Crossroads Examined: Review of BPBC’s Conference

I shared all about the conference earlier today on this weeks broadcast of the Hairy Ticks Variety Show. Here is a link to that show, https://www.spreaker.com/user/10014082/3-27-2018

I figured I would also write out some pertinent highlights from the Examining Crossroads: Biblical Controversies Conference that happened this past weekend (March 23-25, 2018) at The Blue Point Bible Church. Many praised God that this 5^th annual Bible conference was the best one we have had yet at BPBC. Glory to God!

FUTURE STUDIES & TOPICS

Mr. Glenn Hill will be coming out with a book in the near future, Christianity’s Great Deception (detailing the doctrine of hell). Also, Mr. David King has since made a Facebook page, group, and website by the title “Hell Is Not Real”. (Check out www.hellisnotreal.com)

I will continue to bring forth details about “Conceptual Salvation” and “Soma Salvation”, both of which I spoke about at the conference. Keep your eyes tuned for more blogs at www.mianogonewild.wordpress.com

Mr. Adam Maarschalk has brought forth some challenging ideas regarding a 1000 year millennium between the two great revolts (63-73 AD & 132 – 135 AD). Keep an eye on his blog (www.adammaarschalk.com) and I look forward to having him as a guest soon on the Hairy Ticks Variety Show.

Pastor Steve Schilling highlighted the necessity of studies of atonement and the correlation of “pitch” in the Hebrew (the same word) and the significance, as well as distinction of understanding Jesus Christ as our propitiation (cf. 1 John 2:2).

Mr. Ancil McBarnett highlighted a great Biblical history of “Heaven and Earth”. His presentation challenged us to develop a track record of “light” and “darkness” as found through the Biblical narrative. Also, Ancil recommended reading Isaiah chapters 51-65 in an attempt to better understand the prophetic realities of “Heaven and Earth”. I look forward to a transcript of his presentation and to further engage his thoughts on an upcoming broadcast of the Hairy Ticks Variety Show.

Dr. Cindye Coates offered up great insights regarding “God’s government” and how we must walk in a manner of; 1. Being fruitful; 2. Increasing and multiplying; 3. Having dominion; 4. Subduing all things; and 5. Replenishing things. I look forward to further dialogue with Dr. Cindye Coates on an upcoming episode of HTVS as well.

 

#TeamPRETERIST – UPCOMING PRETERIST CONFERENCES

Indianapolis Eschatology Seminar – April 20-21
Westside Church of Christ/ Contact – John Watson http://westsidecoc.org/jm/index.php/events/17-indianapolis-eschatology-seminar

How Shall We Then Live – April 20-22
Berean Bible Church, Virginia Beach/ Contact – Pastor David Curtis http://www.bereanbiblechurch.org/conference/

Springville Lecture: The Time of the End – May 4-6
Springville Church of Christ, California/ Contact – Brent Bischel
* No web link at this time

Creationfest Northeast(Music Festival/ Preterists Meet-up) – June 27-30
Agape Farms, Pennsylvania
https://creationfest.com/ne/

Preterist Pilgrim Weekend – July 12-14
Preterist Research Institute, Ardmore, Oklahoma/ Contact – Don Preston http://www.bibleprophecy.com/events-2/annual-ppw/

Texas – The Big Texas Conference – September 21-23
Kerrville, Texas/ Contact – TJ Smith http://bigtex2018.info/

 

I surely hope to see and/or meet you at one of these conferences in the very near future. Not only that, but I pray that through this blog, I have furthered encouraged your diligent studies and maybe provided you with some resources.

Blessings in Christ,
Pastor Michael Miano The Blue Point Bible Church The Power of Preterism Network

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What A Weekend It Will Be (Mar. 23-25, 2018)

As we see the last couple of snowflakes fall, and hear the roar of snowplows, the excitement builds regarding the upcoming Examining Crossroads: Biblical Controversies Conference happening this weekend at The Blue Point Bible Church. We have a great line up of topics and speakers. As the saying goes, be there or be square. Herein you will find information about both each conference time frame, details, and speakers.

