Advancing Truth: The 4 Popular Views of End Times

Sunday 19 April 2020

The 4 Popular Views of End Times

I was brought up in the church with the standard teaching in most Protestant churches in Malaysia and that is:

In the End Times, the Anti-Christ is coming;
Then there will be the Great Tribulation for all Christians or non-Christians;
Then Jesus will come as a King on a white horse to defeat the Anti-Christ;
And finally to bring in a new heaven and earth with paradise with Jesus as the King.

This is the standard teaching among most of the Protestant churches with a few adjustments here and there, but basically it is like this.

Then I realize that there are actually 4 Popular / Major Views of End Times.

For the sake of education, there are:

1. FUTURISM

That means all the last days prophecies in the bible are in our future. They have not happened yet. Most people will hold to this view.

2. HISTORICISM

That means the last days prophecies had been happening and are still happening throughout the history of the world, and will go on and on until the end of time.

3. IDEALISM

That means the last days, the book of Revelations are not real events, but just ideas. They are allegories or stories that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning. The book "Pilgrim's Progress" by John Bunyan is an allegory of the spiritual journey. So all the events in the bible are just metaphors about spiritual battles between God, Satan and Man.

and lastly,

4. PRETERISM

That means all the last days prophecies in the bible had already happened in the 1st Century. That means the Last Days, Last Times, End Times, Jesus 2nd Coming, End of the Age, etc. had already taken place in the 1st Century and before the year AD70.

Besides these 4 views, there are other smaller groups of believers here and there that believe that their leader is the Jesus of the 2nd coming.

But these are minor views, as compared the above 4 views.

Check out Wikipedia: List of people claimed to be Jesus.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_claimed_to_be_Jesus

MY CONCLUSION:

I subscribe to the 4th View i.e. Preterism. If you have read my writings and research within the blog, you will understand the Reasons.

Here are some videos of people who claimed to be Jesus: