRC="10c1c480.jpg" border=0 width="540" height="72" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <B>by Greg Rasaka</B></div> <div> <B>________________________________________________________</B></div> <bR> <div> When folks are first made aware of the point of view that all Bible prophecy has been fulfilled, they immediately assume it to be some new idea or doctrine. Further, because they have “never heard such a thing,” they assume it to be false doctrine, or even a cult. Are either of these assumptions correct? Absolutely not.</div> <bR> <div> What is false doctrine? False doctrine is any doctrine that is contrary to the teachings of the Bible. We often jump to the conclusion that a doctrine is false because it is contrary to what we have been taught, always assuming that what we have been taught is the undisputable truth. Shame on us! We should know better than to follow blindly the teachings of man. Rather, we should allow the words of our creator to be the one and only true test of truth. After all, God created everything and has a perfect understanding of all things. </div> <bR> <div> What<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="WP MultinationalA Roman" >*</FONT>s more is, God cannot lie (Titus 1:2 and Hebrews 6:18). We ought to have that “Berean attitude” and search the scriptures to be sure if the things being laid forth are in fact true (Acts 17:11). If we are too lazy to go back to the ultimate authority for a proof check, then we have no one to blame but ourselves for falling into the trap of false doctrine.</div> <bR> <div> Is fulfilled eschatology, often termed preterism, truly false doctrine? If one pores over the pages of the Bible with the attitude of finding truth, even at the expense of dearly held doctrine, he will find that preterism is not false doctrine. If one puts aside preconceived ideas and actually takes in and digests what Jesus and the apostles said, he will find truth. If one familiarizes himself with the phraseology and figures of speech used in the Old Testament, new light will be shed upon the words in the New Testament. If one takes into consideration who was speaking or writing, to whom it was being addressed, when it was spoken or written, and what were the previous and present circumstances, honest understanding is developed. </div> <bR> <div> When each generation places themselves as the recipients of the words of Jesus and the letters of the apostles, a perfect framework for breeding false doctrine is created. Sure there is value in those words for every generation, but they were not addressed to any other than those first century listeners and readers. When we begin to apply these simple guidelines to our study, those preconceived ideas lose their integrity. The honest Bible student will find preterism to be honest in approach, leaving the frivolous ideas behind. He will find that it is not false doctrine.</div> <bR> <div> All who seek to learn more of the original languages stand to gain even more understanding than the student who is completely reliant upon the English translations. As good as the translators have been, they are still inconsistent and prone to understanding what they are translating in the light of preconceived ideas. It is at this point that a translation becomes an interpretation.</div> <bR> <div> So the question remains, “Is this teaching of fulfilled eschatology a new doctrine?” As we will see, the answer is “no.” We will read some statements from the second century to the nineteenth century. I am not suggesting that any one of these men had it all figured out, yet the things they did understand concerning interpretation and fulfillment, should cause us to think.</div> <bR> <div> It seems to me that every eschatological passage in the New Testament was seen as fulfilled in A.D. 70 by some writer of old. I believe if they were all alive today, to compare notes and input, they would proclaim that all is fulfilled.</div> <bR> <div> Some of the writers using older styles of English, as well as outdated spelling, can be harder to follow. I have left these as I found them.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>Melito of Sardis</B> (Second Century)</div> <bR> <div> “Who will contend against me? Let him stand before me. It is I who delivered the condemned. It is I who gave life to the dead. It is I who raised up the buried. Who will argue with me? It is I, says Christ, who destroyed death. It is I who triumphed over the enemy, and having trod down Hades, and bound the Strong Man, and have snatched mankind up to the heights of heaven.”</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>Chrysostom </B>(A.D. 347)</div> <bR> <div> “Was their house left desolate? Did all the vengeance come upon that generation? It is quite plain that it was so, and no man gainsays it” (Homily LXXI).