I remember the first time living in North America and listening to a Christian radio station. I was struck by how many preachers were talking about the end times, the coming Antichrist, the rapture, the Great Tribulation, and the state of Israel. It seemed endless. Why was there this seeming obsession over these topics?
If you have ever wondered why, read on to discover the source and who was behind this teaching becoming so widespread from the early 20th century until now. It may surprise you!
Convicted Criminal Writes Best-Selling Reference Bible
The Scofield Reference Bible was one of the first study Bibles to be published.1 It wasn’t a new Bible translation but used the popular King James Version. However, this edition contained lots of study footnotes in the margins which amounted to a commentary and it became very influential, particularly in the United States, in the early twentieth century. Today, it remains a ‘best-selling’ Bible in America.
Published just prior to the First World War and the loss of cultural optimism, Scofield’s dispensational and pre-millennial teaching seemed to ring true. As a result, many American Christians adopted a dispensational theology and became interested in political events and eschatological speculation.2 In particular, the United States became increasingly engrossed with supporting the modern state of Israel.3
An Underlying Agenda
What many don’t realise is that behind Scofield’s footnotes, was an underlying agenda to promote a pro-Zionist subculture within Christianity. To achieve this, Zionist friendly comments were inserted in the notes, between verses and chapters, and at the bottom of the pages. As each generation began to find the old English used in the King James (Authorised) Version less easy to read, the modern language footnotes became more readable and influential.
It might be surprising to learn that Cyrus I. Scofield was not a Bible scholar.4 Scofield’s mentor was John Nelson Darby of the Plymouth Brethren, from whom he learnt Darby’s dispensational theology while serving his prison term.
With a criminal background due to a fraudulent scam, a deserted wife and two daughters so he could be with his mistress, Scofield was the kind of individual who seemed open to financial inducements.
Widespread Distribution
Once out of prison, Scofield became associated with some highly influential people in New York. Along with providing him with a lavish lifestyle, these men were willing to fund his research trips to Oxford and publish and distribute his study Bible. In return, Scofield’s ‘Bible’ would promote a certain dispensational interpretation of scripture and a Zionist agenda.5
The Scofield Reference Bible was owned by The Oxford University Press, which itself was owned by Zionist Jews. The OUP ensured that the Scofield Bible was widely distributed across American seminaries, churches (including the huge Southern Baptist Convention) and Bible study organisations. The 1917 version was heavily marketed and millions of copies were sold.6 It soon became a standard reference and as a result had a huge influence in twentieth-century Christian thought, particularly in North America.
‘Christian Zionism‘
After Scofield’s death in 1921, The Oxford University Press (as the copyright holders) began to make radical changes to Scofield’s original footnotes, especially in relation to idolising the state of Israel after it was granted statehood by edict of the United Nations in 1947 (which those who subscribed to Darbyism took to be a fulfilment of biblical prophecy).
The study Bible has gone through several editions with major pro-Zionist notes added to the 1967 edition. Furthermore, some of Scofield’s most significant notes from the original editions were removed where they apparently failed to further Zionist aims fast enough. What we end up with is an anti-Arab theology and propaganda which promotes genocide in the belief that supporting Israel is all that matters, even if it includes the destruction of Palestinians.
Old Testament Israel & Modern Israel
We need to recognise that the modern state of Israel (created in 1947) is not the same as the nation of Israel we read about in scripture. Neither are those who today identify as ‘Jews’, true natural descendants of Abraham. After the destruction of the second temple in AD70, Judaism transitioned from Mosaic Judaism to Rabbinic Judaism. It was a catastrophic event! Thousands of priests were put to death, the genealogical records required for a legitimate ongoing Levitical priesthood were burned up, there was no proper temple and it was no longer possible to offer the required sacrifices. Religious Jews today follow the Talmud, which rabbis consider superior to the Old Testament writings.
The Centrality of Jesus
The Bible makes clear that Israel’s history culminates in their Messiah, Jesus Christ. Everything points to Him and all the promises find their ‘Yes’ and ‘Amen’ in Him! (2 Cor. 1:20). There is no other fulfilment, no new temple to be built, no more sacrifices to be offered, no piece of real estate in the Middle East to be restored, no future seventh dispensation to follow.
Through the death, resurrection and ascension of Christ, Jesus is now the world’s rightful King! What we can look forward to is the advance of His Kingdom in the Earth, His New World Order, and the true fulfilment of God’s promise when He preached the gospel to a gentile called Abraham (Gal. 3:6-9). That in Christ all peoples and nations (including Palestinians) would be blessed (Gen. 12:3).
What God initially did with Israel is what He is now doing with the whole world. This wasn’t a blessing dependent on supporting the modern state of Israel. Nor was God’s provision of land to the Israelites ‘unconditional’ (as Scofield writes) or the final end-plan, but ‘an advanced sign of the ultimate purpose, which is the extension of the Garden of Eden throughout the whole world, to all humanity, in the New Creation.’7 It is a gospel of the one new man (Eph. 2:14-16), Jew and Gentile, the relaunching of God’s renewed and chosen people (1 Peter 2:9).
Understanding the Truth
Why is highlighting the above important? Because the Scofield Reference Bible continues to influence so many and its origins and underlying agenda needs to be understood. The teaching and ideology has caused untold harm to the true gospel of Christ’s kingdom, mission work among Muslims, and the persecution of the Palestinian Church.8
1 Up to that time, commentaries had always been published separate from the Bible. However, Scofield’s comments being placed alongside scripture, while done under the pretext of reader convenience, gave Scofield’s views almost a certain scriptural status.
2 Dispensationalism is the dividing of history into seven periods of time (artificial constructs called ‘dispensations’) before the end of the world. We are presumed to currently be in the sixth (grace) dispensation, to be followed by one more (a postponed millennial kingdom). This doctrine assumes a ‘Plan B’ involving the Gentile nations during the ‘Church Age’ due to Israel’s blindness. However, God is still working with Israel and after a secret rapture and 7-year tribulation, Jesus will reign for one thousand years and Israel will once again receive their Promised Land in Jerusalem where a new temple will be built and where Jesus will be enthroned.
3 This was initiated and funded by World Zionists, long before the creation of the modern state of Israel in 1947.
4 Although he claimed to have a Doctor of Divinity, there is no record of him actually attending an American seminary.
5 Scofield had a close and secret relationship with Samuel Untermeyer, one of the wealthiest and most powerful modern Zionists in America, with connections to British Zionists in Oxford. For more details, see Joseph M. Canfield’s book, The Incredible Scofield and His Book.
6 Coincidently, 1917 was also the year of the Balfour Declaration, by which Britain’s government pledged to Lord Walter Rothschild and the Zionist Federation to establish a “national home” for the Jews in Palestine. It therefore appeared that prophecy was indeed being fulfilled before the eyes of those who were reading Scofield’s Bible.
7 N. T. Wright.
8 For further details including a revealing statement made by the Christian charity and mission organisation, Christian Aid, on the destructive effects of ‘Christian Zionism’, please see https://jamesperloff.com/tag/scofield-reference-bible/ (this is not an endorsement of all the views of James Perloff).