In a series of articles recently written by a Hyper-Preterist whose name need not be mentioned, a panic note has been struck again concerning the meaning and scope of the phrase “this generation.”  Since Matthew 24: 34 is the stronghold of Hyper-Preterist interpretation, it does not surprise me to  see the overwhelming mass of literature written by adherents of that view in their attempt to make their system as airtight as possible.

  As to be expected, these articles are all geared toward combatting various views of Matthew 24: 34, one of which has been promoted at this blog.  In one article, the fellow actually has the chutzpah to claim that  “interpreting genea as ‘race’ has no solid contextual or lexical evidence.”  Of course, he neglects to tell his readers that Strong’s Concordance lists “nation” as one of the accepted meanings of the Greek word.  

  But it gets better.  The author then claims that “genea” cannot possibly mean the race of Israel, for the Jews no longer exist as a people!  Naturally, such a statement piqued my curiosity; and so I looked to see what kind of arguments one would employ to support this concept.  Sure enough, what I read was enough to convince me that, once again, Hyper-Preterists are allies of infidelity!

   The author supplies a list of quotations from various academic sources, such as the Collier’s Encyclopedia, the Encyclopedia Americana, Funk & Wagnalls Encyclopedia, etc., and garnishes his citations with quotes from Christian writers (among them the infamous John L. Bray).   The position held by these sources is that the Jews are not ethnically descended from Abraham, but are mainly of Asian extraction.

   This argument is not new.  For many years it has been current coin among white supremacists and Anti-Semitic individuals, many of whom have held high positions in the academic world.  It is revealing, however, to find that many of the persons supporting this view were also atheists and infidels. 

   Here’s a case in point. Dr. Revilo P. Oliver (1908-1994), a former professor of classics at the University of Illinois, was a man who dedicated the greater part of his life to promoting racism and anti-Semitism — that is, when he was not busy attacking the doctrines of Christianity. 

   In a 1985 article entitled “Another Jewish Problem,” Dr. Oliver praises Arthur Koestler’s radical book The Thirteenth Tribe (1976), which casts doubts upon the ethnic descent of the Jewish people.  Oliver writes:  “Koestler’s book had one beneficial and quite unexpected result: it seems to have quashed the vogue of one of the strange flights of Christian self-deceiving imagination, a febrile claim that ‘bad’ Jews were really Khazars while ‘good’ Jews were the descendants of the horde of bandits whom the Christians’ god, as stated in the Jew-book, so admired that he became their supernatural accomplice in the crimes and atrocities narrated in that collection of tall tales.”

  Such caustic writing is typical of Oliver’s style in general — something of a cross between Ambrose Bierce and Francois Rabelais.  Dr. Oliver wrote elsewhere that Jesus Christ is a mythical personage who never existed.  Oliver has long been the darling of white supremacist organizations such as Stormfront and National Alliance; and it is interesting to find that few of these organizations believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob — or any God, for that matter!

   Of course, the ethnic fallacy is based on disbelief in the word of God, and of Jehovah’s promise as given in Jer. 31: 35-37.  It is also founded upon a faulty perspective of the actual evidence.  However many Khazars converted to Judaism, it is clear that the Khazars never absorbed the holy nation.  On the contrary, the Jews absorbed the Khazars! 

   Until someone can show me a Khazar, I’ll continue to believe that God’s promise holds good:  “For I am with thee, saith the Lord, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet I will not make a full end of thee” (Jer. 30: 11).  This promise has been substantiated by history.  A full end has been made of the Khazars, while the Jews remain.

   What caught my eye, however, in the Hyper-Preterist article was a quote from H.G. Wells’s “The Outline of History.”  Incidentally, I have read this book, and have it on my shelf.  Wells, apart from his questionable moral character (he had an illegitimate child with novelist Rebecca West), was an evolutionist who believed in a local flood theory.  He was also more or less a confirmed Anti-Semite. 

  The gravest charge against Wells, however, is that he consistently undermined the doctrines of Christianity. 

   In Chapter 29 of his book, Wells writes: “Now it is a matter of fact that in the Gospels all that body of theological assertion which constitutes Christianity finds little support.  There is… no clear and emphatic assertion in thse books of the doctrines which Christian teachers of all denominations find generally necessary to salvation.  Except for one or two passages in St. John’s Gospel, it is difficult to get at any words ascribed to Jesus in which He claimed to be the Jewish Messiah… and still more difficult is it to find any claim to be part of the Godhead, or any passage in which He explained the doctrine of the atonement or urged any sacrifices or sacraments upon His followers… All that is most characteristically Christian in worship and usage He ignored.”  (Outline of History, 3rd Edition, pg. 499).

   These are the kinds of people who endorse the arguments that Hyper-Preterists routinely use to support and defend their system.  But not only is such thinking liberal, it is morally and intellectually dishonest, and grounded upon a priori unbelief in the Scriptures and the faithfulness of God to fulfill the promises He made.  As history has taught, men like Revilo Oliver, H.G. Wells, and countless others belong to the class of men who shape and mold secular thought, but who have little need for a personal Redeemer. 

   After seeing such views put forth, what could I do but politely close the page, and return to the Word of Truth.  After all, why should Christians take seriously the arguments of people who habitually sleep with the enemy?  This is just as bad as polygamy.  But then, there are Hyper-Preterists who support polygamy, so what’s the difference?

   Whatever your views of doctrine may be, the only way you can legitimately support your beliefs is through Biblical and etymological evidence alone.  To resort to the writings of atheists and infidels, merely because they agree with your position, and support your worldview, is ethically unsound and demonstrates a lack of spiritual integrity.  Make no mistake, friends.  Hyper-Preterism is, and always will be, an ally of infidelity!