</div> <bR> <div> <B>“Behold, your house is being left to you desolate”</B> (Matthew 23:3 8) <B>“. . . . because these are the days of vengeance, so that all things which are written will be fulfilled”</B> (Luke 21:22). It is plain that Chrysostom understood these passages to be fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>Athanasius</B> (A.D. 296-373)</div> <bR> <div> Here are some selections from Athanasius, from his works, <U>On the Incarnation</U> and <U>Festal Letters</U>.</div> <bR> <div> “For now that He has come to our realm, and taken up His abode in one body among His peers, henceforth the whole conspiracy of the enemy against mankind is checked, and the corruption of death which before was prevailing against them is done away. For the race of men had gone to ruin, had not the Lord and Saviour of all, the Son of God, come among us to meet the end of death.”</div> <bR> <div> “And this was why Jerusalem stood till then — namely that there they might be exercised in the types as a preparation for the reality . . . From that time forth all prophecy is sealed and the city and temple taken . . . Why are [the Jews] so irreligious and so perverse as to see what has happened, and yet to deny Christ, Who has brought it all to pass?”</div> <bR> <div> “The Jews are afflicted like some demented person who sees the earth lit up by the sun, but denies the sun that lights it up! What more is there for their Expected One to do when he comes? To call the heathen? But they are called already. To put an end to prophet and king and vision? But this too has already happened. To expose the God-denying-ness of idols? It is already exposed and condemned. Or to destroy death? It is already destroyed. What then has not come to pass that the Christ must do? What is there left out or unfulfilled that the Jews should disbelieve so lightheartedly? The plain fact is, as I say, that there is no longer any king or prophet nor Jerusalem nor sacrifice nor vision among them; yet the whole earth is filled with the knowledge of God, and the Gentiles, forsaking atheism, are now taking refuge with the God of Abraham through the Word, our Lord Jesus Christ.”</div> <bR> <div> “For no more does death reign; but instead of death henceforth is life, since our Lord said, ‘I am the life;<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="WP MultinationalA Roman" >*</FONT> so that everything is filled with joy and gladness; as it is written, ‘The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="WP MultinationalA Roman" >*</FONT> For when death reigned, ‘sitting down by the rivers of Babylon, we wept,<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="WP MultinationalA Roman" >*</FONT> and mourned, because we felt the bitterness of captivity; but now that death and the kingdom of the devil is abolished, everything is entirely filled with joy and gladness. And God is no longer known only in Judea, but in all the earth, ‘their voice hath gone forth, and the knowledge of Him has filled all the earth.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="WP MultinationalA Roman" >*</FONT>”</div> <bR> <div> “For the death of Isaac did not procure freedom to the world, but that of our Saviour alone, by whose stripes we all are healed. For He raised up the falling, healed the sick, satisfied those who were hungry, and filled the poor, and what is more wonderful, raised us all from the dead; having abolished death, He has brought us from affliction and sighing to the rest and gladness of this feast, a joy which reaches even to heaven.”</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>The Geneva Bible</B></div> <bR> <div> The Geneva Bible (1599) was a forerunner to the King James Version. It contains many interesting notes, showing that their understanding of many verses and concepts of the Bible was a far cry from what most have today. Some samples are:</div> <bR> <div> Matthew. 3:2 <B>“And saying, {c} Repent ye: for the {d} kingdom of heaven is at hand.”</B></div> <bR> <div> (d) The kingdom of Messiah, whose government will be heavenly, and nothing but heavenly.</div> <bR> <div> Matthew 24:34 <B>“Verily I say unto you, This {t} generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.”</B></div> <bR> <div> (t) This age: the word “generation” or “age” is here being used for the men of this age. (in loc.)</div> <bR> <div> John 1:47 <B>{20} “Jesus saw Nathaniel coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!”</B></div> <bR> <div> (20) Simple uprightness discerns the true Israelites from the false.</div> <bR> <div> Rev. 12:14 <B>{18} “And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her {c} place, where she is nourished for a {19} time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.”