Greg Albrecht
Albrecht clearly implies Paul was not being led by the Holy Spirit when he predicted a first-century return of Christ. Albrecht calls this the “Plain Truth.”
Greg Albrecht, founder of Plain Truth Ministries, is a former minister in the Worldwide Church of God (recently renamed Grace Communion International). Presumably, Albrecht’s departure was amicable as he managed to negotiate control of the church’s magazine, the Plain Truth, founded by Herbert W. Armstrong in 1934. Among other endeavors, Albrecht invites questions from visitors to his website.
Usually, when futurists encounter plain statements made by the apostle Paul indicating a first-century return of Christ, they simply interpret them to mean something other than what they plainly say. This is bad enough. However, Albrecht handles such predictions by accusing Paul of being irresponsible!
One person asked Albrecht, “How could Paul have been so wrong about the return of Jesus Christ?”
Here is Albrecht’s answer:
How could Paul have been wrong? The same way that many Christians have been “wrong” over the last two thousand years. Our hearts lead, instead of our heads. We want the Lord to return, and want him to come in our lifetimes, so we make the huge mistake of interpreting the Bible within our culture and our reality as being written for our times, and that our times are the “time of the end”.
So that explains it: Paul’s heart was leading him instead of his head. If this is true, then clearly, the Holy Spirit was not leading him either.
Jesus said the Holy Spirit would show the apostles “the things that are to come” (John 16:13, ESV throughout unless otherwise noted). However, according to Albrecht, Paul preached a first-century second coming merely because he wanted it so badly. Paul was a victim of his own wishful thinking. His predictions were simply products of his deluded human heart. But what did Paul say about the source of his gospel?
I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. (Gal. 1:12)
Paul was so confident of his message that he could thunder, “if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!” (Gal. 1:8, NIV)
Albrecht portrays Paul as clearly too emotional and delusional to be the apostle to the Gentiles. To put it bluntly, Albrecht’s Paul is a dope.
Albrecht’s portrayal of Paul calls into question the divine wisdom of Jesus Christ. Why would Jesus choose such an unstable flake to carry out what was arguably the most important mission ever assigned to a human being? And what do false predictions say about the authority of Scripture? Is the Bible inspired or the product of human hearts? All the apostles taught the same thing: a first-century return of Christ. Were they all deluded? If we can’t believe their predictions of a first-century second coming, can we really trust them when they claim Jesus died for our sins?
We never cease to be amazed at the lengths to which futurists will go to deny the plain words of Scripture regarding the first-century return of Christ. Moreover, we are baffled by their utter failure to foresee the devastating implications of their flawed theories.
We think Albrecht’s concept of “plain truth” is outrageous and would be more accurately labeled a plain lie. If you agree, you can send him a message to tell him what you think about his teaching. Please remind him that his answer is currently available on the Plain Truth Ministries website at this address:
http://www.ptm.org/uni/QandA/0021/Return.htm
You may wish to copy and paste the text of his answer into your message (displayed above in green).
Please tell Albrecht that you read this exposé at the following link:
http://www.preterism.info/albrecht.htm
To send him a message, click here.
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