On Friday, March 23rd – 7pm – 10pm
Our theme for Opening Night will be “How Great A Salvation!” and we will be blessed with the gift of song by Mrs. Meredith Piniella, get some great laughs from the skit-comedy group Herman & Nudix, and welcome two speakers – Mr. Glenn Hill & Pastor Michael Miano. There will also be an extended time of Q & A.

On Saturday, March 24th – we will have two sessions; 11am – 4pm; 7pm -10pm
Our Saturday theme will be “Complex Concepts”. So many challenging thoughts will be shared. We will also find time to go out and grab an early dinner. Speakers on Saturday include; Mr. Adam Maarschalk, Pastor Steve Schilling, Mr. Ancil McBarnett, Deacon Ed Silsble, Pastor Michael Miano, & Dr. Cindye Coates.

On Sunday, March 25th – Service – 10:30 – 11:45am; Roundtable – 1:30 -3:30pm
Our in-house worship will magnify the presence of God opening our Worship Service, and Pastor Miano will lead us in corporate prayer, as well as preach on the topic of Palm Sunday. Yes, palms will be available. Also, after a lunch outing we will close the conference with a roundtable going through the “Efficacy of the Church” with all the conference speakers and including Apostle Johnny Ova.

Speakers:

Mr. Glenn Hill was a non-denominational preacher for 45 years. He authored “Christianity’s Great Dilemma”, which highlighted some challenging truths regarding eschatology. He is also currently working on a 2nd book titled, “Christianity’s Great Deception” regarding the church’s doctrine of hell. Brother Glenn is a widower, who is blessed with a large, wonderful, and loving family.

Mr. Glenn Hill will be speaking on the topic of hell on Friday evening.

Pastor Michael Miano is pastor of The Blue Point Bible Church. Active in various aspects of ministry, he places special emphasizes on having a “zeal empowered by knowledge”. He also serves as director of The Power of Preterism Network which seeks to highlight the reformational and missional power of fulfilled eschatology. In an effort to provide continued edification to the Church, Pastor Miano continually writes online articles, regularly participates in theological debates, and at this point published 2 books and a study guide – “Freaked Out by the New Covenant”, “Wicked”, and “Clarity in Revelation”.

Pastor Michael Miano will be speaking on Friday night about salvation, on Saturday about “bodily salvation”, and on Sunday he will deliver a Palm Sunday sermon.

Mr. Adam Maarschalk, from Newport, Kentucky, lives with his wife Jasmine, and enjoys writing about fulfilled eschatology, Christian Zionism, and other topics on his blog – AdamMaarschalk.com. He also participates in volunteer work through Kentucky Refugee Ministries and recently cofounded a non-profit organization for Chin refugees from Burma who live in his area.

Mr. Adam Maarschalk will be speaking on Saturday about the millennium.

Mr. Ancil McBarnett, is an elder from Zion Assembly of Harrisburg, Virginia. His passion is the message of Christ and His Kingdom, where Believers fully embrace life under the New Covenant, so that strong marriages, strong families, and young people do not collapse under the pressures of life but pursue wisdom, become the reality. In 2017, he and Jen Fishburne commented on the entire Bible (except the Book of Revelation) from the Preterist perspective, in the “Read Your Bible Challenge” Facebook group. He is supported by his wife of 20 years, Althea and their 3 kids.

Mr. Ancil McBarnett will be speaking on Saturday about “Heaven & Earth”.

Pastor Steve Schilling is pastor emeritus of The Blue Point Bible Church. Serving as an Elder, he willingly and responsibly, when the time of need came, stepped up to pastor BPBC for over 3 years. Pastor Schilling is happily married to Olivia, and has two children, and 2 grandchildren.

Pastor Steve Schilling will be speak twice on Saturday. One presentation about the atonement and propitiation, and another presentation about the need for unity in the Preterist Movement.

Deacon Ed Silsbe is an architect by trade who has served faithfully in the deaconate at The Blue Point Bible Church for over 15 years. He has been a member of BPBC over 25 years. Deacon Ed also serves as President of the Blue Point Community Civic Association.

