The author is the self-proclaimed President of the Preterist Research Institute and obtained an honorary D.Div. While only completing two years of education from Memphis School of Preaching he has written over twenty-one books. The theme of this book is to prove the “death” Adam was threatened in the garden with was “Spiritual death”, therefore in order for Jesus to defeat Spiritual death he had to die a spiritual death on the cross.
From the outset it is noted that Preston is not theologically trained, and after reading his book he demonstrates unsound logic while contending against the Historical Christian faith that holds to the death of Adam being physical. Much of Preston’s words are an apologetic to Facebook discussions, debates, and conversation held online seem to focus against two individuals. Sam Frost who use to be a full preterist but has left the movement and Ed Steven’s who has also diverged from Preston’s teaching yet still a full preterists. Much of his arguments against the two are based on foundational errors in identifying the types of death discussed in the book of Genesis. It reminds me of the skits on SNL by Gilda Radner on which she would offer up a commentary on a subject only to find out in the end she misheard the subject. She would simply say, “never mind”, because her arguments had nothing to do with the reality of the topic.
The real tragedy in logic is to claim Jesus had to died Spiritually on the cross. Preston argues, since the death of Adam was spiritual and not physical, the death Christ must endure must also be spiritual in order to redeem us from the curse of the “Adamic death” discussed in I Corinthians 15 and other related passages.
The progressive logic he employs leads him to one of his most grievous of statements. “As suggested just above, there is something else here. Paul said that the resurrection would be when “the sting of (the) death which is sin” (1 Corinthians 15:56) would be overcome.[51] This is incredibly powerful and important because it shows that sin would not be overcome until the resurrection. Thus, this means that if the resurrection has not taken place there is no forgiveness!”
The implication of such a statement is to suggest that unless the resurrection occurred in AD 70, no one’s sins were forgiven. The writer of Hebrews stated, “without the shedding of blood there can be no forgiveness of sin”. Christ blood was shed on the cross therefore forgiveness for sin was made. Preston goes on to double down on this heresy “Now, clearly, if these men posit the “removal of sin by Christ’s complete fulfillment of the will of God,” and the final victory over “the poison of sin itself” at the “second appearing” then it cannot be claimed that the work of the Atonement was finished at the cross.
In the garden the animal’s blood was shed thus providing the forgiveness of sin. Animal sacrifice is a type and shadow of the death of Christ on the cross that would be made to end all need for further sacrifices. While Preston briefly hops over this point the full import of this theological understanding escapes his thinking.
While talking about substitutionary atonement Preston attacks Sam scholarship by misconstruing and not actually understanding Sam’s comments.
IN Genesis 2:15-17 the Hebrew construct is
4191 mō·wṯ מ֥וֹת surely V‑Qal‑InfAbs 4191 tā·mūṯ. תָּמֽוּת׃ you shall die V‑Qal‑Imperf‑2ms,
Now Sam argued that it was the same construct as found in I Kings 2:37 : 4191mō·wṯ מ֣וֹת surely V‑Qal‑InfAbs 4191tā·mūṯ; תָּמ֑וּת you shall die V‑Qal‑Imperf‑2ms
The construct is identical. Preston stated in response,
“The fact is that Frost has made another false claim. Notice what the text actually says: “For it shall be, on the day you go out and cross the Brook Kidron [kĭdʾrŏn], know for certain you shall surely die; your blood shall be on your own head” (1 Kings 2:37). The text undeniably does not say, “In the day you cross over you will surely die” It says the day that you cross over know for certain that you will die! The time of the death is not specified as it is in Genesis.Knowledge of the certainty of his death would come the day that he crossed over. It simply does not say that he would die that very day. Totally different. It is a distortion of the text to make it say, “You will die the day you cross over.” This response demonstrates Preston’s inability to follow Sam’s thought, think through the issues, or to have a foundation in Christian theology in the first place from which he can argue from respectively. Sam and Don speak two different languages.
Preston totally missed the point Sam was making. Sam’s claim was the “Hebrew construct” of the “death” pronounced was identical, not the timing issue (yet the timing issue was the same in each verse, Preston’s assessment was dead wrong). This issue of the “surely you will die” is something Preston enlists help in from Dr. Dallas Burdette (BA, MS, M.Div. from Amridge University, D. Min from Erskine Theological Seminary) in discussing the double use of infinite absolute construct, argues the death of Adam was Spiritual, Adam and Eve had two natures, and were created mortal. All three ideas are fraught with major issues.
This book follows the tradition of all of Preston’s book in which he uses arguments against “misunderstandings” and invents theology from misguided foundations while demonstrating his inability to actual follow a theological discussion from someone who is clearly more advanced in education. This book is another brick in the wall, supporting the idea the doctrine of demons still thrives in the midst of the church.
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Stephen N Whitsett
Stephen Whitsett as a B.A. from LIFE Pacific University; M.Div., from Grand Canyon University; and a Th.M. Regent University. He is currently working on his Ph.D. program from Amridge University.
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