Speaker 1: The following presentation Isabel Marvis Studio's production.
Speaker 2: You're listening to the Fact Hunter Radio Network. Here is
your host, George Hobbes.
Speaker 3: Good evening tonight. Across all podcast platforms, I'm sharing a
special broadcast of our Foundations and Faith radio program that
airs every Thursday night on WRMI Radio, Miami International. Over
the last several months, I've been researching and writing a
new book titled Exposing Dispensationalism. In this broadcast, we take
a serious look at the origins of modern dispensational theology,
the rise of the pre tribulation rapture doctrine, the separation
of Israel and the Church, and how prophecy sensationalism has
reshaped much of modern Christianity. And again, this is not
about attacking sincere believers. It's about examining scripture, church history
and asking difficult questions many churches avoid. I hope you'll
listen with an open Bible and an open mind. Here
is tonight's edition of Foundations in Faith Radio.
Speaker 2: Welcome to Foundations in Faith with your host George Hobbes,
bringing Biblical truth to real world problems and calling believers
to deeper discipleship. Visit US at Foundationsinfaith dot net and
now here is your host, George Hobbes.
Speaker 3: Good evening and welcome back to Foundations in Faith Radio.
Whether you're listening in North America, South America, or the Caribbean,
We're so thankful you're tuning in this evening. I want
to spend our time talking about a subject that has
shaped modern Christianity more than many believers realize. Over the
last several months, I've been researching, writing, praying, studying scripture
and digging through Church history, examining theological systems, tracing timelines
and comparing what many Christians have been taught against what
the Bible actually says. And the result is a new
book entitled Exposing Dispensationalism. Tonight is not about attacking people,
and it's certainly not attacking or mocking sincere believers of
Jesus Christ. It is not about creating division for the
sake of controversy. Tonight is about asking a very serious question,
what happens when an entire generation of Christians build its
understanding of Prophecy, Israel, the Church, and the return of
Christ around a system that many believers throughout Church history
never taught. Now, for many Christians listening tonight, dispensationalism is
simply assumed to be biblical truth. Many grew up hearing
about the pre tribulation rapture in the sudden disappearance of
the Church and of rebuilt Temple, the seven year Tribulations
separated from the Church, and a prophetic focus centered almost
entirely around modern Israel. Entire ministries, publishing companies, conferences, movies,
television networks have built enormous audiences around these teachings, books, politics,
prophecy itself. The question that we have to ask is
where did these teachings come from and do they truly
align within the whole Council of God right. One of
the most important things believers can do is examine traditions
carefully in the light of scripture that should not frighten us.
In fact, look at Acts seventeen. It praises the Bahreans
because they searched the scriptures daily to determine whether the
things they were hearing were true. Now, the danger in
modern Christianity is that many believers have inherited systems without
ever tracing their origins or testing their assumptions carefully against
the Bible itself. Entire generations have accepted prophetic charts, timelines,
Schofield notes, conference teachings, and sensational prophecy preaching without even
stopping to ask where the early Church taught these things,
whether the reformers in the fifteen hundreds taught these things,
or whether the apostles themselves ever intended prophecy to be
understood in this way. Now, let me be very clear tonight.
This is not a discussion about whether Jesus is returning.
He absolutely positively is. The return of Christ is one
of the central promises of the Christian faith. This is
not a discussion about whether evil exists in this world.
It most certainly does, and we see it on a
daily basis. This isn't a discussion about whether believers will
face persecution. Jesus promised they would. The issue is not
whether prophecy matters. The issue is how prophecy has been
interpreted and whether certain systems have fundamentally changed how Christians
view the church, suffering, discipleship, Israel, and the mission of
the Gospel. One of the reasons I even began writing
this book because I noticed something troubling over the years.
Many Christians now approach prophecy almost entirely through the lens
of fear, escape, speculation, current events. Right, every time you
see something in the news is that prophetic. Every war
becomes gog and magog, Every politician becomes a possible anti Christ,
every economic crisis becomes proof, the end of days is
among us. Every technological development becomes the possible mark of
the beast. Christians are constantly told to scan the headlines,
watch governments, monitor world events, and prepare for sudden disappearance.
Yet at the same time, many churches spend very little
time teaching repentance, holiness, discipleship, biblical literacy, or spiritual endurance.
And that imbalance, ladies and gentlemen should concern us. The
early Church did not build its faith around escaping tribulation.
