Bircher-Dispensationalism's Twisted Reading of Providence

https://www.vcy.org/crosstalk/2026/02/16/presidents-politics-prophecy/

Sometimes I can't help myself. Given my background and upbringing in Fundamentalist and Dispensational circles, I do like to 'check in' every once in awhile and see what's being talked about and how the issues are framed.

CrossTalk is a terrible programme, one I have written about on many occasions. It's basically John Birch Radio within a framework of Dispensational Theology and this episode was no exception.

Basically it was a Bircher apologia for the GOP and Trump. The framework was post-war US presidents and the state of Israel. Presidents were assessed and judged on the basis of their support for the Zionist state. To be fair, time was limited and so a lot had to be skipped over but what was covered was little more than spin. This was combined with some outright errors and invalid interpretations. At every opportunity the host and guest took shots at the Democrats - the villains being Carter, Clinton, Obama, and Biden. They more or less skipped over Truman and Johnson.

Their selective revisionist read of Middle Eastern history cast Israel as righteous and always in the right - and all opposition to them as akin to barbarism and satanic savagery. It could also be described as a forced reading of Providence - insinuating that the rise of the US was in connection with its task to protect Israel. It's an oft-repeated claim but one without any basis and built on false assumption. Clearly the host and guest (an ex-sheriff) champion and celebrate America's 'Superpower' status and in their ignorance they all but gushed in their perceptions that Trump was returning America to that role.

There were also the tiresome and childish references to not just Barack Obama, but always Barack Hussein Obama - over and over again in order to keep suggesting he is a Muslim. Further there was the additional dog whistle of nuclear being pronounced nook-yeh-ler - the functionally Orwellian mispronunciation that was adopted in order to help the bumbling George Bush save face.

And then there were all the other expected myths - Reagan's 'Tear down this wall' speech which though dramatic and memorable to the public was in fact ridiculous given the state of Soviet-American relations at that time and had little to no impact.

They rightly speak of God controlling events including the rise and fall of kings and empires. But how blind they are to the fact that America is just another bestial empire akin to Rome or any of the others. But in some respects it is the Dispensationalist grid that blocks them from seeing this as they fixate on the EU as the 'revived Roman Empire' and the like - based on a complete misreading of Daniel.

I was saddened to hear the calls to the show. It reminded me of how the system lends itself to great speculation and ultimately distraction as everyone argues over the specifics of this or that fulfillment - whether Babylon is Rome, New York, or (as the guest insists) the re-built city in Iraq which will become the centre of global activity during the so-called Seven Year Tribulation. The latter construct is again based on a non-Christological misreading of Daniel 9. And that's one of the core problems with this theology. They insist that large sections of prophecy have not yet been fulfilled and that many find their fulfillment in connection to the Jewish people and Israel. This is in direct contrast to Paul's teaching regarding all the types and prophecies being fulfilled in Christ. The New Testament teaches us how to read the Old Testament and we learn that the Church was prophesied everywhere and as the Body of Christ is the fulfillment of the promises made under the Old Covenant - many of which are depicted by means of idiom, and thus fulfilled literally but not in a hyper-literal way.

But the Dispensational pseudo-literalism insists the Church was nowhere predicted in the Old and though it was unsaid in this episode, the Church must be removed (via the fiction of the pre-tribulation rapture) so that God's plan for Israel can once again become the primary focus.

Ironically their hallmark passage of Genesis 12 refutes them - that is if they accept Paul's interpretation of it in Galatians 3 - which they do not. Likewise they reject the way in which James (in Acts 15) reads Amos 9 which insists (by means of prophetic idiom) that the prophesied rebuilding of the Temple/Tabernacle of David is fulfilled in the Church. More could be said about Peter's declaration that Joel 2 has been fulfilled in his Pentecost sermon - a point they also reject, insisting it has yet to be fulfilled.

Contrary to Schmidt, all the Old Testament prophets predicted the Church. The mystery Paul speaks of is that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs and of the same body. The expanded nature of the Church and indwelling of the Holy Spirit were not explicitly explained in the Old, but were in type and shadow - and fully revealed in the New. The Gentile inclusion was certainly predicted in the Old but veiled.

The Dispensationalists reject all this and insist the various Old Testament prophecies concerning Israel must be fulfilled in the hyper-literalist manner they would impose. They look for other 'proper' fulfillments beyond a kind of 'lesser' fulfillment that is appealed to over and over again throughout the New Testament. In other words they are Judaizers - literally insisting that Judaism is valid and must be restored. The Church is a side-show to them and as such they are at odds with the teachings of the apostles. From the teachings in Galatians and Hebrews to Paul's statements in Ephesians 2 concerning the nature of the Church as Israel, their theology is condemned. Regarding the Ephesians passage they are forced to argue that when the 'rapture' (invisible 2nd Coming) takes place that partition broken down by Christ, the law of commandments done away with - will be re-erected and the enmity re-established.

This effectively is the undoing of the work of Christ.

Thus all their efforts are misguided. All their talk of rebuilt temples is futile - and sacrilege. They repeatedly point to people preparing Levitical garments, raising red heifers and the like - it's all immaterial, the same kind of dreams the Zealots promoted in the first century that led to their doom.

