I was a dispensationalist once. It started back in the 1970s. I was looking for meaning. The U.S. was mired in the Vietnam War. I wasn't a hippie and I didn't burn my draft card. My hair only reached my collar once, and I always brushed and combed it. I could never understand why anyone would want to wear unkempt hair. I only had a beard one time, in my thirties, when I played the role of Jesus in a church drama. I was even willing to volunteer for the Navy, but my patriotic parents and grandparents dissuaded me from volunteering for what they saw as a very poorly managed political war, whose objective was not to win. I wanted to be patriotic and loyal to America, but the hippies and the war protesters had a point. What was this empty materialism all about? I wanted to find meaning.
Well, the Dispensationalists had an answer. Israel had miraculously revived after almost 2000 years. It happened in 1948, and now the dispersed Jews were all returning home. Hal Lindsey, in the Late Great Planet Earth, pointed out that Biblical Prophecy was being fulfilled. Then we listened to Larry Norman's song "I wish we'd all been ready." We were convinced the end was near. The world was screwed up and there were wars everywhere. The answer was Jesus. I bought the whole package. What I didn't consider was the tremendous financial support of the United States and the European countries. Israel couldn't survive today without it. Quite frankly, I think some of the European countries were glad to get rid of their Jews after World War II.
There ensued almost thirty years of almost completely devotion to the Dispensationalist cause. Ultra patriotism came with it. I began to envision the takeover by Conservative Christians and the restoration of a truly righteous and just society.
What I've observed is completely opposite of what I envisioned. I see the forces of evil becoming even more bold and aggressive. I see family breakdown. One out of every three children is born out of wedlock, and people are trying to create non traditional families. Whole new sections of attorney generals' offices have been created to force primarily fathers to pay for the children they caused while "making love" to the mothers. We are now beginning to think in terms not of traditional families, but in terms of villages, so that even those who created traditional families out of moral conviction must now be forced to share in the cost of raising children who were created by those who deliberately rejected traditional morality. Bitterness and hatred between biological fathers and mothers has replaced a loving model. Now, some children are having to become accustomed to the fact that, though they are genetically created by the combination of an egg (provided by a woman) and a sperm (provided by a man), they will never know the true identity of both of their true parents. They are going to see themselves as machines created by technology. We are continuing to be depersonalized. We are even on the verge of being custom designed genetically. Children are being led to believe that same sex parentage is perfectly natural, when the very means by which they were created is termed "artificial insemination."
Amidst this societal breakdown, I also saw the breakdown of Christian worship. The choruses became emptier and less creative. Boring and monotonous is the word for it. Screaming guitars and raucous drums took the place of beauty and order. It was supposed to be "relevant to the culture." It was noisy and chaotic. God wasn't the center. The musicians were the center. Instead of singing congregationally, people swayed in the audience as if they were at a rock concert. If it was worship, it was unintelligent worship. I left.
The preaching declined. Expository preaching became psychobabble and pop psychology. More boredom, less intelligent content.
I escaped and found the world of Reformed Theology. I discovered its connections with history. Most importantly, I discovered what Jesus was really saying when he said, "the kingdom of heaven is here in your midst." I discovered why he was unimpressed with the huge stones that the disciples saw when they passed the Temple in the state of being rebuilt.
I now see the Jews in the Old Testament as a type of all of humanity. The lesson we get from them is that even though they were given numerous opportunities to repent and turn, they returned to sin. Paul was right when he said that all have sinned and fallen short. Jerry Vines was right when he said "God does not hear the prayer of the Jews." Because God doesn't hear the prayer of anyone who doesn't approach him through the advocate, our high priest, God's son Jesus Christ. God only hears one prayer of the unbeliever, and that is the prayer of repentance and faith. Neither Jews who claim to know God nor atheists have access to God, because they have no high priest to intercede for them and no atoning sacrifice for their sin. It is only the grace of God and his elective purpose that brings us to repentance and faith. We have no ability to believe without God's elective purpose and power. The true Israel is Christ. Christ is the Kingdom, and only those who are called, who truly repent, and truly believe are part of the Kingdom. The law now dwells in the hearts of those who believe. Jesus is our high priest and our atoning sacrifice. There no longer is a purpose for a temple built with human hands. As Jesus said on the Cross, "It is finished."
I now see the folly of propping up Israel as a Nation State. The message to those who call themselves Jews and to those who do not call themselves Jews is the same. "You are a sinner and you are headed for eternal Hell. Consider the destination of your soul in the face of a perfect and holy God. Consider Christ's atonement and his offer of grace. Repent and flee to Christ." If the Holy Spirit acts upon your heart and draws you to himself, then you will be saved eternally and you will enjoy the worship of God eternally. If you find this message repulsive and reject it entirely, I have nothing more to say. I cannot expect a person who refuses a relationship with God to act according to God's commandments. I will not seek to force you to conform to God's commands by passing laws to make you look externally like a follower of Christ. No, just as Paul said in Romans, God gave them up to their own degrading passions. The results of sin are obvious.
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