
I am offering this work, The Parousia of the Son of Man, for free in PDF form. The ideas within it, drawn from being raised in Dispensationalism, going through a stage of Preterism into Full Preterism, then coming out of these interpretations with a robust understanding of them, lets me theorize from within the problems/issues of Eschatology (over thirty years of active study). The solution is not Preterism, or Dispensationalism, and certainly not Full Preterism, though each have their strengths, they have far too many weaknesses. In a way, drawing heavily from current New Testament scholarship, all of these views operate within a more or less agreed upon framework. The issues are the definitions given to the terms all these views have in common; terms like, “end of the age,” “resurrection of the dead,” “last day,” “body,” “the latter times,” etc. There is also considerable agreement among them as to the so-called “time texts” of the New Testament. That is, in Dispensationalism, “near” means what it ordinarily means in English when used with respect to time, but since the “offer” was rejected by Israel, the kingdom was “postponed.” This is true for Preterism, and New Testament critical scholarship. For the latter, Jesus announced that the kingdom was “at hand.” However, for many, if not most NT scholars, Jesus was simply wrong. For the Dispensationalist, Jesus’ offering was “at hand,” but was rejected by Israel, and therefore “postponed.” For the Full Preterist/Preterist, the term “near” carries the same meaning, but for them, everything/most was “fulfilled” in 70 AD (a view both New Testament scholars, and Dispensationalists, as well as mainstream Christianity would, rightly so, utterly reject).
Let me restate this: for Dispensationalists, and New Testament scholars, “near” means what it does in ordinary language: imminence; right on the verge of happening. Jesus fully expected his kingdom to arrive within the years of his ministry. That is the force of “imminence.” For the Preterist/Full Preterist, Jesus meant 70 AD, which was 37 years away from his own time. This is hardly in keeping with what “near” means, and how it was normally used and understood.
This book is very aware of the issues, and attempts to deal with them in a way that offers a focus on the Ascension of Christ, which is called “the coming of the Lord” to the Father in heaven.
This is a thoroughly revised edition from its original hard copy publication.
For a free PDF, send me your email, and I will attach a copy. My email is samuelmfrost@yahoo.com – I do accept donations on PayPal for my work, whatever may be prompted in your heart to give, or not. To donate on PayPal, my user name is samuelmfrost@yahoo.com