My Obituary of David Chilton -- Three Days Before He Died
I was David Chilton's publisher and employer, 1980-1987. He was the most gifted non-fiction writer I ever knew.
In 1987, after he had quit working for me, he went on national television to denounce me as a dangerous man. This was broadcast on PBS in the third and final installment of a hatchet job that Lyndon Johnson's ex-press secretary Bill Moyers did on the Christian Right. I was the main target in Part 3. The show sank without a trace. I got one letter about it, as I recall. I had refused to go on the show, much to the consternation of Moyers' producer. I know what can be done with long interviews: splice and dice.
In 1997, Chilton publicly recanted his position on eschatology that he had published for me, 1985-87. He adopted what is sometimes called full preterism but what I call heretical preterism. I have written a detailed refutation of the position as Appendix A in my commentary on First Corinthians.
Preterism is the interpretation of New Testament prophecy that says that what was predicted in Matthew 24 and Luke 21 was fulfilled at the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. But this did not include the final judgment. Heretical preterists teach that the final judgment was imposed at A.D. 70. History will continue forever. Therefore, they believe but rarely have the courage to preach in public, the institution of marriage will go on forever. So will sin. Satan will go on, unjudged, forever. He gets off the hook. In contrast, the Nicene creed announces this: "He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end." The key word is "will."
He had a heart attack in January 1994. He literally died on the operating table. But he revived. He lost a lot of weight. His mind began to play tricks on him. He had possessed an extraordinary knowledge of the Bible -- better than anyone I have known. I mean chapter and verse, or close to the verse -- always the chapter.
I met him once again when we both spoke at a small church's conference. This was in 1996.
In early March 1997, he wrote his own theological obituary. He said the David Chilton we had known was dead. Sadly, I cannot find that self-obituary on the Web. He did say that I had identified his position as heretical -- a denial of the creeds of Christendom on the final judgment.
I responded with my own obituary of him. I posted it on a discussion list on March 3.
David Chilton, R.I.P.By Gary North
11:30 AM 03/04/97As the publisher of Days of Vengeance and Paradise Restored, let me say, without hesitation, that the post-1994 David Chilton is indeed a heretic who has denied the Church's historic creeds and confessions on the question of the Second Coming of Christ and the Final Judgment.
It is always sad when a defender of the faith abandons orthodoxy on any point. When he abandons it on the very point on which he had made his intellectual reputation, it is doubly sad. In Chilton's case, it is pathetic, for no matter what he writes on this topic from now on, his critics will be able to say, justifiably: "His heart attack disrupted his ability to think clearly. It distorted his judgment."
From his public outburst against Vern Crisler -- for which he later repented, admitting that he cannot think straight these days -- until this self-burial of his pre-1994 writings, David Chilton has gone off the deep end. He has now become self-damaged goods delivered on the doorstep of Max King.
ICE will continue to publish Productive Christians in an Age of Guilt Manipulators and The Great Tribulation. Dominion Press will continue to publish Days of Vengeance and Paradise Restored. I am happy with the existing editions of all of these books. They will not be revised for as long as these two publishers continue to publish these four books. For as long as there is money to plow back into publishing them, they will appear just as they are today. It is sad when a publisher must defend fine books against their author, but such is the case. I bought orthodoxy. I will not relinquish it in order to turn it over to a man who has literally lost his mind -- the mind of Christ.
I would suggest that we not encourage his heresy by interacting with him on this matter on this or any other forum. It is now a matter of Church discipline, assuming that he is under any.
I plan to hire Ken Gentry to write a refutation of heretical preterism. We should respond to these ideas, but not to Chilton personally. He is crippled now, and I do not think it is fair to beat him up in public. It is also unlikely to change what is left of his mind.
We can and should pray for the restoration of his mind, but to debate with him 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.
Gary North
Three days later, he died.
His books are here. Download them for free. Click the titles.
Productive Christians in an Age of Guilt Manipulators
Paradise Restored
Days of Vengeance
The Great Tribulation