A NUGGET OF TRUTH.
10 ERRORS OF DISPENSATIONALISM.
Today, dispensationalism is a method of Bible interpretation that is common to nearly every Protestant denomination around the world. The doctrine is so firmly established that few even stop to consider its origins or validity. As a Counter-Reformation tactic, the development of dispensational theology upon the foundation of Ribera’s interpretive method of futurism, has been a resounding success. Few Protestant churches today teach that the papal system is the Biblical Antichrist. Ribera would be pleased.
Dispensationalism is a dangerous corruption of Scripture. Here are seven errors in the dispensational viewpoint:
1. Dispensations.
God’s plan of salvation has always been the same for all people through all ages. The teaching that history is broken into different periods with a unique plan of salvation for each is unbiblical.
2. Antinomianism.
The rejection of God’s law is an important feature of dispensationalism. Dispensationalists believe that since they are living now in a dispensation of grace and not of law, the moral law is no longer necessary.
Apparently popular among Gnostic sects, antinomianism was revived among the Anabaptists and by Johann Agricola, who later retracted his position after arguments with Luther and Luther's associate Philip Melanchthon.
John Nelson Darby, the “father of dispensationalism," believed in antinomianism, as did those in the movement he founded—the Plymouth Brethren:
Mr. Darby would say that if any man had anything to do with the law of God, even to obey it, he was a sinner by that very act...Of course they strenuously antagonize inwrought and personal holiness as an utter impossibility, since the old man has a lease of the soul which does not expire till death. Yet they insist that they are perfectly holy in Christ "up there," while perfectly carnal and corrupt "down here" in their moral state.
Mr. Darby taught that no act of sin, even murder, can remove us from our standing in Christ. Sin may obstruct communion, and leave the soul in sadness and darkness for a season, but sin in a believer is ok and will not hinder one from attaining eternal life.
*Grace and the Law*
It is true that salvation can be found only in God's grace through faith, and not by human action. However, antinomianism brings with it a license to continue living in sin, which defies the purpose of salvation in our lives, that is, to free us from sin. Romans 6:1-2 explains:
What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
As Romans 3:20 tells us, the law's purpose is to show us that we are sinners who need God's grace. The law is like a mirror that reflects to us our sin. The law gives us the knowledge of sin—the realization that we are sinners and need a Saviour. If there is no law there is no sin (see Romans 5:13, 7:7; James 1:22-25). Martin Luther agrees, saying that the person "who destroys the doctrine of the law, destroys at the same time political and social order. If you eject the law from the church, there will no longer be any sin recognized as such in the world.
Antinomianism forgets that the law has a purpose in our lives today. However, the truth is that the Ten Commandments, written by God's finger, still stand today. John Calvin gives this admonition:
We must not imagine that the coming of Christ has freed us from the authority of the law, for it is the eternal rule of a devout and holy life, and must, therefore, be as unchangeable as the justice of God, which it embraced, is consistent and uniform.
3. Antichrist.
From the days of the early church until the time of the Reformation, Bible scholars consistently applied the literal-historical interpretation method to prophecy. Based on this clear interpretive method, there was consensus among Reformers that the Papacy is the Antichrist. Futurism, a feature of dispensationalism, was created by the Roman Catholic Church to deflect attention away from this well-established truth. Dispensationalism teaches a future Antichrist who builds a temple in Jerusalem, makes, and then breaks, a covenant with Israel.
4. 7-Year tribulation.
Against all logic and without Biblical precedent, dispensationalism teaches that the last week of Daniel’s 70-week prophecy (Daniel 9:25-27) is not consecutive with the prophetic 69 weeks that precede it. Instead, the final week is separated from the other 69 by an unspecified period of time and is thrown off into the future. In dispensationalism, end time prophecy centers around this final 7-year period of time dominated by the Antichrist.
5. Third temple.
In dispensational theology, end-time events depend upon the building of the third temple, which will be destroyed after 3 ½ years.
6. Secret rapture.
Despite such clear statements about the order of events at Christ’s return (Greek parousia, or coming) as Matthew 24:30-31 and others, many have swallowed the lie of a secret rapture. The secret rapture is a contradiction of the Bible’s teaching on the Second Coming of Christ.
