Dispensationalism: This theology is prevalent in many Baptist and non-denominational churches, though not limited to these of course.  Dispensationalism overreaches regarding the distinction between the Old Covenant which God made with Israel and the New Covenant which God made with the New Testament church.  It discounts that the earliest Christians were Jews who operated on the foundation stones of the Jewish Scriptures.  It doesn’t take into account that the New Covenant was also made with the house of Israel.  There is thus not a separate covenant for Israel as a nation now.  Rather, gentiles who believe in Christ have been grafted into the house of Israel; while Jews who reject Christ as their Messiah are cut off from the New Covenant with the house of Israel (Romans chapter 11 so beautifully and clearly illustrates this).  This shows how the New Covenant God made with Israel is also the Covenant which He made with the New Testament church.  The greatest significance of this error is that Jesus and the Apostles referenced the moral principles of the Law of God given in the Law of Moses as Christian righteousness, based upon the eternal moral law of God.  Jesus and the Apostles also illustrated salvation by grace through faith using Old Testament examples and people.  A great evil of Dispensationalism then is that it does not provide a faithful reference for righteous living since it removes the force of the moral principles of the Law of God as a definite reference for this.  It also gives a potential distinction between saving faith in Christ and practical obedience to Christ which involves faithful living before Him, while the Bible does not make such a distinction.  Genuine saving faith in Christ is obedient to Him for who He is (the Lord and Savior- the Passover Lamb must be totally eaten for the Passover blood to deliver from God’s judgment).  The evil concept that Jesus can be your Savior while not really being honored and followed as Lord is fostered by Dispensational heresy.  Closely connected here is OSAS (once saved, always saved doctrine or unconditional eternal security) which the Bible repeatedly teaches contrary to.  OSAS is a logical outcome of Dispensationalism.  Dispensational theology involves a lot of clever gymnastics which it employs to deny the concept that one can be in Christ for a time yet fall away through disobedience (which stems from unbelief).  Dispensationalism was popularized through the Scofield Reference Bible which came out in the early twentieth century.

Antinomianism is the concept that Jesus Christ has released Christians from having to keep the moral Law of God.  Anyone who believes that God’s grace in Jesus Christ relieves them of their duty to do what is right in God’s eyes, in accordance with His eternal moral Law, is surely an antinomian.  Antinomianism is the prevailing concept in evangelical Christianity today, as well as in the realm of professing Christianity overall.  It is closely related to, and impossible to practically separate from, the concepts of easy-believe-ism and unconditional eternal security.  Easy-believe-ism is the concept that Christ can be received apart from a total break from sin in one’s heart, apart from restitution for one’s unlawful deeds, apart from deeds which overall demonstrate genuine repentance from sin, and continued obedience to Christ’s Word.  Unconditional eternal security is also known as OSAS (one saved, always saved).  OSAS teaches that someone who has received Christ can never ultimately fall away from Him unto damnation.  It is obvious that easy-believe-ism teachers who don’t teach the necessity of repentance from sin, and the necessity of deeds worthy of repentance from sin, in order to receive Christ would also teach unconditional eternal security.  Yet some people, contrary to logic, teach unconditional eternal security while claiming to teach the necessity of repentance from sin and deeds worthy of repentance in order to receive Christ.  Logically and practically though, antinomianism, easy-believe-ism, and unconditional eternal security doctrine teaching are inseparable due to how well they correspond with each other and due to how inconsistent and illogical it is to separate them in any way.

Applying these things to a real life illustration: Zaccheus understanding the need to make restitution to those whom he had defrauded and give half of his goods to the poor to tear his heart from the love of money and do the good which he had neglected for so long, in order to receive Jesus unto salvation.  Zaccheus is a rebuke which exposes antinomianism and easy-believe-ism as the devilish lies which they are.  The unconditional eternal security teachers are also rebuked by this fact and proven to be in league with the antinomians and easy-believe-ism teachers.  Zaccheus had to break from his sin to receive Jesus and demonstrate this break by his deeds.  It is evident and obvious that if Zaccheus turned back to sin, he’d be denying Jesus and he would no longer be a partaker of Jesus’ grace.

Jesus said in Matthew 10:32-33: “Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.  But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.”

None of this changed the slightest bit after the cross, as the Apostle Paul testified of the Gospel which he preached, as he was testifying before King Agrippa, in Acts 26:19-20: “Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision: But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance.”

Every moral principle and command throughout the Bible, and every ordinance given to Christians to observe, must be welcomed and walked in if we are to have a true, solid hope in Jesus Christ.  Otherwise, you are practically trusting in a false antinomian grace rather than Jesus Christ’s true grace which upholds God’s moral Law, and which is offered with the intent of actually redeeming us from our sins and transforming us into fitting subjects for God’s eternal kingdom.  You can’t have a part in that kingdom when you are at enmity with the King’s Law or if you are in any way tentative to walk therein.  He loves righteousness and He hates lawlessness.  He offers mercy and grace to those who will adopt the same attitude and come to Him continually to live in accordance with this attitude.  None can earn their own salvation; and none can make another way to be accepted by the King.  