The Apostles prepared believers to endure suffering faithfully. Jesus himself
warned repeatedly that his followers would face persecution, hatred, betrayal,
and tribulation in the world. We have been preaching truth
for six years, and rarely is it welcome with open arms.
The New Testament consistently presents the Christian life as one
of perseverance and endurance and faithfulness and steadfastness under pressure.
Yet much of modern prophecy teaching has created an expectation
that the Church will somehow avoid the very tribulation believers
around the world have endured for centuries, and when we
begin tracing the history of dispensational theology, we discover that
many of its distinctive teachings are actually far newer than
most Christians realize. The modern pre tribulation rapture system did
not emerge from the Apostles, the early Church Fathers, or
the Reformers or the Puritans. Much of the modern framework
became systematized in the nineteenth century through teachings of men
like John Nelson Darby, and later spread widely through the
influence of the Schofield Reference Bible. Once these prophetic interpretations
were embedded directly into the study notes alongside biblical text,
generations of Christians began accepting these interpretations almost as unquestionable truth,
and that influence cannot be overstated. Many believers eventually struggled
to separate the scripture itself from the notes that surround
the scripture. Entire theological assumptions became normalized through repetition. Seminaries
taught it Bible. Collegis taught it, radio ministries taught it.
TV preachers taught it. Conferences, fiction books left behind, films
frightened audiences with it. Eventually, questioning the system itself became
almost unthinkable. What you're not a pre trip ratcher guy?
Speaker 4: What's wrong with you?
Speaker 3: But look at if you take the time and discern
true church history, it tells a much larger story For
the majority of Christian history. From the time of Jesus's
ascension until the mid nineteenth century, believers did not teach
a secret pret removal of the church before a seven
year tribulation period. They understood tribulation as something Christians must endure,
not escape. They viewed the Church as the prophetic passages
differently than modern dispensational systems do today. That doesn't mean
that every historical interpretation was perfect, but it does force
us to confront an uncomfortable question. If these teachings are
so central to biblical Christianity, why are they largely absent
for so much of Church history. Another major issue involves
how dispensationalism separates Israel and the Church into two distinct
prophetic peoples and tw stinct programs. This distinction has dramatically
shaped modern evangelical politics. Look at John Hagey, foreign policy attitudes,
and prophetic speculation. Many Christians have been taught to interpret
every Middle Eastern conflict, going back to Desert Storm Iran
Iraq War, all through the lens of dispensational framework. Some
believers now follow modern jew politics with greater passion than
they even follow the Gospel itself. But the New Testament
repeatedly emphasizes unity in Christ. Ephesians two speaks of Jew
and Gentile becoming one new man through Jesus Christ. Galatians
three declares that those who belong to Christ are abraham seed.
The apostles consistently pointed believers toward Christ as the fulfillment
of the redemptive plan. And you know it's interesting, that's
one of the greatest tragedies in all of this. Many
Christians have become so consumed with escaping the world that
they have neglected their responsibility within the world, and that
is sharing the Great Commission. Instead of building strong disciples,
preaching repentance, caring for the poor, evangelizing the lost, discipling families,
and standing firmly in biblical truth, many churches have become
obsessed with decoding headlines and predicting timelines. You see, in
this case, fear replaces discipleship, speculation replaces biblical depth, and
entertainment replaces serious studies. So over the coming broadcasts, we're
going to continue to examine these issues carefully and biblically.
We're going to discuss the origins of dispensationalism, the history
behind the modern raptor rapture doctrine, and the role of
the Schofield Bible, and so much more. You're listening to
Foundations and Faith on WRMI Radio, Miami International.
Speaker 5: I'll warn you about the Grace Evangelical Society. They sent
me this recent magazine and if you don't know who
they are, they teach a crossless gospel. It was founded
by Zaane Hodges, a dispensationalist. Yes, people were saved by
works at different times. Their crossless gospel is that you
don't have to believe that Jesus died for your sins
on the cross. All you have to do is call
in the name of the Lord. Well. This article is
about Israel in Romans ten, where it talks about those
that preach the gospel of peace. They want you to
believe that the Gospel of Peace is actually when Antichrist,
Israel is saved without believing on Jesus or on the cross.
And they go on and they craft this article. Let
me just show you the quote here. This will happen
in the last days, during the tribulation. The armies of
the world will threaten Israel with extinction. By the way,
the modern day nation of Israel is not biblical Israel
at all. They're not related, they don't have the bloodline,
they don't have the religion. They're of the Talmud. It's heresy.
