The Mystery Program

1.25 credit hours

What is Dispensationalism?

Introduction

   If you were to go to opponents of dispensational Theology to find the answer to the above question, you would not get the correct answer.

   They would have a particular denominational position that they are espousing, and they are therefore biased towards their position, and opposed to the position of the dispensationalist, so, don't expect to get the whole truth on this question from them. 

   Since they control what info you will see, and not see about dispensationalism, they therefore can control the debate to make sure only their side gets heard.

    If someone controls both sides of a debate, guess who will win the debate every time? You guessed it. We want you to have the actual answers to your questions.

   Let me show you how an article that I read recently misrepresents the dispensational position, by using their own words to show you what they said a dispensationalist believes that simply isn't true. Again, there was some truth in the article, but not much.

    I pray they will correct their explanation of the position to honestly reflect what is true as a result of this article, as Christians are required to do by the scriptures, if they are truly interested in giving accurate answers to the legitimate questions they receive. 

    I pledge not to misrepresent them as I will stand accountable to God one day if I do.   First, we need to recognize that there a few different positions that different dispensationalist hold on to.

   Most dispensationalist hold to a position that teaches that the church that we are a part of began in Acts chapter two.  You may be an Acts two dispensationalist and not even know it. An Acts two dispensationalist believes the church, also called the body of Christ, began on the day of Pentecost.

   An Acts 2 website I saw recently mis-represented what those who call themselves mid-Acts dispensationalist believe.

  In their opening claim of what mid-Acts dispensationalism teaches, they state that mid-Acts dispensationalism separates "the Jewish "Congregation" in Acts 1-8 from the Gentile church (the body of Christ) from then on."

   First of all, mid-Acts dispensationalism sees the "Jewish Congregation" as a church, and the people at this organization know that, because they had to read our literature in order to write their misleading article.

   In fact that "Congregation" as they call it, is the very Church that Jesus promised to build in the gospels. Matthew 16:18"

Matthew 16:13 When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? 14 And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. 15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? 16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. 17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. 18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 

    The Jewish believers in Jesus were a part of that Church mentioned above and it was the same Church/Congregation as the one prophesied about in the Psalms that Jesus said he would sing in the midst of. 

Psalm 22:22 I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.

   The "my brethren" mentioned in Psalm 22:22 is the Jewish Congregation of believers he had assembled as the nucleus of that Church. (This prophecy was fulfilled in Matthew 26:30 immediately after they had the Lord's Supper).

Matthew 26:30 And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives.

   When Jesus came, he came to none but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. That is not you and I.

Matthew 10:5 These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: 6 But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. 8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give. 

   There are a couple of things I need to point out here to our readers who have questions and want honest answers. The word "Congregation" is an English word translated from Hebrew to English as the old testament was written in Hebrew.

   The word church however is the English equivalent of the Greek word Ecclesia. It simply means a called-out assembly.

   They are confused if they think that mid-acts dispensationalist don't think that Peter was a part of the church that Jesus was building. Peter was definitely was a part of that church, and he was a leader of it.

   Jesus also gave that church kingdom authority to bind things on the earth as we read above, and they would be bound in heaven. He also gave them power to loose things on earth, and they would be loosed in heaven.

   He gave them power to heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead. to cast out devils as well. Why aren't the people at this website clearing out the hospitals today of their sick?

   Because they don't have that Kingdom authority today because it was only given to this Jewish Kingdom Church as it was preaching that their Kingdom was at hand.

   Israel did not repent as a nation and instead they called for the crucifixion of their King, so that future kingdom was put on hold until after Israel recognizes their King, which they will do during the time of Jacob's trouble (Jeremiah 31:31).

Jeremiah 30:7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.

   This same Jewish Church Jesus gave  the power to remit sins, and to retain them. Can your Church do that today? No, it cannot! There are sadly some very large Denominations that teach that they can remit sins today. They cannot.

John 20:21 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.  22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:  23 Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.

   Is your Church sent to reach out only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (the Jews)? No it is not, Is your Church able to remit sins? No they are not.

   Peter and the eleven could however, because they were the Church prophesied in the Old Testament that the Messiah would build by those that repented and believed the gospel of the Kingdom.

Matthew 4:23  And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.

    You are not that Jewish Kingdom Church made up of the 12 Apostles and those Jewish believers who repented and believed the gospel of the Kingdom.

   Can your Church fulfill Mark 16:15 today? No they can't! The gospel that was preached in the four gospels is the gospel of the Kingdom. They had to believe that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God.

   The gospel of the Kingdom  was not the death, burial and resurrection that we preach today. We will look at the Gospel of the Kingdom momentarily, but for now look at the commission given to the Apostles in Mark 16 and see you can fulfill it today:

Mark 16:11 And they, when they had heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not. 12 After that he appeared in another form unto two of them, as they walked, and went into the country. 13 And they went and told it unto the residue: neither believed they them. 