Psalm 119:142: “Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and thy law is the truth.”

1 John 3:4: “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.”

What is a Proper View of the Kingdom of God which Jesus and the Apostles Preached?

Many believe the kingdom is totally in the future.  Some believe though that there is not a future aspect to that kingdom at all (they’re called Full Preterists).  Both groups are dead wrong.  There is a present and a future aspect to the kingdom.  

Wherever Jesus Christ reigns, there is the kingdom of God.  However, His kingdom has not yet come in its fullness in terms of His reign over the nations.  In the New Covenant, He imparts His very own life to those under His reign.  Think of the arrival of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost.  Faithful people under the Old Covenant did have the Holy Spirit upon them, but not dwelling in the depths of their heart so that they could partake of the divine nature like the Christian in the New Covenant can.  This partaking of the divine nature through Jesus Christ can only happen in subjection to Him in turning one’s feet into His narrow way; the path of Biblical holiness.  When one obeys the Gospel of Christ and does this, it is done in hope of reigning with Christ during His coming thousand year reign over the nations and thereafter in eternity (otherwise, why bother doing so- if in this life only we have hope in Christ we are of all men most miserable- the Apostle Paul testified that in 1 Corinthians 15:19).  Those who do not turn to be faithful subjects of Christ’s righteous reign, and continue therein, here in the trial period of this life, will have no part with Him in His coming kingdom and will rather be condemned to hell’s eternal fire as enemies of His righteous reign.

The present of the kingdom is demonstrated in Romans 14:17-18.

We see the present and future of the kingdom in the very same passage several times in the Bible, including in the following passages.

Acts 3:19-24: “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.  And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.  For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you.  And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.  Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days.”

Revelation 11:15-18: “And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever (there is the kingdom of God in its fullness).  And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshiped God,  Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned.  And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy (that is, morally corrupt) the earth.”

Dispensationalists teach a distinction between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven.  It is a slick method of justifying their lawless gospel, their easy-believe-ism, and their unconditional eternal security doctrines (all false doctrines).  Jesus however spoke of the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven interchangeably, and even clearly equated them in Matthew 19:23-24.

Matthew 19:23-24: “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.  And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.”

Ruckman indeed disregarded Biblical illustrations like the Passover Lamb which prove that Jesus must be received for all that He is (Lord and Savior; Prophet, Priest, and King) in order for one to have an interest in His atoning blood.  Ruckman boldly and blatantly taught antinomian heresy (that is, a lawless gospel) and said that getting to heaven meant choosing to trust Jesus to forgive you by His death on the cross while Ruckman also boldly and blatantly taught that receiving Jesus has nothing to do with turning from sin, obeying God through being subject to Jesus’ Lordship, or even confessing sin for that matter.  He blatantly taught the heresy of the imputed righteousness of Christ, saying that when God looks at a wretched, unholy man like Peter Ruckman He sees Jesus Christ’s own personal righteousness!  Yes, that’s right.  Ruckman taught the heresy that God sees Jesus Christ when he looks at one who has trusted in Christ (by Ruckman’s own corrupt definition of trusting in Christ)- and he even blatantly taught that one can be a Christian while being an unholy, profane, disobedient, unrepentant sinner!  It cannot get any worse than that (and that is a common, common evangelical heresy).

Though Ruckman came off as if he were an authority on Biblical forgiveness and imputed righteousness, he proved himself to be anything but that.  When the Bible speaks about righteousness being imputed to a person, it is speaking of God forgiving them and justifying them by Christ’s blood through the person’s own living faith in the true God (which if it is a really a living faith has turned into the way of holiness and righteousness in God’s eyes).  And contrary to Dispensationalist doctrine and theology, the very Biblical basis for imputed righteousness stems from Old Testament men like Abraham and David regarding their obedient lives where righteousness reigned, sin was put away, and they were presently worshiping God in spirit and in truth as the Bible requires for anyone who would be regarded as a worshiper of the true God who is in in His grace.  Romans chapter four indeed references them in teaching about imputed righteousness.  It speaks of God not imputing sin to the faithful.  It does not speak of speak of a person cleansing a person by Christ’s blood and God seeing Jesus Christ when He looks upon them (the doctrine of double imputation- ironically, Ruckman’s great errors are related to the false doctrines of double imputation and double inspiration- we could call these his double devilish doctrines).  

Romans chapter four in its context is an elaboration of what is said in the closing verse of Romans chapter three.  Romans 3:31: “Do we then make void the law through faith?  God forbid: yea, we establish the law.”

Paul goes on to prove in Romans chapter four that a person need not be physically circumcised in order for God to impute righteousness to them (that is, to forgive them through Jesus Christ whom even the people in the Old Testament who were saved through due to the anticipation of His eventual atoning death which God had promised since Genesis chapter 3 when He told the serpent that the seed of the woman would bruise his head while the serpent would bruise the seed of the woman’s heel).  