But nonetheless, he says, it's when the armies attack Israel,
the nation will be made up entirely of believers. They
will ask the Lord to save them from their enemies.
Again the crossless gospel, they say, Christ will return and
bring the nation of Israel into His kingdom. The nation
will be at peace. This, indeed is glad tidings. They're
literally teaching a Jesus less gospel, a cross less gospel,
without believing that Jesus is Christ. The modern nation will
automatically be saved miraculously. And this is total heresy because
what they're getting at here is that the Israel that's
trying to build the third Temple. Yeah, the Antichrist temple
that will take the mark of the Beast. Yeah, the
one that will condemn them to hell forever. They're trying
to say, just because of their bloodline, God will somehow
miraculously automatically save them. This is total heresy.
Speaker 2: You're listening to Foundations in Faith on WRMI Radio, Miami International.
Visit US at foundationsinfaith dot net.
Speaker 3: Welcome back to Foundations in Faith Radio. I'm your host,
George Hobbs. Tonight we're discussing themes from my book Exposing Dispensationalism.
Please go to Foundations Infaith dot net for more. In
this segment, I want to move deeper into how this
theological system gradually shaped modern evangelical Christianity, because once you
began examining its influence, honestly, you've realized that this is
not merely a minor disagreement over prophecy. Charge dispensational theology
has fundamentally altered how many Christians view the Church, how
they viewed suffering, the Kingdom of God, evangelism, politics, even
the mission of Christianity in itself, and one of the
greatest shifts occurred in how believers began viewing the relationship
between the Church and tribulation. For most of church history,
Christians expected suffering. The apostles the early Church believers throughout
the Roman Empire, they all suffered. Christians were imprisoned, tortured, executed,
burned alive, crucified, fed to wild animals, were persecuted for
refusing to deny Jesus Christ. And by the way, it's
going on right now as we speak around the world
more than most people even understand. The New Testament never
hides this reality. In fact, Jesus warned his followers repeatedly
that persecution would accompany faithful discipleship. John sixteen thirty three says,
in the world, ye shall have tribulation. Acts fourteen twenty
two says that we must, through much tribulation enter the
Kingdom of God. Two Timothy three twelve says yea, and
all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
These are not obscure verses hidden in the corners of scripture.
That is the consistent testimony of the New Testament. Yet
many churches an entirely different expectation developed Christians were taught
that the church would be removed before tribulation arrived in
its fullest form. Entire generations grew up believing that they
would assess escape the worst suffering through a secret rapture
event before the appearance of the Antichrist and the great tribulation.
Speaker 4: Pardon me.
Speaker 3: This dramatically changed how many believers approach the Christian life itself.
Instead of preparing Christians to endure faithfully under pressure twenty twenty,
many churches unintentionally conditioned to believers to expect escape before
hardship intensified. A church that trained primarily for escape will
struggle when pressure actually arrives. A church trained primarily around
comfort and prosperity becomes spiritually fragile, and I believe we're
already seeing the results, folks. Many believers panic at the
first signs of cultural opposition because they were never prepared
for spiritual endurance. Christians and nations around the world understand
suffering far better than much of the Western Church does,
because differing has always been a part of that reality.
Another issue involves how prophecy teaching became increasingly tied to
geopolitical views, particularly surrounding modern day geopolitical Israel now again,
questioning dispensationalism is not anti semitism. Christians are commanded to
love all people, and when you pray for Israel, you
should pray that those ninety eight point five percent of
people who are not in Christ within those borders find him. Now,
the issue is theological interpretation. Many dispensational systems teach that
modern political Israel sits at the absolute center of end
Time's prophecy in a way that causes many believers to
interpret nearly every Middle Eastern conflict as immediate prophetic fulfillment.
But those same people have never heard of the US
liberty now. As a result, countless Christians spend enormous amounts
of time analyzing wars, treaties, political leaders, rad Heifer's Temple discussions,
and international tensions, while neglecting the serious spiritual matters entirely.
Some believers can explain complicated prophetic timelines, but they don't
know how to articulate the Gospel to someone clearly. Others
know every headline from Jerusalem and who is the leader
in politics, but they spend very little time in prayer
or discipleship or evangelism. That imbalance should deeply concern the church.
The New Testament consistently centers the believers hope in Jesus
Christ and his Kingdom, not an endless speculation. Colossians tells
believers to set their affection on things above, not on
the earth. Hebrews points to believers into the heavenly kingdom.
