Christian Zionism - New Life Tabernacle of Chattanooga

and distinction between the Church and Israel. Mindful though of the notoriety
with which the Brethren, and in particular Darby, were regarded within
traditional denominational circles, Brookes insisted, ironically like Darby, that
he had reached his particular premillennial views through his own study of the
Scriptures and not from any one else. 375
Brookes was nevertheless instrumental in bringing D. L. Moody to St.
Louis for the 1879-1880 campaign and for introducing Scofield, and probably
also Darby, to D. L. Moody. 376 Brookes became the most influential lobbyist
for Dispensationalism for several reasons. Through his Bible classes, he was
responsible for nurturing several young Christian leaders, notably Cyrus
Scofield who became his close friend and disciple. He also published many
books and pamphlets including a Christian magazine called The Truth for 23
years from 1874 until his death. Probably even more significant, however,
Brookes helped organise the New York Prophecy Conference of 1878 and
served as the principal speaker and President of the annual Niagara Bible
Conference from 1878 until his death in 1897. 377 He was also pivotal in
ensuring that the futurist dispensational views associated with the Albury and
Powerscourt conferences in England and Ireland came to take root in Middle
America, being deeply committed to the restoration of the Jews to Palestine.
In his magazine, The Truth, he promoted the views of Rev. A.C. Tris who
raised the question, ‘Is Israel a Nation? Or a Sect?’ ‘If Israel is a nation its
restoration to the land of their fathers may be expected; but if it is a sect, it
has ceased to exist as a nation, and can only claim a temporal existence
375 James Brookes, ‘How I became a pre-millennialist’,
http://www.middletownbiblechurch.org/proph/brookes.htm; Oswald T. Allis, Prophecy
and the Church (Philadelphia, Presbyterian and Reformed, 1945), p133. Brookes also
claimed that his dispensational scheme followed the views of Professor Bayne of McGill
University. James H. Brookes, Maranatha; or the Lord Cometh, 10th edition, (New York,
1889), p285.
376 It is known that one of Darby’s colleagues, Henry Moorehouse, had a personal influence
on Moody. See William R. Moody, The Life of Dwight L. Moody, (Murfreesboro,
Tennessee, Sword for the Lord, 1900), p140. W. G. Turner records an occasion when Darby
is less than complimentary of Moody. “That he could be ungracious and scathing in his
criticism is evident in the incident where, when the great evangelist Dwight L. Moody failed
to grasp a point, Darby turned to a bystander and remarked, ‘I am here to supply exposition
not brains.’” W. G. Turner John Nelson Darby (London, Chapter Two, 1901, 1986), p21.
377 Rausch, op.cit., p216; Gerstner, op.cit., pp39-40.
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