The man made theology which started in the 19th century and began to infiltrate American churches in the late 19th century and eventually became the most popular theology of Church Christians has been called by names other than dispensationalism. It has been called Scofieldism, the Rapture Cult, and Separation Theology, for example.
Although there have been modifications made in this theology, what is called classical dispensationalism is most influential in the Churches and the most popular among Church members. Lets look at some of the statements made by classical dispensationalists.
On http://www.realapologetics.org/blog/...lism/#_ftnref3
they quote C. I. Scofield, the first classical American dispensationalist.
C.I. Scofield says "Israel is earthly, the church heavenly. One is natural the other spiritual. What pertains to Israel is to be interpreted in literalistic fashion. But what pertains to the church need not be so interpreted.[4]"
Jerusalem is always Jerusalem, Israel always Israel, Zion always Zion�Prophecies may never be spiritualized, but are always literal.[6]"
In 1936, Lewis S. Chafer, a classical dispensationalist, defined Scofield's literalism as "The outstanding characteristic of the dispensationalist is ... that he believes every statement of the Bible and gives to it the plain, natural meaning its words imply."
From: L. S. Chafer, �Dispensationalism,� Bibliotheca Sacra, 93, October (1936), pp410, 417.
Charles C. Ryrie (born 1925) says of classical dispensationalism that the: "basic primise of Dispensationalism
is two purposes of God expressed
in the formation of two peoples who maintain their distinction
throughout eternity." Charles C. Ryrie, Dispensationalism Today, 1966,
pp.44-45.
J. Dwight Pentecost is another dispensationalist theologian who in his
book Things To Come ( 1965) says "The church and Israel are two
distinct groups with whom God has a divine plan. The church is a
mystery, unrevealed in the Old Testament. This mystery program must be
completed before God can resume His program with Israel and bring it
to completion. These considerations all arise from
a literal method of interpretation." (page 193, J. Dwight Pentecost,
Things To Come, Zondervan, 1965).... See More
For dispensationalists Christians cannot be spiritual Israel. The
classical dispensationalists - John Darby, C.I. Scofield, Lewis S.
Chafer and Charles C. Ryrie - insist that "Israel" in the Old
Testament always means physical or ethnic Israel, the descendants of
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And - the Catholic Church did not replace
ethnic Israel. Ethnic Israel was reborn in Jesus Christ. It was
transformed rather than replaced.
The pre-tribulation rapture of the Church off the earth before the terrible events of the
tribulation begin is another well establihed doctrine of classical dispensationalism.
So is the doctrine that the Jews remain even now God's chosen people a central
teaching of dispensationalism.
Lets focus for now on the dispensationalist distinction between Israel, or the Jews, and the Church.
The teaching of this theology is that God has two different peoples, the Jews and the Church, with whom he deals in very different ways.
Scripture does not support this teaching. Christ in John 10: 16 says "And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd."
He says clearly that there shall be one fold of his people, not two.
John 1: 11 says "He came unto his own, and his own received him not." As a consequence, Matthew 8: 11-12 says "And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
Paul in Ephesians 2: 13-15 says "But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;"
Christ broke down the wall separating believing Jews from believing Gentiles, and made them one. They are not two different groups under Christ.
"So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another" (Romans 12: 5).
" For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread" (I Corinthians 10: 17).
"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus." Galatians 3: 28)
"There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;" (Ephesians 4: 4)
Paul was careful to tell his congregations that Jewish and Gentile Christians were of one body and not two separate groups. This concern of Paul came partly out of the problem he faced of Judaizers telling his Gentile Christians that they must follow the ceremonial law of Moses to be saved, that is. they were trying to mix the Old and New Covenants together into a false religion.
Dispensationalists came along in the 19th century and made use of the translation of the Greek word ekklesia, which means a popular meeting, a congregation, Jewish Synagogue or Christian community. or a calling, out as Strong's Number 1577. In fact, Acts 7: 38 refers to the Hebrew community of the time of Moses as the "church in the wilderness."
Its interesting that the William Tyndale translation of 1525 does not
translate ekklesia as church, but as congregation. He translates ekklesia as congregation in a great many verses. For example, Tyndale for Matthew 16: 18 has "And I saye also vnto the yt thou arte Peter: and apon this rocke I
wyll bylde my congregacion. And the gates of hell shall not prevayle ageynst it." The King James and most more recent translations have church.
Why then did the classical dispensationalists teach that God has two distinctly different groups, Jews and the Church?
"Fearless" Dave MacPhearson did extensive studies on the origin of the rapture theory and of dispensationalism. His best known book on this toipic is The Rapture Plot. He also wrote The Incredible Cover-Up and The Great Rapture Hoax His work may throw some light on why the guys who created dispsnsationalism made a radical separation between the Jews and the Church.
The rapture theory and some of the ideas which went into dispensationalism go back to the 1830's. But there is some evidence that later on members of the Zionist movement helped to spread dispensationalism, especially in the United States. Certainly dispensationalism as the most popular theology in American evangelical churches has encouraged Christians to donate money to the cause of the nation of Israel, and to support efforts by the government to protect Israel in military, economic and political ways.
For example, Samuel Untermeyer,
who later became chairman of the American Jewish Committee, and president
of the American League of Jewish Patriots. is said to have helped C.I Scofield, the first
major American dispensationalis. This is from the site:
This is very interesting and telling. I grew up with dispensationilism. I studied at what is now San Diego Christian University when Tim LaHaye was still the Pres. there. He was one of the founders of the school. I had several opportunities to talk with him and he is a very intelligent and challenging man. I only mention this because of his recent series of "Left Behind" muck. I also attended Talbot Seminary and the Finney Torrey Institute of Church Growth at a church in San Francisco.
