I’ve been reading my own stuff for review and picking up some fresh sources I’ve not seen before. What’s crazy about Dispensational doctrine is that there is some crazy mythology about the people involved here in the US. For example, Scofield and his friends outright lied about his personal history. And did you know that the Scofield Reference Bible was highly edited by Oxford Press after his death?
Today I’ve been reading through a booklet about Scofield pulled from several sources.
Why? Brothers and Sisters, you can write this off as my obsession and I won’t blame you. Some of you never had to deal with this crap directly, but this thing was a prison for me during much of my youth and half-way through my adult life. While I had encountered opposition to it beginning in my OBU days (mid-1970s), it didn’t sprout and produce fruits of serious doubt for quite a while afterward. I recall seeing a book that debunked it nicely but didn’t have the cash to buy it, even at discount. So I actually borrowed the money the next day and went back — all the copies were gone. When I began following my own convictions against the prevailing orthodoxy of my associates, I ran into a vast wealth of information that showed this whole thing was assembled by crooks, liars and shysters.
I remain utterly convinced that there will be an exodus from that crazy doctrine soon, and we need to be ready to succor those who come out of it bewildered and shocked by things they were never permitted to see before. I can’t forget how it shook me to have so many things collapsing in cascading dependencies intellectually. To be honest, the period of transition took me close to suicide several times. I’ve seen others with the same profound shock, so I doubt it was just my individual reaction alone. It’s heart-led morality to care about the faith of others, and I’m quite sure there will be a lot of those others in need soon.
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A major part of the ministry of the first great bible teacher I sat under was debunking dispensationalist teaching so, I never fell for it. The biggest stumbling block to reaching these people is that they believe it is biblical truth. I gave up trying to “reason” with them 20 years ago. The end of zionist Israel might give them pause but, the big pushers would finagle a way around that too.
I have no doubt that it can come only as a miracle move of God. So my preparatory efforts are aimed at teaching those who come under conviction about it and need to find a straight path out.