Dispensational Nonsense

DISPENSATIONAL NONSENSE

11-27-2018 Original date May 14, 2007

Many years ago, when I was young, I read a book by Clarence Larkin called Dispensational Truth without realizing until many years later, just how far from the truth it was.

Dispensationalism is the teaching that attempts to divide time into various ages, each of which has a different plan by which God deals with mankind. For example, from Moses to Christ was the so-called "Age of Law," in which there was no grace. Conversely, after the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ we supposedly entered into the "Age of Grace," in which the law was supposedly put aside (some say it was nailed to the Cross.

Salvation: Faith vs Works  https://freedomfromdelusion.blogspot.com/2018/08/salvation-faith-vs-works.html

Further, this view taught--and still teaches--that the coming Age will be that of a Jewish Kingdom, which will be administered by Jewish law, including the re-instatement of animal sacrifices within a rebuilt temple. Thus, the second coming of Christ will see a very Jewish Messiah--not one which the Jews will accept for who He is, but rather a Messiah that will be acceptable to Judaism.

This is rather interesting, because Jesus was nothing like this in His first appearance, nor were His views the least bit acceptable to the chief priests. He came, not as a great miracle-working general to overthrow the Romans, but as a humble servant who loved Romans as much as He loved Jews.

But Dispensationalism teaches that Christ came the FIRST time as a meek Lamb, but watch out for Him when He comes the SECOND time as a raging Lion! In other words, He will be like a different Person in His second coming.

The underlying destructiveness of Dispensational thought is that it destroys the unity of Scripture and establishes two different standards of measure in the world, along with two different plans of salvation. First, it destroys the unity between the Old and New Scriptures rather than viewing it as a single Book with a progressive unfolding of God’s divine plan.  Second, it teaches that Grace is a temporary interlude that allows a few "Gentiles" a window of opportunity to be saved apart from animal sacrifices.  Third, it demands a reversion back to Judaism and to a very Jewish Kingdom in which God has preferential treatment of certain people based upon either their genealogy or their religion.

The "Age of Grace," then, is seen as a temporary respite from an Old Testament God, who is pictured as a vengeful, stern Judge of humanity. It is a temporary respite in which the "better" covenant, "better" sacrifices, "better" priesthood, "better promises" are granted until we are to revert back to those Old Testament practices which are WORSE. This violates the whole spirit of the book of Hebrews--which, I might add, was written to HEBREW PEOPLE.

And so, Dispensationalism has established the mind-set that Jews are saved by the law, while the "Gentiles" are saved by grace. This "Dual Covenant Theology" is being espoused by a number of preachers, though some of them (like John Hagee) actually deny it. They deny it, while at the same time affirming that Jews are in a Covenant relationship with God apart from Christ. What Covenant is that? Obviously, it can only be the Old Covenant, since it can hardly be said that adherents to Judaism are under the New Covenant.

Such people are caught in a rather awkward position, trying to maintain that Jews are already saved apart from Christ, while still trying to preach Christ to them. So they have come to the middle position, saying that while it would be BETTER for Jews to accept Christ, it is not necessary for them to do so. For this reason, many Christians are shutting down their missions to the Jews, saying that it is unnecessary to preach Christ to them. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has done the same, though this is not yet the official Vatican position. (The Vatican needs a little more time to let the view become more popular before it makes this official.)

Dispensationalism repairs the middle wall of partition (division) that Jesus tore down by His teaching. The Jews had built a wall in the temple to allow only the Jewish men to enter. This was to indicate that all others, including Jewish women, had to remain at arm's length from God. It showed that only Jewish men were allowed to have a direct relationship with God, and all others had to have an indirect relationship with Him. But Ephesians 2:14 says,

"For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one, and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall."

Dispensationalism rebuilds this wall and teaches that Jews are more loved and holier than non-Jews. It puts non-Jews in subjection to Jews in a very Jewish Kingdom. Furthermore, even ordinary Jews are put under those Jews whose names are Cohen, Kagan, or other forms of that name, for they are said to be descendants of the original Levitical priests. Gone is the priesthood of the believer.

For the life of me, I cannot see why any non-Jew would desire to see Christ's second coming. Do they really want to live life in subjection to Jewish leaders who have proven their character by their Zionist practices against the Palestinians?? Do they not know that this is how they will treat Christians in the age to come--if Dispensationalism were true?

Dispensationalism seeks to reinstate Hagar and Ishmael as the inheritor of the promises. Paul tells us clearly in Gal. 4:25 that "this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children."

