On December 31st, 2024, I made it my hope & prayer that “more Preterists find themselves actively listening and being a part of fellowships were #SermonSunday is a reality in 2025. The Church is here to stay!”
It would seem that in his presentation at the “Eschatology of Genesis” Conference in Montana, Pastor Steve Magua sensed some of the ills that come from folks failing or avoding active listening (engage the things they are learning in a meaningful way) and have healthy engagement with local fellowships. He said, “Lord, help the Preterist community. Because we are in possession of the greatest truths in the whole Bible, and we possess, at least in my view, the least amount of grace. How are we to lead those who are in darkness, when we operate with such vitriol and anger? It’s a shame. We ought to be ashamed. All of us. We ought to ask God if there is something, is the Spirit lacking in us? I don’t know but there is something essential that is lacking in our community and we will not impact the world until we deal with that poison…They rejected the Spirit that would have gave them the power to turn the world upside-down”.
Rejection of local fellowship, rejection of the Spirit, is an issue that has been confused, compounded, and dare I say not correctly dealt with within Full Preterist Circles. For this reason and others, we have decided to discontinue the efforts of The Power of Preterism Network and instead work toward what we might truly term “The Preterist Community”. More details in that regard will be provided soon enough.
In the meantime, a quick review of this past year, 2025;
We mourn and will surely miss our brother, Glenn Hill. All the while, we will appreciate his labors of love and the resources he provided us with. You can find a list of his speaking engagements at the following link, https://powerofpreterism.wordpress.com/2025/12/05/a-glenn-hill-resource/
Glenn Hill published Christianity’s Great Dilemma: Is Jesus Coming Or Is He Not? in 2010. He also wrote a published article in 2022 and participated in quite a few conferences over the last decade and more. Also, it would be remiss not to enjoy the interview he had with The Burros of Berea Podcast in 2024. You can find links to all of those resources below.
Below you will find a link by year of different lectures given by Glenn Hill since 2011 (which he mentions in the video is his first time preaching on livestream).
If I have failed to include something, please email me at PastorMikeMiano@yahoo.comand I’ll be sure to add the resource to this list.
Have you been paying attention to the Gary DeMar Controversy? Are you waiting to watch the recent debate between him and Doug Wilson? Did you listen to the recent review he offered up? If so, you should be desiring your free scratch-n-sniff sticker,too!
I appreciate that Gary often gives a panoramic view of what is going on (which is part and parcel of “figuring things out”). In the recent review he offered up, he explained the issues in the 1970’s with Premillennial Dispensationalism, the rapture in 88’, and what ultimately pushed him into the ‘eschatological arena’. It seems the point Gary is essentially making is that for many in the Reformed camp and those Bible expositors who debated such things, Preterist interpretation, dare I say the ‘Preterist Reformation’, was only important and so necessary, “as long as we were debating Premillennial Dispensationalists (or “liberals”). The problem he is highlighting is that as folks simply continue to aim for consistency in regards to interpreting Old Testament/New Testament prophetic hopes by way of the Scriptures, and “serious study and dialogue” of Preterism (as R.C. Sproul called for in the 1990’s), this is discouraged, rebuked, and herectized.
For more than two decades now, many Bible teachers/debators, authors, church pastors, and social media influencers have been making strides in demonstrating the importance, benefit, and carrying forward the “serious study and dialogue” of ‘a hermenuetic of Preterism’.
Dr. Don K. Preston of the Preterist Research Institure has dealt exensively with the syllogisms and arguments of logic that tie together the Biblical texts in a coherent outline of fulfilled Bible prophecy through public debate, authored books and blogs, and his YouTube channel. I myself (Michael Miano) have authored books on Full Preterism by that name), have offered public study by generation of church history (especially regarding eschatology), and have done public debates. Authors Tim Martin and Jeff Vaughn even led the way in helping offer a consistency of Preterist interpretation from Genesis to Revelation in their book, Beyond Creation Science, what has come to be known as “Covenant Creation”. Bible teachers like Ed Stevens and Kurt Simmons have responded to the questions and concerns regarding church history, fostering efforts of further examination, restoration, and reform.
All of that being so, why do we expect this time around to be any different? Why do we expect that Gary asserting things many have been asserting already (and quite extensively) will be treated any different than many have before? These issues have come to reveal more than bad interpretation, but rather hard hearts, dismissive minds, and bad attitudes in many of these Reformed folks and Bible expositors that fail to be willing to reason together, escpecially as pure, God-honoring Biblical arguments are being made and Christ-like postures and applications being expressed.
