Do Calvary Chapels Hold to Dispensational Theology?

Brian Mcnamee

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Hi I have been in Calvary for a long time and Pastor Chuck wrote a book called the Calvary Distincitves where they outline what is supposed to be core Calvary beliefs. This would include the pre trib rapture a 7 year tribulation, the second coming of Jesus and a 1000 year millennium with one last rebellion then the end of the age and the great white throne judgment. This scenario plays out with national Israel being a central player in these events and the covenant with Abraham standing with the nation.

Many Calvary's are not as big into eschatology and Brian Broderson has said things that have many who are warning about Calvary moving towards the imergent church theology. So I would say its on the books as core beliefs but in each individual Calvary you will not see the same emphasis. A guy named JD Farag does a prophecy update every week out of Hawaii and he gets almost 100,000 views a week. He is old school the same with Tom Hughes and Jack Hibbs are prominent end times Calvary teachers who you can google and find them speaking at various conferences. Then you can look up Brian broderson speaking against the teaching or emphasis on prophecy and see that there is a division. This too is documented with two different Calvary organizations now as Broderson split off and created his own new one.
 
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food4thought

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Hi I have been in Calvary for a long time and Pastor Chuck wrote a book called the Calvary Distinctives where they outline what is supposed to be core Calvary beliefs. This would include the pre trib rapture a 7 year tribulation, the second coming of Jesus and a 1000 year millennium with one last rebellion then the end of the age and the great white throne judgment. This scenario plays out with national Israel being a central player in these events and the covenant with Abraham standing with the nation.

Right, and I hold to those beliefs as well. But what about the dispensations... is the time of Jesus' ministry a different dispensation than the church age? If so, how do we take Jesus' teachings? Are all of His teachings directly applicable to the Church (Matthew 5:17-20, for example)?

Many Calvary's are not as big into eschatology and Brian Broderson has said things that have many who are warning about Calvary moving towards the emergent church theology. So I would say its on the books as core beliefs but in each individual Calvary you will not see the same emphasis. A guy named JD Farag does a prophecy update every week out of Hawaii and he gets almost 100,000 views a week. He is old school the same with Tom Hughes and Jack Hibbs are prominent end times Calvary teachers who you can google and find them speaking at various conferences. Then you can look up Brian broderson speaking against the teaching or emphasis on prophecy and see that there is a division. This too is documented with two different Calvary organizations now as Broderson split off and created his own new one.

I was not aware of that... sad to see division in my favorite non-denom. Thanks for the prophecy names to check out.
 
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Brian Mcnamee

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Right, and I hold to those beliefs as well. But what about the dispensations... is the time of Jesus' ministry a different dispensation than the church age? If so, how do we take Jesus' teachings? Are all of His teachings directly applicable to the Church (Matthew 5:17-20, for example)?



I was not aware of that... sad to see division in my favorite non-denom. Thanks for the prophecy names to check out.
 
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Brian Mcnamee

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Hi Calvary does not teach a hyper dispensational idea of many different dispensations. When you go through the Bible we see history shows things change a bit from the garden to the flood to the exodus and then Jesus brings in the new covenant. Seems they teach Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. In Rev we see the multitude praising the Lamb saying he had redeemed them by His blood from every tribe tongue kindred and nation. This group would include the Old testament saints as well. When Jesus dismissed His Spirit He descended to Arbaham's bosom and led those held there free to heaven. The centrality of Jesus and the gospel is what is taught. The Bible said Jerusalem would be tread under foot until the time of the Gentiles was over. This seems to be a time when the focus returns to Israel. The literal futurist view would best describe them. By the way another really good prophecy update is put out weekly by a guy named John Haller who is a lawyer out of Ohio in a small church. Its about an hour a week and is mostly headline stories many of them ones we do not get in regular news. He is a pretty level headed guy and his updates are 1st rate. They come out Sundays on youtube.
 
