Email Exchanges With ~David Chilton
(#1  -  2  -  3  -  4  -  5)
When I first became a Preterist I was very interested in David Chilton, and the circumstances surrounding his recent "conversion" experience.  I contacted Ed Stevens and asked if he, by chance, had ANYTHING on or about David Chilton that I could have.  He sent me these email exchanges.    ~Joseph E. Gautier Jr.   

  From:  nchilton@cwnet.com (David Chilton)
To:  preterist1@aol.com (Ed Stevens)

At 11:50 PM 8/1/96, Ed wrote:

<< Nathan or David, ...just let me know if you want a free copy of any of the books on our list. I will be glad to send them. Maybe you can write me a book review in exchange? God's very best to you and yours. - Ed >>

[David]
Wow! Sure, we'd love to read: And It Came To Pass; The Book of Enoch (I'm especially interested in that); Coming in the Clouds (Y'know, that was the title of a book I was going to write!); Lightfoot's Commentary on the Talmud (again wow: I didn't know that was in print!): and the Corinthian Catastrophe. Now, it looks like that adds up to close to $100 or so, and that's a lot; so we'll take whatever you can manage. I promise I'll read them all, word for word (and write reviews for you); and that the wisdom in them will be gleaned fruitfully for forthcoming books! By the way, thanks so much for all you've sent already. I'm greatly enjoying going over the back issues of KC, and the tapes were helpful too. Darlene was especially encouraged to hear (from the tapes) how close Sproul is to it; she doesn't like people thinking her husband is a heretic, and to hear him sound like me - saying, "Is it remotely possible that a disciple hearing Jesus would imagine that He was predicting something 2,000 years away?" and "If Jesus was a false prophet, my faith is in vain!" - was very comforting to her. She is a Faithful Bride. And Yes, I will be delighted to review books for you! And Nathan sends appreciation for the copies of your book and Russell's. My second-born, Jacob, is eating all this up, and "witnessing" to his friends about it. He says he thinks preterism is cool, and it makes sense of Scripture.

From:  nchilton@cwnet.com (David Chilton)
To:  preterist1@aol.com (Ed Stevens)

At 01:30 AM 8/5/96, you wrote:

<< Hello David, I wanted to touch base with you again. Hope all is well. Things are busy here as we prepare the next issue of the newsletter (Kingdom Counsel) for mailing. I'm hoping to put an article from you in the next quarterly issue (Oct-Dec.1996). I am planning to use some of the material you have already sent me.

I am working on an idea for a feature article that will appear in one of the future issues of KC. It would be an interview with you over the phone, which I would record and transcribe. I would send you a list of the questions in advance (by Email) and give you a few days to prepare your comments. Then I would call and conduct the interview. After it is transcribed, I would Email it back to you for your review and approval before we go to print with it. I promise to let you see the final version of it and not change your words. I know you had some problems like that with an editor of your books in the past :-) I do not do that kind of thing. Your authorship will be respected. I would like to focus the interview around the question/theme of "Why I [David Chilton] Am A Preterist?"

Let me know how you feel about this. If you are not ready for it quite yet, I will respect that. I know there must be a lot of questions that are still floating around after so recently taking a more consistent preterist position. I'm sure Darlene is a little new to these ideas, too. I would like to reassure all of you (incl. Darlene & Nathan) that it is a more Biblical position, and more consistent with reformed and covenant theology than the partial preterist view many of us held before. Please let me have the chance to address any of your questions or concerns. - Ed >>

[David]
Sure, I'm ready (I think!). Darlene is a bit nervous, but she loves me, and trusts DeMar and Sproul, and we'll discuss together how to answer the questions you send me. We both appreciate you handling it this way. By the way, I realized (with a tremendous SHOCK) that Days of Vengeance contradicts itself! I compared the outline on p. 45 (which looks like total preterism) with the Commentary itself, and it contradicts itself! I'll explain more sometime. Incidentally, an Orthodox friend pointed out to me that the Liturgy of St.Chrysostom, used the world over by millions of Christians, contains these words in the prayer just before Communion:

Having in remembrance, therefore, this saving commandment [to celebrate the Eucharist], and ALL THOSE THINGS WHICH HAVE COME TO PASS FOR US: The Cross, the Grave, the Resurrection on the third day, the Ascension into heaven, the Session at the right hand, AND THE SECOND AND GLORIOUS ADVENT!!!!

How do you like them preterist apples?!?

