https://prophecyquestions.com/prophecy-questions-specifically-for-dispensationalists/
How are we going to get people to support Armageddon if they read what you wrote?
grumpa back as the accuser of the brethren!
Not that this will change your mind, but allow me to offer a Pascal’s Wager alternative.
There are two possibilities: one is that present-day Israel is the fulfillment of Biblical prophecy, and the other is that it is simply a political unit that happens to consist mostly of Jews.
This leaves four options.
1) Israel is a political unit, and I don’t think of it as the fulfillment of prophecy. I happen to be correct, and not out of God’s will.
2) Israel is the fulfillment of prophecy, and I think of it that way. I happen to be correct, and not out of God’s will.
3) Israel is a political unit, and I think of it as the fulfillment of prophecy. I happen to be incorrect. I am not necessarily out of God’s will, since I still think of the church as being grafted to the vine, and by supporting a political unit of Jews I am not blaspheming God’s people.
4) Israel is the fulfillment of prophecy, and I think of it as a political unit. I happen to be incorrect. I also am outside of God’s will, since I do not support the fulfillment of His prophecy, and I am not standing with those who are the apple of His eye.
Of the four above options, #4 has the greatest risk for the least reward, while #3 has the least risk for the greatest reward. I am better off assuming Israel is the establishment of God’s chosen people in the fulfillment of prophecy, even if I were to find out as I enter the pearly gates that I was incorrect, since I would still be able to enter.
Not a fan of Hal Lindsey I see …
Covenantal theology is the foundation for a whole lot antisemitism
As Gary North pointed out, people know which side their bread is buttered on. They have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo that maintains their income. Why rock the boat that's keeping your family afloat?
For example, Dallas Theological Seminary, the flagship of the flagging dispensational subculture, declared its own irrelevance to real-world issues in 1973. The de-facto deity of the USA -- what five black-robed miscreants think or feel on a given day -- enforced unrestricted human sacrifice on all fifty states.
And DTS was silent.
Even though Roe v. Wade happened in their own back yard, under their noses -- THEY HAD NOTHING TO SAY.
Guys who preach optimism and Christian responsibility find themselves without a pulpit.(1) Denied access to the Wheaton Mafia, the mainstream evangelical press. Which DTS does train competent hacks to write for.
If you truly intend to study, teach, and preach the Kingdom of God, much of your education will be self-education. Reading everything you can get your hands on from the new kids on the block. Trying the new paradigms out.(2)
The linked document was my lifeline during my own decade-long session of rewiring my mind along Kingdom-honoring lines. It lived in the pocket of my suitcoat and got re-read many times. Gary North basically argued that you can't get training in the new paradigm (Jesus is Lord over the vast universe AROUND us, as well as the half-vast "universe" inside us) from folks who've bet the farm on the old way of thinking.
~~~
(1) The closest Christian Reconstructionist church I'm aware of is about 100 miles from where I sit. The founding pastor planted this new church in the middle of the Bible Belt, rather than trying to work with an existing church. He explained, "It's easier to give birth than it is to raise the dead."
(2) My favorite denomination, Every Nation International, likes to plant churches on college campuses. One of their highly-trained and highly-motivated campus missionaries tried to take the Gospel of the Kingdom to a notable Baptist university -- but gave up after banging her head against the wall there for months. The kids just could not grasp the idea of a relevant public Christian faith -- and kept wanting to scoot off and have some more "personal devotions" whenever a challenging real-world question arose.
Click HERE for that essay on self-education.
Old Covenant Judaism a DEAD TREE; God’s people are now SPIRITUAL Israel, yet as a man named Paul clearly states,
And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again. (Romans 11:23 [KJV])
For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. (Romans 11:25-29 [KJV])
For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all. (Romans 11:32 [KJV])More: ISRAEL: CHOSEN OR FORGOTTEN?, by the grace of God.
Dispensationalists, who teach that the land promises to ethnic Israel are forever, and that the temple will be rebuilt complete with animal sacrifices are reading something into the text that is not there.
You are mixing truth with falsehood. Denying the literal 1,000 year reign of Christ is removing something from the text that is there, with its Day of Christ, and what follows.
And those who die in that obedient faith will go to be forever with Him at death or His return, at "the first resurrection," (Revelation 20:5) “the resurrection of life, ” (Jn. 5:29a) "of the just." (Luke 14:14) For wherever Scripture clearly speak of the next conscious reality for those who die in that effectual faith then it is with the Lord, at death or His return (whatever comes first), by the grace of God. (Lk. 23:43 [cf. 2Cor. 12:4; Rv. 2:7]; Phil 1:23; 2Cor. 5:8 [“we”]; 1Cor. 15:51ff'; 1Thess. 4:17) In contrast to those who were never born of the Spirit or who terminally fall away. (Gal. 5:1-4; Heb. 3:12; 10:25-39)
And who then be rulers under Christ in His literal 1,000 year reign: “Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.” (Revelation 20:6)
* After which the “great and notable day of the Lord” ‘ (Acts 2:20) culminates in the Great White Throne judgment, with “the resurrection of damnation” (Jn. 5:29b) and their judgment which occurs 1,000 years after “the first resurrection” (Rv. 20:6) the “resurrection of life, (”(Jn. 5:29a) and in which judgment believers will be part of the jury in the judgment of men and angels (1 Corinthians 6:3)
Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour. For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building. According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire. (1 Corinthians 3:8-15; cf. 2 Corinthians 5:10)
For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God. (1 Corinthians 4:4-5)
And the best i see it, believers will first also go with the Lord to fight in the Battle or Armageddon and afterwards reign with Him for a 1,000 years, and then act as judges in the final judgment:
And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. (Revelation 19:14)
And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. (Jude 14-15)
And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. (Revelation 19:19-20)
And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. (Revelation 20:1-3)
And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. (Revelation 20:4-6)
Now obviously all these who go to be forever with the Lord, and fight for and with Him, and are judged as to reward, and rule for Him are all believers. All before the final judgment. And in which judgment the two classes are also manifest, with the sheep being testified to as those who had effectual faith, versus those whose deeds evidenced the contrary (see further below).
And in which believers shall be judges:
Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life? (1 Corinthians 6:3) As Jude said, To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed.."
Yet which final judgment occurs after the devil is loosed for one final test of man, as he leads a multitude in rebellion against the Lord and His elect in a renewed world.
And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. (Revelation 20:7-10)
And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:11-15)
For the lost have been in Hades with the selfish man of Luke 16, but like as believers were in Heaven yet not specifically rewarded for their faith (cf. Heb. 10:35) until the Lord's return, so also the unbelievers have not yet been sentenced to their degree of punishment relative to their works and accountability. And there are differences:
And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee. (Matthew 11:23-24)
Note that Catholics and preterites are clearly in error in denying the literal thousand year reign of Christ in which there can be forgiveness for the lost who survived the great tribulation, while believers are as angels. And as regards the myth of RC Purgatory and the attempt to justify it by referencing forgiveness in the age to come, (Matthew 12:32) , it is this 1,000 year reign which Catholicism, denies that is "the age to come" in which there is forgiveness, for not all in the earth during the 1,000 year reign of Christ are believers, as some flesh survived the great tribulation, thus while in the millennium the Lord "shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young (Isaiah 40:11) yet speaking of the same period we also read, And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. (Revelation 19:15)
And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain. And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith the Lord will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. (Zechariah 14:16-18)
All need to turn to the Lord Jesus as a damned+destitute sinner, trust Him to save + be baptized + follow Him!)
Step one, study the OT prophets in detail.
Step two, understand new dispensationalism.
This article skips these first two steps.