Paul did not say (in Romans 4 or anywhere else) that a person could be forgiven as a persistent, disobedient, unholy sinner like Ruckman and the lawless gospel preachers would have us believe.  Paul rather taught that a living, obedient faith is the foundation for being justified in God’s eyes (in terms of having Christ’s atoning blood applied to them), that such a faith can be in one who is not physically circumcised, and that physical circumcision only had significance in those who had come to such a faith in their hearts (that is, those who are circumcised in their hearts).  Abraham was circumcised at heart before he was physically circumcised because he had a faith which corresponded with what circumcision signified when God commanded it of Abraham (and that is the resolve to believe and trust God, and to quickly do what He says as a result of this, even unto suffering and reproach).   Abraham had such a faith when he was circumcised in Genesis chapter 17 and he maintained it so that he offered up Isaac at God’s command in Genesis chapter 22 (many years later).

James 2:19-24: “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.  But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?  Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?  Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?  And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.  Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.”

You see how by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.  It must stem from a repentant, obedient heart towards the true God.  Ritualism, self-reform, and other attempts to earn God’s favor cannot save someone.  Ruckman was setting up a strawman when he spoke of such things as the opposition to his lawless gospel of easy-believe-ism and unconditional eternal security.  

The reference to righteousness being imputed to David in Romans chapter four is from Psalm 32.  It proves Ruckman as a liar when he says that confession of sin has nothing to do with salvation; and it proves that acceptable confession of sin in God’s eyes must mean forsaking sin and being subject to the authority of His Word.

We read in Jeremiah 31:31-34: “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they break, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.  And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

We know by the context of Hebrews chapter 8, and how this passage is re-quoted there, that this new covenant with the house of Israel is the covenant with the Christian church.  They are one and the same covenant.  How is that?  Scripture explains in Ephesians 2:11-22: “Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ (gentiles who have truly believed in Christ are no longer alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, no longer strangers from the covenants of promise, they are no longer without hope, and no longer without God in the world).  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 (Jesus basically fulfilled, or it could be better said, set into motion the fulfillment of the shadows of Him which are displayed in the ordinances of God’s ceremonial law given to Israel, which is a schoolmaster to Him; hence there is no need for gentiles to become Jews outwardly, even though God chose to wait several years until Cornelius’ conversion and the Acts 15 council to officially release those who afterwards believed in Christ from having to be outwardly circumcised and keep the ceremonial law); for to make in himself of twain (i.e. two) one new man, so making peace; And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh (near; Jews; how can natural Jews then have any part in God’s covenant, which Christ is the chief cornerstone of, when they reject Him?  They don’t; and they have nowhere else to run to).  For through him we both (natural Jews and gentiles who believe in Jesus Christ) have access by one Spirit unto the Father.  Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.”

Since Christ is the foundation of the house of God, there is no way to have any part in God’s people and to partake of the blessings of the covenant which God has with His people (i.e. the true Israel), apart from being rightly related to God through Jesus Christ.  

We read in Romans 9:6-8: “Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect.  For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel: Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called.  That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.”  

This passage shows how Jews who were wicked before God never were acceptable to Him and never were regarded as heirs of salvation.  Under the Old Covenant (or, the Sinai Covenant) God’s worship, God’s service, God’s glory, and many of God’s promises (especially that of the coming Messiah) were given to Israel as a nation (Romans 9:4-5).  Yet after the nation of Israel’s rejection as a whole of the Messiah which God had promised them, and the inauguration of the New Covenant on the Day of Pentecost, God arranged things so that within a relatively short time (as the Jewish nation sealed their rejection of Christ by rejecting the testimony of His servants regarding Him) His worship would no longer be centered in the nation of Israel and around its Temple.  The Temple’s destruction itself by the Romans ultimately sealed this fact.  It was a judgment which Jesus and other men of God had warned would happen.  

Jesus said in Matthew 22:2-7: “The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come.  Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage.  But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise: And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them.  But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.”

As a result of these things, Christ’s church, His true people, are the true Israel.  The church did not replace Israel because the Christian church is built upon the Jewish Scriptures and its foundation stones are Jewish people- since the earliest Christians were faithful Jews.  To have a foundational place in the establishment of the Messiah’s church and to be part of the springboard whereby His gospel was to go forth into all the world was indeed an immense honor for these.  We can’t rightfully say that the Christian church replaced Israel, but it is right to say that the nation of Israel itself and the Jewish religious economy were rejected by God while the spiritual Israel remains.  Natural Jews who don’t believe in Christ are not part of that spiritual Israel.  Faithful Christians, whether they are natural Jews or gentiles, are indeed part of the spiritual Israel. 

Galatians 3:27-29: “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ (that is, those who have truly repented and believed in Christ by coming under His authority) have put on Christ.  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female (this is not a setting aside of God’s order, it is rather stating that all these groups have equal access to God through Christ and the same inheritance in Him): for ye are all one in Christ Jesus (i.e. all part of Christ’s body).  And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

Galatians 6:14-16: “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.  For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.  And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.”  

The true Israel is thus composed of those who have died to sin with Christ in true repentance and live unto God in Him through His High Priesthood, walking in the truth before God and overcoming the evil ways of the world by Him.  Galatians 1:4-5 says of Christ: “Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father: To whom be glory for ever and ever.  Amen.”