In addition, while 61% of evangelical leaders polled7 believe Christ will rapture believers before the great tribulation, the Bible teaches that the entire world, including believers, will be plunged into the greatest time of trouble in history just before Christ returns. What if the secret rapture, a core belief of dispensationalism, is wrong? How will the faith of believers fare when they realize the tribulation is upon them and they were not raptured?
7. Israel.
Expecting the rise of Israel to fulfill end-time prophecy shifts Christians’ focus from Christ’s great commission to take the good news of salvation by grace to all people. Belief that the Jews will be converted and evangelize the world, instead, turns attention to supporting Israel politically and financially.
Believing the Jews of Israel have a significant role to play in relation to Christ’s return, evangelical Christian organizations engage in massive funding campaigns providing millions of dollars of private funding to Israel. “US Evangelicals have donated some $65M to illegal settlements,” reports the International Middle East Media Center.8 It is difficult to estimate the total amount of funds and volunteer hours American Christians have provided to Israel over the years, but their economic and political support is significant.
Evangelical views on Israel are also reflected in US foreign policy. A Memorandum of Understanding between the US and Israeli governments shows the US is committed to $38 billion in military aid between 2019-2028,9 or $3.3 billion annually with “an additional $500 million in missile defense funding.
But what if the Evangelicals are wrong? The fact is, this colossal economic and political support for Israel is based on a religious belief that stems from a misunderstanding of Scripture and an erroneous method of prophetic interpretation. History is clear that futurism, from whence comes dispensationalism and Christian Zionism, was introduced by the Roman Catholic Church as part of their counter-attack on the Reformation, the Bible, and the authority of God.
8. Millennium.
Dispensationalism teaches 1000 years of peace as Christ reigns on the earth. Is this what the Bible teaches about the millennium?
9. The Kingdom of God.
John Nelson Darby believed that even in New Testament times, the church and Israel were distinct and separate entities. He taught that in a future kingdom dispensation, the ethnic-national state of Israel would yet experience earthly blessings. This is in opposition to Christ’s teaching when He was on earth that the kingdom of God was available to believers even then. (See Luke 17:21, Luke 11:20.)
10. Salvation after rapture.
Dispensationalism teaches that the Gospel will still be preached after Christians have been raptured, giving people a chance to accept Christ during the tribulation and the millennium. But this unbiblical view may give some a false hope for a second chance of salvation to those who refuse Christ’s mercy now.
Dispensationalism did not exist until the 19th century. Its development relied upon the foundation laid by Ribera, a member of the Jesuit Order, an order whose purpose was to destroy the Reformation. As the events described in Revelation 13 draw nearer by the minute, it’s time for Protestants to rethink Dispensationalism, open their Bibles and plead for God to send the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth once more.
10 ERRORS OF DISPENSATIONALISM.
Today, dispensationalism is a method of Bible interpretation that is common to nearly every Protestant denomination around the world. The doctrine is so firmly established that few even stop to consider its origins or validity. As a Counter-Reformation tactic, the development of dispensational theology upon the foundation of Ribera’s interpretive method of futurism, has been a resounding success. Few Protestant churches today teach that the papal system is the Biblical Antichrist. Ribera would be pleased.
Dispensationalism is a dangerous corruption of Scripture. Here are seven errors in the dispensational viewpoint:
1. Dispensations.
God’s plan of salvation has always been the same for all people through all ages. The teaching that history is broken into different periods with a unique plan of salvation for each is unbiblical.
2. Antinomianism.
The rejection of God’s law is an important feature of dispensationalism. Dispensationalists believe that since they are living now in a dispensation of grace and not of law, the moral law is no longer necessary.
Apparently popular among Gnostic sects, antinomianism was revived among the Anabaptists and by Johann Agricola, who later retracted his position after arguments with Luther and Luther's associate Philip Melanchthon.
John Nelson Darby, the “father of dispensationalism," believed in antinomianism, as did those in the movement he founded—the Plymouth Brethren:
Mr. Darby would say that if any man had anything to do with the law of God, even to obey it, he was a sinner by that very act...Of course they strenuously antagonize inwrought and personal holiness as an utter impossibility, since the old man has a lease of the soul which does not expire till death. Yet they insist that they are perfectly holy in Christ "up there," while perfectly carnal and corrupt "down here" in their moral state.
