Truth isn't for everybody. Jesus often said, "He who has an ear, let him hear." And, Jesus didn't say this only to unbelievers. In the N.T. book of Revelation we find Jesus saying these words to all seven of His churches in Asia Minor.

No matter how we students of Bible prophecy understand the meaning of these seven churches, most of us agree that Jesus' words should be taken seriously. That's because it's believed that in these seven churches we find the beginning of doctrinal errors that persist in various forms and still haunt us Christians to this day.

As you may know by now, I have come to a little different understanding of Bible prophecy from that which is popular today. Although I learned the subject by using the same dispensational method of Bible interpretation as most, before learning the method I had already spent a great deal of time reading the Bible on my own. What immediately concerned me about dispensationalism was all the Scriptures that it was telling me didn't apply anymore. For example, according to strict dispensationalism, many of Jesus' words that we find in the Gospels aren't for us -- they were only for Israel. I had grown to love Jesus' words. So, this part of dispensationalism troubled me.

The situation I was confronted with reminds me of a conversation that Jesus had with the religious leaders of Israel. Jesus said:

You are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition. For Moses said, "HONOR YOUR FATHER AND YOUR MOTHER"; and, "HE WHO SPEAKS EVIL OF FATHER OR MOTHER, IS TO BE PUT TO DEATH"; but you say, "If a man says to his father or his mother, whatever I have that would help you is Corban (that is to say, given to God)," you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or his mother; thus invalidating the word of God by your tradition which you have handed down; and you do many things such as that (Mark 7: 9-13 New American Standard Bible). 

I fear we modern evangelicals may be doing the same thing. The foremost commandments that we Christians are to keep are Jesus' commandments (1 John 2: 4-6). But, if according to our dispensational interpretation we say many of Jesus' words don't apply anymore, isn't it possible that we may have invalidated some of God's word by our tradition too?

For example: Didn't Jesus command us all to stay alert? Why aren't we doing it? Our churches are blessed with many excellent Bible teachers. That being the case, why is it hard to find a church teaching prophecy anymore? And when prophecy is taught, it's usually right off the shelf from something that someone else taught. Friends, that type of lazy Bible is not staying alert either. 

Don't take me wrong. If it wasn't for dispensationalism, I don't believe I would have ever come to an accurate understanding of the difficult subject of Bible prophecy. However, like anything man made, dispensationalism isn't perfect.

"He who has an ear, let him hear."