We’ll now examine something which many people misunderstand.  This misunderstanding is something which leads many to wrongly conclude that God has a separate covenant with Israel besides His covenant with the true Christian church (as we have seen, the true Israel before God and Christ’s church, His true people, are one and the same).  This misunderstanding is foundational to the doctrines of the theology of Dispensationalism.  There are many prophecies in the Old Testament which seem to talk about the restoration of Israel as a nation at the end of the age; and in relation to that, a kingdom associated with that restoration which reigns over the earth that Jesus Christ Himself is the King of.  And I believe that the Scriptures do indeed teach about such a kingdom and that several New Testament passages echo such a truth.  Yet many reach unwarranted conclusions about unbelieving Jews and modern Israel due to not receiving this truth about the coming kingdom in line with the rest of Scripture. 

If you look at the actual prophecies in the Old Testament which talk about Israel’s restoration and its kingdom at the end of the age, you will notice several statements and implications that God will purge Israel and Jerusalem before He delivers them and dwells among them.  Some key examples of these which you can examine on your own time are Joel 3:12-21, Zechariah 13:7 until the end of the Book of Zechariah, and Zephaniah chapter 3.

 It’s obvious that no natural Jew is going to have any part in this millennial reign who does not in truth repent, turn to Jesus Christ, and serve Him faithfully in this age.  Since Christ’s church is the true Israel in God’s eyes, and since Jews who reject Christ have no part in Him, then of course modern Israel is not the people who will inherit the land which God promised to Abraham’s seed.  

And as a result of these things, another implication is that modern Jews who reject Christ are gentiles or heathens in a spiritual sense.  This is actually stated plainly in the Bible.  Revelation 11:8: “And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.”  That is God’s own verdict about the state of Jews who reject Christ and of modern Israel and Jerusalem.  Peter had told the Jewish crowd in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2:22-24: “Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked (this word implies lawless or gentile; it could have been translated as either and been accurate) hands have crucified and slain: Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.”

Jewish synagogues now, filled with those who reject God’s counsel by refusing to bow to Jesus Christ as their rightful King and Lord whose deliverance they utterly need, might as well be Pagan Temples then.  Stephen said this much to unbelieving Jews whom he witnessed before and rebuked in Acts chapter 7.  It is no wonder that this testimony got him killed by the same crowd.  Stephen was not preaching a new concept.  He was reinforcing a concept which God had established already and he proved how it applied to his hearers in their rejection of Christ.  Jeremiah 9:25-26 says: “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will punish all them which are circumcised with the uncircumcised; Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all that are in the utmost corners, that dwell in the wilderness: for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart.”  Philippians 3:3 thus says of true believers in Jesus Christ: “For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.”  

And speaking of those who identify with the God of the Bible, yet are in reality heathen, that extends into the realm of Christendom (i.e. the realm of professing Christianity) as well.  A profession of Christ is vain or meaningless without this true circumcision of the heart which aligns with God’s means of redeeming man from sin, wholeheartedly shunning carnality, following the instructions of His Word, and coming to Christ on His terms in order to cooperate with Him in His mission of redemption.  The church which is not governed by God’s Word and opposes its light is not substantially better than a Pagan Temple either.

Faithfully worshiping God from the heart, which involves casting away sin and not walking after the flesh, as expressed by the Law which gave God to the Jews, has always been the basis of whether an individual is in God’s favor or not.  Jesus preached the true intent of God’s Law which the carnal Jews did not (and do not to this day) receive.  To believe, as some do, that these have the land of Canaan promised to them now and in the millennial kingdom, even though they will go to hell afterwards, is ridiculous (and that is an understatement).  And there is also not some sort of secondary favor for any person or group who won’t be obedient to God from the heart and walk in truth and righteousness according to His instructions.  That applies to Jews who reject Christ; and it also means no purgatory, no reincarnation, no place in Christ’s kingdom for the lukewarm Christian (who will be spewed out of Christ’s mouth, as Jesus said in Revelation chapter 3), no salvation period for those who dabble in sin and don’t walk faithfully on the strait and narrow way of Christ to eternal life while they are on earth, no grace in the millennial kingdom nor in eternity for those who won’t have the Ultimate King to reign over them here and now before their death and the judgment afterwards (Hebrews 9:27), and it means no alternative faiths to authentic Bible believing and obeying Christianity which lead to a happy Judgment Day.  Bible believing and obeying Christianity alone prepares a person to be properly ready to stand before God.  And that Bible believing and obeying Christianity is the faithful, authentic continuation of Judaism- the chapter following the chapter where Judaism was ordained by God to represent His faithful worship.  That chapter ended with the Jewish nation’s hardhearted rejection of its Messiah and its accompanying forfeit of His divine favor upon it, evidenced and sealed by the destruction of its Temple in AD 70.  There are simply no excuses which are going to hold up on Judgment Day to not turn from sin and serve Jesus Christ the King of Kings and Lord of Lords now with your whole heart, in subjection to His Word.   