Mr. Darby taught that no act of sin, even murder, can remove us from our standing in Christ. Sin may obstruct communion, and leave the soul in sadness and darkness for a season, but sin in a believer is ok and will not hinder one from attaining eternal life.
*Grace and the Law*
It is true that salvation can be found only in God's grace through faith, and not by human action. However, antinomianism brings with it a license to continue living in sin, which defies the purpose of salvation in our lives, that is, to free us from sin. Romans 6:1-2 explains:
What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
As Romans 3:20 tells us, the law's purpose is to show us that we are sinners who need God's grace. The law is like a mirror that reflects to us our sin. The law gives us the knowledge of sin—the realization that we are sinners and need a Saviour. If there is no law there is no sin (see Romans 5:13, 7:7; James 1:22-25). Martin Luther agrees, saying that the person "who destroys the doctrine of the law, destroys at the same time political and social order. If you eject the law from the church, there will no longer be any sin recognized as such in the world.
Antinomianism forgets that the law has a purpose in our lives today. However, the truth is that the Ten Commandments, written by God's finger, still stand today. John Calvin gives this admonition:
We must not imagine that the coming of Christ has freed us from the authority of the law, for it is the eternal rule of a devout and holy life, and must, therefore, be as unchangeable as the justice of God, which it embraced, is consistent and uniform.
3. Antichrist.
From the days of the early church until the time of the Reformation, Bible scholars consistently applied the literal-historical interpretation method to prophecy. Based on this clear interpretive method, there was consensus among Reformers that the Papacy is the Antichrist. Futurism, a feature of dispensationalism, was created by the Roman Catholic Church to deflect attention away from this well-established truth. Dispensationalism teaches a future Antichrist who builds a temple in Jerusalem, makes, and then breaks, a covenant with Israel.
4. 7-Year tribulation.
Against all logic and without Biblical precedent, dispensationalism teaches that the last week of Daniel’s 70-week prophecy (Daniel 9:25-27) is not consecutive with the prophetic 69 weeks that precede it. Instead, the final week is separated from the other 69 by an unspecified period of time and is thrown off into the future. In dispensationalism, end time prophecy centers around this final 7-year period of time dominated by the Antichrist.
5. Third temple.
In dispensational theology, end-time events depend upon the building of the third temple, which will be destroyed after 3 ½ years.
6. Secret rapture.
Despite such clear statements about the order of events at Christ’s return (Greek parousia, or coming) as Matthew 24:30-31 and others, many have swallowed the lie of a secret rapture. The secret rapture is a contradiction of the Bible’s teaching on the Second Coming of Christ.
In addition, while 61% of evangelical leaders polled7 believe Christ will rapture believers before the great tribulation, the Bible teaches that the entire world, including believers, will be plunged into the greatest time of trouble in history just before Christ returns. What if the secret rapture, a core belief of dispensationalism, is wrong? How will the faith of believers fare when they realize the tribulation is upon them and they were not raptured?
7. Israel.
Expecting the rise of Israel to fulfill end-time prophecy shifts Christians’ focus from Christ’s great commission to take the good news of salvation by grace to all people. Belief that the Jews will be converted and evangelize the world, instead, turns attention to supporting Israel politically and financially.
Believing the Jews of Israel have a significant role to play in relation to Christ’s return, evangelical Christian organizations engage in massive funding campaigns providing millions of dollars of private funding to Israel. “US Evangelicals have donated some $65M to illegal settlements,” reports the International Middle East Media Center.8 It is difficult to estimate the total amount of funds and volunteer hours American Christians have provided to Israel over the years, but their economic and political support is significant.
Evangelical views on Israel are also reflected in US foreign policy. A Memorandum of Understanding between the US and Israeli governments shows the US is committed to $38 billion in military aid between 2019-2028,9 or $3.3 billion annually with “an additional $500 million in missile defense funding.
