Are We Wrongly Dividing the Word of Truth?

John Gerstner’s Wrongly Dividing the Word of Truth: A Critique of Dispensationalism (Wolgemuth & Hyatt, 1991) is the latest of a number of books in recent years claiming to be the ultimate refutation of dispensationalism. 1. The design of the book: The subtitle states the purpose of the book. As one reviewer notes, the word “critique” “is putting it mildly—the book is more like a butchering” (The Baptist Bulletin, March 1992, p. 38). The jacket of the book informs the reader that this is “the most extensive and systematic study of Dispensational theology ever published.”

Historic Marks of Fundamentalism

Fundamentalism began in the later nineteenth century as a concerned response to the rise of higher criticism and doctrinal deviation and also as a response to the worldly drift among God’s people. How far back does the movement go? Surely not before the Believers’ Meeting held in Chicago, 1875, with their concerns about prophecy and German theology. Some have dated it from 1909, with the publication of The Fundamentals and the first edition of The Scofield Reference Bible. Surely it dates no later than the 1920 Northern Baptist Convention, when Curtis Lee Laws coined the term Fundamentalist.

Dispensational Theology

Introduction Faith Baptist Theological Seminary is dispensational in its theology. Many people do not know what dispensationalism really is or how it affects the beliefs we hold. The purpose of this article is to explain dispensationalism by looking at some of our major beliefs. The Bible We believe that the Bible is God’s Word. All of its 66 books are inspired, and everything the Bible teaches is completely true. At the same time we recognize that the message found in the Bible is more greatly developed in the New Testament.

The Evangelical Drift

As a self-conscious movement, new evangelicalism has been with us almost half a century. Forty-five years have passed since the founding of the National Association of Evangelicals, forty since the opening of Fuller Seminary, and thirty-five since the shift at the Conservative Baptist Seminary. That was also the year that Billy Graham left Northwestern to go into evangelism full time. Thirty years have passed since Graham’s New York campaign. Ten years have passed since Quebedeaux finished writing The Worldly Evangelicals, and twenty-six have passed since I first heard Charles Woodbridge deliver one of his famous lectures on new evangelicalism.

“I Have Kept the Faith” — A Tribute to Dr. Gordon L. Shipp

Faith Pulpit is issue-oriented. We planned it that way and intend to keep it that way! The sudden and unexpected death of our president has caused us to reflect on the direction in which he was leading the College and Seminary, to think about the issues he raised and considered important. We note these issues carefully because we, too, believe they are important, and because they serve as an occasion to remember and honor the godly legacy Dr. Shipp left us.