How Dispensationalism & Zionism Pervert Christianity

My last post explained how the combination of Old and New Testaments are one continuous unveiling of the one eternal gospel of salvation.

Many people do not recognize this beautiful, seamless story of redemption in Scripture, but instead think there are two groups of “chosen people” and two plans of salvation. This is largely due to the false teachings of dispensationalism and zionism, which are taught in most American churches. Zionism is also furthered in the American secular media, and the media controlled by “the religious right.” (Please remember that “religious” does not equal “godly.” While the religious right has a form of godliness in taking certain moral stands that the Christian can agree with, in many ways it wanders from the true path of godliness laid out by Christ.) You can read a history of modern dispensationalism here, and an illuminating list of Scriptural problems with that system of thought here. Some good articles about modern “Christian” zionism can be read here. I encourage any reader who hasn’t researched these subjects thoroughly to read several sources.

During the Babylonian captivity that judged Israel’s apostasy, some of Israel’s religious leaders(rather than repenting) were schooled in Babylonian religion/witchcraft, mixing it with their already apostate “worship of God.” This demonic hybrid religion was eventually set forth in the Jewish Talmud. (Read a history of the Talmud here.) This extremely racist and evil theology was kept by some of the Pharisees, and its deviations from truth had already colored the perceptions of many Jews in Jesus’ day. It specifically taught Jewish supremacy and a hatred for Gentiles. Certain verses from the Torah were cherry-picked to give support to this understanding, while ignoring the fact that God had promised in the Torah to bless all nations from the beginning! (Gen. 22:18; Gal. 3:8) Perhaps this is why most of the Jews in Jesus’ day–even those who repented and followed Him–did not understand the Old Testament prophecies of Christ as a suffering King who would save all nations, but instead expected Him to be a military hero for Jews against Gentiles.

Those errant teachings have survived to this very day, and they continue to war against the truth! The Pharisees believed their lineage to Abraham secured them as “the chosen” despite their wickedness, but John the Baptist, Jesus, Paul and others corrected their brand of “once saved always saved” error. Most importantly, the New Testament records their corrections! Yet the error persists today in dispensationalism and zionism, an evil mixture of doctrines that insists there are two peoples of God, two salvation plans, etc., as if the Lamb of God hasn’t been slain and forever established His “one new man” Church/City/Holy Nation of Jews and Gentiles united by faith.

Dispensationalists undermine and reject the truth by insisting that there are two salvational programs for two separate people groups. They wrongly believe that “rightly dividing Scripture” is applying some Scripture to only Jews, and some to only Christians. “God’s people the Jews,” they say, are defined by blood or national borders, and are accepted by God even if they are committing evil and denying Jesus. This is a horrendous and wicked lie, and reveals a grossly inaccurate understanding of Hebrew and Jewish history. “God’s people the Church,” they say, is a “parenthesis” interrupting the Biblical story, and they proceed to chop the Biblical story into 3 or 5 or 7 “dispensations,” depending on which flavor of falsehood they hold to. Supposedly the Church is completely separate from the nation of Israel, rather than having been brought near and made citizens of the Commonwealth of Israel by the blood of Jesus (Eph. 2:11-13). Next comes a denial of many important portions of Scripture, with the excuse that said Scripture only applies to the Jews. One egregious example is a rejection of the Sermon on the Mount, either in full or in part. Another is the contention that all verses putting forth obedience as a condition of salvation are only for the Jews. Paul’s teachings that emphasize “belief” and “grace” are stressed (and usually twisted), while his teachings emphasizing obedience are downplayed or ignored. And thus dispensationalism leads to a gross mishandling of Scripture, and lays a false foundation upon which one can more easily shipwreck his faith through disobedience and presumption.

Dispensationalists, due to their errant concept of an earthly Israel being an alternative “people of God,” generally go on to adopt Israeli Zionism, which is basically a secular, racist movement among predominantly secular Jews–many of whom aren’t even Jewish by blood or connection to the Hebrew Torah! Their Christianized version of this political movement is generally called “Christian Zionism.” Through antichrists like John Hagee (a man who denies Christ came to be Israel’s Messiah), fables like the Left Behind series, and unholy alliances like theInternational Fellowship of Christians and Jews (try to imagine the Apostle Paul participating in such a fellowship), undiscerning Christians are swept away in what amounts to apostasy from the true faith. Furthermore, the secular, political movement uses and exploits the support of undiscerning Christians in order to fund its advancement and insulate itself from having its injustices exposed and condemned.