Dispensationalism seeks to re-establish the Old Covenant along with rabbinic Judaism, having the old Jerusalem as the Capitol of the Kingdom. They reject the Apostle Paul's writings, or at least relegate him to the present "Age of Grace." They forgive his error on the grounds that he had a ministry to the "Gentiles," which made his message temporary and inferior. Once Christ returns the second time, Jerusalem was somehow to be transformed from Hagar to Sarah. The Old Jerusalem will suddenly be reborn into the New Jerusalem. The Ishmaelites of Judaism will suddenly become Isaac, while still retaining all the Ishmaelite bondages of Judaism. A rebuilt temple in Jerusalem, which God forsook "as Shiloh" (Jer. 7:14) will be reinhabited by the Spirit of God--a violation of His own Word.

The Spirit of God left the temple of Solomon according to Ezekiel.  It was never in the 2^nd temple nor was it in Herod’s upgraded version.

The Word of God is an acceptable casualty to Dispensationalism. But for those of us who actually believe the Bible and who are not blinded by Zionist Judaism, we believe that Jews have to repent and be saved in the same manner as the rest of us.

We believe with Peter that there is only one name under heaven by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12).

We have no double standard, but believe with Moses that there was to be one law for all the people, whether Israelites or foreigners (Num. 15:16).

We do not believe that grace was absent in the Old Testament, nor do we believe that the law is irrelevant after the Cross.

We do not believe that the blood of Christ was limited to an interim "Age of Grace" until animal sacrifices could be reinstated in the end.

We do not believe that the presence of God will be removed from the temple of our bodies in order to inhabit a rebuilt physical temple in Jerusalem--or anywhere else for that matter.

We do not believe that the Old Covenant will replace the New Covenant in the Kingdom Age to come.

Dispensationalism is the New Replacement Theology. Such replacement theology is totally unacceptable and is rank heresy. It has no business being taught anywhere in Christian pulpits, because it entirely undermines the cross, the blood of Christ, and the entire purpose for Christ's coming. This is the great lawlessness that Jesus warned us about in Matt. 24:10-13 and the apostasy which Paul warned about in 1 Tim. 4:1.

  Did the early church contain any hint of dispensational reasoning?  NO.  Did the early reformers (with a personal Bible in hand) claim the Revelation is a roadmap of a tribulation period?  NO, they considered it for what it is.  A prophetic history of the Church beginning at the time of John.

The prominent groundbreaker of dispensational theology is the Scofield Reference Bible first appearing in 1909 and revised in 1917.  It is said this Bible with it’s unique (at the time) reference system was financed and encouraged by Jewish bankers living in England, to enhance and further their goal of convincing the Christian church of their self-conceived “chosen people” status in light of their upcoming plan to retake Palestine which became the state of Israel in 1948.

Prior to its popularization by the Scofield Bible, the roots of Dispensational Theology are traceable to John Nelson Darby and the Plymouth Brethren group within England.  Darby’s teaching has become enshrined in the Scofield Reference Bible, the most popular of all reference bibles.  Dispensational Theology has been refined to some extent and tenaciously defended by Dallas Theological Seminary founded by Lewis Sperry Chafer.

 

During the seventh year of Artaxerxes I, Ezra was sent to offer sacrifices at the rebuilt Temple (Ezra 7: 7). This was done by authority of the edict of Artaxerxes I.  At that time, Ezra performed the final rite of cleansing in Jerusalem, which allowed Daniel’s 70 weeks to begin the countdown toward the work of Jesus on the Cross.  Daniel’s 70th week extended from 26 to 33 A.D. Jesus’ ministry began precisely in the midst of that week, in the fall of 29 A.D., with His baptism on the Day of Atonement. The crucifixion occurred at the end of the week, in the spring of 33 A.D., which was precisely 490 years after Ezra began his journey to Jerusalem. The Crucifixion of Jesus Christ signaled the end of the 70 weeks.  There may be some intense tribulation within the next few years, but there is no future week of seven years.

Further Ideas & Comments

THE SINNER”S PRAYER – No Author

http://www.bible.ca/g-sinners-prayer.htm

No one in the Bible ever prayed for their initial salvation. They did however believe, repent, confess Jesus and be immersed in water for the forgiveness of their sins. The sinner’s prayer is an innovation that thwarts God's plan of salvation.

Hundreds of millions hold to a belief system and salvation practice that no one had ever held until relatively recently. The notion that one can pray Jesus into his or her heart and that baptism is merely an outward sign are actually late developments. The prayer itself dates to the Billy Sunday era; however, the basis for talking in prayer for salvation goes back a few hundred years.