[Ed]
I had a good conversation with Walt Hibbard (chairman of Great Christian Books) the other day, and he was delighted to hear that you have moved further into the more consistent full preterist position. He is a Full Preterist as well. He was happy to hear that you are interested in writing for Kingdom Counsel and speaking on our future seminars. All the full preterists I have talked to who heard about your move into full preterist territory have rejoiced greatly. I suspect it may cause a little sensation among some of our Partial Preterist Reconstructionist friends. You may lose a few friends, but my experience has been that I gained back far more than I lost. I'm sure God will do the same for you. Never be afraid to stand on what God has taught you, no matter the cost. The Pearl of Great Price never comes cheaply, but it is always worth it.

[David]
Yup. I think one reason why God killed me was to correct my Eschatology in this life!

[Ed]
...Please pray for me right now as I work on the manuscript dealing with the full preterist view of the resurrection at 70 AD. This is a very challenging effort. It is coming along nicely. I believe it will be a real useful thing for a lot of us. God has helped me all the way with it. I'm depending on Him to help me wrap it up as soon as possible. Gary DeMar, Walt Hibbard and a host of other reformed preterists are urging me to hurry up with it. I'm sure you know what that kind of pressure is like. You and your good writing efforts are certainly in our prayers. Let me know if there is any way I can help you.

[David]
Maybe the best way you can help me is finish that book! ...  

  CHILTON EMAILS CONTINUED.  # 2 (added on 09Oct2000)

From:  nchilton@cwnet.com (David Chilton)
   To:  DKPret@Brightok.net (Don K. Preston)

Date: Friday, January 31, 1997 1:30:06 AM, you wrote:

<< Dear David, Greetings to you from Oklahoma!  l just wanted to drop you a line on a few items.  1.]  Could you please e-mail me a biographical sketch for use at the Oklahoma City Conference? >>

[David]
I was born September 24, 1951, and then whisked away by my parents to the Philippines, where they were Baptist missionaries. When I was 8, Dad became a pastor in Southern California. In 1969 I began street-preaching in my hometown and started a Coffeehouse/Drug-Prevention ministry.  In 1971 I was ordained in the Jesus People Church of Hollywood, but soon after that I became a Calvinist and partial preterist postmillennialist through reading lots of Puritans (especially John Owen) and modern Reformed writers such as Francis Schaeffer, Jay Adams, Cornelius Van Til, and R. J. Rushdoony, whose weekly Bible studies I began attending. At that time, Dr. Rushdoony had both Dr. Gary North and Dr. Greg Bahnsen on his staff, and so one or the other was lecturing whenever Rushdoony wasn't. They usually took turns speaking, week after week, and I got some of the best training in the basic presuppositions of the Reconstructionist worldview anyone has ever received. In 1976 I married Darlene, whom I met when she was the prettiest cheerleader in my highschool, and the next January I (finally!) graduated from California State University, Fullerton, with a B.A in History and a minor in Philosophy. I attended Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, MS for a year, where I studied under Bahnsen and met James Jordan (and learned from him my basic "Garded of Eden" motif for interpreting hermeneutics). In 1977 a young church in Southern California called me as pastor, and I began preaching twice a month for Dr. Rushdoony while also writing a monthly column for "The Chalcedon Report."  In 1979 I began editing a monthly newsletter for Gary North's Institute for Christian Economics, and in 1980 Dr. North asked me to write a book refuting "Christian Socialist" Ronald Sider's book "Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger," and in a month I wrote the first edition of "Productive Christians in an Age of Guilt-Manipulators," which was published in 1981 (when I moved to pastor a church in Northern California), revised in 1982 (when I moved to Texas to write for ICE), and revised again in 1985. At that time all the Reconstructionists were waiting for Dr. Bahnsen to finish a commentary on Revelation, but since he seemed to be mired in seemingly endless revisions, I told Dr. North I'd be happy to write what I thought would be a speedy, easy-to-read version of Bahnsen's thesis.  As I began to get "mired down" myself, North asked me to write an Introduction to the book, so - while I was in the middle of exegeting Revelation 11, I believe -- I began writing "Paradise Restored: A Biblical Theology of Dominion," which was published in 1985.  My commentary, "The Days of Vengeance," was published early in 1987, shortly after I had moved back to Northern California to pastor the same church I'd served in 1981-82.  I became a weekly columnist for "The Sacramento Union" and "World" magazine, and later in 1987 published "Power in the Blood: A Christian Response to AIDS."  I earned the Master of Divinity in Patoral Theology from Whitefield Theological Seminary in 1990, and the Doctor of Philosophy in the field of Christian Thought from the same institution in 1992, the latter primarily on the basis of my work on the Book of Revelation.  I pastored the church in Placerville until my massive heart attack, coma, and "brain death" in January 1994, experienced a truly miraculous recovery, began walking-jogging ten miles daily, and received an A for the course in Logic at the local college. I actually resigned about a year after the heart attack, primarily due to embarrassment at my resultant slight speech impediment; so God decided to "pay me back" by embarrassing me worldwide: so far, I've been on speaking trips to Southern California, Virginia, Kansas, Texas, Australia,and The Bahamas!