When people talk about the timing of the rapture of Christ’s people, they frequently neglect the most important thing which should be considered.  Should Christians be looking for the coming of Christ or should they be preparing to go through the great tribulation?  Such a question actually presents a false dilemma.  Unspeakable harm is done when this is not seen for the false dilemma that it is.  And this dilemma is not seen for what it is whenever it is not well understood that being prepared to meet Christ when He returns and being prepared to faithfully follow Christ through great tribulation cannot rightfully be separated.

Being wholehearted for Jesus Christ means being subject to His Word and submitted to do right in His eyes.  This attitude is necessary to properly live by faith in Him, to prove oneself a faithful subject of His kingdom, and having this attitude at any time brings one into tribulation for His Word’s sake.  One who walks in the light of His Word without compromise will know very well that doing so causes one to enter into a tribulation which they would have avoided otherwise.  And faithfully following Christ can, and likely will, eventually lead one even into great tribulation- and that is so whether or not the world as a whole is in great tribulation.  And following Christ faithfully will bring one on a collision course with the spiritual darkness of the world and into vicious spiritual warfare.  The Apostle Paul wrote what he wrote about taking the whole armor of God in Ephesians chapter six because preparation for the tribulation of great spiritual conflict, and faithfully fighting in fierce spiritual conflict, are essential aspects of true Christianity at all times.  

James 1:27 says: “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.”

Not having this pure and undefiled before God is a key example of one can adopt a counterfeit Christianity which disregards key principles of faithfully following Jesus Christ.  Such a faith is vain in God’s eyes- but it will save you from a lot of tribulation before you end in the fire of hell.  Yet truly turning to Jesus Christ will lead one into tribulation for His Word’s sake.  You shouldn’t think this strange when it happens nor turn back when the fire heats up.  

1 Peter 4:12-19: “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.  If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.  But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters.  Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?  And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?  Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.”

I remember once speaking to a man who strongly believed in, and proclaimed his hope in, the pre-tribulation rapture.  He boasted “I’m getting out of here!” regarding how thought he’d be getting out of the world before things got too hard for him.  He had no answer when I asked him about the Christians in other countries already obviously facing great tribulation through persecution and/or great poverty.   If this man had been faithful to the Lord at this point, he would have been partaking in the same tribulation they were going through to some significant degree so that their affliction would not have been off totally of his radar like it was.  He also would have been doing something, or at least looking for a way to do something, to come to the aid of Christ’s people in their affliction and to contribute to the testimony of Christ being advanced throughout the world.  He also would have been aware to some degree of the great poverty and material affliction which untold millions are going through at the moment and he would have been seeking to visit these poor and needy in their material affliction as well. 

I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect that every honest person will necessarily see the timeline of the end-times exactly the same.  Yet it’s a deadly error to believe that God will rescue Christians from having to go through great tribulation, whether that be in the very final years before Christ returns or any other time.  And it is a closely related and more significant delusion to separate being properly prepared to meet Christ when He returns with diligently keeping His Word now and acclimating oneself to suffering for His name’s sake (something that when truly done is preparing to go great tribulation for His name’s sake).

Therefore, it’s not hard to see that pre-tribulation rapture belief is usually accompanied by a shallow gospel which tells people they can accept Christ as their Savior yet not require and insist that He be obeyed as Lord and followed in all things that His Word teaches.  Such a gospel is false, as well any gospel which doesn’t teach the inevitably of suffering in order to faithfully do this.  This false gospel produces Judases which betray Jesus with a kiss as opportunity for unrighteous gain presents itself and produces people like the Roman soldiers who bow to Jesus with their knees while going about to crucify Him in the hour of trial.  Pre-tribulation rapture belief goes nearly, if not altogether, hand in hand with a lawless gospel and the unconditional eternal security/once saved always saved doctrine (which is the logical outcome of a lawless gospel).  Pre-tribulation rapture teachers typically don’t teach the need to be faithful unto death for Christ’s sake.  How could they logically do so when their belief about God’s ways makes it necessary that God would rescue Christians from having to face great tribulation?   

That there will be Christians on earth at the last trumpet who have gone through the tribulation at the end of the age: The Bible gives evidence of this rather than teaching a pre-tribulation rapture.  And even more evident is the fact that the Bible teaches that Christians need to live faithful to Christ, that the faithful will face tribulation in the Lord, and only those who endure tribulation faithfully in the Lord will inherit salvation and enter the kingdom of God.  Taking to heart the veracity of these principles matters more than someone’s belief about the timeline in the last years before Christ’s coming.  However, wrong suppositions about God’s ways can cause someone to not adequately believe these principles; and these suppositions can be derived from an especially corrupt understanding of the end-times.

John 16:33: “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace.  In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”

John 17:14-15: “I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.   I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.” 

Matthew 24:9-13: “Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.  And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.  And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.  And because iniquity (lawlessness) shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.  But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.”

Acts 14:21-22: “And when they had preached the gospel to that city, and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch, Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.”

What could be clearer?