Consider the following appeal:

"Just accept Christ into your heart through prayer and he'll receive you. It doesn't matter what church you belong to or if you ever do good works. You'll be born again at the moment you receive Christ. He's at the door knocking. You don't even have to change bad habits, just trust Christ as Savior. God loves you and forgives you unconditionally. Anyone out there can be saved if they ... Accept Christ, now! Let us pray for Christ to now come into your heart."

The fact that John Nelson Darby invented the pre-tribulation rapture doctrine around 1830 AD is unquestionably true. All attempts to find evidence of this wild doctrine before 1830 have failed.

All premillennialists, rapturists and dispensationalists alive today believe the Bible reveals the general era of when Christ will return. The date setters of the 1800's (Seventh-day Adventists who are date setting premillennialists who reject the rapture, Jehovah's Witnesses who have set many dates) based their predictions upon speculative arrangements of numbers and chronologies in the Bible. Today's date setters without exception wrongly believe that Israel gaining state hood in 1948 fulfilled Bible prophecy and that Christ would return within one generation.

Most of the TV preachers who promote rapture and/or "date set" all wrongly believe they are a prophet of God with special illumination. Pentecostals believe they are inspired directly from the Holy Spirit as modern day prophets. Baptists believe they are illuminated with guidance from the Holy Spirit through the Calvinist doctrine of Irresistible grace.

Darby noted that the doctrine "popped into his head" in 1830 AD. Before this, no one had ever heard of a secret rapture doctrine.

Modern influences of Darby include Dallas Theological Seminary, Bob Jones University, Hal Lindsey, Tim LaHaye, Jack Van Impe and Harold Camping, the Scofield Reference Bible.

"When the theory of a secret coming of Christ was first brought forward (about the year 1832), it was adopted with eagerness; it suited certain preconceived opinions.

The Dallas Theological Seminary and Bob Jones University have been the centers of propagation of false doctrine of the Rapture.

John Nelson Darby is regarded by many as the father of premillennial dispensationalism and the most influential figure in the development of its prodigy, i.e. Christian Zionism

The Fall of Babylon & the Nation of Judah-Israel Part 3

The Fall of Babylon & the Nation of Judah-Israel (my title)

Original Title:  “Background to a soon-coming prayer campaign, Part 3”

By Dr. Stephen Jones of God’s Kingdom Ministries

Mar 31, 2017

Israel’s first captivity is recorded in Judges 3:8-10. It was a Babylonian captivity to the king of Mesopotamia (“land between two rivers”), using its pre-Babylonian name. Note that even earlier, in Genesis 14, it is called Shinar. Even so, it is interesting that the original captivity of Israel was to Babylon, because this sets the pattern for all subsequent captivities.

In my book, Secrets of Time, I show that this captivity came just 42 years after Israel crossed the Jordan under Joshua. It was an eight-year captivity, ending in the 50^th year, that is, their first Jubilee. At that time Othniel, the first Judge in Israel, was used to set the nation free.

This eight-year captivity was also a microcosm of a much longer cycle of 8 x 414 years. The number 414 is the factor of Cursed Time, as I show in Secrets of Time. The first two cycles of 414 years end with the fall of Babylon in 537 B.C. The next six cycles end in 1947-1948, the year of that the Jewish state was founded.

Hence, 1947-1948 had the potential of being declared a Year of Jubilee in a sense, comparable to Othniel’s Jubilee. The Church at the time (ancient Israel as a church) was not thinking in terms of Jubilee cycles, nor did they know anything about Cursed Time. The idea of Cursed Time was only discovered a year earlier in 1946 by Lalo Cadona’s father, when he studied the time of Noah’s flood, which came 4 x 414 years after God cursed the ground in Genesis 3:17. Even he did not know what to do with it, so it was not until the 1980’s that his son, Lalo, developed the idea into a coherent teaching.

I learned it from Lalo in 1991, and after my own study of chronology, wrote Secrets of Time.

What Happened in 1947-1948?

The Church (modern Church) rejoiced when the United Nations divided the land on November 29, 1947, and rejoiced even more in 1948 when the state of Israel was formally established. They believed that it was the fulfillment of prophecies regarding the restoration of biblical Israel. They did not understand that it was just a fruitless fig tree bearing more leaves, nor did they understand that Jeremiah 19:10, 11 was still to be fulfilled, resulting in the final destruction of Jerusalem.

Jeremiah 19:10-11 KJV  Then shalt thou break the bottle in the sight of the men that go with thee,  (11)  And shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaketh a potter's vessel, that cannot be made whole again: and they shall bury them in Tophet, till there be no place to bury.

