Welcome to Prophecy Q & A with Jimmy DeYoung!
There are different ways to interpret prophetic passages, e.g. the Book of Revelation.
- There is the allegorical approach of interpreting Revelation; it is understood as a battle between good and evil and is somewhat of a fairy tale in which good will win in the end. It is a non-literal approach.
- There is the preterist approach which is non-literal as well. It says that Revelation was not written in 95 A.D., which all of the facts tell us is the case, but instead was written about 65 A.D., and that the Book of Revelation was fulfilled in 70 A.D. when the Romans took the city of Jerusalem and dispersed the Jews to the four corners of the earth.
- There is the historical approach of interpreting the Book of Revelation which says that the whole book is a history of how the church has moved and grown from the day that it came into existence on the day of Pentecost and into the future and what is going to happen. The problem with this approach is that when you look at it historically and then listen to the commentators on what happened on this day, they all differ on their opinion on what happened. This is basically a non-literal approach as well.
I interpret the Book of Revelation with a futuristic approach to understanding what is happening. I take the Word of God literally, and I believe that literally you can interpret all prophetic passages and understand exactly what God is talking about.
The preterist approach is a non-literal approach. Preterists believe that Revelation was written about 65 A.D., and when General Titus came into Jerusalem in 70 A.D. and destroyed the city and devastated the Temple and dispersed the Jews to the four corners of the Earth, he did so in fulfillment of the Book of Revelation.
One of the main promoters of the preterist approach is Hank Hanegraaff, who is the Answer Man on national radio. He has difficulty explaining that one fourth of the Earth’s population will be killed (the fourth seal judgment in Revelation 6), and another third (bringing to approximately one half of the Earth’s population) will be killed as well in the sixth trumpet judgment in Revelation 9. He has difficulty explaining Revelation 8 where it talks about the trumpet judgments in which one third of the ocean will turned to blood, one third of the fish will die, and one third of the ships will be destroyed on the waves of the ocean. In Revelation 16, the vial judgments, in which all of the oceans turn to blood, and all of the waters on the earth are bitter (no one will be able to drink).
The biggest question is where is Jesus Christ? Revelation 19 says that He comes back to the earth. If Revelation has been fulfilled, Jesus ought to be here.
The preterist approach is dangerous. It is not the way to interpret the Scriptures. Stay away from these people. Take the Bible literally from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21. Take a preterist to the Bible.
Jimmy DeYoung was a prophecy teacher and journalist who travelled the country and the world educating the Body of Christ of the future events foretold in God’s prophetic Word. His goal was to equip Christians with the knowledge and understanding of what God’s Word says will happen someday soon, so that they can make better decisions today. Dr. DeYoung went home to be with his Savior on August 15, 2021.