But what if the Evangelicals are wrong? The fact is, this colossal economic and political support for Israel is based on a religious belief that stems from a misunderstanding of Scripture and an erroneous method of prophetic interpretation. History is clear that futurism, from whence comes dispensationalism and Christian Zionism, was introduced by the Roman Catholic Church as part of their counter-attack on the Reformation, the Bible, and the authority of God.
8. Millennium.
Dispensationalism teaches 1000 years of peace as Christ reigns on the earth. Is this what the Bible teaches about the millennium?
9. The Kingdom of God.
John Nelson Darby believed that even in New Testament times, the church and Israel were distinct and separate entities. He taught that in a future kingdom dispensation, the ethnic-national state of Israel would yet experience earthly blessings. This is in opposition to Christ’s teaching when He was on earth that the kingdom of God was available to believers even then. (See Luke 17:21, Luke 11:20.)
10. Salvation after rapture.
Dispensationalism teaches that the Gospel will still be preached after Christians have been raptured, giving people a chance to accept Christ during the tribulation and the millennium. But this unbiblical view may give some a false hope for a second chance of salvation to those who refuse Christ’s mercy now.
Dispensationalism did not exist until the 19th century. Its development relied upon the foundation laid by Ribera, a member of the Jesuit Order, an order whose purpose was to destroy the Reformation. As the events described in Revelation 13 draw nearer by the minute, it’s time for Protestants to rethink Dispensationalism, open their Bibles and plead for God to send the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth once more.
A NUGGET OF TRUTH.
10 ERRORS OF DISPENSATIONALISM.
Today, dispensationalism is a method of Bible interpretation that is common to nearly every Protestant denomination around the world. The doctrine is so firmly established that few even stop to consider its origins or validity. As a Counter-Reformation tactic, the development of dispensational theology upon the foundation of Ribera’s interpretive method of futurism, has been a resounding success. Few Protestant churches today teach that the papal system is the Biblical Antichrist. Ribera would be pleased.
Dispensationalism is a dangerous corruption of Scripture. Here are seven errors in the dispensational viewpoint:
1. Dispensations.
God’s plan of salvation has always been the same for all people through all ages. The teaching that history is broken into different periods with a unique plan of salvation for each is unbiblical.
2. Antinomianism.
The rejection of God’s law is an important feature of dispensationalism. Dispensationalists believe that since they are living now in a dispensation of grace and not of law, the moral law is no longer necessary.
Apparently popular among Gnostic sects, antinomianism was revived among the Anabaptists and by Johann Agricola, who later retracted his position after arguments with Luther and Luther's associate Philip Melanchthon.
John Nelson Darby, the “father of dispensationalism," believed in antinomianism, as did those in the movement he founded—the Plymouth Brethren:
Mr. Darby would say that if any man had anything to do with the law of God, even to obey it, he was a sinner by that very act...Of course they strenuously antagonize inwrought and personal holiness as an utter impossibility, since the old man has a lease of the soul which does not expire till death. Yet they insist that they are perfectly holy in Christ "up there," while perfectly carnal and corrupt "down here" in their moral state.
Mr. Darby taught that no act of sin, even murder, can remove us from our standing in Christ. Sin may obstruct communion, and leave the soul in sadness and darkness for a season, but sin in a believer is ok and will not hinder one from attaining eternal life.
*Grace and the Law*
It is true that salvation can be found only in God's grace through faith, and not by human action. However, antinomianism brings with it a license to continue living in sin, which defies the purpose of salvation in our lives, that is, to free us from sin. Romans 6:1-2 explains:
What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
As Romans 3:20 tells us, the law's purpose is to show us that we are sinners who need God's grace. The law is like a mirror that reflects to us our sin. The law gives us the knowledge of sin—the realization that we are sinners and need a Saviour. If there is no law there is no sin (see Romans 5:13, 7:7; James 1:22-25). Martin Luther agrees, saying that the person "who destroys the doctrine of the law, destroys at the same time political and social order. If you eject the law from the church, there will no longer be any sin recognized as such in the world.
Antinomianism forgets that the law has a purpose in our lives today. However, the truth is that the Ten Commandments, written by God's finger, still stand today. John Calvin gives this admonition:
We must not imagine that the coming of Christ has freed us from the authority of the law, for it is the eternal rule of a devout and holy life, and must, therefore, be as unchangeable as the justice of God, which it embraced, is consistent and uniform.
