Our Unselfconscious Addiction to Dispensationalism.

Dispensationalism, with it's complex premillinarian designs, it's hankering for sensationalism, and ridiculous charts is a hugely dangerous distraction for the Christian community. Primarily because it is so accepted as truth, it is not even considered among believers.

It is just adopted. Simply raise one legitimate question about the theological (not political) viability of present day Israel and you'll know whereof I speak.

Even the smartest simply take it as "gospel". In fact it takes more mental effort to disengage from it than it does to discover and adhere to it.

Like a fly you keep swatting that never seems to die, it shows up everywhere. Few actually realize that it is in fact a recent, modern day novelty developed in the mid 1800s. Yet it has affected almost everything Christians have to say. And if you differ from their millenarian conclusions you are immediately held suspect in the court of their minds, if not judged, sentenced and dismissed altogether.

Even if one does not subscribe consciously to the distinct tenets of Dispensationalism, it's end-time scenarios still plague the minds and shape the thinking of the major slice of the professing believer pie.

The scourge of this distraction has caused the focus of otherwise serious, sober-minded believers to veer off course from Jesus to modern-day Israel, left-over Hal Lindsey-ism (the books, movies, media) and the sensational news stories of the day.

Yet one more fatal symptom of the bigger issue of the heart - distractionism and leaving the centrality of Christ for a cheap substitute.