"But I Don't Believe That!"

Heretical preterism is strictly a laymen's movement. Heretical preterists hold no church councils, hammer out no statements of faith, sign no affirmations, and submit themselves to no ecclesiastical authority that can enforce the provisions of their defining theology. They refuse to subordinate themselves formally to anyone in their movement who could then hold them accountable for what they say or do. Instead, they officially subordinate themselves to historic churches, but they mentally cross their fingers regarding the clear statements of the historic creeds and confessions regarding the final judgment as being in the future. When it comes to these historic creeds, they mentally say to themselves, "But I don't believe that."

This phrase -- "But I don't believe that!" -- is a way of psychological preservation for them. It is their way of being in the historic church but not being confessionally of it. This phrase is also a major component of their strategy of subversion. When confronted by church authorities regarding the obvious implications of their faith, they respond, "But I don't believe that." They can get away with this because their intellectual spokesmen refuse to put into print the obviously heretical implications of their faith: either Manicheanism or perfectionism-Pelagianism. Their critics cannot go to a public document that they have passed around privately that openly declares the Manichean or perfectionist implications of their position. When they are confronted by church officials with these inescapable theological implications, they seek to evade responsibility for them by saying, "But I don't believe that." This gains them additional time to undermine the orthodox faith of laymen around them whom they continue clandestinely to seek to recruit.

They do not choose to make a public announcement of their faith in its Manichean implications or its alternative perfectionist-Pelagian implications. Some of them may not even be aware of these implications. This is not an era in which laymen are encouraged or trained to think theologically. Those few who do have an interest in theology can be sidetracked by other laymen who hand them a thick, seemingly thought-out book like The Parousia. This is why the subversives gain converts.

Orthodox Christians, especially church officers, should recognize this heresy for what it is: either an affirmation of the eternal power of Satan through mankind's original sin, or else a denial of the permanence of original sin in history. I think heretical preterism today is mainly Manichean rather than perfectionist, because its adherents are generally believers in original sin. Given the doctrine of the permanence of original sin, heretical preterism represents one more attempt to import Manicheanism into the church: the doctrine of an eternally unresolved struggle between good and evil.

Church officers who learn of any member's commitment to the doctrine of "full preterism" have an obligation to help this member clarify his or her thinking, and either become fully consistent with the full-preterist position or else fully abandon it. The member should be brought before the church's session or other disciplinary body and asked the following six questions in writing:

  1. Is God's final judgment (Matt. 25:31- 46; Rev. 20:12-15) behind us historically?
  2. Is the physical resurrection of the dead (I Cor. 15; I Thes. 4:13-18; Rev. 20:12-13) behind us historically?
  3. Will the church militant struggle against sin in history forever, parallelling the church triumphant's eternally sin-free existence in heaven?
  4. Will sin and its curse, including physical death, continue throughout history, parallelling sin-free eternity in heaven?
  5. Is original sin a temporary condition of mankind in history?
  6. Are the Nicene Creed and Apostles' Creed incorrect when they identify Christ's final judgment of the living and the dead as being in the future?
It is quite possible that the member has not thought through the implications of his position. He may not be willing to affirm any of these conclusions. In fact, his refusal to affirm any of this is quite likely. The elders must be prepared for the standard answer of heretical preterists who are "caught in the act": "But I don't believe that!" In order to pressure the member to begin to think carefully about whatever it is that he really does believe, it is imperative that the disciplinary body obtain a signed statement from the member that he does not affirm any of these six views, and also that he holds the opposite views. The signed and dated statement should look something like this:

I believe the following:

God's final judgment is still in the future. The judgment that He brought on Israel and the Old Covenant in A.D. 70 was not the final judgment described in Matthew 25:31-46; I Corinthians 15:24-56, and Revelation 20:12-15.

God's final judgment will involve the simultaneous resurrection of all of the dead, at which time God will publicly identify covenant- keepers and covenant-breakers (Matt. 25:31-46). Members of each group will be consigned to their eternal places of abode: either the New Heaven and New Earth (Rev. 21, 22) or the lake of fire (Rev. 20:15).

Sin will no longer operate in history after this final judgment of Satan and all those joined by covenant to him.

This will be the fulfillment of the Lord's prayer, "Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven."<

If the congregation is Presbyterian, the member must also be asked to sign an affirmation of Chapter XXXIII of the Westminster Confession of Faith and answer 90 of the Larger Catechism.

This signed statement constitutes a formal rejection of the "full preterist" position. The member must be told in advance that this signed statement can be shown to others at the discretion of the session. If the member refuses to sign such a statement under these conditions, the elders should continue the disciplinary process.

There are only three lawful ways out of a local congregation: by death, by letter of transfer, and by excommunication. Presbyterian laymen who have been brought before the church's session because they are suspected of holding heretical preterism, and who persist in their commitment to heretical preterism by refusing to sign a statement that is consistent with the Westminster standards, must be removed from membership in the local congregation by excommunication.