  Did they believe Jesus had risen from the dead at this point? Were they trusting in the gospel of  his death, burial and resurrection  here for their salvation? Of course not.

   It says twice that they did not believe after he had risen, even after he told them that he would rise from the dead while he was still alive.

   Peter actually rebuked Jesus when he tells Peter that he is going to be rejected and crucified in Matthew 16:22 & 23 For which Jesus called him Satan. His way of thinking was coming straight from Satan.

   Does your Church have the signs that Jesus said would follow that Jewish "Congregation" Church that believed back just before he ascended up into heaven? Let's see if your Church matches up to this one:

14  Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen. 15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. 17 And these signs shall follow them that believe;

In my name shall they cast out devils;

they shall speak with new tongues; 

They shall take up serpents;

and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them;

they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

  How is your Church doing so far? Do all of these signs follow your Church members? How about most of them, or just some of these signs? They do not!

   They are n0t supposed to follow your Church, but,  they are supposed to follow  that Jewish "Congregation" Church that believed the gospel of the Kingdom preached by John, Jesus and the 12 to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

Warning! 

   Please do not attempt these signs in your Church today. The failure to rightly divide your mail from Israel's Mail will cause death if you pick up a poisonous snake and it bites you. Just ask those who have put these verses to the test. You know the Snake handlers that you see every once in a while, on some TV special.

Warning! Warning!

    Do not attempt to drink any deadly thing because it will hurt you! It will kill you, because it is a deadly thing. It wouldn't hurt them however, because they were promised supernatural protection by God as they were out proclaiming the gospel of the Kingdom!

   That is not you that this promise was given to, and it’s not your gospel either. It was the gospel of the Kingdom given to none but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. See Matthew 10:5-7 above.

   Guess what this Website teaches about Mark 16:9-20? They teach "there are some textual problems with Mark 16:9-20." They also say that "there is some question as to whether these verses were originally a part of the gospel of Mark or whether they were added later by a scribe."

YEAH HATH GOD SAID?

   If you were to go on their website, you could see for yourself in their study entitled: Does Mark 16:16 teach that baptism is necessary for salvation? They would have Mark's gospel end with verse eight:

Mark 16:8 And they went out quickly, and fled from the sepulchre; for they trembled and were amazed: neither said they any thing to any man; for they were afraid. 

That doesn't sound like the gospel (Good News) to me. 

   Mid-Acts Dispensationalism does believe that the body of Christ began after Acts 8 but that is not how this website represented us.

    They said that Mid-Acts Dispensationalism "separates the Jewish "Congregation" from the Gentile church (the body of Christ) from then on." (meaning after Acts 1-8.)

   Again, they misrepresent what we teach giving only partial truths. Mid-Acts Dispensationalists do not believe in a solely Gentile church as the article says that we do.

   God is not a respecter of persons today. The church today (the body of Christ) is made up of both Jew and Gentiles in one body.

1 Corinthians 12:13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

   And if they would honestly report that instead of intentionally misleading their readers, they would have an accurate representation of what we teach so their readers can make an informed decision for themselves as to what is right, and what is wrong.

   Ah hah! There is the problem. They don't want to portray Mid Acts Dispensationalism honestly, because they want their readers to believe only what they believe, or they just are very naive and have only a hearsay understanding of what a Mid-Acts Dispensationalist believes.

   If that is the case, then they should not throw stones in their glass house at this Christian Ministry because it will shatter upon them. I have not taken partial quotes and made false claims concerning them.

  And I have used Bible verses to support what Mid Acts Dispensationalism really believes and teaches. Where their site uses verse addresses only in their article and they never use the Bible to support what they believe. Why is that?

  They would not like it if I stretched the truth about what they believe, and because they have thrown stones my way, I have the right and responsibility to defend the word as they attempt to do from how they see it.

    In this article's second paragraph they again say we believe there was no church until Paul. We just addressed that Mid Acts Dispensationalist do not believe what they say we believe regarding that.

   There was a Church before Paul! In fact Stephen actually mentions another Church prior to the one mentioned in Matthew 18:16, It was called the Church in the wilderness. Mid Acts Dispensationalist believe that Church existed as well.

Acts 7:38 This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us:

   Just in case you missed it, that Church that Stephen was referring to was an all Jewish Church, just like the one in the Gospels, and the early part of the book of Acts. Technically, it was called a "Congregation back then. They didn't know any Greek yet. lol

   Please check your facts before you wrongfully mis-represent some group and their beliefs, It’s called lying in the Bible. * They call that FAKE NEWS today. But, hey, if you say it long enough and often enough, people will believe it’s true. Is that their goal perhaps? It appears so.