The formation of a Zionist state in 1948 was historically significant to be sure but it has nothing to do with Bible prophecy but was in fact a rejection of God's Providence, an attempt (even as some rabbis argue) to force messianic fulfillment apart from the coming of the messiah.

Of course the Messiah has come and they rejected Him. As such, everything the Old Testament was about and pointed to - they rejected. They have no claim to being God's Covenant people - they have no claim to the Old Testament which they torture and misuse. This doesn't mean we hate them, persecute them, or boast against them. Their persecution arises not from New Testament Christianity but from the heresy of Constantinianism and later Nationalism.

Far from being some kind of godly Jewish state, modern Israel is an ethno-nationalist and increasingly fascistic extension of the US Empire in the Middle East - not a fulfillment of prophecy.

And it needs to be stated, by denying the rapture, in no way is the Second Coming being denied. The rapture (as they understand it) is basically a pre-Second Coming that is not taught in Scripture - and thus the actual Second Coming is more like a Third Coming - a notion that has no basis. In addition this convoluted system teaches multiple resurrections and multiple judgments.

I found it interesting that Schmidt acknowledged that Daniel 7 is virtually a repeat or reiteration of Daniel 2. I'm not sure why he can say that because that's certainly not how they read the Book of Revelation wherein they insist that every vision must be chronologically successive as opposed to examples of reiteration. This school of interpretation is wed to the rise of Fundamentalism at the end of the 19th century, Scottish Common Sense Realism, and Baconian epistemology. What they think is the plain literal sense is often forced and filtered through an epistemological sieve that is actually an expression of Enlightenment thought and its theories of knowledge. Again, a closer study of the Scripture would reveal to them just how we are to interact with revelation as well as how prophecy works and is fulfilled.

Additionally we discover an approach to doctrine and theology that is also at odds with their system which in seeking to magnify God's grace instead cheapens the gospel and reduces salvation to an intellectual exercise wed to a doctrine of assurance that is not assurance, but presumption. It's a dangerous perversion of the gospel and has deceived untold millions. For many years I was one of them and it all but led me to a rejection of Christianity. Thankfully by the grace of God I was broken, returned to the Scriptures anew with an attitude of submission. Through much study I came to realize the errors of this system - and not just in the realms of prophecy. I left it behind over thirty years ago and never looked back - at least not in terms of entertaining its claims. As stated, I revisit these circles from time to time to note how they keep changing their grid with the geopolitics of the moment and it's helpful to see how they are dealing with various controversies. They are not always wrong on every single thing but all too often even when they're right - it's for the wrong reasons or by means of an erroneous path.

What we find here is a Judaized theology wed to Right-wing politics and the result is chaotic, destructive, and patently unbiblical thought and action. There's also this strange tendency to try and thwart or delay prophecy by changing the situation - a kind of reasoning that has never made any sense to me.

The original Fundamentalism that emerged at the turn of the 20th century was bad enough, but their determination to be faithful to the New Testament led them to rightly reject politics, war, and mammon. That would change soon enough and though it makes little sense, the Bircher-type of Right-wing politics was able to sink some deep roots in those circles. I remember it well and again praise God that I was able to walk away.

The consequence is that in addition to massively misreading the Scripture and misunderstanding its basic themes and doctrines, this theology and misguided political allegiance has led them to embrace evil regimes and to support the fascistic Likud party in Israel, as well as some of the worst elements of the Settler movement. They champion butchers like Netanyahu and clearly support Tel Aviv's attempts at genocide. This in turn is wed to some of the worst elements emerging in American politics. One thinks of the arch-heretic Mike Huckabee and his support for 'Greater Israel' - an imperialist project that would lead to massive regional war and mass death, all on the basis of a complete Judaized misreading of Scripture. It's a heresy that has real and dire geopolitical consequences. These people will answer for the bloodshed and butchery they have both fomented and championed.

Trump is in many respects the culmination of Bircher efforts and dreams. Clearly their allegiance to the United States and Israel is placed far over and above any kind of adherence to the New Testament and thus we are forced to reject and condemn this movement, its theology, and its ethics. Some within those circles (most likely in the pews) are undoubtedly Christians - despite the false teaching. The gospel is there in the broad strokes but is deeply buried and corrupted and I would hope that any believer in Christ will find their way out of those quarters.

They are in decline. It's hard to believe given the overwhelming and even authoritative popularity of the movement in the 1970's (one thinks of Hal Lindsey's books) through the 1990's and early 2000's with the Left Behind fiction series. And yet twenty years later the movement has splintered and it's clear enough its leaders are alarmed by the widespread defection. Many congregations and pastors have migrated in the direction of New Calvinism which is also fraught with problems and many of these teachers and congregations retain some form of Dispensationalism - often only the broad sense of its eschatological system. But more often than not when the pastor decides to actually give a serious look into these issues, he discovers that it is without Scriptural (or even historical) warrant.

In the meantime they still have a lot of money and momentum behind them and not a few congressmen are still under the influence of this system and it shapes how they vote. As such men like Schneider, Schmidt, and Huckabee have hands covered in blood and will give an account for leading Christ's people astray, strengthening the hands of evildoers, and teaching God's people to sin and support Zionist mass murder.