: Dispensational Pre-Millennial

Dispensational Pre-Millennial

Specific Distinctives
Christ's return does not end history
Jesus will return visibly to Earth before the Millennium (also known as ‗Chiliasm' - Latin for 1000)
Believe in a future Rapture, Antichrist, False Prophet, 7 year Tribulation, Armageddon, 1000 reign of Christ on Earth
Most adhere to Dispensational Theology
Ultimate purpose of history is the glory of God
Believe Israel and the Church are distinct in origins, promises, missions and futures
National Israel: still has a future earthly purpose and will receive her earthly promises of land, blessing and stature
The consistent use of a single method of interpreting the Bible (historical-grammatical method)
Law and Grace are opposed to each other
Teach believer's Baptism only
"The believer's rule of life" - Walking after the Spirit
Read the Old Testament without New Testament

Background:
Justin Martyr (AD 100-165)
From Adam to Abraham
Abraham to Moses
Moses to Christ
Christ to the eternal state
Irenaeus (AD 120-202)
From the Creation to the Flood
Flood to the Law
Law to the Gospel
Gospel to the Eternal State (LarryV. Crutchfield, Ages and Dispensations Of The Ante-Nicene Fathers)
John Nelson Darby (1800-1882) was the father of modern Dispensationalism recording 7 Dispensations
Innocence - Adam
Conscience - After man sinned up to the flood
Government - After the flood, man allowed to eat meat, death penalty instituted
Promise - Abraham up to Moses and the giving of the Law
Law - Moses to the cross
Grace - The cross to the Millennium
Millennium – The literal 1000 year reign of Christ on earth centered in Jerusalem
Dispensationalism spread from England to America through the writings of the Brethren movement
The Bible Institute and Bible Conference movements in the late 1800s helped spread Dispensational fervor
The Scofield Reference Bible (1909) along with Dallas Theological Seminary and Moody Bible College helped spread Dispensationalism
Dispensationalism today continues to evolve and finds itself split into various schools of thought
Traditional: Israel is God‘s earthly people while the Church (a parenthesis in God‘s program for Israel) is God‘s heavenly people
Revised: The Church is still the Church and Israel still Israel but are no longer distinct as God‘s earthly or heavenly peoples
Progressive: The Abrahamic, Davidic, and new covenants are being progressively fulfilled today as well as having fulfillments in the Millennium.
See more continuity between the Church and Israel as opposed to distinctions
There are also Acts 2:1-47, Mid-Acts and Acts 28:1-31 Dispensationalists with regards to when the Church began

Works:
Clarence Larkin, The Greatest Book on Dispensational Truth in the World (1918, 1920)
Lewis Sperry Chafer, Systematic Theology (1947, 1993)
Charles Ryrie, Dispensationalism Today (1977)
Renald Showers, There Really is a Difference (1990)
Darrell Bock and Craig Blaising, Progressive Dispensationalism (1993)
Robert L. Saucy, The Case For Progressive Dispensationalism (1993)

Theological Persuasion:
Calvinists and Arminians found within Pre-Millennialism
The dominant Dispensational thought today is Progressive Dispensationalism Churches:
Baptist, Calvary Chapel, Bible churches, Assemblies of God, Non-Denominational and Independent

Past Notables:
Lewis Sperry Chafer, John F. Walvoord, C.I. Scofield, Charles Feinberg, Miles Stanford,
Dwight L. Moody, Ray Stedman, Arno C. Gaebelein, William R. Newell, F.W. Grant, J. B. Stoney

Current Notables:
Charles Ryrie, Arnold Fruchtenbaum, Craig A. Blaising, John MacArthur, J. Dwight Pentecost,
Darrell L. Bock, Robert L. Saucy, Les Feldick, Renald Showers

Seminaries:
Dallas, Talbot, Grace and Chafer Theological Seminaries, Multnomah School of the Bible, Grace School of Theology,
Moody Bible College, Philadelphia College of the Bible (now Cairn University), The Master's Seminary, Baptist Bible College & Seminary (Clarks Summit, PA)

Web Sites:
Middletown Bible Church (www.middletownbiblechurch.org)
www.biblebelievers.com, www.biblicaldispensationalism.com, www.dispensationalberean.com
Matthew McGee's GraceLife ministry (www.matthewmcgee.org)
The keepers of the late Miles Stanford's www site: (http://withchrist.org/center.htm)

Quote:
"We believe that Christ must return to earth befgore the thousand years can begin. That which is stated in Revelation 20:1-5 will be literally fulfilled. About this we have not the slightest doubt." (Rev. D. Colin Jones)