Dispensationalism’s Effect on Speedy Evangelization and Refusal of Social Gospel
Successful mobilization of SVM produced many missionary volunteers. Then many of them took part in the faith missions. Such a speedy evangelization of premillennialists seemed to result from missionary motivation of Mathew 24:14 and their catchword, “the evangelization of the world in this generation.” Another characteristic of premillennial eschatology’s impact on missions is the refusal of social gospel by fundamentalism. They were affected by dispensationalism. Did dispensational theology have an effect on the formation of the speedy missions and the refusal of social gospel?
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Though He never ceases to be King and, of course, is King today as always, Christ is never designated as King of the church . . . . Though Christ is a King today, He does not rule as King. This awaits His second coming. Then the Davidic kingdom will be realized . . . . Then the Priest will sit on His throne, bringing to this earth the long-awaited Golden Age . . . .
Eventually, Ryrie maintains that the earthly kingdom is not for the present age and earthly norms should not be applied now. Dichotomy between the future earthly kingdom and the present spiritual church promotes the refusal of social gospel. Ryrie says: What is the gospel He [Jesus] proclaimed? We have already seen that primarily our Lord preached the good news about the coming kingdom. In that kingdom, yet to be established, there will be spiritual and material deliverance. People get sidetracked when they attempt to impose kingdom ethics on the world today without the physical presence of the King. The Christian is responsible to practice church ethics, not kingdom ethics. Church ethics focus on the church; kingdom ethics focus on the
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Historically, premillennialists have played an active role in joining speedy missions and focusing on evangelism. Those premillennialists have been affected by dispensational teaching. Majority of them was identified as dispensationalists. Thus, dispensationalists have actively promoted and joined speedy missions and held to personal salvation-centered gospel. Why have they done so? This paper has investigated that dispensational understanding of “Not Yet” eschatological kingdom has been the theological foundation for the speedy and evangelism-centered missions. Therefore, dispensational understanding of “Not Yet” eschatological kingdom has led dispensational premillennialists to be involved in speedy missions and adherence of evangelism instead of social