(Taken from the March 2002 edition of Present Truth Magazine)

By A. Wilson Phillips

Pop singer Doris Day used to sing,

When I was just a little girl, I asked my mother, What will I be?

Will I be pretty? Will I be rich?

Here’s what she said to me

Que sera, sera, whatever will be will be

The future’s not ours to see,

Que sera, sera

That little song no doubt would satisfy a child’s curious mind for the moment; however, the human mind cannot be satisfied until it separates truth from error on any biblical truth. Christians want answers concerning such subjects as their salvation, the present ministry of the Holy Spirit in their lives, and their future.

The study of end times, eschatology, is a very divisive subject in Christianity. The systematic theology known as dispensationalism has been one of the most damaging and dangerous views of eschatology.

Dr. C. I. Scofield, one of the most influential proponents of dispensationalism, defined a dispensation as “a period of time during which man is tested in respect to obedience to some specific revelation of the will of God.” Scofield categorized the dispensations as Innocence, Conscience, Human Government, Promise, Law, Grace, and Kingdom. He claimed that we are presently in the church age of Grace, and we will go into the Kingdom age after the second coming of Christ. Dispensationalism denies that the spiritual identity of Israel is the Church, and it tends to set “Grace” and “Law” against each other as mutually exclusive principles. In my view, It is a very flawed system of Bible interpretation.

The Scofield Reference Bible became very popular because his notes were handy for both the layman and the pastors/teachers. The reader did not have to research history or the meaning of words from the Hebrew or Greek language in which the Scriptures were written.

When error comes, it always rides in on the wings of truth. Scofieldism has both virtues and vices. To Scofield’s credit, its virtues outweigh its vices. However, those who have swallowed the whole dispensational package and been indoctrinated with its beliefs have a very difficult time coming out of its system of theology.

Dispensationalism actually represents the minority of Christianity, but because the dispensational end-time teaching has been the most vocal and dogmatic, many think they are in the majority. The dispensational teaching in the Left Behind books has made many rich. Most television and radio preachers today are proclaiming some form of dispensationalism; however, today many are breaking free from this faulty doctrine.

My break with dispensationalism began at Central Bible College in Springfield, Missouri, in 1967. Dr. Donald F. Johns, a wonderful man of God, told me to get rid of my new Scofield Bible; initially, this offended me. My father and other godly people had used the Scofield Reference Bible even though they differed with Scofield regarding pneumatology (the study of the Holy Spirit). The Pentecostals’ experience with the Holy Spirit caused many to reject Scofieldism in part, but they kept the futurist views on eschatology. Today most Evangelical, Charismatic, and Pentecostal believers hold to some dispensational views on the end times.

My Pentecostal Bible college training was a great blessing because of Dr. Donald F. Johns, Dr. Stanley Horton, Dr. William Menzies, Dr. Anthony Palma, Dr. David Drake, and others who did not have “earned doctorates.” I am still grateful for their deposit of truth into my life. They are all sincere, devoted, honorable men of God. (Dr. Johns has made the transition from his earthly “tent” into his spiritual body in heaven [2 Pet. 1:14; 1 Cor. 15:44].)

After I left Central Bible College, the Holy Spirit sovereignly began to further distance me from dispensationalism while I was pastoring in Sedalia, Missouri. The Holy Spirit worked miracles in the gifts of the Spirit through my ministry, and He showed me the need for Catholic and Protestant denominations to be more open to the gifts of the Spirit today. Eventually, God revealed to me that He wanted His children to partake of kingdom living today.

The Scripture says the Holy Spirit is in and with all true New Covenant believers (John 14:17). Jesus told His apostles that when the Holy Spirit came He would guide them into all truth (John 16:13). I have followed the sovereign leading of God’s Holy Spirit in arriving at my present belief about the future, which disproves dispensationalism.

I have never seen my heavenly Father (John 1:18). Only a small, limited number saw the incarnate Son in the flesh; the rest of us never will (2 Cor. 5:16). Jesus said those who have not seen Him would be blessed by believing (John 20:29). Apostle Peter wrote by divine inspiration:

…whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls (1 Pet. 1:8-9).

Jesus would not be any more real to me if I had seen Him with my natural sight. New Covenant believers do not need a physical earthbound Jesus for them to live a victorious life of faith. The Spirit created matter and energy and controls and modifies it (Heb. 1:3; Col. 1:16-17). The spirit world is the real world.
 

Contrary to Doris Day’s song, the future is ours to see—by the Spirit of the Living God of the Bible. Both the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures reveal the future to God’s covenant people.

Through the eye of faith, I see the future clearly today. All physical bodies come from dust and will return to dust (Gen. 2:7, 3:19; Ps. 103:14-16). All who receive Jesus Christ as their life will put off their “tents” (temporary bodies) and transition into their spiritual bodies (1 Cor. 15:44). These spiritual bodies are similar to the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. They will live with Him and the Father in heaven forever. New Covenant believers will never be separated from the Lord. “…He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being…” (Acts17:27-28).

The past-fulfillment covenantal view of end-time prophecy reveals that we who are “in Christ” live in the everlasting covenant in the everlasting kingdom (Heb. 13:20-21; 2 Pet. 1:11). The best is yet to come in our temporary bodies and in our spiritual bodies in heaven.

A. Wilson Phillips is the co-founding and senior
pastor of Abundant Life Covenant Church.