Many shall purify themselves and make themselves white and be refined,
but the wicked shall act wickedly. And none of the wicked shall
understand, but those who are wise shall understand.
(Daniel 12:10-11)
Randy White became the pastor of a small congregation at Taos First Baptist Church in New Mexico in 2015 following his previous possition for 12 years as pastor at the First Baptist Church in Katy TX. He has created the
Dispensational Publishing House based in Taos to become the
"go to" source for dispensationalism. Surprisingly for such a claim, he
fails to define dispensationalism in any detail.{1}
I do not intend going into the complexities of the various strands of dispensationalism in this post, but I do wish to identify a very serious problem with Randy White's article:
The Seven Churches of Revelation: A New Look in which he states
" .....the letters to the seven churches of Revelation 2-3 are entirely future,
only directly relevant to seven congregations of Jewish believers that
will exist after the rapture of the church and unbelievers!"
https://randywhiteministries.org/articles/the-seven-churches-of-revelation-a-new-look/
Randy White: "I
think it is worthy of consideration that the seven churches of
Revelation might be future congregations of Jewish believers living in
the renewed age of the Law (the final seven years which has been
decreed but never fulfilled, Daniel 9:24-27).
If read in light of the Law, we would not directly apply them to the
church today (just as we would not apply the Old Testament or even the
Gospels to the church). If this change of focus is made, the seven
letters become a message to seven groups of Jewish believers in the Day
of Jacob’s trouble, giving new light and relieving us of some
challenging exegesis."
The
above statement places Randy White firmly in the camp of extreme dispensationalism, a dangerous teaching which has a number of variants e.g. Hyper-dispensationalism, Mid-Acts Dispensationalism, Ultra-Dispensationalism,
Bullingerism etc. Dispensationalism originated in the nineteenth century with
the Father of Dispensationalism, John Nelson Darby (1800-1882). Darby's
dispensational theology evolved out of the controversial pre-tribulation
rapture theory which he claimed as his own, although actually there is
strong evidence that it originated with the the Irvingites.
{2}
Dispensationalism has gained widespread acceptance within
evangelicalism mainly through C.I. Scofield's Reference Bible (published
in 1909).
The "new" teachings of John
Nelson Darby were marked as heretical by many well known church leaders and scholars of
his time, including Charles Spurgeon, George Muller,
Samuel P Tregelles, R.L. Dabney, and L.L. Warfield. Benjamin Wills
Newton went as far as voicing his concern that Darby was working for
the Jesuits!{3}
Modern
scholars and leaders of note, such as Joe Schimmel, John
Haller, Dave Macpherson etc. also castigate the extreme views of Darby. The DVD by Good Fight
Ministries,
Left Behind or Led Astray is an excellent well researched presentation of the pre-tribulation rapture history.{
4}
Hyperdispensationalists and ultradispensationalists
emphasise that Israel and the
"mystery church" i.e. the Body of Christ
are two mutually exclusive groups
with two different gospels and two distinct ways of salvation. They view the four gospels and the gospel preached by Peter in the early part of the book of Acts as a works based gospel relevant only to the Jews. Only the Pauline epistles are relevant to the church because they are the only books that teach that
salvation is by grace through faith in Christ. As such, most hyper/ultradispensationalists view
water baptism and the Lord’s Supper as ordinances uniquely applicable to these early Jewish New Testament believers. Similarly, the books of Peter, James, Jude, Hebrews and the epistles of John were addressed to the Hebrew church and are not for the Body of Christ. They also teach that the Book of Revelation is addressed exclusively to the Jewish church of the tribulation.
Randy White:
"If the letters to the churches are future, then we would not apply the
letters to these churches to our own age and our particular church any
more than we would do so for the remainder of the book of Revelation,
taken futuristically. For example, while it is insightful to know that a
coming one-world leader will have an economic system that requires his
mark for buying and selling, a believer today who holds to a pre-trib,
pre-millennial interpretation will not spend fruitless time worrying
about what this mark is or how they will put food on the table. These
issues are non-starters for a pre-trib dispensationalist, and the
doctrine taught in the book of Revelation is knowledge of the coming 'Day of Jacob’s Trouble,' relating to Israel and the nations of the
world during the tribulation." {5}
The above statement is highly irresponsible and it puts pretribulationist believers in a very vulnerable position during the 70th week of Daniel. The
tribulation, the Antichrist and the mark of the beast may be
"non starters"
for pre-trib dispensationalists living in a fools paradise, but in the
real world, these are extremely significant issues.