Mention of Sam Frost was both hilarious and appreciative. Much of what Gary said, in asseting Preterist interpretation and regarding Sam Frost, are things I have said in public debate and on social media to Sam Frost for years. Speaking of Sam, Gary said, “…and now he is just spinning. People don’t really known what he believes about anything”…“We don’t know where he is, he is on a merry-go-round”.
Why has this seemingly gone so unnoticed or appreciated in the past? This is the man that I have debated twice, a man whom many a minsters on Long Island invited to ‘do away with Full Preterism’ in our locale. I’d encourage serious examination of the points I made in my debates with Sam (much akin to the things Gary is saying);
Yes, as Gary and Eric hesitantly made clear, ‘Partial Preterism is leading people to Full Preterism, it is, and it has been’.
Gary explained the key thing he wanted to make known during the debate, which is important to know as you follow his points in the debate, namely a demand for a willingness to see the “come again” of the Nicene Creed, the exegetical work that has been done to show Matthew 16:27-28 in the past, and the inconsistency among interpreters and expositors. In my endless discussions on these things, I too, like Gary, “say to myself, this isn’t worth dealing with. I’m just going to let it go” as we get down to interpreting the details and finding consistency among our interpretations.
As I mentioned in the beginning, I appreciated the alluding to and the quoting of And These Things Came to Pass, specifically the portion by R.C. Sproul, “Serious study and dialogue are needed it we are ore to reach agreement regarding how far Preterism is to go”. Eric went on to say, “…and we haven’t progressed, it’s gotten worse. Now you can’t sit down and talk about it at all. That’s what this symposium (in 1993) was suppose to be about”. As a man who has been walked out a church with my family, not for being a nuisance of any sort, but rather simply being a Full Preterist, I agree, yes, things have gotten much worse. Again, these issues have come to reveal more than bad interpretation, but rather hard hearts, dismissive minds, and bad attitudes in many of these Reformed folks and Bible expositors that fail to be willing to reason together.
Sure, Doug Wilson wants to feign ‘agnosticism’ as it comes to interpreting Matthew 16:27-28, but this doesn’t “put a damper on Preterist arguments” (as Gary said), rather it puts a damper on the expected willingness to find consistency regarding Doug Wilson.
As I conclude this review of the recapping and look forward viewing the actual debate, I must make mention of Peter Leithart’s “knock-down argument”. Gary cites, “…we take this a step further, Jesus’ prophecy of His powerful coming in Matthew 16 and its parallels is an abbreviated version of His Olivet Discourse…both future events that will take place before the disciples die, before this generation passes away…AD 70.” Well yeah, we’e been saying and citing similar quotes like this for over two decades now. Dr. Don K. Preston has again and again highlighted with syllogisms that the New Testament texts regarding the coming of the Lord, and the resurrection of the dead, and the consummation of the New Hevens are all speaking to the events of A.D. 66-70. I might strongly encourage folks to review his work.
I hope my thoughts might have encouraged your thoughts and over all let’s think on ‘things above’.
By the goodness of God, Michael Miano, pastor The Blue Point Bible Church Author of FULL PRETERISM: Proclaiming The Presence & Purpose of God
Through June and July the two foremost questions that have been before us at TPPN are:
How would you assess the current progress and power of Preterism, or the Preterist community?
Where have you seen the “power of Preterism” lately?
While we have not offered up too many interviews lately, or even written blogs, there has been abundance of happening and different individuals producing videos, artlces, and podcasts. We are so grateful for all the work and effort that goes into the “Preterist Movement”.
More recently, the Eschatology In Genesis, Montana Wild, Conference was hosted. Speakers such as Dr. Don K. Preston, Tim Martin, Jeff Vaughn, Pastor Steve Magua, Rick Welch, Zach Davis, and Joel Rosenauer offered inspiration and insights. We plan to host some interviews throughout the month of August.
The Annual Spirit & Life Lectures starts today until Sunday in South Haven, Michigan at Church of Christ Lakeshore. The theme is “Answering Common Objections to Fulfillment”. The lectures will stream live on the Church of Christ Lakeshore South Haven Facebook page. Here is the link, https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100072401082895
A few other important more thoughts and resources to share:
I’ve been encouraging folks to participate in local Summer reading clubs (many local libraries offer this children and adults) and we began Summer Bible Reading at many local churches. Not to mention, many local churches offer opportunities to engage a Summer Sermon Series.
