You’ve Gotta Be Kidding…Right? by Brian Martin

Adam Maarschalk 9 Comments

Hi, everyone. I’m sharing the following video (“You’ve Gotta Be Kidding…Right?”) by request, and with the permission of Brian Martin (http://www.fulfilledcg.com). I had the privilege of meeting Brian in September 2018 when we were both speakers at the Big Tex Conference in Kerrville, Texas. I have a deeper appreciation for him since that time.

Please note that the address listed at the end of this video should be updated to this one:

Brian Martin
3784 Camanche Pkwy N
Ione, CA 95640

“You’ve Gotta Be Kidding . . . Right? chronicles Brian L. Martin (general editor of Fulfilled! Magazine)’s journey to Preterism. Join him as he encounters scriptural principles like audience relevance, apocalyptic language, cloud-comings, and more. Lighthearted enough to make viewers laugh, interesting enough to keep viewers engaged, and truth-packed enough to make an impact.”

 

 

 

9 thoughts on “You’ve Gotta Be Kidding…Right? by Brian Martin”

  1. Adam,

    I think I’ve seen a version of this on YouTube before, and I really enjoyed it. I’ve had a hard time finding his videos since.

    Thanks for sharing!

    Robert Cruickshank Jr

    Sent from my iPhone

    >

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  2. Bro Adam hey

    Long time to hear from you ,how is everything;

    Thank you for sharing Martins’ video

    I like to share with you one of my studies, you may find it interesting

    http://www.thefulfillmentofpromise.com/comprehend-the-apostle-and-high-priest-of-our-confession-jesus

    Blessings Evangelos D. Kepenes

    Στις Κυρ, 1 Μαρ 2020 στις 3:05 π.μ., ο/η Pursuing Truth έγραψε:

    > Adam Maarschalk posted: “Hi everyone. I’m sharing the following video by > request, and with Brian Martin’s permission. I had the privilege of meeting > Brian in September 2018 when we were both speakers at the Big Tex > Conference in Kerrville, Texas. I have a deeper appreciation for ” >

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  3. Once you are willing to pay absolutely no attention to the Holy Spirit inspired songs of praise of both Mary and Zechariah (John the Baptist’s daddy) that speak of a necessary physical blessing upon the nation of Israel, the nation that the Messiah of Israel came to save, you can accept preterism. Let’s read it. Luke chapter 1 The angel “16And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. 17 And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” The promise of Elijah coming first was from Jewish prophets, to prepare the Jewish people for the Jewish Messiah. Again the angel Gabriel. “31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus.32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:33 And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.” Mary’s Holy Spirit inspired speech. “54 He hath helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy;55 As he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for ever.” (I know, I know it says “seed” I agree, but it also says the promises were spoken to “our fathers” physical Israel has fathers, who had unconditional promises spoken to them even while they were sleeping or messing up terribly!) Zechariah has a Holy Spirit inspired speech. “67 And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying,68 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people,69 And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David;70 As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began:71 That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us;
    72 To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant;
    73 The oath which he sware to our father Abraham,
    74 That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear,
    75 In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life.
    76 And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways;
    77 To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins,
    78 Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us,” So if we just let the text speak to us all the references to “we” “us” “His people” would have had a 100% Jewish context. I am a happy gentile, grafted into the chosen people as the Jewish apostle Paul points out in Romans 11. That knowledge that I am grafted in to their vine is a point of humility that keeps me from the gentile arrogance and pride that Paul the Jewish apostle warned his gentile hearers about. Thanks for that warning Paul, I hear you, brother. Let my other brothers hear also, Yeshua, Son of David, have mercy on us!

    Like

    Reply

  4. Hi Adam,

    Several years ago, this video came to my attention, and I watched it then with appreciation for the methodical, very relatable way the subject of Preterism was covered. I’ve watched it a couple more times since you have put it here on this website. There are just two points made in this video that I believe are completely off-track.

    At 37 minutes into the video, Brian Martin expressed the view that Christ’s AD 70 “coming” in the clouds was no more literal and physical than God’s OT “coming with the clouds” for judgment on Egypt, Nineveh, and help for David against Saul, etc. This is incorrect. There is a distinct difference between a symbolic “cloud coming” of God in the OT and a literal “cloud coming” for the NT INCARNATE CHRIST. In the OT, God had no physical body. But in the NT, He DOES, in the person of Christ, who HAS NEVER ABANDONED HIS GLORIFIED, RESURRECTED HUMAN BODY FORM as our high priest who “continueth ever” (Heb. 7:24) in that deathless form as our human / divine representative. Many in the Full Preterist category deny that Christ retained His resurrected body as He ascended back to the Father in Acts 1. Howev this goes against everything that scripture teaches about the high priesthood of Christ which was to be after the order of Melchizedek, who had an “ENDLESS life”.

    If Christ does not currently still retain that glorified, human / divine form today that the disciples once handled after His resurrection, then we have NO intercessor or representative in heaven – no “daysman” as Job said, that simultaneously can lay a hand on us both, thus providing the bridge that connects regenerate humanity to the Father.

