There's a third man who had a huge impact on dispensational theology, and his name is
C.I.
Scofield.
If you have a Scofield reference Bible, you need to know the author of that reference
Bible, because he's not the person you think he is.
He's not Dr. Scofield.
It never was a doctor.
He never was a doctor, never, ever.
Nelson Darby is the man who created dispensationalism, and Larkin's basically packaged it in his
books, but it was Scofield who distributed it.
John Nelson Darby's crazy doctrines went nowhere.
They stayed in Great Britain among the Plymouth Brethren all through the 1800s, and there
were only pockets of people in the United States who even knew about it, that gave it
any kind of respect.
But then there is Cyrus Scofield, and Scofield became the propaganda meister for John Nelson
Darby's doctrine.
Basically what the Scofield reference Bible is, it's a Bible, a King James Bible, that
has his notes added to the margins, where basically his notes act as a commentary on
the Word of God.
And in that commentary, he basically taught dispensational truth.
This Bible was shipped around the world.
Many of the contributors to the Scofield reference Bible, which is what more than anything else
swept this movement across the United States.
They financed the publication of a vast number of Scofield Bibles, and suddenly these things
were being mailed out to churches all over America.
It was given to Baptist young preachers in their seminaries and Bible colleges, and this
is how dispensationalism was really distributed into the pulpits and into the hands of preachers
all across the country.
Yeah, conferences were really important, and the establishment of Bible colleges and Dallas
Theological Seminary, that was all part of a concerted effort to spread this dispensational
movement that was very successful for a time.
And so these Bibles were getting distributed all over, you know, rural America, small town
churches.
Millions.
All over.
And the Bible salesman would get the Bibles for free.
C.I.
Scofield is actually a guy who's placed on a pedestal by the Anapana fundamental Baptists.
In fact, if you go to the pulpits of America, you will find a Scofield reference Bible.
Yet this is a guy who preferred to use the revised version over the King James for his
references.
And the only reason he used the King James 1611 is because of his popularity at the time.
He said, well, what's the problem with that?
You know, he had a reference Bible.
It's helped a lot of people.
It's enlightened a lot of people in regards to dispensationalism.
What's the problem with giving someone like him a license to preach?
Well, here's the problem.
In First Timothy chapter three in verse one, the Bible says this.
This is a true saying.
If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desire the good work.
A bishop then must be blameless.
The husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt
to teach.
And the fact of the matter is, is that C.I.
Scofield violated most of those.
Oh, you're just attacking his character.
You know what?
Character matters.
And God put qualifications on pastors for a reason.
If it didn't matter, then why did God put qualifications for the men of God that are
supposed to be teaching us the word of God?
Here's all I'm trying to explain to you.
C.I.
Scofield was not qualified to stand up and teach the word of God to anybody.
Indeed, the shape of fundamentalism, which has claimed to be the orthodox Christianity,
has been determined by the influence of a dubious character like Scofield.
Why?
Because he was not blameless.
Why?
Because he did not have a good rapport.
Why?
Because he did not even provide for his own family.
He was worse than an infidel.
So what do we learn about the founders of dispensationalism?
We learn that one is an infidel and the other one's worse than an infidel.
We learn that one is an infidel and the other one can't even support his own family.
This is the first time they've heard any of this.
So they've got this new information.
Where do they go from here?
What do they do with this information?
Well, if you've got a Scofield Bible, throw it in the trash.