The Seed Blog: God's Clear Purpose: Faith Bait

We are in Part 5 of a series designed to address current issues facing our world today—all of the chaos, fear and rapid changes. What we are to make of it all from a Christian Worldview and how we are to respond to these issues as believers in Christ. So far, we have addressed the apathy and lack of passion in the Church today. The Christian principles to guide us through living in a pandemic, the foundation and purpose of the Black Lives Matter organization, and taken a deep and honest look at the roots of racism prevalent today. Now we will turn our eyes towards one of the biggest battles Christians have begun to fight in recent days—one which will undoubtedly cause us much increasing struggle and persecution in the days to come and mislead many good-hearted, but unlearned and self-focused believers. That threat is the false teachings that have arisen from within our own ranks.

The rapid and radical changes which have occurred within the church as a direct result of catering to, and pleasing a declining moral culture, rather than catering to, and pleasing the very God Who created us. This "Progressive" or "Emerging" Church Theology has begun to permeate branches of every major denomination in America. "Progressive" seems to convey the idea of doing better—moving forward—but in reality, it represents “progressing" beyond God's perfect Word and plan for mankind, and forming a new, evolved view of God and Salvation. This movement has not only lured many away from the truth of Jesus Christ, but has sometimes claimed that any church which does not follow their teachings is a false church which does not promote God's Love: 2 Timothy 4:3-4, Acts 20:30.
I will be relieved to simply go back to studying and growing in our own faith rather than having to dissect and examine these outside trends and organizations, but the people behind these deceptive movements are very informed and purposeful in their methods: Luke 16:8. And if we are to keep our hearts true to our God—if we are to protect and defend His real truth, His way and His love—God calls us to be wise about the schemes of the enemy: Matthew 10:16. So today, we are going to become wise as serpents and offer you, "Progressive Church Insurance!" You will find parts and pieces of this doctrine weaved within many different churches today. Some have embraced only pieces which justify their stances on certain topics; some have embraced it as a whole, but only show pieces outwardly until congregants go deeper. In its most pure form—which many churches have embraced—the followers of this "Progressive Theology" come together loosely on the terms of what they don't believe in more than what they do. Their beliefs fall into line with post-modern thinking, which believes there are no absolutes, no objective truths—all is relative to the individual, attacking and destroying the absolute truths of Scripture. And the contemporary culture which feels no action or lifestyle should ever be judged as wrong or unacceptable, and not to embrace the actions of others is a show of hate and prejudice even by God. And their beliefs that it is wrong to say there is one clear way to God—Christianity is but one way, which we have chosen, of many. Here are a few quotes from their 8 point Belief Statement. "By calling ourselves Progressive Christians, we mean we are Christians who believe that following the path of the teacher Jesus can lead to healing and wholeness, a mystical connection to “God,” as well as an awareness and experience of not only the Sacred, but the Oneness and Unity of all life. Affirm that the teachings of Jesus provide but one of many ways to experience “God,” the Sacredness, Oneness and Unity of life, and that we can draw from diverse sources of wisdom, including Earth, in our spiritual journey. Seek and create community (church) that is inclusive of all people, including but not limited to: (Goes on with long list including non-believers, all sexual orientations and identities, and even animals and plants). Find grace in the search for understanding and believe there is more value in questioning with an open mind and open heart, than in absolutes..."
Let's delve into deeper beliefs and break down what is really happening behind this theology. First, they have taken away the thought that the God of the Universe—capable of creating all that we are and know—is actually capable of successfully communicating His desires and purposes to us—actually able to express His will and direction for His Creation. They are completely discrediting the very Words of God Himself, which have been undeniably proven in history, archeology, scientific facts, unequaled wisdom, and hundreds of fulfilled prophecies. And by removing every command of God—every character trait describing Him, and every Word about how to experience Him intimately—from knowable, practical Truth; thus rendering everything we can base our Salvation, and our relationship with Him, our culture and our lives upon as useless: 2 Timothy 3:16-17. They are removing the central fact that sin against God is the entire reason we cannot be close to Him right now, and replacing it with the notion that sin is not even a concrete fact, but a subjective idea of men—removing the desire or ability to convict us of guilt before God or give us direction for a more loving, righteous life in His Ways, and stamping "null and void" on every page of Scripture designed to teach us the way of reconciliation from that sin, and back to God through this sacrifice alone. This is the gospel of Christ; this is everything: Romans 3:23-26. They are teaching there is no shame in any action, and not to embrace and encourage anything another does is purely rooted in hate; and that, indeed the only sin is to have shame over anything—therefore shame and guilt should be done away with—that original Sin was not what separated us from God, but the unwarranted shame we felt caused us to separate from Him. Well, shame is to be done away with—but on the other side of the cross: Romans 10:11. And at the unfathomable cost of the Son of God bearing that shame for us: Hebrews 12:2. They have taken away the single goal of accepting Jesus' Sacrifice and living to please Him, and replaced it with the goal of promoting social justices—according to whatever the ever-changing, current culture decides is justice at the time. Progressives have many views, but here are the categories in which most will place The Crucifixion of Our Savior. One is that He was really crucified—but for the sins of all—all will be saved—whether they have accepted Him or not; whether they choose to use other pathways or not—His death was for universal salvation. Or two, these were just stories for us to learn from figuratively—and either written as illustrations for learning and growing, or fabricated by a male Jewish society, living in a Greco-Roman world—combining their religion with pagan folklore to express God as best they could understand Him at that time. Or three, they will say they really don't know if it is true or not—but that it doesn't really matter, because the real focus just needs to be on the love and acceptance. They are letting the culture actively define Who God must be in order to be accepted by us, rather than letting the God of all creation define who we should strive to be. We, the created and blessed, are deciding how a true God would want things ran in this world, and putting His face on our design (sounds like original sin to me). They are falsely teaching people who have come into the fold of faith in God that the new and real definition of love is to embrace and "affirm" all the sins of another without consideration of God's wisdom or commands. They are allowing people to be damaged, broken, misled, and destroyed in their pursuit of the self-focused, sinful lives they are wallowing in; and encouraging them to openly teach these sins to others—no matter the harm to themselves or those they influence—rather than loving them enough to teach the real joy in God's truths; the real love in His commands and the horrible effects of these sins. And as they are telling the world that “We cannot truly love you as a Christian unless we totally agree with your sins against God...”, even though God Himself truly loves every person right where they are, and teaches us to do likewise. They are deceptively connecting real love and acceptance of actions as one (real truth is they want right to live as they want). They are teaching there are no absolutes except for the absolute fact there are no absolutes. I'm sorry but the cold, hard reality is the existence of absolutes is what literally allows the Universe to function. The existence of absolutes is all that can maintain society and order. And the existence of absolutes is all that will give any true reason for living or loving. They are teaching the hypocritical lie that there should be tolerance of every belief and choice, and yet belief in what God desires is counted as intolerable. They have opened the spiritual realm, in the Name of Jesus for every man to find his own truth—His own destiny; be master of his own life—to twist or remove any Scripture of God they desire in order to form their own interpretation of their life—a life bought and paid for by the Blood of the Master Himself: 2 Peter 1:20-21. They are teaching everyone can find their own path to God in the end. Well, we will all find a path to God—but not all will have the same welcome when they find Him: Romans 14:11-12. And above all else, they have broken the heart of the One Who gave everything He had to give to save us from this wrecked world of sin, and have us intimately close with Him again—through His gift, so that He can bless us with more real love, more unfathomable riches, than this messed up world can even imagine—by counting that precious gift as false…or unnecessary: John 3:16-17. The very life of the Son of God questioned and devalued. They have given God's treasured gift to the mercies of the Destroyer to say and do what he pleases with them—in God's Name—and he has trampled the Love and Sacrifice of the King, with promises of a handful of empty selfish desires in this world. If the world wants to reject Jesus Christ and all of His love and sacrifice to save us, they are free and clear to do so—but we as Christians have no right to incorporate this rebellious, selfish mess into His House and call it His Will; teaching under His name and character, misleading those who truly seek Him so a few selfish people can have all the sin they desire—live any way they choose, create their own destiny in the face of the One who died; call to question everything He did, everything He loves, everything He is—and still claim righteousness and peace so others might jump off the cliff with them: Romans 1:32, 2 Corinthians 11:13-15.
What should our reaction be to this movement that has crept into our very own churches? Brought by our own people? Our reaction should not only make you want to reject this theology with all that it is in you—it is the one time you should feel anger that our Jesus Christ—in all His love and sacrifice—should be used and manipulated by those who know His Word well to mislead and hurt others and cast doubt on all He has done. We should strongly stand against any church—any leader—who purposefully teaches these lies. Our reaction should be showing the real love and worth of every sinner—even while still in their sins—as Jesus did, so this deceiving movement doesn't have a real reason to point a finger at a hypocritical church. Our reaction should be that as adamantly as we stand against same-sex marriages and gay lifestyles in God's wisdom, we should just as adamantly see our own equal sin against God's wisdom in [our divorce for any reason, our premarital sex and cohabitation, our adultery, pornography and satanic entertainment]. How can we fight this tsunami of anti-God, anti-Scripture theology knocking at the door of the Church when we have already let every other sin we once stood against cozy up inside with us at nearly the same rate as the world? How do we defend the fact that there is an absolute God with an absolute plan, who wants to know us intimately, when we don't even have a whole heart for knowing Him ourselves? While we are on the subject, how do some of us have the right to argue over whether church is deemed "essential" or not in this pandemic, when our own attendance, volunteerism, passion and support proves we have already decided it is not essential?
I am absolutely sure—based on God's Word—that we are to stand boldly against this heresy in His Name. But what is infinitely more important is that we first truly believe and embrace the God behind our own claims by seeking Him with real passion; by wanting to go and do His Will; by loving His Church; by loving our spouses and families and standing by them even when it is difficult or unpleasant; by loving those lost and dirty who need acceptance as badly as you did in your sins; by believing His Ways are better and truly following them, rather than embracing the sin of the world; by forgiving when done wrong; by living a life that is visibly sacrificial for God and others in a cruel world; by realizing we have broken God’s Laws in our own selfish lives and wanting His forgiveness and restoration. When we continue to live half-hearted, undevoted lives before the world—being less committed to the God of the Universe than many lost people are to their sins—we do just as much to hurt the Name of Christ as these heresies being taught: John 14:21. I do not preach this with passion and heartbreak because I'm just worried that Jesus will Return soon (He may take another 20 years); I teach it with a new urgency because the rapidly deteriorating condition of the world and the lost and broken souls left in the wake should break everyone's heart and make you fearful for the future of the Church—even if Jesus does tarry for another 20 years. If you have felt the Spirit of God drawing you to know Him, and you have waited, wondered, said, "another day"—you will eventually swallow the changes and influence of this world if you continue to push Him away—and we know He is closer than ever right now to returning. The only reason He is tolerating the insanity and pain of this world today is because there are still some which He knows are going to turn to Him yet—are you one He is waiting for? The God that is being rejected and attacked by this world deserves to have you standing behind Him—loving Him as He has loved you. Now—today—is the time for you to accept what He's done for you and stand behind Him in this world—there may not be a tomorrow...