Dispensationalism

Introduction

An apologist looks at Things That Differ By: Cornelius R. Stam

In 1988 a brother in Christ approached me with a book which was written by one of the leading ultra-dispensational teachers of our day. He asked me to critique the book and show, if possible, where this teaching strays from the teachings of God's Word. With this in mind, I began a comparative study in which C.R. Stam's work Things That Differ was compared solely with the teachings of the scripture. As I went further into this study I began to see a frightening virus which is enveloping the evangelical community of the day. Humanism has begun to subtly invade our ranks as many of our teachers have made man the power in the universe. In the same breath that they proclaim God as being the omnipotent One, they lift man to the ruling pinnacle of decision in our earthly affairs. In humanistic pride, they allow God to desire but make Him subject to man's will, proclaiming that man makes the final choice. One root of this doctrine is found in the dispensational teaching which has permeated the evangelical church of the day.

John 1:1 tells us "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God." Jesus Christ is the Word of God. From Genesis 1:1 - Revelation 22:21 there only one focus and one thought of scripture and that focus and thought is Jesus Christ, the Word of God and His body on earth, the church. If we attempt to make the Word of God point to something earthly such as a man, a nation or some theological thought we will err in our understanding of scripture. The Word of God is a spiritual book, given to the spiritual people of God for their spiritual well-being (Romans 7:14; 8:6; 15:27; I Cor.2:13-14; 9:11; 10:1-4; Ephesians 6:12; Col 1:9; I Peter 2:5). To twist it, as Mr. Stam has done, to make it understandable to the natural mind will always result in error.

Since God's Word alone holds the truth I have sought to use only His Word in this study. All of the blue italicized  quotations in this book are direct quotations from C.R. Stam's "Things That Differ". They are followed by scriptural references which may or may not agree with his thoughts.

I have omitted the 15th chapter of his book because all that he dwelt on in that chapter was covered in earlier chapters.

After completion of this work a copy was forwarded to Mr. Stam at his headquarters.  He sent me a letter stating that he did not have time to give answer to my questions concerning his interpretation of scripture but that he would give it to a student who was well versed in ultra-dispensational doctrine. That was in 1988 and I am still waiting anxiously for a reply.