“The Dispensational Heresy?”: Understanding the Debate Behind Candace Owens’ Critique

Recently, political commentator Candace Owens sparked a theological firestorm by calling dispensationalism a “heresy.” Her claim, which has circulated heavily online, has stirred strong reactions—both applause and concern. Candace Owens said something a lot of Christians needed to hear.

Here’s a direct link to the reaction video where Candace Owens labels what she terms “Zionist dispensationalism” as a problematic distortion rooted in Scofield-era theology—she even uses strong terms like “heresy” to describe it.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hl81LYM6RpU

After listening to a conversation between Ted Cruz and Tucker Carlson about Israel, the rapture, and end-times prophecy, Owens didn’t mince words. She called out what she saw as a dangerous mindset. Owens critiques a Christian expression of faith where believers are more interested in escaping the world than redeeming it.

And honestly? She has a point.

Too many Christians have built an entire framework of faith around fear, detachment, and a kind of smug spiritual fatalism. As if the world is going to burn anyway, so why bother with justice, mercy, stewardship, or hard conversations? Why plant seeds when you expect a chopper from heaven to pull you out before the storm hits?

But here's the problem:

Theology that teaches us to wait for escape instead of working for redemption is not biblical. It’s lazy.

What Is Heresy?

Historically, heresy refers to willfully departing from the core truths of the Christian faith—truths affirmed across church history and embedded in creeds like the Apostles’ Creed or Nicene Creed. These aren’t peripheral disagreements. Heresy strikes at the heart of who God is, who Christ is, and what salvation entails.

So, does dispensationalism qualify?

Not automatically.

Dispensationalism—at least in its core theological form—is not a denial of Christ’s divinity, the resurrection, or salvation by grace through faith. That’s the bar for heresy in any historic, biblical sense.

But…

Certain expressions of dispensationalism can drift into dangerous territory—when they:

• Promote escapism instead of mission

• Politicize eschatology instead of centering Christ

• Replace the gospel with nationalism

• Treat the modern state of Israel as above critique

• Reduce prophecy to charts and conspiracies instead of pointing to Jesus

  
  

That’s not just bad theology. It’s distorting theology. But there’s a difference between distortion and heresy. And making that distinction matters.

Theological Tribes: When Frameworks Become Fences

We all want clarity. We want to make sense of the Bible. So, we find a system that gives us answers…and we camp there.

Covenantal.

Dispensational.

Narrative.

Kingdom-centered.

Reformed.

Charismatic.

Catholic.

You name it.

These systems aren’t wrong. In fact, they’re often helpful. But here’s the warning:

When our theological lens becomes a boundary rather than a bridge, we stop growing.

Most of us are guilty of tribing up. We choose a system, adopt the language, wear the jersey, and stop listening to anyone outside our camp. But truth doesn’t belong to a tribe. It belongs to Jesus.

And Jesus refuses to fit into anyone’s theological box.

A Quick Breakdown: The Lenses We Use

At its core, the term dispensation refers to an “economy” or “administration” of God’s plan throughout history. It’s a theological lens for understanding how God relates to humanity at different points in time. A dispensation, then, is not about God changing His nature, but rather about how He chooses to govern His relationship with people during particular seasons of redemptive history.

As a “system of belief” dispensationalism is just one of many lenses with which people have tried to understand God’s work in and love for the world through.

Let’s step back for a minute. Here are some of the common frameworks Christians use to understand our relationship with God:

1. Dispensationalism

God works through different "dispensations" or eras. Each one carries unique instructions, covenants, and consequences. Often includes a future-focused eschatology: pre-tribulation rapture, millennial reign, restored Israel. Clear boundaries between Israel and the Church.

At its best: Emphasizes God's faithfulness across history.

At its worst: Encourages spiritual disengagement from the present world.

2. Covenantal Theology

God’s redemptive work unfolds through covenants—from Noah to Abraham to Moses to David to Christ. The Church is seen as the continuation of God’s covenant people, with Jesus fulfilling every promise.

At its best: Highlights God's consistency and the unity of Scripture.

At its worst: Can collapse everything into abstraction, minimizing mystery.