[Don]
<< 2.]  I have been corresponding with some Seminary students. They had recently read your Paradise Restored. Shortly thereafter they had read some of my materials, my 2 Peter 3 book, and were interested in understanding more about the full preterist view as opposed to the postmillennial preterist view.  In our exchange I told them that you were now a full preterist. Yesterday they wrote back, clearly in shock, requesting some confirmation of what I had told them. They wanted to know if you had written anything from the full preterist perspective yet, or if you had made any "official announcement" to that effect.  l told them that all I had to go on was what you had told me, but that I would ask you if it was okay to give them your e-mail address so that they could contact you and ask you for themselves. Would that be okay with you?  Just let me know as soon as possible. >>

[David]
Yes, that would be fine. I am working a bit on a little book on 2 Peter, and the substance of that was published in two articles for last September and October issues of Gary Demar's "Biblical Worldview" magazine [now online. JEGjr]; but actually already in "Days of Vengeance" (pp. 537-45), in my discussion of Rev. 21:1, I take an almost complete "complete-preterist" position.  Tell them I've realized "Days of Vengeance" contradicts itself: compare my overall OVERVIEW (on p. 45 of the Introduction) with the actual commentary itself! According to the Overview, Parts One and Two of Revelation correspond to each other; yet I place the "Last Judgment" of Chapter 11 in A.D. 70, while I place the one in chapter 20 sometime possibly thousands of years in our future!  As another example, read "Paradise Restored," pp. 103-05.    As a whole, that is virtually a complete expression of the Full Preterist position! (If someone had pointed that out to me in 1985, I don't know what I would've done!) All of Chapter 13 ("The Last Days") should have pushed me into Full Preterism all by myself!  I don't know why it didn't!  

[Don]
<< l am really looking forward to meeting you face to face and sharing thoughts at the *Oklahoma City Conference.  Interest is building and I believe we will have a pretty good turnout.  I have personally spoken with several Baptist ministers that are planning on being there.  Look forward to hearing back from you very soon.

For His Truth, Don K. Preston >>

* Order the audio tape of David's lecture by emailing Don Preston , and ask for the -

"1997 Oklahoma City Conference On Bible Prophecy"  David Chilton, "The Passing of Heaven and Earth."

  CHILTON EMAILS CONTINUED.  # 3 (added on 28Oct2000)

From:  nchilton@cwnet.com (David Chilton)
To:  preterist1@aol.com (Ed Stevens)

Date:  Thursday, February 27, 1997 12:45:05am

<<<< [Andrew Sandlin - Chalcedon Report]  David:  Somebody told me you'd lately embraced "hyper-preterism," the repudiation of the Second Advent, the resurrection, the final judgment, and so forth.  Since there is always so much sinful rumor-mongoring going on, I wanted to check this out right away.  Would you let me know if there is any substance to this rumor? >>>>

<< [David Chilton]  Dear Andrew:  Thanks for coming to the source!  The short answer is: Yes and No.

PRETERISTS do NOT "repudiate the Second Advent, the resurrection, the final judgment, and so forth" - they just *affirm* that they HAPPENED (in the *specific sense* meant by Scripture) in AD 70!

Since I've got a lot to do at this precise moment, I'll attach to this letter some letters regarding it I recently wrote....Ponder them carefully, get back to me, and let's talk - by email or in person, whatever you wish.  See also my articles in last September and October Biblical Worldview, in which I PROVE that the "end of the world" in 2 Peter 3 MUST refer to AD 70, NOT our future!  (It didn't escape my notice that Chalcedon Report did NOT pick THAT one up!)

God bless you all!  David Chilton >>

SNIPS from the "attached letter":

[David Chilton]
Which brings me to your next question, which reads:  << Please tell me the text that Bahnsen could not exegete.  I am keen to know. >>  

Hebrews 8:13 reads: "In that he saith, a new covenant, he hath made the first old.  Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away." The writer, shortly before the fall of Jerusalem, is describing the progressive ruin of the Old Covenant, and speaks of it in *process* of annihilation; but it wasn't quite completely gone *yet*!  Make sure you focus on that point - writing about AD 67, the writer says: "He HATH MADE (or DECLARED - perfect tense) the first (Covenant) old.  Now that which DECAYETH and WAXETH OLD (Present!) is READY TO vanish away."  

