Charles E. Carlson Mar 13, 2007
That conceived in error, will die in evil company
By Charles E. Carlson
The Gospel of the Kingdom is a remarkable book, an epiphany to this writer. Philip Mauro, a lawyer, (nevertheless a devout follower of Christ), wrote this as a devastating refutation of the Scofield Reference Bible with amazing insight in 1927. In a chapter headed "Concerning Zionism" he tells us:
The "dispensational" doctrine is that the natural descendants of Jacob will be gathered back to Palestine, still in impenitence and unbelief (Zionism is supposed to be the beginning of this movement); that Christ will come to "the air" above (unseen), will raise dead believers, change the living and take all to glory (1 Th. 4:16, 17), thus leaving only unsaved persons on earth; that the "great tribulation" will then ensue and will last for seven years…"
Mauro continues:
"… Zionism… has for its object the making of Palestine a homeland for the Jews. Concerning that movement a great deal of misinformation has been disseminated during the past twenty years in the interest of dispensationalism. For dispensationalist writers and speakers have painted wonderful word-pictures portraying the multitudes of Jews said to be flocking to their ancient homeland; the miraculously renewed fertility of the soil; the return of the early and latter rain etc. etc.; and it has been made to appear that the re-constitution of the Jewish State and the rebuilding of the Temple were matters of tomorrow or the day after. All these supposed happenings were presented to eager readers and hearers as a marvelous fulfillment of prophecy taking place before our very eyes, and as giving assurance that the time of the end had come. But the sober facts are that Zionism has been a pitiful failure almost from the beginning… Palestine is wretched in the extreme, and that the attitude of the great mass of Jews throughout the world towards the Zionistic project is that of complete apathy and indifference."
Mr. Mauro concludes his book's introduction:
"I would point out that this modern system of "dispensational teaching" is a cause of division and controversy between those followers of Christ who ought to be, at this time of crisis, solidly united against the mighty forces of unbelief and apostasy; and further that it tends to bring the vital truth of our Lord's second coming into discredit with many, because it associates that great Bible doctrine with various speculative details for which no scriptural support can be found." ( 1)
The Gospel of the Kingdom is one of those rare "eureka" experiences for this writer. It was still in its original dustcover, a 1974 reproduction of the 1927 original, and, except for a few marks in the later chapters, appeared to have been little read when I found it in my "read when time permits" pile; I'm not sure how long it had been there. At 1:00 a.m. one morning I cracked the cover and was stunned by the clarity. Mr. Mauro's introduction, which WHTT has sent to you, reminds me of the haunting phrase in slave trader John Newton's "Amazing Grace;"
"... was blind, but now I see…."
Philip Mauro was a patent attorney who is said to have contributed to the research for the Scopes (Darwin) trial a few years before he wrote this book. He tells us with no little shame that he had been an early advocate of Scofieldism, or "dispensationalism," as he called it. He introduces his book in a tone of repentance for having been taken in and then arrogantly assuring others that Scofieldism was the only way to understand God's word. This remarkably clear book digs out and disentangles the terrible abuses of God himself found in Scofieldism, as can only be done by someone who once believed and now wants desperately to expose what is there in order to cleanse himself.
What makes this book so remarkable to one who writes about Scofieldism today is that Mauro had only the early version of the Scofield Reference Bible to go by when he asserted that Israel, as a state and someday homeland, had no place in Christianity, but was a myth invented by those who promoted Scofieldism.
We can see this more clearly today than in 1927 because we have the evil and godless state of Israel for a point of reference. Mauro did not have this advantage, because at the time he was writing, Israel existed only in the minds of Lord Rothschild and the World Zionist Organization, in words privately written by Sir Arthur Balfour, and in the footnotes inserted into the 1917 edition of the Scofield Reference Bible. Mauro destroys and buries these deliberate myths to perfection. We also have the advantage of the 1967 Edition of this incredible Oxford Press fraud against the name of Christ that forces a huge, foul dead rat state of Israel down our throats as a God Icon.
What follower of Christ can ignore the plea of the Christian Arabs coming from Israel? A March 12 Reuter's story from Jerusalem tells us of Israel's inhuman abuse of the indigenous populations. Hear their cry; it is ever so clear if only we will listen:
"Despairing of life under Israeli occupation, many Palestinian Christians are moving abroad, threatening their ancient links to Bethlehem and the land where Jesus was born…
"There is a real fear that 50 years down the road, the Holy Land will be without Christians," said Mitri Raheb, 45-year-old pastor of the Lutheran Church in Bethlehem…. "There is no business, no freedom of movement," he said.
"We depend on tourism, which is being demolished. Sometimes we receive 1,500 tourists a day but none of them stay the night. They visit the Nativity Church and leave, so we don't benefit….
Palestinian Christians are generally better off than other segments of society, but they too have felt the pinch… Christian leaders say they face no religious persecution from the Palestinian Muslim majority or from Israel…
"Once it's finished (the wall) there will be only three gates leading in and out of Bethlehem," said Raheb. "Bethlehem will basically be a four-square-mile (10-square-km) open prison."( 2)
Israel's never ending stream of "Christian" tourist buses run from Tel Aviv to the occupied territories, led by Zionists like John Hagee and Jerry Falwell, who arrange junkets so no guest need ever talk to an Arab alone, and few buy from their shops. These Armageddon seeking Christians flock to see the "sacred sites" on guided tours, but stay only in Israeli "five star" hotels on the other side of the 26 foot high prison wall, thus the plight of the Philistine Christians remains a secret to those who walk right past their shops.
We can read all about the abuse of the Philistines if we want to know, but the insightful Philip Mauro had to figure all this out for himself from recognizing the falseness of the Scofieldized teachings that he so clearly identifies. We shall try our best to bring this book back to life, and I suspect that God has blessed Philip Mauro for writing it. He lived from 1859-1952, and he has made We Hold These Truths' navigation task much easier since he blazed a trail along the narrow path; your writer is convinced that We Hold These Truths is indeed staggering along the narrow path toward the Strait Gate as fast as we can falteringly go on the resources at hand. –End
Charles Carlson's updated Roots of Scofieldism and its effect upon Palestine is available without charge in audio-visual format by clicking this link:
Endnotes:
1) Mauro, The Gospel of the Kingdom, Introduction and table of contents
(http://whtt.org/index.php?news=2&id=1282)
2) Reuters,Misery Tempts Palestinian Christians to Flee
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