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food4thought

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Hi Calvary does not teach a hyper dispensational idea of many different dispensations. When you go through the Bible we see history shows things change a bit from the garden to the flood to the exodus and then Jesus brings in the new covenant. Seems they teach Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. In Rev we see the multitude praising the Lamb saying he had redeemed them by His blood from every tribe tongue kindred and nation. This group would include the Old testament saints as well. When Jesus dismissed His Spirit He descended to Arbaham's bosom and led those held there free to heaven. The centrality of Jesus and the gospel is what is taught. The Bible said Jerusalem would be tread under foot until the time of the Gentiles was over. This seems to be a time when the focus returns to Israel. The literal futurist view would best describe them. By the way another really good prophecy update is put out weekly by a guy named John Haller who is a lawyer out of Ohio in a small church. Its about an hour a week and is mostly headline stories many of them ones we do not get in regular news. He is a pretty level headed guy and his updates are 1st rate. They come out Sundays on youtube.

Thanks for the info... I was not aware that was hyper-dispensational. I guess I need to read more on the subject. I listened to Pastor Chuck's teaching on Matthew 5 again (it's been 10 years), and I understand what his view was better now.

God bless;
Michael
 
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Hi Calvary does not teach a hyper dispensational idea of many different dispensations. When you go through the Bible we see history shows things change a bit from the garden to the flood to the exodus and then Jesus brings in the new covenant. Seems they teach Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. In Rev we see the multitude praising the Lamb saying he had redeemed them by His blood from every tribe tongue kindred and nation. This group would include the Old testament saints as well. When Jesus dismissed His Spirit He descended to Arbaham's bosom and led those held there free to heaven. The centrality of Jesus and the gospel is what is taught. The Bible said Jerusalem would be tread under foot until the time of the Gentiles was over. This seems to be a time when the focus returns to Israel. The literal futurist view would best describe them. By the way another really good prophecy update is put out weekly by a guy named John Haller who is a lawyer out of Ohio in a small church. Its about an hour a week and is mostly headline stories many of them ones we do not get in regular news. He is a pretty level headed guy and his updates are 1st rate. They come out Sundays on youtube.

Do the Chapels teach free will or election for obtaining salvation?
 
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food4thought

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Do the Chapels teach free will or election for obtaining salvation?

If memory serves me right, Calvary Chapels vary somewhat on their emphasis, but Pastor Chuck believed in both predestination and freewill.

Maybe Brian could give you a more thorough answer.
 
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Brian Mcnamee

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Do the Chapels teach free will or election for obtaining salvation?
Chuck Smith taught that the Bible teaches both. We are elected by the LORD based on His foreknowledge that we would respond. The choices we made are our own and we did make them with free will but God knew our choices ahead of time. Its like Judas the son of perdition was wicked and chose to betray Christ and the details were already prophesied before he was born. When you look at all the scriptures the love of God and salvation were offered to who ever would believe. The elect are those who did believe and the fault for not believing is the guilt of those who perish.
 
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food4thought

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here is JD farag talking about 16 years of prophecy updates.

Thanks, Brian. That was a good gospel message... the prophecy part wasn't so clear to me, though. I think he was referencing the Ezekiel 38-39 invasion of Israel. I am not sure whether he thinks that happens before or after the rapture. Revelation 20:8 seems to place it after the Millennium, though.
 
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Brian Mcnamee

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Thanks, Brian. That was a good gospel message... the prophecy part wasn't so clear to me, though. I think he was referencing the Ezekiel 38-39 invasion of Israel. I am not sure whether he thinks that happens before or after the rapture. Revelation 20:8 seems to place it after the Millennium, though.
yes this week was a bit fuzzy being it was retrospective. I watch him most every week and his point this week was how far have we come since he started doing the updates. . I remember in Jeremiah he was but a youth when he was called to prophesy that Babylon would come and conquer Judah. He was an old man when it came to pass. The Hal Lyndsay book late great planet earth woke many people up for a minute but now most have dismissed prophecy. Guys like Rick Warren wont touch it and they have huge churches. When you deal with prophecy you see the righteous judgement of God and see the things He condemns and fear of the LORD is conviction of your sin and repentance is offered to those who are staring guilt and destruction in the face. The Jesus people revival in the 70's was largely due to the Bible's prophetic track record being reliable and the scriptures being testable as true and Jesus was not a way but the only way to be saved. This trusting the whole word of God is being lost as now most churches do not teach the old testament. The Bible if studied in its entirety would give the exact ration of what God intended us to be studying. 1/3 of it is prophecy so that might be the ration of thought looking at past fulfilled and future to come things and linking them together.
 
