Opponents of dispensationalism like to accuse dispensationalists of being overly sensational and overly specific about when Jesus will return. To be sure, there have been many dispensationalists who have done just that. For example, Edgar C. Whisenant, a self-taught Bible student and former NASA engineer, wrote the problematic book 88 Reasons Why The Rapture Will Be in 1988. Since we are still here, such a book has proven to be quite comical and has provided endless fuel against those “crazy dispensationalist date-setters.” The Ironic History of Date Setting What is often overlooked by those engaging in modern dispensational debates is that dispensational premillennialism was founded in response to the date-setting historicist premillennial position. For example, in his elucidating historical analysis, Living in the Shadow of the Second Coming: American Premillennialism 1875-1925, Timothy Weber notes that it was the former versions of premillennialism that were the date setters: Once provided with…