    Another point of departure I have with Brian Martin’s dialogue (at 1:07 on the video) is his statement saying that scripture doesn’t have even one verse that teaches a third coming of Christ in our future. This also is incorrect. Here are the verses below that I believe speak about a THIRD coming of Christ in our future.

    #1) Luke 12:38 (YLT) – This context is the discussion of the warning Christ gave His disciples to be ready at all times for His return. Just like men waiting for their lord’s return from the wedding FEASTS (PLURAL), the disciples were to have their loins girded and their lights burning. “And if he come in the SECOND watch, *AND* in the THIRD watch he come and find them thus, blessed are those bondmen.”

    This is TWO COMINGS that Christ mentioned, that would result in blessing if the bondmen were faithfully watching for His return on BOTH of those occasions. When Peter asked Christ, “Speakest thou this parable unto us, or even to all?”, Christ answered by applying the parable generically to WHOEVER was a faithful and wise steward – meaning this parable was not limited to the disciples only in that generation. It can also apply to us in our future.

    #2) Hosea 6:3 – This is a companion verse to its virtual duplicate in the NT book of James. “Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; AND HE SHALL *COME TO US* AS THE RAIN, as the LATTER and FORMER RAIN unto the earth.”

    The time for these TWO rainy seasons in Israel were quite distinct and predictable, with the “latter rain” coming in the season of Passover and the Pentecost Feast of Weeks, and the “former rain” coming around October / November and the Feast of Tabernacles. Christ was going to stage His coming returns at times of the year that would match these two rainy season periods in Israel.

    #3) James 5:7-9 – This is where James copies the language of God’s TWO comings in Hosea 6:3, and gives more details. He had just been warning the rich men (who had been oppressing the poor) not to heap treasure together IN THE LAST DAYS. To comfort those believers oppressed by these rich men, James then said, “Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the COMING OF THE LORD. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until it receive the EARLY and LATTER rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the COMING OF THE LORD HAS DRAWN NEAR. Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: Behold, the judge STANDETH BEFORE THE DOOR.”

    Here we have the TWO rainy seasons compared once again to the TWO coming returns of the Lord. God Himself was the husbandman (John 15:1), waiting for the results of the TWO harvests to come, timed to occur during the seasons of the “early” and the “latter rain”. The “harvests” would be the “precious fruit” of the resurrected saints’ incorruptible physical bodies coming out of the grave on those TWO occasions of a Pentecost day event in AD 70, and the final one in our future during the time the Feast of Tabernacles would ordinarily have been celebrated back under the Old Covenant. This is why we have the Zechariah 14:16-19 text that mentions only the Feast of Tabernacles celebration, with that time on the calendar highlighted for continued remembrance in the years after Jerusalem’s AD 70 destruction had taken place.

    “PRECIOUS in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.” The dead bodies of the saints are indeed precious to the God who made them. As the “husbandman”, He has been willing to wait with very long patience over the millennia until those TWO harvests finally gather all of them to be together with their incorruptible, resurrected body forms standing in His presence.

    In James’ days, that coming AD 70 harvest and its judgment was so imminent that James said the judge was already standing at the door. Christ’s coming return had definitely “drawn NEAR” for that harvest soon to come for the first-century generation. Since then, God the “husbandman” has again been patiently waiting for the next harvest of the saints’ bodies at the close of the New Covenant Ages in our future.

    #4) Luke 13:21 – These two resurrections are also portrayed in the leaven parable, in which a woman hid leaven in bread dough until all of it was leavened at the end of that process. Anyone who has made bread knows that to make a decent-looking loaf, the dough is allowed to rise TWICE, with a punch-down and kneading process of the dough in between in order to strengthen the gluten, and to distribute the leaven into tiny, well-distributed air pockets, instead of the unsightly, huge empty spaces present in the dough’s first rising.

    If leaven in this parable represents the kingdom of God affecting the nations of the world, then those huge empty spaces in the first rising of bread dough illustrate how, in the beginning, God’s kingdom was concentrated in only a few locations and families of the world, with the rest of the world lying in ignorance for the most part. With the punch-down of the “dough” in the AD 70 era (the persecution and martyrdom of multitudes of Christians , and the resurrection of all the saints), the effect of the kingdom of God in this world to all outward appearances was flattened almost to non-existence. However, in reality, the kingdom of God was only going to spread out into miniscule air pockets that would permeate the dough completely in a more uniform fashion than it had done before. This second rising process will culminate in baking the loaf to halt the spread of leaven at the point of peak development; i.e., the final third resurrection at the close of human history in our future. At least, that’s how this bread-maker sees it.

    Like

    Reply

  5. Thank you for posting this video! Professionally done, clear, and enlightening. I will watch it again when I can.. with pen and notebook next time!

    God richly Bless You.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

      • Adam, is it possible that Rev 2:13 could be read as “in the days of Antipas there was a faithful martyr,” referring to John Baptist? With regard to the instructions given in the Olivet discourse to flee the area around Jerusalem, could the 7 churches in Rev be metaphorical of 7 churches around Jerusalem?
        Bill

        Like

Leave a comment