Anyway, after becoming born from above in 1955 adn with all this education behind me, I spent several months researching dispensationilism and came to call it dispensensationalism. I found that it's history goes back to the post Reformation years after Martin Luther began to write and teach that the Anti-Christ was the Pope the Jesuits were created and enlisted to come up with an alternative teaching to Luther's teachings.
Here are some quotes from http://www.lmn.org/magazine/170/Jesuits.html. Please read the entire article, "Left Behind by the Jesuits".
Luther, ��There are two great truths that stand out in the preaching that brought about the Protestant Reformation,� American Bible Commentator, Ralph Woodrow, reminds us, �The just shall live by faith, not by the works of Romanism and the Papacy is the Antichrist of Scripture.� It was a message for Christ and against Antichrist. The entire Reformation rests upon this twofold testimony.��
"In 1545, the Catholic Church convened one of its most famous councils in history, which took place north of Rome in a city called Trent. The Council of Trent actually continued for three sessions, ending in 1563. One of the main purposes of this Council was for Catholics to plan a counterattack against Martin Luther and the Protestants. Thus the Council of Trent became a center for Rome�s Counter-Reformation."
"At the Council of Trent, the Catholic Church gave the Jesuits the specific assignment of destroying Protestantism and bringing people back to the Mother Church. This was to be done not only through the Inquisition and through torture, but also through theology."
"At the Council of Trent, the Jesuits were commissioned by the Pope to develop a new interpretation of Scripture that would counteract the Protestant application of the Bible�s Antichrist prophecies to the Roman Catholic Church. Francisco Ribera (1537-1591), a brilliant Jesuit priest and doctor of theology from Spain, basically said, �Here am I, send me.� Like Martin Luther, Francisco Ribera also read by candlelight the prophecies about the Antichrist, the little horn, that man of sin, and the Beast. But because of his dedication and allegiance to the Pope, he came to conclusions vastly different from those of the Protestants. �Why, these prophecies don�t apply to the Catholic Church at all!� Ribera said. Then to whom do they apply? Ribera proclaimed, �To only one sinister man who will rise up at the end of time!� �Fantastic!� was the reply from Rome, and this viewpoint was quickly adopted as the official Roman Catholic position on the Antichrist."
'�In 1590, Ribera published a commentary on the Revelation as a counter-interpretation to the prevailing view among Protestants which identified the Papacy with the Antichrist. Ribera applied all of Revelation but the earliest chapters to the end time rather than to the history of the Church. Antichrist would be a single evil person who would be received by the Jews and would rebuild Jerusalem.�5 �Ribera denied the Protestant Scriptural Antichrist (2 Thessalonians 2) as seated in the church of God�asserted by Augustine, Jerome, Luther and many reformers. He set on an infidel Antichrist, outside the church of God.�6 �The result of his work [Ribera�s] was a twisting and maligning of prophetic truth.�'
There is much more regarding this history. Please note that I do not intend to slam the Catholic Church, the Papacy or Arch, (AKA Steve) with this information. I do intend however to show that this brand of Theology, as taught and practiced in most modern Protestant churches is not Biblical and completely man made and actually sinister. I do believe that both denominationalism and dispensationilism are plots of the enemy to divide and weaken the original Reformed Church.
If you do go to the article you will find is is lengthy but very informative. I also encourage you to check out the other publications in the Notes.
Your Unorthox Antidispensational Panmillenialist Brother in Christ Jesus, :peace:
Thanks for supporting my post on dispensationalism's origins. Yes, I have come across
the Catholic plot to steer the Protestants away from saying the Pope is the Anti-Christ, and the work of
Francisco Ribera, followed by another Jesuit, Emmanuel Lacunza. They taught futurism and that the Anti-Christ was to be a single person who would appear in the future, during the tribulation. Lacuinza, at least, also said that there would be a pre-tribulation rapture of Christians so they would escape the reign of the Anti-Christ.
In fact, the dispensationalists do believe in a future one man Anti-Christ, and the comic book version of this says that the Anti-Christ will make a treaty with the Jews and then go back on it to sacrifice a pig in the newly rebuilt temple at Jerusalem. James Lloyd of Christian Media Network calls the dispensationalist Anti-Christ "Pig-Man," saying he is predicted to enter the new temple with a pig under his arm to kill there.
But John in I John 2: 18 says "even now there are many anti-christs." And in I John 4: 3 John talks about the spirit of anti-christ and that even now it is already in the world. In the same verse he tells us that "every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God, and this is that spirit of anti-christ."
The spirit of Anti-Christ manifests itself as many Anti-Christs, not just one, although in the end times the Anti-Christs will become more widespread and more threatening.
You know the dispensationalists make use of Daniel 9: 25-27, the Seventy Weeks prophecy, in saying that the dispensationalist Anti-Christ is to make a treaty with Israel during the last week and will cause the sacrifice to cease.
Here is the text of Daniel 9: 25-27; "Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.
26. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
27. And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate."
There is no dispensationalist Anti-Christ in these verses. In verse 26 there are two men mentioned. One is Jesus Christ, the Messiah, and the other is the prince, who apparently is a Roman leader who is here predicted to destroy Jerusalem and the temple in 70 A.D. "He," then in verse 27 must refer either to Jesus Christ or the prince. The dispensationalists say "he" is their one man Anti-Christ. But "he" is Jesus Christ, who is predicted to confirm the covenant for many and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease. When Christ died on the Cross the system of animal sacrifice ceased.
The dispensationalists get their seven year tribulation from these verses, thinking that the last week of Daniel 9 is to be played out in the tribulation. The one dispensationalist Anti-Christ, they say, will reign for seven years in the tribulation.