3. Antichrist.
From the days of the early church until the time of the Reformation, Bible scholars consistently applied the literal-historical interpretation method to prophecy. Based on this clear interpretive method, there was consensus among Reformers that the Papacy is the Antichrist. Futurism, a feature of dispensationalism, was created by the Roman Catholic Church to deflect attention away from this well-established truth. Dispensationalism teaches a future Antichrist who builds a temple in Jerusalem, makes, and then breaks, a covenant with Israel.
4. 7-Year tribulation.
Against all logic and without Biblical precedent, dispensationalism teaches that the last week of Daniel’s 70-week prophecy (Daniel 9:25-27) is not consecutive with the prophetic 69 weeks that precede it. Instead, the final week is separated from the other 69 by an unspecified period of time and is thrown off into the future. In dispensationalism, end time prophecy centers around this final 7-year period of time dominated by the Antichrist.
5. Third temple.
In dispensational theology, end-time events depend upon the building of the third temple, which will be destroyed after 3 ½ years.
6. Secret rapture.
Despite such clear statements about the order of events at Christ’s return (Greek parousia, or coming) as Matthew 24:30-31 and others, many have swallowed the lie of a secret rapture. The secret rapture is a contradiction of the Bible’s teaching on the Second Coming of Christ.
In addition, while 61% of evangelical leaders polled7 believe Christ will rapture believers before the great tribulation, the Bible teaches that the entire world, including believers, will be plunged into the greatest time of trouble in history just before Christ returns. What if the secret rapture, a core belief of dispensationalism, is wrong? How will the faith of believers fare when they realize the tribulation is upon them and they were not raptured?
7. Israel.
Expecting the rise of Israel to fulfill end-time prophecy shifts Christians’ focus from Christ’s great commission to take the good news of salvation by grace to all people. Belief that the Jews will be converted and evangelize the world, instead, turns attention to supporting Israel politically and financially.
Believing the Jews of Israel have a significant role to play in relation to Christ’s return, evangelical Christian organizations engage in massive funding campaigns providing millions of dollars of private funding to Israel. “US Evangelicals have donated some $65M to illegal settlements,” reports the International Middle East Media Center.8 It is difficult to estimate the total amount of funds and volunteer hours American Christians have provided to Israel over the years, but their economic and political support is significant.
Evangelical views on Israel are also reflected in US foreign policy. A Memorandum of Understanding between the US and Israeli governments shows the US is committed to $38 billion in military aid between 2019-2028,9 or $3.3 billion annually with “an additional $500 million in missile defense funding.
But what if the Evangelicals are wrong? The fact is, this colossal economic and political support for Israel is based on a religious belief that stems from a misunderstanding of Scripture and an erroneous method of prophetic interpretation. History is clear that futurism, from whence comes dispensationalism and Christian Zionism, was introduced by the Roman Catholic Church as part of their counter-attack on the Reformation, the Bible, and the authority of God.
8. Millennium.
Dispensationalism teaches 1000 years of peace as Christ reigns on the earth. Is this what the Bible teaches about the millennium?
9. The Kingdom of God.
John Nelson Darby believed that even in New Testament times, the church and Israel were distinct and separate entities. He taught that in a future kingdom dispensation, the ethnic-national state of Israel would yet experience earthly blessings. This is in opposition to Christ’s teaching when He was on earth that the kingdom of God was available to believers even then. (See Luke 17:21, Luke 11:20.)
10. Salvation after rapture.
Dispensationalism teaches that the Gospel will still be preached after Christians have been raptured, giving people a chance to accept Christ during the tribulation and the millennium. But this unbiblical view may give some a false hope for a second chance of salvation to those who refuse Christ’s mercy now.
Dispensationalism did not exist until the 19th century. Its development relied upon the foundation laid by Ribera, a member of the Jesuit Order, an order whose purpose was to destroy the Reformation. As the events described in Revelation 13 draw nearer by the minute, it’s time for Protestants to rethink Dispensationalism, open their Bibles and plead for God to send the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth once more.
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