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An Interview with Micah Smith
by TJ Smith
This article appeared in the 2021 Spring issue of Fulfilled! Magazine
Billy Graham once replied to the question of having regrets. His answer is paraphrased as: “My regret is that I did not take the time to train young men how to do what I have done.”
I wholeheartedly agree. As I approach my sixties (58 at
the present time) I see the need to raise up younger
believers and give them a platform to share the gospel and,
specifically, the view of fulfilled prophecy. The older men
who are “leading” the charge were once young and would be
wise to start mentoring younger men and women. I would add
that mentoring is only part of this equation: I am going to
start giving literal “stage time” to those who will lead
this truth into the future.
My wife and I hosted the Texas Conference in 2018. I was
excited to meet those of whom I had read about, spoke with
in emails or on the phone. In fact, it’s funny now, but I
wanted this to be a “Mega-conference,” with all my favorite
speakers. I ended up with about twelve. No problem I
thought, until I realized I had to provide travel, hotel,
and food! OUCH! Reality set in and I scaled back my invite
list. It pained me to have to wait for a future conference
to invite the others.
We older chaps need to start looking to raise up the next generation of teachers to lead into the future. Those I admire, like Jerry Wayne Bernard, Don Preston, Ed Stevens, Sam Dawson, aren’t getting any younger.
I am impressed with the ministries of Dwayne Stevens, Sam
Stevens, Ward Fenley, and others. One of the younger
teachers I see making a difference is Micah Stephens. He is
a family man from the Dallas/Fort Worth area and stays
active promoting preterism. He has written a book (described
in the following paragraphs) and has a Facebook page and a
YouTube channel.
I like Micah’s book cover. It has that “Preterism for
Dummies” look to it. Very unassuming. Friendly looking. Good
choice for a cover. The foreword was written by Cindye
Coates, another gifted teacher who would round out any
preterist conference weekend.
There are a handful of books I recommend to those just
getting into fulfilled prophecy. Charles Meek’s Christian
Hope through Fulfilled Prophecy, Glenn Hill’s
Chrisitianity’s Great Dilemma, Brian Martin’s Behind the
Veil of Moses, a couple of early John Noē books, and now I
can add Micah’s. It’s an easy read, thoughtful, informative,
direct. He ends each chapter with “Let’s Recap!,” which I
think is a good strategy in writing: tell them what you just
told them. Micah covers all the bases without getting into
boring minutia (not that any of us do that . . .). Any
newcomer to the faith, or even to preterism, will benefit
from this book.
I contacted Micah to ask a few questions so you can get to know him as well.
TJ: Micah, thanks for answering some questions. Your fans are dying to know! Ok, how long have you been a Christian and when did you start seeing the truth of fulfilled prophecy?
Micah: I was raised in a Christian home and was taught
Christian beliefs as soon as I was old enough to understand.
I started learning at 3 or 4. I discovered partial preterism
via Jonathan Welton’s teachings at age 29, and through my
own Bible study became a full Preterist about a year and a
half later.
TJ: Tell us about your family life, career, whatever else
you think makes you boring or fascinating.
Micah: I am a big family man. I find most of my
fulfillment and purpose in being a husband and dad. I try to
be kind to everyone, but only keep a few close friends. I
worked for a while in a manufacturing plant making trucks,
and because of the physical problems that made me need to
quit, I realized my passion is counseling, so I’m currently
pursuing that. I’ve always loved teaching and helping
people, especially with their inner world (a.k.a.
emotionally and spiritually).
TJ: Who have been some of your influences in your study of
preterism?
Micah: A good friend of mine named Ryan, who used to be the
worship pastor at the church I grew up in. He was always very solid
and sensible, so if he said he was leaning towards something I paid
close attention to it, because he was usually right. As far as
online teachers, I have learned a lot from Don Preston, but have
tried to simplify what he teaches.
TJ: If you could meet anyone besides Elvis or myself, who would it be?
Micah: Who else would I want to meet? But if I had to meet someone else, it would be President Trump, John Maxwell, and Henry Cloud.
TJ: You are continually on Facebook posting your teaching videos,
what type of feedback do you get and how do you see it growing?
Micah: From the people that usually follow, I normally get good
and encouraging feedback. From most of the Christian population not
familiar with or adhering to preterism, I get disagreement ranging
from sincere questions to messages in my inbox filled with foul
language telling me I’m a false prophet.
TJ: Finally, where do you see the preterist movement heading and how would you define the best method for spreading the full truth of Scripture? I know at the 2018 conference, everyone filled out questionnaires and the top response was ‘relationship first.’ Your thoughts?
Micah: I would agree with ‘relationship first.’ I have taken advantage of social media, which has the potential to reach a lot more people, but often I wonder how many I have convinced or how many watched my videos to reaffirm what they already believed. I think relationship has much more potential because of the trust that is there. I might have shut off what I believe now if I heard it said on the internet, but because a trusted friend said it, I gave it much more thought. I would caution anyone against building relationships for the sake of “converting them.” I will normally share this with friends if I believe they are open, and I think it would help them in their spiritual journey.
TJ: Micah thank you for your time.
Before I sign off, I want to plug a few other preterists and their resources. Alan Bondar has written three books that have a place on your shelf. Reading the Bible through New Covenant Eyes, The Journey Between the Veils, and his newest work, Unpredictable, which I had the honor of editing. Of course, Don Preston (the Cal Ripken of preterism) always has new books coming out, and Ed Stevens has always been a great source of historical data regarding the end times.
Also, one last guy: Pastor David Curtis. I’m calling him out! He taught a series on the Seven Feasts. I enjoyed it so much that I offered to turn his sermons into book form, which I did. Now I’m just waiting for him to get it in print! Hello, David. Come on man, let’s go!!!!
Until next time, Blessings. TJ
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Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every
way into him who the head, into Christ . . . .
(Ephesians 4:15)
