The following is a transcript of a series of messages by Dr. Ed J MacWilliams regarding the doctrines of Replacement Theology, Dominion Theology, or Kingdom-Now Theology. These were presented in 2005.
PART ONE
Good evening. What we are about to study is not what we normally would be looking at on a Wednesday Night, but I think it’s important for us to see certain aspects of what’s going on among many of the churches today. Please turn to 1 Timothy Chapter 2.
1 Timothy Chapter 2.
We’re going to be looking at something that has affected a great many churches. As you look around today you will see indications of a rise of Neo-Nazism. It is a very dangerous signal. Neo-Nazism was filled with all sorts of demonic activity, Hitler himself was heavily involved in the occult. Before he went into any battle he consulted his astrologers. He had come up with his own Bible, his own version. There are a great many things that point to Satan’s influence over Nazi Germany. One of those things was the heart attitude of the people toward life. And in particular the lives of certain people.
We’re seeing some of this acted out in our legislature, and in our judiciary system here in America today. But I think even more frightening is the fact that demonic activity that was very active in Nazi Germany. Carrying the very same message, carrying the identical attitudes, carrying the identical heart feelings, this has been involved in many charismatic (and other types of churches) throughout the world.
These attitudes and beliefs are strictly in response to the work of demons. But they’ve been accepted and many of the churches have adopted their demonic doctrines. Tonight what I want to share with you is one major one, and it deals with the future of Israel. It deals with an attitude, a heart feeling, toward the Jewish people. And in many churches this is called “Replacement Theology,” or “Kingdom-Now Theology,” or “Dominion Theology,” and a host of other names. And essentially what it does is to say that the Jewish people, their covenants with God, and what they did and what they were involved in in the past, is meaningless, because they failed to have faith in recent times.
And so when the Church was instituted—according to these false theologies—the Church completely replaced Israel. It did away with all the promises to the Jewish people. It did away with all the promises of God to Abraham as they relate to the Jewish people. And so now the Church becomes new Israel. Christians in a literal sense become Jews because of faith in Christ. This is becoming an extremely popular doctrine.
In 1 Timothy Chapter 2. We have to ask ourselves about the promises of God and certainly I think all of us recognize that God promised specific things to a specific people – Israel. We understand He promised a kingdom, He promised a throne, He promised a land, He promised a city. All those things to the people of Israel. As a matter of fact in Old Testament Bible Prophecy God lays out very clearly that during the Millennium the boundaries of Israel will go all the way up to what is modern day Iraq and Iran. They’ll go all the way down and include part of modern day Egypt. It will include all of Syria, all of Lebanon, even parts of Saudi Arabia, and certainly all of Jordan. So when you look at these promises that were given to these people we have to ask ourselves, “Are the charismatic churches right when they say all the promises to these people, the promises about a land, the promises about a city, the promises of territory, and a king. Are all those promises done away with ? And as I think you’ll see tonight the answer is, “No.” Those promises hold true today just as assuredly as they ever did.
1Timothy 2:15 we read one promise that was given to women of faith, true women of faith. In verse 12 it says
| “But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.” |
It is very difficult to justify a woman pastor, so long as that verse is in the Bible. In verse 13 it says
| For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety. |
All right now, notice the promise in verse 15.
| Notwithstanding she shall be saved SHE SHALL BE SAVED in childbearing, |
Who does the promise apply to ? The Woman. Does the promise apply to the child ? No. Does the promise apply to the husband ? No. This is a promise given to the woman. And, of course, as with all the covenants of God, it’s conditional. It’s dependent upon whether the woman is in faith and is doing the things that God says to do here. So the promises of God we can see by how they’re placed in the word of God, they apply to specific people.
Over in 2 Kings Chapter 20.
I’ve heard some folks use this especially in the charismatic churches to justify the idea that everyone will be healed here on this earth. All they have to do is have enough faith, all they have to do is ask God and God will heal every one of them. And I’ve heard preachers preach using this particular Scripture we’re about to look at. But keep in mind that there is something wrong with the whole philosophy of many of the charismatic churches and I want you to see what it is tonight.
2 Kings Chapter 20, in verse 5. It says:
| Turn again, and tell Hezekiah … |
…who, by the way, was dying. He was already told he was going to die. He was already told – get your house in order you’re going to die. Hezekiah wept, and he went before the Lord. The responds and says,
| Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the LORD. And I will add unto thy days fifteen years; and I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake. |
Now, how many people was this given to ? One person. King Hezekiah.
And although there have been many people who have used this and said “Ah, this applies to whosoever will.” “Whosoever will” is not in the context. And that is the word which many of these preachers have overlooked or deliberately ignored. Context. What is this section of Scripture promising ? Who is it promising something to ? And you see it is given specifically to Hezekiah.
