Which Dispensationalist Said it? It Will Surprise You!
"The time of the Second Coming of Christ is the key that unlocks all 'Dispensational Truth.'"The same man has proven himself to be a faulty prognosticator (although nearly all dispensationalists have been encouraged to purchase his classic book):
"If our inference is correct, then it follows that the Return of the Lord will take place before the close of this present century. How much before is uncertain. If the Millennium is to be ushered in in A. D. 2000, then the 'Rapture' must take place at least 7 years before that."More troubling eisegesis:
"... the 'Prayer of Faith' (James 5:13-16) for the sick is not primarily a promise to the Church but to Israel ..."Christ to rapture the church prior to A. D. 2000? An entire hermeneutic admittedly formulated upon the time of the Second Coming? The book of James is for Jews? Falling back upon Science for an explanation of the earth's origins? A sin-cursed world and race before Adam's fall? A local Noahic flood? The above is a brief, but telling sampling of exegetical fallacies from the first twenty-four pages of the book.
"The manner of the 'creation' of the Pre-Adamite Earth is not revealed in the Scriptures. They simply declare that--'in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.' We have to fall back then upon Science."
"The creation of the 'Original Earth' was in the dateless past. It was doubtless a most beautiful earth, covered with vegetation and inhabited with fish and fowl and animal life, and probably with human life."
"The six days' work as described in Genesis 1:3-31 is not a description of how God made the Original earth, but how He restored it from its 'formless and void' condition to its present state. If the flood of Noah's day was only local and affected only that section fo the world, then the geography of the restored earth was problably the same as that of the earth today."
So who is this respected and revered dispensational leader and author?
Labels: dispensationalism, eisegesis, exegetical fallacies, Who Is It?, wrongly dividing the word of truth
posted by Ken Fields at 12:01 AM
23 Comments:
Jack Van Impe??
Clarence Larkin--Dispensational Truth
Dick Dayton here. We must remember Mark 13:32. No man knows the hour of the Lord's return. While world conditions seem to be bad to us, they have always been bad. The time of His return is in the hand of our Sovereign Savior. Our task is to be faithful to His Word and to minister until He comes. Date setting may sell books, but it does not edify the saints nor evangelize the lost in a Biblically correct manner.
Kenneth,
I'm not sure that I get the point of your post. Are you saying that dispensationalism as a system is heretical because of these statements? Is everyone associated with dispensationalism now a heretical lunatic who goes too far in their interpretation of Scripture?
Honestly Kenneth, do you really think that dispensationalism is the real enemy of orthodox Christianity (especially when I consider the fact that you pastor a church in a distinctively dispensational association)?
BTW - I've NEVER had any dispy recommend that I buy Larkin's book. Just wanted to clarify that one. Also, are you going to now publicly blog about some of the discrepancies of covenantal guys who have erroneously associated the church as the "new" Israel and also erroneously associate circumcision with baptism? Just wondering.
Have a great day!
Mike
Interesting qualifier "nearly all." Seems as if that leaves the door open for at least a few that don't fit into your point.
Why not allow the same consideration for his qualification: "if our inference is correct"? Seems he's leaving the door open that he could be mistaken. Unless we are now interpreting qualified statements in an unqualified way.
Like Mike, I fall into the "apparent" few who have never been encouraged to buy, read, or possess Larkin. [Wow. I feel so predestined to blessing.]
Never heard of the book or the author, and have never been encouraged to read or buy it.
Other than that...
OK, since a small, but vocal minority ;-) are questioning my implication that Larkin is widely read in dispensationalism, allow me to qualify: I was offering anecdotal evidence, not scientific evidence.
In the institution where I was trained, Larkin was well-known (not sure where Greg was!!). His writings are often referenced in my theology prof's class notes, and were well-known in each of the churches I have pastored. Either I'm on the fringes of dispensationalism, or many are not well-read (and therefore cannot understand the tenets of the movement they claim) within their own movement. I don't mean that as a slam, but as a sad reality.
Larkin is considered a spokesman for the dispensational movement ... just do a google search for books on dispensationalism, and you will find Larkin's book near the top of every list ... and listed among the "notable" dispensational leaders on the wikipedia page.
Because so few dispensationalists seem to be familiar with Larkin, here are a few interesting facts:
Larkin's college degree was in mechanical engineering and he had no formal Bible training. According to armageddonbooks.com, "He was not a premillennialist at the time of his ordination, but his study of the Scriptures, with the help of some books that fell into his hands, led him to adopt the premillennialist position. He began to make large wall charts, which he titled, 'Prophetic Truth,' for use in the pulpit. These led to his being invited to teach, in connection with his pastoral work, in two Bible institutes. During this time he published a number of prophetical charts, which were widely circulated."
The fact that some of you may not have read (or even heard of) Larkin does not change the fact that he is widely accepted as a leader and well-respected author within the movement.
Herein lies a problem with dispensationalism: when one tries to identify a leader within the movement whose views are accepted by the movement as a whole, dispensationalists are quick to distance and disassociate with him/them.
Whether it's Ryrie, Larkin, Darby, Chafer, Hodge, LaHaye, or Hagee, dispensationalists refuse to identify with the "leaders" of their movement.
So, is dispensationalism so fluid and disjointed that no author is identified as a leading voice of the movement?
I suspected Clarence Larkin - Dispensational Truth
Honestly by the time you get to the end of it and he writes about the Great Pyramid you know he is not playing with a full deck (exegetically).
His book "The Spirit World" is worthwhile by the way.
