Progressive Socialism In The Church

I was raised in a conservative Christian family.  The Bible was the foundation of our belief and practices.  I have never been part of a "progressive" evangelical church with a contemporary worship service.  I am not one who likes to sing songs off the wall, nor stand for thirty minutes singing the same phrase over and over.  There are those who have told me I need to get with the times because the church is changing.  Why would the church change when we serve a God that does not change? Malachi 3:6 The Hebrew writer tells us the Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and forever. Heb. 13:8   Why is it that Christians feel they must change to accommodate the world? The progressive social Christians have changed their Biblical convictions for a gospel filled with compromise weakening the message of the Gospel.

Politically I have watched the social progressives take over our country and destroy our freedoms and liberty.  I will not go silently into the dark for a socialist style of Christianity.  I keep hearing that Christianity is dead, it is now the post-Christian era.  The blame for this has been placed on traditional churches.  The accusation being made is that they have too many rules, the church is dogmatic in their beliefs, are bigoted because they fail to accept the various sins of the flesh and cannot take the popular culture of diversity of belief.

For whatever the reason there are those within the church who feel “the gospel of Christ” needs to conform to the culture.  The whole purpose of the change is to make the gospel less exclusive and soften the consequences of sin.  The message of judgment, the wrath of God and the Lake of Fire are harsh and judgmental.

The ultimate end of changing the message is always unbelief. The defining feature of those who would change the Word is based on the carnal nature and its hatred of the Gospel, its anti-Christian nature. This desire to change deviates from the commands of God and lapses into excesses.  Paul wrote to the Church at Rome concerning those who changed the message of God.  He tells us, people knew God, but they did not honor him as God, and they did not thank him. They said they were wise, but they became fools.  Instead of acknowledging the divine greatness of God, who lives forever, and is unchanging, they traded it for the worship of idols—things made to look like humans, who get sick and die, or like birds, animals, and snakes.  People wanted only to do evil. So, God left them and let them go their sinful way. And so, they became utterly immoral and used their bodies in shameful ways with each other.  They traded the truth of God for a lie. They bowed down and worshiped the things God made instead of praising the God who created those things.

That is the condition of spirituality in the changing church.  The progressive socialist ideology has become so pervasive that most churches will tolerate abortion (murder), fornication (premarital sex, adultery, homosexuality) and almost any other violation of God's law.  The progression of the apostasy in the church today came from tolerating sin, moving to condone sin and finally accepting and practicing sin.

The expression for this type of Christianity is "cheap grace."  Dietrich Bonhoeffer coined this expression when talking about the condition of the church in Germany during World War II.  He saw the results of a progressive socialist gospel and wrote, "Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate."

Some progressive socialist religious and secular humanists’ groups believe in salvation by works and the godhood of mankind, respectively moving away from the transforming power of the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ.

Many within the church have accepted the progressive socialist view of the changing social norms especially regarding sex, marriage, homosexuality, and abortion and are prepared to abandon the tenets of the church to appear "modern" and "inclusive." This has not brought more people to the church; instead, it has driven away many traditional Christians. The church seems to have confused compassion with moral equivalence.

Many church ministers seem to be more inclined toward Marx than Jesus Christ, and some are blatantly left wing. It appears that the wolf has entered the fold and is not sparing the sheep.

Socialism has always failed in government and will fail within the church.  Socialism is based on the flawed concept that individualism is not essential. Socialist doctrine flies in the face of Christian doctrine: Proverbs 28:19 He who works his land will have abundant food, but the one who chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty.   This applies to both the physical and spiritual.  The ideas of progressive socialism are accepted when one forfeits their salvation.  When Christian denominations gave up on their traditional convictions and teachings and accepted a social gospel, they lost the right to be called Christian.

There was a time in the Church when ideas that are today accepted would have been fringe concepts.  The acceptance of same-sex marriage would have been a shocking concept and would not have been up for discussion.  Those who would have loudly raised their voices in support of same-sex marriage would have been barred from the church.  The acceptance of couples living together would have been viewed as fornication and would have been denounced as sin.  The progressive social church has opened the door for the destruction of God's design for the family.   Karl Marx would be dumbfounded at the mere thought that Christians would gladly join him in their rejection of God's plan for natural marriage and the family.

I have heard people who say they are politically conservative and Christian who has accepted the progressive social form of Christianity.  The problem is the progressive social style of Christianity has the message of "coexist," "tolerate," "condone," and even "practice," the socially acceptable sins of society to make Christianity more acceptable to the masses.  If you have not noticed the distortion of the gospel, then you are part of the problem within the church. The progressives are desperate for acceptance.  They have removed Christ out of their Christianity and are killing the message of the gospel by their compromise with the world.  The progressive socialist may claim to be Christian, but their unbiblical ideas expose them as non-Christian.  The test of one's belief is measured by the Word of God.

The false concept that we do not discuss our religion or politics has resulted in a silent culture of faith.  People who downplay the absolute truth of God’s word are promoting the illusion that they are neutral in their faith.  They tend to minimize sin, salvation, and the transforming power of the gospel.  They have learned to pick and choose which commands they will live by considering the changing culture.  They have styled their Christian life on the "nice" and "positive" aspects of the gospel.  They have forgotten the command of Jesus for us to "teach them to observe all things I have commanded you. Matt 28:20, not what we think is acceptable to the culture.

The message of the progressive socialist in the Church today is more concerned about feeling good about our lifestyle choices.  It does not matter that our lifestyle conflicts with the commands of God.  What is essential is the self-esteem we gain from being religious regardless of the sin in our lives.  The progressives have reduced God to a talisman for good luck.

Popular liberal evangelical writers and preachers tell us if we accept abortion and same-sex marriage, then the media, academia, and Hollywood will finally accept Christians. Out of fear of being falsely dubbed "intolerant" or "uncompassionate," many Christians are buying into theological falsehoods. Instead of standing up as a voice for the innocent unborn or marriage as God intended, progressives are forgoing the authority of Scripture and embracing sin all in the name of tolerance. We are truly living in the days Paul warned us was coming. 

We are living in a time where what is morally right or wrong depends on what an individual believes and not what the Bible teaches.  James says very flatly and plainly, "...know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever, therefore, will be a friend of the world is an enemy of God."