The Scofield Bible
Heresy in Disguise
The Scofield Bible,[1] first published in 1908, has the author’s notes adjacent to the biblical text. It was extremely popular for decades after and is still revered by many of its readers. These notes present a unique theological perspective, first expounded by Scofield’s mentor, J. N. Darby.[2]
The change began in the 19th century with an extremely godless, one could say satanically led and perhaps satanically indwelled individual, John Nelson Darby. This man spent his life in a continuous attack on the Christian faith that hugely influenced the Western World. He travelled, it is said, to almost every country in the world, wrote several books, essays and articles. These, disguised as Christian writings surreptitiously, and in places overtly, attacked the Christian faith. Darby held to much of what God gives us in His Word but deviated at enough points to effectively turn the previously widely held faith on its head. Darby, an extremely dedicated, tenacious and powerful individual taught that:
First, Darby rejected the Bible as God’s inspired Word. He wrote:
“I do not receive the Bible, that is, a revelation of God from the hands of men. I receive paper and ink. The revelation I receive of God directly … “They shall all be taught of God.” The revelation is the divinely-wrought conscience, and, I repeat, in the conscience.”[3]
This is an incredibly audacious statement. It says:
The Bible is not a revelation from God. It is just “paper and ink,” the work of men.
God’s communicates to man via his own God-created conscience.
God reveals His will directly into the minds of those that He teaches.
This is God’s means of teaching. It is directly to the heart, not through a book.
So, according to Darby, we can just ignore the Bible; it’s just man’s word. In it God never spoke to His creatures. He just puts within us all we need to know about Him, about sin, righteousness, Christ’s sacrifice for us, repentance, forgiveness, and about how to live in this world.
Darby held that entire portions of Scripture are wholly irrelevant for Christians today. He did not hesitate to deem certain verses ungenuine, and at times reworded verses to support his system. He claimed that God’s Law was limited to ancient Israel and does not apply today.
Second, Darby held to a peculiar system of Bible study:
Open a concordance, pick a word, read all the verses with the word regardless of context, and make a few comments on each verse. This system of context-less “Bible study” occurs frequently in Darby’s writings and teachings.
Third, the theological understanding of Scripture developed over the previous 1800 years was completely rejected as invalid. It was replaced by Darby’s new method of “Bible readings.”
Fourth, Darby was consumed with the idea of an imminent return of Christ:
A strong mark of all Darby’s teaching is an unholy obsession with unfulfilled prophecy. Christians were taught that true Christianity meant waiting to be snatched away any moment; it was vain to do anything constructive for the long-term, because the Lord could return at any moment.
Fifth, He also disparaged the study and practice of all professions: medicine, mathematics, science, business, etc. Darby wrote:
“But meanwhile what are we to do as regarding setting the world right? Nothing, and this the flesh cannot understand.” … “I am anxious about a rumour I heard of your becoming a doctor, and I am sure you will forgive my anxiety for the Lord’s sake and yours.” … “when I set about to learn a profession or trade, it is not merely the time, but Christ, and Christ’s work, is put in a second place, and faith is set aside” [4]
How did God’s people ever fall for this, certainly Satan-inspired pack of lies that so blatantly contradicted everything God’s people believed before? God tells us that Satan is a deceiver and the father of lies.
The situation today:
The consequences of all this are very visible in the turmoil that surrounds us today. The super-rich multi-billionaires have launched a powerful attempt to destroy the centuries of peace that characterized America since its founding. They are extremely wealthy and occupy or control virtually all positions of real power. This includes the Federal Reserve and consequently the money supply on which most citizens are heavily dependent.
This tiny group of individuals, not satisfied with their great wealth, are clearly intent on replacing the Constitution with an evil form of government, one in which they would be absolute masters over the entire population.
Their ability to carry out this treasonous plot depends on the continued inactivity of America’s sleeping Christians. This potentially powerful force, though, has been dormant for several decades. It began with a highly distorted view of God’s Word, the Darby/Scofield bible. Its lies, outlined above, were embedded within God’s truth and deceived many of God’s faithful believers.
They have been under the spell of this “Bible” but finally, after a century of supposedly impending doom, some of God’s people are beginning to see through its deception. As this number grows and God’s people come back to life, resistance to the tyranny will increase and the battle will shift. Whether this will be in time to save the Republic is still uncertain.
[1] For a long list of the errors and falsehoods in the Scofield Bible’s embedded notes, see: https://www.gospeltruth.net/scofield.htm
[2] See also: https://www.gospeltruth.net/scofield.htm.
And: https://www.stempublishing.com/authors/darby/letters/volume-2.html
[3] (http://plymouthbrethren.org/article/11026)
[4] Letter to: Sydney Smith, Barbados, March 9th, 1869. STEM Publishing: J. N. Darby: Letters: Volume 2, number 4; https://www.stempublishing.com/authors/darby/letters/52004E.html