Ministry Activities

2019 IN REVIEW: The new year had barely begun when we received news about Arthur Melanson’s passing on to glory (Jan. 6, 2019). Melanson hosted a daily Christian radio program in the Philadelphia area for over 30 years. He studied his way into preterism back in the mid-1990’s. Beth and I attended his memorial service in Pitman New Jersey on Jan. 19th. His family gave us all of the remaining copies of his excellent preterist book (Second Coming: Postponed or Fulfilled?). Free copies are available to anyone who donates or supports monthly.

During the winter months (last January thru March) Ed finished his Masters Thesis (New Testament Complete by AD 70). It was submitted on April 9th and given a perfect score (100%), which more than solidified an overall 98-average for the whole degree program (Master of Biblical Studies, M.B.S.). Ed graduated Magna Cum Laude on May 18th. A free PDF copy of his 111-page thesis is available to anyone who requests it.

The new preterist study group in Philadelphia, led by Joe McGinty, organized and sponsored a one-day seminar for newcomers on Sept. 21st. All three presentations and two Q&A sessions were recorded, and are being made available in conjunction with this annual report.

And a few weeks ago (Nov. 20-22), we set up our annual exhibit booth at the Evangelical Theological Society conference in San Diego, California. The full story about that is related below.

Throughout all of these activities we wrote articles for Fulfilled magazine, posted numerous articles on FaceBook, and produced two major responses to Preston in our ongoing written debate. Here are the details:

This was our 21st consecutive annual trip to the Evangelical Theological Society to set up our preterist exhibit booth, and it was one of the best in terms of great interaction with the attendees.

Notice the backdrop in the picture. This is our second year to use this, and it really works. In previous years, there was nothing at the back of the booth to capture their attention and challenge their thinking. But this new backdrop has changed that. Numerous folks looked at it as they walked by, and several stopped to read it, look at our books, and take some of the free literature.
All of the major conservative Christian publishers exhibit at ETS, so having a booth near some of them is very helpful. And this year our booth was located right in the middle of three of them: Kregel (left side), Hendrickson (right side), and Zondervan (in front of us across the isle).

Those publishers always get lots of traffic, so it is no exaggeration to say that most of the 2500 attendees walked right by our booth on their way to and from those three big publishers. That was a wonderful opportunity to get the preterist message into the eyes and ears of many conservative evangelical scholars and ministry leaders.

Our co-workers this year included: Edmund Lee, Mathew Dryden, Dave & Barb Johnston, David & Jacki Miller, and Jason Finley. We gave away at least 150 copies of the booklet, What Happened In AD 70?, several copies of Russell’s Parousia, and a few other individual books, plus lots of free charts and handouts. We introduced the preterist view to over a hundred young college and seminary students.

When I attended some lectures on substitutionary atonement, I was delighted to hear two of the speakers refer to Genesis 3:21 as being the start of the substitutionary sacrificial system right there in the Garden on the very day Adam and Eve sinned. Another professor of Hebrew dropped by the booth and likewise asserted (without any prompting from me) that Gen. 3:21 refers to a substitutionary animal sacrifice on behalf of Adam and Eve.

Then when I attended the Creation Fellowship meeting, one of the scholars there (again without any prompting) mentioned Gen. 3:21 as the first animal death and the beginning of the sacrificial system.

Both inside the exhibit hall and outside in the lobby and meeting rooms, I discussed Genesis 3:21 with a half dozen other Hebrew and Old Testament scholars. All of them favored the idea that Gen. 3:21 was the beginning of the substitutionary sacrificial system. Not a single one of them objected to it. We exchanged email addresses, and I sent PDF copies of my Death of Adam article and research book to them.

All of that excellent interaction with those conservative scholars heavily supports my position in the debate. Preston flatly denies that the animal death in Genesis 3:21 had anything whatsoever to do with a substitutionary physical death on Adam’s behalf, or that it began the animal sacrificial system which typologically pointed to the physical death of Jesus on the Cross. Thus, again, we see how Preston’s CBV view eliminates the physical death of Jesus from His substitutionary death. And that is trampling underfoot the physical blood of Jesus! I repeat: The gospel is at stake here, folks!

Philadelphia Seminar

On Sept. 21st in Philadelphia, Ed presented three lessons, followed by two Q&A sessions: (1) The Big Picture Overview; (2) The TIME of Fulfillment; and (3) The NATURE of Fulfillment. These sessions provide a great introduction to the Preterist view. If you are new to the idea of past fulfillment in the first century, this is a great set of videos to watch, or share with your non-preterist friends.

The DVD album contains two DVD’s and one CD. The DVD’s contain the videos for all five sessions. The CD has the MP3 audio tracks for all five sessions, plus the lesson outlines, and numerous related charts and articles (PDF format), including a free PDF electronic copy of the book, What Happened in A.D. 70? Below we explain how you can receive these excellent new resources.

Stand With Us!

As you can see from this report, God has positioned us on the bleeding edge of defending His truth. There is so much confusion in preterism which is upsetting the faith of many, and producing much bad fruit. Our speaking and writing efforts are laser-focused on clearing away that confusion, and standing firm on the gospel truth. That is what the debate with Preston is all about.

Almost every day we produce articles which expose error and teach truth. Those writings are posted all over FaceBook and in Fulfilled! magazine. Our FaceBook group (IBV Rapture Preterist) now has 122 members. Many of my best articles are posted there.

However, in order to do all of these things, we totally depend on God’s providence through faithful brethren like you. If you have been blessed by this teaching and publishing ministry, and want to see it continue and grow, then please partner with us. We need your prayers, encouragements, and financial help, both year-end gifts and monthly support especially. This is how you can share in all the good fruit that we produce for the Kingdom of God and store up spiritual treasures in heaven. Please pray for us, and give whatever God puts on your heart. In appreciation for your gift, here is what you will receive . . .

Those who have already given year-end donations, or are already monthly supporters, will be the first ones to automatically receive these new resources. The Philadelphia DVD’s and CD’s will not be made available for sale on the website until after all of our supporters have received them first. So, if you have not already done so, here is your chance to partner with us and receive these new resources before they are made available to the general public. For new donations and new monthly supporters, here is what you will receive:

To make a year-end donation via PayPal or credit card, click here. Or you may send a check made payable to “IPA” and send it to our ministry address below.

To set up monthly contributions via your bank or credit card, simply call us on the phone: 814-331-7926 (Mon-Sat, 9am-5pm Eastern USA time). To set up recurring monthly donations via PayPal, simply click here and check the box for “recurring donations.” Or you may send a check each month, made payable to “IPA” and sent to our ministry address below: