Unveiling Dispensationalism: The Heretical Ideology Impacting U.S.-Israel Relations and Global Conflict

As the world continues to spin and wobble towards WWIII and the destruction of the American Dream, it is important to reflect on how we got here. It is interesting to note that it was not Catholicism, a resurgence in the Islamic Empire, Russia, Iran, or even China that ultimately brought us down, but a seemingly small insignificant doctrinal belief that was, if not formed, at least systemized, in Britain in the 1800s and then took root and bloomed in America. Secular political scientists, historians, priests, Reformist Christians, and even a few Congressmen 1 saw it coming. The likes of John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, Norman Finklestein, former Congressman Dr. Ron Paul, Dr. Daniel G. Hummel, Rev. Stephen Sizer herald warnings, and many of us, including myself, did not foresee the full implications of what they were trying to say.

Mearsheimer, Walt, Finklestein, Paul, and others have focused on how the Jewish lobby or Zionism is a dangerous ideology that impacts how the U.S. government spends American tax dollars and shapes foreign policy. They have stated that we have been pulled into multiple conflicts for the sake of the state of Israel, and billions of our tax dollars have been squandered for them. More recently X and other social platforms have been rife with shock, anger, and speculations of why the U.S. government would infringe on the 1st Amendment rights with the passing of the “antisemitism bill” H.R. 6090. Normally, such a general bill that protects all people from hate crimes would be looked on favorably, but unfortunately, many have observed that the go-to reaction of the present Israeli government or some Jews is to cry “antisemitism” whenever condemnation or criticism is given against any of their immoral or illegal actions. It is still unclear if American or Israeli Jews will demand parts of the Bible to be seen as antisemitic and therefore included in this new law. It is also unclear what the consequences will be if it is seen to be infringed upon. The extent to which the U.S. government has given money, ammunition, and POTUS backing to Israel makes some Americans question whether or not the state of Israel is running the U.S. government or they are another State of the U.S. itself. A few Americans even voice that it is treason because they are betraying the American people by giving our much-needed funds to another nation that does not belong to us.

Why is this happening? No other government does this, so why is America doing this? It all comes down to an ideology called Dispensationalism. If one goes back to classical Dispensationalism, they will find all sorts of problematic beliefs that go contrary to what Jesus and the apostles taught. However, I focus on only one major heretical belief that is held by all Dispensationalists that is currently steering the United States towards an utter catastrophe: the belief that there are two different roles for the Church and the nation state of Israel to play.

Dr. Hummel says Dispensationalism is on the decline in Christian academia, and understandably since it is not founded on sound Christian Biblical orthodoxy or holds up historically; however, it is very much thriving and strong in American politics, Evangelical churches in North America, and Pentecostal churches worldwide¹. Many American Evangelical Christians are influenced or follow Progressive Dispensationalism.

They believe that God has a plan for a nation state of Israel to not just exist but reign on earth separate from the church and Jesus Christ.² This belief encompasses also that the promises made in the biblical Old Testament only refers to the ethnic or nation state of Israel and they do not see it fulfilled in the Church through Jesus Christ in the New Covenant. Not only is this an ancient pharisaical ideology that clashed with the teachings of the Lord Jesus and everyone in the early Jewish church, it means the unequivocal and unconditional present support to see a rebuilding of a Jewish temple with on-going sacrifices, because again, they believe Israel is to “reign” with a kingdom over the nations. They do not see nor understand the apostolic teachings in the books of Galatians, Romans, or Hebrews explaining how Jesus Christ of Nazareth fulfilled the Law and has instituted forever a new priesthood through himself. This very fundamental belief they hold to is complete heresy to Christian orthodoxy in everyway. It goes against what the early Jewish church believed and what the church council decided in Acts 15 or every decision made since then by the early church which was originally very much Jewish until Paul’s massive missionary journeys. How Darby could separate “Jews” from the “Church” when the entire early church was Jewish is pure cognitive dissonance.

It would be interesting to know how many Dispensationalists can explain how a Jewish person can have salvation apart from the ultimate and only sacrifice of the God’s one and only Son and keep the Old Covenant.3 When pressed, some Dispensationalists will say they understand Jews cannot be saved away from the cross, and yet they treat Israel as if it is a holy nation. This is due to the false belief they are God’s “chosen people.” They get this from the book of Genesis, but they do not update their understanding with how God originally said it. John the Baptist clearly told Israel in Matthew 3:7-10 [NKJV],

7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 “Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, 9 “and do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as [our] father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. 10 “And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ” [emphasis mine]

Israel’s acceptance has never been based on blood or a family lineage but on obedience to God and following a covenant.

The Apostle Paul, a Jew of Jews, who explained in multiple letters but very clearly to the church in Galatia in Galatians 3:16, 22-29 [NKJV], states,

“16 Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ. … 22 But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. 23 But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. 24 Therefore the law was our tutor [to bring us] to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. 26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you [are] Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” [emphasis mine]

Scripture very clearly states that Abraham’s promise is to those who are in Christ, not an ethic group, but any people group through a covenant based on the blood of his son Jesus.