All sorts of secondary false doctrines arise from this apostate belief system, such as: evil-doing America will be blessed so long as she gives military support to evil-doing Israel, giving money to Jews who are settling in occupied Palestinian territory is advancing the kingdom of God, evangelism of Jews is a waste of time, Arabs in general or Muslims in particular are not worthy of Christian charity and outreach, etc.

The dispensational/zionistic model is not a small problem, or a minor discrepancy of doctrine that doesn’t matter in the long run. While a person can be saved while believing all or some portion of this lie, the lie itself is a HUGE problem, and a HUGE blight on Christianity with global consequences. In effect, it transforms what the world sees as the “Christian Church” into a debacle that resembles the marauding crusaders of the past! While Christians don’t physically march to “the holy land” with a sword in hand, their blind support of this secular nation, and their financial aid in robbing Palestinians of their homes and livelihoods accomplishes much the same thing. And while they condemn Islam for being a bloody religion, they themselves are being used to perpetuate and excuse the shedding of more blood. All this in the name of Christ!

My friend, the Lamb of God HAS been slain, and the one new man HAS been created (Eph. 2:15). There is no going back, there is no ignoring this monumental fulfillment of the Promise, and there is no skirting its implications. The Church is not a parenthetical afterthought, but a fulfillment of all the promises! Those who are mastered by the Son of God are blessed, and those who reject the Son of God are cursed–period, end of story. I stand with Paul, who wrote of all who bring some alternative gospel, “Let them be accursed.” (Gal. 1:8) Please be on your guard against these continuing Pharisaical lies supporting a secular military state, now repeated ad nauseum in Christian churches, eroding and perverting the faith of many. There is only one story and one means of salvation for everyone! Woe unto them that call evil good by insisting that we bless what God Himself will not bless!!

Discern, brothers and sisters! You must discern the true people of God, which is the true Body of Christ. There is NO division whatsoever between Jew and Gentile in Christ. Do not give your support either financially or verbally to the enemies of God. If Paul had not been so insistent on this point, he might not have been so hated by the Jews! But he wouldn’t back down, and thank God! For this kept the purity of the gospel in tact despite the repeated attacks against it. It remains for us now to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.

Yes, God chose one family of people–a family in which God-fearing Gentiles have always been welcome–through whom to demonstrate His glorious saving truths. Each person who was chosen to carry the story forward was chosen based onfaith. The faithful remnant of this family was used as a foundation upon which God’s True Temple is still being built. To them was given the privilege and responsibility of being God’s Kingdom ambassadors to the world, and this privilege and responsibility now falls upon every person who has been grafted into the olive tree.

However, while we appreciate the root from which our faith has grown, we must be careful to define God’s plant (His people) just as He does. We must not deny that when the King of Israel arrived on the scene to fulfill all the promises, only the faithful remained in His kingdom, and the unbelieving and unfaithful were expelled. Their place in His kingdom was given to others who would produce the fruit God wants (Matt. 21:43). And so the promise was fully realized: through Abraham’s Seed (Jesus), all nations have been blessed with the opportunity to be saved.

I also acknowledge that, in God’s timeline, there were two covenants given. The second covenant has superseded and fulfilled in spiritual reality what the first could only foreshadow. In God’s perfect wisdom, He made the first covenant such that it would lead those who had sincere faith to the Savior.

In a sense, we all begin our journey of faith in the first covenant, brought to a place of sorrow and death when we realize we are guilty of breaking God’s law. And from there, we must go on into the second covenant–that place of restored relationship with the Father through the blood of Jesus, and our obedience to Him. The Old Testament believers made this journey also, looking ahead to God’s Sacrifice by faith, pressing into the reality that was in heaven. Abel, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, etc. each made that journey! No person of faith has ever been left out of God’s unfolding plan of salvation, no matter which stage of the unfolding happened in their lifetime. The Hebrews 11 “hall of faith” is a monument to this wonderful truth. Perhaps that chapter continues as each one of us finishes our race.

I hope this writing has helped you to be more on guard against the destructive errors of dispensationalism and zionism. Perhaps it will at least encourage you to do more research into these subjects, to fill in whatever gaps you have in your understanding. This is a journey I myself have been on for about ten years, and I don’t expect any reader to simply believe everything I say. Neither do I assume I have arrived at a perfect understanding. However, I have a firm conviction that I must sound an alarm about these false doctrines, and this has been attempted in this post. May the God of Truth guide the steps you take from here.