Deacon Ed Silsbe will be speaking on Saturday about the effect of rumors.

Dr. Cindye Coates wrote her doctoral thesis on Matthew 24 Fulfilled, which will soon be published under the title “The Fulfilled Prophesies of Jesus”. Dr. Coates serves as Provost of Life College on-line campus. She is married 34 years to Dr. Stan Coates – 3-time Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter. Together they have planted 7 churches in the Metro Atlanta area and mentor ministry leaders all over the world.

Dr. Cindye Coates will be speaking on Saturday about the effects of “Present Truth” on faith, family, and life decisions.

Apostle Johnny Ova leads the Sound of Heaven Church, on Long Island with his wife Rachel. At 16 he began training to become a professional wrestler, which led him to travelling all over America, Canada, Jamaica, & even Mexico doing what he loved to do – wrestle. It was during that time at the age of 17 that he gave his life to the Lord. Beyond his Sound of Heaven work through which he labors to train and equip Believers to do extraordinary things for God, he has a heart for the nations and works planting churches across the world, as well as raising his 4 beautiful children Johnny, Zoë, Massimo and Lucy.

Apostle Johnny Ova will be joining the Efficacy Roundtable on Sunday.

Herman & Nudix were created in 2011 by budding cartoonist, Joe Perrott. He utilized the confusing word “hermeneutic”, which is a high Latin word meaning “how to read a book” to create characters Herman & Nudix. So began the cartoons that depicted every sort of offbeat Bible theology. There are now hundreds of cartoons on every topic and nothing is “sacred”. Joe and Mr. Jean Pierre Cote began reenacting the cartoons at the annual conferences at The Blue Point Bible Church and somehow keep get inviting back for more. This year they intend to up the ante with a little more “pow” and “zowie”.

 

Examining Crossroads: Biblical Controversies Conference

Friday, March 23rd, 2018 – “So Great A Salvation”
7:00 – 7:15 – Introduction to Examining Crossroads (Pastor Michael Miano)
7:10 – 7:15 – Special Music by Mrs. Meredith Piniella
7:15 – 8:00 – Mr. Glenn Hill
8:00 – 8:20 – Herman & Nudix
8:20 – 8:35 – 15 minute break
8:35 – 9:15 – Pastor Michael Miano
Q & A

Saturday, March 24th, 2018 – “Complex Concepts”
11am – 11:15 – Good morning & Welcome/ explain “Complex Concepts”
11:15 – 12:00 – Adam Maarschalk
12:00 – 12:30 – Pastor Steve Schilling
12:30 – 12:45pm – 15 minute break
12:45 -1pm – Herman & Nudix
1pm – 1:45pm – Pastor Michael Miano
1:45 – 2:30 – Ancil McBarnett
2:30 – 3pm – Deacon Edward Silsbe
Q & A

7PM – 7:10 – Welcome & Announcements
7:10 – 7:15 – Special Music
7:15 – 7:30 – Herman & Nudix
7:30 – 8:15pm – Dr. Cindye Coates
8:15 – 8:30pm – 15 Minute break
8:30 – 9:00pm – Pastor Steve Schilling
Q & A

Sunday, March 25th – “Edify the Body”
Adult Sunday School – Discussion Group (9am-10am)
Special Music & Sermon (10:30 – 11:45am)
The Efficacy of the Church Roundtable (1:30 -3:30pm)

 

 

Israel Only: Is It Scripturally Defendable?

As of this morning, 3/1 – a formal written debate has begun between Michael Miano and Michael Bradley regarding the Israel Only view. The main page for the debate is a public Facebook group. You can access it, even if you do not have Facebook at the following link, https://www.facebook.com/events/147851895931004/
However, the debate components will be posted on this blog and at http://www.powerofpreterism.wordpress.com. Below you can clink on the links to access today’s Opening Statements.

