What is Dispensationalism?

What is Dispensationalism? An important new book has just been published titled, What is Dispensationalism? I had the privilege of being one of 27 different authors, contributing one chapter (“How Does Dispensationalism Impact Systematic Theology”), two articles (“What was the purpose of miracles?” and “Do Christians still perform miracles?”) and two appendices (“What is Covenant Theology?” and “What is Progressive Dispensationalism?”) Our target audience is the average person in the pew, but also with Bible institutes, Christian colleges and universities, and seminaries in mind as we believe it has the potential of becoming a textbook in some schools. It was

Read more

Is Replacement Theology Inherently Anti-Semitic?

Is Replacement Theology Inherently Anti-Semitic?   Replacement theology (also known as “supersessionism”) is rapidly gaining traction in historically conservative evangelical churches around the world. The term “replacement theology” means that the church has replaced Israel in God’s program because as a nation they rejected Jesus Christ as their Messiah and so forfeited their right to the promises made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the Abrahamic Covenant (Genesis 12, 13, 15, 17), as well as those made to Moses in the Land Covenant (Deuteronomy 29, 30), to David in the Davidic Covenant (2 Samuel 7), and to Jeremiah in the

Read more

The New Covenant, Israel, and the Church

The New Covenant, Israel, and the Church   One of the great misunderstandings in Christendom today is the belief that the New Covenant was given by God exclusively to and for the church. Two of the main Scripture passages upon which this belief is based are Matthew 26:28 where Jesus states, “For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” and 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 where Paul rehearses the Lord’s instructions for the church to observe what has come to be known as “The Lord’s Supper.” However, we need to understand

Read more

God’s Plan through the Ages

God’s Plan through the Ages Imagine how hard it would be to put together a 5000-piece puzzle if you had all the pieces, but didn’t have the box with the picture on it. Even if you were to carefully examine the details, it would still be tough to figure out how the pieces fit together or how each one fits into the overall picture. You could probably put together a few groups of pieces by matching colors and patterns, but even then it would still be difficult to see how those groups go together. It wouldn’t take very long for

Read more

Blood Moon Tetrad (2014-2015): A Sign of the End?

Blood Moon Tetrad (2014-2015): A Sign of the End?   (blood moon graphic from John Hagee Ministries used in his sermon series on this topic)   A relatively rare series of lunar and solar eclipses, which coincides with important dates on the Jewish calendar in 2014 and 2015, is generating a significant amount of speculation that these could be signs connected with the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. The four consecutive total lunar eclipses depicted in the above graphic from John Hagee’s website are known as a “blood moon tetrad.” Interestingly, each of the lunar eclipses falls on two specific

Read more

Pope Francis: History’s Final Pope?

Note: portions of this article have been edited to more accurately reflect portions of Petrus Romanus in response to comments by one of the authors, Cris Putnam concerning the original version of the article. “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” (2 Timothy

Read more

The Harbinger: Fact or Fiction?

Does Isaiah 9:10 really contain an ancient mystery that holds the secret of America’s future? Note: This review is an abridged version of a book of the same title. PUBLISHING UPDATE: The Harbinger: Fact or Fiction? is now available for purchase on The Berean Call website and Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle formats. Article available in pdf format at this link. A discussion between Dave James and Jonathan Cahn, moderated by Jimmy DeYoung can be found at this link. The first one to plead his cause seems right, until his neighbor comes and examines him. (Proverbs 18:17, NKJV) Moderated discussion

Read more

Are Muslims Seeing Jesus?

Recently, I was asked by another Bible teacher about my views concerning reports coming out of the Muslim world that many Muslims have been having visions and dreams of Isa (“Jesus” in Arabic) – and as a result, that many – perhaps tens of thousands – are coming to saving faith in Him. I have been aware of these stories for a number of years, but until a couple of weeks ago, I hadn’t done much research into the matter. My studies led me to a very well-written article by Dennis McBride, in which he addresses the major issues surrounding

Read more

God’s Plan through the Ages

Imagine the difficulty of trying to put together a 2500-piece jigsaw puzzle if you had all the pieces, but not the box with the picture. You could examine all the details with as much care and precision as possible, but it would be very difficult to figure out how the pieces relate to one another and how each one fits into the overall picture. And even if you were to successfully assemble several groups of pieces scattered around the picture by matching colors and patterns, it would still be very difficult to figure out how these groups fit together when

Read more

Supersessionism Rising: Dispensationalism…? Part 2

This is Part 2 an article which appeared in the September / October 2011 edition of Voice magazine and is reproduced with the permission of its author, Dr. Kevin Zuber. Dr. Zuber is Professor of Theology at Moody Bible Institute and a teaching elder / pastor at Grace Bible Church Northwest. ________________ Preface (by Dave James) There were several catalysts in the process that ultimately led to the formation of The Alliance for Biblical Integrity. One of the first was a very late-night conversation with Dr. Jimmy DeYoung in 2007 (which I’ll get back to in a moment). It was