I will then let Scripture speak below on the timing of the rapture and whether God’s people will be on earth during the tribulation or not.

1 Corinthians 15:51-52: “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed (Paul is speaking regarding faithful Christians), In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”  

The rapture of Christ’s people will clearly happen at the last trumpet.  

And then consider Revelation 11:15-18 (the timing of the rapture of Christ’s people and of Christ coming back to the earth to put down the wicked and to reign on the earth are also clearly the same): “And the seventh angel sounded (the last of the seven angels sounding his trumpet couldn’t be anything besides the last trumpet); and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.  And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshiped God, Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned.  And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.”

Revelation 16:15-17: “Behold, I come as a thief.  Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments (and only truly born-again Christians have garments before God that are worth keeping), lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.  And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.  And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.”

The foundation of seeking to prepare to meet the Lord, which corresponds to preparing to go through tribulation for Christ’s sake, is expressed by what King David’s servants told him in a moment of great adversity.

2 Samuel 15:15: “And the king’s servants said unto the king, Behold, thy servants are ready to do whatsoever my lord the king shall appoint.”

This statement was expressing the attitude that they should have had towards the King already and should have already been proving in suffering for what was necessary to be faithful to him.  It is no different with the Son of David.

We’d better be ready for the Lord to come at any moment, and we’d better be ready to be faithful to Him through tribulation.  Though many don’t see it this way, in reality, these things are inseparable.  And this is the most important thing to know about the rapture.

The faithful Christian church is indeed the true, spiritual Israel which is now disconnected from Israel as a political entity and the Jewish religious economy.  Take to heart then that Jesus is Israel’s Messiah who came in line with the Jewish Scriptures and in fulfillment of the Jewish Scriptures.  Remember how He was called by Simeon in Luke 2:32: “A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.”  And remember how Jesus said in John 4:22 that salvation is of the Jews.  Jews who reject Him miss salvation then because they are out of line with their own Scriptures and opposed to the God who raised Israel up as a nation.  When the Jews rejected Jesus and delivered Him up to be crucified, they said (recorded in Matthew 27:25), “His blood be on us, and on our children.”  So about 40 years later God brought the blood of Christ upon Israel and judged the unbelieving Jews in His wrath.  An incredible number were killed by the Romans and many others died during the siege which happened prior to the Romans taking Jerusalem.  Many others were captured and sold into slavery throughout the world.   They had been given centuries of warning and much opportunity to repent.  The Jewish Christians escaped this judgment because Jesus had warned His followers to flee Jerusalem when they saw it compassed with armies- and they did escape when the opportunity presented itself after this compassing happened.  And those who look a bit deeper into history can find that the recovery of the Jews in the land of Judea in the decades after AD 70 eventually resulted in even more slaughter and oppression at the hands of the Romans.  This had much to do with how the Jews followed false Messiahs (especially Simon Bar Kokhba) in rebellion and war against the Romans.   

These things sealed God’s rejection of Israel as a nation and testified His wrath against the Jews for their unbelief in their King who had been sent to be their Savior.  There is no good reason at all to believe that God’s attitude has ever changed towards the Jewish nation; and no reason to believe that His wrath has departed from Jews who reject their Messiah.  His blood is still upon them.  So is modern Israel, a nation composed mostly of unbelieving Jews, a nation under God’s favor?  Of course not.  Is it any more proper to bless Israel now than it was in AD 70 when God was pouring out His wrath upon them through the Romans for their disobedience to Him and their cruel rejection of their King?  Of course not.  They have never as a people fulfilled the requirements given in the Law of Moses for their re-entrance into God’s favor (i.e. grace).  They continue to harden themselves against their King and reject His reign over them (see Leviticus 26:37-42).  Closely related to that, the commonly mentioned concept that the Jews have a birthright privilege to the land of Israel is rebuked by God in Ezekiel 33:24-29 and many other passages in the Hebrew Bible.

We know that sinners can prosper in their sin for a season.  That is no sign that God has accepted them nor proof that they are being blessed by God due to His special favor upon them.  There is no coincidence that professing Christians who believe in a Prosperity Gospel and professing Christians who bless modern Israel are highly synonymous (i.e. there is a strong overlap between those in these categories).  Proverbs 17:15 says ^“ He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the Lord.”  In light of this Scripture, and what we have already talked about, we should not justify nor bless Israel in its hardened and blind spiritual state.  It is a nation yet at enmity with God.  Though they bless Him with their lips, their heart is far from Him.  They yet deal treacherously with the Father by essentially saying “we will not have this man to reign over us” in rejecting His Son Jesus Christ, the Holy and Just One, as their Messiah (see Luke 19:27).

Regarding Psalm 122:  Praying for the peace of Jerusalem in this Psalm is connected to the house of the Lord in Jerusalem.  But God rejected Jerusalem in AD 70, His house is no longer there, and Jerusalem is no longer the center of His worship (see what Jesus said in Matthew 23:37-39 along these lines).