</B></div> <bR> <div> (18) That is, being strengthened with divine power: and taught by oracle, she fled swiftly from the assault of the devil, and from the common destruction of Jerusalem and went into a solitary city beyond Jordan called Pella as Eusebius tells in the first chapter of the third book of his ecclesiastical history: where God had commanded her by revelation. (c) Into the place God had prepared for her. (19) That is, for three and a half years: so the same speech is taken, Dan. 7:25. This space of time is reckoned in manner from that last and most grievous rebellion of the Jews, to the destruction of the city and temple, for their defection or falling away, began in the twelfth year of Nero, before the beginning of which many signs and predictions were shown from heaven, as Josephus wrote, lib.7, chap.12, and Hegesippus lib.5, chap.44, among which this is very memorable. In the feast of Pentecost not only a great sound and noise was heard in the Temple, but also a voice was heard by many out of the Sanctuary which cried out to all, Let us depart from here. Now three and a half years after this defection by the Jews began, and those wonders happened, the city was taken by force, the temple overthrown, and the place forsaken by God: and the length of time John noted in this place.</div> <bR> <div> Rev. 12:15 <B>{20} “And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.”</B></div> <bR> <div> (20) That is, he inflamed the Romans and the nations that in persecuting the Jewish people with cruel arms, they might at the same time invade the Church of Christ, now departed from Jerusalem and out of Judea. For it is a normal thing in scripture, that the raging tumults of the nations should be compared to waters.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>John Lightfoot</B> (1602-1675)</div> <bR> <div> The great scholar and theologian, John Lightfoot, saw things a bit different than our mass of modern teachers, as you will see from just a few of his comments.</div> <bR> <div> “<B>This generation shall not pass, &c.</B> Hence it appears plain enough, that the foregoing verses are not to be understood of the last judgment but, as we said, of the destruction of Jerusalem. There were some among the disciples (particularly John), who lived to see these things come to pass. With Matthew xvi.28, compare John xxi.22. And there were some Rabbins alive at the time when Christ spoke these things, that lived till the city was destroyed, viz. Rabban Simeon who perished with the city, R. Jochanan Ben Zaccai, who outlived it, R. Zadoch, R. Ishmael, and others” (<U>Commentary on New Testament</U>, vol. 2., p. 329).</div> <bR> <div> On Mark 13:32, “Of what day and hour? That the discourse is of the day of the destruction of Jerusalem is so evident, both by the disciples<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="WP MultinationalA Roman" >*</FONT> questions, and by the whole thread of Christ<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="WP MultinationalA Roman" >*</FONT>s discourse, that it is a wonder any should understand these words of the day and hour of the last judgment” (vol. 2, p. 442).</div> <bR> <div> “With the same reference it is, that the times and state of things immediately following the destruction of Jerusalem are called ‘a new creation,<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="WP MultinationalA Roman" >*</FONT> ‘new heavens,<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="WP MultinationalA Roman" >*</FONT> and ‘a new earth.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="WP MultinationalA Roman" >*</FONT> When should that be? Read the whole chapter; and you will find the Jews rejected and cut off; and from that time is that new creation of the evangelical world among the Gentiles.”</div> <bR> <div> “Compare 2 Corinthians 5:17 and Revelation 21:1,2; where, the old Jerusalem being cut off and destroyed, a new one succeeds; and new heavens and a new earth are created.”</div> <bR> <div> 2 Peter 3:13: “‘<B>We, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth</B>.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="WP MultinationalA Roman" >*</FONT> The heaven and the earth of the Jewish church and commonwealth must be all on fire, and the Mosaic elements burnt up; but we, according to the promise made to us by Isaiah the prophet, when all these are consumed, look for the new creation of the evangelical state” (vol. 3, p. 453).</div> <bR> <div> “That the destruction of Jerusalem and the whole Jewish state is described as if the whole frame of the world were to be dissolved. Nor is it strange, when God destroyed his habitation and city, places once so dear to him, with so direful and sad an overthrow; his own people, whom he accounted of as much or more than the whole world beside, by so dreadful and amazing plagues. Matthew 24:29,30, ‘The sun shall be darkened<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="WP MultinationalA Roman" >*</FONT> &c. Then shall appear the <B>‘sign of the Son of man,</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="WP MultinationalA Roman" ><B>*</B></FONT> &c; which yet are said to fall out within that generation, ver. 34. 2 Peter 3:10, ‘The heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat,<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="WP MultinationalA Roman" >*</FONT> &c. Compare with this Deuteronomy 32:22, Hebrews 12:26: and observe that by elements are understood the Mosaic elements, Galatians 4:9, Colossians 2:20: and you will not doubt that St. Peter speaks only of the conflagration of Jerusalem, the destruction of the nation, and the abolishing the dispensation of Moses” (vol. 3, p. 452).