The Rothschild family of Jewish bankers (the second beast from the earth) were most instrumental in bringing about the state of Israel, as they themselves testify today. There is a street in Jerusalem named for them. Yet the Church proclaimed, according to their view of eschatology, that the Jews would experience a mass conversion to Jesus in 3½ years. When that failed to happen, they announced that it would happen after 7 years—or by 1955. That, too, failed to happen, yet they continued to maintain hope that it would happen at some point in time.

It is now approaching 70 years with still no mass conversion. It seems that their incorrect view will be dispelled only when Jerusalem is destroyed and prophetic Hagar is cast out. The casting out of Hagar, I believe, is the implementation of the divine court ruling, wherein the case will be closed forever. Hagar has been appealing the case for her son being the chosen one for a long time. But Ishmael is a child of the flesh, not the son of promise (Galatians 4:29; Romans 9:8).

Galatians 4:29 KJV  But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.

Ishmael, in this case, is not Arabia, because Paul was not talking about race or genealogy. He was speaking spiritually, where Hagar was the Old Covenant, and Ishmael were the people who adhere to the Old Covenant and consider earthly Jerusalem to be their spiritual mother. Old Covenant theology cuts across all racial lines and afflicts great portions of the church as well.

This is seen most clearly in the Christian Zionist obsession with the earthly Jerusalem, where they claim it will be the capital of the Kingdom of Christ in the age to come. Essentially, the Church has come forth as a character witness to testify in the divine court of the worthiness of Ishmaelites to rule the Kingdom as God’s chosen people.

It was necessary in the divine plan for the church to be blind in this area, of course, because the divine plan called for a restoration of the cursed fig tree. It had to return to life in order to fulfill Jesus’ prophecy in Matthew 24:32, 33 and also to fulfill Jeremiah 19:10, 11. But there is more to this than meets the eye, as I showed in my book, The Struggle for the Birthright.

The Edomite Factor

In Genesis 27 we read how Isaac thought he was going to die shortly, so he called his son, Esau, and told him to prepare a meal of venison, for he intended to pass the birthright to Esau. However, Rebekah overheard this and went into a panic, thinking that Isaac had forgotten the prophecy that was given while the twins (Jacob and Esau) were yet in her womb: “the older shall serve the younger” (Genesis 25:23). Esau was the older of the twins.

So Rebekah preempted Isaac’s plan by fixing a meal from the flock, and then Jacob pretended to be Esau in order to obtain the blessing. It was a classic case of identity theft, taking advantage of Isaac’s blindness (Genesis 27:1). Although Isaac was suspicious, the plan worked, and Isaac blessed Jacob just before Esau came back from his hunting trip.

The subterfuge involved not only passive deceit, but outright lies (Genesis 27:19, 24). It is not acceptable to fulfill prophecy by fraud, nor to obtain the birthright by means of a lie. If men believe that they must lie to fulfill prophecy, it is clear evidence that they are children of the flesh. God needs no help in fulfilling His word, even when His word appears to fail.

Hence, Jacob was a deceiver until he finally learned the sovereignty of God. That revelation came when he wrestled with the angel (Genesis 32:26, 27, 28). Only then did he receive the name Israel, which means “God rules.” From then on, he bore the testimony of the sovereignty of God, and he was able to enter God’s rest. He no longer believed that God needed fleshly help to fulfill His word.

Yet because Jacob committed fraud against Esau, Isaac promised Esau that he would receive justice in the end. He told Esau in Genesis 27:40 KJV, “when thou [Esau] shalt have the dominion, that thou shalt break his [Jacob’s] yoke from off thy neck.” In other words, Esau was to “have the dominion” at some point in the future. Since the Dominion Mandate was part of the Birthright, it indicates that Jacob would have to give the Birthright back to Esau to allow the purposes of God to work out according to the sovereignty of God without the fleshly help from men trying to fulfill prophecy.

Esau’s descendants became known by the name Edom (Genesis 36:8). Jacob eventually settled (the theft) with Esau, but nonetheless, the nation of Edom had a long feud with Israel over the years, for the Edomites believed that the Birthright was rightfully theirs. This is called in Isaiah 34:8 KJV, “the controversy of Zion.” The NASB refers to it as “the (legal) cause of Zion,” because it was really a long-term court case in the divine court.

Centuries later, after Israel was taken to Assyria and Judah was taken to Babylon, the Edomites (i.e., Idumeans) rejoiced, saying in Ezekiel 35:10, “These two nations and these two lands will be mine, and we will possess them.”

In Ezekiel 36:2 they say further, “Aha! and “The everlasting heights have become our possession.” Again, we read in Ezekiel 36:5, where God speaks of “Edom, who appropriated My land for themselves as a possession.”