Lastly, we have been and always are seeking improvement to the ministries and efforts we offer through The Power of Preterism Network.
Preterist Power Hour will no longer be a live session, rather we meet by call-in or Zoom for fellowship, announcements, and sharing of resources on the last Friday of the month at 10:30am eastern. Details recorded on our blogsite – powerofpreterism.wordpress.com
Our interviews & discussions will be promoted as “Preterists Speak” and we will aim to have atleast 2 interviews a month.
The “Preterist Pastors” Conference Call will be through call-in and Zoom tonight, Fri., August 1st – 8pm eastern.
Daniel Anthony, pastor of the Power of God Pentecostal Church in Butler, PA. joined us for a Preterist Power Hour recently to share a bit of his testimony and his recent testifying to the “power of Preterism” at The Kingdom Movement Conference. He explained that while he surely affirms, “70 AD is the vindication of the Messiah/ consummation of the Kingdom”, much of his ministry is “refuting Cessationism in light of Fulfillment”.
A great point that Tim made in that video, “…if Covenant Creation is the Biblical understanding, and Genesis 1-4 is a Temple Dedication Text, rather than a description of the material creation, than human beings predating Adam is precisely what we would expect. Priests are chosen by God to serve others and extend the knowledge of God out to the wider world”.
Recently, many of us were blessed with being privvy to important thoughts that were shared back in 1993 by some popular Bible teachers and the ‘power of preterism’.
Consider these testimonial thoughts;
R.C. “Sproul had noted that, “The modern revival of Preterism represents an interesting & important paradigm shift in eschatology. The advantage of Preterism is that it “saves the phenomena” of the New Testament time-frame references. It interprets Biblical prophecy according to the images used in Scripture itself, and it offers a framework for the consistent interpretation of the difficult apocalyptic literature of the Bible, such as Daniel & Revelation…”.
Doug Wilson, one who has oddly enough spent a significant part of ministry working against the ‘power of Preterism’ had testified that, “Preterism has been a huge hermeneutical gift in my life. It has been a key that has opened up countless passages of Scripture. It has deepened my faith and strengthened me in my walk with God. Preterism really is precious to me…precious things must be defended and the things left undefended are not precious – whatever words are used”.
What great ‘testimonial thoughts’ to consider this Tuesday.
Also, however, I’d like to share with you an exhaustive list of the ‘testimonial thoughts’ that were shared on the Preterist Power Hour throughout 2024:
Over the past week or so, I’ve discerned the need to re-initiate, re-highlight the importance of being actively involved in and with a local church among the “Preterist Community”. After sharing a few posts, namely about the difference of a Preterist church, and the need for Preterists to be involved in the Church, it’s clear that many Preterists are confused regarding the value and importance of church life and what exactly that looks like.
As I said a few years ago, “Surely many within Preterist circles, as well as Christianity in general, can grow in their understanding of what the goal of the ages was and what we can do to see the continued growth and productivity of what God gave us as His eternal purpose – The Church”.
Luke 17 is a tour de force when it comes to the invisible nature of the “Kingdom Come” and the “Day of the Lord”.
Point blank, Our Lord said to the Pharisees: “The kingdom of God will not come with observation.” (Lk. 17:20). As if this were not clear enough, He explained: “Nor will people say, ‘Look, here it is,’ or ‘There it is.’ For you see, the kingdom of God is in your midst.” (v.21). In referring to the Kingdom, He was referring to Himself — for the Kingdom was in their midst not because the Pharisees had successfully built it among themselves, but because the King Himself was in their midst conversing with them about His Kingdom. Even this, they could not see! He had to explain it to them. How much more difficult it would be for them to see the Kingdom when He Himself would no longer be visible.
He then turns to His disciples, who did recognize Him as the Christ. Even to them, those who knew Him and saw the Kingdom in His person, He had to carefully explain that even they would not see His coming. He told them without equivocation, “The time is coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, butyou will not see it.” (Lk. 17:22). As if this were not clear enough, once again He explained: “People will tell you, ‘Look, there He is!’ or ‘Look, here He is!’ Do not go out or chase after them.” For, we can surmise from Our Lord’s words, that which could be seen by looking would not qualify to be the coming of the Son of Man.