Now, what does Bahnsen do with that?   In Theonomy in Christian Ethics, he CITES it four times, because it is indeed an important text, but he does not dare actually QUOTE it!  Why?  Because an actual quote would refute his thesis!  

Watch:  
On p.194, he says:
"Hebrews 8:13 says that the old age is past, but the age of the Son is here to stay...."  

But is that what it says?  No!  It says it's PASSING, not PAST!  But since he doesn't quote it, we don't read it, and (since it IS indeed PAST for US), we fail to see the sleight-of-hand trick involved.  Bahnsen cleverly disguises the fact that the passing of the Old Covenant was a PROCESS, not one fell swoop!

On p.209, he says:  
"The perfect has come, thus making the sacrificial, priestly system irrelevant (Heb. 8:13)."

But is that what it says?  No!  It says it was BECOMING irrelevant - not quite!

On p.213, he says:  
"The observation of this system of ordinances (redemptive ceremonies) was intended to be superseded (Heb. 7:11-12, 18-19); it was a fore-shadow of Christ's saving economy and has become obsolete with His historical work (Heb. 10:1; 8:13)."

But is that what it says?  No!  It says it was BECOMING obsolete - not quite!

On p.227, he says:
"The age of the law and prophets is past; the age of the Son (and its fuller revelation) is here to stay (Heb. 8:13: 1:3)."

But is that what it says?  No!  It says it was PASSING - not completely PAST!  

What Bahnsen consistently fails to recognize is the TRANSITIONAL nature of the Last Days (NT) period.  I urge you to take a fresh look and read through the New Testament to see the note of IMMINENCY running all the way through it.  Consider the fact that the Jews missed their Messiah because He didn't come in the MANNER they expected, so they rejected Him.  One helpful way for me to look at it has been to see how interpreting the TIME statements of the NT ("soon," "at hand,") as if they mean what they say (IMMINENCE) can help us determine the NATURE of their fulfillment!  What I mean is this:  Repeatedly and consistently, Jesus and the Apostles declare His coming to be SOON; indeed, while some then living were still alive (cf. Matt. 10:23; 16:27-28; 24:34-35; Mark 14:62; 1 Cor. 15:51-55).  To quote R. C. Sproul: "If Jesus was a false prophet, my faith is in vain!"  Not a single NT text indicates the Church was to wait thousands of years for it!

[Chilton continuing]
You said:  <<Well, I'd be interested in your thoughts on the resurrection thing.  If you want to send us an article on preterism I'd be happy to receive it....Maybe you could address the resurrection problem from a consistent preterist position. >>

I'll start working on one, as soon as I finish preparing for a Preterist Conference later this month. And I wouldn't worry about Chalcedon copying a Preterist article - they've already (a few months ago) pronounced it heresy!  This is a bit embarrassing for me, considering that I took the same position in Paradise Restored and Days Of Vengeance, but, as Alexander Pope said:  "A man should never be ashamed to own he has been in the wrong, which is but saying, in other words, that he is wiser today than he was yesterday!"

God bless you, and thank you for not dropping me off a cliff!

David Chilton


  CHILTON EMAILS CONTINUED.  # 4 (added on 03Jan2001)

From:  chalced@...
Date:  03/04/97, 1997 1:49 pm  [3 days before David died, JEGjr]
Subject:  Re: <CR> Gary North:  "David Chilton, RIP"

At 11:30 AM 03/04/97, Gary North wrote:

<< We can and should pray for the restoration of his mind, but to debate with him [Chilton] publicly will almost certainly drive him deeper into this heresy.  He will feel compelled to defend himself in public.  Let him go in peace.  It is not our God-given task to confront him at this point.  That is for his local church to do.  It is not as though he were some unknown church member who has stumbled into this heresy unknowingly.  He is self-conscious, to the extent of a victim of a massive, brain-affecting heart attack can be self-conscious.  He is not the man we used to know, as he has admitted here.  That man died in 1994, he says.  I agree.  So, let us say now, David Chilton, RIP. >>

They wouldn't debate him, 'cause they COULDN'T debate him!  JEGjr

  CHILTON EMAILS CONTINUED.  # 5 (added on 03Jan2001)

    ...When David had his heart attack, I kept abreast of the situation through...World Magazine.  I didn't wish to intrude because of the nature of his illness and also I was a little nervous that he wouldn't remember me.  Last fall, I managed to find his e-mail address and decided to give it a shot.  Below is the response I got on March 7th.  When I found out that he died that day, I was shocked!  Little did I know how significant it would be to get that message.  I'm not convinced that he remembered me but, nevertheless, it was a real blessing to receive that mail (The following week, I resigned my position as music director, partly because I knew it was the will of God and partly because I knew they were going to ask me for it.  My preterist/post-millennial/kingdom theology was not welcome in a charismatic/word of faith church.  I have severly digressed from the theology of that church anyway for the last several years.  Because of my resignation, David's letter was especially meaningful.).