Malachi 1:4, speaking of the dispute between Jacob and Esau, says,

⁴ Though Edom says, “We have been beaten down, but we will return and build up the ruins”; thus says the Lord of hosts, “They may build, but I will tear down; and men will call them the wicked territory, and the people toward whom the Lord is indignant forever.”

This shows the desire of Edom to “return,” and the prophet affirms that they will indeed return to build. But God says, “I will tear down.” In order for God to tear down what Edom has built, He must allow them time to do some building. Hence, this prophecy implies an Edomite Zionism project. This could not have been fulfilled during Judah’s Babylonian captivity, because Malachi prophesied after Judah had returned to occupy the land, and he treats it as a future event.

Subsequent history shows that Edom, then known by the Greek term Idumea, was eventually conquered by John Hyrcanus, the priest of Judah, in the year 126-125 B.C. He gave the Edomites a choice of either conversion or expulsion. The Edomites chose to convert to Judaism. This is recorded by the first-century Jewish historian, Josephus, in his Antiquities of the Jews, XIII, ix, 1. Here we read:

“Hyrcanus took also Dora and Marissa, cities of Idumea, and subdued all the Idumeans; and permitted them to stay in that country, if they would be circumcised, and make use of the laws of the Jews; and they were so desirous of living in the country of their forefathers, that they submitted to the use of circumcision and the rest of the Jews’ ways of living; at which time therefore, this befell them, that they were hereafter no other than Jews.”

This is confirmed by The Jewish Encyclopedia under the heading, “Edom,” which says,

“From this time the Idumeans ceased to be a separate people, though the name ‘Idumea’ still existed (in) in the time of Jerome.”

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia (Dr. Cecil Roth and Dr. Geoffrey Wigoder) says,

“The Edomites were conquered by John Hyrcanus who forcibly converted them to Judaism, and from then on they constituted a part of the Jewish people, Herod being one of their descendants.”

Hence, the Edomites ceased to exist under that name, because they were absorbed into Jewry after adopting Judaism as their religion. How, then, can all of the prophecies about Esau-Edom be fulfilled? Will all of these prophecies fall to the ground? Never! These prophecies can be fulfilled only in the Jewish people who absorbed them in 126 B.C.

Prophecy Fulfilled

The Jewish state that was established in 1947-1948 fulfilled more than one prophecy. As we have already seen, it fulfilled Matthew 24:32, 33, in regard to the cursed fig tree of Judah, which was to come back to life. But because the fig tree had absorbed Edom into itself, the same fig tree must also fulfill the prophecies regarding Edom.

Hence, the Jewish state fulfills the prophecy that Isaac gave to Esau-Edom: “When thou shalt have the dominion…” In 1948 Jacob (Britain) gave the Birthright back to Esau’s descendants, the Edomites within Jewry whose desire was to “return and build up the ruins” (Malachi 1:4). Yes, they will build, but God will tear down, the prophet says.

For how long will they build? It appears that they have been given 70 years from 1947-1948 to 2017-2018. This coincides with the fall of the beast systems of Babylon. The final 70 years of Babylonian rule has been dominated by the Jewish state and its creator, the Rothschild family, which has controlled all of the central banks of the Babylonian West.

Essentially, in 1947-1948 God gave the Birthright back to Edom and then defended their right to hold that Birthright for 70 years in order to do justice to Esau. The true inheritors, represented by Jacob-Israel, have had to suffer the consequences of fraud and flesh and to allow God to fulfill His word in His own sovereign way.

The law of God demands equal justice. Justice must always be in accordance with the crime—“eye for eye, tooth for tooth,” as Exodus 21:24 says. In this case, since Jacob stole Esau’s identity and took advantage of Isaac’s blindness, so also did God allow Esau to steal Jacob’s identity, taking advantage of the blindness of the church. Jacob pretended to be Esau to obtain the Birthright, so God let Esau pretend to be Jacob-Israel to get it back.

So justice was given to Esau-Edom in 1948. The only real question is how long God will allow Edom to build and how long the cursed fig tree will be allowed to bring forth more leaves before it is cut down, as John the Baptist threatened in Luke 3:9, with Jesus’ affirmation in Luke 13:7. How long will Jerusalem continue before it is destroyed according to Jeremiah 19:10, 11?

I believe that their time is 70 years, for this coincides precisely with the end of the 2,520-year captivity to the beast systems that began with King Nebuchadnezzar in Jeremiah 27:6. Because we are now in that final year, we have been instructed to go to the divine court on April 9, 2017.