----------
Dispensationalism has had its excesses but so has Calvinism, Baptists, etc ... any system has it's fringe (eg Jack Hyles for Baptist).
The original Scofield reference Bible with the gap theory is an example of a foundational dispensational work that had at least one major flaw (the gap theory).
Older dispensationalists who made a distinction (incorrectly in my view) between the "Kingdom of Heaven" and the "Kingdom of God" also had reached flawed conclusions (I fell into that trap myself along with the gap theory early (very early) on).
John MacArthur has my vote for the leading voice of Dispensationalism. (He definitely makes a distinction between Israel and the church! He is a proponent and defender of the pre-trib position.)
One can be reformed with regard to soteriology without being a Covenantalist in one's framework.
I've read enough about Covenantal theology to see that it stretches on some major points as well.
I've already ordered Rolland McCune's Systematic Theology (Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary).
Remember that you're MUCH older than I, Ken. Maybe by the time I got to Faith they came to their senses and no longer recommended Larkin. ;-)
I seriously have never heard of him before today.
Jim,
I would agree with your vote. If dispensationalism is to be a respected voice in contemporary theology, MacArthur must be its voice. Only problem is that most contemporary classic dispensationalists want no part of MacArthur ... who openly identifies himself as a "leaky dispensationalist."
Greg,
Perhaps I am MUCH older ... and MUCH wiser!!! ;-)
Some other credible names that give solid theological integrity and articulation to dispensational theology:
Steven Lawson
Paul Hartog
John Hartog III
Kevin Bauder
Myron Houghton
Reginald Showers
and Charles Ryrie (on that subject, please note I am not endorsing his NON-Lordship views!)
Michael,
You simply prove my point. None of the men you mention have published a worthwhile book on dispensationalism (with the exception of Ryrie--I personally do not consider Showers' book to be helpful, especially in light of his association with Christian Zionism).
And you are forced to distance yourself from the one author who has written a respectable work on dispensationalism because of his aberrant views on Christ's Lordship and salvation.
Dispensationalism is dying (that is sure to raise arguments from some) for several reasons. For one, there is no widely accepted leader(s) of the movement (Ryrie and Chafer raise the ire of some, while MacArthur and Lawson equally raise the ire of others)--a sign that there are so many "splinters" within the movement that, as a whole, it will continue to die a slow death.
And if I'm wrong ... just remember, I'm only following in the prognosticating footsteps of dispensationalists who have gone before me ;-) !!!
Re: "Dispensationalism is dying"
You may be right but I am not willing to concede that point.
Think of all the other things Christians say "are dying":
Fundamentalism
Conservatism
Such and such Bible college
Etc Etc
Our job (perhaps job is not the best word ... "mission" is better!) is to herald truth. I'm not here to defend fundamentalism (although I still call myself one), or the Baptist name, etc.
I do think that it is a key hermeneutic to distinguish between the church and Israel! As long as there is a historical / grammetical / literal hermeneutic, expositors will understand that the church is not Israel, the church was not found in the Old Testament, and there are past prophecies yet to be fulfilled in a literal Israel.
Re: "Remember folks, this is all in jest!".
Pretty soon this blog may be called "The World from our BROKEN window"!
"Our job (perhaps job is not the best word ... "mission" is better!) is to herald truth. I'm not here to defend fundamentalism (although I still call myself one), or the Baptist name, etc.
I do think that it is a key hermeneutic to distinguish between the church and Israel! As long as there is a historical / grammetical / literal hermeneutic, expositors will understand that the church is not Israel, the church was not found in the Old Testament, and there are past prophecies yet to be fulfilled in a literal Israel."
AMEN!
"Pretty soon this blog may be called "The World from our BROKEN window"!"
LOL! Good one Jim!
Kenneth,
How can you honestly say that Showers book ("There Really is a Difference") was not helpful?
Ryrie's book Dispensationalism ) is an excellent work! I make no apology for saying that. Also, for the most part, his Basic Theology is also very helpful.
So using your analogy let's look at a few things here...are you now forced to distance yourself from the teachings of Jonathan Edwards since he was a confirmed slave owner? What about distancing yourself from Calvin due to his involvement in the execution of Servetus?
One would hardly look at these as "splinters" within the movement. What these are though are manifestations of the depravity of man...even in some of the most brilliant theological minds in the history of the Church.
"What these are though are manifestations of the depravity of man...even in some of the most brilliant theological minds in the history of the Church."
Ooo.. Now Mike's using reformed theology to argue with Ken. :)
For the record, I'd never heard of Clarence Larkin either.
Dick Dayton here. I am pretty sure I predate all of you in my Bible college educational experience. I was acquainted with Larkin's book (It was in the church library of the first place I pastored ) but did not buy into all the details of his system. We must remember that our minds, though we have the indwelling Spirit, still show the effects of the fall. As we wrestle with theological issues, the Lord brings to my mind words that are recited each Saturday morning in the synagogue ritual : "May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my Strength and my Redeemer." Ultimately, we must be drawn to the texts of Scripture. Books can be helpful, but will always be limited.
Ken
No knowledge of Larkin--generalizations always lead to a slipper slope--wait--maybe that is the slippery slope of the soap box you are standing on!
Dan
Sorry for the typos...I was just so excited to post my thought provoking comment!
Is this a good place to post this? ROCK-CHOKE-JAYHAWK...PU!!!
PS...Ken, in the institution that I was trained, Larkin was never offered either. "Uh...waiter...more kool-aid please."
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