12/07/2026
A MAJOR OVERHAUL OF MY END TIMES WORLD VIEW
I have recently had a huge change in my worldview regarding the ‘end times’.
I regularly ask the Holy Spirit to lead me and guide me into all truth and show me any belief systems that need to change. I have just finished reading a book that I believe is an answer to those continued prayers.
The book is called ‘Victorious Eschatology’ written by Harlod Eberle, and Martin Trench.
They talk about what is known as the ‘Partial Preterist’ view of end times. Some events have been fulfilled, others are yet to come.
I have some main points below that the book talks about. There are many others, and a lot of proof and historical evidence in the book to back these conclusions up:
• The ‘futurist’ view of the end times is a relatively new Christian worldview. It only came to bear after the Scofield reference bible was introduced in early 1900’s. None of the early church fathers held to the view, neither did John Wesley, John Calvin, even Augustine.
• Matthew 24 - most of these prophecies have already come to pass, and can be backed up historically. Critical verse: ‘THIS generation shall not pass away until these things have come to pass’. Much of the historical evidence to support the events of Matthew 24 comes from a book called ‘The Jewish War’’ written by Flavius Josephus a Jewish Priest that was commissioned by the Romans to record the events of the destruction of Jerusalem. It is a meticulous account. It can be obtained for free online if you look it up.
• The ‘man of lawlessness’ mentioned in Thessalonians is likely Nero, or another person identified in the book- a man called John Levi. This was the man who likely pushed the Roman empire to annihilate the Jews entirely. The Jews all knew of him.
• Emperor Nero is likely the beast. Nero’s name converts to 666 in Hebrew.
• Going by the historical records, Nero was probably the most depraved, evil, wicked human being to have walked the face of the earth.
• No mention of Anti-Christ being a single individual, only mentioned 4 times as a ‘spirit’ in John’s letters.
• The ‘abomination of desolation’ is in fact the Roman army as it surrounded Jerusalem. Refer Luke 21:20, how it correlates with Mark 13:14, Matthew 24:15.
• The great majority of the Jews were slaughtered after the siege. Over 1 million died of famine or were executed.
• Leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem, there were false christ’s, famines and earthquakes recorded. e.g. Pompeii AD62. This was the time period they were expecting the Messiah- it produced an atmosphere ripe for people to be deceived by false christs.
• The ‘last days’’, ‘last hour’, end times referred to by the apostles writings were referring to the time period leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish religious system. So it could be said that the days we live in are biblically, not ‘the last days’’ or ‘end times’. We would be in a new age- the last 2000 years are really what we might call the ‘church age’ or the ‘kingdom age’.
• In 70AD the temple was razed to the ground, the Jews were slaughtered, only 97 thousand were kept alive and they were deported as slaves to other places, the nation of Israel ceased to exist, and the country was left ‘desolate’. It was the END for them as a people group and a nation.
These are just a few of the main points. There are a lot more made in the book which I believe will have a profound impact on your end – times worldview. All the pertinent biblical ‘end times’ texts are addressed i.e. Daniel 8-10, Revelation, Matthew 24.
If you think about it, the temple had to be destroyed. The old way of approaching God had to be obliterated. The Jews were idolising the temple and their religious system. Those who rejected Jesus as their Messiah were left with nothing to cling to or fall back on.
So it seems that we are now in an expansion period of God’s Kingdom.
The world has in fact, society has in fact, improved with time comparatively. History bears this out. Yes there is much evil still around but comparatively there has been an overall improvement since the dawn of the church age. One of the reasons we are so conscious of evil is because of newspapers, television, internet and now social media continuously pumping bad news to society. And its really only bad news that has mainstream coverage.
Some things that have improved with time and influence of the church age:
• Slavery is illegal almost everywhere; it used to be an accepted part of life.
• Human rights exist. Freedom of religion, equality before the law, protections for accused.
• Women’s rights, children’s rights, disabled and infirm taken care of.
• Public executions and blood sports are not as common.
And the list goes on and on.
Yes - there is still evil, but the above are what we take for granted because we were born into it. Society was BRUTAL from our perspective, prior to the church age.
So these are material improvements to society which can be proven historically and quantified to a degree. But from a spiritual perspective, it’s very hard to judge. It could be said that the church has expanded, not contracted since its inception. Overall, there are roughly 5,000 to 20,000 adult Christian converts per day with the great majority from Africa, China, Iran, India, Nepal, Latin America. But overall - it’s declining in the western world. I’d like to believe that this trend will turn at some point in the not-too-distant future. It probably will when the western world cops a few divine judgments. It’s a cycle of human nature.
I like the ‘partial preterist’ view because it speaks of a victorious church growing as the Kingdom of God grows on the earth. It will grow and grow until one day Jesus will return and dispense of all evil entirely. This is far more preferable than the futurist view which speaks of a defeated church that has to be raptured out of the earth. The futurist view believes things will get worse and worse until it becomes unbearable at which point we’ll be raptured.
And when it comes to the second coming of Christ, the ‘day of the Lord’ will come with zero warning as a thief in the night. That means that no person or prophet or man of God will be given any heads up as to when this might happen. It will come as a total surprise to everyone, including Christians.
So the Kingdom of God is growing and becoming increasingly influential, but there will still be major challenges ahead. These challenges will hopefully cause many to turn to God.
In a sense, I think both the partial preterist view and the futurist view have credibility. I don’t think the preterist view is credible-the view that believes all New Testament prophetic scriptures have been fulfilled. The bible, by it’s very nature, since it is the living word of God, must have meant something to those alive 2000 years ago, and it must mean something to us today. So I wonder if some of the futurist views with regard to the book of Revelation will still have an application now and into the future.
I think we will only know for sure, it will only make sense, in hindsight when certain events play out. To be too headstrong about a particular viewpoint, no matter how much research we’ve done- would be unwise.
In my opinion, God is in the process of cleaning up his church of false doctrines, false teachers, prophets, apostles. He’s doing this because He’s getting ready for another major move of God. He will be coming back for a spotless church, not a compromised, defeated one.
There are two biblical passages not discussed in the book. Ezekiel 38-39 and Zechariah 14. These two passages speak of armies attacking Jerusalem. There is no credible evidence of these events having taken place yet, so they must be in the future. This is something we have to wrestle with.
There’s a lot here. A lot more is covered in the book, and the arguments are very compelling, they make a lot of sense. Please be open to this and I recommend reading the book and doing some of your own research.
