Posted on 12/13/2010 11:56:24 PM PST by RJR_fan
... Perhaps Jerry most grabbed my attention early on in the film when he emphasized that the argument over dispensationalism does not merely pertain to one doctrine in the way that, say, arguments over baptism, or church government, etc., have limited effects. Instead, the dispensational system has universal implications for the Christian faith. It, in fact, has impacted the fate of Western Civilization. This claim jerked me to reality, mainly because—it’s absolutely correct and so absolutely important. ...
That the greatest historical waning of Christian influence throughout the world has occurred parallel to the rise of dispensationalism, I believe, is no mere coincidence. Cultural retreatism has its consequences. ...
The history behind Darby, Scofield, Chafer and others puts the emergence of the dispensational system in a new light, helping the viewer see how and why the system grew so popular in American culture, while at the same time showing some of its numerous deficiencies. I appreciated one insight that puts dispensationalism in its peculiar historical context: it belongs historically to an era in which individualistic prophecy experts appeared all over, pronouncing themselves as the ones who would “raise up the true church” once again. Most of these groups we today mark clearly as “Cults,” including Joseph Smith’s Mormonism, William Miller’s millenarianism, and Charles Taze Russell’s Jehovah’s Witnesses. The lumping of these types with Darby’s novel dispensationalism by no means equates them, but to see their similarities in emergence and methodology provides a helpful insight into their appeal and success.
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I’ve found dispensationalism to simply be more true to the literal hermeneutic than any other system of theology, while it accepts and builds upon the previous Christian doctrines and theologies slowly enunciated over the ages. Unlike many of the other theologies, it also places primary obedience to learning doctrine under the active work of the Holy Spirit, vice academic soulish learning.
Accordingly attacks upon dispensationalism are simply attacks upon other Christian doctrines developed by other denominations, and/or the work of God the Holy Spirit, and/or the literal Word of God. None of these attacks are consistent with simple true faith in Christ.
Good article. Nails it.
LOL ... this guy is the director of research ? ...
The long awaited critique of dispensational theology? LOL
What research has he done to produce this silly article? Were all you preterists holding your breathe waiting for him to finish his important work?
He is repeating the same old tired mantra to sell some DVDs to people too lazy to study the Bible seriously.
but consider Pauls instructions for elders to Titus ...
"For the overseer must be above reproach as God's steward ... holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict
Throughout the Bible God has attempted to warn, teach, and prepare His people. He used prophecy as a means to instruct His followers about how to prepare and be ready. The prophecy deniers have always tried to thwart that effort. God used prophecy consistently throughout history to allow those faithful to His word to prepare for coming judgment. Noah, Lot, and Joseph are examples of those who listened and understood. God has never left His faithful without knowledge of what was coming and how to prepare. Each of those believers was mocked and ridiculed but were proven correct and saved from God’s wrath.
Today we have those who would have us believe that sometime in the past God stopped giving us information of what to prepare for. Somehow they would have us believe that He did not instruct us about what was coming and how to prepare. They use the same mocking tone as Joseph’s brothers and people in Noah’s day. Peter and other’s warned us to “be mindful of the words which were spoken before” and that there would be “scoffers”.
2 Peter 3:2 That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour: 3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, 4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
There is a force in this world that would have us not believe or be prepared for coming judgment on this world. Just as with Noah, Joseph, and Lot, I believe the prophets have given us information of what is coming. We were told it would not be easy to understand.
2 Peter 3:16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.
I believe that God HAS given us information about what the future holds and has told us how to prepare. He used the prophets to inform the people of what was coming throughout history and He has not abandoned us to guess about what the future holds. Just as in Noah’s day we have been information about what is coming and the same force that caused people to scoff at Noah is at work today to keep people from being prepared for what is coming.
I, for one, would rather ere on the side of being over prepared then to suffer like those who scoffed at Noah, Lot, and Joseph or those who will suffer for scoffing at us who would be prepared today.
Well said ...
The so-called "literal hermeneutic" (sic) as popularized by most modern dispensationalists is not taught in the Bible. It has no more biblical basis than the RC doctrine of the immaculate conception. It is a theory to support a pre-existing system, i.e., dispensationalism.
Ditto.
I, for one, would rather ere on the side of being over prepared then to suffer like those who scoffed at Noah, Lot, and Joseph or those who will suffer for scoffing at us who would be prepared today.