"The Day/Time of Jacob's Trouble" (Jeremiah 30:7) is obviously specific to ethnic Israel. However, it does not
follow that believers will not suffer the persecution of the Antichrist during the Great Tribulation. In fact the Bible says that believers definitely
will suffer persecution during this time.
Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. (Matthew 24:9) This refers to
all believers, not just to Israel as the dispensationalists would have us believe. The 70 weeks of Daniel have been decreed for the Jewish Nation (Daniel 9:24), but the 70th week also has repercussions for the Gentile Church who are grafted into the New Covenant made with Israel (Jeremiah 31:31 cf. Revelation 12:17). The
"tribulation" is
never referred to as a seven year period in the scriptures.
The Great Tribulation was
defined by Jesus Christ and ties in with the mid point of Daniel's 70th week when the
Antichrist will break his covenant and set up
the abomination of desolation (Matthew 24:15-21; cf. Daniel 9:27). The Time of Jacobs Trouble is a term that is related to
the Day of the Lord and
the Great Tribulation.
In other words,
the Time of Jacob's Trouble relates specifically to the final 3.5 years of the 70th week
of Daniel and
not to the final seven years. What is referred to as the
"pre-tribulation rapture" is
a fallacy that does not find one verse of scripture to support
it, even the pretribulational leaders themselves are forced to admit this.
The traditional view of the seven letters of Revelation is that they were written to specific historical
churches and are relevant to the universal church in all generations as well as relating to church history at different periods of time. The
Jewish Messianic titles and the symbolism describing the seven churches strongly suggests that the letters were written to Messianic Jewish congregations. According to tradition, the Apostle John lived in Ephesus and led the churches in Asia Minor no later than 67 AD.
{6} The seven letters do not claim to be prophetic in themselves and there is absolutely no scriptural evidence that they are
"entirely futuristic". Randy White refers to Revelation chapters 2 and 3 as proof of his
"new" futuristic teaching, but he fails entirely to take any account of the context and undeniable evidence that the seven churches were physical churches in specific locations in Revelation Chapter 1:
John to the seven churches that are in Asia: (Revelation 1:4)
John wrote in the
present tense to the seven churches in the
precise location of Asia (Asia Minor). At that time Asia Minor was a Roman province with Ephesus as its capital. The seven churches ceased to thrive in the centuries of Muslim
control. However the archaeological remains of all seven
locations currently exist in present-day Turkey.
{7}
“Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to
Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and
to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.” (Revelation 1:11)
How could John send what he had written to the seven churches if the letters are entirely futuristic?
Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are (present) and those that are to take place after this (future). (Revelation 1:19)
Ephesus: What Are The First Works?
Randy White:
“Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do
the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove
thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.” (Revelation 2:5).
This message to the angel of the church of Ephesus sounds foreign to
anything of the age of Grace. Further, the angel of the church of
Pergamum is told, “Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.” (Revelation 2:16). The 'sword of my mouth' is seen in Revelation 19:15
and is the same sword by which the wrath of God judges the nations. How
can the blood-bought and forever secure church receive the wrath of
God?"
Jesus Christ commended the church at Ephesus for their works in verse 2,
but they were not their
first works (Revelation 2:2). The letter goes on to reveal that something vital had been abandoned:
But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember
therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did
at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its
place, unless you repent. (Revelation 2:4-5) When viewed historically these
first works are the
deeds which were done when the church was first established,
deeds done
in response to the grace of God i.e. the gospel (Ephesians 1:13). Contrary to Randy White's
claim that these verses are foreign to the Age of Grace, they appear to be all about grace and do not concern works of the law (Ephesians 2:8-9).
Apart from all his other problems, Randy White also seems to be under the misapprehension that it is
not possible for believers to fall from grace. However, the Bible clearly states that such
a thing is possible, even as these letters to the seven churches themselves demonstrate! (cf. Matthew 25:12; John 15:6; Romans 11:19-22; Galatians 5:5; 2 Peter 2:20-22 etc.)
The Lethal Implications Of Randy White's False Teaching:
The implications of Randy White's manifest errors are hugely troubling. He assumes that during the fallacious
"seven year tribulation", Israel will be living in
"a renewed age of the Law", but isn't this the domain of the Antichrist?