</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>F.W. Farrar</B></div> <bR> <div> 120 years ago in Europe, preterism had a strong following, while futurism did not. Here are some quotes from <U>The Early Days of Christianity</U>, by F.W. Farrar, in England, 1882, Vol. 2 pages 227-237. Note what he says about the notion that the Spanish Jesuit, Alcasar, was the founder of preterism. Many attempt to promote this idea today, claiming preterism to be invented by Alcasar for the purpose of taking the focus off the Catholic Church as being the Antichrist. Perhaps Alcasar understood these things, but he certainly was not the founder.</div> <bR> <div> “There have been three great schools of Apocalyptic interpretation: 1. The Praeterists, who regard the book as having been mainly fulfilled. 2. The Futurists, who refer it to events which are still wholly in the future. 3. The Continuous-Historical Interpreters, who see in it an outline of Christian history from the days of St. John down to the End of all things. The second of these schools — the Futurists — has always been numerically small, and at present may be said to be non-existent. The school of Historical Interpreters was founded by the Abbot Joachim early in the 13th century, and was specially flourishing in the first fifty years of the present century. The views of the Practerist have been adopted, with various shades of modification, by Grotius, Hammond, Le Clere, Bossuet, Eichorn, Hug, Westein, Ewald, Herder, Zullig, Bleek, De Wette, Lucke, Moses Stuart, Davidson, Volkmar, Krenkle, Dusterdieck, Renan, and almost the whole school of modern German critics and interpreters. It has been usual to say that the Spanish Jesuit Alcasar, in ‘Vestigatia arcani sensus in Apocalyps” (1614), was the founder of the Praeterist School, and it certainly seems as if to him must be assigned the credit of having first clearly enunciated the natural view of the Apocalypse, like all other known Apocalypses of the time, describes events nearly contemporaneous, and is meant to shadow forth the triumph of the Church in the struggle first with Judaism and then with Heathendom. But to me it seems that the founder of the Praeterist School is none other than St. John himself. For he records the Christ as saying to him when he was in the Spirit, ‘Write the things which thou sawest, and the things which are, and the things which are about to happen after these things.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="WP MultinationalA Roman" >*</FONT> No language surely could more clearly define the bearing of the Apocalypse. It is meant to describe the contemporary state of things in the Church and the world, and the events which were to follow in immediate sequence.”</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>Summary</B></div> <bR> <div> We have only touched on a small sample of the writings of men who understood these prophecies as fulfilled. These men were many and learned. They had not yet been biased in their thinking by the Zionist movement, which has plagued the twentieth century mind set. Although there were pre-millennial teachings as far back as the first century, the dispensational teachings of today have evolved in the tide of the Zionist movement. The pre-millennial idea can be traced back to the first century heretic, Cerinthus, whom the apostle John was emphatically opposed. </div> <bR> <div> The first pretribulation rapture teachings were invented by Morgan Edwards and published in 1788. For details, see John Bray<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="WP MultinationalA Roman" >*</FONT>s booklet, <U>Morgan Edwards and the Pre-tribulation Rapture Teaching</U>. Years later, men like Emmanuel Lacunza, Edward Irving and J.N. Darby built upon such ideas. It was C.I. Scofield who later made the idea of dispensational theology popular in 1909, with the publication of his Scofield Reference Bible, with its famed footnotes.</div> <div> In 1925, the only seminary teaching dispensational theology was the Dallas Theological Seminary. In our time, this has spread to almost all schools as orthodox. Like the leaven of the Pharisees, it has spread far and wide, without biblical support.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>A Bit More History</B></div> <bR> <div> Last month (see above) I gave a very brief history of early writers who saw eschatology from a fulfilled point of view. Although many issues could be written on that very subject, I must move on and hope that many of you will do some research on your own. For those of you who may not have access to such resources, perhaps I will expand upon this more at a later time.</div> <bR> <div> I also mentioned a man by the name of Cerinthus, who lived in the first century and taught from a premillennial position. He was considered a heretic, and strongly opposed by the apostle John.