Mr. Michael Bradley’s Opening Statement, https://drive.google.com/file/d/188ftYigkDaNzIkeJan1DHGpbZW65D5Xo/view

Pastor Michael Miano’s Opening Statement, https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oxnC10sqZD3txOXedStYY1J5s_567apK/view
Coming Soon (3/8) – Rebuttals

 

Ed Stevens on INTERPRETING THE SCRIPTURES

Yesterday we watched a teaching by Mr. Ed Stevens of the International Preterist Association (www.preterist.org) on how to interpret the Scriptures (2014 Nebraska Retreat) . Like much of Ed’s stuff, I rather enjoyed this teaching. Also, a woman from our congregation testified that this teaching by Ed helped her better understand the details of Scripture. Glory to God!

In this blog I am going to share some of my notes from that presentation. I pray many reading it would be edified. However, my main reason for posting it to allow review and conversation in our Adult Sunday School on 1/14.

Ed starts out detailing the importance of understanding the 5 W’s (Who, What, Where, Why, and When). Ed said it is easy to understand the Bible once you answer these questions. In utilizing the Gospel according to Matthew, Mr. Stevens detailed how we need to know the author as a tax collector and “what made him tick”. In knowing who is writing (in this case Matthew) and to whom is being written to (exclusively a 1^st century Jewish populace), we establish the beginning of “audience relevance”. I thought it was important that Ed highlighted the fact that we must understand some historical/cultural details from that time to understand because the author seems to take it for granted that his audience shares a common understanding of the details (details to us in the 21^st century in the Western world are a bit foreign to say the least). This is something that is vital to our understanding much of the Bible and affects our interpretation and paradigms in such profound ways.

Ed’s sharing on the details of dating was rather stimulating (which was no surprise because his book, The Final Decade Before the End, is my go to resource on dating the New Testament). Again, using the Gospel of Matthew, Mr. Steven’s mentioned AD 38 as the date of authorship. He mentioned such an early date for a couple of reasons. First, it seems that Matthew is writing before the conversion of any Gentiles (which takes place in Acts chapter 10, which has been placed historically between AD 35-40). This also seems to be the case, since Jesus Christ tells his followers to not go among the Gentiles and expresses the sentiment that his ministry is not for them (Matthew 10:5 and Matthew 15:24). At least not yet. Mr. Steven’s mentioned the importance of placing the dating of Matthew to before the Roman emperor Caligula attempted to put his statue in the Temple at Jerusalem which was attempted in AD 39. We can look into those details through historical chronicles by men such as Josephus, Tacitus, and Philo. And of course, answering the “where question” seems to be rather simple when reading through Matthew’s Gospel, as Jerusalem is the center focus.

Ed concluded his speaking session by mentioning other “helps” in understanding the Bible. A mention of the Thompson Chain-Reference Bible was made and the value of cross-references. I was overjoyed that a few among our study spoke up and remarked that even a “chain-reference Bible” has bias and that we must be careful in how we utilize such “helps”. Consider that the commentary, the cross-references, and even the translations hold bias in the variety of resources we might use. This should stimulate us to walk worthy of 1 Thessalonians 5:21.

The value of the Reformed concepts brought up by Mr. Stevens at the end of the speech are immense and must be brought up as I conclude this review. “Analogia Scriptura” meaning Scripture interprets Scripture is important and challenges us to become familiar with Scriptures. A good study that was mentioned was the use of the Greek word “stocheia” or elements as translated into English. This study along has challenged the “end of the world” paradigm based on 2 Peter 3:10. Also, “Analogia Fide” meaning the analogy of faith, which demands of us that we become familiar with the entire Biblical story. The analogy of faith is similar to my constant bringing up and obsession with the “Biblical Narrative”, and it highlights that all details within Scripture must be consistent and flow with the “redemptive story”.

I know I am surely appreciate to the ministry of Ed Stevens (despite some of our areas of disagreement). I do trust that if we walk worthy of such “interpretation of the Scriptures” that we will see more advancement in Biblical clarity as well as more and more praise to the glory of God!

• STUDY POINTS (based on Ed’s presentation)
• How does the establishing of the 5W’s better inform your view of details in Scripture?
• Ed mentions that certain details in Scripture require a comprehension of how the “original audience” would have understood them. How has this affected your study of the Bible? Where do you see this as vital?
• What examples of “cross-referencing” different Scriptures has helped you better understand portions of Scripture?
• In a summarized fashion, how would you explain the Biblical narrative from Genesis to Revelation? (Try to do so in 3-4 sentences).