It says the third day you’re going to be fine, I’m going to add fifteen years to your life. This was to a specific individual to take this and to somebody who is sick and say “Listen, God’s going to raise you up in three days.” Three days and you’re going to be better.” I know of a preacher one time who used this, anointed somebody with oil, read this Scripture, and said “God’s going to raise you up in three days, you’re going to be fine.” Well the person died about six months later. They never did get any better on this earth. So how does that reflect upon God when people use His Name and mis-represent His promises in a dishonest manner ? It makes people question. It makes people doubt whether the Word of God is true or not. But if we treat the Word of God properly in its context, then we see this was given to one individual.
Now lets go over to Ephesians Chapter 2.
By the way when the – and most of you are aware of this, you have studied it and you’re more aware of these Scriptures than most people – when the Jewish people under David and under Solomon went around the world and they presented the gospel, and when the Jewish people were in a right relationship with the Lord and they were evangelizing the world, when they went into Gentile countries, did they tell the Gentiles that they had to obey all the commands all the Levitical rules, all the Mosaic laws that had been given to them ? No. They didn’t tell them that.
As a matter of fact there was something that they taught called the Noahide Covenant. And basically it has five points to it. Now we hear about the Ten Commandments, well this has five basic points, and it was the covenant that was given to Noah. Now was Noah a Jew ? No. He stands for Gentiles in the Bible. He is a type of Gentile. And you’ll find in the book of Acts where the early Christians were finding Gentiles being saved. They said “Well what should we do ? Should we put them under the laws of Moses and the Levitical laws ? Should we make them follow all these laws or not ?” And the apostles got together and they sought the Lord on this. They said “Lord, what should we do ?” And the Holy Spirit spoke very clearly and what He stated was the Noahide Commands.
These were the same commands that were given to Noah after the flood. And this is what the Gentiles were told by the Jewish evangelists who went out. They said “Here are the commands.” Now the problem was that the Gentiles broke the Noahide Commands just as surely as they broke the Ten Commandments. They were still just as guilty because they could not keep them. They could not keep them. So the law—whether it was for the Jews or the Gentiles—became the schoolteacher that said “Look ! You cannot be perfect, and God demands perfection. So what are you going to do now ? Well, you have to look to the Lamb of God.”
But keep in mind now, and we’re looking at two different groups that the Jews went to. One were Jews who were scattered around the earth. The others were the Gentiles . By the way, did Daniel ever preach to Gentiles ? Sure he did. Sure he did. That’s where he was, he was surrounded by Gentiles wasn’t he ? He was in captivity. What about some of the other prophets ? Weren’t they sent into Gentile lands ? Sure. Did they tell those people to keep the Ten Commandments or to follow the Mosaic law ? No. They told them what God said “Here are the laws established for you, and you’ve broken them.”
So one of the things that a lot of the churches have done today is to say that “Okay, the Jews and Gentiles have been merged into one. And all the differences have been erased. ALL the distinctions, they say—Which includes the promises of God.” And what they try to do is to set up a superiority on the part of the Church. On the part of believers, Christians. And they say, “We are superior to the Jews because the Jews fell, the Jews did this, the Jews did that and therefore we’re superior to them, we have all the promises of God.” Well, I’ll tell you what. This is nothing but Nazi propaganda. That’s all that it is. Because the Gentile failed to obey God’s commands, too !
You’ll see in a moment that although Jewish people individually still have a choice as to whether they will receive Jesus as the Messiah or not, it is very important to remember that Jewish people can get saved just as Gentiles can get saved. No difference between them when it comes to getting right with God.
Ephesians Chapter 2. Take a look at verse 14. Talking about Jesus it says:
| For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: |
Now, some people have taken that and they say “Well, what that means is that there is no difference today whatsoever between the Jews and the Gentiles who get saved.” Well, consider this, you have a factory. And in this factory in comes a man who says “I need a job”. The manager says “Okay, you have these skills. I need You, so I’m going to hire you on the spot.” He hires him and he says “I’m going to give you twelve dollars an hour”. Okay, now, he gets his twelve dollars an hour. But then the manager finds out a little bit later the same afternoon somebody came in who had skills too, and he actually had more skills than the guy who was hired in the morning. And the manager really wanted him even more desperately and he says “I’ll tell you what, I’ll start you out – three paid holidays, three weeks paid vacation a year. I’ll give you fifteen dollars an hour and I’ll give you these extra days, bonuses and so on.” Now, both of the new employees work together for the same company. They were required to be loyal to that company. Both of them were hired by the same man. Both of them were paid by the same man. Both of them had basically the same jobs to do. But were they promised something different ? Definitely.
And here’s where a lot of people miss the point about the partition being taken away between Jew and Gentile. The partition has so long a time been this animosity this bitterness between Jew and gentile. Even in the Gospels it comes out fairly often where the Jews would look down on the Gentiles, and vice versa. But that is the partition that’s taken down. Now they are working for the same King. Now they are working for the same company. Now they’re together in agreement and supposed to be doing the same work. Here is where the problem comes, the demonic idea comes along that says “God doesn’t have any place for the Jewish people. They are done with. They are gone. They are finished. And the Church has now taken all the promises of God upon itself. God has given all the promises of Abraham to the Church, and to the Church alone.” Well, I want to share some things with you. . . .