   Back to their misleading answer on

Mid Acts Dispensationalism:

    The more I read this gross misrepresentation of what I believe, I see that there is not one paragraph in it that is completely truthful. Not one!

   A sentence here and there are accurate, but the sentence is a part of the paragraph, and the paragraph a part of the whole article, and this article intentionally misleads its readers in every paragraph with half-truths.

   I am being generous saying that because  in some paragraphs they will have two or more false statements in it mixed with just enough truth to make the reader believe it. That was the same tactic used by the Serpent in the Garden once.

If you want to know what Mid Acts Dispensationalism is, ask a Mid Acts Dispensationalist!

   In another related comment on their page they say:

"Mid-Acts dispensationalism wrongly assumes that Paul’s revelation about the church equals the beginning of the church itself."

    Oh, so we take their word for it then? Not even a Bible verse there to support their answer.  That actually happens numerous times in this short article, but hey who needs scriptures anyway?

   He must not have had enough time to be honest, or to give us any scripture. He just says we "wrongly assume" and we are all supposed to believe him because after all he has the website, and since it is in print, it must be true.

   We don't assume any such thing "based on Paul's revelation about the church", we do however believe what he told Timothy in his first Pastoral Epistle to him:

1 Timothy 1:15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. 16 Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. 

   We base the Church beginning with Paul and this verse and numerous other verses. Is Paul your pattern? Do you follow Paul as he follows Christ? We are commanded to. We base following Paul as our (the body of Christ) Pattern because he is given the office of the Apostle of the Gentiles. Romans 11:13

"Most Importantly"

 Mid-Acts dispensationalist believe that there are “different gospels,” in the Bible.  The word Gospel simply means good news. We believe what Jesus, John the Baptist and the twelve preached (the gospel of the Kingdom) was different than what Paul taught later on.

   Adam and Eve didn't trust in the death, burial and resurrection for their salvation, neither did Noah, Abraham, Moses, or the Children of Israel, It wasn't until that good news was revealed to Paul that it was the good news for us today (Jews and Gentiles).

   If that shocks you, then you need to see if it is wrong according to scripture, not just different from what your church has told you, because it is of eternal importance that you believe the gospel that saves you today.

 A leading Christian website said correctly that Mid Acts Dispensationalist believe that Peter taught one gospel and Paul taught another. That is the first thing they said correctly in their gross misrepresentation of Mid Acts Dispensationalists.

  They then went on to say that that belief completely opposes biblical teaching and they site the Biblical address from Galatians without actually posting the verses, and definitely without any context to support their claim.

  Paul is teaching the Galatians, who were being besieged by Judaizers who were perverting the gospel of Christ. The Judaizers were teaching the Galatians another gospel, that was no gospel at all.

   They were teaching that they needed to keep the Law of Moses to be saved, and to be perfected.  

Galatians 1:6 I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel. 7 Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. .

   The Galatians heard the gospel of Christ from the apostle Paul personally and someone came in not to soon after Paul had left and taught the Galatians they needed to keep the Law.

  Paul called what they were preaching perverted the gospel of Christ and was another gospel that was no gospel at all. It couldn't save anyone, and Paul was warning them not to listen to anyone who preached a works/law-based gospel to them.

   He goes on to tell them where he got his gospel from. It wasn't from Peter, James or John, but from the risen Christ. In chapter two he went to Jerusalem to share "that gospel that he preached among the Gentiles (meaning out in the Gentile lands).

Galatians 2:1 Then fourteen years after I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and took Titus with me also. 2 And I went up by revelation, and communicated unto them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to them which were of reputation, lest by any means I should run, or had run, in vain. 3 But neither Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised: 4 And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage: 5 To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the gospel might continue with you. 6 But of these who seemed to be somewhat, (whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me: God accepteth no man's person:) for they who seemed to be somewhat in conference added nothing to me: 7 But contrariwise, when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter; 8 (For he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles:) 9 And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision. 10 Only they would that we should remember the poor; the same which I also was forward to do. 

   The website in mention, then had the audacity to say that the Grace Movement's teaching leads to the idea of a works-based salvation. Nothing could be further from the truth, for the Grace movement is opposed to adding any work to Grace whatsoever. 

   The Old Testament does teach that a person who had faith also had works accompanying their faith. Read the whole book of James and you will see that on every page. James is speaking to the twelve tribes scattered abroad that is not you today, you are not the twelve tribes scattered abroad. 

   Paul says in the epistles that God gave to him (Romans-Philemon) to dispense to us that salvation was by grace through faith, not of works, lest any man should boast. Ephesians 2:8-9

 * This article is not finished and does not represent all Mid Acts Dispensationalists. Nor will this article contain everything believed by Mid Acts Dispensationalists.

  It is written in response to an fallacious attack leveled on Mid Acts believers by a leading Bible Answers Website that has put outright lies in their article falsely representing us. 

The End