Be blessed by His mighty grace,

Pastor Michael Miano
The Blue Point Bible Church (www.bluepointbiblechurch.org)

“World” Study

Due to the lack of serious study within the Christian Church, many false and misunderstood teachings have crept in. Not only do many popular teachings lack Biblical and historical context, they are also propounded by failing to properly understand the phrases and words that have been translated into English. In this study we will examine some Greek words to get a bit more clarity.

The Greek words that are translated “world” in the English Bible are: oikoumene, kosmos, ge, and aion. For the sake of this study, we will focus on oikumene and aion, namely because they are the 2 words that speak of things that were about to come (the oikoumene to come (Hebrews 2:5) and the aion to come (Hebrews 6:5)”.
The term “oikumene” seems to be best understood as referring to the surrounding environment, or what some would refer to as economy (order of things). This is used in the following places in Scripture: Matthew 24:14; Luke 2:1; Luke 4:5; Luke 21:26; Acts 11:28; Acts 17:6; Acts 19:27; Acts 24:5; Romans 10:18; Hebrews 1:6; Hebrews 2:5; Revelation 3:10; Revelation 12:9; and Revelation 16:14.

Honest and careful study, “rightly dividing the Word of Truth (2 Timothy 2:15)”, would lead us to understand the world commonly translated world from the Greek oikumene is not speaking about the whole planet. Therefore, this causes a challenge to what many are expecting to happen throughout the whole planet – BECAUSE THE WORD DOESN’T MEAN THAT!!!

Peter Leithart, a NT scholar, made a good point in remarking, “In many passages of the New Testament, oikumene refers to the Greco-Roman imperial world. More theologically, it refers to the arrangement of Israel and Gentiles that God formed during and after the exile”.

The term “aion” references a denoted period of time. The Jews understood 2 ages – the present evil age and the age to come, both periods of time marked out by the systems being used (Old Covenant- New Covenant). This is used in the following places in Scripture: Matthew 12:32; Matthew 13:22, 39, 40, 49; Matthew 24:3; Matthew 28:20; Mark 4:19; Mark 10:30; Luke 1:70; Luke 16:8; Luke 18:30; Luke 20:34-35; Acts 15:8; Romans 12:2; 1 Corinthians 1:20; 1 Corinthians 2:6-8; 1 Corinthians 3:18; 1 Corinthians 10:11; 2 Corinthians 4:4; Galatians 1:4; Ephesians 1:21; Ephesians 2:2, 7; Ephesians 3:9; Ephesians 6:12; Colossians 1:26; 1 Timothy 6:17; 2 Timothy 4:10; Hebrews 1:2; Hebrews 6:5; Hebrews 9:26; Hebrews 11:3.

Reading the “end of the age” in line with what Jesus prophesied in Matthew 24:3 helps clarify what was being referred to as the “end times”. When we read these words consistently and appropriately we are able to let go of false teachings and hopes that misapply what was being detailed throughout the Scriptures. Instead of the 1st century disciples hoping for an end to the planet, we note they were hoping for an end of the oikoumene and the aion, which surely occurred after the destruction of the Temple and the city of Jerusalem during the Roman-Jewish War of AD 70.

Lastly, many continue and propound confusion by asserting that before the end comes, the gospel must be preached to the entire “world”, however they fail to understand how the words for “world” are used. The following link will bring you to a chart that shows the different uses of words that applied to the “Great Commission”, as well as other thoughts to further your understanding:
http://livingthequestion.org/signs/

Blessings in Christ Jesus,
Pastor Michael Miano
The Blue Point Bible Church

Ed Stevens’ – Date of Revelation – AD 62 – Notes

To access the notes of Mr. Ed Stevens’ presentation on the Date of Revelation at The Blue Point Bible Church conference in March 2017

CLICK HERE—–>  Date of Revelation-AD 62