SATISH SHARMA - not just Rotigraphy.: If you identify as Christian, but have never heard of Dispensationalism, buckle up.

https://x.com/MikkiWillis/status/2025090601796985278

If you identify as Christian, but have never heard of Dispensationalism, buckle up. The word "dispensation" comes from the Greek word \bm{oikonomia}, which appears several times in the New Testament (notably in the letters of Paul). It literally means "house-management" or "stewardship." While the word is biblical, the theological system (popularized by John Nelson Darby in the 1800s and the Scofield Reference Bible) is an interpretation of the Bible. John Nelson Darby (1800–1882) was an Anglo-Irish theologian and Bible translator, best known as the father of modern Dispensationalism — a theological system that has deeply shaped much of contemporary evangelical and fundamentalist Christianity. Dispensationalism is a system of biblical interpretation that divides history into distinct periods, or “dispensations.” Dispensationalism teaches that while God Himself never changes, His methods of dealing with humanity — His covenants, commands, and promises — differ in each dispensation. Dispensationalism allowed men such as Cyrus Ingerson Scofield (aka C. I. Scofield) to reinterpret and ultimately distort the Bible through this new framework. C.I. Scofield (a man accused of fraud, scams, and deceptive behavior prior to his ministry days) was an American pastor who lived from 1843 to 1921. He’s best remembered for creating the Scofield Reference Bible (1909), a study Bible that spread dispensational theology throughout the English-speaking world — shaping much of 20th-century evangelical Christianity. Many evangelicals believe dispensationalism explains current global events, especially in relation to Israel and the Middle East. For them, geopolitics, war, and even natural disasters are seen through a prophetic lens. As an example, Christian Zionists might be surprised to learn that NONE of the Holy Bibles contain the following quote as it’s commonly stated: “Those that bless Israel will be blessed, and those that curse Israel will be cursed, and all the world will be blessed through them.” This statement is actually a paraphrase of Genesis 12:3, and the word “Israel” does not appear in that verse, nor in the original Hebrew text. Instead, the actual verse reads: “And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” Here, “thee” refers to Abram (later renamed Abraham), the man to whom God made the foundational covenant that would shape biblical history. For most of Christian history, this verse was understood universally: the promise was ultimately fulfilled in Christ, a descendant of Abraham, through whom “ALL nations are blessed,” not just the ethnic or political nation of Israel. ALL NATIONS should be good news to all people. Yet somehow those unifying words are seen as hateful by some people. While dispensationalists often see their theology as pro-Jewish, many Jewish thinkers view it warily, fearing it could reinforce outsider status. Today, more and more Christians are rejecting dispensationalism, citing that it is: • Man-made – not rooted in historic Christian theology but developed in the 19th century. • Overly literal – especially in interpreting prophecy and apocalyptic texts. • Politically dangerous – fueling extremism, particularly in U.S. foreign policy tied to prophecy and Israel. • Prone to fear-based control – using end-times anxiety to divide and manipulate believers. • Undermines Jesus’ core teachings by redefining them. • Makes God’s plan seem fragmented, instead of unified and consistent. • Divides God’s people, treating Israel and the Church as separate—despite biblical emphasis on unity in Christ. • Encourages escapism, focusing on a future rapture instead of present-day faithfulness, service, and responsibility.

5:09 PM · Feb 21, 2026