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food4thought

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yes this week was a bit fuzzy being it was retrospective. I watch him most every week and his point this week was how far have we come since he started doing the updates. . I remember in Jeremiah he was but a youth when he was called to prophesy that Babylon would come and conquer Judah. He was an old man when it came to pass. The Hal Lyndsay book late great planet earth woke many people up for a minute but now most have dismissed prophecy. Guys like Rick Warren wont touch it and they have huge churches. When you deal with prophecy you see the righteous judgement of God and see the things He condemns and fear of the LORD is conviction of your sin and repentance is offered to those who are staring guilt and destruction in the face. The Jesus people revival in the 70's was largely due to the Bible's prophetic track record being reliable and the scriptures being testable as true and Jesus was not a way but the only way to be saved. This trusting the whole word of God is being lost as now most churches do not teach the old testament. The Bible if studied in its entirety would give the exact ration of what God intended us to be studying. 1/3 of it is prophecy so that might be the ration of thought looking at past fulfilled and future to come things and linking them together.

I do miss the verse by verse teaching of the entirety of God's word. Prophetic books get a mention now and then in my current church, but only as they pertain to doing justice for the poor and outcast. The whole emphasis of future prophetic fulfillment is ignored. I do my best to rectify that lack through the weekly Bible study I lead. We have already gone through Revelation, and I would like to go through one of the OT prophetic books soon. Only a few attend it, though. The nearest CC is over 40 minutes away, so attending one is not really an option for me right now (I live in a place where travel during the winter is treacherous).
 
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Brian Mcnamee

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I have been studying for a bit and had the pleasure of seeing Chuck Misler teach many times. He taught the 66 books are integrated into a single message unit from outside time and that the whole thing is intertwined into a single narrative. This way of looking at things shows up so much for instance when you read Jacob bless his sons he gets to Judah
Binding his donkey to the vine,
And his donkey’s colt to the choice vine,
Binding his donkey to the vine,
And his donkey’s colt to the choice vine,
He washed his garments in wine,
And his clothes in the blood of grapes.


We then see Jesus riding in on the foal of donkey a colt as Jesus told them to go get and the same thing Zech said would occur.

“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your King is coming to you;
He is just and having salvation,
Lowly and riding on a donkey. Jesus is the choice vine. This is the 1st coming in the blessing to Judah way back in Gen.

The 2nd coming is here too.

He washed his garments in wine,
And his clothes in the blood of grapes.

1 Who is this who comes from Edom,
With dyed garments from Bozrah,
This One who is glorious in His apparel,
Traveling in the greatness of His strength?—
Isiaah 63
“I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.”
2 Why is Your apparel red,
And Your garments like one who treads in the winepress?
3 “I have trodden the winepress alone,
And from the peoples no one was with Me.
For I have trodden them in My anger,
And trampled them in My fury;
Their blood is sprinkled upon My garments,
And I have stained all My robes.
4 For the day of vengeance is in My heart,
And the year of My redeemed has come.

Rev 14
So the angel thrust his sickle into the earth and gathered the vine of the earth, and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
And the winepress was trampled outside the city, and blood came out of the winepress, up to the horses’ bridles, for one thousand six hundred furlongs.

REv 19
11 Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. 12 His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had[fn] a name written that no one knew except Himself. 13 He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean,[fn] followed Him on white horses. 15 Now out of His mouth goes a sharp[fn] sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. 16 And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written:
KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.

This is so cool because if you just read them they connect themselves. It is obvious. Praise the LORD who is going to perform His word and His word is overtaking this generation.
 
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Berean
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When you say 'Calvary Chapel' there are two entities now. Calvary Global Network and CCA (Calvary Chapel Association), the former taking a more Emergent direction (downplaying endtimes for one thing) and CCA pretty much staying Dispensational in the Chuck Smith tradition.
 
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Brian Mcnamee

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When you say 'Calvary Chapel' there are two entities now. Calvary Global Network and CCA (Calvary Chapel Association), the former taking a more Emergent direction (downplaying endtimes for one thing) and CCA pretty much staying Dispensational in the Chuck Smith tradition.
here is a link showing a few letters published by CCA and they affirm your point.
Do Calvary Chapels Hold to Dispensational Theology?
 
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