This claim is so hollow as to be laughable. You have no clue what you are preparing for. Is it next week or in a hundred years? Will the US be involved or no? Will it be a microchip under the skin, a credit card with 666 imprinted, or a tattoo on one’s backside? Will it involve the Arabs or the Russians? What about the EU? Or the Chinese? Or the North Koreans? How many Israelis will be slaughtered while the Church hangs out on their cloud somewhere? The story changes every time a new edition of the newspaper gets printed. Truly the stuff of prophecy pimps.
And to shamefully hide behind a verse like 2 Peter 3:3 is a true indication of desperation. You confuse the scoffing against biblical truth (Peter’s subject) with folks who simple question the laughable exegesis of modern literalist futurists. The real scoffers of God’s truth are the modernists who need to reinvent their interpretation every time events change.
Don't take it personally. It’s not about you, it’s about your faulty teaching.
That's one of the things I've never been able to figure out.
Jesus warned his audience to brace themselves for the fall of Jerusalem, and proved Himself to be a true profit within a generation.
This question gets to the classic vs neo- classic views of “dispensational truth”. In the classic view of dispensationalism ala Scofield and Chafer there were absolutely no identifiable events indicating an impending secret rapture of the Church. According to the classic view, God stopped dealing prophetically with Israel the nation at the time of the formation of the Church, and would only start dealing with Israel again after the rapture of the Church. Since all the time indicators in the Bible had to do with Israel and not the Church (i.e., see Matthew 24), there could be no indicators prior to the rapture. The prophetic clock had stopped ticking, in their view.
In the late 60s/early 70s a new form of dispensationalism came into being, that of the neo- classic view. This is the form of dispensationalism championed by folks like Hal Lindsey and Chuck Smith who placed prophetic significance on the founding of modern secular nation of Israel in 1948. As a result of this new theory, they managed to place a time boundary on the “great tribulation” and second coming of Christ, and, hence, on the timing of the rapture of the Church. In 1978, Smith wrote :
“We’re the generation that saw the fig tree bud forth, as Israel became a nation again in 1948. As a rule, a generation in the Bible lasts 40 years. . . . Forty years after 1948 would bring us to 1988.”So Smith, like Lindsey, Edgar Whisenant , and a host of others, taught that the second coming of Jesus Christ would happen by 1988 and so the rapture would happen by 1981. By this time the classic dispensationalists were on the decline, so there was hardly anyone left to object to this new view of prophetic events. Besides, these folks were selling books and rejuvenating the dispensational movement. No one was about to take on the populists and kill the cash cow. Indeed, even men like John Walvoord, a former staunch classic, got caught up (excuse the pun) in the speculative movement and started writing books like Armageddon, Oil and the Middle East Crisis (later renamed Armageddon, Oil, and Terror. I guess Middle East Crisis was too dated. Another example of changing tune to fit the events). In his bio, he is described a man “who famously predicted current world events.” So much for the old Dallas Seminary of Chafer.
This modified or neo-classic view has been widely adopted within the dispensational community. In fact, one could argue that it is the majority view, inciting the publication of all sorts of time-based speculation regarding the rapture and the great tribulation.
got caught up (excuse the pun) in the speculative movement and started writing books like Armageddon, Oil and the Middle East Crisis
Walvoord was supposed to have been one of the people "you really should read". "An academic, not one of the nutty popular pundits." So, I grabbed a copy of this. I found it an absolutely horrible book. Worthless. He made no attempt to defend dispensational distinctives, he simply asserted them. He did get around to a gospel presentation at the back, which is always good.
They say Mark Hitchcock has had a hand in rewriting the current iteration.
This modified or neo-classic view has been widely adopted within the dispensational community. In fact, one could argue that it is the majority view, inciting the publication of all sorts of time-based speculation regarding the rapture and the great tribulation.
Thanks for your thoughtful and erudite summary of how today's prediction-pimping differs from "classical" dispensationalism.
One of the great ironies of history: Roe v. Wade started in Dallas Theological Seminary's own back yard -- and they completely missed the significance of the event. An obsession with "prophecy" teaching rendered them incompetent to speak prophetically, to apply God's Word to the real-world stuff happening right under their noses.
