Debunking Josh Howerton’s Dispensationalism, Heretical View On Judaism

Josh Howerton is the pastor of the multicampus megachurch, Lakepointe Church, in Texas. For those old enough to remember, Josh Howerton was a woke preacher who bent the knee to the altar of George Floyd, only to later make a pivot to pretending to be based. Now, he is attempting to rehabilitate dispensationalism and Talmudic Judaism with novel nuances.

New Genesis 12:3 Interpretation Dropped

The context for the discussion is responding to both Tucker Carlson and Senator Lindsey Graham. Graham insists that America must support Israel or God will abandon America. The trio of pastors, Josh Howerton, Carlos Erazo, and Paul Cunningham, broadly agree with Graham but argue against the straw man that this entails affirming all Israeli actions and policies.

Josh Howerton asserts that the blessings and curses of Genesis 12:3 apply to unbelieving Jews, but now also apply to Christians. This is a, perhaps, novel development, one that makes dispensationalism more palatable to the masses, just like how progressive dispensationalism dropped the distinction between Jews and Gentiles in the afterlife.

Perhaps this is Josh Howerton’s big brain plan to rehabilitate dispensationalism’s image, in the same way that progressive dispensationalism made most dispensationalists not know what their belief system has historically held.

Nation Born In A Day

Josh Howerton is not exactly a history buff and applies Isaiah 66:8 to 1948 Israel, claiming that this was accomplished by the Balfour Declaration. Howerton, celebrating his intellect with his buddies, was unaware that the Balfour Declaration was in 1917 and Israel declared its independence at the scheduled date in May of 1948.

Inaccuracies aside, this is no more miraculous than all the other nations with independence days, as America also had an ongoing War of Independence prior to July 4, 1776. Israel was no more made in a day than any other nation.

Jewish Apologetics

John Howerton then moves on to defending Modern Judaism. He begins by framing Talmudic Judaism as a nasty fringe, distinguishing Talmudic Judaism from Mosaic Judaism but maintaining that Mosaic Judaism is faithfully practiced today, even if it offers no salvation. Howerton quips, “Judaism is not a false religion; it is a fulfilled religion.”

But again, Howerton is grossly uninformed, underestimating Talmudic Judaism and miscomprehending the Old Testament. God instituted a religion that needed priests, sacrifices, and a temple (or tabernacle). Forty years after Christ, God destroyed the priests, sacrifices, and temple, sending a message that Christ is the fulfillment of these things. Talmudic Judaism came along and constructed a false religion from the ashes that persists to this day. Howerton does not realize that the Talmud and, increasingly, the Kaballah are operating systems of Judaism.

The trio of pastors then asserts that Judaism worships the same god as Christianity, which is palpably untrue. If you reject the Son, you reject the Father also. Scripture maintains Christ’s exclusivity as mediator. Thus, they assert that Judaism is not a false religion and is not morally as bad as Islam.

Again, historically inaccurate, as Islam and Judaism are the top two persecutors of the Christian religion over 20 centuries, and there is no close third. The Patristics and Medieval Christians wrote intense apologetics against Judaism, from Justin Martyr to Peter of Blois.

Conclusion

Josh Howerton cannot fall back on Christian tradition because it would destroy his argument and also his ecclesiology. Nevertheless, Howerton has a long track record of sticking his finger in the air to take a position. Right now, it is easy to attack Tucker Carlson, defend Israel, and promote dispensationalism, as much of the Evangelical dollars, social media algorithms, and foreign agents all provide an incentive infrastructure to do so. Howerton miscalculated on the White Evangelicals embracing wokeness, and this could be a similar, generational miscalculation. But Howerton is trying to have a popular position in the present moment, and it might not be deeper than that.