The Apostles constantly emphasize faithfulness, holiness, perseverance, and obedience. Yet
this modern prophecy culture often pulls Christians into an endless
cycle of fear based anticipation, driven by headlines rather than
scripture itself, and that fear based culture becomes enormously profitable.
You look at the last century, the book industry, movies,
on and on and on right, the wars in the
Middle East, the European Union, bar codes, computer chips, vaccines.
All these conflicts are repeatedly presented as definitive proof that
the end has arrived immediately. Now, absolutely, Christians should remain watchful.
The scripture teaches that clearly. But there's a difference between
watchfulness and obsession. There's a difference between discernment and sensationalism.
I too have been guilty of that in the past.
You have to keep your eye on the prize, on
the bigger picture. Many ministries build entire platforms around keeping
believers in a constant state of prophetic anxiety. The truth is,
if you're in Christ, you shouldn't have any anxiety.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 3: Constant fear is not the fruit of the Holy Spirit.
And when believers spend years consuming endless prophecy speculation, it
often produces exhaustion, confusion, and spiritual instability. Some Christians become
terrified of world events rather than being confident in Christ right,
some stop thinking generationally, Why build, why disciple? Why invest
in the future generations? And that mindset has quietly weakened
the church over time, and many churches have lost their
focus and they keep their messages within those four walls.
And perhaps most dangerous of all, many believers now approach
prophecy primarily through fear. Right, the return of Jesus Christ
should inspire you through holiness, faithfulness, repentance, perseverance, and worship.
It shouldn't produce constant panic and confusion. This is one
of the central arguments of exposing dispensationalism. Modern prophecy systems
have in many cases redirected the focus of believers away
from the simplicity of power of the Gospel itself right,
And the church doesn't need more sensationalism right now. It
needs discernment, It needs biblical literacy, courage, repentance. It needs,
you know, strong willed pastors that are willing to teach
the whole Council of God instead of endlessly chasing prophetic
speculation and emotional excitement. Because at the end of the day,
our hope isn't escaping tribulation. Our hope is in Jesus
Christ himself. You're listening to Foundations in Faith Radio on
WRMI Radio Miami International.
Speaker 2: Well, you're saying, is the Schofield Bible, it's theology deceptive.
Speaker 1: A very wealthy, very charismatic preacher named John Darby came
with this doctrine that's now referred to as the secret
rapture or the pre tribulation rapture. And guess who he
was connected to, by the way, the rothschilds interesting.
Speaker 4: Have you ever heard of a Scofield Bible? Yes? I have, Okay,
so SII. Scofield was basically.
Speaker 1: A student of John Darby, and he adopted that part
of the doctrine and he incorporated that into the Bible.
It was the first Bible ever made that had study
notes with it. It became so popular. Every Christian was
reading it, Every minister was reading it, including me, including
my own father.
Speaker 4: For a long time. That's what we believe too.
Speaker 1: But when you start actually going back and reading line
by line by line, what is said that we'll be
leading up to Jesus coming back, which is when the
rapture happens. It's the end verse of what John Darby
put down.
Speaker 3: My sense was the Schofield stuff, which has had massive
implications for our foreign policy, for example, in our domestic politics,
was probably a lie. Welcome back to the final segment
of Foundations and Faith. As we close tonight's broadcast, I
want to leave you with a final thought for my
book exposing dispensationalism, and I believe it may be the
most important.
Speaker 4: Point of all.
Speaker 3: And again I just want to remind you that this
discussion is in love. It's ultimately not about winning arguments
or about trying to embarrass sincere believers who were taught
a particular prophetic system, and it's certainly not about arrogance
or pride or some type of theological superiority. That's not
the case whatsoever. It's about whether the modern church has
slowly drifted away from the simplicity, endurance, and discipleship centered
faith taught by Jesus Christ and his apostles. When you
step back and examine modern evangelical culture honestly, you begin
noticing how deeply prophecy sensationalism has shaped the thinking of
millions upon millions of Christians. Entire generations have been conditioned
to view the Christian life primarily through the lens of escape, crisis, fear,
and speculation. Churches hold prophecy conferences packed with charts and
timelines and discussion about the Antichrist, while at the same
time many congregations barely speak about the things we mentioned earlier.
Jesus never told his followers to build their lives around
decoding headlines. He told them to deny themselves and follow
him right. Deny yourself, take up your cross, endure faithfully.