3. Narrative Theology

The Bible is a unified story—creation, fall, redemption, restoration. This lens prioritizes Jesus as the center of the narrative, with believers called to participate in the ongoing drama of God’s redemption.

At its best: Reminds us that we are living in God's unfolding story.

At its worst: Risks ignoring doctrinal clarity for story-shaped feelings.

4. Kingdom and Formation Lenses

Focuses on living as citizens of God’s Kingdom now—embodying mercy, justice, forgiveness, and humility in a broken world. Strong emphasis on transformation and spiritual formation.

At its best: Makes faith real, lived, and communal.

At its worst: Can become works-based or inwardly focused without gospel clarity.

Each of these lenses sees something true; but none sees everything.

It’s important to note: these are general trends, and plenty of believers don’t fall neatly into either category. There are hybrid models, moderate voices, and many Christians who don’t realize their theology has roots in either framework.

So Is Dispensationalism Heresy?

Not in its entirety. But certain versions of it, particularly those that merge nationalism with divine destiny, promote escapism over engagement, or reject the Church’s mission in the here and now, can lead people astray.

Candace Owens criticizes dispensationalism as a modern, American invention that leads to uncritical support of the modern state of Israel and a neglect of the New Testament’s teachings on the Church. In some ways, her concern touches real issues: political entanglement with theology, speculative prophecy charts, and a fractured understanding of Scripture.

But to label dispensationalism in all its forms as “heresy” ignores the sincere, Bible-loving Christians who hold to it. It also assumes other theological lenses have no blind spots of their own. Which is its own danger.

Here’s the better question: What fruit is your theology bearing?

Does your belief system lead you:

Toward Christlikeness or cynicism?

Toward compassion or withdrawal?

Toward witness or self-righteousness?

What Happens When We Stop Listening

The danger isn’t just in theological division. The danger is in spiritual complacency. When your theology lets you check out of suffering, disengage from mission, or ignore injustice, it’s not Christlike—it’s cowardly!

Jesus didn’t say, “Hide and wait for Me.”

He said, “Take up your cross and follow Me.”

That doesn’t mean we abandon eschatology or stop longing for Christ’s return. It means we stop using the Second Coming as an excuse to quit living like the Kingdom is already here.

Because it is.

A Better Posture: Open Hands, Soft Hearts, Clear Eyes

We need conviction—but we also need humility. We need roots—but we also need curiosity. We need systems—but we also need the Spirit.

You don’t have to abandon your theological framework, but you should hold it open-handed. Let Scripture stretch you. Let Jesus lead you. Let love guide you.

Because the goal of theology isn’t to be right. It’s to be formed—into the likeness of Christ.

So Here’s the Challenge

If your theology gives you permission to ignore the poor, justify apathy, excuse injustice, or dismiss people with questions, then it’s not rooted in Jesus. It’s rooted in fear.

If your theology makes you smug instead of surrendered, tribal instead of teachable, escapist instead of engaged…then it’s time to grow up.

Candace Owens isn’t a theologian. But she touched a nerve. And maybe that nerve needed touching. Because the Church doesn’t need more charts and camps. It needs more people who look like Jesus.

Whether your framework is dispensational, covenantal, reformed, or rooted in story—remember:

Theology is not meant to win arguments. It’s meant to shape lives.

The real heresy? Forgetting that Jesus is the center of it all.

At its best, theology is not a sword for slashing others. Theology is a tool for discovering the beauty of God’s unfolding story. Whether one holds to a covenantal or dispensational or some other framework, the goal is the same: to make sense of who God is, how creation relates to Him, and how we experience His favor through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

We can, and must, disagree charitably, remembering that every framework is a finite attempt to comprehend the infinite.

Remember, God's redemptive agenda to rescue you and me and all others from sin and death through Jesus is the center of all Scripture, and in Him, both Israel and the Church, Jew and Gentile, past and future!

Want to wrestle with this more?

Read your Bible.

Talk to people outside your camp.

Ask better questions.

Hold your frameworks lightly.

And follow Jesus fully.

Because theology that doesn’t lead to love, presence, and witness isn’t worth holding onto.