From David ----

<<  Hi Pal, Quite awhile ago (I don't know how long, but months), you e-mailed me, and never heard from me again!  Sorry.  It wasn't that I was being rude, I just didn't know how to e-mail back!  Only very recently have I begun answering people, and today for the first time I've started to send e-mail to people who've e-mailed me in the past.  You're near the top of the list!  So Hello!  I assume you know about what happened to me a little over 3 years ago:  I had a massive heart attack, went into a coma, was diagnosed as "brain-dead," and even when I woke up I'd forgotten everyone and everything, and was blind too!  Since then, by God's grace, I'm off all medications but aspirin, got an A for the course in Logic at the local college last year, am back to writing and speaking (but *not* pastoring), and I jog ten miles a day!  Shucks, I think if I'd been living like this all my life, it never would'a happened anyway!  But actually, I'm *glad* it did!  I think I learned some things, I think my theology is better (not everyone would agree with me there!), and I think I'm a better person (most *would* agree with that!).  I've listed over 30 changes in either my personality or more physical things (such as I can see in the dark now!), as well as more irritating things such as short-term memory loss.  But that has the advantage of making me pay attention to things more, so that in some ways I at least *act* smarter!  But really, I have it on the highest neurological testimony that I can "see" things many others don't!  (Not just in the dark!)  It's also resulted in some theological changes, and in a few months I'll have an article in the Preterist magazine *Kingdom Counsel* about it.  You can e-mail them at: preterist1@aol.com, and find out what's cookin' and when I'll be in.  Anyway, I think my heart attack, coma, and "brain-death" is the greatest thing that ever happened to me!  Do you think Jacob regretted his limp? (Gen. 32:24-31)  If you send me your snail-mail address, I'll send you the articles I wrote about it.

God bless you,

David Chilton >>
 
Chilton quotes taken from various sources

Some of you know my sort of gradual movement into full preterist position....I recently ran across a passage in Paradise Restored, that now I look at and think - That should have pushed me over the cliff twelve years ago into full preterism!  I don’t know why it didn’t!  I don’t know what I would have done if somebody had come to me and said, "David Chilton, look at what you said!"  What I’m getting at is - here I am as a full preterist.  (Conference on Bible Prophecy, Oklahoma City, 1997)                                                                
The more I pondered the awesome implications of Jesus’ words, the more I realized their truly revolutionary significance for eschatology.  Without exception, every event foretold by the Biblical prophets was fulfilled within that generation, as Jesus said....Scripture foretells a Second Coming - not a third!  (From the Foreword to Ed Stevens' book, What Happened in AD 70?, 1997)

The fact is that every time Scripture uses the term "last days" (and similar expressions) it means, not the end of the physical universe, but the period from AD 30 to AD 70 - the period during which the Apostles were preaching and writing, the "last days" of Old Covenant Israel before it was forever destroyed in the destruction of the Temple (and consequently the annihilation of the Old Covenant sacrificial system).  (American Vision's Biblical Worldview Magazine, Sept. 1996)

Once the Lord came to destroy the scaffolding of the Old Covenant structure, the New Covenant Temple would be left in its place, and the victorious march of the Church would be unstoppable.  According to God's predestined design, the world will be converted; the earth's treasures will be brought into the City of God, as the Paradise Mandate (Gen. 1:27-28; Matt. 28:18-20) is consummated (Rev. 21:1-27). (American Vision's Biblical Worldview Magazine, Oct. 1996)

  Because Jerusalem apostatised and refused to be synagogued under Christ, her Temple would be destroyed, and a New Synagogue and Temple would be formed:  the Church....the fact of the new Temple's existence would only be made obvious when the scaffolding of the Old Temple and the Old Covenant system was taken away....they [early Christians JEGjr] lived in anticipation of the Day of Judgment upon Jerusalem and the Old Temple and Synagogue of God.  Because the Old Covenant system was "obsolete" and "ready to disappear" (Heb.8:13), the writer to the Hebrews urged them to have hope, "not forsaking the synagoguing of ourselves together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more, as you see the Day approaching" (Heb.10:25; cf. 2 Thess.2:1-2).  [read an excellent article by John Divito - he spotted a major inconsistency in partial preterism when it comes to the 2 Thess.2:1-2 passage. JEGjr]  (Paradise Restored, pp.104-105)  BACK