Abraham, a Gentile, Is the Father of Israel and Gentiles.

It Does Not deny The Blessed Hope which includes

all Believers: Jews and Gentiles

PRO BOOK REVIEW:

And if you are Christ's than you are Abraham's seed..., August 29, 2004
Reviewer: R. Setliff - Exploding the Israel Deception~ takes a look at the current popularity of seeking fulfillment of prophecy in the Middle East and the state of Israel. Steve Wohlberg is a Jewish convert who has arisen to become an evangelical Christian pastor. This book essentially is a refutation of the dubious dispensationalist notion that God has two plans of redemption: plan A for Israel and a plan B for the Gentiles. Dispensationalists presuppose a "secret rapture" of Gentile believers of faith around the time of a Great Tribulation while the Jews will be subjected first to the delusions and then to persecutions of the Anti-Christ. Wohlberg shuns these presuppositions, which emanate from the hermeneutical framework of Bible interpretation known as dispensationalism that is wildly popular with American evangelicals. Dispensationalism made its assent with the works of Darby and Scofield in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. It reached a fevered pitch in the later twentieth century, with the rise of prophecy teachers like Hal Lindsay and Tim LaHaye. Who is the Israel of the Bible and who are the heirs of the covenant promises? The Scriptures purport a profound unity within the body of Christ, which includes peoples of all nations (Eph 2:12-14; Heb 11:24-26; Rom 11:16-17). The focus of Wohlberg's exegetical reading of the Scripture, of course, is the third chapter of Paul's letter to the Galatians. God in his forbearance has by no means cast his people off. The true Promised Land for Jews and Gentiles of faith is a celestial or heavenly kingdom!

In his letter to the Galatians, the Apostle Paul explains that all those of faith are heirs to the covenant promises of Abraham: 16 Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, "And to seeds," as of many, but as of one, "And to your Seed," who is Christ... 19 What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator... 26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus... 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
(Galatians 3:16,19,26,28,29)

I went to Christian colleges such as Liberty and Regent and it's good to get a break from dispensationalist dogma and let the Word speak for itself. This is not what dispensationalists pejoratively denigrate as "replacement theology" but rather it is "expansion theology." As the Apostle Paul makes clear, God has not cast his first people off by any means, but there is a remnant according to election (Rom. 11:1-8). Standing up for the truth of the Gospel means standing against flawed hermneutical frameworks like Dispensationism. There not wrong on everything, so we must not throw the baby out with the bath water but Scofield, Ryrie, and LaHaye make many erroneous claims. Bravo to Mr. Wohlberg for standing by the courage of his convictions. Just another covenant theologian, December 12, 2002

CON BOOK REVIEW:
Reviewer: A. Norm Carter (New Norway, Alberta Canada) - This book [Exploding the Israel Deception] is just another attempt by the malcontented and misinformed to steal the promised blessings of physical Israel. Here is another one who spiritualizes away everything Israel of old had, including the "land" promises that were given to Abraham's physical descendants. Of course the land promises are simply spiritualized away as well. This sort of hermeneutic bleeds the heart and soul out of scripture, especially when these people apply their supernatural methods to historical sections involving the land covenants.
God gave His chosen physical Israel unconditional promises, signed and sealed by Himself, that have not yet been fulfilled. Until they are, Christians like Wohlberg (Jew or Gentile)should stop robbing physical Israel of God's eternal hope.

The author has tied himself into such a supernal mess that he turns physical temples into spiritual ones when the text demands a physical interpretation. Wohlberg claims that the Revelation speaks of no "physical" Temple and that "every" occurrence of Temple in the Revelation relates to the heavenly; he misses the clear indication that the temple being referred to in Revelation 11:1-2 is physical and not heavenly, as it has been given over to the "gentiles" to be trampled on.

Mr. Wohlberg dismisses the Matt. 24 "fig tree" parable because Luke 21 adds "...and all the trees." The prophets symbolize Israel's surrounding (sabib)enemy nations with "trees" a number of times, one being the second chapter of Isaiah. If Wohlberg had taken the time to study carefully chapters 12:14,15 and 45 to 50 of Jeremiah he would have seen that "all the trees" relates very well to a restoration of Israel's ancient enemies "sabib" surrounding them. This restoration began as a result of the British dividing up the Ottoman Empire early last century, in the same half-century that the "fig tree" began to blossom.

The "all things which are written may be fulfilled" phrase of Luke 21:22 is an aorist passive participle (undefined aspect)that permits the translation, "all things which are written may continue to be fulfilled." In other words, these "days" (not day) of vengeance are another fulfilment in that line of fulfilments that began with the birth pregnancy of Miriam.

How these writers who continue to usurp God's Old Testament pre-Mosaic promises to physical Israel can be so bold before God is something that is inexplicable to me. I'm just glad that I'm not in their shoes and that I will not have to answer God when He asks them, "Why did you keep intruding into my business with My beloved?"