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Friday, October 23, 2015

The End of Dispensationalism?



One may hope so.  Jason Charles has written a practical article on why this false teaching ought to be rejected by Christians.  Here are a couple of outtakes from it:

In 1971 speaking to state legislators, then Governor Ronald Reagan regurgitated a widely held view of prophecy when he stated,

“Ezekiel tells us that Gog, the nation that will lead all of the other powers against Israel, will come out of the north. Biblical scholars have been saying for generations that Gog must be Russia. What other powerful nation is to the north of Israel? None."

This idea of Russia being the great Beast, that would rise up in the End Times to make war with Israel is one of many false interpretations of prophecy that can now FINALLY be laid to rest. This dispensationalist view of end times prophecy was made over a century ago via the Scofield Reference Bible. The controversy surrounding Russia as being the initiator and aggressor in this war against Israel is detailed out in this commentary taken directly from the Scofield Bible which was originally published in 1909.

"Gog - That the primary reference is to the northern (European) powers, headed up by Russia, all agree. The whole passage should be read in connection with Zechariah 12:1-4 ; 14:1-9 ; Matthew 24:14-30 ; Revelation 14:14-20 ; 19:17-21, "gog" is the prince, "Magog," his land. The reference to Meshech and Tubal (Moscow and Tobolsk) is a clear mark of identification. Russia and the northern powers have been the latest persecutors of dispersed Israel, and it is congruous both with divine justice and with the covenants (e.g. (See Scofield "Genesis 15:18") See Scofield " Deuteronomy 30:3 " that destruction should fall at the climax of the last mad attempt to exterminate the remnant of Israel in Jerusalem. The whole prophecy belongs to the yet future "day of Jehovah" ; Isaiah 2:10-22 ; Revelation 19:11-21 and to the battle of Armageddon Revelation 16:14 See Scofield " Revelation 19:19 " but includes also the final revolt of the nations at the close of the kingdom-age. Revelation 20:7-9 ."

As you can see this viewpoint at that time was so widespread, that even Ronald Reagan was caught spouting off this particular prophecy "theory" as if it was the end all, be all of prophetic interpretation. Sadly, almost all of the prophetic books, timelines, and seminary eschatological teachings are built off of this model of interpretation. If you have been around the church for any period of time, no question you have run across people that emphatically finger Russia as the aggressor in end times events.

 . . .

Hal Lindsey wrote a second book entitled The 1980s: Countdown to Armageddon, where he predicted that "the decade of the 1980s could very well be the last decade of history as we know it". This prediction was based off the fallacious thinking that Matthew 24: 32-34 predicted the generation that saw Israel's return would be the last generation before Christ came back to Earth. You can bet that this statement had a dramatic impact on how Ronald Reagan viewed his presidency given the above quote. The Cold War could easily been seen as a fulfillment of everything laid out in these books during that time. Unfortunately for Hal Lindsey none of this came true. The Soviet Empire pathetically collapsed, communism was shown to be a total failure, and Russia never invaded Israel nor attempted to draw in other allies to destroy Israel.

Instead, America has now fallen to communistic philosophies, we are totally lost morally, we have legislated every Constitutional Right we have away, and our foreign policy is as aggressive and destructive as any empire in history, if not the most destructive. And who is our allies in all of this aggressive unilateral action? Israel, Saudi Arabia and other NATO actors, that's who.

Instead of rising up against Israel as some aggressive communist state, Vladimir Putin has decried the West's  promotion of communist ideologies and Godlessness. In a speech he made this last July he said,

“Many Euro-Atlantic countries have moved away from their roots, including Christian values. Policies are being pursued that place on the same level a multi-child family and a same-sex partnership, a faith in God and a belief in Satan. This is the path to degradation.”
 
This is what you didn't read in all of these prophecy books that flooded the market place over the years. America has become more Beast-like in the past 30 years than Russia had been in the last 100, we aren't just a minor component of Global Government we are THE engine of Global Government. We are the aggressors in almost all wars abroad globally. It is our political leaders that are the culprits who have been utilizing American backed, Saudi supplied and Israel trained rebel/ISIS fighters to take out democratically elected leaders and countries all over the middle east. This agenda started with the Bush administration and has only expanded under the Obama administration. This is the honest to God truth, it is time we start rethinking everything we know about end times. Every bit of past prophetic thought has collapsed in light of who the real global aggressors and players are. These false prophets have all turned out to be horribly wrong, and they make Christians who still buy into this satanic deception and chess game look like hypocritical dupes as they back warmongering nations. No wonder to the unsaved world Christians are perceived as bigoted warmongers that reflect nothing of the peaceful teachings of Christ. Their beliefs on end times are filled with preconceptions, all based on misinterpretations of scripture. They defend evil actions by their own nations because of these preconceived notions of prophecy.

 . . .

Source:  ‘Vladimir Putin Just Destroyed 100 Years Worth of Prophetic Speculation’, http://wakethechurch.org/Articles/tabid/410/ID/10847/Vladimir-Putin-Just-Destroyed-100-Years-Worth-of-Prophetic-Speculation.aspx#.Vh0BNMv2Ji9.twitter, posted 6 Oct. 2015, accessed 22 Oct. 2015 (Thanks to Fr Andrew Phillips for posting the path at his blog: http://www.events.orthodoxengland.org.uk/)

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