Read more

Supersessionism Rising: Dispensationalism…? Part 1

This article appeared in the September / October 2011 edition of Voice magazine and is reproduced with the permission of its author, Dr. Kevin Zuber. Dr. Zuber is Professor of Theology at Moody Bible Institute and a teaching elder / pastor at Grace Bible Church Northwest. ________________ Preface (by Dave James) There were several catalysts in the process that ultimately led to the formation of The Alliance for Biblical Integrity. One of the first was a very late-night conversation with Dr. Jimmy DeYoung in 2007 (which I’ll get back to in a moment). It was after midnight and we were

Read more

The Greatest Tragedy of the Rapture Prediction

Predictably – and appropriately, conservative Bible teachers, theologians and pastors have uniformly condemned Harold Camping’s adamant declarations that the Rapture would occur before the end of the day on Saturday, May 21, 2011. It is now being widely reported that Mr. Camping has since admitted that he is neither infallible nor a “genius”, while inexplicably insisting that God’s judgment, did in fact begin on May 21: On May 21, this last weekend, this is where the spiritual aspect of it really comes through,” said Camping. “God again brought judgment on the world. We didn’t see any difference but God brought

Read more

“The Muslim Brotherhood and the Gospel of Christ”

An astonishing guest opinion piece [1. Bob Kubinec, “The Muslim Brotherhood and the Gospel of Christ,” Christianity Today, accessed Feb. 11, 2011, http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2011/februaryweb-only/muslimbrotherhood.html] featured in the February 11 edition of Christianity Today Direct challenges Christians in the West, including “many evangelicals,” to rethink what the author describes as “a deep and abiding prejudice” against the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) in Egypt (a prejudice which he says evangelicals share with “the U.S. foreign policy community”). The article was written by Bob Kubinec, who is described as “a consultant who lives in Washington, D.C. He has studied and done research on religious and

Read more

“Dispensationalism must be wrong” – Part II

A visitor posted the following comment on the first blog post concerning popular arguments against dispensationalism. For those of you who are eschatologically expert, I invite you to comment specifically on a Google article entitled “Pretrib Rapture Dishonesty,” a photographic version of which is on the “Powered by Christ Ministries” site. Since some have given the impression that that article is full of errors, I would very much like to be informed as to which particular item in it is in fact erroneous. Thanks in advance. Karl The document to which he refers (Pretrib Rapture Dishonesty) was written by Dave

Read more

Dispensationalism must be wrong – Part One

A number of arguments are regularly used to try to discredit dispensationalism and conclude that it is flawed and must be wrong as a theological system. Interestingly, two frequent arguments against dispensationalism are based on the history of dispensationalism, having nothing to do with theology or exegesis. One argument attempts to discredit dispensationalism with the charge that it is a “young” theological system. The other attempts to discredit dispensationalism with the charge that its development is suspect. However, neither is actually a legitimate argument against dispensational theology and both are relatively easy to refute. The Relative Youth of Dispensationalism Those

Read more

Council on Dispensational Hermeneutics

I am writing from Baptist Bible College and Seminary in Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania, in the middle of the second annual Council on Dispensational Hermeneutics. One of the first charges leveled against dispensationlists and dispensationalism is that this system of theology lacks all academic credibility and depth. It is further often charged that dispensationalism and particularly its eschatological aspects, such as the Rapture, the Tribulation and the Millennium are not found in the Bible and cannot be supported by responsible exegesis. If there is anything that one can learn from being here at this conference, it is that these charges as

Read more

Important Questions from a Reader

Today, I received an email from an ABI Facebook Group member with some questions and issues that this person would like for us to consider as topics to be addressed on the ABI website and/or blog. I have also encountered these myself in a variety of contexts including ministry situations, articles and books, blogs and forums, conversations and just during personal reflection. I have summarized the main issues below and plan to write on many or most of them in over the next few weeks (or have guest writers contribute, as well.) So, stay tuned. (As always, please feel free

Read more

The Beginnings of ABI – Part III

In that first two-line email to Jimmy DeYoung in June, 2008, I had mentioned the “Pre-Trib Study Group.” ___________________ The Pre-Trib Study Group  (now the Pre-Trib Research Center – www.pre-trib.org) was started in 1992 by Tim LaHaye and Tommy Ice out of a concern that they were witnessing a broad departure away from Pretribulational Premillennialism within evangelicalism. Premillennialism is the belief that Christ will return prior to a literal 1000-year (millennium) during which time He will rule as the earth’s sovereign king from the Throne of David in Jerusalem. This is distinguished from Amillennialism – meaning “no millennium” – which

Read more

The Beginnings of ABI – Part II

Even though our decision to move back to the U.S. and start a new ministry probably seemed very sudden to many, it was actually the culmination of a long process of preparation through which the Lord had taken us. —————————— I wrapped up the previous post with: This prompted me to write a simple two-line email to Jimmy DeYoung (a long-time friend and Founding Director of Prophecy Today), asking the question: “Is there a need for an organization, something like the Pre-Trib Study Group, to help hold the line on historical, conservative evangelicalism?” As I mentioned, I wrote this email

Read more

The Beginnings of ABI – Part I

I’m sure many have wondered about the details of our transition from being with Word of Life in Hungary for 16 years to returning to the States to be involved with launching the new ministry of The Alliance for Biblical Integrity. Now that a year has passed since we first began thinking about the transition, I am now in a position to look back over the last several years and especially the last twelve months and give a fairly coherent summary of exactly what has happened and why we are so excited about this new phase in our lives. For

Read more