</div> <bR> <div> Eusebius was a historian who was writing about A.D. 325. The following is taken from his <U>Ecclesiastical History</U>, book 3, chapter 28, “Cerinthus the heresiarch.” All emphasis is mine.</div> <bR> <div> “About the same time, we have understood, appeared Cerinthus, the leader of another heresy. Caius, whose words we quoted above in The Disputation attributed to him, wrote thus respecting him: ‘Cerinthus by means of revelations which he pretended were written by a great apostle, also falsely pretended to wonderful things, as if they were showed him by angels, asserting that <B>after the resurrection there would be an earthly kingdom of Christ, and that the flesh, i.e., men, again inhabiting Jerusalem, would be subject to desires and pleasures. Being also an enemy to the divine scriptures, with a view to deceive men, he said that there would be a space of a thousand years for celebrating nuptial festivals.</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="WP MultinationalA Roman" ><B>*</B></FONT><B>”</B></div> <bR> <div> “Dionysius also, who obtained the episcopate of Alexandria in our day, in the second book <U>On Promises</U>, where he said some things as if received by ancient tradition, made mention of the same man in these words: ‘It is highly probable that Cerinthus, the same that established the heresy that bears his name, designedly affixed the name (of John) to his own forgery. <B>For one of the doctrines that he taught was that Christ would have an earthly kingdom.</B> And as he was a voluptuary, and altogether sensual, he conjectured that it would consist in those things that he craved in the gratification of appetite and lust; i.e., in eating, drinking and marrying, or in such things whereby he supposed these sensual pleasures might be presented in more decent expressions:</div> <div> viz., in festivals, sacrifices and the slaying of victims.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="WP MultinationalA Roman" >*</FONT> Thus far Dionysius.”</div> <bR> <div> “Irenaeus, in his first book against heresies, added certain false doctrines of the man, though kept more secret, and gave a history in his third book that deserved to be recorded as received by tradition from Polycarp. He said that John the apostle once entered a bath to wash; but ascertaining Cerinthus was within, he leapt out of the place and fled from the door, not enduring to enter under the same roof with him and exhorted those with him to do the same, saying, ‘Let us flee, lest the bath fall in, as long as Cerinthus, that enemy of the truth, is within.<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="WP MultinationalA Roman" >*</FONT>”</div> <bR> <div> From the same works, in book 3, chapter 39, we find a section on Papias, who was a very early writer, who seemed to have had influenced others by his imagination. Eusebius says of him:</div> <bR> <div> “The same historian also gave other accounts, which he said he added as received by him from unwritten tradition, likewise certain strange parables of our Lord of his doctrine, and some other matters rather too incredible. In these he said <B>there would be a millennium after the resurrection and that there would be a corporeal reign of Christ on this very earth which things he appeared to have imagined</B> as if they were authorized by the apostolic narrations, not understanding correctly those matters which they propounded mystically in their representations. He was very limited in his comprehension, as is evident from his discourses; yet he was the cause why most of the ecclesiastical writers, urging the antiquity of man, were carried away by a similar opinion, as, for instance, Irenaeus, or any other who adopted such sentiments.”</div> <bR> <div> Let us remember that dredging up these early writings does not prove or disprove eschatology in one school or another, but only serves to show that modern mainstream eschatology has not been the view held through the centuries. It shows that preterism is by no means “some new fad” and that pre-millennialism was not always considered an orthodox teaching. If any one school of eschatology is to be proven true or false, it must done by the words in the Bible. If secular history reinforces the Bible, then all the better. Let the Bible be the proof and secular history be the secondary backing.</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>__________________________________________________</B></div> <bR> <div> <U>Eschatology Review</U> is a FREE publication. Contributions are gratefully accepted, though we cannot provide a tax-deductible receipt for your gift. Please make all checks payable to Greg Rasaka, 32080 NE Corral Cr. Rd. Newberg, OR 97132. Send comments or questions to same, or gjr@viclink.com by E-mail. If sending articles by E-mail, please cut and paste. Do not send attachments. Attachments will not be opened. Thank you.</div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>