How will Israel come to accept the Antichrist as their long awaited Messiah (John 5:43)? The 70th week of Daniel
commences when the Antichrist
confirms the covenant with many for one week (Daniel 9:27). Since this covenant has some connection with the daily sacrifices being reinstated,
theoretically, it
may include a
confirmation of the Mosaic covenant together with some counterfeit works based version of the gospel, just as the extreme dispensationalists now teach. When the Antichrist breaks the
covenant at the mid-point of the
70th week and sets up the
abomination that causes desolation, the awful truth will dawn upon
Israel and they will flee (to Petra?) to avoid persecution.
They will look
upon me, the one they have pierced, is a clear reference to the cross. In other words, after the Antichrist breaks his covenant and comes after Israel, they will repent and turn from Law to grace.
And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of
Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the
one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an
only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn
son. (Zechariah 12:10 cf. John 19:37; Revelation 1:7; Joel 2:32)
.....yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but
through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus,
in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the
law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. (Galatians 2:16; cf Galatians 3:24; Romans 3:20-22; Hebrews 7:19)
Randy White has excluded the
entire book of Revelation from the church on the pretext of extreme dispensationalism, a position which cannot be validated by the scriptures. I am unable to account for the reason that so many true believers, and even sound teachers in other respects, stick aggressively to the pre-tribulation rapture theory. It is so flimsy that I cannot imagine anyone
in their right mind accepting it blindly without one verse of scripture
to validate it. I am not at all sure whether those die-hards who tenaciously hold on to this theory will even realise what is happening during the 70th week
of Daniel. Their fixation upon an imminent pre-tribulation
rapture is so strong, the danger is that many may fail to recognise the signs of Jesus' return
because they will not be
watching (Matthew 24:42; 25:13). At some time shortly after the mid point of the 70th week, when the persecution against Christians kicks in, many will
quickly fall away (Matthew 13:20-21).
Pretribulationism sets believers up for a fall from which many will not recover: And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. (Matthew 24:10)
The groundwork for the
falling away has been well laid by the enemy through various false doctrines, not least of which are the charismatic
"word-faith" teachings
and also the teachings of Darby and his successors. Disturbingly, the evil seeds of dispensationalism and pretribulationism continue take root within the western church. Since many pretribulationists already appear to be under a spiritual delusion, what will be the outcome for them when the arch deceiver, the Antichrist appears (2 Thessalonians 2:11)? The
"falling away" (apostasy) spoken of by the apostle Paul, will, I suggest, be due to those who become
"offended" due to the unexpected horrors of the great tribulation and the escapist teaching of the pretribulationist teachers (2 Thessalonians 2:3). Tim LaHaye:
"If Christ does not rapture His church before the tribulation begins, much of the hope is destroyed, and thus it becomes a blasted hope." {8} Are teachers like Tim LaHaye setting believers up for a fall from which they will not recover when the rapture fails to materialise at said time and false hopes are destroyed? In the words of Joe Falkner:
"Is the pre-tribulation rapture theory the blessed hope or blasted hype?" {9}
There are of course differences between the Church and ethnic Israel in the scriptures. In particular we should note that the Jews were dispersed to the ends of the earth in AD 70 in fulfilment of prophecy. Since 1948, they are
being regathered in unbelief and have revived Biblical Hebrew as their language. This is a completely unique situation in history
for any dispersed and uprooted nation (Isaiah 11:11-12; Ezekiel 37:11-12 ). The church will be raptured
after the tribulation, before the wrath of God falls (Matthew 24:29; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-8 cf. Revelation 6:16). Once this has happened, Christ will turn his attention towards Israel once again, and -
all Israel will be saved.. (Romans 11:26) -
to those in Jacob who turn from transgression.. (Isaiah 59:20; cf. Zechariah 13:8).
I find nothing about "a renewed age of the law" in the scriptures, except in the plans of Satan. There is only
one gospel and
one way of salvation,
the everlasting gospel which is by grace through faith. (Revelation 14:6; Ephesians 2:8)
"For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one, and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall." (Ephesians 2:14)
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name,
he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance ALL that I
have said to you. (John 14:26)
ALL Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for
reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, (2 Timothy 3:16)
The SUM of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever. (Psalm 119:160)
I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy
of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues
described in this book, and
if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God
will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which
are described in this book.