Modern supporters of Israel will often call criticism of Jews and/or modern Israel “antisemitism”, no matter how appropriate such criticism is.  However, criticism and rebuke of Jews, and of the Jewish nation, can simply be rebuking the wicked without partiality and standing against Jewish supremacy.  Jews can yet be saved if they will obediently repent and receive Jesus Christ as their Messiah in truth, identifying with Him against the stream of their own people’s rejection of Him.  Yet nobody is so special to God because of their heritage that they can live in sin without condemnation.  No one is above the law nor exempt from the terms of being in covenant with God.  Any special privileges which the Jewish people have had will result in greater condemnation for them if they don’t improve their talents and live according to the truth which their own Scriptures testify of.  

Many professing Christians also love to support Israel because of their own desire to have unconditional security.  If the disobedient Jews are safe, then they think they are too.  But if Jews who reject Christ are not safe from God’s wrath (and they are not), then disobedient professing Christians are not either.  

1 Cor. 10:5-12: But with many of them (speaking of Israelites in the Hebrew Bible) God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.   Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.   Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.   Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.   Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.   Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.   Now all these things happened unto them for examples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.  Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.”

Since God has so dealt with the Jews before, He will yet deal with them now, since He never changes.  And so will He deal with all who profess to know Jesus Christ.

The times of the gentiles did not end with Israel becoming a nation again in 1948 like many believe (and that is because God’s established worship is still not yet centered at Jerusalem but rather in faithful Christian churches scattered throughout the nations).  Israel becoming a nation in 1948 then is not the great event in prophetic history which the Dispensationalists would have us believe that it was.

Did God say and obviously imply right in the Jewish Scriptures that ethnic Jews receiving the promised land is conditioned on their obedience to His Word?  He indeed did!  

Leviticus 18:26-28: “ Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations; neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth among you: (For all these abominations have the men of the land done, which were before you, and the land is defiled;) That the land spue not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spued out the nations that were before you.”

Ezekiel 33:23-26: “Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, they that inhabit those wastes of the land of Israel speak, saying, Abraham was one, and he inherited the land: but we are many; the land is given us for inheritance.  Wherefore say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Ye eat with the blood, and lift up your eyes toward your idols, and shed blood: and shall ye possess the land?  Ye stand upon your sword, ye work abomination, and ye defile every one his neighbor’s wife: and shall ye possess the land?”

So much for an unconditional birthright of the natural Jews to inherit the land!  

Deuteronomy 30:15-20: “See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil; In that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.  But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them; I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it.  I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”

Malachi 4:4-6: “Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb (Sinai) for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments.  Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet (whom John the Baptist came in the spirit and power of- Luke 1:17) before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers (the faith of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob), lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.”

Did Jesus rebuke the natural Israelites for not walking in the faith of Abraham and not having His Word abiding in them?  He indeed did!

John 8:34-42: “Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.  And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever.  If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.  I know that ye are Abraham’s (natural) seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.  I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father.  They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father.  Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham.  But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham.  Ye do the deeds of your father.  Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.  Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.”

Did Jesus even say that the land would be taken away from the natural Jews for their rejection of Him (stemming from their lack of repentance and demonstrated by their lack of fruit fitting for repentance)?  He indeed did say this!

Matthew 21:23-44 (listen carefully, this says it all in relation to our study): “And when he was come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came unto him as he was teaching, and said, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority?  And Jesus answered and said unto them, I also will ask you one thing, which if ye tell me, I in like wise will tell you by what authority I do these things.  The baptism of John, whence was it?  from heaven, or of men?  And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say unto us, Why did ye not then believe him?  But if we shall say, Of men; we fear the people; for all hold John as a prophet.  And they answered Jesus, and said, We cannot tell. And he said unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things.  But what think ye?  A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to day in my vineyard.  He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went.  And he came to the second, and said likewise.  And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not.  Whether of them twain (two) did the will of his father?  They say unto him, The first.  Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you (He is speaking directly to the Jewish religious leaders).  For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him.  Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country: And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it.  And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another.  Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise.  But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son.  But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance.  And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him.  When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen?  They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons.  Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes?  Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you (referring to the nation of Israel in terms of a political entity), and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.  And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.”

God severely reproves and rebukes those who tell the wicked they have peace with God and are in His favor. 

Jeremiah 23:16-19: “Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord.  They say still unto them that despise me, The Lord hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you.  For who hath stood in the counsel of the Lord, and hath perceived and heard his word?  who hath marked his word, and heard it?  Behold, a whirlwind of the Lord is gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked.”

Jeremiah 48:10: “Cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord deceitfully, and cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood.”

God warned Israel the following in speaking of when they would be under judgment for rebelling against Him.

Leviticus 26:36-42: “ And upon them that are left alive of you I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; and the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them; and they shall flee, as fleeing from a sword; and they shall fall when none pursueth.  And they shall fall one upon another, as it were before a sword, when none pursueth: and ye shall have no power to stand before your enemies.  And ye shall perish among the heathen, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up.  And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemies’ lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them.  If they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed against me, and that also they have walked contrary unto me; And that I also have walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity: Then will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land.”

It’s clear that this covenant was available to them, but they were not in it and inheriting the promises of it, without such repentance.