This type of exegetical "find what one needs" within Roman Catholic interpretation is actually allowed within their system. The Catholic Encyclopedia states, "all persons, events, or objects of the Old Testament are sometimes considered as types, provided they resemble persons, events, or objects in the New Testament, whether the Holy Ghost has intended such a relationship or not." That is, make the connection that is needed. Whether or not the author of the Bible, the Holy Spirit, actually intended it is not a factor. This is exactly what happens with Mary typology. Catholics go through the Old Testament finding people, places, and things that are "types' to grant Biblical status to their extra-Biblical Marian beliefs. (Mary Typology )If you examine Scofield’s Notes and the theology derived from them, one discovers this same underlying principle. E.g., From Scofield Reference Notes (1917 Edition):
The entire chapter (Genesis 24) is highly typical:(1) Abraham, type of a certain king who would make a marriage for his son Matthew 22:2 ; John 6:44 .
(2) the unnamed servant, type of the Holy Spirit, who does not "speak of himself," but takes of the things of the Bridegroom with which to win the bride John 16:13 John 16:14 .
(3) the servant, type of the Spirit as enriching the bride with the Bridegroom's gifts Galatians 5:22 ; 1 Corinthians 12:7-11 .
(4) the servant, type of the Spirit as bringing the bride to the meeting with the Bridegroom Acts 13:4 ; Acts 16:6 Acts 16:7 ; Romans 8:11 ; 1 Thessalonians 4:14-16 .
(5) Rebekah, type of the Church, the ecclesia, the "called out" virgin bride of Christ Genesis 24:16 ; 2 Corinthians 11:2 ; Ephesians 5:25-32 .
(6) Isaac, type of the Bridegroom, "whom not having seen," the bride loves through the testimony of the unnamed Servant 1 Peter 1:8 .
(7) Isaac, type of the Bridegroom who goes out to meet and receive His bride Genesis 24:63 ; 1 Thessalonians 4:14-16 .
Lordship, sanctification, discipleship, evangelism ... any of these terms ringing a bell?
Do you study Gods Word everyday? How is your prayer life? Do you actively petition the Lord to rid yourself of the sin in your life? Have you come to the point in your Christian walk where you are actively witnessing for Christ and discipling individuals? Do you know how to share Christ with others? Do you have a disciple you are working with right now? Do you have a passionate concern for the lost? Do you have neighbors who are unsaved? Do you understand that you too will sit in the bema seat in front of Jesus Christ and give an account of your work for Him? What will you have to show? Will you be empty handed and just grateful to be there? ... or do you run hard to win the race? Will you stand there weeping and sobbing over a life wasted? Or does your devotion to Jesus Christ guide your every moment?
If you knew that the time for all of these things could be over soon ... wouldn't you do something about it? THAT is how you prepare for the rapture. All of those things ... and more.
There is tremendous motivation for godly living in the premillenial scheme as the return of Christ in the rapture is an imminent event, it can happen at any time and there is nothing that has to happen prior.
Thanks, you present an excellent list of the normal duties of all Christians all the time.
However, none of these has anything to do with being “rapture-ready,” do they? If we are redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ, we are ready to spend eternity with Him. To say that anything else is required is heresy.
We would agree that the essence of wisdom is an awareness of time, and the desire, in the sight of God, to make the best possible use of our time.
However, your sense of available time profoundly affects the use you make of it. A sense of frantic, desperate, haste, leads one to cut corners, take short-cuts, and eschew long-range projects. Billy Sunday bragged of his ignorance (”I don’t know as much about theology as a jackrabbit knows about ping pong”) and lost all four of his children. He was in too much of a hurry to raise them “in the nature and admonition of the Lord,” you see.
One of the wealthiest men in America once asked my beloved mentor R J Rushdoony how he could use his wealth for the glory of God. RJR recommended that he found, and endow, 100 Christian prep schools throughout the USA, where the sharpest young Christians could be prepared to pursue vocations of excellence, informed by Christian insights. However, this guy was in a hurry. Instead, he flushed his wealth down a batch of “do-it-now” spectacular projects, schemes to evangelize American overnight, e.g. (Anyone remember Key 73?) After a decade or two, when his family had gotten control over his wealth, he had nothing to show for his projects.
When I was 20, I could not think more than a week or two ahead — and was engaged in all those activities you listed. Today, at 59, my dissertation is ready to be proof-read, and I ask God to help me make the best possible use of the next 30 or 40 years. My evangelism has been constricted by my scholarly obligations, but our family has managed to befriend a few Turkish couples who were here on student visas. My two adult children are enjoying their walk with God, and the younger two are still works in progress. But they are an integral part of our outreach to these Muslim sojourners.
SHALOM, dear friend, and may God’s favor rest upon your house! And may we all take encouragement from your zeal!
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