Then He tells them that the Days of the Son of Man — the Days of Vengeance (Lk. 21:22) — would be like the days of Noah. He compares Himself to Noah, who entered the ark before the flood came and destroyed all those who had ignored his warnings and continued in their sin. So Christ also entered into heaven, and, as the Book of Revelation reveals, immediately He opened the scroll, unsealing the seven seals that culminate in the destruction of Jerusalem.
Likewise, the Days of the Son of Man would be like the Days of Lot; just as Sodom’s destruction was vouchsafed as righteous Lot departed the sinful city for Zoar, so also Our Lord departed the city which had slain Him, spiritually called “Sodom” (Rev. 11:8), and before He was lifted up, He mourned its destiny: “The time will come when not one stone will be left on another; every one of them will be thrown down.” (Lk. 21:6). That vengeance foretold and sealed by the prophets, He would Himself unseal before the passing of the generation which killed Him and persecuted His people (Lk. 11:50-51; Lk. 21:32).
These calamities which would befall Jerusalem would not be the substance of the Kingdom Come, but only its signs, according to Lk. 21:7 and parallel passages. We must therefore dig deeper to understand the true nature of the Day of the Son of Man and His Kingdom Come.
In all these things, Our Lord said that in His Day, He would be like lightning, “which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other.” (v.24). That is, the Son of Man would be a lamp that would illuminate all. St. John saw exactly this in His vision of the heavenly Kingdom city: “The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.” (Rev. 21:23). This is in fact a vision of one of the invisible “days of the Son of Man”. St. John made sure to inform us earlier in Rev. 1:10 that he indeed saw the Day of the Lord, yet not with the eyes of the flesh (lest he contradict the Lord’s explicit teaching that it could “not be seen” in Lk. 17:22), but in the spirit: “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day.” Indeed, Our Lord had said that the Kingdom will never be seen without being born again of the Spirit: “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again…no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.” (Jn. 3:3, 5). The Kingdom, therefore, could only be seen with spiritual vision, and St. John received this vision.
It was not only John who received this spiritual vision of the Kingdom Come, either. In the opening of His Gospel, He tells us: “The true light who enlightens every human was coming into the world.” An English translation does not quite communicate the continuous nature of the “coming” — note the eschatological term — described by the present participle form of “ἐρχόμενον” (erchomenon) — that is, the light here is illuminating, and will continue illuminating, all men — for it is precisely the lamp seen in Rev. 21:23, that is, the Lamb. The light itself is the “glory of God” according to the same passage. Therefore, this is a vision of the “glory” revealed in the Day of the Lord: “They will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.” (Lk. 21:27).
St. John’s Gospel, then, proclaims this vision fulfilled: not only had the light of God’s glory come into the world, and was continuously “coming” at that; but it had in fact been seen: “We have seen His glory.” (Jn. 1:14). Note that it was not just the visionary John saying, “I have seen the glory,” as He did in His vision recorded in Rev. 21, but “we”.
To see Him in His glory had eschatological importance to John. In his Epistle, He wrote, “Beloved, we are now children of God, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when Christ appears,we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is.” (1 Jn. 3:2). In Chapter 17 of his Gospel, John records Christ’s prayer that His people would “be with Me where I am that they may see the glory You gave Me” (v.24). This is the eschatological hope of being gathered to Christ at His Coming, expressed in many other places (Mt. 24:31; 1 Thess. 4:16f; 2 Thess. 2:1; Rev. 7:1f, etc), typified by the final feast of the Hebrew sacred calendar, the Feast of Tabernacles (Rev. 7:15). It is therefore highly significant that John boldly declared in the prologue of his Gospel that “we haveseen His glory.”
Examining these stunning declarations in this light (no pun intended), it is all the more significant that St. John prefaced his claim to seeing God’s glory with this allusion to the Feast of Tabernacles: “The Word became flesh and made did tabernacle among us.” Had he said only this on its own, perhaps we would need only assume that he referred only to advent of Our Lord in the Manger. However, in adding, “We have seen His glory,” an eschatological statement seems more likely to be the intent, given the strong eschatological currents connecting “glory” with the “Day of the Lord”. St. John, I submit, is stating plainly: we have in fact seen the Day of the Son of Man coming with great glory; we have in fact seen the Lamp in the midst of the City, which has indeed descended from Heaven; the Feast of Tabernacles is indeed fulfilled, for we have seen His glory as He tabernacled, and continues to tabernacle, among us.
POWER OF PRETERISM 