Regarding those who try to sneak their way back without such repentance, Jesus warns in John 10:1: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.”

To say something is of God (like the modern nation of Israel) because it seemed to work for a time is called pragmatism.  Yet disregarding God’s Word never ends well.  Prospering for a season in rebellion, especially while claiming this prosperity is according to God’s promise, only courts further disaster.  God is not mocked.  And yet many evangelical leaders and their blind followers, tainted by their own sins and their own presumptuous and unwarranted beliefs in having unconditional security and favor with God themselves, and likewise not giving due heed to the whole counsel of God in Scripture, justify and support the wicked, Christ-rejecting nation of modern Israel along with its wicked false ideology of Zionism.  It figures.  

Rather than simplify the Bible for the common man like Scofield claimed that his Dispensational teachings do, Dispensationalism rather unnecessarily complicates the Bible and chops it up so that no one can even know what is supposed to apply to them without some supposedly enlightened Dispensational scholar giving them guidance about everything (to the throwing away of common sense and blindness to things which are as obvious as anything can be, by the way).  

One key example of this is Scofield’s claim that there are multiple gospels throughout the Bible.  He claimed this right in his notes on the verses where THE everlasting gospel is spoken of in Revelation 14:6-7.

Revelation 14:6-7 says: “And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.”

In Scofield’s notes on this passage he proves himself to be a liar or a moron in attempting to distinguish between the gospel of the kingdom, the gospel of the grace of God, the everlasting gospel, and what Paul calls “my gospel” in Romans 2:16.  Scofield also notes at this point that “There is “another Gospel” Galatians 1:6; 2 Corinthians 11:4 “which is not another,” but a perversion of the Gospel of the grace of God, against which we are warned.”  

Yes, and if Scofield had adequately explained that he would have exposed himself as the deceiver and the charlatan that he was.  We saw in the previous message how the evidence points to Scofield being a Zionist shill who served not the Lord Jesus Christ but his own belly.  Yet evangelical Christianity today is saturated with Scofield’s Dispensational influence- often influencing people who don’t even know that they’re being influenced by Scofield.

There is only one true Gospel, the everlasting Gospel of Jesus Christ.  That is the Gospel which Paul preached.  That is also  the Gospel of the kingdom of God and the Gospel of the grace of God.  That is all one and the same Gospel.  There is no other.  Scofield proved himself a false, accursed teacher by teaching otherwise.  

How unintelligent would one have to be to claim with a straight face that the everlasting Gospel will just pop up out of nowhere at the very end of time (and that’s what Scofield claimed)?

The offer of grace to mankind would simply be humanism and license to sin apart from its Biblical context of calling people to repentance and subjection to God’s authority through Jesus Christ, here and now, in order to fit them for the glory of Christ’s everlasting kingdom when it comes in its fullness.  That same Gospel is offered to both Jew and gentiles.  Obeying that Gospel is the only way for anyone to obtain God’s grace and to be delivered from this present evil world which is under the just condemnation of the Holy God who is not a respecter of persons.  

Matthew 28:18-20: “And Jesus came and spoke unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.  Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.  Amen.”

Romans 16:25-27: “Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which was kept secret since the world began, But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith: To God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ for ever.  Amen.”

Not a new Gospel.  The passage does not say that.  Rather, the Gospel preached from the beginning, when God promised that the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent, now unveiled and demonstrated in its fullness by the appearance of Jesus Christ and the sending of His Holy Spirit within His disciples after His atoning death and resurrection.  The Dispensationalists claim that Paul did not preach the kingdom to the gentiles since they claim that the kingdom is not offered to them.  We are seeing that lie refuted here, including in Paul’s own words in the preceding passage and in the proceeding passage.

Acts 20:16-25 (listen closely- this so directly and violently obliterates the claims of Dispensationalism, especially in how it equates the Gospel of the grace of God with the Gospel of the kingdom; and in how it also proves that same Gospel is offered to Jews and gentiles): “For Paul had determined to sail by Ephesus, because he would not spend the time in Asia: for he hasted, if it were possible for him, to be at Jerusalem the day of Pentecost. And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of the church.  And when they were come to him, he said unto them, Ye know, from the first day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have been with you at all seasons, Serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many tears, and temptations, which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews: And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shewed you, and have taught you publicly, and from house to house, Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks (Gentiles), repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.  And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there: Save (Except) that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me.  But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.  And now, behold, I know that ye all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, shall see my face no more.”

Scofield basically claimed in his notes on Revelation chapter 14 that the everlasting Gospel will just pop up and come on the scene at the very end of the Great tribulation at the end of time.  Scofield is one of the vast multitude who has lived before that time who obviously did not fear God and give Him glory (in accordance to how the true God has revealed Himself, and made known His will to mankind through Jesus Christ, the authentic Jesus Christ of the Bible).  

And Scofield is perhaps the most influential theologian (or so-called theologian) in the realm of modern evangelical Christianity today.  This is worse than a joke.  It is even worse than a nightmare.

Aaron’s email is: [email protected]

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