He told them to preach the Gospel to every creature.
He told them to make disciples of all nations. He
warned repeatedly about deception, absolutely, but he also warned about lawlessness,
being lukewarm, compromise, hypocrisy, the love of many, growing gold,
and Perhaps one of the greatest tragedy of modern prophecy
culture is that many believers became so focused on watching
the world they stopped examining the condition of the church itself.
The early Christians didn't conquer the Roman Empire because they
possessed perfect prophecy charts. They transformed the world because they
were filled with conviction, holiness, and courage and unwavering faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. They preached under persecution. They
suffered without renouncing Christ. Look look at Paul. They endured imprisonment, torture, poverty,
and death while still proclaiming the Gospel boldly. Their confidence
wasn't rooted in escaping suffering. Their confidence was rooted in
the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the certainty that he
reigns over history itself. Now, somewhere along the way, much
of modern churches exchanged that rugged endurance for a culture
of comfort and speculation. Entire ministries now revolve around fear
driven anticipation. Believers are constantly scanning world events for the
next sign, the next crisis, the next political development. And
while Christians remain distracted by endless speculation, culture around them
collapses morally and spiritually, we are more wrapped up about
voting Republican and democrat, all the while the moral decay
of this country and around the world continues. Look around us,
families are falling apart. Churches are so weak doctrinally, Biblical
literacy is exploding. Children are being discipled by social media,
entertainment and secular ideology more than scripture. Repentance in the
church is rarely preached today, Holiness is often mocked as legalism.
Emotional experiences have replaced serious study of the Word of God,
and many churches now resemble motivational seminars or entertainment venues
more than houses devoted to prayer, discipleship, and the preaching
of the Gospel. This is why this is so important,
because theology shapes behavior. What people believe and what they
perceive affects how they live. And again, a church that
teaches constant message of escaping tribulation it loses its sense
of long term mission, and a church consumed with speculation
often neglects discipleship. And again, the New Testament repeatedly calls
believers to steadfastness. Romans five speaks of tribulation, producing patience, experience,
and even hope. James tells believers to count joy when
they face trials. First Peter was written to suffering Christians
that were enduring persecution and Revelation itself was written not
to entertain believers with speculation, but to strengthen persecuted saints
to remain faithful to Christ, regardless the cost. That changes
how we read prophecy entirely. Prophecy is not primarily about
satisfying curiosity. It's about calling believers to faithfulness. It reminds
us that Christ wins. It reminds us that evil will
not triumph forever. And it reminds us that kingdoms rise
and fall beneath the sovereignty of God. And it reminds
us that Christ is king, whether the world acknowledges him
or not, because there will come a time when every
niche shall bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord. And to all the brothers and sisters
listening tonight, I believe the modern Church desperately needs to
recover that perspective. We don't need more fear, we don't
need any more sensationalism. We don't need Christians living in
constant panic. Yet every war election, economic collapse, and headlines
flashing across the television screens. Again, I'm talking to myself
just like I'm talking to you. We're all guilty of
these things. But remember, the Gospel was never built on comfort.
It was built upon a bloody cross. Jesus Christ did
not call his followers to safety. He called them to faithfulness.
And perhaps that's what troubles me the most about much
of this prophecy culture. In many cases, it's unintentionally trained
believers to fear suffering more than sin. Yet the Apostles
feared compromise far more than they feared persecution. They understood
something the modern church often forgets, and that is suffering
can strengthen believers. He can purify believers and force the
church to depend fully on God. Right, the Church has
survived Roman emperors, persecution, imprisonment, corruption, war, famine.
Speaker 4: Right, it didn't.
Speaker 3: Survive because believers escaped difficulty. It has survived because Jesus
Christ is building his church and the gates of hell
shall not prevail against it. So, ladies and gentlemen, tonight,
my challenge is simple. Go back to scripture, read the
Word of God carefully, examine what you've been taught. Test
every system against the Bible itself. Do not place your
trust in prophecy, teachers, in myself, study notes, conferences, internet personalities,
or best selling novels. Place your trust in Jesus Christ
and in the authority of His word. Remember the Church.
Your Sunday ten thirty am or whatever time it is,
should be the starting line, not the finish line, because
at the end of the day, our hope is not
escaping the world. Our hope is in the risen Savior
who overcame the world. And no matter what comes in
the days ahead, the truth remains unshaken. Good Night, and
God bless each and every one of you,