Both the prophet Daniel and Jesus, the Son of God, prophesied the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in 70 A.D. It is significant because it showed to both unbelieving and believing Jews alike that God does not accept temple worship anymore. Eusebius of Caesarea wrote about this extensively in his book “The Proof of the Gospel” in the 3rd century. How Dispensationalists ignore or omit John 4:21, 23-24 [NKJV] is a bit shocking.

“21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. … 23″But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 “God [is] Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” [emphasis mine]

Jesus prophesied that people will not continue to worship on the Temple Mount or in Jerusalem because the place itself does not matter when God’s people are walking temples filled with his spirit.³ God is omniscient. He is not a low territorial spirit bound to a tiny plot of land or principality over some nations. He is the God above all gods and all of creation belongs to him.

Despite plain Scripture on these matters, heretical Zionist Christians continue to feel obliged to support Israel no matter what they do. This false belief has led to the support to mass murder approaching 40,000 people in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023. This is not including the loss of innocent life over the decades in the Palestinian Territories each time the state of Israel wanted to expand their settlements and break international law. Do you realize that if the world does indeed indict Israel over war crimes and genocide that the United States will also be indicted because they armed and funded it?

If one was to ignore how Dispensationalist beliefs have supported a genocide in the Palestinian Territories, at least recognize that the oncoming war in the Middle East, if not WW3, will be triggered and effect most Western nations because of this false beliefs. Israel does not plan on stopping at building a functioning temple or taking over the Palestinian Territories, but taking over other countries beyond Palestine in what they call “Greater Israel”. If America was not afraid of terrorist acts before, they truly should be. By supporting Israel in war crimes, aggression against their neighbors, and other immorality, there will be retribution upon our nation. With our open borders, it is easy to decimate America’s infrastructure or a large percentage of the American population with various kinds of bio or nuclear weapons. But here is the kicker, non-Christians, Amillennialists, and Postmillennialists…realize Dispensationalists do not fear WW3 or what I just described because they ascribe to a firm belief they will be “raptured” before anything “bad happens to them.” Do you understand this? Because of their belief they will be taken out before any catastrophe, many of them are nonchalant and dismissive about what happens to “unbelievers” or those “left behind,” thus they have no problem in creating scenarios that are harmful and destructive.

In Darby’s original teachings, they believe Christ’s teachings of the Sermon on the Mount [Matthew 5-7] are not meant to be implemented until after Israel reigns over the nations and “Christ comes back.” Coming to this knowledge has helped me to understand a bit better why many American churches and the U.S. “Christian” politicians do not live the Golden Rule or other basic teachings of Christ when it comes to domestic or foreign policy. The recent Israeli-Gaza war is a prime example. American Christians seem to accept the idea of Israel killing tens of thousands of Palestinians with collective punishment because they see all Palestinians as their “elected government,” Hamas.

What if this belief and action was done to us?

What if other nations or various groups of people decided to take revenge for the sins or evil actions committed by the U.S. government upon them on all American citizens rather than our government? Imagine. Bombs falling, starvation, and generations of American families being wiped out that had nothing to do with decisions made by our government. Literally, that is what is happening in Gaza right now. Most people protesting for the Palestinians do not support Hamas. Truly. Not even most Egyptians or Arab countries support Hamas. Why? Because Hamas is Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist to their administrations along with holding Islamic views that nominal Muslims do not agree with; likewise, the Egyptian and Arab governments also do not see the every day Palestinian as Hamas either. What normal humane person of any religion are yelling and crying about is the fact they see massive amounts of every day civilians being brutally killed or tortured. They are so disturbed by it they cannot keep silent about it because they cannot even sleep. It’s a testament that the world still has a conscience and humanity. However, American and Western Christians are being shamed as the only ones who cannot see what is happening in Gaza right now. How is this a testimony of Jesus Christ? On the other hand, if one believes like a classic Darby Dispensationalist, the great Sermon on the Mount is not implemented yet. Then I guess one would continue to live under the Old Covenant beliefs of an “eye for an eye” and not the Golden Rule that Jesus commanded us to live by.

Do you see the fundamental heresy and problem in this? The entire Bible is divided into two sections for a reason and all Christians have been called to live under the New Covenant. Yet many American Christians are so blinded by heretical teaching that the current Jews, who are not in Christ and separated from God, are somehow especially chosen and get to be exempted to commit heinous violence and abominations. Why would God put an unsaved, wicked people and government to be a steward over the nations until Christ comes back? There is nothing that states this in the New Covenant. It is the job of the Church to redeem, restore, heal the nations, and reign with Christ over the nations right now. This is the job of the Church, not an unsaved group of people who is mostly made up of individuals who do not even follow Judaism.

