Steve Wohlberg’s book End Time Delusions claims that the dispensational view of the end times is deluded. Is he right?
Wohlberg is a Seventh-day Adventist minister who has authored a number of popular books on various issues. His books may be found in some Christian bookstores and we can commend his efforts which warn against the New Age and Wicca.
However, he has also written a series of polemics against the dispensational view, or what he often terms as the “Left Behind” view. One of these is a book called End Time Delusions.
The words deception and delusion are found in many of his titles: The Left Behind Deception; The Rapture Delusions; Exploding The Israel Deception etc. Since he’s expended substantial energy criticizing the dispensational system, responses are inevitable. Please note that this is not a personal attack on Steve Wohlberg.
End Time Delusions contains a favorable comment by Dave MacPherson. He popularized the myth that John Darby got the pretribulational rapture idea from a vision received by Margaret MacDonald. In fact MacDonald and Edward Irving were historicists who thought the world was experiencing the second half of the tribulation. Margaret’s vision describes the church under trial from the Antichrist.
Wohlberg attempts to show that dispensationalism (or Futurism) owes its debt to Ribera, Lacunza Irving etc, and later to John Darby. The inference is that dispensationalism is new and therefore suspect. In fact dispensationalism grew out of a movement which began taking prophecy and the covenants pertaining to Israel literally. While Darby was a popular contributor, many others were involved in the movement.
Note also that Seventh-day Adventism was formed out of the prophetically-flawed 19th century Millerite Movement.
William Miller relied on a series of erroneous calculations from Daniel to predict that Christ’s second coming would occur in 1844. When it failed the doctrine of the Sanctuary was proposed, and subsequently endorsed by Ellen G. White. Christ allegedly moved from the First Compartment to the Second Compartment of the Sanctuary. The “Investigative Judgment” doctrine has ramifications for the One-Time Blood Atonement and Salvation by Grace. Hence Miller’s failed eschatological assumptions lock Wohlberg into many of his arguments.
On page 117 Wohlberg props up his historicism by referring to past theologians who allegedly held the view. It’s ironic then that he also writes:
We don’t need to depend on scholars to find the answer. In fact, it is never safe to lean completely on any man, no matter how smart or educated they may be. Christians should never be taught to rely solely on Tim LaHaye, John Walvoord, Thomas Ice, Jack Van Impe, Grant Jeffrey, Chuck Smith, John Hagee, or any other popular teacher, including Steve Wohlberg. We should all open our Bibles, pick up our own concordances, and find out for ourselves what truth is….. (p 30)
Yet he wouldn’t include Ellen G. White in his list. White was the modern prophet of Adventism (1827-1915). Adventists trust her to expound Scripture for them. She functions much like Roman Catholicism’s Magisterium. This is articulated in an Adventist article: Is the Bible Our Final Authority? And this is why they vigorously defend her against charges of plagiarism and failed prophecy.
In spite of the admonition to trust the Bible instead of men, Wohlberg spends time re-interpreting Scripture for his readers. For example, the 144,000 of Rev 7 aren’t really from the tribes of Israel even though the Bible states they are.
According to his Adventist position the Antichrist isn’t a solitary serpent figure, it’s a system (Papal Rome). Yet Revelation clearly states that the Beast is a man (Rev 13:4-18). Contrary to Scripture (Rev 13:17-18), Adventism teaches that the mark of the Beast is Sunday worship. Note that Wohlberg never divulges that he’s an Adventist in E.T. Delusions. This is odd given what he believes regarding Sunday worship and that he’s devoted a chapter to the “Big Ten” commandments.
Adventists re-interpret Revelation so that Armageddon isn’t a locality in the Middle East. Israel becomes the End Time Adventist church. The Great Seal is Saturday worship even though we are sealed by the Holy Spirit (Eph 1:13), and the saints reign in heaven despite Rev 5:10.
Adventists claim that Satan is forced to wander a desolate earth’s surface (the abyss) during the one thousand years of the Millennium, so that he cannot deceive the nations. Yet a study of the abyss in Revelation suggests the locale is below the earth’s surface. See Rev 9:1; Rev 9:2; Rev 9:11; Rev 11:7; Rev 17:8 and Rev 20:1-3. Luke 8:31 and Romans 10:7 also testify that its location is below the earth.
Logic demands that Satan cannot deceive nations which have already been destroyed at the Lord’s coming. Adventists teach Soul Sleep – therefore the nations cannot hear Satan, regardless of his locale. Not only can the nations not hear him but even if they did, they couldn’t do anything about it. Furthermore, Adventists claim Satan is going to deceive the nations again anyway.
According to Wohlberg (p 192):
The third frog of false prophecy is now teaching a secret rapture, seven year tribulation, futurist antichrist (sic), literal drying up of a literal Euphrates, and a literal Middle-East Armageddon involving literal armies attacking literal Jews. Dear friend this is all false prophecy….
Much of the book of Revelation echoes the prophecies of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel and Zechariah. Prophecy consistently tells the same story. Why shouldn’t these armies be taken literally? Compare Zechariah 14, where the nations come against Jerusalem, with Rev 16:13-14. The reason they are not taken literally by Wohlberg is because doing so places the focus on the nation Israel. Yet that is what the Bible plainly tells us.
Do you believe Steve Wohlberg or your Bible?
In summary, Wohlberg criticizes dispensationalism for being a new system invented by men. Yet his Adventist beliefs were formulated in the 19th century. And in many cases these beliefs are more indebted to Ellen G. White than the plain sense of Scripture.
In a future article we will briefly look at his book: Exploding the Israel Deception. Is Israel prophetically insignificant?
Further reading:
Anti-Dispensational Conspiracy Theories
When The Truth Gets Left Behind
The Berean Call on End Time Delusions
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