Your error is that you assume temporal 'tenses' are applicable to the supernatural realm. -'tenses' only apply to the temporal...
Then do we just throw out all the tenses throughout all of scripture that describe God? That doesn't make sense, does it? You assume it is an error because you don't agree with what it says. That is ok - that is up to you, I don't expect to change what you think. But you do have to remember that He gave us His Word - both written and in the flesh so that we can know Him. To not make it apply would mean that He is the author of confusion - and we know that He isn't.