This leads me to the next most concerning point and revelation. 1 John 4:1-3,15 [NKJV] says,

“1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the [spirit] of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.… 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. [emphasis mine]

This instructs us clearly of any spirit that does not recognize Jesus Christ as the Son of God is of an antichrist spirit. The very few Christ following Jews who currently live in Israel, as well as Palestinian Christians, verify openly that present Israelis view them as enemies. Israel has a law against sharing the gospel and converting people to Christianity just like many Arab nations. There is no difference between them. Christians in proper Israel and the Palestinian Territories have faced oppression to severe persecution for decades as documented by many since the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. All churches that have opened their doors to Dispensationalist beliefs have an open door to agreeing with an antichrist spirit. This should alarm every true believer in Jesus Christ.

On one of my several trips to Israel I met a Texan pastor who has been blacklisted from Israel for seven years because of his active evangelistic work in the country. A Brazilian missionary I met while in Egypt had also been blacklisted from Israel at the Rafah Border Crossing just for wanting to “serve and help” the Palestinians when being questioned of why she wanted to enter the Palestinian Territories. Still to this day she has never been let in. On one of my trips to the West Bank in the early 2000s, in infamous Hebron, at the traditional site of Abraham’s burial, radical Jewish zealots threw and broke furniture at the wall, yelled and screamed insults on the synagogue side when I lifted up the name of Jesus in song on the mosque side. To the present Muslim Palestinians’ credit, they were able to get us out safely with no harm done to us although we had created a “severe incident that would incite violence”. There are countless videos on X and social media platforms that record the distain, hatred, and perspective that Gentiles are an enemy to Jews and should be treated as such.

One might wonder how Israel seems so “open” to Christian tour groups to the “Holy Land” if they view Christianity as a threat. It is only for greed and the hope to perpetrate Zionist ideologies. There is a massive racket to be made from Christian tourism to Israel, estimated to be more than $7bn.

One of the pure ironies in much of the “prosperity teachings” held by some of the Charismatic and Pentecostal churches are the very Scriptures that Classical Dispensationalists say refers only to ethic Israel. Yet, this is somehow neglected to be taught by Dispensationalists to those Christians because if they did, they would lose an avenue of money by them. One of Dispensationalists core teachings is, you must “bless Israel to be blessed.” It should be noted that the motive itself is idolatrous and self-serving which would be a red flagged to any Christian with the Holy Spirit.

The far reaching affects of these beliefs are already upon many countries. Both secular people and wide awake Christians have already been sounding the trumpet to stop the unconditional support to Israel because they have seen the approaching apocalyptic war. And to be very clear, this is exactly what both secular and Christian Zionists and Dispensationalists want. They believe there must be a nation state of Israel with a Jewish temple producing sacrifices and both believe that “Israel” should reign over the nations a part from Jesus Christ. The “well meaning” Dispensationalists believe that Daniel and parts of Revelation have yet to be fulfilled and apparently seem to think God needs a hand to create this. Thereby supporting a nation state of Israel and reenacting those Scriptures, they will bring “Jesus back.” By the way, according to their beliefs it also means the death of most Israelis in order of a small remnant “to be saved.” Interestingly enough, the Israeli government and organizations who are in bed with them on this idea have never called this antisemitic.

One would think any sound Christian could not swallow this shocking and staggering ideology, but many Christians worldwide have bought into this due to the highly popularized dispensationalist eschatological teachings since the 1970s. I myself used to believe it until a life altering event in Egypt after 2011 that forced me to read Scripture for myself study Biblical history.

After the 2011 Egyptian Revolution on the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt, I participated in a small conference where a man from The International House of Prayer in Kansas City came to teach us about “Kingdom Theology.” He proposed to both foreign and Egyptian Christians alike that we had to accept that “Greater Israel” had to become a physical reality and the Israeli government had to have control over it before Christ could come back and eventually be King over all the nations. I had Scriptures to defend against most of his heretical theology, but I had nothing to defend against his proclamation that Isaiah 19 had never been fulfilled. It was then I was forced to dig into history and be a good Berean to prove “whether or not these things were so.” I found out that there had already been two Jewish temples built in Egypt after Isaiah’s prophecy, with one claiming to do it to fulfill it, but the likely candidate that fulfills the prophetic description would be the one made on Elephantine Island in Aswan, Egypt. ⁴ I have heard many Christians quote Isaiah 19 as “unfulfilled” and this is mainly due to a lack of Biblical and historical teaching within modern Christendom.

The world is on the brink of WWIII only because of two nations: The United States and Israel. This is because at the core, those in power, are holding to the same heretical beliefs against Christianity: Israel must reign over the nations a part from Christ under the Mosaic Law. This belief needs to be stopped and called out by real Christians who can divide the Word of God rightly. We should put pressure on our pastors and priests to rid our churches of this heresy. The affects of this belief needs to be stopped by all Americans by calling and writing to our Congressmen to stop funding the killing of innocent people with our tax dollars and munitions. If need be, we should join protests to make our voices heard until this ceases. If we do not do this, countless people will die – not just Palestinians – but the world all over because of a global war. Additionally, it harms the true message of the gospel of Jesus Christ for real Christians.